Alfred Hitchcock's Mystery Magazine by Penny Publications

Author:Penny Publications [Publications, Penny]
Language: eng
Format: epub, pdf
Publisher: Penny Publications
Published: 2016-10-01T04:00:00+00:00

Last night, Strange had worked late, as was his habit. He was single and probably had never had a girlfriend in his life, so like many lifers the army was everything to him. “I never leave the cage until every classified document is turned in,” Strange told us.

The cage was a vaul-like room where the classified documents were kept. Everything that came in and went out was meticulously logged in and logged out. The chain of custody on a classified document—whether Confidential, Secret, or Top Secret—was never broken. It was after seven P.M., more than two hours past the end of the duty day, when Strange made his usual security rounds through the headquarters, checking to make sure that doors and safes were locked. That’s when he’d heard raised voices in the chief of staff’s conference room, as if two people were fighting. He’d opened the door and stumbled on General Cornburn and Staff Sergeant Bollsworth in something that resembled a cross between flagrante delicto and a ballroom brawl.

General Cornburn used his command voice to shout, “Out! Get the hell out!”

Strange had gotten out. Then he returned to the classified documents cage, locked the door behind him, and sat on the stool next to the barred window pondering his next move. Twenty minutes later, he’d heard a back door slam; Sergeant Bollsworth, he surmised. Five minutes after that, General Cornburn’s face appeared in the iron-barred window. He ordered Strange to sign in the top-secret document that he’d signed out earlier that afternoon. At first Strange hesitated. Without the document how could he sign it in? Not only would that be a violation of procedure, but, worse, it broke the chain of custody of the classified document, something that Strange and every other NCO in the U.S. Army had been told repeatedly was a federal crime.

“What did you do?” Ernie asked him. “General Cornburn didn’t have the document so he was ordering you to lie.”

At just the memory, perspiration broke out on Strange’s forehead. “He’s a two-star general. He was shouting at me to comply with his orders, threatening me with court-martial.”

“So you caved,” Ernie said.

“Wouldn’t you?” Strange asked.

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