Hey! New chapter, with a problem in Charleston, a disappearance in the 4077th, and Frank being a moron. Enjoy!
In response to yet another murder (Lt. Leslie Dish), a curfew had been imposed and only two tents (Margaret Houlihan's, much to her disdain, and the Swamp) were to be occupied by personnel (the exception being that Col. Flagg of the CI-whatsit would sleep alone in the VIP tent, for obvious reasons). 'Safety in numbers' was Henry's reckoning. This impressed no-one. Any plan created by Col. Blake was doomed to failure from the outset.
Frank, of course, objected to the idea of 'non-coms' like Radar and Klinger sleeping in an officer's tent, but he'd also objected to Hi (a civilian faking being a Private) sleeping there, and then, as always, he'd been shouted down, just like now.
Ella objected to sleeping in with the nurses, especially Margaret. Only Bayliss and Kelleye seemed in any way willing to accept her, and somehow she just knew she'd end up in Dish's bunk trying not to feel too creeped out..
Hot Lips herself objected to having to share her private tent, but no sooner had this been declared than Hawk made a comment about what Frank was always doing in there, and after that it was impossible to take her complaints seriously.
Everyone objected to being in the same camp, let alone the same tent, as Frank (very few people even wanted to be in the same country, and only Margaret wanted to be in the same war).
Life in the Double Natural might just have gotten even worse than it already was - or at least more awkward.
"It should be almost done." Shelton remarked, launching the facial recognition program the Virals had used in the Gamemaster case on the LIRI terminal. They'd loaded their photo into the system three days ago. "Hopefully we'll have a name soon."
The three of them waited.
"What'll we do about Hi and Ella?" he asked a few minutes later.
"I don't know." Tory replied sadly. "Maybe we'll never get them back."
"What'll happen to them after the war?"
"Maybe someone will care enough to take them in? Maybe they found someone they could confide in who'll look after them till they turn eighteen."
"For Hi, there is no after the war." Ben's voice was solemn.
"What do you mean?" The redhead was concerned.
"You guys remember those photos I sent you?" Nods. "Well, on the site I found them on it told you the birth and death dates of everyone stationed at the 4077th. Hiram's supposed to die on the-" He tried to recall the date. "Oh, God."
"That doesn't sound good..." Shelton gulped.
"Today is the sixty-third anniversary of the death of Pvt. H. M. Stolowitski," Tory and Shelton stared in shock, knowing what was coming next, "except, we knew him as Hi."
The killer watched the brown-haired kid patrol the compound.
It wasn't yet dark, but no-one would see him. Everyone, with the exception of the slightly pathetic clerk with the glasses and apparently the boy as well, was preoccupied with casualties.
This was the perfect time to strike.
This one was the most suspicious of the lot. The jewel in his metaphorical crown. He'd be decorated, acclaimed, heralded as the saviour of his fine country. Declared the victor of this police action (he didn't understand why they called it a war).
But not yet. He must take this suspect down.
Chlorophorm first. The boy cried out in alarm but was subdued and unconscious in seconds.
Then he was bagged and driven away.
The killer had, however, overlooked one thing.
The young lieutenant, who had been such good friends with the private lying motionless in the back of the Jeep (how could he notice when such a friendship went against Army regulations? It couldn't exist, so in his world it didn't), would soon notice he was gone.
She would notice, and she would worry.
The worry would turn to resolve as hard as diamond and strong as steel.
He couldn't comprehend compassion, or love in any form, or loyalty to any one person, therefore he could not possibly know what was coming.
He'd killed many times, but he'd never before been challenged.
Two days. Two days, with no rest, minimal food, and maximum carnage presented to her, but mainly her coworkers. Two whole days! Inhuman! And Ella had two more years of that shit yet to come.
"Worst vacation ever." she sighed when it was over, discarding the mask and resting her head in her hands.
"I say we never book through Truman again." Hawk's remark wasn't that funny, but Trapper still laughed.
"Let's just go get food."
"Food? Here? What did I miss?"
"Fair point. Drink?"
"Better."
"I'll just go find Hi," Ella broke away from their small group as they walked across camp. "We can be under 21 together."
After changing out of the white clothes back into her fatigues (of course she wasn't going to change in the scrub room - even though she was wearing most of her clothes underneath anyway, she'd been raised to be a lady), she began her search, but strangely, he was nowhere to be seen. Usually, since Hiram didn't really know which buildings were which - one olive-drab tent looks much like another - he'd stick to the mess tent or the Swamp. He wasn't in the former, getting food poisoning with most of the rest of the camp, or the latter drinking (Hawk and Trap) or reading the Bible in an attempt to appear moral and good (Frank, about to find out that several pages were missing and someone had altered a few of the words).
Maybe Henry asked to see him about something...
Hi wasn't in the office, or outside it looking at the complicated phone system and ridiculing how primitive it was, as she'd found him doing before.
She tried post-op (although why he'd be there she had no idea) and the supply tent (if he's there, thought Ella, he'd better just be getting supplies), but to no avail. It was as though he'd dropped off the face of the earth.
For a moment, Ella entertained the idea of him being able to timeslip and get home, but immediately realized it couldn't be so; the conditions were all wrong.
So where the hell was he?
She returned to the Swamp with no luck. "You seen Hi?"
"Nope."
"Not here." Her mentors returned to their martinis.
"Is that one of the Koreans?"
"No, Frank."
"I don't have to take that." Take what?
"Hiram Stolowitski. Private." Trapper supplied.
"Showed up about a week ago. Sleeps in here."
"Can it, Pierce."
This conversation would go nowhere, Ella realized, so she left.
She hadn't gone that far when she felt a hand grab her elbow. She twisted her arm out of the grip and turned. "Get off me, Ferret Face. I carry a rape whistle."
"She's been PierceIntyred." Frank muttered under his breath.
Ella heard him. " Dammit, I owe Hi $10!"
"What?"
"Never mind. Whaddaya want?"
"I know what you're up to."
"And what would that be?"
"You're a fraud. A civilian impersonating an officer. You could be shot for this."
"You're a civilian impersonating an officer. The technical term is 'draftee'." Which I'm not, but he doesn't have to know that.
His piggy eyes narrowed in suspicion. "I bet you're not even an American. You're one of them."
"One of who?"
"The Commies."
Ella laughed. "Really? You're almost as bad as-" she stopped as the reality of what she was saying dawned on her. "Major, if you've seen Hi I'd appreciate it if you'd tell me."
"And why should I? I outrank you, Comrade Francis."
"Because Hi's stronger than he looks and you share a tent with two guys who happen to be in good terms with me and who once sewed you to your blanket."
"I haven't a clue where he is, I swear!" For all his GI bravado, Frank was a coward at heart (or at least the cavity where a heart should be).
"How about Flagg?"
"And what's it to you?"
"D'ya want me to sic my Communist friends on you?"
"Left an hour and a half ago. I saw him driving off whilst I was doing triage." Frank did triage? So that's why that French chest case got in after the American with the cat scratch.
"Which direction?"
"That way." He pointed east, still slightly panicked. Ella was pretty sure she could be court-martialled and quite probably shot for threatening a superior officer, too, but Frank seemed to have forgotten and she wasn't about to remind him.
"Thanks!"
"Nerts to you!' he sniped. Nerts?
As she walked away, Ella knew she had three options.
She could go to her CO and report the disappearance, but her CO happened to be one of the biggest disasters in the army, and there was no guarantee he'd believe her anyway.
She could see whether Hawkeye and Trapper would help her (they probably would believe her, and would definitely be willing), but she'd already asked too much of them and it wouldn't be right to do so this time.
That left only one option - go after the killer herself.
"And we have a winner!" The program had turned up a result, shaking the three Virals who weren't currently in 1950s South Korea partially out of their gloom.
"The stalker's name is Jefferson Flagg." Tory read from the computer screen. "Now why's he following us?"
"Wasn't our initial suspect called Flagg?" asked Ben.
"Yep. We ruled him out for not having motive." Shelton replied.
"This must be his son or something." Tory added. "If Col. Flagg was the Ripper, that gives our stalker motive for trying to off us."
"But why would the Colonel want to kill his own people?" No-one had an answer for that.
Rope and a map. These were the only useful things Ella could find. She was woefully underequipped and had no idea where to look.
That was where the map came in. She looked east and searched for a likely location.
Somewhere far from any military installation or local settlement.
Somewhere hard to access: maybe near a minefield or something. (Flagg would know how to avoid mines, she was sure of it.)
Somewhere not too far from the 4077th, either. He had to be able to get the bodies in and out of camp quickly.
Ella circled the perfect location and slid into the driver's seat of a Jeep she really didn't have the time to sign off on.
She'd only taken one lesson in driving back in Charleston, but she hoped it would be enough to ensure she didn't crash.
After returning to the bunker and updating Shelton's pointless spreadsheet, the Virals had to figure out where to go from there.
"What do we do?" Ben was more a doer than a thinker.
"Hide?" Shelton suggested.
"Shelton, this D-bag tried to kill us! He's the reason Ella got trapped in the Korean War and can't get back! He's part of the reason Hi's dead! We cannot just hide!" Tory folded her arms decisively.
"If we timeslip, maybe we can bring Hi and Ella back before the killer gets Hi."
"Or, alternatively, find we're too late to save him, get stuck there for the rest of our lives, have shells dropped on us, and probably end up dead or arrested for entering a warzone without authorization."
"What she said. Got any ideas, Tor?"
"We lure him out, then we strike!" The notion was emphasized by the girl slamming her fist into her palm.
"Or I could save you the trouble and come straight to you."
Jefferson Flagg had found them in the one place they thought they were safe.
Hi stirred and began to open his eyes, only to find himself far from the 4077th MASH. This small wooden shack was entirely unfamiliar to him. He looked down, wondering how he came to be waking up in a chair, and saw his hands were tied to the arms, and his ankles also bound.
His blood ran cold as he realized he wasn't alone. Blocking the way to the closed door in front of him was the random intelligence agent he'd seen around the camp.
There was a gun in the man's hand, pointed straight at him. His voice was low, even, and calculating.
"Tell me what you know."
"Leave us alone." Tory faced the man who'd turned their lives into a living nightmare and tried not to show any fear. "What did we ever do to you?"
"Nothing to me," he replied, "but you know too much."
"About what?" Shelton couldn't bring himself to look up.
"My father was Colonel Sam Flagg, and those 'murders', as you call them, were a highly important military operation to remove Communist influences."
"What is he talking about?" Ben murmered.
"This was the Cold War." Tory hissed back.
"Of course, the program never officially existed," Flagg the younger continued, "so of course it would be considered murder. That is, should it ever come to light."
The Virals looked at each other. What the hell do we do now?
