Chapter 38

Flashback – Ben and Jack – The trip to hell ... on the way to the hospital – the first house

Jack and I had succeeded in transitioning the squad from the beach to the first house, had even taken the first room in that house and now we were looking at clearing the rest of the house. I began to pie the doorway when – son of a bitch, I saw a towel ... excuse me insurgent. Thank God he didn't have his weapon ready! I dove out of the way as a short burst of AK fire strafed my previous position.

Jack swore and yelled, "Mother fuckers! Trying to kill my boy!" He then tossed a frag into the room. Four seconds later the whole damn building shook much more than it should have while dust and pieces of the building started to fall around us. What the hell was going on! I looked at Jack, Jack looked at me and yelled, "It's a fucking earthquake, let's get the hell out of here!"

The entire squad ran from the building like our asses were on fire. We returned to our beachhead (we were all at the same one this time), ducked behind cover and watched as the fucking building totally collapsed.

Jack laughed (and I wondered how many pain pills he'd taken) and remarked, "Serves the fuckers right for trying to shoot Banzai." He continued laughing and said, "Now that's the way you clear a building."

The Butterbar looked a little green around the gills and asked, "Does this happen often in Iraq."

Jack grinned at the Butterbar and totally yanked his chain when he sarcastically answered, "Hell yeah, not many days go by in this 'paradise' without having to deal with an earthquake."

I felt mercy on the Butterbar and corrected the information on earthquakes, "Sir, Jack is yanking your chain, the earthquakes are few and far between but as you can see from the results, you don't want to be in any of the buildings when one happens."

Then I praised Jack, "Thanks Jack, for realizing what it was and getting our asses out of there."

The Butterbar actually asked, "What about the insurgents who were in the building???"

I was sure he wanted to try to save them and thank God Jack interrupted before he could finish his thought, "Well, they are on their way to hell."

The Butterbar asked, "Don't you mean their heaven?"

Jack laughed some more and answered, "Sir! If they go to heaven, then I sure as hell don't want to go there."

The dust from the earthquake and collapsed building had settled so I suggested, "Sir, we should use the diversion of the earthquake to move to our target building."

Jack agreed, "Banzai's right, we're wasting time."

I look at the squad and the Butterbar then ordered, "Okay, even though we had a distraction from the earthquake, we still need to be careful as we head to our target building. Once again we will leapfrog from position to position."

I continued with specific directions, "I will take the point while Jack covers me, then the LCpl. and everyone else, and Jack will bring up the rear."

Jack added further cautions, "Be careful around the other fucking buildings as they could be unstable from the earthquake and collapse. And also remember to expect some aftershocks."

I looked at Jack and asked, "You ready?"

He nodded, I jumped up and ran toward an adjacent building. When I got close, the first aftershock hit, the building I was headed for began to sway and looked like it was going to fall on top of me so I quickly changed directions to the middle of the fucking road (the very last place you want to be in Iraq or Afghanistan is in the middle of the road). I looked behind me and waved like crazy. Jack figured it out and the whole fucking squad took off after me.

The aftershock seemed to last forever, which was long enough for me to reach the side of our target building. I spun around, put my back to the building and covered the rest of the squad.

They were having a hell of a time running because the aftershock got stronger. I watched as a couple other buildings went down - thank God they were behind the squad. They finally got to the target building beside me and hugged the wall like me as the aftershock finished.

The Butterbar asked, "So now we begin to clear this building?"

I looked at Jack, Jack looked at me and I said, "I'm not going in this building until we are sure the aftershocks are over."

I scanned the area, saw a good looking, sturdy wall and suggested, "We should take up a position behind that wall, contact base and see if they have any idea when the aftershocks will be over."

Jack stated the obvious, "Banzai, that wall only protects us from this building and we will have no cover from behind."

I answered, "That's right, but the last aftershock took down the buildings behind us, so I figure we can dig some foxholes for protection from behind the wall and position several men to cover our sixes."

The Butterbar agreed, "That sounds like our plan, do we leapfrog to the wall?"

I looked up at our target building and said, "That's affirmative."

The Butterbar said, "I will go first, then Sgt. Blaine will come next."

I knew there was a reason I liked this Butterbar.

Jack volunteered...

Damn this Butterbar might be worth a shit after all so I offered and reminded everyone, "I will come last again - don't forget to run a random zig-zag pattern."

The Butterbar took off and ran a hell of a random zig-zag pattern. He jumped over the wall, slowly popped his head back up over the wall and covered Banzai as he came next.

The whole squad made it without a single shot being fired by the fucking insurgents. It was my turn so I began to run as another aftershock hit. The ground swayed like crazy, parts of the building started to fall around me and I hauled ass. I reached the wall, leapt over it and the squad began to clap and cheer. I looked at them and demanded, "What the hell?"

Banzai laughed and said, "Jack, none of us knew that you could run so fast. Hell, I thought you were a goner."

He pointed to where the building had been and it was now a pile of rubble. I looked at the Butterbar and asked, "What the hell are we supposed to do now?"

I no sooner got the words out of my mouth than we started to take fire from the fucking hospital. Banzai grabbed his sniper rifle and ordered, "Jack, I need you to range me and do the calculations for the slope."

The Butterbar answered, "I need to call the base to see what their orders are with the building being gone. I'm not sure if we can finish this mission."

I swore, "Like hell, we don't need the building to finish this mission. We just need to take care of the fucking insurgents."

I pulled out my spotting scope, set it up and began to give the ranges to Banzai adjusted for the slope. He took his first shot and it blew the fucking insurgents head completely away.

Damn what a hell of a rifle! I continued to feed the ranges to Banzai and he continued to smoke the fucking insurgents. Pretty quickly I couldn't see any more insurgents in the windows which meant they had changed their tactics. I ordered, "Keep an eye on the front door and the side doors, I think we're going to have some company soon."

Banzai moved his sniper rifle down to a hole in the wall, fired and then yelled, "Here the fuckers come!"

He was right! It looked like fucking angry ants swarming out of a disturbed anthill. The squad began to lay down hellacious fire and Banzai yelled, "Sir, get on the horn and call in the choppers before we're overrun."

The Butterbar was on the horn, then yelled back, "The choppers are ten minutes out."

I glanced at my watch and hoped like hell we had ten more minutes...

Flashback – Masha – I can't believe I survived today

After several naps with Linda, I physically felt better but I was still very upset emotionally. Yes, I still had problems forgiving myself for ruining my chance to talk with Jack. Soon Louise would be here so I needed to clean up and make myself more presentable. I took Linda into the bathroom with me, washed my face and her face then I put on some light makeup which practically made me cry again because I remembered how my Jack commented on the other women in Russia who wore too much makeup.

There was a knock on the door so I assumed Louise was here. I took Linda to the front door, looked through the peephole and was surprised when it was a woman I had never seen before. I called through the closed and locked door, "Please state your business."

The woman held up an official looking identification badge, with her name and picture on it and said, "I am Martha Ray from the State Social workers department. I have several questions for you, Ms. Reynolds. So please open the door and let me in."

I was still not convinced she was who she presented herself to be, so I asked, "Is there a number I can phone where I can verify your identity?"

Martha Ray recited the number in a manner which told me she was not lying, so I opened the door and offered, "I am sorry, but one can never be too safe when there are strangers at the door."

Martha Ray commented, "Don't worry about it Ms. Reynolds, it was actually refreshing to see you taking such good precautions - especially since I arrived unannounced."

I knew Louise would arrive soon and I desired Martha to be gone before she arrived so I asked, "Ms. Ray what is the meaning of your arrival at my house today?"

Martha pointed to Linda and said, "Ms. Reynolds, from what I understand she is not your baby."

I replied, "Yes Ms. Ray, you are correct. She is the daughter of a friend of mine and I babysit while my friend works."

Martha Ray took out a folder from her bag, began to write and said, "Ms. Reynolds, do you have a license to run a childcare center in your home?"

I was shocked and answered, "I am very sorry Ms. Ray, but I did not know there was a requirement to have a license to watch a friend of mine's child."

Martha Ray wrote more things in the folder and continued with the questions, "How much money do you make for taking care of your friend's child?"