Chapter 122

Flashback – Masha and Louise – Home Again

We returned to the furniture store, finished shopping for furniture for Louise’s room and of course bought a few things for Linda while we were at it. We made it back to the house and I was shocked when we arrived. Television news vans lined the streets.

Louise stated the obvious, “Auntie Masha, it looks like the television stations have finally figured out your home address.”

I complained, “This is the last thing I want to deal with today!”

Then I notice the police are back in front of my house so I looked at Louise and asked, “Louise, will you please ask the police to make the television stations leave?”

Louise laughed, “No way Auntie Masha! You need to get used to being the hero that you are. But don’t worry, I will talk to them for you.”

Whatever she said, it must have appeased the television stations since they filmed me a little and then packed up and left. Louise came back to the truck and said, “Don’t worry Masha, I told them we needed to move the furniture so they agreed to leave until later when they plan on interviewing you.”

I complained, “Louise why would you tell them that? I don’t want to talk to them.”

Louise said, “Masha, it’s the only way to get them to leave you alone. Give them an interview and then our lives can get back to normal.”

We moved the new furniture into Louise and Linda’s room. It looked great and smelled so much better than her old furniture.

Louise shocked me when she said, “I sure hope this Ben doesn’t expect me to sleep with him in return for this new furniture.”

I countered, “Louise, Ben is a great guy and I’m sure he would never expect you to...”

Louise giggled and interrupted, “ ... Auntie Masha, I was teasing you. But it’s too bad he’s such a gentleman because I haven’t had sex in a very long time.”

I blushed, Louise giggled even more and declared, “I gotcha Auntie Masha!”

However, I wasn’t sure she was totally teasing me...

Then I remembered, “I need to call the base and complain about the police not providing security for our house.”

I took out the little notepad I wrote everything in, looked up the number and called the base. After a short wait I talked to the base commander and explained, “Sir, I hate to bother you, but the police have not been supplying me with security as you said they would.”

He replied, “Sorry Ms. Reynolds, I was concerned this might happen but don’t worry. I will make some calls and it won’t happen again. By the way, I saw the television interviews featuring you and I would like to say that you handled yourself well against the police department even though they had batons.”

I replied, “Thank you Sir, I couldn’t let them beat the defenseless women. Some of the women are still dealing with their injuries.”

He asked, “It look like you used Krav Maga on them?”

I replied, “Yes Sir! I learned it in Russia from some IDF forces who were visiting.”

He verified, “Ms. Reynolds, unless you need something else I would like to finish this call.”

I thanked him, “No Sir! Thank you very much for taking the time to listen to me.”

I hung up the phone and said, “He’s going to make some calls.”

Louise said, “I bet he’s going to cancel the leaves for all the soldiers.”

I asked, “Why would he do that?”

Louise said, “Auntie Masha, you might not know it but this town survives off the money the soldiers on leave spend at their businesses. If he cancels all the leaves it will financially impact the town.”

I continued with my questions, “Has the base commander done this before?”

Louise grinned and said, “Oh yeah! The last time the base commander did it things were so bad in town that Michael had to close the store for the whole week.”

I queried, “Why did the commander do it last time?”

Louise replied, “Some of the Marine recruits were beaten up in a bar and the police didn’t do anything about it.”

I voice serious concern, “I would say there is a large problem with the police department in this городок.”

Louise asked, “Masha, what is a gorodoc?”

I apologize, “Sorry Louise sometimes I forget and speak Russian. Городок is a slang word for a small town or village. It is not a kind word to use.”

Louise agreed, “Yeah the police here are pretty crummy, but I guess it beats not having any police at all.”

I counter, “Louise after watching the police beat defenseless women with their batons today, I seriously disagree with you. The police are not doing their job and by their inaction are actually making matters worse.”

Louise smiled at me and said, “Masha, you need to say this in your television interviews.”

I frowned and complained, “Louise I’m not doing the interview.”

The doorbell rang, Louise checked and said, “Masha you are too late because the television reporters are here again.”

I swore, “Tувойу мат, I am not ready for this.”

Louise however opened the door and invited the reporters into our living room.

Flashback – Jack and Banzai – At the hospital

Banzai’s mission was a huge success, but he was concerned that he only reached two houses (and so was I). I suggested, “Banzai, since the fucking towelheads don’t have any NV gear, we rule the night. So why don’t we form a squad and you lead them on night missions. That way you could cover more houses.”

Banzai frowned and explained, “Jack that’s a possibility but if we go in with guns blazing some of the children will get killed, either by us or by the fucking Taliban.”

I asked, “Didn’t you do that on the second house?”

Banzai reluctantly agreed, “Yeah, I wanted to take them out one at a time with my Ka-Bar but there were too many of them so I was forced to shoot them.”

I replied, “Banzai, what do you expect, this isn’t a Recon team.”

Banzai smiled, snapped his fingers and stated, “Jack, that’s exactly what we need here, a Recon team! Why don’t you get on the horn with Colonel Maggie and see if we have any available?”

I complained, “Banzai, it’s the middle of the fucking night...”

He interrupted, “ ... Good, she makes the big bucks so she can get woken up.”

Lieutenant George showed up and asked an obvious question, “Are these children that Banzai freed?”

I came up with an idea and suggested, “Yes Sir they are and they came from only two houses. I think that Colonel Maggie should be told about this immediately. Banzai also suggested that we see if there were any more Recon’s available so that we could cover more houses before the Taliban begin to kill the children.”

Lieutenant George asked, “Sgt. Reynolds, couldn’t this wait until morning?”

I replied, “Of course it could Sir, however with us starting to free the children, the Taliban might get worried and start to kill them before we have a chance for a rescue.”

Lieutenant George took off like his ass was on fire.

Banzai grinned at the exchange with Lieutenant George and said...

I knew Jack didn’t want to wake up Colonel Maggie and it was a stroke of genius to get George to do it for us. I complimented his action, “Jack, it really is good to have you here. Good job with Lieutenant George.”

Jack replied, “Hell Banzai, Lieutenant George wants all the credit for everything here, so we might as well let him also take the credit for waking up Colonel Maggie.”

I asked, “When do you think he will wise up?”

Jack replied, “I hope not before he wakes up Colonel Maggie and she rips him a new asshole.”

One of the doctors showed up and said, “Sgt. Blaine, I would like to commend you on rescuing the children. They are severely malnourished and have been terribly abused and will greatly benefit from our treatment.”

I said, “No problem Sir, I just wish I could have rescued more.”

The doctor replied, “More? Hell we can barely handle the ones you already recovered.”

I smiled and suggested, “Lieutenant George is on the horn with Colonel Maggie, perhaps he could ask for more doctors and nurses to help you.”

The doctor headed toward the com room, I looked at Jack and said, “Listen, I only got to two houses so I’m going to head back out and see if I can’t rescue more children before the Taliban start killing them.”

Jack started to complain, “Banzai...”

I interrupted, “ ... Jack, it’s not going to do any good. I’ve made up my mind and I’m going.” I put on my NV gear and slipped back out into the night...

Flashback – Ben – On another mission

I was stoked by the success of my first two missions and knew that if we waited too long the fucking Taliban would start killing the children.

I was surprised when I came back out of the hospital because the idiots hadn’t gone back to their hovel houses and they were wandering around like chickens with their heads cut off. Then it hit me: Without NV gear or flashlights the stupid fuckers were lost in the dark. This was perfect for me so I slipped up on the closest one, my Ka-Bar found his neck and like the Queen song says, ‘another one bites the dust’. I moved toward the next closest towelhead then things went to hell.

First I heard a whump that sounded like artillery and the next thing I knew a flare lit up the area like it was fucking Christmas. Of course the Taliban saw me so I dropped the Ka-Bar, took a knee, spun the AK around on its sling and began to fire. When I found out which stupid fucker called for a flare round from the artillery I was going to kick their ass! My aim was more accurate than the aim of the Taliban so soon they were all dead. However there was still too much light from the flare for me to continue my mission so I hauled ass back to the hospital...