The sun peeked through the curtains as Raleigh stirred, trying not to wake Samantha. When the phone rang, Samantha rose and fluffed the pillows behind her head as Raleigh grabbed the phone.
“Hello, this is Chief Fitzgerald speaking. Yeah, hold one, I’ll put you on speaker phone.”
“Yeah, Chief, this is Sergeant First Class Jones. Major Chambers wanted me to call you to let you know about what happened here in the night.”
“Okay, what’s up, Sergeant?” Raleigh replied.
“Well, this morning when the three o’clock rounds were done, it was discovered that two inmates had apparently hung themselves in their cells.”
“Okay, you wanna tell me which inmates, Sergeant?”
There was a slight pause on the phone, then the sergeant spoke. “It seems that Sergeant First Class Jared Thompson and Semeana Thompson were both found dead in their cells at three a.m. this morning.”
Raleigh sat motionless for what seemed like forever. “How?” was all he said.
“Well, Chief, it seems that somehow they hung themselves with their pants,” the sergeant answered.
“What do you mean it seems? Did they or didn’t they fucking hang themselves?” Raleigh snarled.
“Chief, they did!”
“Tell Major Chambers that Sergeant O’Hara and I will be there in an hour. I want a fucking explanation on how the fucking inmates can one…be left alone long enough to do that, two…how the fuck did they do it, and three…how long is it between rounds? Those are the first questions I want fucking answers to when I get there.”
“All right Chief, I am on it. I am really sorry,” the sergeant repeated. “See you soon, Chief.”
“Thanks for nothing, Sergeant.” He clicked the phone off and threw it against the wall where it shattered into pieces. “Well, FUCK!”
Samantha placed her hand on Raleigh’s shoulder, and he winced in pain. “Are you okay?”
“Yeah baby, pulled stitches a little when I threw the phone. Damn it to hell!”
“I mean are you okay about Jared?” she asked.
“I don’t know, Sammie. To be honest, I don’t know. I just know my oldest friend in the world is dead. Beside him being a traitor, he was coming clean and trying to make things right. I never wanted this, and I definitely didn’t want to see his wife die. She not only killed herself, but she killed her child.”
Raleigh’s face changed from anger to despair when the realization that not only did Semeana die but she took with her Jared’s child. “My god, Sam, she killed her baby! Was that because of me? Did I do this?” Raleigh’s eyes filled with tears as he thought of what his final words had been to Jared—how he had promised to protect his friend’s wife and child and how he had failed in that promise.
Samantha wrapped her arms around Raleigh as he leaned into her. It was the first time she had seen him weep, and there was nothing she could do to take the pain away. As she sat holding him, he looked up at her. “I swear, Samantha. I will protect you and I will never let anything happen to you. If I lost you I would die inside.”
“Raleigh, you aren’t gonna lose me. I swear to you I will be right here by your side. I am not going anywhere,” she said as she kissed his cheek. “I know you don’t want to, but we have to get cleaned up and in uniform to get over to the detention center in an hour.”
“Yeah, I know. So many things are swirling around in my head right now. One of which is having to tell Jared’s family. I don’t want to tell them over the phone, and I don’t want some stranger doing it, either. After we finish up at the detention center, I want to catch the first flight back to Alabama to see Jared’s parents. It should come from me, not some recruiter in the area. Would you go with me, Samantha?”
“Baby, you do not even need to ask. Once we get to the detention center, I will make the calls to get a military hop back to Alabama, okay? Don’t worry, I got this,” she said as she got up from the bed and made her way into the shower. “Will you be okay for a few while I jump in the shower first?”
“Yeah, I will run some coffee and go down the hall and grab you a Diet Pepsi.”
Raleigh grabbed a pair of sleeping pants out of his bag and threw them on as he heard the shower come on. Grabbing his key to the room, he walked out and headed to the machines just a few doors down from their room. As he rounded the corner to the snack area near the elevator, the door opened and out walked Kristen, who was smiling and lunged forward to wrap her arms around Raleigh’s neck.
“What the fuck are you doing here? And get the fuck off me,” he said.
“Baby, I am here for you. Don’t you know I love you and we have a baby on the way?”
“Kristen, you know for a fact that baby is not mine. You probably have no idea who that baby belongs to, and that’s the sad part. Because not only do you not know but that baby won’t know, and I feel bad for the child already. I am not trying to be ugly. It’s just that you let a good thing go so you can play around, and now that you can’t play around, you figure you will try and rope me back in. Ain’t gonna work, sister. I already know the truth. Now get the fuck off me!” Raleigh said as he flung his arms out of her grasp.
“You are going to treat the mother of your child like this? What? Are you fucking that slut I saw you with last night? How can you do this to me?” Kristen screamed at the top of her lungs. “You are mine, Raleigh Fitzgerald, and I swear if I can’t have you, no one will!”
Soon the doors to the elevator opened and two hotel security men stepped off. Raleigh was attempting to calm Kristen down when hotel security asked, “Sir, can we help you?”
“Yes, please. This young lady is not a guest here and has been following me. Can you escort her off the premises?”
The security guard grabbed Kristen, who was screaming she was pregnant and would sue the hotel if they didn’t take their hands off her. They pulled Kristen into the elevator and Raleigh thanked the security officers as the door shut. Grabbing the soda, he headed back down the hallway to his room. When he unlocked the door, he saw Samantha was already out of the shower and wrapped in a towel.
“What took so long?” she asked.
“Oh, trouble with the machine. You know me and technology,” he said, laughing as he handed her the Diet Pepsi. “Here ya go darlin’. Nice and cold. I am gonna grab a cup of coffee and jump in the shower myself. Won’t be long.”
“Thanks, babe!” she said, popping open the soda and taking a sip. “I really needed that. I am a little dehydrated from the beer and amazing sex last night.”
***
Samantha
The trip to the detention center was eerily quiet, and Samantha worried that Raleigh would lose his temper with the soldiers as soon as they arrived. But he seemed calm as he helped her out of the truck. Making an excuse to rush inside to use the bathroom, Sam gave the soldiers inside a heads up that the Chief was beyond pissed and to make sure they had all their ducks in a row so he had no excuse to tear them a new asshole.
Once Raleigh had made his way into the detention center, Samantha was already in the waiting area. “I sent for Major Chambers, Chief,” she said as she stood at attention. They might be sleeping together, but in public, especially around the other soldiers, she could not let it show that they had something going on the side.
She wanted so much to be clinging to him at this very moment to show she was there to support him; she knew this had to be one of the toughest things he had ever had to do. He was going to have to identify his best friend then tonight they would fly out to Alabama so he could break the news to Jared’s family. This was the part she knew Raleigh hated. To lose men was one thing, but to lose his best friend and someone he had known his entire life was another.
When Major Chambers came in the two men hugged, then the major asked Raleigh and Samantha to follow him as they walked through the various hallways and locked security doors to a room on the far end of the Detention Center. It was the building’s morgue, where two bodies lay draped in white sheets.
Both men were silent as they stepped closer to the first body, a larger body that Samantha assumed was Jared’s. The doctor greeted them, then grabbed the corner of the sheet and exposed the head. “Is this Sergeant First Class Jared Thompson, sir?” the doctor asked Raleigh.
***
Raleigh
“Yes, that’s him. Do we know what happened, Doc?” Raleigh asked.
“Yes, Chief. From the wounds on his knuckles and the various bruising on the body, it appears the sergeant was attempting to fight off his attacker. The wounds and bruising on the neck would suggest the sergeant hung himself, but from the defensive wounds, it would appear the sergeant had help. This is a murder, not a suicide. It is the same with the other body except she has bruising in the abdominal area as well as cuts and abrasions on her legs and arms. These were murders, no doubt about it.”
Raleigh stood stone-faced as the doctor covered the bodies again and looked at Major Chambers. “Well, there goes our only lead. What the hell are we gonna do now?”
Major Chambers looked over at the doctor and asked, “Do you have that letter you pulled off of Sergeant Thompson?”
“Yes, sir. Just one moment.”
“You are both gonna want to glove up,” the doctor said as he handed the letter to Major Chambers, who handed it to Raleigh.
Dear Fitz,
I don’t know how much time I have. I’ve been getting threats, but I wanted to make sure you got this. It’s not safe for you or that female sergeant so watch your six. When you killed Saheed Al-Balshera, you opened up a huge can of shit. His younger brother, Muhammed Jahan Al-Balshera, is now interim leader until he can prove himself, and I promise you he will attempt to prove himself by getting the guy that killed his brother. I left a safe deposit box at the Fort Bragg Post Office that details the organization’s plans for the next year. As I told you earlier today, they have plans to get a hold of a drone and will get themselves an American pilot if they have the chance. There is everything you need in that safe deposit box. It details all their plans including thefts, storage facilities, and where the money goes. Get to that box and watch your six; there are more of us serving in uniform than you know. Those along with names are also in the box. I want to say I am sorry for everything and I beg you to get Semeana safe. Despite what you may think I do love you like my own flesh and blood and I did all of this not for me but to save you, initially anyway until I fell in love with Semeana.
Love you brother,
Jared.