Free Secret Sanction by Brian Haig Page A

furnishings and believe that they somehow reflected on the humble nature of the man who worked in this office. I might’ve bought it except for the two silver-framed photographs carefully arrayed on the smaller field tables: One showed the President of the United States himself pinning a general’s star on Murphy’s shoulder, and the other a much younger Chuck Murphy in a football uniform, holding a ball, kneeling beside the Heisman Trophy and grinning like a kid who was cock-sure the world was his oyster.
    Five chairs had been neatly arranged in the middle of the floor, and he directed us all to have seats. With some difficulty, he lowered his large six-foot-five-inch frame into one of the chairs, crossed his legs, and folded his arms across his chest. It was a big chest, but he had long arms.
    The empty chair was kind of mysterious, and I guessed that at one point he must’ve intended to have counsel there to represent him, then thought that might imply he had something to hide and therefore decided against it.
    “I apologize,” he said. “I can only give you ten minutes this morning.We have an important operation going on, and my presence is required in the operations center.”
    “No problem, General. You’re a busy man. We’ll make this quick.”
    “Thank you.”
    I paused briefly, then asked,“How long have you known Captain Sanchez?”
    “I’ve commanded the group the past eighteen months. Terry was here when I arrived.”
    “You approved his appointment as a team commander?” “Yes, but it was a pro forma thing.”
    “Why pro forma?”
    “There are four battalions in Tenth Group. It’s hard enough to know all the colonels, lieutenant colonels, and majors. I recognize the names of most of the captains, but I’m afraid I don’t know them well.”
    Now, if I was a more suspicious guy, I might have considered that a Rhodes scholar who’d graduated first in his class from West Point ought to have a more impressive memory than that. I might also have suspected that the general was a smart guy, and just like Will Smothers, also had caught a sudden case of selective amnesia.
    I gave him a dubious look. “But was Sanchez maybe one of the ones you know well?”
    “Not really. I’d recognize him on a street, but not much more than that.”
    Delbert said, “Sir, could you tell us how much more than that?”
    He scrunched up his face as though he had to go bottom-fishing to come up with anything. Finally, he said, “I know he’s married. I remember meeting his wife at a few of the Group functions. I know he did a good job on a few exercises, and I think I visited his team a month or two ago, before they went into Kosovo.”
    Frankly this didn’t wash.And he apparently sensed our doubts. “Look, if you’d like,” he swiftly added, trying to sound and appear gracious,“I’ll ask my adjutant to go through my log and see how many times I’ve met with Sanchez over the past six months.”
    I wasn’t nearly as gracious. “That would be very kind, General, but why don’t you tell your adjutant to provide us the log and we’ll do the checking?”
    He said, “That log is classified and can’t be released.” “General, we all have top secret clearances with lots of strange little suffixes that allow us to look at whatever we want to look at. Right now, I’d like to look at your log.”
    He appeared flustered for a moment or so, before that strong jaw pushed forward an inch or two. “If you don’t mind, Major, I’d like to talk to legal counsel before I comply.”
    “Actually, sir, as the investigating authority, I am within rights to sequester that log. It is military property, and if I believe it is relevant to this investigation I can order you to turn it over.”
    “I’d still like to seek advice.”
    “Okay, do that, sir. But do it quickly, because I’d like to have that log before close of business today.”
    His eyes got like little round ice cubes, but his lips were still smiling.