U.S. DISCIPLINARY BARRACKS
FORT LEAVENWORTH, KANSAS
David Bruce Parker, escorted by two United States Army guards, walks along the concrete floor of the hallway. It was just before chow time when a speaker summoned him. He and his escort pass other guards, staff members, and inmates who had give given passes to do menial jobs.
He sees a bald man in a suit, wearing a badge clipped to his gray coat. Parker recognizes him as his lawyer. He had met with the lawyer, who chose to work pro bono, several times in this facility used to house inmates sentenced here by general courts-martial.
"Mr. Parker," says the lawyer, "they did it. The court of Appeals for the Armed Forces overturned your conviction."
"I am free to go?"
"For now. Let's go home, Petty Officer."
A mixture of relief and anxiety surfaces in the now ex-prisoner's mind. After seven years in Leavenworth, he is free. He wonders what the world outside is like.
And yet, there is a lot of uncertainty in his fate. What if he goes to trial again? What if he ends up back here?
And what will THEY do when they find out he is a free man?