He was shaving in his cell, getting ready for court again, while the news played in the background. The large screen had cable, but only certain channels. From the US, it carried APN, CNN, CBS, Fox, and several new channels debuted since the war. Plus European media. He tuned in France 24 from time to time, to freshen his language skills. He couldn’t follow the Dutch programs at all.
His scar itched, which meant it was healing. Another for the collection. Since Mladic’s attack in the cafeteria, the court had heard from three more witnesses. One was the wartime commander of USS Mitscher, the screen unit Dan had tasked to prosecute the contact in place of Savo. The other two were expert witnesses, one for the prosecution, the other hired by Corris. Dan hated to think how much that would cost.
Then they’d adjourned for several days, for one of the astonishingly frequent Dutch state holidays. He’d spent the break rehearsing his testimony, playing chess with the indicted president of Ashaara, working out, researching comparable cases, and emailing Blair, Nan, and Burke-Bowden to keep up. Blair had apologized again for not being able to fly over, but said she had a surprise for him when he returned.
His Academy deputy insisted everything was under control. Dan hoped so … but surely the place could run without him for a few weeks. If not, there was something wrong with his staff.
Also, he’d asked Corris if there was anything he could do, in a legal way, for the president and the Syrian. Corris had looked askance, but said he’d investigate.
He was rinsing his face when someone mentioned Beijing on the news. He went over, blotting his cheeks with a towel, to listen.
Live from the capital, read the chyron scrolling across the bottom of the screen. A spokesman today said the government was considering the turnover of General Huan Pei and Admiral Bohai Lianfeng to respond to a recent summons from the ICC. Pei and Lianfeng were prominent in the Zhang regime. China has never signed the treaty establishing the Court. But there still exists a mechanism for voluntary rendition of individuals to face trial for war crimes and crimes against humanity.
One American is standing trial at the moment, establishing a precedent. The Executive Yuan and Justice Ministry will consider the matter in the days to come. Former head of state Zurong Zhang is reported ill in Russia, where he fled after the military revolt that ended the war.
He pulled on a shirt, straightening the wounded arm carefully, and stood buttoning it, staring out the window toward the church tower, which was obscured by fog. The weather was still drizzly. Had never really stopped since he’d surrendered himself. Now and then the tolling of its bells reached him, as if freedom itself could float through the humid autumn air.
He couldn’t help dreading what was about to happen.
Today he was taking the stand. To relive it all again.
And no doubt Al-Mughrabi had prepared something much worse than simply a forced recounting of events. Accusing him of dereliction of duty, of abandoning drowning sailors … It pulled the square knot tighter in his gut.
A discreet tap; his guard. Dan to-blocked his tie, shrugged his sport coat on, and followed him down the hall, past all the other gray steel doors.
“You heard about the Chinese,” Corris murmured, as they sat waiting to reconvene.
Dan nodded. “One general and one admiral.”
“That was the main reason you surrendered yourself, was it not? To pressure the Chinese?”
“Uh, right. Sure.” Dan cleared his throat, which threatened to close up. He’d have to start carrying an inhaler, if the damaged airway got any worse.
“I think it is praiseworthy,” the attorney said. “However your case may go, I believe you have acted ethically. Which I cannot say of all my clients.”
Dan smiled, unsure how to respond. According to his new prison buddies, his colorless little attorney had defended some devils incarnate.
As if thinking along the same lines, Corris added, “I looked into the charges against your … friends. Their crimes were serious. Their attorneys are appealing, but I fear there’s little chance of release. However, we can prepare an amicus brief, if you feel so inclined. Arguing for a reduction of sentence.”
Dan nodded. Most mass murderers, responsible for genocide, mass rape, and mutilation, were never brought to justice. Not to say the ICC was useless. Its very existence was probably a deterrent, and it might help shame national courts into prosecuting. In the end, no human institution would ever be perfect.
Nevertheless, he was here. Though not purely for the reason Corris had mentioned.
Mainly, it was so he could live with himself.
“All rise. The International Criminal Court is now in session,” a woman announced, then repeated it in several languages.
The older judge, with the graying hair, read another preliminary statement. This time in English, but slowly, so the translators could follow. At last she nodded to Al-Mughrabi.
He stood. “The prosecution calls Admiral Daniel V. Lenson.”
Corris laid a hand on Dan’s wrist. “As I told you, it would be better if you declined to testify.”
“I know. But they need to hear from me.”
“Then keep it short. Yes or no answers. Admit no guilt. Stick to what we agreed on!”
Dan pulled his wrist free, and walked, as steadily as he could manage, to the witness stand.
The prosecutor started off in a friendly voice. He smiled. Said he understood it was wartime, that the attack had come as a surprise, and, of course, that Dan had been under enormous pressure. “In point of fact, you were responsible for the defense of a great city, were you not?”
As Corris had advised, Dan didn’t answer right away. Trying to think ahead, plot, like an advance reckoning, or maybe more like a chess defense, where his adversary was headed. “Defending Taipei. Yes.”
“Your ship had suffered an outbreak of legionellosis. A crew member had been abducted and raped. A military detective was aboard, investigating that case. Meanwhile, your small force was expected to guard a strait in place of an entire carrier battle group. Correct?”
The guy had done his homework. Dan gave it a beat, then said, “Substantially. Yes.”
“Much responsibility. And you had not slept for … how long, at that point?”
“I don’t recall.”
“Would you say you had maintained your normal sleep pattern?”
Dan forced a slight smile. “A skipper at sea learns to do what he has to.”
“I see.” Al-Mughrabi turned to the judges. “In point of fact, as best we can tell from the logs, then-Captain Lenson had slept perhaps two hours in the preceding three days. Attesting to a definite diminishment of capacity.”
Dan kept his features noncommittal. Was the guy acting for the prosecution or the defense? Obviously he was driving toward some point. But what?
The prosecutor turned back. “So, Admiral. Is it possible your capacity to understand and react to events was reduced by sickness, lack of sleep, multiple conflicting and overwhelming responsibilities?”
Okay, now he got it. It was a zugzwang, a classic chess move. If Dan answered “yes,” he’d move a square toward admitting he’d erred. If he said “no,” that underlined his possible guilt.
The courtroom was silent. He cleared his throat. “US Navy personnel are trained to make rapid decisions under conditions of extreme stress. From the beginning of our careers. I was fully capable of making the calls required in that situation. Had I not been, I would have turned command over to my executive officer.”
The sleek-haired attorney nodded, smiling. “If you are satisfied with that answer, Admiral, so am I. Now, to the events on the day in question. How, precisely, did you learn of the torpedo attack?”
He couldn’t help flashing back on the memories. Couldn’t help tensing in the witness chair and doubling his fists. He spoke as evenly as he could. “The first indication was a shock conveyed through the sea. Second, a report from my sonar gang. Followed by one from the lookout, and my own visual confirmation.”
“Your initial actions, please.”
Why did they have to go over it all again, again, again? To break him, force him to make a misstep, obviously. He took a slow breath, let it out. “I ordered the officer of the deck to initiate emergency breakaway. All ahead flank, as soon as we cleared. I streamed the antitorpedo noisemaker and ordered our helicopter back into the air. Gave an initial vector and orders to localize and prosecute. Sounded general quarters.”
Al-Mughrabi nodded, lips pursed. “And after that?”
“I ordered Sonar to go active.”
“Captain Staurulakis has testified that she recommended, from her post in the CIC, that Savo Island maneuver so as to block a second torpedo. Is this correct?”
Keep it short. Yes or no. Dan said, “Yes.”
“How did you react?”
“I assigned Mitscher to prosecute and stood off to assist.”
“So you did not follow her advice and block a second attack?”
“No. We repositioned to assist in the prosecution.”
“To ‘assist.’ Why not ‘prosecute,’ as you put it, yourself?”
“Mitscher had a more capable ASW—antisubmarine—suite. The assisting ship stands off and relays cross bearings to help localize the target. Once it’s localized, it can be attacked from a safe distance.”
The courtroom was silent except for the murmurings of the translators. Dan rubbed his chin. Al-Mughrabi rubbed his too. Was the guy mirroring him?
“Then you received the distress call,” the prosecutor prompted.
Dan coughed into a fist, resisting an urge to blot his forehead. Was the courtroom growing hotter? “Actually two calls, several minutes apart. I think in his testimony Captain Geisinger conflated them. But there were two separate exchanges.”
With exacting patience, Al-Mughrabi led him through both conversations. By the time they were done Dan was sweating in earnest. Loosen his tie? Mop his brow? Better not. He kept taking slow deep breaths. Really, he’d been in far tighter situations. Calm, Mr. Lenson. Pretend to be calm, and you will be, a voice from somewhere in his past said.
“Now, to the turn away from the burning vessel.” The prosecutor folded his hands before him. “At what point did that occur?”
“You have the log. You know the time.”
“I mean, what made you decide to abandon the burning ship? Which was helpless, as a result of your negligence.”
The first time he’d heard that word here. “Negligence?”
One of the judges stirred. Al-Mughrabi shook his head. “This is not a conversation, Admiral! I will ask the questions. Your principal duty was to protect the tanker, is that not correct?”
“No. It was to protect the populations of Taiwan and Japan that lay within the radius of my antiballistic coverage.”
“So you considered the safety of your ships and crews secondary?”
Again, he was being herded into a trap. Like buffalo being urged toward a cliff. He said cautiously, “In wartime, sometimes there’s no absolutely safe course. You have to juggle risks.”
The prosecutor cocked his head. “‘Juggling.’ I see. But at that stage of the war, had any missiles actually been launched? Toward Taiwan, or Japan?”
He forced a reluctant “no.”
“In point of fact, hostilities had not yet commenced. Except for a few shoot-downs of unmanned surveillance machines. Correct, Admiral?”
Dan exchanged a look with Corris. “Correct. But the war plans—”
“So in the absence of actual war, if one of your own ships were attacked, would that not take precedence? A real emergency, rather than one that might not occur? Helpless human beings dying, burning, drowning, rather than a theoretical threat?”
Now Dan saw where he was going. Toward the idea that the hot war, the missile bombardment and invasion of Taiwan and the Marianas, now history, could not have been anticipated then. He glanced at Corris again, but his attorney was looking down, not at him. He said, “We actually had three missions. One: defend Taipei and southern Japan against missile strikes. Two: close the Bashi Channel to surface and subsurface passage. Three: support counterstrikes if the war went hot. Of the three, the ABM mission took precedence.”
Al-Mughrabi nodded. “Let’s proceed to your decision to neglect your imperative duty of providing assistance at sea. In the face of not one, but two calls for urgent assistance. And in fact, not just refusing help, but effectively fleeing the scene. How can you justify that, Admiral?”
Dan cleared his throat again, feeling the dozens of eyes on him. The glare of overhead lights. The glassy Cyclops focusing of the cameras. “As I said, my primary mission was to protect civilian populations. Savo Island was the sole ballistic missile defense unit in theater. That she was my flagship was immaterial. Strategically, she was the highest-value unit in my task group. As the log shows, I vectored Red Hawk 202, my shipboard helicopter, to assist Captain Geisinger.”
“Just a moment!” The prosecutor cocked his head. “That is not precisely true, is it? You first vectored Red Hawk out along the torpedo firing bearing. Only later, after repeated requests from the stricken ship, and after your aircraft had returned to refuel, did you grudgingly divert it to the rescue mission.”
He sucked air, feeling gut punched. One misspeaking, and Al-Mughrabi had pounced. “Uh, right. I had the order of events wrong. Red Hawk wasn’t reassigned to rescue until after it had refueled. It was already close to bingo fuel when—”
“So in reality, you took no action to assist whatsoever. Until so much later, so belatedly, the effort was useless. Is that not correct?”
“No. Doctrine was clear. I had to—”
But the attorney cut him off again.”One question remains, Admiral. How do you live with yourself, sir? After leaving all those men to die?”
Corris rose at last. “I object. Counsel is traducing the witness. Rather than stating objective facts.”
Without waiting for a response, Al-Mughrabi turned to the dais where the judges reigned, motionless, aloof. “If I did so, overtaken by emotion, I apologize. No further questions.” The prosecutor’s tone conveyed regret and disappointment at a high officer’s malfeasance, his poor judgment.
And, in the final analysis, his sheer and shameful cowardice.
Another interminable recess. Dan fidgeted in a greenroom off the courtroom proper. Two guards sat with him, the same guys who escorted him back and forth from the detention center. Caspar and Ruben seemed neither friendly nor unfriendly, but Ruben was always ducking out, then coming back reeking of smoke. Dan had tried conversation, but they either didn’t speak English or weren’t supposed to engage.
So he just sat jiggling his foot, stewing over the morning’s testimony. The prosecution had accused him of diminished capacity, then caught him in a misstatement that might appear to be a lie. He’d tried to rebut, and Corris had objected. But their effectiveness … who knew. A jury might have been easier to read.
But an ICC trial wasn’t a jury process. More like a court-martial, with a small bench of expert judges rather than a larger group of the defendant’s peers. Or—an unpleasant memory—like an honor board, at the Academy.
His attorney came in. “A postponement.”
“Crap,” Dan said. “Another holiday?”
“Oh, no. Just until this afternoon. I will have Margaretha order in. Is there anything special you would like?”
He waved a hand, too apprehensive to care. “Whatever.”
He was finishing his stroopwafel when Corris returned. The counselor looked disturbed. “You okay?” Dan asked.
“Oh, certainly … It is just … something I did not expect.” He glanced around the room. “There will be another witness.”
“For us? Or against? I thought we had to be told in advance about any new prosecution witnesses.”
“They’re not appearing for the prosecution.” Corris held up a hand. “Nor for the defense.”
He explained. Witnesses could be called by the prosecutor’s office, the defense, victim representatives, or by the judges themselves. “An overview witness called by one of the judges has just arrived.”
“One of the judges called a witness?”
“It is not like your procedure in America, I know. It is more inquisitorial.”
“I’m getting that impression. Okay, what’s an ‘overview’ witness?”
“We have already heard from two. The professors we and the prosecution called. They assist in establishing the context of events, or other matters to give the court insight.”
Dan was getting a bad feeling. Less about this new witness than that his attorney didn’t seem pleased at the prospect. The word inquisitorial wasn’t encouraging either. “So we don’t know who he is, or what he, or she, is going to say?”
Corris nodded somberly. “Procedure here is like the continental system. Judges have more power to investigate. In this case, I assume, one decided he needed more information than the current witnesses could provide.”
“Is there anything we can do? Or need to? Like, maybe, block his testimony?”
Corris looked horrified. “That would not be well advised. Such a motion would be denied. And it would not be a good look. We simply have to see what is said, and react accordingly.”
A tap at the door. Ruben put his head in, accompanied by a strong smell of cheap tobacco. He spoke in Dutch to Corris, who stood.
“It is time for us to go back in,” he said.
The court seemed more crowded this time, with more faces up in the press gallery. Dan took his place, fitted the headphones, and looked around.
And locked gazes with a small Asian gentleman a few seats away. One of the translators? But he didn’t have a mic.
In his headphones: “Captain Jianhua Cai is called as a witness.”
Corris, sotto voce beside him: “Do you know this man?”
Dan shook his head. But he was starting to guess who he might be.
The Asian took the witness stand. The same tall blonde who’d checked Dan in—an officer of the court, Dan assumed—confronted him, apparently administering an oath. Dan snuggled the headphones tighter, concentrating on the translations. They came from alternate voices, disconcertingly gender-switched. Apparently the Chinese-to-English translator was female, the Dutch-to-English male.
“State your name please.”
“I am Cai Jianhua.”
“What was your role in the recent war between the Opposed Powers and the Allies?”
“I began it as hai jun zhong xiao. The equivalent of a navy commander. Later promoted.”
“And your post or position.”
“Early in the war I commanded the Yuan-class attack submarine Renmín Fangwei-17. I then oversaw submarine production in the Wuchang Shipyard until its destruction in an Allied raid. I served on the staff of the Eastern Theater Navy Headquarters. I was at the submarine command staff in Beijing when a victorious peace was declared.”
Dan exchanged glances with Corris and Margaretha. Both looked puzzled. He mouthed, This might be okay, and returned his attention to the testimony.
The blond ICC attorney said, through the translator, “Please describe the events of the day you encountered Admiral Lenson’s task group.”
The witness shifted on the stand, as if composing himself. Or mustering memory.
“We had set sail the day before from Ningbo. Our assignment was to break through the strait north of Taiwan and south of Okinawa. You call it the Miyako Strait. I was to transit to a patrol area three hundred kilometers east of the island. Once in position, the plan was to block any help sent to that separatist province. Our forces would cut them off from their allies and convince them to rejoin the mother country. Reunifying China and returning the world to peace and stability.”
The interrogator nodded, urging him on.
He lifted his head. “On the morning of the tenth, my sonar reported the noise of many ships from ahead. I reduced speed and changed course to evaluate. We were able to distinguish the signatures of several United States and Japanese warships, plus one unidentified low-sound propeller. Over the next two hours I closed on the formation. We set up a firing solution on the low-sound unit, evaluating it as an aircraft carrier, helicopter carrier, or other large warship.”
Dan frowned. The translator was obviously fumbling, trying to cope with both naval terminology and prewar political vocabulary. “Reunifying China” meant invading and conquering Taiwan; “low sound” probably meant “low frequency,” which made more sense in discussing a long-range passive detection.
“What were your orders then? When war had not yet been officially declared?”
Cai shook his head firmly. “At that point we were under wartime orders. My instructions were clear. If I detected an enemy carrier in the strait, expend all efforts to sink it, up to and including the sacrifice of Renmín Fangwei-17. Only if attacking merchant ships was I allowed to place crew safety in consideration.”
His interlocutor gestured to continue. Cai said, “As we later learned, the American carrier was never in the strait. Our intel was wrong. Instead, they blocked the passage with other forces.
“Regardless, I had to proceed cautiously. We knew their detection capabilities were high. We had already identified an outside guard. I could not use the periscope. I found … heat layer … and approached underneath it. The outer guard did not detect us.
“When in range, inside formation, I fired three torpedoes. Then quickly altered course to the south. At … slow quiet speed. We heard two explosions. I still could not use periscope, but rose closer to surface. We heard noises. A large ship was breaking up. At this point we still did not know what ship this was.
“At that time my sonar teams continued a … following … of three other ships. They identified one as a US Arleigh Burke–class destroyer. Another, farther off, Japanese. We identified this as JDS Kurama. I directed the crew to plot a course to intercept Kurama. This was a large helicopter ship. Its loss would deeply hurt the enemy.
“Then, beyond the noise of the ship which was sinking, we detected the … handwriting … of a US cruiser of the Ticonderoga class. Its … sound song … indicated that it was approaching our position. As this was also valuable, I selected it as our next target.”
Dan sat riveted, hardly remembering to breathe. He could see it so clearly. The sub running deep and silent on its air-independent Stirling propulsion. Approaching the barrier Dan’s Ryukyus Maritime Defense Coalition Task Group had flung across the strait, to intercept any attempt to reach the open sea.
But the hunted had become the hunter.
Cai had used silence, skill, and courage, hiding under the layers of heat and salinity difference to bypass Dan’s outer screen unit, USS Curtis Wilbur. He’d targeted Stuttgart because of the deep slow beats of its screws, mistaking the tanker for a carrier. He’d followed his attack by repositioning, searching for the next victim.
And Dan had been heading west, directly across his bow. A perfect target for one or more of the advanced wake-homing torpedoes the Chinese had licensed from the Russians. It would have sidewinder-weaved up his wake and detonated in his screws.
Directly beneath the aft missile magazine.
Savo Island would have vanished, transmuted instantly into hot gas, smoke, flame, and high-velocity shards of steel.
Cai was staring at him across the courtroom. “Go on,” the interviewer prompted.
“I fired two Yu-6 torpedoes at the cruiser, setting them at slow quiet so they would not be detected. But seconds after their departure, my sonar team reported the cruiser made a hard turn and increased speed. Departing the area. The torpedoes followed but exhausted fuel before reaching their target.”
The Dutch woman nodded. “And then?”
“Then Sonar reported helicopters overhead. We broke off and retreated to reload torpedoes. I intended to return for Kurama but lost contact. I resumed my transit to the patrol area and carried out my instructions throughout the beginning of the war.”
The court official turned to the defense table. “Do you have questions for this witness?”
Dan stood, shaking off Corris’s restraining hand. “I do.”
“This is not the way to proceed,” Corris hissed, trying again to pull him down. The guards, up to now leaning against the walls, straightened. Dan hesitated, then forced himself back into his chair. He murmured, “Ask him about his navy’s policy. A ship dead in the water to rescue survivors. Would he attack it?”
Corris stood. “Captain. If Savo Island had stopped to rescue survivors, what would you have done?”
Not a moment’s hesitation. “I would have attacked and sunk it.”
“And if another had stopped for the survivors of the first two?”
Cai said, “We would have torpedoed it as well. Also, as to survivors, we were instructed to surface, and use our machine guns.”
The room was quiet. Dan looked down at his notepad. He scrawled machine guns.
Corris sighed, as if confirming something he’d suspected. Waited, as if to let the witness’s statements sink in. Then said, very softly, “I have no further questions.”
In his closing argument, Al-Mughrabi hammered on Dan’s turn away from the stricken tanker. This, he said, was the crux of his violation of the laws of war. He dismissed the testimony of the submarine commander. “All beside the point, since Lenson could not have known these things.”
He also quoted from Senator Sandra Treherne’s remarks in Congress, citing Dan’s failures later in the war, in the central Pacific and off Hainan. “I do not accuse him of crimes in these instances, though his actions led to thousands of unnecessary casualties. They do not lie within this court’s jurisdiction. But they form a pattern of malfeasance, poor performance, and violation of his own country’s regulations, as well as the customs of civilized war.”
Dan forced himself to sit immobile, keeping his expression neutral. Though he couldn’t help jotting a protest, now and then, and showing it to Corris, at least.
A second address came from an attorney representing the victims. She spoke in German, reading a statement from the relatives of those who’d died aboard Stuttgart and in the water. Dan wanted to object. He wrote angrily How am I responsible for those killed in the torpedo attack? Corris shook his head. Court will realize this, he jotted back.
As in an American trial, the defense spoke last. Corris rose, holding a single sheet of paper.
“As has become obvious in the course of testimony, Admiral Lenson played no role in the commission of any war crime,” he began. “The defense has shown this, based on three facts.
“First: The whole formation was under attack from the moment the initial torpedo detonated. As its leader, his responsibility was clearly not limited to those few survivors in the water. It extended to the hundreds of men and women in his task group.
“As the testimony of Captain Cai made clear, if Lenson had gone to the rescue of the survivors, rather than taking other action to assist them—which he did—hundreds more would have been injured, died, or been lost at sea.
“Second: His obligation extended even further: to hundreds of thousands of innocent civilians. Savo Island was the sole unit with the ability to intercept missiles aimed at the cities he was assigned to protect. As such, he had the clear duty to preserve her, beyond any other ship under his command. This is clear both in logic, in law, and in his military’s doctrine.
“Now, as to that doctrine. The defense agrees that obedience to an order to commit a crime is never an extenuating circumstance. The relevant precedents are clear. However, Admiral Lenson did act in accordance with US Navy wartime instructions. This is further evidenced by the fact he has never been subjected to American court-martial or other judicial processes for those actions.
“Thus, we must conclude that Admiral Lenson obeyed international law, maritime law, and the laws of war. He acted in accordance with his responsibility to the civilian populations he was charged with protecting. Finally, he directed effective rescue efforts as soon as it was clear the attack had been driven off, and persisted until all the survivors had been succored.
“More than that, it would be difficult to ask of anyone.”
He turned to Dan. “Did you have anything to add, Admiral?”
Corris had prepped him for this little act. He stood. Cleared his throat. Looked, not at the cameras, but up at his judges.
“Honored Justices. I sincerely regret the loss of life, both in the Miyako Strait and throughout the entire conflict. The laws of war are simple: protect the innocent; rescue the shipwrecked; use only proportional force. I was trained in those laws, and consider them part of the code of a military officer.
“Bearing those responsibilities in mind, even after intense reflection, years after the incident, I believe that given the situation, there was no other choice for a prudent mariner than to act as I did.”
He remained standing, as if for any questions, but the judges simply stared back down at him, or studied their screens and papers. Corris tugged his sleeve; and after a moment more, Dan resumed his seat.
After a pause the judges rose, one after the other. Everyone else remained standing until they had filed out.
Dan blew out and slumped. He turned to Corris, feeling like he’d just run half a marathon. He rubbed his face, which the attorney had advised him never to do on camera; it made a defendant look guilty. “Okay. Now what?”
“We wait. For the verdict.”
There certainly was a lot of waiting involved around here. “Which will be … when?”
“Difficult to say. It could be later today. Or in a week. Once rendered, we will have the opportunity to appeal. That process, though, could take much longer.”
Dan nodded grimly. His fellow detainees had been found guilty. Both were still awaiting the outcome of their appeals. “Which means I could be here for months.”
Corris gripped his arm. “Do not anticipate what hasn’t happened yet! Let’s see what the Court decides. Meanwhile, stay optimistic. I think we presented a strong defense. And Captain Cai’s appearance, whoever arranged it, was very effective. I would say we have a good chance of exoneration.”
Yeah, who had gotten the judges to ask for Cai? And getting the Chinese to let him attend couldn’t have been easy either.
He had his suspicions, though. Was Cai the “surprise” Blair had hinted at? The US secretary of defense had to have some pull with Beijing.
Back at the detention center, a depression so bottomless he could hardly think mastered him. Burke-Bowden had left a message. The deputy supe wanted to know how the trial was going, when he’d be back, but Dan didn’t feel like returning the call.
In the detention unit’s common area, he tried to watch the news. But his brain kept shunting off into worry. Let’s say they give me ten years. Most likely in a German prison, since the plaintiffs were German nationals. “We may petition the court to let you serve it here, however,” his attorney had said. “Rather than in Berlin, or Munich.”
Just … fucking … great. Either purgatory or hell. Although Scheveningen was more like limbo. It wasn’t unpleasant here. A physical therapist, a library, a gym … and he’d stayed in BOQs with less comfortable beds.
But he could get an even longer sentence. Though he didn’t think it would be life, like Mladic, Charles Taylor, Slobodan Milosevic, and the Ugandans and Congolese who’d been found guilty of genocide. Or Bosco Ntaganda, convicted of murder, rape, sex slavery, and recruiting child soldiers.
But whatever his sentence, he’d have to deal with Ratko Mladic. Sooner rather than later.
And he’d have to resign, both his superintendency and his commission. He hadn’t looked into it yet, but conviction might cost him his retirement benefits, depending on how the Navy interpreted the law. He’d only see Nan, and Blair, briefly, through reinforced glass, for years.
And why? Because he’d turned himself in. He’d turned himself in.
What a bonehead move. The black tide rose again. He put his head in his hands.
He was sitting like that when the guard came for him. He had a visitor.
“Is it a woman?” he asked hopefully.
“No. Your attorney.”
The judges were already seated when he was led in. The court seemed to be back in session, but without the full appurtenances of the daytime proceedings. Only a scattering of faces looked down from the gallery. Only a few staffers sat at the computers. And only four out of the five justices occupied the dais.
His guards led him in front of the bench; Corris stood beside him. Dan wasn’t in leg-irons, but felt like he ought to be. He straightened his spine and waited.
The eldest judge cleared her throat. She began to read, in English, very slowly. She began with the charges and a description of the alleged crimes, then proceeded to establish that the events lay within the court’s jurisdiction, having taken place on the high seas against citizens of a state that had ratified the Rome Treaty. She cited the preliminary prosecutor’s investigation, and its recommendation an indictment be issued. “The accused rendered himself up voluntarily,” she added. She continued with the number of witnesses called and where from, and noted, “In accordance with Article 68.3 of the Rome Statute, victims have also been heard in full.”
Dan threw Corris a puzzled glance. It sounded as if she was trying to justify whatever sentence was about to come down. Which couldn’t be good … Corris patted his shoulder and leaned in. Only a little longer, he mouthed.
“The evidence has established that Admiral Lenson was indeed in charge of the task force in question and issued the orders constituting the alleged crime. The defense argued extenuating circumstances, including the combatant nation’s doctrine, the usage of the sea, and the exigent demands of wartime. These were rebutted by the prosecution and countered by the defense in final arguments.”
The judge raised her gaze from her screen, to look directly down on him.
“This chamber has established beyond a reasonable doubt that Daniel V. Lenson was in charge of the force in question; that he gave the order abandoning the stricken vessel; and that he was aware of the consequences.
“In extenuation, he did subsequently arrange for the rescue and succor of those survivors later recovered.
“The chamber has also concluded after review of witness and expert testimony, including by the commander of the attacking submarine, that further extenuating circumstances existed. In view of an imminent and potent threat to the other ships in the force, as well as his mission to defend civilian populations, Lenson’s actions in temporarily abandoning the survivors of GNS Stuttgart most likely resulted in significant saving of life.”
She paused again, long enough for Dan to take a deep breath. Corris gripped his arm.
“Although the judges have written separate and in some respects dissenting opinions on relevant issues, the chamber has reached its final decision unanimously.
“The chamber concludes that the prosecution has not proved, beyond reasonable doubt, that the defendant is guilty of the crimes of abandonment on the high seas, murder, and other violations of the laws of war. An order relating to his release will be issued immediately.
“That concludes this hearing.”
The judges rose, together, bowed to him, and filed out.