Denny’s Dangerous Dilemma
Chapter 20
What to do? Denny wasn’t sure. The standard operating procedure called for notifying his superior in Bangkok of the allegation and requesting guidance. Don’t take any action until the issue is sent up the chain of wisdom for a decision, he’d be advised. It was the same drill, just a different day, he thought. However, Denny fully understood what would happen in this case. His boss would, in turn, hand it off to the chief of the DEA office with a polite suggestion to cleanup his own mess. He didn’t want to deal with a sticky baby not of his own making. It was simply the dynamic of bureaucratic realpolitik in action. Just pass the buck when you could get away with it and avoid any blowback that might come your way.
Of course, a shit storm of major proportion would then ensue. Ron Johnston’s reputation would be questioned and tarnished as a result, his name dragged through the mud as it were. Denny wasn’t ready to let that happen, at least not yet. He still couldn’t believe it was true and that Dickey had inadvertently mixed things up. After all, Ron was supposed interact to a certain extent with the drug dealers. Hell’s bells, it was part of his job! Perhaps Albert Wu was an informant on the DEA’s payroll. That seemed to him like a logical explanation for the connection. Maybe Dickey was so focused on capturing Amar that he’d lost his objectivity. Good God, maybe he’d lost his mind too!
Denny planned to see what he could find out on his own before snitching on a colleague. He owed him that much as a fellow agent and friend. He’d take a firm stand and only back off when he sorted things out to his own satisfaction. That’s what he’d been taught and that’s what he was going to do. He was like a bulldog with lockjaw when it came to doing his job with due diligence. Tenacity didn’t come close to describing his unremitting zeal in solving a tough case. Wherever the truth led, he’d follow, no matter the consequences or outcome. Although he was a little long in the tooth, as some of his colleagues suggested, he still had some bite left!
***
“What’s up Denny? You seem distracted and off your game. You’re curve ball ain’t cutting it today, my friend,” Ron said with a smile.
It was the bottom of the 6th inning and the consulate’s softball team was losing to their German counterparts by a score of 7 to 3.
Ron was catching and Denny was pitching, as usual. Ron had called a timeout and walked to the mound to see if he could get Denny to concentrate on the game. It was the final round of the playoffs in the Chiang Mai consulate league. In Ron Johnston’s mind, he was a winner in all things including the game of life. The fat lady hadn’t sung yet so there was still a chance to win. He hoped it would be an incredibly long aria before she finished.
“Sorry, I’m just a bit depressed and preoccupied with some work stuff,” Denny replied while staring at the ground and shuffling his right shoe back and forth in the dirt.
“Really, it’s no big deal,” he added.
“Okay buddy, but it’s time to get your mojo going. Save the day and be a hero for the home team. Let’s show these krauts how to play our national pastime!”
“How about getting together later for a drink and you can tell me what’s bothering you? Maybe I can help.”
Denny didn’t bother to reply, but flashed on the quip about Shoeless Joe Jackson and the old, Black Sox scandal, say it ain’t so Joe.
No damn it, say it ain’t so Ron!
The Germans scored another two runs and handily beat the Americans, a decisive victory for them and a humiliating defeat for the Yanks. Okay, it was just a matter of Deutschland, Deutschland uber alles.