I’m afraid I’ve gotten myself into some trouble. It’s a long story, and I’ll tell you, but the gist of it is that I found myself in a position where I had to kill some of my own men. Please believe me when I say that it was absolutely necessary, and I saw no other choice.
However, when I reported the incident that led to it, other men who should have been prosecuted for their own crimes all concocted a story of their own, and laid all the blame on me. I have been court-martialed, convicted and sentenced to death. I’m filing an appeal, but there really isn’t much hope that I can prove my innocence, or even prevent my own execution.
Noah went on to explain the whole story, including just who Lieutenant Gibson’s father was. He cautioned her not to try to get involved, and to make sure she got that through to all of the others. There was nothing they could do to help him, and any attempt to do so would only blow up in their own faces. He didn’t want that, and had already accepted the inevitability of his fate.
It took him a little over an hour to write the letter, and he folded it up and put it in the envelope, leaving it open as he was required to do. He slid it through the slot in his door, so that one of the guards could take it to the mailroom. Then he sat down at his table again and began thinking about what he should do next.
He’d only been there for a couple of minutes when he heard the keys outside, and his door opened.
“Noah Foster?” One of the guards stood there in the open doorway, just looking at him.
“Yes,” he said. He hadn’t expected anyone to come to talk to him just yet, so his senses were on high alert.
The guard nodded. “I’m Lieutenant Spencer,” he said. “I’m in charge of this unit. I make it a point to come and meet everyone assigned here. You getting settled in okay?”
“Yes, Sir,” Noah said, coming to attention, “and I apologize for my disrespect a moment ago. The way the light is set in here, I couldn’t see your rank tabs.”
The lieutenant smiled. “It’s not a problem, we don’t stand on a lot of ceremony in here. At ease. Have you got everything you need?”
Noah shrugged. “I don’t know that I really need anything,” he said, “but would you know offhand when the book cart might come around? Oh, and when do we get to order from the commissary?”
“Well, I can send the book cart down in just a few minutes, that’s no problem, and you can go ahead and put in a commissary order whenever you like. You get it the next day after your order. There should be an order form in one of those tablets on the table.”
Noah looked quickly, and sure enough, he found the form tucked into the back of the tablet he’d been using. “Thank you, Sir,” he said. “I’ll do my best not to cause you any headaches.”
The lieutenant nodded again. “I’ve actually been going over your file, today, and from what I can see, you must have been a model soldier and a model prisoner. Never so much as a disciplinary action, until now. I’d just about bet that there’s a lot more to your story than meets the eye, but I’ve been around here long enough to know that it probably doesn’t matter a whole lot.” He glanced down the hall to his right, then back at Noah. “We got a pretty good psychologist here, a lady named Doctor Oakes. She can’t do squat about your case, but there’s a very good chance she can help you cope with it better. Don’t hesitate to put in a request to talk with her, when things start to get to you.”
Noah smiled. “Thank you, Sir, but not a whole lot gets to me. I’ll be fine. Of course, it’ll help when I can get some books to read.”
“Okay, then,” the lieutenant said. “I’ll see to it the book cart comes in just a few minutes. And if you feel the need to talk with me again, I run this unit on an open-door policy. You just tell one of the guards, and they’ll let me know. I’ll come to see you at my first opportunity.”
The door closed, the keys rattled, and Noah was locked in again. He sat down at the table and began checking off things he wanted to purchase from the commissary. He ordered shampoo, soap, deodorant and an assortment of snack foods, and added a deck of playing cards for good measure. If he was going to be in solitary confinement, he might as well play a little solitaire.
Lieutenant Spencer was true to his word, and by the time Noah finished preparing his order, he heard keys rattling again, and the door swung open. A guard stood in the hall and watched as an inmate trusty pushed the book cart into the room.