Whisper in my ear Volume 3 of 3

By John Henry Hardy

It's the 1960s, and cultural and political unrest is sweeping across America. In the midst of this turmoil, three young Americans find themselves on a path that sends them to join the war effort in Vietnam; Dion Murphy, a handsome football player from Georgia; Cathy Addison, a pretty young nurse from Minn

• Language: English
• Publisher: Global Summit House
• Release date: Sep 17, 2021
• ISBN: 9781956515435

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Whisper in my Ear

Volume 3

John Henry Hardy

Copyright © 2021 by John Henry Hardy.

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any electronic or mechanical means, including information storage and retrieval systems, without permission in writing from the publisher, except by reviewers, who may quote brief passages in a review.

ISBN: 978-1-956515-44-2 (Paperback Edition)

ISBN: 978-1-956515-45-9 (Hardcover Edition)

ISBN: 978-1-956515-43-5 (E-book Edition)

Added volume to LCCN : 2021917940

Book Ordering Information

Phone Number: 315 288-7939 ext. 1000 or 347-901-4920

Email: [e-mail]

Global Summit House

www.globalsummithouse.com

Printed in the United State of America

Contents

Chapter 1

Chapter 2

Chapter 3

Chapter 4

Chapter 5

Chapter 6

Chapter 7

Chapter 8

Chapter 9

Chapter 10

Chapter 11

Chapter 12

Chapter 13

Chapter 14

Chapter 15

Chapter 16

Chapter 17

Chapter 18

Chapter 19

Chapter 20

Chapter 21

Chapter 22

Chapter 23

Chapter 24

Chapter 25

Chapter 26

Chapter 1

Cathy hadn’t visited Dion since he killed Nin Thu in the ICU Quonset hut and was transferred to the main hospital. Her absence hurt, and he was beginning to wonder if their relationship had soured while he was evading capture after the fight in Elephant Valley. The hospital staff only replied to his inquiries with a simple, I’m sorry, I don’t know where she is, or, I haven’t seen her.

Maybe, he pondered, she fell in love with someone else when she thought I was captured or dead. God knows there’s half a million lonely GIs searching for a round-eyed woman in Vietnam, and she’s a beauty. Even the less attractive women here have their pick of the litter.

His rash had disappeared several days before, and his hip no longer ached while at rest, so he was being discharged from the hospital with thirty days of convalescent leave. He already had a seat on a Freedom Bird, but he wanted Cathy to go with him so he could meet her family and she could meet his folks.

Maybe she’s on temporary duty at Chu Lai to help with the move of the First Med Battalion up to Da Nang, he thought. He tucked in his khaki shirt with the new red, white, and blue ribbon denoting his Silver Star, and the purple-and-white one with a Gold Star, symbolizing his second award of the Purple Heart. Yet, he felt if she was TDY to Chu Lai she should have at least left him a note or something. Maybe she is going to marry that air force fly boy she used to tease me about, he mused, who was always flirting with her in case something happened to me. But the thought quickly vanished.

If anyone knew where she was, it would be her reporting senior, the director of nurses at Da Nang Hospital, but she referred him to Commander Rafjani. Dion was pleasantly surprised when he saw the gold lettering on the doc’s office door indicating he had been promoted to the rank of captain.

I’m sorry, his secretary informed him, but Captain Rafjani is in surgery this morning and this afternoon and won’t be available until later this evening. Dion’s shoulders drooped, and he gave her an exasperated look.

But he does wants to talk to you, she informed him. Can you come back around five?

Dion nodded and said, Thanks, ma’am. Then he hailed a taxi and headed over to the women’s Q. He was concerned but not panicky. When he arrived at the Q, however, he found security measures had been ramped up.

Why all the stepped-up security, Lance Corporal? he asked the marine guard as he flashed his ID card. Usually there’s only one sentry on duty here.

The marine scrutinized his ID card and finally replied, Well, sir, I really can’t tell you anything; it’s the general’s orders. We’ve been here for nearly a week now and the Naval Investigative Service has gone over this place with a fine-tooth comb. Even the shuttle vans have armed escorts riding on board now.

Dion knew the commanding general’s order meant it was a priority issue. The guard let him pass, but Cathy didn’t answer his knock on the door. He tried the knob and found the door was locked, so he glanced both ways down the hall before inserting his ID card between the molding and the doorjamb. After jiggling it several times he heard the latch click, and the door opened.

So much for increased security, he mumbled.

All her uniforms were hung neatly in the closet, which meant she was not TDY to Chu Lai, and her rack was neatly made. Everything appeared to be shipshape until he noticed a baseball-sized rock on the nightstand. When he picked it up he recalled the team of recon marines, who had been trapped on a high rise of ground by a company of Viet Cong. When they ran out of ammo, they hurled rocks down on the enemy until helicopter gunships swooped in and saved the day.

Is this a weapon? he wondered. There are always armed guards at the main gate, and they’re backed up by a foot patrol and a heavily armed platoon. Armored vehicles patrol the perimeter 24/7, so why beef up the number of sentries guarding the women’s Q?

He thought about it for a few more moments and then said, Naw, in his typical Southern drawl. That couldn’t be the case here. He smiled as he flipped the rock from hand to hand and felt a slight elation, knowing he was holding something belonging to her. The area is too secure. Maybe she uses it as a paperweight or something.

Then he realized how embarrassing it would be if she walked in and found him snooping through her things. He quickly returned the rock to the nightstand and opened the door a crack and peeked out. No one was in sight, so he quickly stepped back into the hallway and quietly shut the door, heading for III MAF headquarters.

Maybe she is TDY to Chu Lai, he was thinking when two female navy officers stepped through the outer door. They quickly glanced at one other and then looked suspiciously back at him.

He saw their concern and said, Ma’am, excuse me, but I’m looking for Lieutenant Addison. Have you seen her?

Who are you? the lieutenant commander demanded to know.

I’m Lieutenant Dion Murphy, her fiancé.

The two women exchanged glances again, and a long moment of silence ensued.

Fiancé? the other nurse slowly asked. We didn’t know Cathy got engaged.

Well, Dion said somewhat sheepishly, sort of engaged.

You’re going to have to talk to Captain Rafjani, Lieutenant, she responded in a more subdued tone.

Well, he’s in surgery until late this afternoon, Dion replied, So why won’t someone tell me what’s going on around here? Security has never been this tight.

Sorry. CG’s orders, she quickly answered.

But…

Sorry, Lieutenant, but we can’t help you. Talk to Captain Rafjani, the lieutenant commander responded emphatically. With that, they continued on down the hallway, whispering and glancing back at him: it worried him even more.

Dion was thoughtfully rubbing his chin as he walked toward the exit, until he spotted Nina Mumsford inserting her key into the door lock; He called out, Colonel Mumsford!

His deep tone startled her, and she abruptly turned her head toward him. She hadn’t seen him lately, but she recognized him, breathing a sigh of relief and leaning her forehead against the door.

Excuse me, ma’am, he said as he walked toward her. I didn’t mean to startle you.

Startle me? You scared the hell out of me, Lieutenant Murphy, she replied.

I’m sorry, ma’am, he apologized, but I can’t seem to find Cathy anywhere, and no one will talk to me about her.

My God, he doesn’t know! she thought.

Dion saw her frown and asked, Ma’am is she OK?

Nina didn’t immediately answer him because the CG had given strict orders not to discuss her case with anyone. Captain Rafjani was supposed to counsel him, and she was surprised he hadn’t done so by now.

Then she slowly withdrew the key. If I disobey orders I’ll be in real Dutch, she thought, because he might go off the deep end and create problems. A lot of men wouldn’t accept what happened to their woman, and some even blamed the rape victim.

She was familiar with the pattern.

I’m glad you’re OK after the ordeal you’ve been through, she said, smiling thinly and trying to change the subject. Congratulations on earning a Silver Star and another Purple Heart.

Dion didn’t respond, but he realized Cathy had made certain everyone knew of his actions along the Cade and surmised that Nina was trying to change the subject—which convinced him something was terribly wrong.

What happened to her, Colonel?

Obviously you haven’t spoken to Captain Rafjani, have you?

No ma’am. He was in surgery when they discharged me, and I’m beginning to feel as though he’s avoiding me.

Nina stared at him for a moment. She knew he was right, since he had been in the main hospital for more than a week.

Is she OK? he asked.

I am not supposed to talk about her case to anyone, Lieutenant. Doctor Rafjani is supposed to counsel you first.

"Her case?"

Nina blushed. She’d just let the cat out of the bag.

Dion Murphy was a big guy, but she outranked him. And she had dealt with angry men before, so his size wasn’t intimidating. How can I stand here knowing what happened to her when the man who loves her does not? she thought. And why hasn’t Doctor Rafjani talked to him yet?

Orders were orders, whether they were written or verbal, and yet she knew it was inhumane to keep him hanging on. In her heart she felt compassion transcended orders in situations like this one. She reinserted the key and slowly pushed the door open and turned toward him again.

I’m probably going to get my ass in a sling for this, Lieutenant, she replied as her eyes searched the hallway to see if anyone was nearby, but come on in.

Nina dropped the key on the dresser and turned to face him.

Is she…dead? Dion asked.

No, Lieutenant, she’s not.

Dion breathed a sigh of relief.

Nina kept addressing him as Lieutenant in case she had to pull rank to keep him under control.

Please sit down, Lieutenant.

He sat on the only chair in the room, and folding his arms across his chest, he gazed at her with a grave and expressionless stare.

Sexual assault was a very delicate matter, and although he wasn’t aware of what had happened to her yet, it was obvious he was very upset at not knowing anything. The situation and his mood required a tactful approach. She had already told him way too much not to broach the subject. Nina took a deep breath.

This is not going to be easy for either one of us, Lieutenant, and I hate to be the one to break the news, but on the day you shot Charlie in the ICU, the entire hospital went into lockdown while the reaction platoon searched for more latent VC patients.

My God! He jumped to his feet. Don’t tell me the VC kidnapped her!

She shook her head no and bade him to sit back down. Taking a cigarette from the pack in her skirt pocket, she lit it and took a deep drag before tossing the dead match into the wastepaper basket.

Of course, the lockdown put the hospital and Quonset hut staffs behind schedule, she continued, and made for a very long day. Everyone was tired, and to make matters worse, Cathy had to work late because we had a new turtle on board.

What’s a turtle, ma’am?

Oh, she replied, it takes such a long time to get nursing replacements from the States that we dubbed them turtles.

He nodded.

Anyway, she continued, it was Gina’s first night, and Cathy went over the charts and introduced her to all the patients. It got to be late and no one remained to walk with her to the shuttle. No one noticed she was missing until they got back here and I did my usual headcount.

Dion stoically maintained his demeanor, not knowing what to expect next.

Nina took another drag on the square. Cathy left the Quonset hut around twelve twenty five, she continued, and we thought maybe she went to the main hospital to see you and missed the van. But of course, that wasn’t the case. The duty sounded the alarm, and the reaction platoon secured the area for the second time in two hours.

Nina turned to face the window and took another puff. Dion gripped the edge of the seat as he leaned slightly forward, realizing the most important news was coming next.

They found her, Nina continued, in one of the tents. She had been bound, gagged, and beaten.

Dion abruptly jumped out of the chair. He didn’t want to hear what was coming next, but he knew. The pounding in his ears nearly drowned out her next words, and the room seemed to tilt slightly for a moment; he thought he was going to collapse. Then suddenly the pounding in his ears stopped.

Nina turned to face him and study his reaction. Her hands shook as she drew on the cigarette.

Did you hear what I said, Lieutenant?

He didn’t respond but kept staring at her in disbelief. In his heart Dion knew what else had happened, but he needed to hear the words to affirm the horror. Then Nina softly continued, her voice breaking: And she was brutally raped and sodomized.

He stumbled forward. Grasping the edge of the dresser for support, with his mouth agape, and all his senses abruptly went numb. For a long moment, he blotted out the sounds and sight of the room, and he couldn’t move.

She watched his image in the mirror as he began leaning forward with his head bowed and his mouth open. His angst was overpowering. What she’d told him was too horrible for his conscious mind to comprehend. His distinct gasping sounds rippled across the room like undulating waves smashing against a jagged, rock-strewn shore. Inside his head, the horror shattered the once-peaceful aura of his soul and felt like shockwaves radiating outward from his mind.

It can’t be! he mumbled. She’s such a decent person!

Lieutenant Dion Murphy was a devoutly religious man, and the thought of rape had always tormented his soul. It was unholy, vile, and shameful. Next to murder, it was the most despicable thing one human being could inflict upon another. This couldn’t have happened to her! swirled through his mind. It was a living nightmare, knowing that the woman he loved had been violated by an incubus—he could almost smell and see the evil specter penetrating the sanctuary of her innocence and triumphantly deposit his seed inside her.

It was more than he could bear. He gagged and nearly puked.

The psychological impact was every bit as stunning and painful as the stab wounds that had been inflicted on his body. He knew she was a virgin and was saving herself for the man she would marry, and suddenly he felt so ashamed of all those times he had pressured and badgered her to give in and have sex with him. However, the thought quickly vanished, and he tightened his grip on the edge of the dresser and bent over until his forehead nearly rested atop it.

He was from a small town in Georgia, with well-kept homes and gardens, and white picket fences and flowers. Hardly anyone locked their doors at night, and the women and children felt safe because their neighbors were akin to their brothers and sisters. Their homes were open sanctuaries where anyone could find shelter from any disaster, whether it was natural or manmade.

But they weren’t in Georgia.

This was Vietnam, a war zone, and he was beginning to feel as though the rapist had somehow violated his sanctity too, since Cathy was the love of his life, the woman he had been searching for since the day he’d entered high school. She wasn’t a prude by any means, but she had managed to keep her virginity intact all through college and her military stint—until now.

Cathy had made him wait, wanting to be certain the man she married was the only one who knew her so intimately, and they had been talking about getting married, even if they continued their careers in the military. But now an incubus had stolen her innocence and destroyed their dream, leaving an ugly scar on their hearts and souls.

What bothered him the most was that he had not been there to protect her. He was an infantry officer who had been wounded and was terribly sick at the time of her assault, and yet a numbing onus began washing over what little was left of his emotional stability as surely as an ocean wave washed over the decks of a doomed ship. Emotionally, he was drowning. The room turned deathly quiet as his mind seemed to be drifting toward a frightening darkness.

He wanted to scream, until the warmth of Nina’s touch abruptly pulled him away from a black abyss. He closed his eyes, and from somewhere within that vast emotional chasm he mustered the strength to whisper, It’s my fault. I should have been there for her!

It wasn’t your fault, Lieutenant, Nina said as her hand squeezed his shoulder. You saved her life and the lives of everyone in the ICU. Consequently, you were wounded again and were sedated and in the main hospital at the time. You weren’t anywhere near the overflow area.

Her reply, although true, didn’t seem to help much, and yet at the moment he needed to hear a woman say those words. Her sympathy suddenly made his mind stop reeling.

Yes, he was finally able to reply, but— He couldn’t continue. His brain refused to let him think and talk or let him look the situation squarely in the eye. It was too painful. Never in his wildest nightmares did he think she could have been beaten and sexually assaulted. Could he believe she had stopped loving him and fallen for the air force pilot who was always flirting with her? Yes. But could he have fathomed her being beaten and raped?

Never!

The man, who had seemed so threatening just a few moments before because of his size, now appeared pitiful and helpless to Nina, and a wave of tenderness soothed her pained consciousness with an overwhelming compassion she hadn’t known for years. For a brief moment, it seemed as though her soul had abandoned her body as she stared at her own reflection looming over his drooping image in the mirror. It was an image of power, and yet what she sensed was not elation, but sorrow and caring. Nina Mumsford desperately wanted to reach out hug and console him, but she couldn’t at the moment.

Da Nang Hospital is supposed to be one of the most secure areas in the city, he finally blurted out. How did the Marine Corps and the navy let this happen?

He didn’t look up at her, and she didn’t respond; she didn’t know what to say.

His knees buckled and pressed against the dresser, and his knuckles whitened as he tightened his grip on the edge of the bureau for more support. Then he slowly looked up at their reflections in the mirror. The pain was still there, but his mind was now able to endure the staggering jolt to his emotional stability. He slowly stood erect.

I’m sorry, she whispered, and for the first time in years she felt an emotional release as she acknowledged her compassion. This man isn’t blaming the woman, she thought, he is blaming himself! There really are men like him.

For an instant, their images in the mirror seemed to blur as though her soul was merging back into her body, and she felt a deep relief when she inhaled and took a deep breath of air. She exhaled again, and the respiration warmed her nostrils. She teared up; a burden had been lifted from her soul.

It was forgiveness.

She was forgiving the man who had been her lover, although she knew the scars he’d inflicted on her soul would always remain. And she would never forget his lies. No, she thought, I will never forget. However, she forgave herself for her own indiscretion and the pain she had caused her wonderful husband and their children; it was the beginning of the rest of her life.

Dion couldn’t answer her when he heard her say, I’m sorry. But now his courage came roaring back from somewhere out of that stygian darkness and he again saw an image of the alligator gripping his dad’s leg in the swamp. Nina’s words made him aware he’d never told his father he was sorry for what he’d done, nor did he ever thank him for saving his life. He had taken it all for granted, as children often did. Although the fear seemed remote, he was again apprehensive about what had happened there. He understood why the horror had lingered so vividly in his psyche. It was because he never apologized or acknowledged his father’s courageous deed, and he swore the next time they met he would tell him how grateful he was and that he hoped his dad would forgive his youthful stupidity.

Then Dion became aware of Nina’s hand still resting on his shoulder. It was the emotional lifeline he had so desperately needed just moments before. He turned about slowly to maintain his balance, and although he was still shocked, he reached out to Nina and gently put his arms around her.

It was only through her newfound compassion that she let him do so.

Once more he felt his mother pressing him to her bosom as she often had each time he’d awakened from the chronic nightmare of his ordeal in the swamp. It was the first time since he’d graduated from high school that he had needed a woman to console him, and for Nina it was the first time in years she had let a man even touch her.

But she really didn’t want to comfort a man and the anger and hatred she thought was gone came bubbling to the surface once again. She felt an impulse to push him away, but she couldn’t. No one ever comforted me throughout the whole ordeal of a messy and painful divorce, she seethed inside. Men are liars, a voice screamed inside her head, and cheats!

Her life had been torn apart by such a man, and now her body trembled at the thought. A few moments before she had forgiven herself, and yet her conscious mind didn’t want to let the anger go. Dion was still too shocked by his own ordeal to feel her body trembling.

Life can sometimes be a living hell, can’t it? she softly whispered.

A muffled sound was his only response.

Then, by the magic of forgiveness, she admitted this man was not a cheat and a liar like the man she’d fallen in love with in Korea. This man was a decent man, like the husband she had betrayed so long ago. And now she accepted his trembling body as she slowly put one arm over his shoulder and the other about his waist and drew him closer. Their trembling bodies touched, and he felt the warmth and security of her embrace; it was the aura of a woman, that powerful palliative that had soothed the anguish and eased the pain of wounded warriors since mankind began roaming the earth.

Gradually his initial horror began to wane as the solace of her compassion and tenderness gently lured him farther away from that terrifying chasm. The superman complex he had developed on the football field and the invincibility concept the Marine Corps instills in a man had melded within his soul. Yet in the face of his extreme emotional adversity, Dion Murphy, the recipient of one of his nation’s highest awards for valor and a linebacker extraordinaire, realized he was really just an ordinary man after all.

Now he understood why wounded men fell in love with their nurses. Next to life itself, a woman’s love and compassion transcended earthly goods and pain, and their love and care were among the greatest gifts God had bequeathed to men; they were the fabric of what made life worth living, even in your darkest hours.

Dion recovered enough to feel a rising elation in knowing Cathy was still alive. The monster had nearly killed her, which was a horrendous violation of the divine blessing called life. He felt a rising resolve when the words, That sadistic bastard is going to pay for what he did to her, flashed through his mind more rapidly than lightning. Her brush with death erased any care or doubt he’d harbored about her possible infidelity, even with the air force pilot.

I’m sorry, he finally whispered as he regained his composure.

Don’t be sorry, Dion, Nina softly replied. Cathy is very lucky to have a man like you.

With that, she turned away, recalling as she often did, her ultimate betrayal and the price she was still paying. Dion thought she was upset over what happened to Cathy, and now it was his turn to lay a firm hand on her shoulder. This time she didn’t cringe when a man touched her as she had so often in years gone by. Instead she reached up and gently took his hand and turning her head, she whispered, Thank you.

No, ma’am, he replied. I should be thanking you.

Nina knew he was going to be OK. She turned and smiled at him. Now she felt exonerated about not obeying the general’s orders. The stalwart marine looked down at the petite army officer and said, as he rubbed a tear from his eye, I’ll never forget what you just did for me.

Nor will I ever forget what you did for me, she said softly.

His brow furrowed at the comment as they gazed into each other’s eyes for a long moment, and then she slowly wrapped her arms around him again. She blurted out the story of her love life and the husband she’d betrayed and the doctor in Korea, who it turned out was also married and thus betrayed her in turn.

I’ve never told anyone about how I have felt all these years until now, she told him as she laid her head on his chest. No one in my family knows what happened between me and Danny, but it feels so good to confess and talk to someone about it.

The moment she spoke those words her body shook for the briefest instant, and she suddenly exhaled uncontrollably as the last vestige of her festering self-hatred was banished from her conscious mind. His pain and sorrow, assuaged by her compassion, had broken the spell. She told him how she had despised men for years until just a few moments before.

He listened to her, and then he said, What you did for me was the right thing to do, and don’t ever let evil win again.

I don’t know what you mean by evil, she sobbed.

Well, do you know what evil spelled backward is?

I never thought about it. She sniffled as he held her.

"It’s live, the devout Episcopalian said. While you’re alive you have life, which is one of the two greatest gifts God gave us. The other great gift is love. You had no choice but to accept the first gift, but the second one, the one you can choose or not choose, is the one that makes your life worth living. Hatred is evil; it is the death of love. If you allow hate to dwell within you, it poisons your soul, and it will destroy you in one way or another. It punishes all of those who touch your life, the innocent as well as the guilty.

Forgiveness is the key to feeling alive, so please forgive yourself and the man who betrayed you, and choose love instead of hatred.

Nina let go of him and asked, How did someone as young as you get to be so wise?"

The remark was meant to dispel the soberness of her confession, but then he said, I totally forgot about forgiving myself until a few moments ago when you reawakened the awareness in me.

The thought about forgiveness flashed through his mind for a brief instant, but then he continued, You see, my father nearly suffered a horrible death because he loved me.

Dion related their ordeal in the Okefenokee, and thanks to her compassion, he began feeling better about it emotionally after confessing to someone that it had been his fault and yet he had never asked his father to forgive him.

Finally, he felt composed enough to ask her, Did they ever catch the guy who raped Cathy?

No, she responded, but we know who did it.

Who is he?

It was the stalker.

He saw the fear in her eyes and in her facial expression.

The stalker?

Yes. This man has been stalking Barbara Mandera, and has been terrorizing us all for weeks. His name is Ray Slaugh, the First Corps comptroller. NIS can’t find him, but they vetted him and found out he has a criminal record as long as your arm.

I’ve never met him, Dion replied.

Fortunately, neither have I, she replied. But I know he’s disgusting.

What does he look like?

The MPs described him as being rather short and portly, with a receding white hairline and a black mustache.

If he was after Barbara, why did he attack Cathy?

Well, the day before Lieutenant Mandera went on leave with Major Coddington, the stalker chased her and Cathy all the way into the Q, and since Barbara was gone, he singled out Cathy because they’re close friends.

Dion didn’t say anything. He knew Cathy and Barbara were very close. He wondered why he wasn’t terribly angry at the moment.

NIS is working the case, Nina continued. The guard at the hospital said an expensive-looking black or gray car, like a Mercedes or a BMW, burst through the gate at a high rate of speed with its lights out just minutes before Cathy was found. He didn’t get a look at the driver, but of course he opened fire so there might be some bullet holes in the car.

Dion felt a sudden surge of serenity.

He knew who and what he was looking for and followed her, as she walked over to the window and pulled the curtains back.

See the road out there, Lieutenant? Not the driveway leading into here, but the one going past the Q?

Yes ma’am.

Well, last week I noticed a gray car parked there for quite some time. In fact, it was parked there for several days in a row, so I thought maybe it belonged to someone who worked at headquarters. I called the MPs and told them about it, but by the time they got here it was gone.

On the day Cathy was attacked, I was walking up the stairs, and I turned to see if it the gray car was parked there again. Sure enough, it was, but it suddenly did a U-turn and went flying back up the road toward the river.

The color kind of ties in with what the sentry told NIS about the car he fired at, doesn’t it?

Yes, it does, she said. Once I saw it go down the road, and I watched for a long time but I didn’t see it come back.

Dion took a deep breath. It was time to act.

Well, ma’am, it’s getting late. Dion sounded anxious. Thanks for everything. I’m gonna head back to the hospital to see Cathy.

No, don’t go there. She doesn’t want to see anyone just yet—especially you.

"What do you mean especially me?" He sounded so hurt.

Well, she is angry at all men at the moment, and she feels you might not want her now.

Oh no, he stammered. I still love her!

No, please don’t go, Lieutenant. Give her time. Cathy will let you know when she’s ready to see you. Just give her a little breathing room for now, OK? I’ve been through this same situation with other women in the army, and I know what I’m talking about. Trust me, she pleaded.

He did.

Nina watched him walk out toward the road. Then she pulled the curtain shut. She went to the small desk in the corner of the room and sat down, pulling a writing pad and pen from the drawer. She didn’t know what she was going to say yet, but she wanted to tell the children how much she loved them and missed them. However, the most difficult part would be telling them she hoped their father and his adopted family were happy and doing well.

Chapter 2

By the time he reached the bottom step of the women’s Q, Dion realized why he wasn’t angry. He had seen the fear in Nina’s eyes when she told him about the stalker. The whole damned Q is living in fear, and they’re afraid to go to bed and fall asleep. They’re keeping clubs next to their bunks or knives under their pillows. They fear this nut more than they fear the Viet Cong! Now I’m certain the rock on Cathy’s nightstand is a weapon.

Sometime during his conversation with Nina he had unconsciously made up his mind that he was going to find the son of a bitch and kill him. He had killed men in combat, but this would be premeditated murder. Then he went straight to the outer road and turned in the direction Nina told him the car had mysteriously disappeared. He wondered why the NIS hadn’t come up with anything yet. The man might be a serial rapist, and he may have raped and killed other women before and gotten away with it, perhaps for years, he thought, and only the psycho knows how many victims are buried in shallow graves in some godforsaken place—or maybe he murdered them in their own homes!

Cathy had come very close to being murdered, and he seethed at the thought of her horror and pain. Since the rapist was not in the military, he would be tried in a federal court, where she would be forced to endure the humiliation meted out by some sleazy defense lawyer probing into the most intimate aspects of the assault and try to discredit her character and cast doubt upon her veracity. There was also the possibility that the jury, given the current antimilitary sentiment in the United States, might let him off with a slap on the wrist or find him not guilty.

No, he decided, this nut is not going to torment her or anyone else ever again!

He was now so angry he was almost shouting, and as he walked he said, Yes, it’s premeditated murder. The thought scared the hell out of him, but at the moment he didn’t give a rat’s ass. If I have to, he thought, I’ll spend my leave searching every room in this compound until I find the bastard!

He quickened his pace and felt a twinge of pain in his injured hip as he strode past a few buildings. The pain was getting worse, and he started limping slightly, but there was no way he was going to quit. In combat, he’d seen marines and army soldiers with wounds far worse than his, but they kept on fighting in spite of their pain. A rapist, he thought, would pick something extravagant, a place more modern and comfortable than these older buildings, because he would feel like he deserved it—just like he felt entitled to take anything he wanted from a woman, including sex or her life!

He began to clench and unclench his fists. He felt his biceps harden as he continued limping down the road alongside a ditch for about a quarter mile, and stopped in front of a new building marked Bachelor Enlisted Quarters.

It had possibilities, but he walked farther on down the road to be certain there were no others like it. However, the other buildings under construction were not nearly as complete, so he headed back toward the new BEQ, thinking it probably had air conditioning, running water, and comfortable racks. It would be a safe haven for the perp, especially since he was the comptroller and had a master key.

Dion stared at the building for a few moments and got an eerie feeling. The hair on the nape of his neck began standing on end, but he brazenly walked up to the main entrance and tried the doorknob. It was locked, and so he headed for the rear of the building to search for another entrance. As he walked, he spotted what looked like small tire prints in the red-clay ruts gouged out by the huge wheels and tracks of the heavy construction machinery. The overlay of the equipment tracks nearly hid the narrow automobile-tire marks, but he followed the sporadic impressions to an area behind a huge crane and saw a car parked near the building. It was covered with a tarp and positioned so it could not be seen from the road or the paved portion of the parking lot.

No wonder NIS missed it, he mused. Or maybe they haven’t searched this building yet.

He lifted the tarp covering the rear of the vehicle and saw the BMW emblem on the trunk, along with several bullet holes. His pulse quickened. If his car is here, Dion thought, it means the rapist is probably inside. Catching him is going to be as challenging as flushing the Viet Cong out of their tunnels or dueling opposing snipers, and he might be armed and I am not!

He turned the knob and discovered the back door was unlocked. He sank to his knees and flattened his torso against the concrete-block wall so he would not be silhouetted in the doorway. Then he reached over and slowly pulled the door open. No one fired, and he quickly crawled inside and heard the door click shut behind him. Suddenly he was in a world of total darkness, and he couldn’t see or hear a thing. Then he raised his arm to feel for a light switch and found it near the doorjamb, but he hesitated before turning it on.

If the perp is armed, he reasoned, lighting up the room could be fatal. Or if the perp is as shrewd as the Viet Cong, he might have rigged up some kind of warning device. Then again, he may have left the lights off so anyone who was entering the building would have to turn them on and alert him.

Dion thought about it for a moment. Then it hit him.

The comptroller knows it is easier for the contractor to tote material through the main double doors on the front of the building and not the narrower one in the back. That’s why the front door is locked. If he heard anyone coming through the front doors, it probably would be a contractor, since they also have a key. Anyone using the back door might be searching for him or they were thieves—therefore he could have a booby trap set to warn him of their approach.

Why weren’t the lights turned on? Maybe they don’t work yet, he reasoned. He would turn the switch on, and if the lights worked he would immediately turn them off and roll away in case the criminal took a shot at him.

In the darkness, his fingers found the switch again, and Dion took a deep breath. Then he turned it quickly turned it on and off, ready to roll away if need be. But nothing happened. The lights back here aren’t hooked up yet, he thought.

Again he pushed the switch to the on position and left it there, but not a single light lit up anywhere. Why was the back door unlocked in the first place? he pondered. As his eyes had begun to adjust to the darkness, he made out some large objects, but he didn’t know what they were. As he leaned against the wall, he thought about the Viet Cong and the tunnels again. They always had multiple entrances and exits, some of which were false and laden with booby traps; it was part of their escape plan. Then it occurred to him: Maybe, just maybe, the unlocked door is part of the rapist’s escape plan!

It made sense, because his car was parked right outside the back door, and in the darkness he wouldn’t have to mess with a key if he heard someone coming through the front entrance. Dion felt for the door lock. Just as he’d suspected, it was a double dead bolt, meaning it had to be locked and unlocked with a key, whether from the inside or the outside.

Why didn’t he lock it and leave the key in the lock on the inside? he wondered. Perhaps he didn’t want to have to fumble for the key in the dark if he had to escape in a hurry. Even a few moments head start were precious when a man is being pursued. He’d learned that lesson during the evasion phase of his escape plan in Elephant Valley and surmised his enemy here was indeed as clever as the snipers Sid Johnson had warned him about.

What he was about to do would ruin his uniform, shoes and the new array of ribbons on his chest, but he didn’t care, because he wanted to stay alive. He removed his garrison cover and folded it before stuffing it in his trouser pocket. Then he began silently crawling toward the center of the building with his upper arms flat on the deck and his forearms upright with the palms facing forward, a technique he had learned in OCS. When crawling across a battlefield in the dark with your rifle resting in the crook of your arms, your hands would touch any barbed wire and to protect your eyes and face from the sharp points. The low-level crawl would also allow him to feel the trip wires of the booby traps he couldn’t see in the dark.

As he drew nearer, he realized the large objects were boxes of new equipment placed in such a manner as to guide someone’s movements toward the unlocked back door in the dark, and his open palms soon brushed against something soft at about knee level. He couldn’t see what it was. Then Dion gently probed until he found several strings crisscrossing the aisle between the two rows of stacked boxes. While gently feeling along the length of one string, he discovered that it curved upward. Slowly and carefully he stood up and continued probing the length of the line. Sure enough, he found the strings were tied to a chain of empty beer cans and bottles setting on top of the boxes. They would go clattering to the concrete deck if someone walked into the strings. It was a simple but effective warning device, and when he looked back toward the door, he realized the boxes were aligned directly with it. But how could the perp flee through the darkness and avoid tripping his own warning devices, if he heard someone coming through the front door?

Dion thought for a moment, and guessed it was designed to warn the perp if anyone came through the back door so he could flee out the front door. It didn’t matter if he tripped them while fleeing toward the back door, since this part of the building was isolated and the sounds of clattering cans and breaking bottles could not be heard by anyone in the front part of the building.

This rapist is a very clever criminal, Dion pondered, who has probably been committing crimes for years while successfully avoiding detection and capture. Dion slowly knelt back down and carefully crawled beneath the strings, wondering what other doors the rat might use for his planned escape, if he heard the police coming through both entrances simultaneously, as the MPs and NIS agents were prone to do.

As he was crawling along the floor, he soon spied a sliver of light shining from beneath what looked like a set of double doors. It’s probably an entrance to a den or the senior staff NCO’s living quarters, he thought. Every so often, he noticed the light flicker, causing him to surmise that someone, or several people, were pacing back and forth inside the room. It was best to wait until the flickering stopped and the perp felt safe and relaxed. Ten minutes later the light coming from beneath the doorway ceased to flicker, and Dion began crawling toward it again.

The rapist who nearly murdered Cathy is safely hiding inside, he thought, while his innocent victim is languishing in the naval hospital, physically spent and emotionally scarred for life! His face flushed, and every muscle in his body suddenly tensed. Dion Murphy had never been so damned furious in all his life.

Inside the large rec room, Ray Slaugh was just recovering from an anxiety attack. He had been incessantly pacing back and forth to relieve the tension and waiting for the nitroglycerin tablet under his tongue to dissolve. It was just a safety precaution since he didn’t have angina at the moment, but he had been sleeping rather fitfully since raping and murdering the blond-headed nurse. He knew his actions had probably put Barbara Mandera out of his reach for good. But he’d made other plans and hired several goons to nab her, which was easy to do in Nam if the money was right. A former South Vietnamese Air Force pilot was standing by with a rental plane, ready to whisk him and Isabel to Bangkok. He decided not to kill her, and Bangkok was the perfect place to take a woman and retain absolute control over her every action. The NIS is probably searching every building in Da Nang East Compound for me, he thought, and it’s just a matter of time until they search this one, so I’ve got to get the hell out of here eventually. But I still have some time.

Finally he felt relaxed enough to sit down on the black leather sofa for a few moments and put his feet up on the hassock. His eyes soon closed, and he fell into an exhausted sleep.

Dion’s heart was racing, sending a rush of hot blood coursing through his body. His face flushed as he thought about what had happened to Cathy and how the maniac had been terrorizing all the women in the Q. He waited for a few minutes, trying to suppress his anger and knowing it would be premeditated murder if he killed the perp outright. But then suddenly, without thinking further about it, he rashly jumped to his feet, throwing all caution to the wind. His simmering energy began propelling him across the darkened room as hard and as fast as he’d sprinted down Elephant Valley with the VC in hot pursuit.

The clatter of aluminum cans and shattering beer bottles broke the silence of his once-stealthy approach, but he didn’t care. Dion felt his rubber-soled shoes gripping the concrete floor the way the cleats on his football shoes churned up the gridiron turf. The sudden demands of power and speed were putting severe pressure on his calves and quadriceps, and shooting pains began pulsing down his left leg from the hip wound. He let out a bloodcurdling rebel yell to help him endure the terrible ache. The sliver of light coming from beneath the double set of doors seemed to be moving toward him at an amazing speed. He turned his head aside an instant before his shoulder smashed into the doors as mercilessly as he’d slammed his body against the offensive line and the running backs of opposing teams.

Ray Slaugh was suddenly awakened by the sound of a terrifying scream. He was so frightened that he nearly dropped the knife he’d snatched from the arm of the sofa, and he turned his head toward the entrance doors. Earlier in the day, he had been cleaning his fingernails with the knife he’d used to subdue Cathy Addison and the other women, and its razor-sharp tip and edges made him feel invincible. But that frightening scream and the clattering cans and breaking bottles were scaring the piss out of him, and for a moment he was too petrified to move. It was a terrible mistake.

A split second later, Dion Murphy came smashing through the huge set of locked doors. Ray Slaugh grew even more frightened at the sight, and his racing pulse began throbbing in his throat when he saw the doors fly off their hinges as the screaming monster bulldozed his way through them. A shower of wooden splinters and screws came raining down on the tiled floor, and the doors went banging against the wall on either side of the foyer before clattering to the floor. The stalwart figure tore into the middle of the lounge but came to a jarring halt when Ray Slaugh came bounding up from the leather sofa and turned to face him.

The portly man was frightened out of his wits, and Dion noted his receding white hairline and black mustache, as well as his dingy white shirt and wrinkled black trousers. A matching suit coat was draped over the back of the sofa, and the place reeked of stale beer and sweat. An open valise sat on a coffee table next to several cans of half-eaten C rations, and Dion could hear a waft of music, broadcast by the Armed Forces Radio Station in Saigon, blaring from the speakers mounted in the ceiling.

The eyes and ears of the infantry officer, honed by months of combat, took it all in with one sweeping glance, but most importantly he noticed the rapist was alone.

Ray Slaugh’s mouth was moving, but he made no sound. He was unaware of the warm squirt of piss soaking into his trouser leg; he was absolutely petrified. This wasn’t a woman he was facing. The son of a bitch is more muscular than I remember, he fearfully thought as he trembled. He’d seen him one night with Isabel at the O Club, but there was ferocity in his eyes now and a scowl on his face he would never forget.

Norman Coddington, the man he was going to kill, was supposedly not due back from leave until the next day, so he’d