Dark Coup by David C. Waldron

the base,” she asked.
    “Not quite,” Ben said with a sigh, “I had to leave behind eighty-one men that couldn’t be moved.”
    “How many did you lose,” Mallory asked.
    “Seventeen,” Ben said.
    “I’m sorry, Ben,” Mallory said.
    “It’s not your fault, Mallory, it’s the Colonel’s,” Ben said, and clenched his jaw, “and it’s mine.  If he hadn’t pushed it we wouldn’t have lost anybody, and if I hadn’t decided to keep a force there as a–I don’t know–as a stalling tactic to let everyone else get out…or for my own stupid pride, again, we wouldn’t have lost anybody.”
    Mallory nodded, “At least you have the Colonel to blame.  All I have is a microscopic bacteria and a doctor who blames himself,” Mallory said.  “Six dead so far, and I get the feeling that it’s far from over.”
    “It was bound to happen eventually,” Ben said, referring to the illness running through camp, “and this, or something like it, is probably going to happen again.  Times have changed.”
    The look on Mallory’s face said she knew Ben was right, but didn’t have to like it.
    Ben shrugged and moved on.  “So, what about those helicopters?”
    …
    When Ben and Mallory walked into the room, all of the pilots stood up and came to attention.
    “At ease,” Mallory said.  “In fact, sit down.  This is Major Benjamin Franklin.  Yes, that’s his real name.  Yes, he’s probably heard all the jokes.  Yes, they’re funny the first time.  Go ahead and laugh if you need to get it out of your system.”
    Instead of laughing, they all started to applaud and Diego took a couple of steps forward and held out his hand.  “Chief Warrant Officer Fourth Class Diego Hobbs, Sir,” Diego said.  “It’s a pleasure and an honor to meet you.  I’m glad to see you made it out of Fort Campbell in one piece.”
    Ben hadn’t expected the reaction or the greeting, but tried to take it in stride.  “Thank you, Chief,” Ben said.  “That makes two of us–about getting out of Campbell alive, that is.”
    Everyone chuckled and then sat down to begin the debriefing for the second time–this time for Ben’s benefit.
    …
    “We were effectively locked out,” Ben said, “and he’d prevented us from rebroadcasting the conversation back via the satellite.  I’m just glad that what I had to say didn’t fall on deaf ears.”
    “I know we heard it on UHF,” Diego said, “but rest assured, we weren’t the only ones.  If nothing else, I’m sure Colonel Olsen had half-a-dozen other people on the channel, and all of their radio operators.  We can’t be the only ones who have a problem with what’s going on.”
    Ben nodded, but didn’t say anything about Bragg or Lejeune.  Yes, these men had apparently disobeyed a direct order, either gone AWOL or deserted their units, and defected to the other side, but they were still not an entirely known quantity.  They had also increased the number of people at Promised Land by over four-hundred people which, while it wasn’t an immediate strain on the resources, would eventually put a sizeable dent in their stores.
    “I know what you’re thinking, Sir, Ma’am,” Diego continued.  “While I can only absolutely speak for myself, I’m fairly confident I can speak for everyone else here.  What’s happening is wrong and we know it.  The Colonel is out of control and I don’t know what, but something else is going on, and I refuse to be a part of it any longer.”
    Diego shook his head.  “If we came here to do anything but switch sides,” Diego said, “we’ve done a horrible job of it.  We allowed ourselves to be captured and we’ve given up all our weapons.”
    “Point,” Ben said and looked at Mallory.
    “They’ve been model guests,” she said.  “They were even broadcasting well before the radar picked them up.”
    “This is your base, Major,” Ben said, making sure to use Mallory’s title.  “At this point, I’m an uninvited