EIGHTEEN
Nov 27th: 0800 hours
When the Army jeep arrived at the MASH unit, Lieutenant MacAllister hurried out to greet the people riding in it. Momentarily disappointed at seeing only one brother, instead of two, she quickly smiled at her oldest sibling, "Howdy, brother mine. Happy Thanksgiving!"
Instead of greeting her in return, Colonel MacAllister climbed out of the vehicle and said, "Sarabeth, take a walk with me."
Puzzled, the young woman followed her brother without argument. He was never this serious without a good reason. He led her towards the horse corral. Reaching the perimeter of the camp, the guard stationed there started to accompany them. "No need, Private," MacAllister indicated the weapon at his hip. "Stay at your post."
At Sophie's pen, a man was standing near the shed. He waited for the two Texans to approach. "All the men are in their positions, sir," he reported. "And the pilot is waiting for your orders."
Nodding, the older MacAllister carefully looked over the area before speaking, "Sarabeth, this is Captain Sterling. I wanted y'all to meet each other and get to know each other's voices. He may be calling you from time to time, instead of me. He's my 'left hand man'," the colonel, with a slight grin, informed her.
"Not your right hand man?" his sister asked with a teasing grin of her own.
"No, ma'am," the soldier replied with a smile. "I'm definitely left-handed."
After they talked briefly, the senior officer spoke to his aide, "Take your position. We're good to go."
"Right," the captain acknowledged. He smiled at the woman. "It's nice to meet you, ma'am. I'll be in touch." He walked towards his own jeep, parked further down the road without another word.
"Is Fannin going to be here today?" Sarabeth asked as the two of them returned to the hospital compound.
"If every thing goes right, he'll be here in time to eat," her brother replied.
"And just when are you going to tell me what's going on?" She asked with an arch of her eyebrow.
"Later…maybe," Crocket answered. He arched an eyebrow back at her and grinned.
Snorting in annoyance, the woman checked her watch. "It will have to be later, big brother. Major Houlihan called a staff meeting for 0900 hours. And, I'm going to be late for it, if I don't get a move on."
"Sarabeth, do me a favor. Ask Houlihan if she will delay her entrance by about ten minutes; to give me a chance to talk to the nurses alone."
"…Ah, here's Major Houlihan, now," the Texan stood, as a courtesy to the head nurse. He smiled at the assembled group of women. "If y'all will excuse me, ladies; I have a call to make to Mrs. Granbury."
Nov. 27th: 0930 hours
Corporal Klinger knocked at Major Houlihan's door. "Excuse me, ma'am," he announced as he entered at her invitation, "but Colonel Potter requests that Lieutenant MacAllister come to his office immediately."
The two senior nurses, who were sitting in the tent, going over the monthly surgical reports, looked at each other. The major shrugged. "Go ahead," she gave her permission to the other woman. "We'll finish this later."
"You sent for me, sir?" MacAllister asked as she knocked and entered the office. She looked at the officers who were gathered there. Colonel Potter, Major Winchester and Captain Pierce were already seated. Colonel MacAllister was standing nearby.
"Sit down, Lieutenant," the commander indicated a chair. "Colonel MacAllister has something to say to us." He yielded his authority to the visiting officer.
MacAllister stepped over to the entrance way. "Corporal, see that we're not disturbed," he ordered and firmly shut the door before turning to the medical staff. "I'm conducting an official investigation for some very serious allegations. Y'all are expected to cooperate completely; and to answer my questions truthfully. Do y'all understand?"
"Yes, sir," came the perplexed replies.
"Major, do you recall meeting a Colonel Flagg?" MacAllister asked.
The surgeon nodded, "I do, indeed, remember him."
"He has the opinion that you set him up."
"I did," Winchester answered with a slight grin. "However, that was some time ago. Has it taken him this long to decide that?"
"His mills grind slow. But they do grind," the soldier acknowledged. "Colonel Flagg recently marked the three of your 201 personal files for further investigations. Anything Flagg is interested in interests me. So, Winchester," MacAllister directed, "tell me how you met him and tell me how you managed to get him into trouble with his department."
"Very well, colonel," the man began. "We were in triage. I had an American soldier with a chest wound. Pierce had a North Korean with a head wound. I felt my patient should have top priority. He felt his patient should go first. He is the Chief Surgeon---I was overruled."
"Colonel Flagg showed up about seven hours later. Since I had objected to the order of treatment, he wanted me to find some incriminating evidence on Pierce. Flagg thought he was a Communist sympathizer."
"Now, while I would welcome Pierce's humiliation, I will not spy on him. I informed the colonel of that fact. At first, he tried to bribe me by offering me a permanent assignment in Boston. Then he insinuated that something would happen to my family if I didn't help him."
"Cooperation through coercion; that's Flagg, all right." MacAllister motioned, "Go on."
"...I planted the diagram of the camp, along with the time of the 'supposed' meeting, on the North Korean soldier. I then 'discovered' it while the colonel was present. After some prompting, Colonel Flagg decided that it must be Pierce's rendezvous notification. At the specified time, he brought in the MPs and arrested the two civilians who were with Pierce and Colonel Potter. As it happens; the two 'Communists' were the mayor and the police chief of Uijongbu---and they were there for our weekly bridge game. They were not amused by his mistake." Winchester smiled at the memory.
The colonel conducting the investigation turned to another medical officer, "Captain Pierce, what do you know about Colonel Flagg?"
"…Winchester, have you ever been---or are you now---a Communist or a Communist sympathizer?" MacAllister asked bluntly.
Major Winchester answered calmly, "I have never been, I am not now and I shall never be a Communist or a Communist sympathizer," he asserted.
"Now that everyone has given their statements," the G-2 officer turned to the other men, "Colonel Potter, Pierce, I'll ask y'all the same question. Have you ever been---or are you now---a Communist or a Communist sympathizer?"
"Absolutely not!" The older man replied indignantly.
"I have been called many things:" the captain answered more glibly, "wayward, a womanizer, a worm…but, I'm not a Communist…no matter what Flagg may think."
Having listened to their statements with sharp concentration and having watched their facial expressions and gestures with equal intensity, Colonel MacAllister made his decision, "Gentlemen, you're cleared of all implications. Excuse me a moment, I have something to take care of."
He moved to the phone and placed a call, "Red Dog. Scarecrow's chasing his tail again. This investigation is closed. Allegations are false. Right. Pull all the markers," he ordered and then asked, "And the other matter?" Listening to the report on the other end of the line, the Texan nodded. "All right then; continue as planned. Out."
Colonel MacAllister straightened and faced the other men. "Thank you for your cooperation. You are free to go. Do not speak to anyone about this, however."
"That would not be my first choice," Major Winchester replied, "Colonel, I have a question. Flagg threatened my family---especially my sister, Honoria---when he was trying to acquire my assistance in this charade. Is he likely to harm them, or her, now?"
MacAllister shook his head, "I've already contacted some people in Washington. If he tries to organize something, they'll know about it. They'll take protective measures---if it is necessary---which it won't be," he assured him.
"Well, I'm going back to the Swamp," Hawkeye Pierce announced. "Being convicted, and acquitted, of crimes I didn't even know about, is exhausting. This calls for a drink.
Anyone care to join me?"
Moving to her office in the medical storeroom, the younger MacAllister looked at her brother as he closed the door. "You and I need to have a little talk," she informed him. There was no playfulness in her voice.
Crockett saw his sister observing him, closely. Her arched eyebrow was demanding explanations. Grinning, he turned a chair around, straddled it and leaned his arms on the back support. "If you ask the right questions, I can give you the right answers, sister mine," he informed her.
"Oh, I reckon I have the right questions, brother mine," she retorted as she sat beside him. "Obviously, this was a serious matter---otherwise you wouldn't have bothered with it. But you didn't need me there. Why did you have me listen in?"
"I reckon you can answer that one," Crockett replied evenly.
"Actually, I can think of several reasons why you would want me there: as a calming factor so they wouldn't feel so intimidated; and if one of them relaxed enough, made a mistake and revealed something, you'd have me as a witness. You'd also have a witness if they claimed you forced a confession out of them. Any reasons I've missed?"
"You've covered most of them."
"Crockett, you know I'll back you 110 on anything! However, I don't like being used as bait...particularly with my friends."
"Understood. It was necessary, however."
"Understood. And," Sarabeth relented with a smile, "I know you've done more to help them than you should have. Thank you!" She told him sincerely.
And then, with a voice dripping in sweetness, she added, "Now, big brother...it may take Charles and Hawkeye awhile to think about this one...but I've been dealing with your devious mind for years. Just why were you looking into their 201 files?"
Colonel MacAllister moved his chair around and sat properly. His demeanor became more professional. "Those won't the only files that Flagg had marked, Sarabeth. He also pulled the ones for you, Fannin, Kellye and Mary Louise Granbury."
"But those are people you've talked…" Eyes widening in surprise, the younger MacAllister blurted out, "Crockett, he's investigating you!"
The man nodded. "He didn't start looking at Granbury until after I called her from here; which means he has a spy in this camp. And I don't think it is Klinger."
"No, he wouldn't do that."
The Texas soldier watched as his sister ran through the possibilities in her mind. He saw her jaw tightened and the fury flash in her eyes as she realized who the informant had to be. "Leave it be, Sarabeth," he advised as she half-raised out of her chair in anger.
"No, I'm not about to leave it be! Not when she's put you in danger. You pick a fight with one MacAllister; you've picked a fight with us all. You know that. And, I'm going to kick her…."
"No, you're not. Not right now," her brother replied. He gently pushed her back into her seat. "Listen to me."
"Nope! There's not going to be enough left of her..."
"Listen to me!" Crockett MacAllister barked in sharp command. The woman glared at him defiantly but she forced her anger aside. Seeing that she had more control over her emotions, he continued, "I wasn't sure who his target was until this morning---when another call, from this outfit was made---after I had announced I was going to phone Granbury. The call I placed in Potter's office confirmed my suspicions."
"But why? Why did he decide to investigate you, big brother?"
"It's more like he's trying to find some leverage on me," the colonel explained. "I have information on a Chinese general who is a very severe threat to every American stationed here in Korea. Even though I have shared all the intelligence I have with his department, he thinks I know more than I'm telling."
"He does have an important mission because this man must be eliminated before too many lives are lost. But Flagg is a fanatic. He doesn't care who he hurts---just so long as he achieves his goal."
"And that is why, little sister, you and I have to pretend we know nothing. I want him focused on me; rather than have him trying to get information out of you, or Kellye."
The youngest MacAllister shook her head. "We can take care of ourselves."
"I'm sure y'all can. But I'm not going to give him the opportunity. Flagg doesn't know it yet, but, he's no longer the hunter." The soldier gave a wolfish grin, "He just became the prey."
"And what do you want me to do?" the woman asked.
"Keep your temper reined in, for one thing. He must not suspect that we're on to him. And neither must his spy. You hear me? You have to treat her the same way as you have in the past."
"Don't worry, big brother," she assured him. "I'll be so sweet; butter won't melt in my mouth. But, I'm warning you," Sarabeth MacAllister had a wicked smile. "If something happens to you, I'm going to stomp both of them so hard they'll need a spoon to scrape themselves off the ground!"
Grinning at her fierceness, her brother gave her a kiss. "Let's go eat. It's been a long time since I've eaten one of our sirloins."
Coming out of the nurse's office, the two Texans were happily reminiscing, "Remember the time that Milam was practicing throwing a loop and caught Grannie's old tom cat?"
"I sure do. There was so much squalling and bawling and cussing and clawing going on that we all thought he'd roped a bobcat!"
In the shadows, overhearing this remark, a woman shook her head in disgust. All they ever talked about was their childhood adventures. She had told the colonel they were just boring country bumpkins but he had said any information could be important. Quickly, she made her way to Corporal Klinger's office. She had another phone call to make.
