“Enter.” Atwater said, as he responded to the knock at his door.
“Sir.” Ted said, as he poked his head through the partially opened door.
“What Truman?”
“Have you got a moment?” Ted stepped into the doorway, as Atwater put down the file in his hand.
“Go.” Atwater replied. Ted opened the door fully and entered the General’s office. He turned back and motioned behind him. A reluctant Doctor Morgan sheepishly entered behind him, followed by his assistant, Phillips.
“Sir, it appears as though we have made some significant progress.” Ted began.
“Oh yeah? On what part?” Atwater asked sarcastically.
“It’s the profile, sir.” Phillips spoke up. Ted nodded.
“Yes. The profile.” Morgan chimed in quietly.
“What about it?”
“Well…we seemed to have isolated the issue with the most recent-” Morgan began.
“We believe we’ve found the problem, sir.” Ted said. “Phillips?”
“Yes, sir.” Phillips said, as he stepped towards the desk. “The last profile was actually correct, sir.”
“Correct? Are you all fucking crazy? Didn’t you see what happened to my man?”
“I know, sir. We are all painfully aware of what happened to Jones.” Ted responded.
“Then what the fuck are you talking about?”
“The problem was the evals themselves, sir.”
“What do you mean?” Atwater asked. Ted responded.
“The psychological profile developed by Doctor Morgan, and confirmed by Phillips here, is based on the standard weighting criteria of the Army PSYOPs deep profile exam.” Ted explained.
“Yes.” Continued Morgan. “The PSYOP deep profile examination also requires that a portion of the examination be conducted while the patient is under hypnosis, as well as a section that is completed while the patient is under interrogation.” He cleared his throat. “So you see, that is the problem.”
“I don’t see anything. What the hell has that got to do with Jones? Or the others?”
“Well, sir.” Phillips spoke up. “With the others, we had not yet determined that the profile was a requirement to successfully-”
“And Jones? You had your fucking profile then! What happened?” Atwater asked, the agitation in his voice obvious. Ted continued.
“Sir, the profile on Private Jones was a perfect fit with my own examination by PSYOPs. The problem lies with his profile itself. The profile that we compared to my baseline profile was not conducted by PSYOPs.”
“Then who did his profile?”
“NYU, sir.” Phillips interjected. Doctor Morgan spoke up.
“Yes. It seems as though the profile we were given for comparison came from an examination given to him just prior to his enlistment. Being a civilian profile, the weighting of the results could not be accurately compared with the profile we have developed based on the PYSOPs examinations. Had we known, we would have had him re-examined, I assure you.” Morgan explained.
“You mean to tell me that Jones is going to be a fucking zombie for the rest of his life because you buffoons…assumed?”
“Sir. We made a mistake. But at least now we know what that mistake was, and can ensure it will not happen again.” Ted countered. Atwater glared at him. Morgan opened his mouth to speak, but Ted laid his hand on his shoulder. Morgan closed his mouth. “That will be all.” Ted said to them, and escorted them out the office. He shut the door and turned back to Atwater.
“So does this mean we have the answer on the profile, or are we just ready to ruin some other poor saps life?” Atwater asked him.
“I think we have it, sir. You yourself have gone through a PSYOPs examination. You know how thorough they are.”
“I’d rather forget. Not my favorite time, no doubt.”
“Sir. I ran the profile through the existing PSYOPs database.” Atwater looked up.
“Any matches?”
“Three so far.”
“Anyone here?”
“No, sir. Not assigned here anyway. One is currently active in Turkey. Another is in Japan. There is one that’s local, but he’s not active anymore.”
“Is it someone we can re-activate? Maybe in the reserves?”
“No, sir. Not exactly. He was discharged ten years ago.”
“Well hell, give me his number. I’ll call him. A little God and country speech always gets them fired up.” Ted sat down in one of the chairs at the front of the desk.
“Sir, all due respect, but I don’t think he would take your call.” Atwater, reared back in his chair, a puzzled look on his face.
“Do I know this guy?”
“Yes, sir, you do. It’s Jack King.” Ted replied.
“King, King…I know that name.”
“CID.”
“CID? That King?” Recognition entered Atwater’s face, but no smile erupted.
“That King.” Ted replied.
“You’re right. He won’t take my call.”
“Or mine either, sir. Look, he doesn’t realize what you did for him back then. Or what I did for that matter. I’m sure he blames us for the whole thing.”
“But we saved him.” Atwater replied.
“You did, sir. And I still appreciate what you did. Making it so he could opt for the honorable discharge. He might not have appreciated it, but I certainly did. You did a good thing, sir.”
“What’s he doing now?”
“Local PD. Homicide.”
“Why don’t you look him up. See what he’s working on. Maybe you can somehow rekindle the relationship you guys had.”
“I doubt that’s gonna happen, sir.” Ted replied.
“Well try it anyway. Meanwhile get someone on those other two guys. See if you can get them re-assigned.” Ted nodded.
“Well, get the hell out of here. You’ve got things to do.”