The Right One

79.

If my debrief was going well her’s was anything but. Although the initial introduction was civil and accommodating, once the questioning reached the uncomfortable, that protected place where analysis is normally suppressed and secured by lock and key, she began to question the questioner, a text-book example of the degree of difficulty in the process. There must be a high level of trust or the effort slams shut like a screen door in a windstorm. They had reached that stormy place and Saunders, using her skill and experience again tried to explain the process, this time in altogether different rhetorical phrasing.

“The idea here is to share information. We know from experience that in the heat of battle, when you are primarily running on adrenaline and JP5, your primary focus, as should be, is on the task at hand. We also know that we are capable of noticing details that while important, are not directly involved with the primary action. With training and practice we can attain a high degree of recall, things like faces, landmarks, voices, smells that are ignored when in survival mode but available for analysis if necessary once calm has been restored. Like data bits in a long dormant file, our job, and it takes two, is to locate the file and see what is there. You will find that the process gets easier with time, but it is crucially important that you relax into the process, trust our relationship as teammates and perhaps, above all do not take anything personally. This is not a trial. You will not be found guilty of any crime by a jury of your peers.” 

Maria listens with honest curiosity. If any one characteristic might define her it is her severe distrust in figures of authority. Saunders is asking for her to place more trust in her than in her instincts, causing a deep and troubling internal dichotomy, a common self protection device used by most first timers unfamiliar with the technique and practice. Saunders recognizes it quickly and moves to quell. 

“If my information is correct you are going to be played back into the cell as a mole.” Saunders restarts. 

“That is the idea, yeah, but the more I think about it the more I think about the thousand different ways that it could go wrong, each of them ending the same way: Me dead.” Maria says frankly. 

“And that is the very reason that makes this exchange so important, because we want to provide our best possible chance of the success with the mission. This very conversation could reveal intel that could save your life, the lives of our teammates and those of countless thousands of innocent civilians. THAT is at the heart of what we do with this process and the importance of you having a major part in that success.” 

“OK, I get it. I’ll try harder.” 

“Sometimes it’s easier to try softer,” Saunders says with a warm, inviting smile. 

“For this session we want to start at the detention center and review the events that took place after the break-out. Give me the broad strokes and I’ll ask for detail when necessary.” Saunders checks the volume setting on the camera and thumbs her mechanical pencil twice. 

“It was the second time I met… ugh… what’s his name, Bogart? Maria begins.

“Commander Bogart.” Saunders corrects. 

In agreement with its appropriateness Maria defers to the respectful tone and continues, “I provided some very incriminating evidence that would send a lot of Axis big-wigs up the river for a long time and in turn for that, and more, I asked for immunity and protection. He goes out of the interrogation room and returns in a half hour saying there has been a change in plans and that now they, you, us, want to play the spy vs spy game with me as a plant. I learned about all this as I was on the floor of my cell reading a memo from a notepad as he, Bogart, Commander Bogart, was sticking the guard with needle full of knock-out juice. He asked me to trust him.” Maria shares.

“Trust him.”

“Yes.”

“And you did?”

“Yes.”

“Why?”

“I am still trying to figure that one out. But I will tell you that the deeper we fall into this freaking rabbit hole the more I think my decision was the right one.”