The Last Line Read Online Free PDF Page A

“Granted,” she said at last.
    â€œThis whole thing is bullshit, Colonel, and you and I both know it. The Farm’s just pissed because I crossed their barnyard without breaking a sweat.”
    â€œYou deliberately attacked one of their CEs. The man is in DeWitt with a concussion.” She cocked her head. “That doesn’t bother you?”
    â€œNo, ma’am. Those boys play rough. I wasn’t going to mess around.”
    â€œYou of all people, Captain, ought to know that things never go as planned in combat, real or simulated! If you’d misjudged, if you’d hit him too hard, you could have broken his neck, or smashed the side of his skull.”
    â€œBut I didn’t, Colonel. That’s the point. To complete the exercise, I needed to change the rules of the game. So I did.”
    She tapped the report. “You broke the rules of the game. Not only did you injure a member of the opposition, you stole his night-vision device and you left the established boundaries of the course. You stole a vehicle—a truck, I might add, belonging to the Agency’s assistant deputy director of operations. You also strayed outside the assigned operational area, which could have put civilians and nonoperational personnel at risk.”
    Teller sighed. “Colonel, the before-action clearly stated that I was to move from Point Alpha to Point Bravo without being detected or captured. The exercise was designed to check out a new E&E class designed by Colonel Procario and did not involve live-fire activity. No civilians were put at risk—not unless the CEs decided to use live rounds instead of blanks. I was not armed. As for leaving the assigned area…” Teller managed a shrug while remaining more or less at attention. “I didn’t have a GPS—and every piece of gear I borrowed was returned in working order, period.”
    â€œDamn it, Teller, you knew you were supposed to stay southwest of the swamp.”
    â€œDid I, Colonel?” He gave her his best look of open, boyish innocence. “I thought that was a suggestion. It sounded like a suggestion to me. ”
    â€œDon’t give me your bullshit, Captain Teller,” MacDonald told him.
    â€œColonel MacDonald, you sent me down there to test out their E&E exercise and write a report on its potential usefulness for trainees. The exercise was flawed. It was play-acting. In combat, there are no rules, no boundaries, no restrictions.”
    â€œIndeed?” MacDonald’s tone dripped acid. “So … civilians, women and children, they’re all fair game? Rules of engagement are to be ignored?”
    â€œDamn it, Colonel, that’s not what I meant and you know it.” Teller was angry now. “When you face an enemy in combat, you don’t pull punches, you don’t give him the first shot, and you don’t decide if attacking him is politically correct. You take him down, and you take him down hard. And you sure as hell don’t play by the bad guys’ rules!”
    â€œThe exercise at the Farm was a game, Captain. Games have rules.”
    â€œHow do we learn from a game where we have to follow rules? I don’t get it.”
    â€œNo,” MacDonald said. “No, you don’t. That’s why I’m relieving you of duty pending a formal investigation.”
    â€œYou can’t do that, Colonel!”
    â€œThe hell I can’t. Just watch me. You are dismissed.”
    â€œColonel—”
    â€œDismissed!”
    Teller stared at her for a long couple of seconds, then turned on his heel and strode out of her office.
    It wasn’t even 1000 hours yet, and he needed a drink.

    SAFE HOUSE, EAST OLYMPIC BOULEVARD
    EAST LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA
    1230 HOURS, PDT
    They’d driven through the night, arriving in the Angelino suburbs well before dawn. Reyshahri and Kawrd—the other VEVAK agent introduced himself during the drive as Fereidun Rahim