Page 66 of PSYCHOlogical

“The name in question is McMurphy,” he said. “There’s no McMurphy at the DNI’s Office. It doesn’t surprise me. I wouldn’t expect the Director of National fucking Intelligence to employ a man willing to use his God given name, would you, staff sergeant?”

“I guess not.”

“Wouldn’t be very fucking intelligent of office in charge of intelligence, would it?”

I chuckled. “No, Sir.”

His jaw tightened. “I intend to find this McMurphy prick and get my hands around his neck.”

“If he’s a ghost, how do you intend to—”

“As you’re aware, I’m computer challenged. Damned things baffle me. But. One of my drinking buddies from OCS works at the FBI’s Intelligence Branch,” he whispered. “I’m planning on meeting him for a beer and seeing if he can do a little digging for me.”

“Have you talked to him yet?”

“We meet once a week, for a beer or two,” he said. “I haven’t felt the need to discuss this particular matter with him, until now. With Trevino breathing down my neck, I’m not about to head to the FBI’s headquarters in the broad fucking daylight. I’ll meet him off-base for a beer. Hopefully, he’ll be able to shed some light on who’s at the other end of the emails.”

“You think McMurphy had Shephard killed?”

“I think he gave the order,” he responded. “Personally, I think someone in this very office is feeding the DNI information.”

I was shocked at his revelation. “Why is that, Sir?”

“I received word from 3rd Battalion, 6th Marines that Shephard was to ship out. His walking papers did not come from—or through—the DNI. They came from Camp Lejeune. For him to be killed prior to shipping out, someone in this office who knew of his orders to ship out had to advise the DNI of the same.”

“Who knew?” I asked.

“That’s the problem,” he said. “Eventually, every swinging dick in this office knew.”

“Makes it difficult to narrow down the search, Sir.”

“Amen to that, staff sergeant,” he said dryly. “Leaves us with no other option than to kill everyone and let God decide if we we’re in the right or in the wrong.”