PART III - Chapter 31: THE BRAVEST MAN I EVER KNEW

 

 

Chapter 31

The Bravest Man I Ever Knew

(Ó 2010)

The Third Week of May 2001
 

In the Home of David Todd

7:05 AM

Noel and David sat anxiously in the den of David Todd behind locked doors. Noel sat on a chair that had a lamp table next to it. His hand was on a telephone that David had brought in from the front living room, the phone had an extra long extension cord that reached all the way from the other room. David sat at his desk looking at his telephone there. They were waiting for a phone call that they both had arranged the week before via email. The arrangement was made after they had received a response to the letter that David had sent to Captain Jean-Luc Pontius of the French National Police.

 

Noel looked at his wristwatch and asked, “What time is it over in Paris right now?”

 

“Just past two in the afternoon, he’s only a couple minutes late Ski.” David answered with some anticipation. “The place is over eight thousand miles away, just be …” Right then the phone rang. David picked up the phone in the middle of the first right. “Hello.”

 

There was the slight background hiss on the phone that usually comes with long distance calls, and then the voice from the other end spoke with a French accent, “Alo … is this Lieutenant Todd by any chance?”

 

“Yes … yes it is.” David answered; he then nodded and motioned to Noel to pick up his phone. Noel did so and placed his hand over the speaking end. “Captain Pontius? Is that you sir?”

 

“Oui … yes it is.”

 

“It’s a pleasure to finally speak with you sir,” David said enthusiastically, “I have my partner, Lieutenant Jaworski on the other line here with me.”

 

“Alo Lieutenant.”

 

Noel answered, “Hello Captain Pontius, thank you for calling us this morning.”

 

“You both are quite welcome,” Jean-Luc Pontius said, “I hope the hour is not too early for you. However, Lieutenant Todd, when I got your letter … and when I saw who the subject was … I just had to speak with you.”

 

David then said, “Well, it’s great that you can give us time from your schedule sir, I know you must be very busy.”

 

“When it comes to my friend Logan … I will make the time.” Jean-Luc said.

 

David then asked, “Mr. Morrow was your friend sir?”

 

“Yes he is,” then Jean-Luc’s tone became somewhat serious, “I hope that you both do not think that he has anything to do with this vigilante business that you both are investigating.”

 

David and Noel looked at each other in surprise, and Noel asked, “How do you know about that Captain?”

 

Jean-Luc then sounded jovial, “Oh I know much about you both Lieutenant, this Internet … it is a wonderful thing is it not? I have been reading all about you both for a week’s time already. In fact I have a picture of you both right now on my computer screen from one of your newspapers there. You both a very photogenic men.”

 

David said, “Thank you very much Captain but this is basically a missing person’s case.” There was a lull of silence on the phone for some seconds, “Captain? Are you still there?”

 

Jean-Luc then responded with some cynicism, “Come now Lieutenant, be honest with me. If this were as simple as a missing person’s case as you say … then why did we arrange for this conversation to be at your home and not your office?” Now it was David and Noel who were silent. In a few seconds Jean-Luc said, “I thought so.”

 

David then responded, “Captain … and please sir, call me David, Captain, well sir he has been reported as missing. That’s how we came across his name. It was cross referenced with another report that was filed with the so-called vigilante task force here. So, technically … this is a missing person’s case.”

 

Jean-Luc let out a short laugh, “I see that police politics are the same no matter what country it is. All right then … David, let me ask you, how long has Logan been missing?”

 

“Since the end of March of this year sir. His secretary at his place of employment filed the report. He left a note behind and we know about the tragic incidence concerning his late wife. We feel that Mr. Morrow may have gone off somewhere and just may have committed suicide. Nothing on him has been found yet. Or, he may have just run off, we just don’t know.”

 

Jean-Luc sighed, “Ah yes … Lily. If Logan has indeed killed himself because of Lily, then I am very surprised that it has taken so long.” Jean-Luc paused, “He loved her so.”

 

Noel then spoke, “Captain … and you can call me Noel sir … Captain, what can you tell us about Mr. Morrow?”

 

Jean-Luc was silent for a second, cleared his throat and said, “I can tell you this about Logan Morrow, he was my partner … he was my very good friend … but above it all, he was the bravest man that I ever knew.” He paused for another second and continued, “He served France both honorably and loyally, not just with the police, but also with his time with Le Legion Etrangere.”

 

David then asked with confusion about the French term he just heard. “Excuse me sir … with what?”

 

“Le Legion Etrangere,” Jean-Luc repeated, “in English it is translated as the French Foreign Legion.”

 

Noel then asked with some surprise, “The French Foreign Legion? You mean those guys who march in the desert all the time and have those white hats with the like towel on the back that covers their necks?”

 

“That is precisely what I am talking about … Noel,” Jean-Luc answered, “The French Foreign Legion, one of the most disciplined and elite fighting forces in the world.”

 

Noel then asked, “They’re still around? I mean I heard that they were real bad asses before, but are they still around?”

 

Jean-Luc laughed, “Oh yes Noel they are still around. They are an elite fighting force, doing the dirty work that our government does not want anyone to know about. It is easy for the Republic because our Legionnaires come from all over the world. Legionnaires are not French citizens, which is why it is called the Foreign Legion.”

 

David then asked, “If that is the case, then what country Mr. Morrow came from.”

 

“It does not matter where Logan came from, he served France in the Legion honorably for seventeen years, and he was wounded a few times in combat. He is responsible for saving the lives of many French citizens who lived abroad; he even saved many French school children in one incident. No … we honor our Legionnaires. As far as we are concerned, Logan Morrow is a citizen of France … Français par le sang versé.”

“What does that mean sir?” David asked.

 

Jean-Luc answered with a tone of pride, “Translated to English it means … French by spilled blood.”

“When’s the last time you’ve seen Mr. Morrow sir?” David asked.

“Oh … it must be a little over seven years now.” Jean-Luc answered sadly, “After Lily died, he just left and did not tell a soul. Your correspondence was the first I have heard of him since then.” He paused for a few seconds, and then said, “My … how I have missed him.”

“Seven years? You haven’t heard from him in seven years?”

“Let me tell you about my friend Logan,” Jean-Luc answered, “as I have said, he was the bravest man that I have ever known. I first met him some fifteen years ago, my superior then, Captain Reginald Thiebulet, recruited Logan personally. He had met Logan some time earlier while he was in the last year or so in the Legion. Captain Thiebulet thought that since Logan was a trained and combat proven Deep Reconnaissance Commando, that he would be an asset to the Narcotics and Organized Crime Unit of the French National Police.” He had a reflective pause then continued “I learned of some things about Logan while he was in the Legion. One story was of when he was parachuted into Zaire to rescue the French citizens there in Kolwezi from the hideous faction known as the Katanga Tigers who were coming in from Angola. Logan was shot in the leg there. But it was in a little African country called Djibouti which I was most impressed. Logan helped save the lives of thirty French school children that were being held hostage near the Somalia border.”

Noel then interceded, “Wait a minute; I think I remember something about some school kids back then. I remember it on the news; they were on a school bus … right?”

“Yes Noel, you have a great memory.” Jean-Luc said. “Logan was part of that rescue operation; he killed one of the terrorists on the bus.”

“Jeez.”

Then Jean-Luc continued, “But it was what I saw with my own eyes … the bravery of this man. We had been called to a small borough in Paris. Two heavily armed men we’re robbing a jewelry store and their plan somehow went awry. They were behind a delivery truck and we had them surrounded. It was in an open square and there was this fountain in the center. Around the square were other shops. The two men began to fire into the other shops where all the customers were all lying on the floors of the shops. One was a doll shop and there were some children in there also. Every time we tried to move in or even made the slightest indication that we were coming for them, they would randomly fire into the windows of on of the shops.

“Logan was standing next to me in an alley way. He looked over the situation and he said to me, ‘Jean … I’m going to have to draw their fire.’ I asked him what it was that he meant all he did was check his rifle and side arm. He then stepped right out into full view of the two armed men. They fired three rounds at Logan and they missed. Logan returned fire, but only to cover for himself. He then ran to the fountain in the center and rolled to the ground behind it. The two men then began firing at the fountain. The base of this fountain was only about eighteen inches high and Logan was lying on his back as flat as he could be. The men kept shooting and the bullets were hitting all over that fountain.

“Logan had his radio on and I called to him on it, I was so angry with him for taking such a risk. However, they were now concentrating their fire on Logan and not any of the shop windows. I called to him and I said ‘Logan! Are you insane?’ He was so calm as he spoke back to me, he just said to me, ‘don’t worry Jean … they are terrible shots.’ In my anger I yelled back to him, ‘And just how is it that you know this?’ Logan was so calm when he answered me, he said, ‘Gee Jean … can’t you see? Because … they haven’t hit me.’ He was even being humorous about it.

“I then stood there and watched him lying there with the bullets hitting the fountain and the water in it. I saw Logan reach into his jacket and pull something out from it. It was a small mirror that was on a telescopic rod. He then pulled out a monocular. He held the mirror up slightly over the edge of the fountain base and he was looking into the mirror with the monocular. In a few moments I heard Logan say to me on the radio, ‘Jean … stand by … I’m going to make my move.’ Before I could answer him back, I saw him toss the mirror and monocular to one side. He then grabbed his rifle and rolled out to his left. This happened so fast. He rolled out, went into a prone position, aimed his rifle and fired. I then heard one of the gunmen let out a scream.

“Logan had seen the mans boot on the other side and from underneath the delivery truck. Logan rolled out, aimed and fired … hitting the gunman in the ankle. Logan had shot that man’s foot completely off, causing him to drop his weapon and scream in pain. The other man then panicked and stood to shoot back. Logan was already on his feet and began to fire before him. Logan shot over the other gunmans head, then to the windows of the truck, then on the front of the truck, and then he shot out the tires. The man was so frightened he dropped his weapon and raised his hands in the air.” Jean-Luc then stopped speaking.

“That was incredible.” David said.

“Yes, that is the word to describe Logan,” Jean-Luc agreed, “incredible. He was a great soldier and a great police officer … and a great superior officer to his men. The safety and well-being of all the men under him was always his priority. If the task were too dangerous, he would do it himself, as he did that day with the robbery. He would always take the point and led from the front.”

Noel then said, “You seem to admire him very much.”

“It is more than admiration Noel; I loved that man, as did every other police officer here, as well as my own family. He served and protected the citizens of France his entire adult life. He took protecting the innocent very seriously; it was as if it were in his nature. He enjoyed what he did so much.” Jean-Luc paused for a moment then asked, “Tell me something Noel … David … in your lifetime … have you ever known a man like Logan? A dedicated man like that? A man of great courage like that? Someone that you wished in your heart that you could be like?”

There was a moment of silence, and then David answered, “Yeah … I knew a guy like that. My old baseball coach back in high school, Coach Evans. He took me in right as a freshman and stayed with me all the way. He was a Sergeant in the Army in the Korean War, decorated too. He mentored me and befriended me in high school; because you see Captain … I was like the only white kid at my school. He was like one of the few black non-coms with a mixed platoon in Korea. He took some shit there but he did it with his chin up. He took some shit because of me too. They thought he favored ‘that white boy’ too much. I knew this and I appreciated it, so I gave him a hundred and fifty percent every practice … every game. I really looked up to him; I would say that Coach Evans was the most courageous man I ever knew.”

There was a pause, the Jean-Luc asked him, “Tell me something then David. Could you imagine what it would be like to watch as your Coach Evans was being destroyed and reduced to a pile of rubble, in an instant, right before your own eyes?”

David hesitated, and then answered, “No, no sir, I can not.”

“Well, that is precisely what happened to me.” Jean-Luc said solemnly. “I … I was the one who had to inform Logan … that Lily was dead.” Both David and Noel could hear the quivering in Jean-Luc voice. “It happened here … right here … in this office … right in front of my own desk. Logan was not only brave, but he was so physically strong, very muscular. I watched as that large, ominous and intimidating figure of a man … collapse to the floor screaming in anguish. He screamed and pounded this floor with his fists. You could hear him throughout the building. I held him in my own arms on this floor while he screamed and cried into my chest. I saw my friend … destroyed in a split second.” Jean-Luc paused, and David and Noel heard him swallow hard and clear his throat. “He loved that woman … so much.”

David looked aver at Noel, who was wiping a tear from his eye. “What happened afterwards sir?”

Jean-Luc regained his composure, “Logan had to be heavily sedated. He was sedated at Lily’s funeral and up to three weeks after. Then … about a week later … Logan just disappeared. He left without telling anyone where he went. He could not do his job here anymore. In the beginning I too was like you both are now, looking for his body to surface somewhere.”

“Well sir, so far nothing like that has happened.”

“Like I said previously,” Jean-Luc said, “I am surprised that, if he has taken his own life, that it took him this long. However, I am not surprised that he has done it.”

“That hasn’t been proven yet sir.”

“If Logan does not want to be found, he then never will be.” Jean-Luc said, “Even if it is a suicide, he would have gone someplace where no person would ever find him. You have to understand something … the both of you. Logan loved Lily with every fiber of his being. She was everything to him, she was life itself, and he loved her more than anything else that existed. He blamed himself for what happened to her; you do know what happened to her and why don’t you?”

“Yes sir, “David answered, “his secretary filled us in on that.”

“Then you should know how it is that we all feel here. All of us knew Lily as well. I was there with him on the night he met her. We were all at their wedding; Lily was a huge part of our lives as well. She was that rarest of human beings, someone who touched everybody’s heart. We too who knew her, loved her very much. She was an angel on earth. All of us feel Logan’s loss.” Jean-Luc then cleared his throat, “He served and protected the people of France loyally and with the highest integrity … and look what happened to him. He had the one thing that he loved the most taken from him … instantly. Can either of you tell me if that is right … if that is fair?”

There was nothing but dead silence on David and Noel’s end, then David answered quite solemnly, “No sir … that is not fair and … that is not right.” He then asked, “By any chance sir, do you know where Mr. Morrow could have gone? Have you heard from him … by any chance?”

“No David, I do not know where Logan is, I have not heard from him.” Jean-Luc said sadly, “Perhaps it is as you say; perhaps Logan has gone to some secluded place and has ended his life. How sad that would be, yet how understandable. You would have to have seen them David and witnessed it for yourself. You would have to have met Lily. If you did … then you would then understand.”

David then thought of his Regina, and then said, “I believe that I could sir. I believe that I could understand.”

Noel then asked, “If by chance you do hear from Mr. Morrow, could you please contact us sir?”

“If this just concerns a missing persons case Noel, then yes I shall.” Jean-Luc answered.

Noel then was just about to question and protest Jean-Luc’s answer, but he was quickly stopped by doing so by agitated gestures by David telling him to not do so. Noel then just said, “Yes sir … I appreciate that.” Noel then silently gestured back to David and mouthed to him, “What the fuck?”

David held his index finger to his lips telling Noel to remain silent. He then spoke to Jean-Luc, “Same here sir. Thank you we appreciate it … and understand.”

Jean-Luc then said, “And if by chance you both locate my friend Logan, please contact me immediately … no matter what the circumstances be. I need to know what has become of my friend.”

“Yes sir, we’ll do that.” David said. “Thank you so much for contacting us. If something comes about with Mr. Morrow, we will contact you immediately.”

“Thank you very much gentlemen.” Jean-Luc said, “I would love to tell you more stories of my friend, but I am afraid my duty calls me here. I must say good-bye to you both now.”

“Yes sir,” David said, again thank you, and good-bye sir.”

“Yes,” Noel said, “thanks and goodbye.”

Jean-Luc then hung up and the line went silent. David then hung up his phone followed by Noel. Noel looked at David and asked, “Why did you stop me?”

“Because we were not going to get anywhere with him.”

“So then … what do we do now?”

David thought for a second and said, “I don’t know Ski, I really don’t know. We got to think some of this shit over. We’re not going to have a quick answer now, so let’s just try and see if we can think of something.”

* * *

Jean-Luc Pontius sat at his desk, still with his hand on the receiver of his telephone. He was deep in thought of all of the things that he has researched this past week since he agreed to speak with the two police detectives in America. He turned around in his chair to look again to the screen on his personal computer. There still was the photograph of David Todd and Noel Jaworski, both standing next to some black female government official at a news conference in Chicago about a certain task force to find some insane vigilante.

He slid his chair back to the computer and by using its mouse; he began to review the news stories about this certain individual who seemed to be taking the law into his own hands. He reviewed the stories of this mans attacks, and upon who it was that was attacked. A criminal element, all of them. Even the wealthy young man and his father, using their wealth and power to cover up that they were nothing more that child rapists. “You put shit inside of a silk box … you still have shit.” Jean-Luc whispered to himself. He continued to go over all of the news reports for some ten more minutes. He then sat back in his chair, looked to the ceiling, brought both hands to his face and massaged his eyes. He then slid both his hands down to his lips and whispered into them, “Oh my God … Logan … what have you done?”

He then stood up from his chair, stretched his arms out and stepped over to the large window of his office. He looked down to the street below and watched as the citizens of Paris went about their way and on with their lives. He looked over his shoulder, to the spot at the center of the office, to the floor and remembered how it was that day as he held on to Logan while he screamed and pounded his fists on the carpet. He remembered how the medics had to come into the office and sedate Logan; and he remembered how Logan latched onto him as he cried into his chest.

Jean-Luc could feel his throat as it began to tighten and his eyes begin to fill with tears, as he would always do when he would remember the events of that day. He turned again to look out to the view from his window. “If you have ended your life my friend,” he said quietly, “and then I hope you have finally found peace.” He looked out to over the horizon of the buildings around him. “However, if you are alive … then where are you?” He stood staring out for a few more seconds and then … a revelation came to him. A thought just burst into his head. He then stepped back to his desk and picked up his telephone and pressed the intercom button that would summon Zoë in her office just outside his door.

“Yes sir.” Zoë’s voice spoke.

“Zoë, something has come up and I must leave for the rest of the afternoon. Cancel any appointments and arrange for another time, could you do that for me please?”

“Certainly sir.”

“And please call my wife and tell her that I shall contact her later.”

“Yes sir.”

“Thank you very much Zoë.” Jean-Luc then replaced the phone back down on its base.

* * *

Ninety minutes later, Jean-Luc Pontius found himself in the little village that was southwest of Paris. He had quickly left his office and made it to the mass transit train that had this village as its last stop on its route. He completed the short walk to the certain house that he and his family would visit often over seven years ago. He now stood at the front gate of what his good friend Logan had once named, Chalet de Lily. It still had the rose bushes on the side that Lily had planted herself, and the gazebo in the back yard was also still there, where Lily would have her afternoon tea, and she even would have tea parties with his own daughter on many occasions.

Jean-Luc opened the gate and stepped slowly towards the house. He then stepped up the three stairs that lead to the front door and he thought that he heard someone inside as they walked around.

Jean-Luc knocked on the door.

A few seconds went by; he then heard the sounds of someone walking to the door. Jean-Luc began to feel a great anticipation as he heard the footsteps come closer. He found himself actually holding his breath. He jumped slightly as the door knob turned.

The door opened … and standing their … with a complete expression of shock on his face … was Logan Ian Morrow.

Logan took a few steps backwards into the home. Jean-Luc stepped inside and gently closed the door behind him. He looked at Logan, who seemed as if he could not say a word. Then Jean-Luc spoke, “Welcome home Logan … I have missed you so much … my friend.”

Logan fell to his knees and began to weep. Jean-Luc then knelt down in front of him and placed his arms around the shoulders of his good friend.

Logan then latched onto Jean-Luc … and cried into his chest.