Read Huston, James W. -2003- Secret Justice (com v4.0)(html) for Free Online Page B

mission went, and how he got the famous Wahamed Duar.” It was the first many had heard that Duar had been captured. Their eyes showed their surprise and excitement. Hogan lowered his voice. “I predict right now that we will be asked to conduct the first major tribunal right here aboard this ship. It is imperative that we keep it confidential for now. If it leaks out, it could be catastrophic. No e-mails to your wives or husbands explaining to them that we have Duar and are going to put him on trial. Just keep that knowledge in your own little heads. Now, I want to give Mr. Rathman here a chance to tell us all what happened. So,” he said, turning to his left where Rat was sitting. “The floor’s yours.”
    Rat nodded. “It went as briefed. We happened to be the closest when the signal went out. We jumped—”
    The door to the wardroom flew open. A red-faced captain stormed in. Rat noticed the medical insignia on one of his collars. The ship’s surgeon no doubt, and
pissed
. He had a light complexion and blondish hair, what there was of it. It was mostly combed over to cover a growing bald spot, and some of the longer hairs had fallen down on the wrong side, tickling his ear. The fact he didn’t notice was a bad sign to Rat.
    Hogan looked irritated. “This is our ship’s surgeon, Dr. Tim Satterly. What is it doctor?”
    Satterly could barely speak. “Sir, one of those men that was just brought on board isn’t
doing
too well,” he announced with an air pregnant with implication.
    “What do you mean?” Hogan asked.
    “This man described how some
maniac
had tried to kill him. Had, in fact,
tortured
him.” The doctor looked around the room, wondering if the maniac was in the room. His cheeks were blotchy.
    “He looked okay to me,” Hogan said, smiling.
    Satterly didn’t see the humor. His outrage was growing. “Sir, he was tortured with water. It was poured into his nose and mouth until he almost drowned. He lost consciousness. They had to revive him.”
    Hogan shook his head. “He’s delusional.”
    “He just collapsed in sick bay, Captain. He has a temperature, sir. I ordered a chest X ray. He has pneumonia that has been brought on by something very intrusive. What he described could do it.”
    “That fast?”
    “Yes, sir.”
    The wardroom grew deathly quiet. The mess specialists, unaware of the tension in the air, came rushing out of the kitchen and placed the two large plates of food in front of Rat and Groomer. Rat stared at it. He wanted the doctor to leave so he could eat.
    Having finally noticed the two odd uniforms in the room, Satterly directed his gaze at Rat. Captain Hogan waited until the messmen had withdrawn. Everyone had stopped eating. No one even reached for a coffee cup. They all wanted to avoid whatever was going to happen next. The hum of the ship, the general noise that had been mere background until then suddenly dominated the room. Captain Hogan turned his head and looked at Rat. “You want to explain this to me?”
     
Chapter 3
     
    The Marine guard nodded at Rat, who opened the steel door and stepped through. Rat was one of the few people allowed automatic access to the prisoner. The door closed behind Rat and was locked again by the Marine from the outside.
    Rat had changed to his American desert camouflage uniform with no insignia or indication of service. The other man in the room wore the standard Navy officer’s uniform, the short-sleeve khaki uniform that was ubiquitous on the ship. He wore the rank of a commander, with two rows of ribbons and no name tag. He had come onto the ship to do the interrogation, and was thought to be with naval intelligence.
    Only Rat knew that Ken Barone, the man in the uniform, had never served a day in the Navy. His full name was Kendall Pierce Barone, which he sometimes used, but just as often he was called KP. He was legendary for being able to speak perfect Arabic, even regional dialects. He could speak Jordanian Arabic, or Egyptian,