Unraveling A Cover Up

Chapter 1

"Do you swear to tell the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth?" There was a long pause of silence as Bob contemplated his options and possible responses; he wasn't a particularly rash person given to impulsive responses. Of course, the people sitting at the table in front of him were also not particularly focused on what he had been asked or what the implications of his response might be. Three were reading or writing on their tablets, two were whispering to an aide, three were leafing through file folders and one was trying to keep his eyes open. Only one man was looking at Bob and he had a deep frown on his well-publicized face.

"Mr. Jensen, you have not answered the question. Do you swear to tell the truth in his hearing?"

"Senator Bright, I always tell the truth as I know it or understand it unless I am being manipulated. In that case, I will tell you what you want to hear."

By now all of the other members of the panel were silent and focused on the one man sitting in front of them.

"Mr. Jensen, this is a joint investigative committee of Congress looking into several serious activities. Why would we want to manipulate you?"

"Because you are all politicians. None of you cares about the truth; only that the perception of the truth that best fits your agenda. That makes me a pawn in a multi-level game of pin-the-tail-on-the-donkey and I am the jackass."

The Senator frowned even more deeply and replied, "Your cynicism is a hindrance to these proceedings although we were warned that you might be difficult. Ms. Wainwright, please take Mr. Jensen to the anteroom and clarify what he needs to do. There will be a ten minute recess." The gavel sharply announced the recess as well as his displeasure.

A tall, professionally dressed woman in her early to mid-thirties came towards Bob with an equally serious look on her face and motioned for him to follow her to a side door. He rose and dutifully followed her. Once inside the room with the door closed, she began, "Mr. Jensen, what exactly is your problem with testifying before this hearing?"

"What is your name? Your first name? Out there you can be Ms. Moneypenny for all I care; but if you want to talk to me alone, my name is Bob."

She looked startled for a moment and then said, "Penelope, but people call me Penny."

"Thank you, Penny. Now there are several reasons why I am reluctant to play the game out there. First and foremost, I have no idea what they are investigating or why I am here. Second, I was told to 'be here or else' and the 'or else' wasn't specified. However, I did not take kindly to a man with large muscles and a small brain threatening me. How is that for starters?"

The young woman looked at him with a mildly shocked look on her face. "Do you mean that they did not give you the subpoena and tell you to consult an attorney?"

"No ma'am. Well, they gave me an envelope and said to get an attorney but I was paying more attention to the 9mm Glock his hand was resting on than the envelope. I have a thing about people who need a gun to just talk to me. They have bigger problems than me to worry about and they might just decide to take them out on me."

"Are you serious?"

"Penny, as you get to know me you will find out that I don't lie. Like I told whatshisanme in there, I may not know everything that is going on behind the scenes but I will tell you the truth as I know it. Many people don't want to hear that truth; they prefer to hear a watered down version with a happy ending. So I piss a lot of people off. That is why your boss out there got bent out of shape over my response or lack of one."

"He isn't my boss. I work for Congress as a whole to keep these hearings efficient and moving forward. They have a lot of demands for their time."

"It is a shame that they don't have time to listen to the truth. If they did that, they would be wasting a lot less time trying to sort through all of the PR stuff and political wrangling."

"You are probably right. But right now, we have to go back in there. They want to know about that mission ten years ago where something happened when you were involved."

"Ah, now that makes sense. They are looking for a scapegoat and I am the chosen one. Then you can tell the big boy that I will be glad to tell him the truth about that except for a couple of details that are of no concern to anyone."

For the first time, she smiled and said, "That is all I can ask you to do?"

"I wish they were as easy as you are but I doubt it."

"Why do you say that? They are mostly pretty good guys."

"Maybe. But we aren't sitting around drinking beer and eating barbeque, are we? They are on a stage and they each have a part to play. Four of them are trying to make the other four look like bad guys and vice versa. The only way that one side wins is if the truth fits their agenda better than the other. That means that whichever one comes up short will need a scapegoat and that will be me. So let's get the show on the road. I need to be home by Friday to harvest some stuff for the market on Saturday."

"What do you do?"

"I grow onions, garlic, some herbs, and a few other things and sell them at the Farmers Market."

"They told me that you were a super mechanic and could work on any vehicle."

"Well that is partially right. I work on vehicles for people who need the help. I don't waste my time working on rich people's toys."

"So you wouldn't help me with my seven year old Toyota that doesn't want to start?" She grinned and for the first time Bob felt a real person-to-person connection with her.

He grinned back, "Get me through this labyrinth and I will get your Toyota running like a top."

"That's a deal. We better go back in before they get antsy."

"Lead on, McDuff. The fatted calf is ready."

He couldn't see her face but felt that she was smiling as they left the anteroom and returned to the hearing chamber. Bob sat down where he had been before and Penny went to whisper to the Chairman. The others were back doing what they had been doing previously.

The Chairman slapped the gavel again and said, "This hearing is back in session. Mr. Jensen, I am told that you were not properly notified about this hearing and therefore your reluctance to swear the oath was perhaps understandable. I am now assured that you are prepared to answer our questions honestly and truthfully. Is that correct?"

"I do not pretend to know everything about the mission in question but I will answer your questions honestly and to the best of my ability."

"Unless there is an objection, I will accept this as agreeing to the oath." He looked around and was ignored by the other members of the panel. "Now you are Robert Jensen from Kaufman, Texas, spent eight years in the US Army, and attained the rank of Staff Sergeant. Is this correct?"

"Yes, except that I was really from a small town near Kaufman that nobody has ever heard of but I went to Kaufman High School. That is just a technicality."

"Thank you. Your Army record appears to be exemplary for the first five years and then there were indications of some difficulties. Would you clarify this for us?"

"For the first part, I was in training and my first deployment was in Germany. Then I came back to the States for advanced training. After that, I was assigned to a motor pool at Ft. Knox to keep their vehicles running. The second part was where things get a little fuzzy."

"Please explain."

"Well, our commanding officer was pretty weak and indecisive. So if we got anything done, I had to see that it got done. He took offense at some of the things I did."

"I see but that isn't important to the mission in question is it?"

"Only indirectly. He pretty much left us alone by then. We were working one day when this guy came in. He was some sort of officer or something but he wasn't wearing any insignia or name badge or anything. He acted like an officer or someone in charge. He came in and said and I quote, 'You men get your gear and those crates of parts loaded on the cargo plane at the airport. When you get to where you are going, get their damn trucks running. They keep getting the shit shot out of them.'" There were a couple of snickers heard around the room.

"Um Mr. Jensen; we would prefer that language like that not be used during these hearings."

"Senator Bright, you have to make up your mind. Do you want the truth, the unvarnished truth, and nothing but the truth or do you want Sunday School English? I can't do both." Bob saw that even Penny was smiling. Bob wasn't though; this hearing was giving him a bad case of gas.

Senator Bright turned to the woman who was transcribing the hearings and said, "Wanda, put it down like he tells it but clean up his language when you write it up." He turned back to Bob. "So Mr. Jensen, you and the others flew to an air base in Afghanistan. What did you find there? By the way, who was your commander on this mission?"

"I guess I was. I was the senior NCO."

"Do you mean that there was no officer or anyone else on the plane in charge?"

"I guess that the pilot was in charge of the flying and he was an officer but there were only the guys in the cockpit and me and my sixteen techs. By the way, do you know how long that flight is? We flew for almost twenty four hours and that transport doesn't even have a latrine on it. We had to piss on the floor in back and eat cold MREs on the way. Sleeping was hell too."

"Thank you for that play-by-play report. Let's get back to the important things, shall we?"

"I don't know about you but when you haven't taken a leak in almost ten hours, taking care of that is pretty damn important."

The Senator just rolled his eyes. "When you got to the airport in Afghanistan, what did you find?"

"We taxied up to a hangar and were met by another guy with no name or insignia and he told us to set our things up in the hangar and get the trucks back running again as soon as possible. Then he left."

"Where did he go?"

"Don't ask me to start lying. We could see more buildings at the other end of the airport a couple of miles away and he went towards them. So I don't know where he went."

"Where did you stay?"

"I told you; he told us to set up in the back of the hangar and that is what we did."

"You stayed in a hangar?" He asked in disbelief.

"That's what I said, didn't I? There was one building at that end of the airport and that was where we were. Twice a day a truck came down with some food for us. After the first day, we asked them to just bring us MREs. Their food was crap and cold when it got to us."

"Miss Wainwright, we have had twenty dispositions from all sorts of people and no one has mentioned anything about this. Get some of those guys back next week. We need to find out who was who in the chain of command for this."

"Yes sir." She turned to an assistant gave several instructions. The young man quickly wrote notes and hurriedly left.

"Now, Mr. Jensen, we will look further into that part. What was the condition of the trucks when you got there?"

"All kinds of conditions. Some of them were half there and some were less than that. The best truck had its engine sitting in the front seat and was jacked up on its transmission."

Senator Bright just stared at him; he had no response or follow up question for that answer. Finally he said coolly, "You are describing a junkyard. Is that what you found?"

"That's a pretty good description."

"I can't believe that."

"If you had told me what this was all about, I would have brought the pictures. We always documented every problem with every truck we work on."

The surprised Senator blurted out, "Why do you do that?"

"The same as it is in here. If there is a problem, the shit runs downhill until it lands on the lowest ground around. That usually means privates, corporals, or sergeants. Why else am I sitting here instead of a colonel or a captain?"

"I think that we need to adjourn for the day. Miss Wainwright, please see that Mr. Jensen is back here next week to continue his testimony and see that he brings his pictures and anything else he has with him. We also probably ought to call in some of the other people from his squad to confirm some of these things."

"Yes sir."

"Excuse me, your Holiness, but there are two problems with what you just told her to do."

"What are they?"

"First, it cost me $500 dollars to get here today and you haven't even gotten to the questions you want answered. At this rate, I will probably only be able to get to Texarkana next week."

"You were sent a plane ticket!"

"Maybe you should hold hearing about postal deliveries. They aren't what they used to be."

"Miss Wainwright..."

"Yes sir, I have it covered."

"What was the second problem you mentioned?"

"There were sixteen of us that went over there. Four of them came back in body bags; five are still in the hospital or rehab; two are in prison, and the others are scattered in three or four other countries. I doubt that you will get many of them to testify for you."

The Senator just stared at him. Without saying anything, he simply stood up and walked out of the hearing room. Bob turned to Ms. Wainwright and she was staring hard at him too.

"What? Did I say something wrong?"

She walked to him and said, "No Bob, I think you just said the one thing that actually got their attention. Let's get you out of here; you and I need to talk."

"Thanks. I would very much like to talk to a normal human being." He stood up and followed her down a hall and into a nice office where she offered him a cup of coffee which he readily accepted.

When she sat down, she said, "Bob, I need to ask you a couple of questions. Can I?"

"Are you asking me as Ms. Wainwright or as Penny?"

She had to think for a moment and then said, "Both I guess. I want to know what happened as Penny because you got my attention for sure. But whatever you tell me will also help Ms Wainwright do her job better."

"All right, then Penny, what do you want to know."

"What trucks were you driving on that last mission?"

"The ones we put together from the pieces that were usable in the hangar."

"You weren't issued regular trucks to use?"

"No. They said to drive the ones we fixed up down to the warehouse, load them up with stuff, and drive them up the highway to that base. Then we were to unload them and drive back. That's it."

"How many other soldiers went with you that day?"

"Just the sixteen of us; no one else."

"What kind of weapons did they issue you?"

"Hmm, let's see. They gave each truck an M-16 and a couple of clips of ammunition for each one. Then they gave each truck three hand grenades. Oh and they gave Freddie a shotgun. They said that we probably didn't need them because the area we were driving through was quiet. They lied. Well, technically they didn't lie but that is just a technicality."

"What do you mean?"

"Well, the drive was quiet. We loaded the stuff and drove up to the base and unloaded it. They put some things in our trucks and we drove back. It was about 9:00 at night when we got back to the hangar and that is when all hell broke loose. There were about thirty of them. Some were loading the boxes of parts we had brought into their trucks when we drove up, the others just started shooting at us. Our lead truck was hit by an RPG and just disintegrated. The second and third trucks got shot up pretty bad. I was in the last truck and we were able to get out and fire back but by then they were already heading for the hills. I think we got one truck but I can't be sure."

"What happened after that?"

"The medics and the ambulances came from the other end and patched us up and took the severely wounded to the hospital. They patched me and a couple of others up and took us down to the other end and put us on a plane and flew us to Germany. I found out later that four were dead and the others were pretty bad off. The two who are in prison got there because when we got to Germany, they went over the hill, stole a jeep, and went into town to shoot up a couple of places.

"You were wounded?"

"Yes ma'am. I got hit three times but none of them were serious."

"None of this is in the official record. Do you know who debriefed you?"

"If you mean who asked us what happened? No one did. When we got to Germany, we spent a week there recuperating and then they flew us back to the States and told us that we were discharged and to not talk to anyone about what happened. They gave us plane tickets home and we left. You are the first person I have told this to. That's kind of another reason why I got a little uppity in there today. They sounded like they already knew what they wanted to hear and I wasn't going to waste this chance to tell the whole story that I knew about."

"I can't blame you. Listen, I need to go make a phone call. I'll be right back and we will go somewhere to eat lunch and talk about some other things. Will you be ok alone?"

"Penny, I was alone before I went in the Army and I have been alone since I got out. I expect that I will be fine while you make a phone call or two. Take your time. I'm not going anywhere."

Penny just looked at him in wonder for a minute and then went into the office behind the waiting room. He just sat there wondering what was going to happen next. He also relived that day and night ten years ago and still couldn't come up with the answers he needed to find. It still seemed like a scene right out of a surreal dream. But he also realized two new things that appeared to be important. First, he could probably trust Penny. She would always be Ms. Wainwright but she would also always be Penny. She had the ability to be both at the same time. Most people only knew how to be only one person and he didn't like to spend much time around them. He preferred the solitude of his garden and library at home. The other thing that pleased him was that he had pissed in someone's Wheaties and that made him feel very good.

Bob didn't know how long Penny had been gone but when she returned carrying her purse, she had a slight frown on her face and her voice sounded like Ms. Wainwright. "Um Bob, I have been told to take you to lunch and then stay with you until you come back next week for the hearing. Is that all right with you?"

He looked at her for a moment and replied, "As we talked about, you and Ms. Wainwright are always mixed up with each other. As long as you know that I am only willing to talk to Penny, you can go anywhere you want with me. Let's get out of here. I'm getting hungry." He stood up and held the door open for her. She was still looking hard at him as she walked passed him. He followed her outside to her car. She hadn't lied. It was a seven year old Toyota and it wouldn't start.

She began cussing a blue streak when he said, "Slow down and pop the hood. I'll bet that I know what it is." She did and a few minutes later, he told her to try to start it. It started right up. So he got back in the passenger seat.

"What did you do?"

"I sort of fixed it for now. Stop at an auto parts place and I will fix it for good."

She looked startled but drove a couple of miles to a chain auto store and stopped. "Pop the hood again; I'll be right back." She tried to say something but finally stopped when he disappeared inside and told the salesman exactly what he wanted. It took five minutes and it only took that long because he couldn't remember the right part number and the clerk had to look it up. Then he walked out and opened the hood. First he pulled the broken wire off of the distributor and threw it in the trash can and put the new one on. Then he closed the hood and got back in the car. "Let's go. I'm still hungry."