Primal Force by D. D. Ayres Page B

emotional outpouring from her handler, Sam came over and pushed her head in under his arm.
    Law looked down, eyes narrowed. “Back off. Now.”
    Sam’s gaze rose to his face. After a brief stare-off in which her brows twitched constantly she lay down on his feet, no longer attempting to comfort him but refusing to back off.
    Yardley, too, took a cautious approach. “You’ve got that half-crazy-Cajun, half-inscrutable-Injun thing going on. You’re even scaring the dog.”
    Law glared at her. She held up both hands. “I’m just saying.”
    â€œI got nothing.” He waved at the paperwork for emphasis.
    â€œMaybe that’s all there is. Some things don’t have an upside. We both know that.”
    â€œThere’s nothing else? What about the details of my wounding? There’s nothing here about that. I’ve always assumed we stepped on an IED. But it doesn’t say that here.”
    Yardley didn’t quite meet his gaze. “I was told some papers went missing from the field report.”
    Law knew that was code for cover-up. “So what? Was I hit by friendly fire?”
    She shrugged. “Afghanistan was chaotic in those days. The surge was under way. Troops moving quickly from area to area. Shortly after your incident, your unit left the area. A paper trail didn’t seem as important as tracking the enemy.”
    A muscle ticced in Law’s jaw. Yardley was trying to handle him. Soothe his irritation. Offer excuses. Which meant, she knew that whatever had really happened to him over there had been deliberately covered up. Nothing he could do now would change that. Except that Yardley was holding back. He could see it in the way she was sitting there a little too casual for the occasion.
    He straightened up and lasered his focus on her. “Tell me.”
    She hesitated, bringing her considerable determination to the sibling contest of wills. “Okay. I asked a few more questions. No one will officially verify anything I tell you. But there were originally eyewitness accounts. A couple of civvies found you first. American contractors.”
    She pulled a sheet of paper from beneath a book on the table and unfolded it. “I couldn’t get verification on the particulars, but through another connection I got the names of the contractors working the area where you were wounded.” She ran through the list.
    Law leaned forward to read over her shoulder. One name jumped out at him. “Tice Industries was in the neighborhood?”
    â€œYou know the name?”
    Instead of answering, Law picked up and glanced again through the redacted paperwork he had scattered. There was nothing there about Tice Industries. Or why he was in that village on that particular day. But he had other, older memories to help him fill in some blanks.
    Frowning, he looked up. “Tice is an Arkansas company. There’s a history. Been on law enforcement’s radar since before my time with the state police. But they have money and connections in all the right places. Nothing ever stuck.”
    â€œWhat kind of nothing?”
    â€œWhy do you ask?”
    Yardley shook her head.
    Law was instantly alert. “What?”
    This time she just stared at the carpet.
    Law leaned toward her. “This paperwork doesn’t say why I was at that location. Command sent me and Scud out alone for a reason. I have to know what you know.”
    She nodded tightly. “I made another call, to a reporter who was in Afghanistan at the same time you were. I asked about civilian crime there. He sent me a link to a copy of an old USA Today report with a few lines highlighted.” She pulled it up on her tablet computer and pointed.
    The U.S. Army has investigated 56 soldiers in Afghanistan on suspicion of using or distributing heroin, morphine or other opiates during 2010 and 2011 … Eight soldiers died of drug overdoses during that time.
    â€œThere are more