Free Operation by Tony Ruggiero Page A

remained of the handkerchief. With his heightened sense of smell, he was able to separate the smell of the burning cloth from the other odor he had recognized earlier—it was identical.
    Dark memories engulfed him as the dark stain burning brightly reminded him of the day when his friend and comrade, Franjo, had drank the poisoned blood of the cow. Again, he watched as the black blood poured from the vampire and burst into flames. He imagined that the dead body on the beach was burning now, in the bright light of the morning.
    “We have to do something tonight,” Dimitri said. “We have to go back to our prison.”
    “Why?” Andre asked.
    “To check if they are doing it…again.”
    “And if they are?” Iliga asked.
    “Then we will have to do something about it.”
     *****
    Dimitri, Andre and Iliga watched the evening news that night before going out. The discovery of the body near the Ocean View beach was the major headline. The identification of the body revealed the dead man was a Navy SEAL confined to the brig on the Naval Station. A representative for the Naval Station Norfolk Security Office said Petty Officer First Class Mark Jones had escaped from the brig in the early morning hours. The actual method of his to escape was still under investigation. Jones had been in the brig for the murder of a naval officer, as well as for suspicion of distributing drugs, while awaiting transfer to Fort Leavenworth, Kansas.
    Petty Officer Jones’ twelve-year career had been marred with several incidents of non-compliance to orders, disrespect for authority, and other numerous infractions of military law, the reporter said. Highly decorated for his operational service, he had been afforded the opportunity to correct his behavior and hopefully learn to conform to the military way of life. That part had been considered a failure with his latest infraction: murdering a platoon commander. 
    “Local authorities had been alerted by an early morning beach walker who found the body,” the reporter intoned. “The coroner states that the apparent cause of death was a knife wound to the throat and the probable blood loss that followed. Drugs were found on the body. An undisclosed source in the police department speculates Jones somehow managed to escape from the brig with help from his local drug contacts. However, their motive for rescuing Jones from the brig is suspicious. It is believed that Jones had been offered a deal if he revealed his local drug sources to the authorities, in return for a reduced sentence. Whether or not his escape was facilitated by outside help to ensure his silence, is still unknown. The investigation continues.”
    Dimitri noticed that there had been no mention of the burning of the dead man’s flesh. He wondered why. Was it too ghastly to mention or was it unexplainable? Or perhaps, they were told not to report it for another reason—they couldn’t explain why or what caused the flesh to burn.
    “Dimitri?” Andre asked.
    “Yes?” he answered, coming up from the depths of his thoughts.
    “Are we going?”
    “Yes. I was just—”
    Dimitri’s attention was drawn back to the television by the mention of the words Navy SEALs and additional deaths. He listened as the reporter relayed the story. 
    “In an unrelated but deadly incident, four Navy SEALs were killed in a training accident on the Naval Amphibious Base last night. A representative for the Naval Special Warfare Group stated that the accident was under investigation, but that preliminary information indicated a faulty timing device on an explosive charge. The men were inside a structure in the live fire area when the explosives they were carrying prematurely detonated, killing them instantly and destroying a significant part of the building they were in.”     
    “An accident…” Dimitri said thinking out loud. “How coincidental that all of this happens in the same night—five dead men.”
    “You think it is connected?”