Clarence part 1 of 3

Clarence

"Everything you said was right and everything I said was wrong.”

Jerry Coarse

The most severe reprimands filtered down and landed on Jerry Coarse.  “Damnit, you can’t put this on me!” Everyone was silent after Coarse shouted that through the phone.  The room was filled with bodies warm and cold.  The room itself was very cold as morgues go.  The internal phone line that connected to the black and usually noisy office phones above forwarded a phone call from the head of the Eastern Beureu of Affairs. “Who are you going to replace me with?” Coarse asked heedlessly, “Oh, oh, that bumbling idiot.  He couldn’t flank an enemy if they turned their back to him.”  Mary, Clarence’s partner, squeezed Clarences arm and shoulder for a warmth and comfort, a comfort he did not think he had.  So much went wrong, how?
The mortician and the remaining members of the assault team were present.  “Oh yea, yea?  Well you better hope so because when the shit flies he won’t fall as quietly as me.  The white-haired red-faced self-made-leader missed his first attempt at hanging up the black rotary-dial phone. He looked down and then up at his audience in the small stage that was a single room morgue. “So things went south out there we all know we lost some people, some good people,” He said to everyone.  “But that’s not the end of it because we know our enemy.  Because of the civilian deaths up here they have to can somebody for publicity.  So that’s the way it’s gonna be.  You can look at it like this”
“Jerry” Clarence interrupted.
“No this is how you gotta look at it, Clarence,” Coarse continue. “It’s going to need the best from you all.  And I won’t be there although, don’t catch these cult worshippers for me.  Catch them for the people we lost in that forest and the ones here.”
“Oh Jerry,” Mary said.  “It’s not your fault and it’s on them if they send you away.”
“Nah I’m not blaming myself.  I’m blaming those low-down sneaky forest people.” Coarse said and then looked to Clarence. “Clarence, help me clean off my desk, I’ll need an extra pair of hands.” Coarse’s change in tone was so salient Clarence obediently followed.  The hallway was long and quiet except for the sound of their footsteps that echoed along its length and then died at the other end.  As they reached the elevator and the echoes settled behind them Coarse spoke hoarsely and as quietly as he could.
“These people, they’re good and they need you.  Everything you said was right and everything I said was wrong.” Coarse said.
“Yea, but the Worshippers were doing something of their own out there.  There’s no way…” Clarence contested.
“True and how could they know?” Coarse considered. “The timing was so damn perfect.  I’ll piss out a dozen kidney stones before I believe it was a coincidence.”
Clarence winced at the thought of the ultimatum, “I know, I agree.” ‘Bing’ the elevator sounded.
When they stepped in Coarse raise his voice from the whisper, “If you have a mole you have to find it.  If they have a wire in here you have to use it against them.  If they don’t then you still have to find out why they came up here and with such great force, such numbers.  Because damnit, if your people react like I think they will you’re have more money, tech, gear, and eager interns and seasoned officers than you can handle.”