2-07 Collateral Damage

2-07 Collateral Damage

Collateral Damage

She’s a good kid. Always take care of her or I will hunt you down and kill you. Understand?

Miss Parker

Collateral Damage

She’s a good kid. Always take care of her or I will hunt you down and kill you. Understand?

Miss Parker

Original air date: January 3, 1998

Written by: Harry Dunn

Directed by: Vern Gillum

Jarod helps clear the name of a soldier accused of selling information to the enemy during the Vietnam War, and Miss Parker finally opens the present her mother gave her on the day she died.

Jarod’s Discoveries: Jell-o

Jarod’s Occupations: Army Ranger Lieutenant

Jarod’s Aliases: Jarod Patton

 

Behind the scenes insights and the Creator’s Take

Official Synopsis

Jarod attempts to clear the name of an American soldier wrongly accused of selling classified information to the enemy during the Vietnam war.

 

While observing the Vietnam Memorial Wall, Jarod encounters Denise Clements, a 30-year-old woman handing out fliers.  Denise is on a quest to have her father’s name added to the Wall.  But a bystander tells Jarod that only the names of heroes appear on the wall.

Jarod returns to his lair.  He watches an old news report that focuses on Denise’s father, Mark, who was killed when he stepped on a land mine during the war in Vietnam.  The news report features an interview with Lieutenant Prentiss McLaren, who, along with a ten-year-old Vietnamese boy, witnessed the incident.  Unfortunately, when McLaren searched Clements’ body, he discovered top secret documents and a bank account containing ten thousand dollars.  It was concluded that Clements had been selling secrets to the enemy.

Jarod joins an Army Rangers team, a group of mercenaries under the command of (now Captain) Prentiss McLaren.  As the soldiers practice a mission to destroy a narcotics factory in Colombia, they are interrupted by Brad Anderson, a bureaucrat in need of comparative analysis figures for Congressman Stanfield.  Later, Jarod is surprised to learn that Stanfield was under McLaren’s command during the war.  Jarod creates a comparative analysis requested by Stanfield’s aid.  He is granted permission to deliver the document to Capitol Hill.  There, Stanfield is quite taken by Jarod and offers him a Santiago Caribe cigar.

Meanwhile, Broots is called away on an emergency mission.  With little choice, he convinces a highly reluctant Miss Parker to baby-sit his daughter Debbie during his absence.  At first, Parker keeps the girl at a distance, unwilling or perhaps unable to form a bond.  The relationship turns especially frosty when Debbie searches through Parker’s belongings and discovers an old gift-wrapped box.  Furious, Parker grabs the box away.  Later, Sydney tells Parker she is reacting with anger because she feels responsible for her own mother’s death.  This hits very close to home, and she storms out of Sydney’s office.

Jarod analyses a photograph from Denise’s flyer.  He notices a young Vietnamese boy standing in the background.  Computer enhancement reveals a name embroidered above the boy’s pocket: Le Xuan Duc.  Jarod realizes it is the same boy who witnessed Clements’ death.

McLaren and his team successfully destroy a drug factory in Colombia.  While reviewing videotape footage of the explosion, Jarod realizes the factory was, in fact, empty.  He concludes that someone tipped off a drug lord about the mission.  Using his computer, Jarod accesses stockholder information on Santiago Caribe cigars.  He realizes that the drug lord, Esteban Largo, is the primary stock holder.  Using immigration registry information, Jarod locates Le Xuan Duc, or Duke, on a soundstage filming a how-to-get-rich-quick infomercial.  Duke denies having any knowledge about a conspiracy.  But Jarod tells him he possesses evidence that McLaren and Stanfield are tipping off drugs lords in exchange for cash.  Eventually, Duke reveals the entire story.  Some twenty-five years earlier, while cleaning up McLaren’s tent, he discovered top secret documents.  Sensing something was amiss, he took the documents to Clements, who realized he had to catch McLaren in the act before he could accuse him of treason.  McLaren lured Clements and Duke to a clearing north of the camp.  When Duke inadvertently stepped on a land mine (planted by McLaren), Clements shifted his weight onto the device and let the boy escape.  McLaren stepped from the shadows and shot Clements, later planting the documents on his body.  Duke had buried the incident because McLaren had arranged his migration to the United States in exchange for his silence.

Eventually, Miss Parker decides to open the still-wrapped gift she’s treasured for so many years.  Before doing so, she explains to Debbie that her mother gave her the present on the day she died.  She hands the little girl the gift and gestures for her to open it.  Inside is a copy of Louisa May Alcott’s Little Women, a book Parker’s mother adored.  Parker reads aloud a passage from the book.  When Broots returns to the Centre, he finds Debbie wearing an outfit almost identical to Miss Parker’s.

Jarod lures McLaren onto the training course.  There, McLaren steps on a land mine, then freezes at the sound of the “click.”  Jarod fires a shot at McLaren, causing him to “spill the beans” about the clandestine operation.  Jarod captures the confession on tape, prompting a Congressional investigation.  Later, Clements’ name is added to the Memorial Wall.

2-07 Collateral Damage

Collateral Damage Transcript

 

Vet   Distinguished Flying Cross. Air Force right?
Jarod   I believe it was my father’s.
Vet   His name up here?
Jarod   I don’t know what war he served in. I never knew him. All these names. I wonder how many never had the chance to know their sons and daughters.
Vet   Too many. Well, at least you know your old man had to have been a hero to earn that. Cherish it, and his memory.
Denise Clements   Excuse me. Did you know my father?
Vet   Not her again.
Denise Clements   Did you know my father? PFC Mark Clements, Bravo Company.
Jarod   Do you know her?
Vet   Uh, she’s been coming here for 10 years, trying to get her father’s name on the wall.
Denise Clements   Stationed in Qui Nhon, ’71 and ’72? Army Rangers.
Vet 1   I’m sorry.
Jarod   Well, if her father died in the war, shouldn’t his name be on the wall?
Vet   Only heroes go up here.
Security   Ma’am, you’ve been warned about doing this. I’m sorry, you’re gonna have to come with us now.
Denise Clements   Oh, oh, okay, wait, please. See this is not even fair. My father’s name belongs up there. He belongs on the wall.
Security   I’m sorry.
Denise Clements   Okay.
     
     
    intro
     
    Video Footage
Anchor   Tonight on Battle Zone, a tragic story of treason and betrayal in Vietnam. With the report, Jordan Brock.
Jordan Brock   Toe poppers, a colloquial term for pressure activated land mines. You step on one, you hear a click. You step off, and it’s the last sound you’ll ever hear. Army Intelligence is reeling from the discovery that Private First Class Mark Clements was selling classified information to the Vietcong. It was on this spot, atop one of these mines that Private Clements’ dark tale of treason came to an end with the discovery of top-secret documents on his body. Clements’ platoon leader, Lieutenant Prentiss McClaren was a witness.
Prentiss McClaren   Mark Clements was like a brother. I’d have laid down my life for him. Then you find out he’s a traitor. What makes a man cross that line, I don’t know. He let everyone down. Come here. This is one of the local kids. He’s our unit’s mascot. He lives on the base, he saw it all.
Duc   Mark meet with Vietcong. I hear click. I hear explosion. Mark was my friend. I watch Mark die.
Jordan Brock   This is Jordan Brock reporting.
     
     
Captain McClaren   Keep your eyes open people. Anybody seen him? He’s out there somewhere. Keep moving. Keep moving!
Soldier 1   I have movement at the tree line.
Captain McClaren   Padia, tree line.
Soldier 2   Got him.
Captain McClaren   Where are you? All right! All right already! Damn it. Where the hell are you?
Jarod   I believe you dropped this sir.
Captain McClaren   Hell of a job Lieutenant. Where’d you learn to camo so well?
Jarod   I’ve had a lot of practice in blending in sir.
Admin man   Fantastic. Watched the whole thing on the monitor. Those helmet cameras, what do you call ’em?
Jarod   Tactical aniscopic cameras. TAC’s.
Admin   Well, they’re gonna do for you what CNN did for Desert Storm. Give us all a taste of what it’s like to be Rambo.
Jarod   Ram who?
Admin   Cute, and if multiple TAC’s can document a real incursion, Capitol Hill’s going to bend over backwards to fund your missions, Captain McClaren.
Captain McClaren   That’s the idea.
Admin   I’ll need comparative analysis figures for Congressman Stanfield. He’ll get the ball rolling appropriating the R&D funds. Well done.
Captain McClaren   Bureaucratic weasel. Lieutenant Jarod Patton. Master Sergeant Rob Hancock, Staff Sergeant Alyssa Padia.
Rob Hancock   Watch out for her, she looks nice but she bites like a pit bull.
Captain McClaren   Lieutenant, welcome to Operation Dustoff.
Jarod   A joint mission with the Colombian military to infiltrate and destroy narcotics processing factories.
Captain McClaren   Intel has uncovered a major shipment of coca paste on its way to a factory near Cartegena, owned by…
Alyssa Padia   Esteban Largo.
Captain McClaren   You are all on alert so wear your pagers 24/7
     
     
Debbie   Dad?
Broots   Yeah?
Debbie   Am I supposed to be here?
Broots   Well sure. We’re gonna have great fun. Look, here. No, you sit down, right here. And, oh, you got Barbie. That’s fun, huh? Uh, you can colour. So, all you have to do is just sit here and, and be really really quiet until it’s time to go home. A-and then we’ll have great fun.
Miss Parker   Broots.
Broots   Uh, or not.
Miss Parker   Did I miss the memo on day care?
Broots   The sitter’s got the German measles. Debbie’s godmother is in a Pritikin retreat. I had no other choice.
Miss Parker   It’s called the Yellow Pages, ‘b’ for babysitter?
Broots   I would never leave my daughter alone with someone that I don’t know. I’m sorry, but she’s, she’s staying here with me. If that’s, if that’s okay with you.
Miss Parker   Just make sure Little Miss Muffet stays out of my way.
Broots   Broots. Uh, Mr Raines. Yes sir, no, I love Miami. Um… Okay. Right away. Jarod has penetrated the database at the Miami office. Mr Raines wants me to go down there and do an immediate mainframe inventory. Sydney. Uh, c-could you… help me out with Debbie?
Sydney   Sorry Broots, but I’m supervising three sets of twins in the sim lab on a sleep deprivation watch.
Miss Parker   Don’t even think about it.
Broots   Oh, come on. It’s, it’s, it’s a day, maybe two days, tops.
Miss Parker   I don’t do Mommy.
Sydney   I don’t know Miss Parker. It might help you process unresolved childhood issues.
Miss Parker   It never ends with you does it? You owe me, big.
Broots   I, I, I owe you huge. Thank you, thank you.
     
     
Jarod   Jell-O? And it’s a dessert?
Rob Hancock   Like at the end of the lunch line in school, remember?
Jarod   Actually my food was brought to me.
Alyssa Padia   You did feed yourself, didn’t you?
Jarod   For the most part. Now if the gelatin is soft, the pineapple chunks sink to the bottom. But if it’s too hard, they would just lie there on top. My guess would be you have to wait for the proper viscosity to actually add the chunk. Hmmm. Mmm mmm. Is that the captain.
Alyssa Padia   Yeah. That’s him back in Vietnam, his glory days.
Captain McClaren   You know what I miss most about that war? My hair.
Jarod   Bravo Company. Qui Nhon. Do you still keep in touch with the men?
Captain McClaren   One that’s still alive, Barney Stanfield.
Jarod   Congressman Stanfield.
Captain McClaren   Used to boss that little grunt around. Now he’s in charge of my appropriations.
Jarod   If you don’t mind, I took the liberty of writing down a comparative analysis report of the TAC system that Congressman Stanfield’s aide requested. I compared four Japanese manufacturers with two Minnesota-based companies.
Captain McClaren   Conclusions?
Jarod   Buy American.
Captain McClaren   Padia, run this up to Capitol Hill.
Jarod   If you don’t mind Captain, I’d like to take this to the congressman myself. I’ve never been that close to the real seat of power.
     
     
Miss Parker   Just so we understand each other these are the house rules. No running, no playing, no feet on the furniture and no noise, which includes both crying and whining. Be invisible and we’ll get along just fine.
Debbie   Your clothes are so pretty.
Miss Parker   And no touching my stuff, especially my clothes. What? Hold on Sydney. What are you doing?
Debbie   Nothing.
Miss Parker   I told you to stay out of my things and I meant it!
     
     
Jarod   Congressman Stanfield, I have the TAC report from Captain McClaren.
Congressman Stanfield   So how is that old warhorse these days?
Jarod   Still bald sir.
Congressman Beckwith   I like this guy. I’m uh…
Jarod   Congressman Leon Beckwith, 11th District Louisiana. You chair the Vietnam Memorial Wall Subcommittee that Congressman Stanfield sits on.
Congressman Beckwith   You a registered voter son?
Jarod   No sir. but I did help manipulate the Nixon landslide in 1972.
Congressman Beckwith   I really like this guy! Nice meeting you lt.
Jarod   You as well sir.
Congressman Stanfield   Leon. I hope you can appreciate a good cigar.
Jarod   Yes sir. Santiago Caribe.
Congressman Stanfield   Private reserve. You gotta know somebody to get ahold of one of these.
Secretary   Sir, Denise Clements is here again, shall I call security?
Congressman Stanfield   Uh, no, no, no. Um, send her in.
Jarod   Is there a problem?
Congressman Stanfield   Oh, a tragedy. One that wont go away, I’m afraid. Please, stay.
Denise Clements   Sorry to show up without and appointment.
Congressman Stanfield   I have two daughters myself Denise. I only hope that they love me half as much as you do your father. Please sit down.
Denise Clements   Congressman, I talked with a Corporal Ethington from the 185th, who knew a man named Duke. As you know, my fatter wrote a letter about a GI named Duke, who was helping him to catch a traitor, not act as one. Sir, if this is the same Duke, I believe he can help me clear my father’s name.
Congressman Stanfield   Miss Clements, we’ve talked about this letter many times but it’s circumstantial evidence, regardless of what this Duke person has to say. If you can bring him to the next subcommittee meeting, I’ll see to it that you’re heard.
Denise Clements   Thank you.
Jarod   Her father served with you in Bravo Company.
Congressman Stanfield   Yes. Mark Clements was the last man you’d have thought would turn out to be a traitor. She just won’t let go of what she wants to believe.
     
     
Jarod   Someone once said that old soldiers never die, they simply fade away. But I don’t think the same can be said about their memory. I think it grows stronger.
Denise Clements   Who are you?
Jarod   I’m someone who doesn’t believe that your father was a traitor. My name is Jarod. This must be very difficult for you.
Denise Clements   It’s all I’ve ever known. It wasn’t until after I buried my mother that I realised how important it was to get his name up there. If I give up, that’s as good as saying he’s guilty, and I know he wasn’t. This is the last letter my father wrote home, back in ’72. “Duke found out one of our guys is selling secrets to Charlie. If I find out who, God help him.”
Jarod   So you think that the real traitor discovered that your father was onto him and framed him.
Denise Clements   But no one believes me.
Jarod   I believe you.
     
     
    DSA
Sydney   I want you to tell me what’s wrong with each of these pictures.
Young Jarod   The chimney’s missing there, the doors upside down there. The fence is missing a post there and the address numbers are inverted there.
Sydney   Look closer Jarod.
Young Jarod   The sun’s shadow off the wood stack, it’s misdirected in all of them. I missed it!
Sydney   Most people would Jarod. Their eyes can only perceive the obvious. But to maximise your gift, your eyes must perceive everything.
     
     
    Video Footage
Duc   Mark was my friend. I watch Mark die.
     
     
Jarod   Le Xuan Duc. Duke. Hello Duke.
     
     
Miss Parker   Broots, what do you mean it’s going to take longer than you thought?
Broots   Well, but I’m trying…
Miss Parker   Do you mind!
Broots   How’s Debbie?
Miss Parker   She’s fine. See,4 it’s me that you should be worried about.
Broots   I’ll be back as soon as I can.
     
     
    Flashback
Young Miss Parker   Mama? Show me how to braid my hair. Did you get it?
ct   You’ll see. We’ll open it after school, okay?
     
     
Debbie   You have very pretty hair. Would you braid mine like that?
Miss Parker   I have things to do.
Debbie   How did you get to be so mean?
Miss Parker   I was born that way.
Debbie   No, you weren’t.
     
     
Duc   You want to be rich? Of course you do. And I here to show you how to get rich quick with my new video series. How To Get Rich Quick. My name Lenny Duc, I come to your country in tiny boat. And now I own big boat! American dream, number one!
Director   And cut it. Perfect Lenny. That’s lunch.
Duc   You know, I’ve got a table reserved over at the Woodbridge Club, if you’d care to join me.
Model   I don’t think so.
Jarod   Excuse me, Mr Duc. I’m a really big fan of your work.
Duc   Yeah, well, 89.95, plus shipping and handling puts you on the road to the American dream.
Jarod   And what a dream it is. A young Vietnamese boy emigrating to America with nothing and building this empire. Hey, as a matter of fact, you remind me of this little boy I saw on this old news report about this GI in Vietnam who died an alleged traitor. What was his name? Oh yes. Mark Clements.
Duc   I don’t know what you’re talking about.
Jarod   Well, sorry to bother you. Have a nice day.
     
     
Radio   Operation Dustoff, you are two hours from your Colombian target. Good luck.
Man   They have no idea we’re here.
Jarod   Well, they’re about to find out.
     
     
Man   Oh, lookin’ good!
Captain McClaren   Bet Esteban Largo was not too thrilled with your handiwork. Well done lt.
Jarod   I was proud to be on board sir.
Captain McClaren   Hope you can appreciate a fine cigar. It’s a Santiago Caribe.
Jarod   Well, th… Yes sir. Thank you sir.
Captain McClaren   They’re about to show me on TV.
Alyssa Padia   He’s never given men one of his special cigars, and I like cigars. What are you doing?
Jarod   Do you notice anything?
Alyssa Padia   C-4 has a hell of a kick.
Jarod   Look at the surrounding debris. There was nothing inside that factory.
Alyssa Padia   There’s drums, burnt powder, lab equipment.
Jarod   Yes, but enough to process a hundred tons of coca paste?
Alyssa Padia   What are you saying?
Jarod   That somebody tipped off Esteban Largo that we were coming. He moves everything out and leaves just enough evidence behind so we think we made a big hit.
Alyssa Padia   Who would do that?
     
     
    TV
Congressman Stanfield   With the destruction of this cocaine factory another battle has been won in the war against drugs. This is Captain McClaren, the mastermind of Operation Dustoff.
     
     
Jarod   Santiago Caribe. Private reserve. You have to know somebody to get ahold of one of these.
     
     
Jarod   Well, I guess they really do know somebody.
     
     
Congressman Beckwith   All right. Let’s move this along. Next!
Man   Private First Class Mark S Clements.
Congressman Beckwith   Miss Clements, I assume you have new light to shed on this matter.
Denise Clements   Yes I do. Um, a corporal in the 185th Division…
Congressman Beckwith   Sorry. You were saying?
Denise Clements   It’s about Duke, the man referred to in my father’s letter.
Congressman Beckwith   This Duke, um, is he here to testify?
Denise Clements   I wasn’t able to find him sir, but my father was not a traitor.
Congressman Beckwith   Can I have some water please?
Denise Clements   If you would please listen…
Congressman Beckwith   Miss Clements, have you any new light to shed on this matter?
Denise Clements   No sire, but as I was saying, if you could just give me a little bit more time…
Congressman Beckwith   I’m sorry.
Denise Clements   But you haven’t let me explain.
Congressman Beckwith   What’s next?
Denise Clements   Why won’t you people listen to me?
Congressman Beckwith   Barney.
Congressman Stanfield   Miss Clements, I’m sorry to have to tell you this, but to be perfectly blunt, your father’s name will never go up on that wall. Now please, we have other matters to address.
Woman   We will now hear from Congressman Hutchison regarding Private First Class Jonas Drake whose recent passing has been attributed to exposure to Agent Orange.
     
     
Jarod   You’re giving up?
Denise Clements   I’m, I’m facing the facts. Maybe I cant find Duke because there is no Duke. And maybe the reason I cant find any evidence in my father’s defence is ’cause it dents exist. And maybe it doesn’t exist because my father was…
Jarod   When I was little, I was taken from my family. I don’t know who they are… who my father is. All I have is this. It’s the only connection that I have to him. But I’ll never give up searching for him for my family. Don’t give up on your family.
Denise Clements   I don’t have the strength to do this alone anymore.
Jarod   You’re not alone.
     
     
Sydney   They have been awake for over 90 hours.
Miss Parker   Yeah, in the same room with you, that is a record. Sydney, you gotta help me out with this kid, take her off my hands. Have her SIM something, I don’t care.
Sydney   She’s only a child.
Miss Parker   She doesn’t listen. She’s always in my things. I cant even take a step without her nipping at my heels. She’s like a Chihuahua.
Sydney   This is about her finding your mother’s gift isn’t it? Broots called. He feels very concerned about his daughter’s well-being.
Miss Parker   Well, it’s time he started showing a little concern about mine. She delights in annoying me.
Sydney   Debbie’s not trying to annoy you. Debbie’s trying to be like you. She unconsciously senses that you both share a similarity of maternal abandonment.
Miss Parker   Are you even capable of having a normal conversation?
Sydney   It’s her adaptive coping mechanism. She senses how you came through it and it gives her hope that she, too, someday may come through it. Which is why you need to let this relationship flourish.
Miss Parker   You know it would be really nice of once you could take my side on something.
Sydney   It’s not about sides Parker. It’s about the best interests of the child. By projecting your anger on little Debbie, you’ve displaced the anger with yourself as a little girl.
Miss Parker   And what am I so angry about Dr Spock?
Sydney   It’s that you feel responsible for your mother’s death.
     
     
    Flashback
Young Jarod   Leave me alone!
Young Miss Parker   Mama! No! Mama! No! Stop! Mama please! No! Please no! Mama no! No, Mama! Let me go!  No, Mama! Let me go! Let go! No! No, Mama! Please! Mama! Mama, no! Please, please, no! Mama! Please! No! Let me go! Mama! Mama! Let me go!
     
     
Director   Now, remember, this is only a rough cut.
Duc on TV   You want to be rich? You want big house, fast car? Beautiful girls? Course you do. I watch Mark die. Mark was my friend.
Director   What the hell is going on?
Duc on TV   My friend… die… die. I watch… my friend… die. Mark was my friend. I watch… I watch… I watch… my friend… die.
Jarod   Uh oh, technical difficulties.
Duc   Who the hell are you?
Jarod   Someone who wants to know the truth. Why did you corroborate his story? Did McClaren threaten to kill you or your family?
Duc   You don’t know what you’re talking about.
Jarod   I know he and Stanfield are tipping off a drug lord about raids in exchange for cash. I figure if they’re doing to now, they were doing it back then.
Duc   You don’t know what you’re asking me to do.
Jarod   I understand why you lied for him. You were just a little boy. McClaren offers you freedom from the atrocities of war. You back his story on national TV and he puts you and your family on a boat to the States.
Duc   It was a plane.
Jarod   What?
Duc   McClaren helped my family escape on a plane. I only said it was a boat in the commercials for dramatic effect.
Jarod   The war ended for you. Help me end it for Denise Clements.
Duc   I was cleaning McClaren’s tent, and I saw some documents marked “classified.” I knew something wasn’t right, so I told Mark. He said he’d have to catch McClaren in the act of passing the documents to the enemy before he could accuse him of treason. So that night, we followed McClaren into a clearing just north of the camp, but….
Jarod   It was a set up. McClaren knew that Clements was onto him and wanted him to follow because he had put land mines out there. Did Clements hear the click when he stepped on that toe popper?
Duc   Yeah, he heard a click. but it wasn’t Mark who stepped on the mine.
Jarod   You.
     
Duc   Mark transferred is weight on to the pressure fuse so that I could move off.
Jarod   He took your place on the mine.
Duc   That’s when McClaren stepped out of the jungle.
     
Jarod   He knew that Clements would never step off that mine. So he shot him.
     
Duc   But he didn’t die right away. McClaren watched him bleed to death.
Jarod   He planted the classified documents on him and made Clements look like the traitor.
Duc   I can still hear the click, feel the heat of the explosion. You think the war is over? It’ll never be over for me.
     
     
Jarod   Excuse me sir. This just arrived from Congressman Stanfields’s office. Is everything all right sir?
Captain McClaren   Huh?
Jarod   Is everything all right sir?
Captain McClaren   Huh? Yeah, yeah, everything’s fine.
     
     
Debbie   I… I’m sorry. I can come back later.
Miss Parker   No, come in.
Debbie   Are you sure?
Miss Parker   Sit here. Let’s do something with your hair, okay? I’m sorry that I got angry before. It’s just that present was given to me by my mother and no one has touched it but me for a very, very long time.
Debbie   Why haven’t you opened it?
Miss Parker   I’m not sure. I wanted to about a thousand times but um… it was just so perfect. The paper that she used and the way she tied the ribbon. So very much my mother.
Debbie   Your mommy died, didn’t she?
Miss Parker   Yes, the day she gave me that present.
Debbie   I wouldn’t have opened it either.
Miss Parker   Why?
Debbie   Because if you did, there would never be anything else for your mommy to give you.
Miss Parker   I think it’s time. My mother loved this book. She wanted to read it with me.
Debbie   Little Women. What’s it about?
Miss Parker   A little girl named Jo.
Debbie   Was she happy?
Miss Parker   Let’s find out. Come on.
Debbie   Chapter One, Playing Pilgrims. Christmas wont be Christmas without any presents, grumbled Jo, lying on the rug. It’s do dreadful to be poor, sighed Meg, looking at her old dress. I don’t think its fair for some girls to have plenty of pretty things
     
    Flashback
Young Miss Parker   and other girls nothing at all. added little Amy with an injured sniff. We’ve got Father and Mother and each other said Beth contentedly from her corner. The four younger faces on which the fire light shone bright
     
     
Miss Parker   Jo said sadly. We haven’t got Father and shall not have him for a long time. She didn’t say perhaps never, but each silently added it thinking of Father far away where the fighting was.
     
     
Captain McClaren   Barney? Barney! Where the hell are you?
Jarod   Uh oh. That’s not a good sound.
Captain McClaren   Jarod, oh thank God. Am I glad to see you.
Jarod   You don’t look so good Captain.
Captain McClaren   I am standing on a land mine.
Jarod   Well, I better go get someone who can disarm it. How long can you stand there?
Captain McClaren   As long as it takes.
Jarod   Well, I guess anyone could if they knew what would happen if they stepped off it. That must have been why you had to shoot Mark Clements off the one he was standing on. And that’s why I’m going to have to shoot you.
Captain McClaren   What the hell is going on here?
Jarod   What really happened in Qui Nhon Captain? If I were you, I would talk to me or the next bullet might not be a blank.
Captain McClaren   Army Intel suspected a traitor in our unit.
Jarod   So you killed Clements and then you framed him. Intel had their many and you and Stanfield, you were in the clear.
Captain McClaren   We did what we had to do.
Jarod   You had a business to run. Selling secrets to the highest bidder. Tell me something Captain. Is greed so addictive that you could kill an innocent man? You couldn’t just kill him, you had to destroy him. You stripped him of his honour and you left his little girl another war to fight.
Captain McClaren   It’s your word against mine. Nobody doubted me before. You really think anybody’s gonna doubt me now?
Jarod   Thanks to these helmet cams, it’s not just my words, it’s yours too.
Captain McClaren   Damn it Lt, you disarm this mine now! I am your commanding officer!
Jarod   Not technically. You see, I’m not really in the army. But if it makes you feel any better I wont shoot you in the leg like you shot Clements. I’ll aim higher.
Captain McClaren   No. No.
Jarod   Don’t wet your pants sir, it’s Jell-O, it’s a dessert. Yummy.
     
     
Broots   Hello? What, uh, happened to you?
Debbie   Well.
Miss Parker   We went shopping. Do you have a problem with that?
Debbie   Honey? Why don’t you gather up your stuff, and we’ll leave Miss Parker to her business?
Miss Parker   She’s a good kid. Always take care of her or I will hunt you down and kill you. Understand?
Broots   I, I think so.
Miss Parker   You read it all. Promise?
Debbie   I promise.
Broots   Come on kiddo.

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