Feeling the sting of his foolish behavior as well as exhaustion, GO let her glide past without a word. When she was gone he dropped into his seat. He was losing control of the situation, he confessed to himself. What had started out as a well orchestrated campaign to make things right was starting to go awry. And he had no idea what to do next.

CHAPTER 17

CHAPTER 17

FORT CARSON, COLORADO SPRINGS • NOON, NOVEMBER 1ST

The small Army jet, painted gloss white over gloss olive drab, rolled to a stop just feet from where Scott Dixon and his aide stood. There was no honor guard, no band, no gaggle of straphangers. The only other people waiting were two drivers, one for the Humvee belonging to the 4th Armored Division’s commanding general and one for a sedan. Of the four, only the two drivers had managed a good night’s sleep.

The door of the jet and the steps that folded down from it hadn’t been locked in place before General Poulengy appeared in the doorway. Automatically Scott, his aide, and the drivers came to attention. Without fanfare Poulengy bounded down the steps and toward Dixon. “I wish,” Scott stated dryly as he saluted the senior general approaching him, “that I could say it was a pleasure to see you again.”

“I wish I could say the same,” Poulengy snapped after returning Scott’s salute, then pointed to the Humvee. “You mind if we take that? Just you and me?”

Scott raised an eyebrow, but shook his head. “Other than the fact that I am not licensed to drive it, I don’t mind at all.”

“Well, neither am I. But it’s a pretty sure bet that no one’s going to report me,” the Chief of Staff of the Army replied.

Overhearing the exchange, Scott’s aide spun about and supervised the exchange of the star plates on the vehicles. Having assumed that he would use the sedan, the plate bearing the emblem and four stars of the Chief of Staff of the Army had to be switched to the Humvee as protocol dictated. While this was going on Poulengy climbed into the driver’s seat, where he sat for a moment as he looked about. “There’s a starter someplace around here, isn’t there?” he asked his nervous aide who stood next to him in the open door.

“I believe, sir, this is it,” the aide ventured as his mind raced to recall the controls of the Humvee he had once known by heart when he had been a battalion commander.