Disclaimer: I don't own the A-Team and I make no money from this.
Chapter 20 Keep it Brief
Even without Lew knocking on her door, Syd had awakened early on Thursday. After another long, hard run, she decided to swing by SOG HQ and see if she could find out when the debriefing was.
As she was about to knock on General Morrison's door, a sharp "No!" stilled her hand. The voice sounded like that of Colonel Ryan Campbell. Glancing up and down the silent hall, Syd decided to chance it and eavesdrop, at least for a few minutes.
"I can't do it, Morrison," Campbell sounded desperate. "Any more than I could lay the blame for what we did at someone else's feet. It's wrong."
"You're a fool, Campbell," Morrison said. "Do you think the Army gives a flying fuck about you? About Murdock? This is your chance. Don't blow it."
Several seconds of dead silence. Syd nearly jumped out of her skin when Campbell's voice sounded just the other side of the door where she was listening.
"I'm out," Campbell said. "I can't do this anymore. Nothing is worth losing my own self-respect."
Syd scrambled down the hall and out of sight around a corner just as the door to Morrison's office opened. She tensed, prepared to follow Campbell as he left. Maybe she could catch him alone – find out what he was 'out' of.
In disappointment, she watched as Morrison strode out into the hall, catching Campbell with a firm hand on his shoulder. His voice held a pacifying note, with just a hint of reprimand when he spoke.
"Ryan, please, let's talk about this. There has to be another way. You're too close to retirement to walk out now."
She heaved a sigh as the men moved out of HQ together. Maybe she'd be able to catch up with Campbell after the debriefing and find out what the hell that was all about.
The only problem was that she still didn't know when the debriefing was.
hhhhh
Hannibal stood at the front of the large conference room watching as men assembled. Most of them were still dragging. Colonel Ryan Campbell had been there when he arrived, sitting alone in the center of the room. He looked like death warmed over and with good reason. In the entire operation, the only casualties had been on Campbell's team and it was his own damn fault.
Morrison's voice broke into his thoughts. "Don't go there, Hannibal."
"That's part of the postmortem, Russ," Hannibal said flatly. "Campbell knows it. We all need to learn from his fuck up so we don't repeat it."
"And I'm telling you to let it lie," Morrison said, voice harsh. "That's an order, Lieutenant Colonel Smith, not a request."
Hannibal's responding voice was low and intense as he turned to face his CO. He thought they had sorted this out yesterday, but apparently not.
"That's bullshit, Russ. This whole fucking cluster has been bullshit. First you try to pin it on my pilot with an official inquiry, and then you let Campbell skate? No fucking way."
Hannibal clamped his mouth shut at the cold look he encountered in his CO's eyes – obviously he had stepped over some invisible line. He had known Russ Morrison for over a decade and considered him a friend, but lately he wondered if he really knew the man at all. He was inclined to chalk it up to the stress of the last several months and the push for SOG to close up shop in Vietnam. But it still rankled.
"Fine, sir," Hannibal ground out.
"That's better," Morrison growled.
Scanning the room, Hannibal took mental roll call and then turned to Morrison again. "Where are Lewis and Wilson?"
"Lewis is in the field with Cartwright," Morrison said.
"And Wilson?" Hannibal prompted.
Morrison shrugged. "She's your problem, Smith. I thought I made that clear."
"Son of a bitch," Hannibal muttered under his breath before asking, "Did anyone tell her when the debriefing was?"
Another shrug and Morrison turned pointedly away. Hannibal stared at his back for several seconds and then whirled and caught Ray's eye.
"Brenner, I need you to run an errand for me. Now."
sssss
After leaving SOG HQ, Syd had showered, dressed and settled down at her desk to try and read. It was impossible to concentrate. She knew the debriefing was that day. But Lew was gone and she still didn't know when it was. Not only that, but she was totally perplexed by the scrap of overheard conversation between Campbell and Morrison that morning.
Syd looked at her watch. Just before nine hundred. Jumping up from the chair, she strode through the door and down the path. Maybe if she wandered by SOG HQ now she'd be able to find something out. If not, then she'd try the Team barracks. Surely by now they knew when the debriefing was.
"Syd!"
Ray Brenner came running toward her. She smiled at him.
"Hey, Ray. Do you know when the debriefing is?"
Taking her arm, Ray forced her along at a brisk pace. "Right now."
Syd growled. "Dammit. I knew it. Why didn't anyone tell me?"
"Hannibal won't let it happen again, if he can help it. We just learned when it was ourselves about half an hour ago. As soon as Hannibal realized Morrison hadn't invited you, he sent me to come get you."
"Morrison doesn't want me here," Syd said.
"Nope, he doesn't. You knew that coming in, Syd."
"Doesn't make it any easier to swallow."
Ray gave her shoulder a squeeze. "Buck up, kiddo. You are here, whether Morrison likes it or not. Keep up with the kind of intelligence you've brought us so far, and even Morrison will have to admit that you were worth the risk."
They reached the briefing room and slipped into the back. As soon as Hannibal saw them he raised a hand. The room slowly quieted as attention turned to the colonel.
"I'd like to open this meeting with a moment of silence in respect for our fallen."
Heads bowed across the room, but Syd stared in shock. She noticed that she wasn't the only person whose head remained raised. In the middle of the room Ryan Campbell sat alone, hollow gaze fixed forward, eyes red-rimmed. Carefully examining the rest of the men gathered there, Syd realized that his second-in-command, Dan Miller, was nowhere in the room. She slumped against the wall, wondering who else was missing. At least now she knew what that overheard conversation was likely about.
But she was no closer to knowing what the hell had happened.
rrrrr
The debriefing was long, boring and incredibly unproductive. Campbell stood up as soon as Morrison dismissed them. Ray was surprised when Syd started past him, gaze fixed on Campbell's retreating back. Ray grabbed her shoulder and motioned for her to follow him. He was a little stymied by the irritation in her responding gaze but ignored it. They needed to talk, and now was as good a time as any.
Once outside the room, Syd grabbed Ray's arm, forcing him to stop.
"Why didn't Campbell report?"
Ray glanced uneasily at the men dispersing around them. Curious glances were quickly averted, but Ray knew the same question was on everyone's mind. He took Syd's arm and started walking with her, keeping his voice low.
"That's the ten thousand dollar question, Syd," Ray hissed.
He walked her back to her hooch, striding in and closing the door behind them.
Syd stared at him. "Where was Dan Miller, Ray?"
"He didn't make it."
"Who else?"
"Two more of Campbell's men, plus three Yards. What I heard was that Miller had taken a team and split off from the main force – on Campbell's orders. They got caught in the bunker bombing."
"Sweet Jesus."
And they had tried to pin it on Murdock. That conversation was making all sorts of sense, now. Going over the snippet of conversation in her head she came to the conclusion that Morrison must have ordered Campbell to blame Murdock for what had happened – and Campbell had obviously refused. That still didn't answer the question regarding 'what' Campbell wanted out of? The Army? Sydney found that difficult to believe. But if not the Army, then 'what?'
The whole scenario raised some worrisome questions in Sydney's mind. Could it be related to the smuggling that she was here to investigate? That overheard conversation could be taken any number of ways, and she hadn't yet gotten the chance to clarify things with Campbell. That was becoming an imperative in her mind.
"Half a dozen men lost – for no fucking good reason," Ray spat.
Syd started at the venom in Ray's tone. She crossed her arms and leaned against the desk.
"Do you know what happened?"
Ray gave her a brief rundown on the plan, and then explained what he had witnessed.
"What I can't figure out is why the hell Campbell sent those men to the bunker in the first place. I haven't heard a good answer to that question yet."
Shaking her head, Syd murmured, "Killed by our own bombers. Did you recover…"
Even as she said it, Syd realized it was ridiculous.
Ray's responding voice was gentle. "There wasn't anything to recover, sweetie. They were incinerated in the firestorm."
Syd shivered at the thought. Ray patted her arm.
"Look at it this way, at least it was quick."
There was a knock on the door. Ray walked over and opened it. Hannibal stood silhouetted in the entry.
"Thought I might find you here. I need you to come with me." Glancing over Ray's shoulder, Hannibal looked Sydney straight in the eye. "Why don't you tag along, too, kiddo. I have a feeling your skill set could come in handy."
Syd stood and followed the two men. The colonel led them past the Team barracks to a hooch not too far from Hannibal's. BA stood sentinel at the door, his ebony face set in a grim expression.
BA looked at Syd, his eyes widening as he turned to his CO. "Hannibal, you can't take li'l sister in there."
"Murdock said she's an investigator, I'm hoping she'll see something the rest of us might not." He turned to look at Syd. "I'm warning you, though – it's ugly."
Following Hannibal into the hooch, Syd could hear a steady drip-drip-drip, and a vaguely familiar, metallic smell tickled her nose. As the door swung shut behind her, Hannibal turned on the overhead light, illuminating the slumped figure of Colonel Ryan Campbell, head lying in a dark puddle on the otherwise clean surface of his desk. She realized with a start that the dripping sound was that of the blood falling off the sloped surface into a spreading pool on the floor.
Taking several measured breaths, Syd managed to suppress a shudder at the macabre scene in front of her and force her mind into investigator mode. Campbell's wasn't the first body she'd seen. But she had watched the man walk out of debriefing less than an hour before – very much alive. He couldn't have been dead for more than fifteen or twenty minutes.
Hannibal stood by, arms crossed, looking at the body dispassionately. "I want your opinion. Do you think this was a suicide?"
Syd moved forward, carefully surveying the entire scene while being careful not to touch anything. Campbell's right hand hung by his side, his service revolver lying on the floor directly underneath it. Kneeling down, Syd examined the gun and was able to read the serial number on the slide. She pulled out a small notebook and pencil that she had taken to carrying with her everywhere for just such an occasion. She carefully transcribed the number and then shoved both back into her pants pocket.
Standing, she leaned close to the body, noting the position of the entry wound. It definitely could have been self-inflicted, but something about the whole thing felt off. She stood back and stared at the scene, trying to figure out what was nagging at her.
A throat cleared, and Syd looked up to find Colonel Smith's sharp eyes focused on her.
"Well?"
Opting to buy herself more time, Syd asked a question of her own. "What makes you think it isn't a suicide, Hannibal?"
She was certain that was what had prompted Hannibal to bring them there. To bring her there.
"My gut," Hannibal said.
"Not good enough," Syd said. "You have to have a reason."
Hannibal looked at her silently for several seconds before responding.
"Why wait until now? The timing doesn't make sense. If he was that desperate, that full of guilt, why not kill himself last night, when the mission jazz is wearing off and ghosts come to visit – when you're trying to sleep but your conscience won't let you. That's when you consider suicide. Not in broad daylight after you've just been let off the hook in a debriefing where your ass should have been nailed to the wall. At this point, Campbell should have been bouncing back."
The colonel's words triggered recognition of what was bothering her about the scene. "The recoil."
Hannibal's brows wrinkled. "Huh?"
She turned and checked the position of the gun, directly below Campbell's dangling hand. Leaning down for a closer look it became apparent that even the orientation of the gun was off if it was dropped there by the dead man. That was what was wrong.
"The positioning doesn't make sense. That gun was placed there by someone very much alive. It didn't drop from Campbell's dead hand."
Hannibal moved to her side, studying the gun for several seconds before nodding.
"I'm going to have to call in the MPs. For now, I want all of you out of here – forget what you've seen. I want to deal with this myself."
Ray took Syd's arm and led her out. He motioned to BA outside the hooch. "Take Syd back to her quarters."
Stopping Ray with a hand on his arm, she asked, "What are you doing?"
"I'm not letting Hannibal face this one alone, but I think it's far better if you're nowhere near it. Your position here is dicey enough as it is. I promise I'll stop by and talk to you later, Syd."
BA hurried her along. "Let's get you outta here, li'l sister. Ain't no place for a lady anyhow."
Syd sighed and allowed herself to be led away.
But it didn't stop her from wondering what the hell was going on.
anananananan
A/N: 'THANK YOU' to SandraSmit19 and wotumba1.
Just one chapter tonight. I'll try to find time to post again tomorrow nitght.