Mathers read through the general details of Foster’s statement, essentially the report that he had made after walking into his unit’s rear area with several members of his platoon disarmed and under arrest.
His story was that he had been assigned as cover fire, positioned as a sniper as his unit advanced in suspected ISIL territory, but there had been no firefight. Instead, the platoon had found five unaccompanied civilian females, who seemed to be engaged in some sort of agricultural chores.
Foster had made his report, he said, with the assumption that the guilty would be punished. He claimed he had absolutely no idea that it would be turned around and used as evidence to charge him with committing murder to cover up the very crimes he said he was trying to report.
Mathers closed the file and got up from her desk, then left the JAG offices and headed across the compound toward the stockade. Foster was a prisoner there, and she wanted to look him in the eye and hear his story for herself.
The duty officer at the stockade said it would take a few minutes to get Foster up to the interview room, and invited her to have a cup of coffee. She passed, and went to wait in the interview room for her client. Foster was brought in about ten minutes later, and took the seat across the table from her.
“Sergeant Foster,” she began, “I’m Lieutenant Mathers, with the JAG office. I’ve been assigned as your defense counsel, and I’ve just started working on your case. Looks pretty nasty, so far. Can you tell me your side of the story?”
“I’ve already told it several times. Isn’t it in the file?”
Mathers nodded. “I read it,” she said. “Reading a formal statement and hearing it straight from the man’s mouth are two different things. Personally, I’m inclined to think that I can discern the truth more easily by watching your facial expressions while you speak. So how about it? Gonna tell me what happened?”
Noah shrugged his shoulders. “I had been assigned as a sniper that day,” he said, “to provide covering fire as my unit moved in on what was supposed to be an outpost of ISIL terrorists. Instead, the lieutenant and the platoon found a number of civilian females, and decided to let off some steam with them. Some of the girls, judging from their bodies after I got there, looked to be as young as twelve, maybe thirteen, and only one of them was still alive by then. Lieutenant Gibson had called me down from my position and offered me the opportunity to join in the fun with the last one, but instead, I attempted to put a stop to the situation.” He smiled, sarcastically. “The lieutenant didn’t want to hear my objections.
“ ‘Sergeant Foster,’ he said, ‘these are ISIL sympathizers, and as such they are to be treated exactly the same as enemy combatants. As it happens, we decided to attempt interrogation and met with resistance. Now, I’m offering you the opportunity to engage in some interrogation of your own.’
“I stared at him, and tried to figure out what was going on. I said, ‘Lieutenant, we can’t be doing this.’
“He acted like I hadn’t said anything of importance. ‘And why not, Sergeant?’ he asked. ‘Do you see anyone else around here, to make any objections? How I run my unit is up to me, and this looked to me like an opportunity to let my men get some much-needed R&R. There’s one left, are you going to take advantage?’
“I looked down at the girl that was being held by both arms, and I could see the look in her eyes, pleading with me to do something to save her life. I turned back to the lieutenant.
“ ‘No, sir,’ I said. ‘I can’t be a participant—’ but he cut me off. He held up a hand to stop me, then called out, ‘Anyone else?’ When no one answered, he looked back at me, shrugged his shoulders, and then shot the girl through the head.”
“Wait a minute!” Mathers said. “You’re saying your platoon leader actually murdered this girl, right in front of your eyes. Is that what you’re telling me?”
Noah looked at her, one eyebrow lifted. “I thought you said you read my interrogation report? That would’ve been in it.”
Mathers nodded slowly. “Go on,” she said.
“Well, I stepped back, because I was startled at what just happened. The guys who had been holding the girl, they jumped back, wiping off the blood that splattered them, and I stared at them all.
“ ‘Have you guys gone nuts?’ I asked. ‘Are you all crazy?’