Prelude


    March 14th, 1975


    Xuan Loc, South Vietnam, 40 miles northeast of Saigon


    The western sky was ablaze with captivating orange and red hues as the sun was close to setting on the western hills surrounding the small Southeast Asian city of Xuan Loc. The oppressive daytime temperatures had subsided, leading to a warm and humid evening that was much more tolerable for Peter Jensen, who absolutely hated the insufferable heat. It just made his difficult situation even more arduous. He could say nothing, and no one would ever know, but his moral compass had returned north and convinced him to change his course. As he lay in bed, he finally decided that the madness had to stop. It was destroying him emotionally and physically. Tears ran from the corners of his eyes and down onto his neck until they were finally soaked up by his pillow. He had fallen into a rabbit hole with seemingly no way out, and when he looked into the mirror, all he could see was the Mad Hatter staring back at him.


    Peter was not immersed in self-pity, only self-loathing. He detested himself for being a coward. He longed for a woman''s touch and was beguiled by her beauty from the moment he first met her. But it was all an illusion. Peter had deceived himself into thinking that what he was doing wasn''t wrong. Yet, in his heart, he knew all along that it was. Now tonight, just like Toto in The Wizard of Oz, the curtain had been pulled back and completely shattered that illusion into a thousand pieces. Peter had witnessed something evil in her, and there was no way he could live with himself. He was playing a dangerous game; a game that could ultimately end his life.


    Peter was now standing on the banks of the river called retribution, and once he started to cross, there would be no turning back. Peter finally found the courage to get up and walked over to the old wooden secretary''s desk in the corner of the next room. Peter opened the top right-hand drawer, pulled out two sheets of white paper, and started his letter. With the first few words he put down on paper, the weeks of self-loathing disappeared, and a wave of total peace fell over him. It was as if a great millstone had been removed from his shoulders.


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    Compiling the letter was painstakingly slow, but it had to be done this way. He wanted to get the letter off before he was ordered back to Saigon in a few days. He could then get the evidence to the station chief, and it would be over except for his punishment. A punishment that he knew he deserved and would gladly accept.


    An hour slipped by quickly, and he was almost done when he heard it. Instantly, he knew his lack of eye contact with the killer that evening had betrayed him. It was a slight sound coming from the back door of his small quarters. He quickly glanced at the laminated clock on the desktop. It was nearly two A.M.  He turned to look at the door and froze with fear. The doorknob was slowly turning, first one way, then the other. He could see the door being pushed slightly inward at the same time. His greatest fear had come to pass. At that moment, he wished he was back on the farm in Minnesota, but unfortunately, there was no magic carpet or ruby slippers that could take him there. He only had a few seconds or a couple of minutes at most before the inevitable would happen.


    Peter didn''t panic, but he needed to hide his letter quickly. His hands started to shake as he placed the two pages into a manila envelope used for CIA correspondence. Peter then spun the red string around the button below the flap. Without realizing it, he had dropped one of the pages, which had fallen to the floor. Thankfully, Peter spotted it. Realizing he would soon be out of time, he picked up the sheet, grabbed a stapler, fastened it to the outside of the envelope, and hid it in the only place he could think of. He knew he didn''t have time to hide it in the box. It would take too long to open it. Just as he had finished this, he turned and looked at the door that was now slowly being opened. Peter started to tremble as he watched his worst nightmare walk into the room.