The sedan rode inside West Point at a reasonable speed. No more than twenty. I was sure we were leaving the grounds as the car finally sped up.

I didn't know who was up front. Whether General Hutchinson had come along with his men. It seemed likely that I was going to be killed soon. I couldn't imagine how I could get out of this one. I thought about the kids and Nana, and Jamilla, and I wondered why I'd risked my life again. Was it a sign of good character, or a serious character flaw? And did it really matter anymore?

Eventually, the car turned off the smooth highway surface onto a seriously bumpy road that was probably unpaved. I estimated we were about forty minutes from West Point. So how much longer did I have to live?

The car rolled to a stop and I heard the doors open and slam shut. Then the trunk was sprung.

The first face I saw was Hutchinson's. There was no emotion in his eyes. Nothing human looked back at me.

The two others were behind him. They had handguns pointed my way. Their stares were blank as well.

“What are you going to do?” I asked a question that I already knew the answer to.

“What we should have done the night you were with Owen Handler. Kill you,” said Colonel Walker.

“With extreme prejudice,” added the general.

Alex Cross 8 - Four Blind Mice

Chapter One Hundred and Thirteen

I was lifted out of the car trunk and unceremoniously dropped on the ground. I landed hard on my hip. Rain lanced my body. Just the beginning, I knew. These bastards were out to hurt me before they killed me. I was handcuffed and there was nothing I could do to stop them.

Colonel Walker reached toward me and ripped my shirt open. The other man was pulling off my shoes, then my pants.

Suddenly, I was naked and shivering in the woods somewhere in upstate New York. The air was cold, probably in the low forties.

“Do you know what my real crime is? Do you know what I did that was so wrong in Vietnam? ”Hutchinson asked. “I gave the fucking order to fight back. They killed and maimed our men. They practiced terrorism and sadism. They tried to intimidate us in every way they could. I wouldn't be intimidated. I fought back, Cross. Just like I'm fighting back now.”

also murdered non-combatants, disgraced your command," I spat the words at him.

The general leaned in close. “You weren't there, so don't tell me what I did or didn't do. We won in the An Lao Valley. Back then, we used to say there were only two kinds in the world, the motherfuckers and the mother-fucked. I'm a motherfucker, Cross. Guess what that makes you?”

Colonel Walker and the other man had paint and brushes. They began to swab cold paint onto my body. “Thought you would appreciate this touch, ”Walker said. “I was in the An Lao Valley, too. You going to tell the Washington Post on me?”