“I yelled, ‘Gould is dead, and none of you is as good as me at this stuff, and you all know it. We can keep this up if we have to, but it’d be a lot simpler if we just go back and let the officers figure out what to do.’ I waited for almost a minute, and then Private Hansen called out that he wanted to give it up. The other six in our unit followed him just a couple of minutes later, so I told them all to unload their weapons and clear them before I stepped out from behind cover. I watched carefully as they did so, then had them recover the weapons and dog tags from the men we lost. Once those weapons were also cleared, I ordered them into formation and marched them back to our rear area.
“I made my report, detailing what I had discovered when I was called down from my cover-fire position. I left no details out, including the fact that I had killed five of my own men, while the sixth, Private Mason, was killed accidentally as a result of my killing Private Lindemann. I also included details of the five civilian girls who had been raped and killed, complete with photographs I had taken on my phone.”
Mathers sat back and just looked at him for a moment. “You’re aware that the rest of your unit all says that you were the one who was raping and killing those girls, and that it was Lieutenant Gibson who tried to stop you. According to their statements, you killed him and Corporal Gould, and then killed the rest as they were trying to escape from you.”
Noah shrugged. “You asked me to tell you what happened, so I did.”
“Sergeant Foster, you are about to face court-martial on multiple charges of murder under UCMJ Article 118, as well as multiple charges of sedition under UCMJ Article 94, Section 894. Ironically, there’s no mention of charges regarding the five girls, because by the time another unit was sent out there to try to gather evidence and collect the bodies, all of them had vanished. All they found out there were the bodies of your men, the ones that you killed.”
“I didn’t kill Mason,” Noah said. “His death was an accident. I have no idea which way he would’ve come down on this issue.”
“Yes, well, the Article 32 hearing has already determined that there is sufficient evidence to bring charges against you. What that means for me is that I have to try to find a way to keep you from being hung at Leavenworth. Now, considering that you have just told me this story with about as much emotion as your average donkey might display, would you like to give me some kind of an idea of what I might be able to use to do that?”
Noah studied her face for a moment. “You need to get into my psychological profile,” he said. “It’s a long story, but I suffer from something called blunted affect disorder, which means I don’t have any emotions. That’s why you’re not seeing any when I talk to you.” His face broke into a big smile, suddenly. “But I can fake it for you, if you want. I got years and years of practice.”
Mathers stared at him. “With a psych problem like that, how on earth did you get into the Army?”
“Like I said,” Noah replied, “I got years of practice at pretending to be human. It wasn’t hard to get past the doctors, and I’m smart enough that the qualification tests were pretty simple. Uncle Sam jumped at the chance to get me, and by the time I finished basic training, there were a whole bunch of officers who decided they had found the perfect soldier.” He shrugged his shoulders and cocked his head to one side. “Maybe they’re right. Three tours of duty over here, and credited with more than a hundred and twenty confirmed kills. Not hard to do, when you can’t feel fear and don’t have a conscience.”
Mather shook her head. “Do you realize that if anyone overheard those words, they would convict you without a moment’s hesitation?”
Noah laughed, but there was no mirth in it. “Lieutenant, do you honestly believe there is any possibility that isn’t going to happen, anyway? I figure they probably already have my room reserved on death row at the Disciplinary Barracks at Fort Leavenworth. Wouldn’t want to make a bet on that, would you?”
Matters got to her feet and picked up the notepad she’d been scribbling on. “Look, Sergeant Foster, as strange as it may seem to you, I really do want to do everything I can to give you a real defense. The problem is that I have nothing to work with. If I put you on the stand, the members of the court are going to listen to you speak and conclude that you are every bit the psychopath your buddies have made you out to be. Other than some pictures of what might be powder burns, I have absolutely nothing in the way of physical evidence to corroborate your story, and I sincerely doubt that any of your former compatriots would be willing to speak up on your behalf, even if you’re telling the gospel truth.”
“Of course they won’t,” Noah said. “The other guys would kill them if they did. No, no matter how you look at it, I’m headed for conviction, and probably the death penalty.” He leaned forward, his hands clasped calmly on the table. “Lieutenant Mathers, go and put some effort into a case you have a chance to win. Find someone who still has a chance, and put everything you’ve got into them, because I don’t have one.”