No Man’s Land (2016), David Baldacci: summary

The strong plot draws the attention and detail narration has allowed me to meet the characters on the scene, and I also found myself like watching crime action film. As usual, Mr. Baldacci brings reader to military installation to discover the crime acts. Jackie’s disappearing had accused her husband as killer. Thirty years old case reopens and leads agent Puller (an army investigator, army cop) and his partner Veronica Knox to military project to find the truth about his missing mother. Paul Rogers, the experimental soldier, just released from prison. Rogers and Puller discovers a trail of deception. This is the John Puller Series, the 579-page fiction printed by Pan Books in New York in 2007, the original edition published in 2016.

No Man’s Land (2016), David Baldacci: summary

Rogers was six feet one inches tall and tipped the scale at one hundred and eighty pounds, hardly any of it was fat. He was over fifty years old, from the neck down he looked like an anatomical chart, each muscle hardened and defined as it melded into its neighbor. The prisoners watched mutely as he passed, then the whispers started up once more. He was led to the front entrance of the prison and handed a packet of materials outlining his duties and responsibilities as a parole.

He only got ten years for killing somebody. Paul Rogers had spoken maybe five words since he had been in prison. When he first came there a couple of toughest inmates tried to go alpha on him. One ended up paralyzed, and the other sat in a wheelchair dribbling water down his front, because Rogers permanently damaged his brain. He used bare hands that made him cred. Nobody bothered him after that.

John Puller

Puller sat and watched his father, who was sleeping in his bed. His father had been born to lead men into battle. And he had done so with considerable success over several decades, earning virtually every medal, ribbon, commendation, and rank promotion the service offered. The doctors described it as dementia transitioning to something else.

His older son, Robert Puller, once incarcerated in a military prison in Leavenworth, Kansas, had been formally cleared of all charges of treason and his record expunged. Then he had been reinstated as an officer in United States Air Force. Bobby was overseas on a new assignment that would keep him away several months. John Puller himself was an army CID, military cop. He had just come off an investigation in Germany, and not so long after his arrival Ted Hull, a CID (Criminal Investigation Command) officer, and Colonel David Shorr, knocked his door.

A letter had driven the two investigators to meet John. It was an envelope from a terminally ill Lynda Demirjian. Almost like a deathbed statement from an old lady who suffered from final-stage pancreatic cancer, she wrote to CID. John knew the woman, he thought back around thirty years ago. Mrs. Demirjian’s husband, Stan, served at Fort Monroe with John’s father. Stan served with his father over in Vietnam. She was accusing his father of murdering his mother. But it was ridiculous to John, his father was not even in the country when his father was missing. But the investigator uncovered additional travel records and vouchers that showed his father, who was scheduled to travel back stateside via military transport flew back on a private jet.

Paul Rogers

On the second day of freedom he had stolen a car from an automotive repair place. Two days later he was eight hundred miles closer to his destination. He actually felt than ten years of his life locked up in a cage was payment enough. He lacked of money. The next morning he stopped at a construction site and offered his services for hundred dollars for ten solid hours of labor. His tasks was to haul bags of cement from a truck to a construction elevator. He could carry more fifty-pound bags than three other workers.

He could survive without eating for a long time, he also could survive without liquids for a long time too although the average person would became dehydrate and die fairy quickly. Paul Rogers was not a human anymore, he was like a wild animal. The wound on his arm did not bother him, but the pain in his head came and went without warning.

He headed to the gun show he had seen advertised on the billboard. In some states gun shows had to do background checks.

He had crossed into Virginia, and he reached a small town in mountainous southwest Virginia. He found a local library, sat at computer terminal. He searched a man named Chris Ballard. Thirty years ago it had had an entirely different focus.  He had printed out a picture of Ballard. The man was still in his fifties in the photo, the age when Rogers had known him. Then he remembered a woman, she would be in her late fifties now. She was Claire Jericho.

Paul Rogers had walked around the perimeter of Fort  Monroe. 

The place had been his playground of sorts thirty years ago. He had been in his twenties, alone, confused and intimidated. A world memories had flooded back to him as soon as he had seen Fort Monroe. He had stopped in front of what was known back then as Building Q. It was set off in a remote part of fort. There was a high perimeter fence with concertina wire. There were gates with armed guards. Building Q was not empty. The parking lot inside the fence was full of cars, the lights inside were on. 

Lynda Demirjian

Lynda has been a wonderful wife and mother and grandmother. Stan Demirjian disagreed with his wife’s accusing, but Lynda insisted that Puller Sr. was the murderer of his own wife. John’s father was a hard man, he was used to commanding men in the most difficult thing. He was used to whatever he said being done. It did not work in a marriage. Jackie was afraid he would do something to her. Jackie was thinking about leaving her husband.

Jacqueline Puller, known to all as Jackie, did not possess a submissive personality. According to Lynda, Puller Sr. was not out of the country on the day Jackie disappeared. Jackie was sawing him. As an investigator, John Puller, knew that when folks planned to leave, and he had traced several who done so, they usually left some sort of note. They also took a suitcase with clothes and other essentials. His mother had done nothing of those things.

Lucy Bristow did not seem familiar to Puller. The old woman remembered Jackie very well. She also remembered John and his brother. She claimed that everyone at Fort Monroe knew John Puller Sr. Jackie was an Air Force brat. She was nice and polite to everyone. She met Puller Sr. at some military function. Puller Sr. was not the easiest person to live with.

Paul Rogers

Rogers stared up at the sign taped to the door of a bar called the Grunt. He was there about the bouncer job. The boss, Helen Myers, hired him as the bouncer. Five hundred dollars a night, during the days, and he would still have time after he clocked out at two to do what needing ding. It was good scenario for him all the way around. His searchers becoming more advanced. Now eighty, Ballard was retiring to a more leisurely life on the sandy beaches of North Carolina. His only lad to Claire Jericho was Chris Ballard.

She was tall, around five-nine with a lean, athletic build topped by auburn hair had grown out some since Puller last seen her. Veronica Knox carried scars from a sharpnel wound on one of her hips and butt cheeks from a too close encounter. She worked in American intelligence. Puller had never been fully clear for which agency.

One of the men from the group came up to Rogers. He was tall, good-looking, with thick, curly brown hair, and he wore a carefree, arrogant expression. Name’s Josh Quentin. He was on the VIP list. It was the first time Rogers met him. He saw Helen Myers head up the stairs. She went into the same room.

He knew exactly where he was going and wanted to get there quickly and unobtrusively. There were few who could move with more stealth than Rogers. The building Q was just up a head, it was eight stories high, perhaps the tallest building there.

His memory had been good. It had been the same when Rogers had been there. A reception area near the front doors signed Atalanta Group. 

On first day investigation, Knox found that there was serial murders in Williamsburg. A serial killer got on an active military installation. The case never solved. Four women was found scattered round the area. All the women murdered were single.

Puller and Knox droved due west across Virginia. They were on their way to see retired CID special agent Vincent DiRenzo. He only remembered at the time John’s mother disappeared there was a series murders. The higher-ups stopped him to check into the serial killings to see if they were possibly connected to his mother.

He was driving two hours to accomplish his mission. He found a home behind a high wall and steel gates. This was the palatial retirement home of Chris Ballard. He saw Josh Quentin there. Before he had viciously killed a man in a bar fight and gone to prison for ten years, he had killed others. He had no fear. But he had only remind himself that he had killed the couple in alley only tried to kill him. And Donohue the gun dealer would still be alive if he had just stayed in his truck.

He did not know the young woman, but she was working for Ballard. Now he had found a beautiful young lady who wanted him. For the first time he really looked  at her. Not as a potential lead. Not as a way to get to Jericho.

The Grunt was already three-quarters full, but Puller ha little difficulty finding the woman. A good looking woman passed in front of his vision. She was dressed professionally, unlike most of the other women, and seemed closer to Puller’s age. He walked over to the woman. She was Helen Myers. He also met woman there named Anne Shepard from Atalanta Group. She told him about program in the Building Q and her boss Josh Quentin. Atalanta produced exoskeleton hardware and basically building the super soldier. Before she came to Atalanta she worked at another contractor on Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation (TMS) Project.    

After Anne and John made a deal, Puller watched her hurry across the street, get into her car and quickly drive off. Puller was about to get out of his car when he heard screams and gunfire. People was running past him, away from the gunfire. John kept sweeping his weapon his weapon and listening for sirens. More gunfire was coming from inside the bar. Four men were on the floor. Paul the bouncer was in process of disarming one guy who was far bigger and younger than he was. Behind him was Suzanne Davis. Helen Myers emerged from under the bar. Shaky and pale. Puller lowered his gun when they could all hear the sirens.

Homicide detectives showed up about twenty minutes later and started to officially process the scene. The attackers looked Eastern European and their weapon and the serial numbers had been professionally removed. They were pros and some kind of criminal hit team. They were after Paul Rogers. 

Josh Quentin was so scared. John saw Helen Myers rush out from the back of the bar. He moved behind her but kept well back. The drive was not a long one. But it was surprising for Puller. Myers drove into Fort Monroe and made her way to the gate at Building Q. Before she even got out of the car one of the exterior doors of the building opened and there appeared Josh Quentin. He was still dressed in the same suit.

Agent Puller got an unknown number at his phone. It was Claire Jericho, the Atlanta’s boss wanted to meet him. John and Knox were escorted into Building Q by one of the armed guards who had been posted outside. The building was clearly closed for the night, the workers having apparently all gone home; the parking lot was empty of cars. Framed in the doorway was a petite woman in her late fifties with sort graying hair, dark glasses, and dressed in a navy blue skirt and matching jacket and a white high-collared blouse. She looked to Puller like a veteran banker or lawyer.

Jericho had discovered John’s interaction with her employee, Anne Shepard. He had interviewed Anne and the result was she was terminated. John told her about the serial murderers and his mother’s disappearing. Knox and Puller got nothing from her. They were sitting in his car and driving out the parking lot of the building. They did not know what was about to happen, the vehicle was uncontrollable and hit a bump. By now the car as under the surface and water was pouring in from crevices all over the vehicle. In another moment their mouths would open and the water would rush in, fill their lungs.

Paul Rogers now was hidden in a large clump of bushes. He decided he would stay there until he saw Claire Jericho walk out of the building Q. Rogers stared straight ahead, amazed at what Puller was doing on the water before his car began to sink. Rogers reached inside and grabbed Puller’s arm and the waist of Knox. John asked the bouncer about the four women who were killed thirty years ago. Paul admitted it was five women and he killed them all. His last victim was Audrey Moore, and he hardly to recall Jackie Puller. Puller and Paul now had the same enemy. Jericho had made Rogers as an experimental soldier and sent him to jail. John’s mother was only a person in wrong time and wrong place.

Dimitri, or Rogers rather, had just killed Audrey Moore. Jackie Puller came along and saw Rogers, the dead woman and everything. Jackie apparently cried out, and turned to run. One of the guards reacted badly, he struck her with his gun. She died. The medical examiner concluded that she had died from a blunt force trauma to the head. Jackie Puller did not leave her husband and kids, she was killed thirty years ago. They reburied her at Fort Monroe.

Jericho killed herself, but Bobby Puller got a look at the postmortem report on her. Her spine was crushed, a ring was found in her stomach. The woman got out her car and walked up to the door. Suzanne Davis looked at Paul Rogers. He was pale. He touched the spot on his head. They had taken out the implant.

***

February 22, 2018

Sepatah Kata

Penulis Baldacci kembali membawa pembacanya ke area proyek pendukung peralatan militer, menguak kejahatan atas pembunuhan empat orang wanita muda dan kehilangan seorang istri pejabat militer, tak lain juga ibu Agen Puller, tokoh utama. Ayah Agen John Puller telah dituduh membunuh istrinya, sepucuk surat dari kawan lama wanita hilang Jackie Puller. Seorang wanita tua yang tengah terbaring lemah di ambang kematiannya, menuduh Puller senior telah membunuh Jackie. Kasus berumur tiga puluh tahun itu dibuka kembali.

Paul Rogers, seorang napi, baru saja menikmati kebebasannya, mencari keadilan pada orang yang menjadikannya seorang monster. Rogers dan Puller kini memiliki musuh bersama.  

Selain plotnya kuat, kisah ringan dan mengibur ini tepat dijadikan pilihan dalam mengisi waktu luang apalagi dalam perjalanan kereta. Di samping itu, tulisannya sangat mudah dipahami, bahkan seolah-olah kita tengah berada dalam cerita kejadian, terkadang juga seperti melihat film kriminal laga Hollywood. Novel setebal 579 halaman ini, merupakan novel ke empat dari serial the John Puller, diterbitkan Pan Books 2017 dan cetakan pertamanya tahun 2016.

Terjemahan Ringkasan/Resume dalam Bahasa Indonesia: No Man’s Land (2016)

Paul Rogers

Lelaki tinggi kokoh baru saja melewati pintu penjara, sipir penjaga mengingatkannya untuk tidak kembali dan menjaga diri. Ia masih dalam parol, percobaan dan wajib lapor. Baju baru, dan beberapa barag lamanya serta uang sebanyak 300 dolar diberi padanya sebagai modal ongkos, uang yang juga merupakan upah jerih payah selama di penjara. Sorotan wajah dan ototnya menyiratkan ketakutan pada tiap orang yang melihat lelaki berumur 50 tahunan itu.

Tak ada satu pun teman penjaranya yang berani mendekatinya. Napi aneh, hanya ada lima kalimat dilontarkan selama ia dalam penjara selama sepuluh tahun.

Ia menaiki bus dan sepasang anak muda telah menguntitinya dan bermaksud mengambil uangnya. Andai saja, anak muda itu tidak berusaha membunuhnya, tentu saja keduanya masih hidup. Rogers pun berhasil mencuri mobil, dan melarikannya ke tempat tujuan di Fort Monroe. Tempatnya terakhir sebelum ia menjalani hukuman penjara karena membunuh dalam perkelahaian di bar. Ia ingin menghukum orang yang menciptakannya jadi sadis. Ingatan masa lalu kembali membanjiri pikirannya.

Tubuh besarnya memudahkannya mendapat pekerjaan sebagai kemanan di bar. Kehandalan dan ketahanan tubuhnya tidak makan dan tidak minum menegaskan dia bukanlah manusia biasa. Dia manusia super, namun ia masih merasakan sakitnya dijadikan kelinci dalam percobaan tentara super. Implan yang ditanam pada kepalanya membuat ia kesakitan bertahun-tahun. Paul Rogers bekerja hanya di malam hari, selebihnya ia gunakan mencari keberadaan Claire Jericho dan Chris Ballard yang menjadikannya menjadi monster dan hewan buas.

Ia tidak salah, rupanya Bar Grunt tempatnya bekerja dipenuhi pekerja Gedung Q, orang-orang militer dan rekanan. Dengan mudah ia menyusuri kediaman Ballard sang pemilik Atalanta Group, yakni organisasi besar bekerja sama dengan militer Amerika sebagai pendukung program peralatan militer dan tentara. Mereka melakukan riset dan percobaan dalam menciptakan peralatan kemiliteran dan tentara tangguh dan handal.

Agen John Puller

John Puller baru saja mendarat dari Jerman, saat ia tiba di rumah mendapati ayahnya sedang terbaring di tempat tidur. Ayahnya menderita dimensia. Pada masa mudanya ayahnya adalah seorang pejabat militer, orang yang cukup disegani dan dikenal tegas dan fokus pada pekerjaannya. John dan kakaknya Robert juga berkarir dalam dunia militer. John sendiri sebagai penyidik militer. Sama sekali, ia tidak menyangka kehadiran dua orang investigator mengubah harinya. Ayahnya telah dituduh membunuh ibunya, padahal ayahnya punya alibi.

Kasus hilangnya Jackie Puller tiga puluh tahun silam telah menyengsarakan dua anak kecil dan Puller Senior.  John terheran tidak percaya ayahnya dituduh membunuh ibunya. Sepucuk surat datang ke penyidik militer, seorang wanita tua bernama Lynda Demirjian telah melaporkan Puller Senior sebagai pembunuh Jackie sahabatnya. Ia mengaku melihat Puller saat hari kejadian, di mana dalam laporan Puller disebut telah ke luar kota. Setelah dicek ulang, ada laporan menyebut Puller telah pulang hari yang sama dengan menaiki pesawat militer, beberapa lama sebelum istrinya dinyatakan hilang.

Sebagai orang tua menderita kanker pankreas dan dinyatakan sekarat, Lynda yang juga merupakan istri bawahan Puller mengaku tidak tenang sebelum mengatakan hal sebenarnya bahwa pembunuh Jackie adalah Puller, ia melihat sendiri Puller hari itu tidak berada di luar kota. Bukti baru catatan perjalanan pesawat militer tersebut membuka kasus kembali.  

Sebagai agen penyidik militer, John ingin membuktikan sendiri apa yang sesungguhnya terjadi tiga puluh tahun silam. Ia memulai dengan menemui Lynda Demijian dan suami Lynda sendiri tidak yakin tuduhan istrinya. Menurut Lynda, Jackie sudah tidak tahan dengan perlakukan suaminya, dan berniat ingin menceraikan. Ibu John juga tengah jatuh cinta dan tertarik pada periwira lain yang telah beristri.

John sendiri belum pernah menikah, belum tahu mendalami permasalah dan konflik dalam pernikahan. Namun dari kasus yang ia tangani, umumnya istri atau suami yang sengaja meninggalkan suaminya, tentu membawa barang-barang atau baju dan meninggalkan pesan. Hal ini tidak terjadi pada ibu John. Dia dinyatakan hilang hari itu hingga tiga puluh tahun, dibilang mati atau dibunuh, mayat ataupun tulang belulangnya tidak pernah ditemukan.

John mengajak rekannya Veronica Knox mencari kebenaran ke tempat kejadian di Fort Monroe. Dari file-file masa lalu, masa yang hampir bersamaan Fort Monroe telah dihebohkan dengan peristiwa pembunuhan berantai yang menewaskan empat gadis dan tidak pernah terungkap pelakunya. John dan Knox pun mendatangi detektif yang menangani dan keterangan detektif pensiunan itu menyatakan bahwa penyidikan telah dihentikan oleh pejabat tinggi militer dari atas. John dan Knox mencium berkaitan dengan militer, hingga membawa mereka pada nama Chris Ballard dan Gedung Q, yang dikenal sebagai tempat organisasi Atalanta Grup melakukan riset dan pengembangan militer bekerjasama dengan DARPA.

Masuk ke Bar Grunt, membawanya berkenalan dengan Helen Myers pemilik bar dan wanita lain bernama Anne Shepard sebagai pegawai di Gedung Q. John mendapat banyak informasi dari Anne, dan hanya beberapa saat meninggalkan bar, lonsongan tembakan bertubi-tubi keluar dari dalam bar. Ada empat anak muda pengunjung bar yang tewas tergeletak di lantai, situasi mendadak ricuh. John melihat penyerang itu menghendaki kematian Paul Roger. Tanpa sengaja Paul dan John bekerja sama menembak balik para penyerang.

Ketika detektif tiba, Paul telah menghilang. John mengidentifikasi penyerang adalah sekelompok pembunuh profesional beraut Eropah Timur. John makin mempertanyakan kenapa tembakan itu mengejar Paul Rogers, hanya petugas keamanan bar, oleh sekelomok pembunuh profesional. Rogers terluka. John Puller dan Knox semakin mencurigai keterlibatan militer dengan kematian pembunuhan berantai dan mencari kemungkinan indikasi keterkaitan dengan hilangnya ibu John.

Sebuah telepon tidak dikenal menghubungi John, ia mengenalkan dirinya Claire Jericho dan meminta ingin bertemu dengan John Puller. John dan Knox pun diundang ke gedung Q. Pemimpin organisasi Atalanta itu mendapat laporan interaksi John dengan salah seorang karyawannya bernama Anne Shepard. Wanita berumur lima puluhan itu menanyakan tujuan Puller. Knox pun menanyakan pembunuhan berantai empat wanita tiga puluh tahun.

Jericho cukup kaget mengetahui John telah mencari keberadaan ibunya.  Mereka tidak mendaptkan apa-apa, hanya berupa keangkuhan dan jawaban tidak relevan dengan pembunuhan itu. Hanya beberapa menit mengendarai kendaraannya, John tidak mampu mengendalikan mobil, ada yang telah merusak mobilnya, dan ia menabrak pembatas dan terperosot ke dalam air. Bagi orang yang menyaksikan kejadiannya, keduanya sudah pasti tewas. Dari kejauhan, perlahan mobil tenggelam.

Roger yang tengah mengamati pergerakan Jericho, dan mengendus di rerumputan tak jauh dari gedung Q. Ia melihat mobil John, sempat berprasangka buruk pada John telah menguntitinya. Tanpa diduga John dan Knox telah pingsan menelan air. Paul Rogers menyelamatkan keduanya. Mereka kini dalam tim yang sama dan memiliki musuh yang sama. Paul pun menceritakan jati dirinya, Rogers pun mengaku ia yang membunuh wanita itu. Tapi ia sendiri diperintahkan, itu bukan dirinya. Ballard telah mengubahnya menjadi sadis dan dikendalikan dirinya dikendalikan oleh mereka. Semua yang dibunuhnya adalah gadis, tidak satu pun ibu-ibu. Paul bahkan mengaku korbannya berjumlah lima orang. Ia tidak pernah melihat foto ibu John yang disodorkan padanya.

Paul membunuh Ballard tua yang sudah berumur delapan puluhan, dan membuatnya seolah bunuh diri. Rogers, Paul dan Knox berada pada tempatnya yang sama dengan Jericho. Wanita itu pun menjelaskan bahwa ia mengetahui kematian ibu John. Ketika Rogers membunuh korban terakhirnya bernama Audrey, ibu John melihat kejadian itu, petugas kemanan segera mengamankannya, dengan panik memukulkan kepalanya dengan senjata.

Jackie Puller tewas seketika, Jericho saat itu bahkan tidak di tempat, tapi ia mengetahui dan melakukan penguburan yang layak. Kematian itu pun ditutup rapat demi mengamankan proyek mereka. Claire Jericho juga mengenal ayah dan ibu John, ketika itu ia berusia dua puluhan. Jackie Puller telah berada pada tempat dan jam yang salah. Kasus pun terungkap, Jericho tidak ditangkap, namun ia dinyatakan tewas bunuh diri. Robert Puller mendapat laporan otopsi bahwa sebuah cincin bertuliskan inisial namanya ditemukan di dalam perutnya. John sudah menduga, itu perbuatan Rogers.

John, Robert dan ayah mereka melakukan upacara pemakaman ulang untuk ibu mereka. Belakang juga diketahui pemilik Bar Grunt Helen Myers adalah putri Claire Jericho. Josh Quentin lelaki flamboyan tamu VIP bar adalah pekerja Claire Jericho. Terjadi perkelahian di antara mereka, Suzanne Davis, teman wanita Josh, berkhianat dan membela Rogers yang kini menjadi temannya. Suzanne sendiri adalah anak adopsi Chris Ballard yang banyak membantu Rogers dalam menuntaskan misinya.

Rogers tidak membiarkan Claire Jericho yang telah menghancurkan hidupnya terbebas, ia telah menghukumnya. Balutan luka masih membekas di kepala Rogers, implan di kepalanya telah diambil. Ia kini normal dan bebas menghirup udara dengan kekasihnya Suzanne Davis.

***

22 Februari 2018