Page 51 of Very Special Forces

"Yes."The man turned and walked towards the camera, keeping his headdown. Harris tapped the keyboard and the camera zoomed in until wecould read the name tag on the uniform.

"Thatsays Simmons," I said, pointing to the screen.

"I know, right? But thatisn'tSimmons. I looked into his story about foodpoisoning and it checked out. He was in the infirmary all night andwell into the next day."

"Maybehe had an accomplice? He's not a regular on base so the doctorwouldn't know who he was. All a person would have to do is give aname and no one would question it."

"That'swhat I thought, so I took another look at this guy. Wait a moment."The figure started moving again and as he got to the hangar doors,he raised his arm. Harris hit pause. "See that tattoo on hisforearm? Simmons doesn't have one. That's proof it isn'thim."

"He tookSimmons' uniform while he was incapacitated, being careful to gethis name on camera while keeping his face shielded but forgot aboutthe tattoo." I sat back in the chair. "Someone tried to frameSimmons. Any idea who it could be?"

"I don'trecognize him or the tattoo but I don't know everyone here. Kafskyand I talked about it and he doesn't know either."

"Whereis Kafsky?"

"He'stalking to the boss about the show the tank is supposed to be thestar of. Someone's gonna want to see it real soon, Lexi. Whoeverstole it left a Jeep under a tarp and somehow no one noticed but meand Kaf that the tank was gone."

"Zoom inon the tattoo," I told him and when he did, I snapped a photo ofthe grainy image with my camera phone. "Where does he gonext?"

"Heleaves the hangar and a few minutes later, the other camera pickshim up walking around the outside to the tank transporter. He parksthat outside the hangar and then this camera picks him up againgetting into the tank and boarding it."

"Play itall for me so I can note all the timings."

Harrisdid as I asked and I made careful notes of all the mystery man'smovements, asking him to pause it every time I thought there mightbe a glimpse of his face. Unfortunately, he was smart enough tokeep his face covered but his one failing was allowing the forearmtattoo to be visible. That was lucky for Simmons. If this all wentbad and he was implicated, he could easily prove he wasn't the manin the video, despite the man wearing his uniform.

When thetransporter drove away out of the shot, Harris paused thevideo.

"Howtall would you say Simmons is?" I asked.

"Sixfoot."

"And I'mguessing he weighs one-ninety?" I waited for Harris to nod. "Theuniform doesn't look tight. We're looking for a Caucasian malewho's similar in stature to Simmons."

"That'ssixty percent of the base."

"But notmany of them will have a tattoo on one arm and the ability to drivea tank transporter or a tank. Who do you know who can drive eitheror both?"

"I can'tthink of anyone. We don't usually have that kind of vehicle here soanyone who's interested in taking that route would be in anotherunit. There's only Simmons and his partner who can drive both, tomy knowledge."

"Simmons' partner? Who's that?"

"I thinkI told you about him already. McTavett. He came in withSimmons."

"Couldhe pass for Simmons? Height and weight?"

Harrisfrowned. "I guess."

"Do youknow where he was the night the tank was stolen?"

"He tookoff to his room after dinner. Said he was tired and wanted to getsome sleep."

"Cananyone account for him?"

"I don'tremember seeing him until breakfast the next day. But why would hewant to steal a tank and set up his partner? It doesn't makesense."

"Itmight not be him," I pointed out. "But we have to rule him out too.Is there any footage of the tank transporter returning? We know itcame back."

"Ididn't check that far ahead. Give me a few minutes and I'll findit." Harris pulled up a chair and set to work edging the footageforwards. Finally, the tank transporter appeared on camera, minusthe tank, and a few minutes later, the same figure jogged into thehangar and deposited the keys in the key box. Not once did he lookup at the camera. All the same, I made a note for myrecords.

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