Their darkly painted SCAMPER lands in a guarded TND compound somewhere in Nah Trang. The messangers jump out of the SCAMPER, leading Nigel, who seems in much better shape. As he gets out he sees a platoon of TND Soldiers drilling in the hot hazy sun. They seem to be on their first deployment. "I was going to the worst place in the world, and I didn't even know it yet. Weeks away and hundreds of miles up river that snaked through the war like a circuit cable...plugged straight into Rachel." Nigel follows the escort as the platoon marches. "It was no accident that I got to be the caretaker of Colonel Rachel Mackenzie's memory, any more that being back in Saigon was an accident. There was no way to tell her story without telling my own. And if her story is really a confession, then so is mine." Eventually they approach a civilian-type luxury trailer. It is surrounded by concertina wire, and its windows have grenade protection, but it still seems out of place in this austere military base. The guard checks his papers and allows him inside the trailer.

The Trailer was cool and comfortable, furnished like home. Pictures on the walls, certificates, photos of Supreme Leaders and other mementos decorated the room. A small table is covered with linen and place settings for three. A Colonel, a General, and a boy who appears to be a Secret Agent are inside. Nigel salutes, and the Colonel salutes him back. "Captain. Come on in."

"Thank you, sir."

"Stand at ease." The Colonel points to the Secret Agent "Captain, have you ever seen this gentleman before?"

"No, Sir"

"Met the General or myself?"

"No, sir. Not personally."

"You've worked a lot on your own, haven't you, Captain?"

"Yes, sir, I have."

"Your report specifies intelligence, counter-intelligence with the KND inside multiple different teams, including the attempt to decommission adults."

Nigel looks at the Colonel and remembers all that had occurred in the final year of his work in the KND. "I'm not presently disposed to discuss those operations, sir."

There is a pause as the colonel moves to the sofa. He bends down and picks up a dossier and looks at it. "Did you not work for Sector V?"

"No, sir."

"Did you not work for the previous Supreme Leader of the KND in an attempt to decommission adults?" Nigel doesn't answer. "Captain?" Nigel remembers he is talking to a superior and answers.

"Sir, I am unaware of any such activity or operation, nor would I be disposed to discuss an operation, if it did in fact exist, sir."

The general rises and says to Nigel. "I thought we'd have a bit of lunch while we talked. I hope you brought a good appetite, Captain." Nigel gets up and moves towards the dining table with the general and the secret agent. They sit down. The General sees Nigel's sliced but bandaged hand. "I noticed that you have a bad hand there. Are you wounded?"

"Had a little fishing accident on R and R, sir." Lying to try and hide his rampage the night before.

"Fishing on R and R?" The General asks in disbelief.

"Yes, sir."

"But you're feeling fit? You're ready for duty?" The General says knowing it probably wasn't the truth but believing it anyway.

"Yes, General. Very much so, sir."

They begin passing the food around. "Well, let's see what we have here. Roast beef, and usually it's not bad." Looking at the Agent the General instructs. "Try some, Jerry. Pass it around. To save a little time, we might pass both ways." He then looks at Nigel and says. "Captain, I don't know how you feel about this shrimp, but if you eat it, you'll never have to prove your courage in any other way."

The Colonel, who is not eating with them, walks to Nigel, holding a small photo. "Captain, you remember Colonel Rachel Mackenzie?" He shows the photo to Nigel.

"Yes, sir."

The Colonel accidentally drops the dossier. Papers and photos scatter all over the floor. He stoops down to pick them up. "Operations officer, Fifth Special Forces. Previous Supreme Leader of the KND."

The General motions for the Colonel to put the Dossier in front of him. "Luke, would you play that tape, for the captain, please?"

"Yes, Sir, Sorry, Sir."

The Colonel moves over to a tape player. "Listen to it carefully, Captain." The Colonel turns on the player.

First the voice of an records keeper is heard "October 9, 04:30 hours, Sector Peter, Victor, King."

The Colonel interjects for the moment before another voice can be heard. "These were monitored out of Cambodia. It's been verified as Colonel Mackenzie's voice."

Then the voice of Rachel Mackenzie is heard on the tape. "I watched a small snail, crawling on the edge of a straight razor. That's my dream. It's my nightmare. Crawling, slithering, along the edge of a straight razor, and surviving." The Keeper's voice is heard again. "Transmission 11, December 30, 05:00 hours, Sector King, Zulu, King." Then she is heard again. "But we must kill them. We must incinerate them. Pig after pig. Cow after cow. Village after village. Army after army. And they call me an assassin. What do you call it, when the assassins accuse the assassin? They lie. They lie and we have to be merciful, for those who lie. Those nabobs. I hate them. I really hate them."

The Colonel turns the tape player off. "Rachel Mackenzie was one of the most outstanding officers the KND and TND has ever produced. She was brilliant. She was outstanding in every way. And she was a good girl, too. A humanitarian girl. A girl of wit and humor. She joined the Special Forces, and after that, her ideas, methods, became...unsound. Unsound."

Nigel thinks for a moment while the Colonel prepares to speak. "Now she's crossed into Cambodia with this Montagnard army of her, that worship the girl like a god, and follow every order, however ridiculous. And, I have some other shocking news to tell you. Colonel Mackenzie was about to be arrested for murder."

Nigel looks back in a bit of shock. "I don't follow sir. Murdered who?"

"Mackenzie had ordered the execution of some Adult intelligence agents. People she believed were double agents. So she took matters into her own hands."

The General looked back at Nigel. "Well, you see, Uno, in this war, things get confused out there. Power, ideals, the old morality, and practical military necessity. But out there with these natives, it must be a temptation to be God. Because the rational and the irrational, between good and evil. And good does not always triumph. Sometimes, the dark side overcomes what some called the better angels of our nature. Everyone has got a breaking point. You and I have them. Rachel Mackenzie has reached hers. And, very obviously, she has gone insane."

Nigel looks from the Colonel to the General to the Agent. They are intensely interested in his response, which they want to be yes. Nigel thinks carefully before saying. "Yes, sir. Very much so, sir. Obviously insane."

They pull back, satisfied. The Colonel speaks again. "Your mission is to proceed up the Nung River in a navy patrol boat, pick up Colonel Mackenzie's path at Nu Mung Ba, follow it, learn what you can along the way. When you find the colonel, infiltrate her team by whatever means available, and terminate the colonel's command."

Nigel looks at the General. "Terminate...the colonel?"

"She's out there operating without any decent restraint, totally beyond the pale of any acceptable human conduct. And she is still on the field commanding troops."

The Agent looks at Nigel and says the only words he'll ever say to him. "Terminate with extreme prejudice."

Before Nigel leaves the Colonel say one more thing to him. "You understand, Captain, that this mission does not exist, nor will it ever exist." "Yes, Sir"

I don't own anything, this was transcribed from the transcript of Apocalypse Now.