Free Joe Ledger by Jonathan Maberry Page B

and the thermite charges blew, fusing them shut. A moment later, the explosives in the elevator shaft blasted half a million tons of rock into the well of darkness below us. Dust clouds chased us all the way up into the light.
    As the car slowed to a stop, I removed my helmet. The helmet cam was gone. I’d taken it off after we’d left Collins and the others outside of the generator room. The video file ended there.
    Top, Bunny and I stepped out into the gloom of the building. State Troopers were everywhere, and soon there would be FBI, Marine Corps, and DMS choppers in the air. We didn’t care. The three of us stood there in the darkness and said nothing. I reached into my pocket to touch the helmet cam, and closed my fist around it.
    In silence, we left the shadows and walked out into the light.
     
     
    ~The End ~

 
     
Material Witness
     
     
    NOTE: This story takes place several weeks after the events in Patient Zero .
     
    Chap. 1
     
    Echo Team: Case File Report / DMS-ET 82fd1118
    Events of August 16 / Prepared August 17; 11:30 a.m.
    Team Leader: Captain Joseph Edwin Ledger
     
    Preamble to the official statement of Dr. Rudy Sanchez:
    I personally tested Captain Ledger and his men. Blood and urine, a full workup. There is no presence of alcohol or any controlled substance. Standard interview and psychological profiles demonstrate post-traumatic stress and nervous tension typical with recent combat, plus a degree of heightened nervousness that I believe should be ascribed to the unusual nature of the events as described by the members of Echo Team.
     
    From the analysis of a voluntary polygraph test:
    All three men were tested separately. I oversaw each test. Each man was given a number of unsequenced control questions as well as the set of questions prepared by Mr. Church. These questions were introduced randomly and without preamble. There is nothing in their responses or on the polygraph tape to suggest that any of them provided false or exaggerated answers. As disturbing and unlikely as it appears, these men believe that they saw and experienced everything exactly as described in Captain Ledger’s after-action report and in the private interviews with Dr. Sanchez, Aunt Sallie, and Mr. Church.

    Handwritten note included in Mr. Church’s private copy of Dr. Sanchez’s psychological evaluation of Captain Joseph Edwin Ledger, First Sergeant Bradley Sims and Staff Sergeant Harvey Rabbit. Note reads:
    Per your question of earlier today…yes, I am certain that they believe that these events occurred. Please bear in mind the troubled history of that town. It has had far more than its share of troubles for many years. I respectfully but firmly decline your offer to go there and investigate matters for myself. No thank you!—RS
     
    Chap. 2
     
    The Warehouse
    Department of Military Sciences Baltimore Field Office
    August 16; 8:19 a.m.
    One Day Ago
     
    “God— please! They’re killing me here. You got to get me out of this. Jesus Christ, you said this wouldn’t happen.”
    I leaned forward to listen to the voice. Even with the distortion of a bad digital file I could hear the raw terror, the urgency.
    “When did this come in?” I asked.
    My boss, Mr. Church, sat on the other side of the conference table. He was neatly dressed, the knot of his tie perfect, his face impassive. But I wasn’t fooled. This had to be hitting him every bit as hard as it was me.
    “That’s the problem,” he said. “This message is three days old.”
    “ Three days ? How the hell…?”
    Church held up a hand.
    I paused, dialing it down a notch. “How did this get missed? Burke’s handler should have called us right away.”
    “The handler didn’t get this until this morning.”
    “Then how…?”
    “This message was left on the home phone of the Special Agent in Charge.”
    He let that float in the air for a moment.
    “Wait,” I said, “ home phone?”
    “Yes,” said Church, “and isn’t that interesting. Simon