Sweepers by P. T. Deutermann Page B

Vietnam could mean you’d be invited to retire instead of going on to that next assignment. I I He nodded. “Precisely. And, as you might imagine, there happens to be an infinite supply of eager young captains ready and willing to take my place.” He, looked at his watch. “We’re about out of time. You’ll need a while to think about this. So do 1. And now, of course, you have to figure out what to tell Admiral Carpenter.”
    She felt a sudden flush on her face as she looked up at him. There was a hint of amusement in his eyes. “Karen, look,” he said gently. “You’re the king’s eye here. We both understand that. All I’m . asking is that you keep what I’ve just told you closehold while I make up my mind what to do with it. II
    “I’m not sure I -understand,” she said.
    He nodded again, acknowledging her confusion. “With all the trouble the Navy’s been having lately, the last thing we need is for this particular story to come out. Which means we’re going to want very much to sol ‘ ve it inhouse.
    Which also means we’re probably going to need some NIS help to find this guy. The complicating factor is that my superiors are absolutely going to panic at the prospect of another Navy scandal. So for me, this is a political problem as well as a personal problem.”
    “Yes, sir, of course.” What the hell am I going to do with this? she wondered. And then she realized she might have the answer right there in her office: von Rensel.
    He was pacing again. “I’ll call you. Probably tomorrow.
    I have to go to Elizabeth’s memorial service tonight.,’ Once again, she detected a thread of anguish leaking through all his highly professional, controlled composure.
    “Would you like some moral support, Admiral?” she asked, surprising herself.
    He stopped short. “Would you? I mean, I know that’s a lot to ask.
    Especially after your-“
    She gave him a steady look. “Yes. I swore I would never face another funeral service after Frank’s. But they tell me that the best cure for grief is to help someone else. Where is it and when?”
    He gave her the details and was thanking her again when there was a knock on the door and his deputy stuck his head in with the news that the fourteen-hundred briefing team was ready. Karen got up at once, nodded to the admiral, and walked out past the team of officers waiting to present the budget briefings. She hurried back to her office.
    Karen looked for von Rensel, but he’ was signed out at lunch. She got on the phone with the Bureau of Personnel, the enlisted Records Division, and asked for an archives retrieval on one HM 1 Marcus Galantz. The clerk put her on hold in order to access a computer. when the clerk came back on, she said that there was an archived recorc there was a special hold on it.
    “This individual’s a Vietnam-era MIA. You’ll have to get clearance from the Office of the Secretary of Defense, and then you can E-mail me a written request indicating the clearance authority.” She gave Karen a number in Crystal City. Karen thanked her and hung up. Should have known I couldn’t do that with just a phone call, she thought. And then she thought about getting the front office to make the calls for the records. But that would mean explaining why she wanted them, and Sherman had asked her to keep that information closehold for the moment. But maybe she should tell Carpenter; he was her boss, not Sherman.
    She sat back in her desk chair. Back to that problem again: Whose side am I on?. Her tasking was to find out what the cops were up to, and then to keep Carpenter and, apparently, the Navy hierarchy from getting any nasty surprises. And a nasty surprise now appeared to be a distinct possibility. As best she could tell, Sherman was not entangled in the Walsh matter as a possible killer-that is, assuming he was telling the truth about all this.
    She shook her head.’Going in circles here. Go back to your tasking. Find out what the cops are doing,