Courage Under Fire Page #7

then they had him in a VA hospital.

They transferred him.

Now no-one can find him.

Why do you need me?

Can't someone in the Pentagon help?

I'm out of the loop.

Somebody pissed at you?

- I'm out of the loop.

- Somebody important?

- You want to help me or not?

- Hey, who called who here?

Yeah, sure, Ill help.

Just tell me why I'm doing it.

When you go after stories,

you want them to be right, yes?

Yeah.

So do I.

OK.

So, I help you find this AItameyer,...

..and in return...?

There's a tape.

Sweet Jesus. There's always a tape.

- D'you want to hear this?

- Yeah.

Yeah, go on.

There's a tape of all communications

between our tanks that night in AI Bathra.

Are they trying to make it disappear?

I don't think so, but they're not

advertising its existence, either.

The Army and its image.

Where do I reach you

when I find this AItameyer?

The Bethesda Arms.

A motel?

- Bet everything's great in your life.

- Outstanding.

Serling,...

..eat something.

You look awful.

(Karen) # Make me an angel

# Flies from Montgomery

# Make me a poster

# From an old rodeo

# Just give me one thing

# That I can hold on to

# To believe in this living

# It's just a...

# Hard way to go

# To believe in this living

# It's just a...

# Hard way

# To go

(telephone rings)

Hello.

(Gartner) Found Altameyer.

Got any complaints?

Excuse me?

Rashes, fatigue, bleeding gums,...

..muscle and joint pain,

loss of weight, loss of appetite,...

..insomnia, reactions to bright sunlight.

You name it, we're seeing it.

I drink too much. Does that count?

Hell, we all drink too much.

Here he is.

AItameyer, you want a shave?

Gentleman here to see you.

You want a shave?

What's wrong with him?

Abdominal cancer.

That's what's killing him.

There's many things wrong with him.

He's never awake very long

with all the pain.

Ill leave you two, then.

Thank you.

How you doing, Steven?

I'm Colonel Serling.

Nat Serling.

I want to talk to you

about Captain Karen Walden.

They want to give her

the Medal of Honour,...

..and I know

that you were there in AI Kufan with her.

Roger?

I was...

..hit.

In the back.

Roger.

But you were still able to get Rady out.

Rady.

Yeah.

Good man Rady.

I was...

..afraid.

I understand, son.

(groans)

That's OK. Take your time.

She was afraid.

She... she was afraid.

The Captain was afraid?

Not...

..the Captain.

Who then? Was it Rady or llario?

Was llario afraid?

Me.

Did... didn't tell.

You didn't tell what, son?

The major.

Monfriez.

You didn't tell the major Monfriez...

You...

you and Monfriez didn't tell the major?

He...

..and then they...

You and Monfriez didn't tell the major.

(mumbles)

You and Monfriez what, Steven?

Oh, Jesus.

What? What is it?

Tell me son, please. What is it?

Jesus.

What? What?

The fire.

- What? What fire?

- Oh, Jesus, the fire.

What fire?

The napalm fire?

Jesus.

- You see the napalm fire.

- Jesus.

Tell me about the fire.

You and Monfriez

didn't tell the major what about the fire?

- Please, Jesus.

- Steven!

Jesus, please.

Is it napalm fire? Steven?

Please, Jesus.

Jesus, please.

Steven.

Jesus.

Please.

Jesus.

What's he doing?

He's upping his meds. Self-medication.

Well, can you get him to stop?

I mean, I need to talk to him.

Give him a break.

He's feeling no pain now.

(men singing marching cadence)

Left.

Left.

Left.

Left.

Get off my car, sir.

Think you got

something to tell me, Sergeant.

I called around.

You're off this inquiry, so why you here?

Karen Walden sent me.

I just left AItameyer.

What happened out there

that was so bad...

..that it would have AItameyer

laying up in a hospital praying to die,...

..that's got llario on the run?

That's right, he went AWOL.

What do you think hell tell them about you

when they catch him?

And they're going to catch him, son.

Now, you can tell them,...

..or you can tell me.

What happened out there?

Nothing happened.

Nothing happened, sir.

It was a war.

(slams car door)

Don't lie to me, soldier.

Don't lie to me.

It doesn't matter

whether she gets this award or not.

It doesn't matter whether I'm on this inquiry

or whether I'm in this Army.

I'm going to find out the truth.

I guarantee you that.

You said you were a good poker player.

Well, look me in the eye.

You think I'm bluffing?

No, thank you.

You want it.

I can smell how much you want it.

It's coming out of your pores.

Tell me about the fire.

I like trains.

Since I was a kid.

Big...

Tough...

Iron.

Used to be iron, anyway.

When I got to boxing pro, I was going to

call myself Johnny ''Night Train'' Monfriez.

- Don't that have a nice ring to it?

- Very nice.

Don't humour me, man.

Say it like you mean it.

Don't humour me, either.

Tell me about the fire.

Where's my other bottle?

You ever kill anyone

at close range with a small arm, sir?

It's messy.

No.

We're not talking...

..one of your great big tank guns here.

Oh, that's OK.

I know what you did.

Your own men.

Guys under your command.

How'd it feel?

Bad, right?

Very bad, son.

Very bad.

(train whistle)

And you didn't even mean to kill them.

I've been a good soldier.

A good soldier.

(train whistle)

Listen to that whistle.

Johnny ''Night Train'' Monfriez.

Say it.

Johnny ''Night Train'' Monfriez.

Now get out.

You don't want to do this, son.

Let me help you.

- It's too late.

- It's never too late. Look at me.

Things get f***ed up in war.

I don't care what happened to you.

You can't do this.

Wrong!

I can't do anything else.

Yes, you can. You can put the car in reverse.

Put the gun down.

We can help each other.

I don't want to lose another good soldier.

(c*cks hammer)

I strongly urge you...

..to dismount the vehicle, sir.

Monfriez. Monfriez!

(screeching)

Aah!

(llario) imagine that.

imagine not thinking

about the consequences.

its not the doing sh*t that gets to you,

its the consequences.

My folks used to have this place

out on Calaveras Lake.

l still go there sometimes.

Guess you told me about this place

so I'd know where to find you.

It's beautiful.

The MPs at Fort Stewart...

..found your stash in your locker.

Pretty ingenious place to keep it, huh?

Not if you wanted it to be found.

Where'd you hide the needle tracks?

I, uh...

I shoot up between my toes.

Monfriez is dead.

Killed himself.

AItameyer is dying.

Aren't we all?

Mayday! Mayday!

Dustoff-3, we're going down!

We're going down! Mayday!

Mayday! Mayday!

Dustoff-3, we're going down!

We're going down!

We're going down!

And the chopper went down?

What happened next?

What happened next isn't important.

It's what happened that night.

Monfriez wanted to make a run for it.

At dawn we're dead.

Theyll have reinforcements.

Escape and evasion, Captain.

Now's the time to do it.

Maybe we'd slip by them in the dark.

I told you,...

..Rady can't be moved.

Right, llario?

That lung - any movement may kill him.

But he may die lying here.

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