“Well, he got some of them,” Lunsford said, and stepped out of the building.
Jack looked inside.
He saw the badly burned skull of one man, and then of another, and another, and finally of a fourth.
God, don’t let me get sick!
He heard Lunsford ask, “Could these be your men, Colonel?”
“I think my men would have been out there, their heads cut off, with Sergeant Withers,” Supo answered. “As a mark of contempt. These are probably the bodies of Simbas—it was easier to burn them than bury them.”
“Your call, Colonel,” Lunsford said. “What would you like to do now?”
Supo glanced at his watch.
“It’s eight forty-eight,” he said. “It will be nine, or later, when the reaction force gets here. I suggest there is nothing for us to do here, and therefore it would make sense to fly down Route Five until we meet the reaction force, tell them what he found here, and then return to Costermansville.”
“Sir, we’ll be returning Sergeant Withers’s body to the States on the 707. Would it interfere with your schedule if we took Withers to Stanleyville before we went back to Costermansville?”
“Forgive me,” Supo said. “I should have thought about that. Stanleyville, of course.”
Rigor mortis had set in the body of SFC Withers. It was difficult to get his body bag into the Beaver, then strap it somewhat awkwardly into one of the seats, and by the time they had finished, everyone was sweat-soaked.
“Don’t get your hopes up too high,” Lunsford said to Thomas. “They’ve had a lot of time to hide. And don’t do anything stupid.”
“I’m going to get the bastards that did this to Clarence, boss,” Doubting Thomas said matter-of-factly.
Then he saluted crisply and trotted off toward Sergeant First Jette, who was going to track the Simbas.
By the time the Beaver started, taxied to the end of the runway, and took off Thomas and Sergeant First Jette had already disappeared into the bush on the other side of Route Nationale Number 5.
[ EIGHT ]
2301 Kildar Street
Alexandria, Virginia
0425 7 April 1965
There was a telephone on the bedside table in the bedroom of Colonel and Mrs. Sanford T. Felter. And there was a second telephone inside the bedside table. It was in appearance identical to the telephone on top of the table, but it was not connected to the Alexandria exchange, but actually to the White House switchboard.
When it rang—actually buzzed, like an angry wasp—Felter was instantly awake and quickly took it from the cradle. There was no sense in waking Mrs. Felter.
“Felter,” he said.
“Turn the light on, darling,” Sharon Felter said. “You’re probably going to have to write something down.”
“Hold one for a secure call from Mr. Finton, Colonel,” the male operator ordered. “Go ahead, Mr. Finton.”
“Finton, sir,” Finton said. “They just delivered a message from Helper.”
“Read it,” Felter ordered.
In Room 637 of the Executive Office Building, CWO(4) James L. Finton, who had been sleeping, fully dressed, on the too-small couch in the outer office, picked up the sheet of paper he had just received from the White House Signal Agency duty officer and read from it.
SECRET
HELP0026 0925 ZULU 7 APRIL 1965
VIA WHITE HOUSE SIGNAL AGENCY
FROM: HELPER FIVE
TO: EARNEST SIX
FOLLOWING IS VOICE MESSAGE RECEIVED FROM HELPER SIX PRESENTLY AIRBORNE VIA WOOLWORTH TO THIS STATION.
1. REGRET CONFIRM DEATH OF SFC CLARENCE WITHERS AS RESULT OF INSURGENT ATTACK ON OUTPOST GEORGE. REMAINS ARE BEING TRANSPORTED WOOLWORTH. UNLESS ORDERED SPECIFICALLY TO THE CONTRARY, INTEND TO RETURN REMAINS TO FORT BRAGG ON 707. REMAINS ARE NOT REPEAT NOT SUITABLE FOR VIEWING.
2. SFC WITHERS WHO WAS ALONE DURING ATTACK DISPATCHED AT LEAST SIX HOSTILES AND WOUNDED AT LEAST THAT MANY BEFORE LOSING HIS LIFE. IT IS INTENTION OF COLONEL J.B. SUPO, WHO VISITED SITE WITH UNDERSIGNED TO AWARD THE CONGOLESE MEDAL FOR GALLANTRY IN THE GRADE OF CHEVALIER POSTHUMOUSLY TO SFC WITHERS. UNDERSIGNED, FULLY AWARE OF THE CIRCUMSTANCES MAKING AN AMERICAN AWARD AWKWARD NEVERTHELESS RECOMMEND IN THE STRONGEST POSSIBLE TERMS THE AWARD OF THE SILVER STAR MEDAL TO SFC WITHERS.
3. SUPPORTED BY DET17 AERIAL SURVEILLANCE AND AN ADVISOR ON THE GROUND, AN ATTEMPT IS BEING MADE BY CONGOLESE FORCES TO LOCATE THE INSURGENTS RESPONSIBLE.
4. OUTPOST GEORGE WILL BE RECONSTITUTED NO LATER THAN 1030 ZULU 7 APRIL 1965.
5. AN AFTER ACTION REPORT WILL BE FURNISHED ON COMPLETION.
6. ADVISE SOONEST 707 ETA.
HELPER SIX
END VOICE MESSAGE
HELPER FIVE FOR HELPER SIX
SECRET
“I thought we sent him the ETA of the 707,” Felter said.
“Sir, you authorized a twenty-four-hour hold to see if we could get some additional pilots.”