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missing rounds. Something’s not adding up. Some of the men must have reloaded or fudged their initial round count.”
    “Or someone besides my soldiers was firing,” said General McNabb.
    “Some of the people in the crowd did have weapons, sir,” said Sergeant Meyers.
    Was that true? There was a lot of gunfire, but how could anyone tell where it was coming from? Twenty-one people had been hit, but only eight of my squad’s bullets were gone.
    “Of course we’ll know more when we recover the bullets from the …” The governor rubbed his chin. “When we recover the bullets. I doubt anyone in the crowd was firing five-five-six rounds. We’d have spotted a rifle like that on one of our videos. A bullet that wasn’t standard military issue would seem to prove that someone else was shooting.”
    “I swear we were being fired on,” Meyers said.
    General McNabb nodded. “There was a casualty in the café behind your position, a fifteen-year-old girl. From the limited information we’ve gathered so far, you would have had to turn around and fire away from the crowd, deliberately targeting the café.”
    “We didn’t!” Specialist Stein said.
    The general held up his hand. “I know. You couldn’t possibly be responsible for that casualty.”
    “They’re not responsible for any of the casualties,” said the governor. Everybody watched him. “Maybe there were guns in that crowd. Maybe not. All the video footage I’ve seen so far is mostly a confused and garbled scramble, partially hidden by smoke and tear gas by the time the shooting started. Can’t tell what’s going on. We may never know the truth. But we do know that the numbers aren’t adding up. You soldiers couldn’t possibly have caused all the casualties.
    “As governor, I’m responsible for all of this. I should have called in more law enforcement earlier so the situation didn’t get so bad. Maybe that would have prevented this. I don’t know. But I do know that I gave the National Guard a lawful order to stop an unlawful and dangerous riot. That’s what they did. They carried out my orders. That’s the end of the story.”
    He took a moment to look us all over. Either he was a great politician, or he was being really honest, because I believed him. He pulled a chair out from the table, sat down, and leaned forward. “Listen to me, because I promise you this. I will not sell you out. Things are going to get ugly for a while. People are already upset about what happened. But so far, nobody knows which units were there to stop the riot. We’re going to keep it that way.” He looked toward the general. “I’m ordering this whole thing classified. Nobody will ever know the identities of the soldiers involved in this. Nobody will know which officers gave what orders. Any matter of investigation on this issue must come directly to me, General.”
    “Understood, sir.” The general snapped to attention. “With your permission, I’d like to begin carrying this order out immediately.”
    “Do that, General McNabb. Also, get some helicopters ready to take these men home. The faster we get them back, the fewer people will know they were here.” He motioned to us. “Do not talk about this event with anyone. Not even your family. This is for your protection and theirs. I’ll do everything I can to make sure you aren’t punished for carrying out my orders, but you have to help by keeping your involvement in this a complete secret. If anyone does know you were activated tonight, you will tell them that you were simply on standby in case the situation worsened and you were needed. You flew down to Boise where you sat in an armory all night.”
    I checked my watch. A quarter to one in the morning. I hoped they’d hurry up and get us back. I’d told Mom I was going to be out late with the guys, but if she’d seen the news about this and got the idea I was involved … I tried not to think about how bad she’d be freaking out.
    “I’m sorry