Never Say Die / Presumed Guilty: Never Say Die / Presumed Guilty

“But he could be working for the Russians. Or the Chinese. They both have a stake in this country.”

Even as she stared at the reflection, the man in the blue shirt melted into the crowd. She knew he was still lingering nearby; she could feel his gaze on her back.

“What do I do, Guy?” she whispered. “How do I get rid of him?”

“You can’t. Just keep in mind he’s there. That you’re probably under constant surveillance. In fact, we seem to be under the surveillance of a whole damn army.” At least a dozen faces were now reflected there, all of them crowded close and peering curiously at the two foreigners. In the back, a familiar figure kept bouncing up and down, waving at them in the glass.

“Hello, Daddy!” came a yell.

Guy sighed. “We can’t even get rid of him.”

Willy stared hard at Guy’s reflection. And she thought, But I can get rid of you.

MAJOR NATHAN DONNELL OF the Casualty Resolution team had shocking red hair, a booming voice and a cigar that stank to high heaven. Guy didn’t know which was worse—the stench of that cigar or the odor of decay emanating from the four skeletons on the table. Maybe that’s why Nate smoked those rotten cigars; they masked the smell of death.

The skeletons, each labeled with an ID number, were laid out on separate tarps. Also on the table were four plastic bags containing the personal effects and various other items found with the skeletons. After twenty or more years in this climate, not much remained of these bodies except dirtencrusted bones and teeth. At least that much was left; sometimes fragments were all they had to work with.

Nate was reading aloud from the accompanying reports. In that grim setting, his resonant voice sounded somehow obscene, echoing off the walls of the Quonset hut. “Number 784-A, found in jungle, twelve klicks west of Camp Hawthorne. Army dog tag nearby—name, Elmore Stukey, Pfc.”

“The tag was lying nearby?” Guy asked. “Not around the neck?”

Nate glanced at the Vietnamese liaison officer, who was standing off to the side. “Is that correct? It wasn’t around the neck?”

The Vietnamese man nodded. “That is what the report said.”

“Elmore Stukey,” muttered Guy, opening the man’s military medical record. “Six foot two, Caucasian, perfect teeth.” He looked at the skeleton. Just a glance at the femur told him the man on the table couldn’t have stood much taller than five-six. He shook his head. “Wrong guy.”

“Cross off Stukey?”

“Cross off Stukey. But note that someone made off with his dog tag.”

Nate let out a morbid laugh. “Not a good sign.”

“What about these other three?”

“Oh, those.” Nate flipped to another report. “Those three were found together eight klicks north of LZ Bird. Had that U.S. Army helmet lying close by. Not much else around.”

Guy focused automatically on the relevant details: pelvic shape, configuration of incisors. “Those two are females, probably Asian,” he noted. “But that one…” He took out a tape measure, ran it along the dirt-stained femur. “Male, five foot nine or thereabouts. Hmm. Silver fillings on numbers one and two.” He nodded. “Possible.”

Nate glanced at the Vietnamese liaison officer. “Number 786-A. I’ll be flying him back for further examination.”

“And the others?”

“What do you think, Guy?”

Guy shrugged. “We’ll take 784-A, as well. Just to be safe. But the two females are yours.”

The Vietnamese nodded. “We will make the arrangements,” he said, and quietly withdrew.

There was a silence as Nate lit up another cigar, shook out the match. “Well, you sure made quick work of it. I wasn’t expecting you here till tomorrow.”

“Something came up.”

“Yeah?” Nate’s expression was thoughtful through the stinking cloud of smoke. “Anything I can help you with?”

“Maybe.”

Nate nodded toward the door. “Come on. Let’s get out of here. This place gives me the creeps.”

They walked outside and stood in the dusty courtyard of the old military compound. Barbed wire curled on the wall above them. A rattling air conditioner dripped water from a window of the Quonset hut.

“So,” said Nate, contentedly puffing on his cigar. “Is this business or personal?”

“Both. I need some information.”

“Not classified, I hope.”

“You tell me.”

Nate laughed and squinted up at the barbed wire. “I may not tell you anything. But ask anyway.”

“You were on the repatriation team back in ’73, right?”

“Seventy-three through ’75. But my job didn’t amount to much. Just smiled a lot and passed out razors and toothbrushes. You know, a welcome-home handshake for returning POWs.”

“Did you happen to shake hands with any POWs from Tuyen Quan?”

“Not many. Half a dozen. That was a pretty miserable camp. Had an outbreak of typhoid near the end. A lot of ’em died in captivity.”

“But not all of them. One of the POWs was a guy named Luis Valdez. Remember him?”

“Just the name. And only because I heard he shot himself the day after he got home. I thought it was a crying shame.”

“Then you never met him?”

“No, he went through closed debriefing. Totally separate channel. No outside contact.”

Guy frowned, wondering about that closed debriefing. Why had Intelligence shut Valdez off from the others?

“What about the other POWs from Tuyen Quan?” asked Guy. “Did anyone talk about Valdez? Mention why he was kept apart?”

“Not really. Hey, they were a pretty delirious bunch. All they could talk about was going home. Seeing their families. Anyway, I don’t think any of them knew Valdez. The camp held its prisoners two to a cell, and Valdez’s cellmate wasn’t in the group.”

“Dead?”

“No. Refused to get on the plane. If you can believe it.”

“Didn’t want to fly?”