Allies: The Inquiry

By Wolf Riedel

When a dedicated veteran jihadist from the United States is smuggled across the border into Canada to meet with a fledgling and entreprenurial leader of two new Canadian cells, their operation runs afoul of a joint police and military exercise involving both American and Canadian participants. Amongst the fatalities from the resulting shootout is an American Special Forces soldier. The new Canadian Chief of Defence Staff and the Commander of the US Special Forces Command each appoint a senior officer to a joint inquiry to determine the circumstances of the incident.
The Inquiry introduces the Allies: Colonel Phil Sambrook, a veteran of 1st Special Forces Operational Detachment-Delta, and Colonel Kurt Richter, a former commander of Joint Task Force-2 still recovering from wounds sustained in combat. The two officers, friends and comrades for years, lead a multi-national team to track the homegrown cells operating in each of their countries.
Frustrated by Canadian police more interested in long term infiltration of the Canadian cell than in quickly identifying the American one which is bent on an imminent strike, the team joins up with CIA operatives and other Special Forces personnel to follows leads which take them from the United States and Canada to England and Germany and eventually to Pakistan.
Along the way the Inquiry explores not only the makeup and motivation of the principal characters, both government and jihadists, but also looks in detail at the threat of homegrown and international Islamist jihad to Western society.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Wolf Riedel
• Release date: Jul 27, 2012
• ISBN: 9780988076624

Wolf Riedel

WOLF RIEDEL is a lawyer and retired army officer with service in the artillery, infantry and with the Judge Advocate General. He and his wife live on the shores of Lake Erie and in Florida.

Book preview

CHAPTER 1

The Pentagon, Washington D.C.

Wednesday 23 Feb 05 0850 hrs EST

Phil's day had not begun well.

On his frequent temporary duty assignments to Washington, he preferred to stay at his sister's three-bedroom condo at Canal House in Georgetown. Phil and Heather shared the family's trait of green eyes, an angular, almost chiseled face and light brown hair—Phil's a half inch crew-cut, Heathers a foot long pony-tail. They also shared a tendency to athletic builds. Phil, now 38, continued to maintain 185 lbs on a muscular six foot one frame while Heather's weight was a complete mystery but at five foot two she appeared so slight she could almost be described as pixyish. While big brother had gone to West Point immediately after high school, Heather had taken a one-year tour of the world before settling on a Master’s program in Political Studies at Harvard. Since graduation she had rotated at yearly intervals through various government departments. Currently she called the U.S. Department of State home.

The condo complex occupied both sides of the historic Chesapeake & Ohio Canal with her suite in the renovated 19th Century warehouse on the south side. Phil rarely brought his car to Washington and a rental was useless without adequate parking. While Heather had a space for her ancient Volvo, guest parking was not guaranteed and sometimes unavailable. Besides, Phil enjoyed his occasional forays on the Metro.

A short walk across the C&O to M Street brought him to where he could catch the 38B Ballston-Farragut Square Line bus for its less than five minute ride to the Metro at Rosslyn Station where—usually waiting for no more than ten minutes—he boarded the Blue Line for another five minute ride to the Metro station on the southeast side of the Pentagon. Phil particularly liked the fact that, with the exceptions of short tunnels before either station, the train ran above ground between the Potomac River and Arlington Cemetery: it allowed him to reflect on several good comrades and family buried there. From the Pentagon's Metro Concourse, Phil had to traverse the cafeteria and the courtyard to the north side of the Pentagon then take corridor six and up to the third floor until arriving at the conference's temporary offices on the E Ring.

Today, what usually turned out to take little more than a half hour from door-to-door had taken almost an hour and a half because of a major accident on the Francis Scott Key Bridge.

At first Phil and the rest of the passengers on the crowded bus had no idea why they were stalled at the M Street turnoff onto the bridge. Phil whiled away 20 minutes reading every advertisement in the windows of the Philadelphia Cheesesteak Factory—open Fri – Sat 11am – 4am—and contemplating the age of the brickwork under the white two-story building. When there was still no movement he decided the wisest course of action would be to abandon the bus and simply walk across the bridge to the Rosslyn Metro Station which was just under a mile away.

On the near side of the bridge at the eastbound exit ramp to Water St N.W. a five ton truck belonging to the Bing Mountain file storage company had caught the edge of the ramp bringing it to a sharp stop. The driver of the following truck which was carrying water bottles for office water coolers appeared to have tried desperately to avoid a crash by jerking his truck towards the center of the bridge. Instead he had not only collided with a Ford Expedition but also clipped the back end of the Bing Mountain truck before his own truck flipped. Hundreds of file boxes, their contents, intact and broken water containers and various assorted vehicle parts were scattered across the entire six lanes of the bridge. Some records manager somewhere was in for a major meltdown.

Phil was able to complete his trip without further interruption. The one hour delay hadn't made him late for the conference which was scheduled to start at 1000 hrs. He had saved some time by being able to check that night's emails on his BlackBerry enroute but nonetheless he did have to rush through some last minute documents that had been put on his desk since he had left late the night before.

Halfway through skimming a 95 page staff paper by some air force major pompously titled A Review and Critical Analysis of P.J. Pentholm's Afghanistan and Asymmetric Warfare: Implications for Special Operations Forces in a Multi-national Framework, Phil concluded that the major was clearly not a follower of Belasco's axiom—If you can't write your idea on the back of my calling card, you don't have a clear idea.

What was apparent to an early 19th century playwright and producer was obviously lost on the numerous modern military academics who constantly churned out reams of pages when a handful of bullet points in a PowerPoint presentation would do. While Death by PowerPoint was becoming a mantra denigrating the medium, Phil still preferred it to the long articles, and even worse, the sometimes incomprehensible military manuals that were now part of the system. When had publish or perish left the academic sphere for the military's?

Phil longed to return to the days when all he needed to know as an army officer could be found in a small manual you could easily stuff into one of your BDU's pockets and take into the field.

He wasn't sure whether the trend came from the fact that warfare was more complex or staff writers were afraid to leave anything out, no matter how insignificant. Either that or they were just plain convinced that everyone else in the system was stupid and needed to be spoon-fed every little detail. Whatever the reasons were, the result was every officer was spending significantly more time undergoing training and education as well as self study and less time leading their troops.

Colonel Sambrook, Sir. I'm sorry to interrupt you.

Phil looked up from his desk at one of the conference's administrative clerks standing at attention in the doorway. It's no problem at all, Sergeant Culver. In fact it’s a blessed relief. What can I do for you?

Sir, Commander USSOCOM wants to see you in his office right away. He's got Commander USASOC with him.

There was nothing in particular on today's agenda that would necessitate the Commanding General of the United States Special Operations Command meeting with Phil—particularly in conjunction with the CG of the United States Army Special Operations Command. Usually CG USSOCOM, currently an Army General, Phil and Phil's boss, Rear Admiral Griffin, the Director of SOJ2 for USSOCOM, worked out of MacDill Air Force Base in Tampa Florida. USSOCOM's subordinate formation USASOC operated from its headquarters at Fort Bragg, North Carolina. Each of the two CGs, as well as Phil and the SOJ2 and various other staff officers were currently in Washington for a major conference brainstorming the increase of significant special ops resources to Afghanistan. This meeting was something unexpected.

I'm on my way Sergeant. Please let the Director know where I am and that I'll join the conference as soon as I can.

CHAPTER 2

The Pentagon, Washington D.C.

Wednesday 23 Feb 05 0855 hrs EST

As Phil was ushered into the Commanding General USSOCOM's office by the General's aide, he briefly reflected on his own six month tour as an aide to the three star Lieutenant-General Commanding XVIII Airborne Corps. Ungodly hours of work; uncompromising standards of appearance and deportment; and meticulous mastery of details were called for at all times. The payoff was an unparalleled experience for a young Captain to see how things operated at the top: what made an outstanding senior leader and how a staff in top form operated. On the down side, Phil had rarely seen his wife Diana, a surgical nurse or their two toddlers, Brian and Tracy, something he had always deeply regretted.

Colonel Sambrook, Sir, announced the aide to the CG of USSOCOM.

The General's office was dominated by a massive antique cherry double pedestal desk and burgundy leather armchair behind which was an equally large matching four legged writing table flanked on the left by the national flag and on the right, a replica of the colors of USSOCCOM. On either side of the desk were two burgundy leather couches—the far one occupied by the commander of USASOC—while against the walls sat a dozen empty armchairs in the same material. The walls bore a number of paintings or prints representative of the infantry and special forces but Phil's eyes were drawn particularly to the print above the desk of Mort Künstler's There Stands Jackson Like A Stone Wall—a depiction of Brigadier General Thomas Jackson astride his chestnut Morgan horse Little Sorrel in front of Virginia's First Brigade at First Manassas at that moment of July 21st, 1861, when both he and the brigade earned the nickname Stonewall.

Phil strode into the office, halted two paces in front of the desk saluted, and presented himself to his commanding general. Sir, Colonel Sambrook reporting.

Both Generals, unlike Phil, were wearing Class B Green Service dress, in long-sleeved shirtsleeves and tie. Phil was attired in full Class As with coat. The CG, General Clint Peters, bore a hard weathered look reminiscent of the proverbial cowboy on the range. His face, while creased, bore clear sharp eyes that still took in a trooper's measure in one glance. His chest bore six rows of ribbons which showed participation in all of the major conflicts going back to and including Vietnam as well as both parachutist and master aviator's wings. Phil knew that the General still led the morning runs for their headquarters at MacDill whenever he was there. His frame spoke of hard muscle rather than his almost sixty years. The room's other occupant, Lieutenant-General Norm Catchpole wore his six decades more heavily, seemed distracted, and barely glanced Phil's way.

Have a seat Phil. General Peters waved him over to a place on the couch next to the CG of USASOC. I gather from Rear Admiral Griffin that the plan for ramping up the theatre intelligence resources for Afghanistan seems to have been accepted quite well all around?

Yes Sir. We're really just into tweaking it at this point.

That's good to hear because we need you to be a Board of Officers for an incident involving some of our boys that happened last night up in Canada. We still don't have much but early this morning we received a wire from our embassy up in Ottawa. In addition the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff just had a talk with the new Canadian Forces Chief of Defence Staff. In a nutshell, we had an ODA from 10th Special Forces Group from Fort Carson on a small unit exchange with Joint Task Force 2. There was a shooting incident on their side of the border on the St. Lawrence River and there are several dead and wounded including at least one of ours.

Phil nodded briefly as the General continued.

"The CDS is setting up his own Board of Inquiry and while the two Boards will be distinct, we've agreed that they will be run in conjunction with each other.

I'm going to have one of my aides be your point of contact to this office until we can set up something more formal with MacDill and you've gotten yourself on the ground in Ottawa. Legal wants to send a legal advisor up to you from MacDill. Do you want one?

Phil didn't hesitate. Having a Judge Advocate legal advisor directly attached to the Board put limits on who ruled on evidentiary and procedural matters. So far there had been no mention of culpability or that anyone would be a respondent before the Board.

I would prefer that rather than appointing a legal advisor to the Board that one be dedicated by Legal Services to be available for legal consultation if, and when, I need it. In addition, since the Canadians will have their own staff, I don't think we need any more than one Board member, but I would like to get one of our warrant officers out of USASOC as the Board's Recorder.

No problem. Do you have anyone in particular in mind?

Yes Sir. Chief Warrant Officer O'Donnell He was with Delta and previously worked with me and with JTF-2 in Afghanistan. He's with the Small Unit Tactics Battalion at the Special Warfare Center at Bragg.

USASOC will arrange him for you, Right Norm? General Peters looked over at the CG USASOC

Absolutely, Sir. He replied.

He can meet you in Ottawa as soon as they can get him up there. Is there anything else?

No Sir, replied Phil.

Good. One final thing before you get under way. As you know there's been an issue before with one of our high profile investigations. This one will undoubtedly go high profile as well. That is why it's yours. I know this one will be done right the first time. My aide will run your Memorandum of Appointment to you before you leave here. It should be in your hands within the next ten minutes.

CHAPTER 3

National Defence Headquarters, Ottawa, Ontario

Wednesday 23 Feb 05 0930 hrs EST

As Colonel Kurt Richter stepped out of the elevator and looked down to the end of the corridor of the Executive Suite of the South Tower of the National Defence Headquarters Building he couldn't help but see his reflection in the large mirror placed there. As he walked down the hall toward it he noted that the limp in his left leg was almost imperceptible now.

The mirror had undoubtedly been placed there by order of the Canadian Forces Chief Warrant Officer for the express purpose of ensuring that all personnel take the opportunity to brace themselves up before entering the domain of the senior command. Dress and deportment had never been a problem for Kurt. While he had spent the majority of his career in the field, rather than in the halls of headquarters, it seemed to him that dressing sharp when in Service Dress complemented the discipline that grew naturally out of operating in austere and difficult situations.

A brief glance at his uniform showed everything in order right up to the new Star of Courage next to the Star of Military Valour, the Order of Military Merit in the grade of Officer, his Parachutist wings with the silver Maple Leaf indicating service with a para unit, together with both U.K. and U.S. jump wings and a U.S. Special Forces badge. While valor awards had been a rarity within the Forces during the last half of the 20th Century, more recent operations, especially in Afghanistan were changing that rapidly.

His uniform was draping well again on his six foot two frame. He'd lost almost twenty pounds in two weeks last October but most of that had returned bringing him back to his more usual one seventy five. The scars on his rounded jaw had also faded and no longer drew one's gaze away from his frosty blue eyes and almost white blond hair. He hadn't yet bothered to regrow his mustache but the dimples when he smiled—a trait inherited from his father—worked as before. The other scars all up his left side were well hidden by the uniform, but even they were looking much better.

Kurt proceeded into the offices of the Vice Chief of Defence Staff where he was immediately recognized by the VCDS's Executive Assistant, a short Québécoise in her mid fifties, trim and immaculately turned out in a stylish black wool suit. Kurt had traveled extensively and found that on the whole, most civil servants in Ottawa dressed rather shabbily compared to people in other parts of the country. The major exceptions were French Canadian girls who generally seemed to have inherited the fashion sense of their urban French ancestors.

Go right in Sir. General Campbell and the CDS are ready to see you.

"Merci Madame Parenteau."

The VCDS and the CDS, General Stephen Mah—who had just taken over the reins of command—were both seated around a large round oak pedestal table in one corner of the room. Four blue leather armchairs were arrayed around the table. One of the remaining two chairs was occupied by the Judge Advocate General, Brigadier General Stu Weathers. A Navy Lieutenant-Commander, most probably an aide to the VCDS sat behind him in a chair against the wall.

Kurt came to attention and saluted in the direction of both the CDS and the Vice. I understand you wanted to see me, Sir. His salute was cut short as the VCDS came out from behind his desk and quickly shook his hand.

God it's good to see you again Kurt. How's the leg doing? he asked.

Kurt was already getting used to and tired of this question. In the three days he'd been back at work he'd received the same greeting from peers, superiors and subordinates alike. How long am I going to be remembered as the poor son of a bitch with a hunk of meat missing from his leg—wonder if he can still do the job? The doctors thought that he would come out 100% recovered and get back into the swing of things but as time dragged on it became clear that his recovery might fall short of that mark. Walking limp free was one thing but running was still a painful and restricted affair.

It's going well, Sir. I'm still in physiotherapy and no one is rushing the Medical Review Board. There's nothing definite yet, either way.

That whole policy is one thing we're going to have to review, said the CDS. "Under Universality of Service, every member is required to be capable of deploying on operations. Personnel who are medically or physically unfit reduce our overall effective strength. We're going to need to raise fitness levels but on the other hand now that we're going to start getting battlefield casualties we need to cut those folks some slack and keep them serving as long as we can wherever we can." Kurt felt far from ready for retirement and far from confident that the bureaucracy in the system—the civilian bureaucracy and the military bureaucracy—would get its act together.

The VCDS changed the topic. How are things going at CDI?

The Office of the Chief of Defence Intelligence has overall responsibility to provide intelligence services to both the Department of National Defence, the Canadian Forces and other government departments and to build relationships with allied defence intelligence agencies. Just prior to getting wounded by an IED while on a staff visit to Afghanistan, Kurt had been posted in as the Director of Transnational Intelligence. These days there was a definite emphasis on Middle and Far Eastern intelligence issues. These issues also involved Canada's U.S and European allies heavily.

No shortage of work there, Sir. Lieutenant-Colonel Daniels has been holding the fort as the Acting Director during my absence and we're just completing his handing the reins back to me.

Well they're going to have to do without you for a while longer. We've had an incident that's going to need some quick investigation and handling. He turned to the aide behind him. Bob, give Colonel Richter and the JAG a quick brief on what happened this morning.

The aide glanced briefly at a file in his hands. Yes Sir. Our duty officer received a call at 0714 hrs from JTF-2 that one of their troops got into a firefight with suspected smugglers on the shores of the St Lawrence just east of Cornwall. They were on a Special Reconnaissance exercise down there with a U.S. Army Special Ops ODA, the Ontario Provincial Police and Royal Canadian Mounted Police.

Kurt interrupted, Was there any indication that this was blue-on-blue?

No Sir. The ODA was on a small-unit exchange visit with JTF-2 to learn about our procedures for supporting RCMP operations against border infiltration by smugglers and terrorists. How that ended up with their being involved in a firefight is still not clear. JTF-2 isn't being quite as forthcoming as we might want.

Kurt addressed himself to the VCDS, There may be ongoing operational reasons for that. I wouldn't be too quick to draw the conclusion that they're circling the wagons.

The CDS interrupted. "That's your own special ops background talking Kurt, but they do need to remember that at the end of the day, they work for us here. I don't have your special ops depth of experience, and I do appreciate that operational information in the wrong hands can result in dead troopers but we need to get a very clear picture of what happened here.

The VCDS is convening a Board of Inquiry to look into this. Kurt you will be its President. I've been in contact with the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs and they're forming a Board from USSCOM. The Commander of USSCOM has sent us up a copy of the Memorandum of Appointment for that Board. He passed Kurt a single sheet of paper.

P 231415Z Feb 05 FM RHMFISS/COMUSSCOM MACDILL AFB FL

TO RUCQSOC/COMUSSOCOM MACDILL AFB FL//COS//SOJ2//SJAG

RUEKJCS/CDRUSASOC FT BRAGG NC

RUEHOT/AMEMBASSY OTTAWA

NDHQ OTTAWA//VCDS

COMD0158SECRET

SUBJECT/APPOINTMENT OF BOARD OF OFFICERS

1. (S) FOLLOWING IS TRANSCRIPT OF MEMORANDUM APPOINTING BOARD OF OFFICERS

QUOTE

USSOCOM

23 FEB 05

MEMORANDUM FOR: COLONEL PHILIP SAMBROOK, SOJ2, USSOCOM, MACDILL AFB 65745

SUBJECT: APPOINTMENT AS A BOARD OF OFFICERS TO INVESTIGATE AN INCIDENT INVOLVING DEATH AND INJURY

1. YOU ARE HEREBY APPOINTED A BOARD OF OFFICERS PURSUANT TO AR 15-6, TO INVESTIGATE AN INCIDENT INVOLVING DEATH AND INJURY ARISING OUT OF AN ENGAGEMENT INVOLVING MEMBERS OF OPERATIONAL DETACHMENT A-053, CO B 2/10 SPECIAL FORCES GROUP (AIRBORNE); JOINT TASK FORCE 2 CANADIAN FORCES; ONTARIO PROVINCIAL POLICE, ROYAL CANADIAN MOUNTED POLICE AND CIVILIAN PERSONNEL DURING THE NIGHT 22/23 FEB 05 IN THE VICINITY OF SUMMERSTOWN, ONTARIO, CANADA. THE SCOPE OF YOUR INVESTIGATION WILL INCLUDE:

A. INVESTIGATING ALL FACTS AND CIRCUMSTANCES PERTAINING TO THE INCIDENT THROUGH THE IDENTIFICATION AND THE COLLECTION OF ALL PERTINENT EVIDENCE;

B. MAKING FINDINGS WITH RESPECT TO THE EVENTS OF THE INCIDENT; THE ADEQUACY OF THE PLANNING AND CONDUCT OF THE OPERATION/EXERCISE INVOLVED; THE CAUSE OF DEATH OR INJURY OF INDIVIDUALS INVOLVED IN THE INCIDENT AND, IN RESPECT TO U.S. SERVICEMEN, WHETHER THEY WERE ON DUTY AT THE RELEVANT TIME AND WHETHER OR NOT THE DEATH OR INJURY WAS ATTRIBUTABLE TO MILITARY SERVICE; WHETHER ANYONE WAS RESPONSIBLE FOR SUCH DEATH OR INJURY AND IN THAT RESPECT THE IDENTITY OF SUCH RESPONSIBLE INDIVIDUALS;

C. MAKING RECOMMENDATIONS WITH RESPECT TO CORRECTIVE MEASURES TO PREVENT RECURRENCES OF SUCH CASUALTIES.

2. THE FOLLOWING MEMBER IS APPOINTED TO THE BOARD:

A. CW3 COLIN O'DONNELL 1ST BN, JFK SPECIAL WARFARE CENTER AND TRAINING GROUP, FORT BRAGG, NC 23-845-119 (RECORDER)

3. THE BOARD WILL MEET AT THE CALL OF THE PRESIDENT. AS THE BOARD, YOU WILL USE FORMAL PROCEDURES UNDER AR 15-6. YOUR BOARD WILL WORK IN COOPERATION WITH A BOARD OF INQUIRY BEING CALLED BY THE VCDS OF THE CF. THERE ARE NO DESIGNATED RESPONDENTS. RESPONDENTS MAY BE DESIGNATED BASED ON YOUR RECOMMENDATIONS DURING THE COURSE OF THE INVESTIGATION. COUNSEL FOR SUCH RESPONDENTS WILL BE DESIGNATED BY SUBSEQUENT CORRESPONDENCE IF REQUIRED.

4. COLONEL K RICHTER, DTI NDHQ OTTAWA B38 583 123 HAS BEEN DESIGNATED BY CF VCDS AS THE PRESIDENT OF THE CF BOI AND AS YOUR ADVISOR ON MATTERS RELATING TO THE CF. YOU MAY OBTAIN LEGAL ADVICE AS NEEDED FROM A JAG OFFICER TO BE DESIGNATED BY THE SJAG.

5. REPORTS OF PROCEEDINGS WILL BE SUMMARIZED ON DA FORM 1574 AND SUBMITTED WITHIN 45 DAYS.

//ORIGINAL//

C. PETERS, GEN

COMMANDER USSOCOM

UNQUOTE

AKNLDG/NO//

N.A. STOLDEN, MAJ GEN, USAF, COS

Kurt thought, That was sweet and to the point. I bet my Terms of Reference won't be anywhere near this short. It was a bet he knew he was sure to win. He looked up at the VCDS to let him know he was done.

Let me make something crystal clear, said the VCDS. The CDS only took over three weeks ago and we're already starting a process to transform the Forces to create a more agile and responsive operational command structure. We're too tangled in bureaucracy and too risk averse. There are issues here which need the investigation to start immediately and which will require some flexible thinking. We don't have the luxury of spending months and months on this and then writing up some formal report which gets stuck on a shelf. We have come into something which will require fast and decisive action. What are your thoughts Kurt?

Kurt grinned, I expect that we're going to have multiple agencies trying to get their dogs ready to get into the hunt. I'll need authority to deal directly with the important ones as well as to fend off the ones that are getting in the way. I should get over to Dwyer Hill and then Cornwall to get a better preliminary picture and to get into people's faces. Once I've done that I can give you my recommendations as to what the full scope of the Board should be.

Do it. said the VCDS. There are some legal issues to work out and the JAG here will make it happen as well as to assign a legal officer to the Board.

Kurt continued, I think the Board itself should stay smaller than we're used to, but we'll need some staff to help with administration and investigation. If we need to rely on existing staff at NDHQ we'll be their lowest priority regardless. I'll get you a list of names or specialties after I come back from Cornwall but I need a Senior NCO to come with me today.

Anyone in particular? asked the VCDS.

Sergeant Major Cyrus Shirazi. He's currently with the Director Land Personnel Management and was with me in Afghanistan with JTF-2, replied Kurt.

I note that Colonel Sambrook has a warrant officer on his team as well, noted the CDS.

Yes Sir, replied Phil. Personally I'd rather have one good Sergeant Major than three Captains or Majors.

I'll have my staff make it happen, said the Vice. Where and when do you want to see Shirazi?

Before Kurt could answer, the JAG interrupted. "Just before we get into that I should point out three things: first a BOI has no powers until its Terms of Reference are issued. We should get that done immediately and can amend them later if necessary; second, preliminary data gathering is permissible for a Board so Kurt won't have to wait to get going. More formal facilities and hearing processes can be set up later. Finally, under the regulations, you need a minimum of two Board members and I've got a thought for who might be the other member.

There's currently an outstanding police investigator giving some training to our prosecutors. He's a reserve Major with the Provost Marshall office but in his civilian life is an investigator out of the OPP's Criminal Investigation Branch in Orillia. While we don't have any indication our folks or the Yanks did anything which requires a criminal investigation, it may really help us in working with the civilian police if this guy was on the Board.

I'd be fine with that, said Kurt nodding to the VCDS.

Same here—so back to my question where do you want to meet up with the rest of your team.

I'll be going over to my apartment to change into CADPAT and to get my car. I live just kitty-corner across the street on Laurier. I'll give your aide my cell number and he can have the Major and the Sergeant Major call me immediately that they get the word. I plan to leave as soon after noon as possible.

Good. Leave your number with the JAG too. Bob will get you set up with some secure communications and will be your point of contact for the time being. He should have your Board's TOR ready before you leave. Your Sergeant Major can look after everything else once you've got him and figure out what you need. Is there anything else?

No Sir. Not at this time.

The VCDS got up and again took Kurt's hand. Take care of this Kurt. There's no doubt this is going to be one giant fur ball. I'm glad we have you back to deal with it.

CHAPTER 4

Laurier Avenue, Ottawa, Ontario

Wednesday 23 Feb 05 0945 hrs EST

Fur ball? This already had all the hallmarks of being a cluster fuck. There's no way it would revert to a mere fur ball, thought Kurt as he left the South Tower for the short walk across Laurier Avenue to his apartment.

NDHQ consisted of a long rectangular building in downtown Ottawa containing a large central concourse with nine stories of offices above and more below. At each end stood an office tower each rising fifteen stories above the concourse. In general, the Department of National Defence's and its more government oriented departments and staff occupied the North Tower while the Canadian Forces' more military departments and staff occupied the South. The more cynical within the Forces opined that the military had a more positive attitude towards the U.S than that of its civil service counterparts as a result of the South Tower being 200 meters closer to the U.S. border. In reality the military's attitude arose out of decades of service that the 4th Canadian Mechanized Brigade Group, together with several Air Force squadrons had with U.S. forces in Southern Germany.

Kurt's actual home was a summer cottage—a very comfortable two-story, 6 bed, 5½ bath cottage—which had been in the family for decades and which was located on Horse Thief Bay, a small inlet within sight of where U.S. Interstate 81 and Ontario Provincial Highway 137 join at the Thousand Islands Bridge on the St. Lawrence River. The Bay was located 150 kilometers southwest of, and upstream from, Summerstown and was, coincidentally, about the same distance, by road, from NDHQ.

Commuting to Ottawa on a daily basis would have been a pain and therefore shortly after his posting there he became one of the first tenants of a new luxury apartment building which was a two minute walk to NDHQ and only five minutes more to the numerous restaurants, festivals, and cultural facilities that crowded the core of the nation's capital. The grey fieldstone and red brick sixteen story building came with a concierge, an indoor pool and exercise center, underground parking and its own motto—The Art of City Living. It sat on a triangular wedge of land nestled between the campus of the University of Ottawa on the east and the historic Rideau Canal on the west.

The Canal, opened in 1832, stretches some 200 kilometers and connects the city of Kingston on Lake Ontario with Ottawa. Like canals built by the Americans in New York and Ohio after the war of 1812, it was designed as a secure military supply and communication route. The strategy was that in the event that the St Lawrence River or Lake Ontario was ever again blockaded by hostile forces—a not so subtle term meaning the Americans—a secure route would allow supplies and troops to move from Kingston to Ottawa, then known as Bytown, and from there down the Ottawa River to Montreal and beyond that to the Atlantic Ocean. Now, its graceful curves and tree lined banks provided Ottawa with a 5 mile long skating rink in mid-winter and the rest of the year constituted a part of what is arguably the best recreational boating, jogging and bicycling system in North America. Kurt himself, prior to his wounding would do 15 kilometers up and down its banks daily and had made a habit of having, as often as possible, a bag lunch on the