Chapter 54

Flashback – Ben and Jack – The trip to hell ... there's a problem!

I began to check Jack's vitals and – son of a bitch! His breathing was shallow and his pulse was weak – dammit! In the excitement of the field surgery, I forgot that Jack had been self-medicating. The OxyContin, muscle relaxer and the morphine had done a number on Jack's vitals. I scrambled to find the Narcan¹ in my UOP, finally found it and began to give Jack small doses through his IV.

¹ Narcan - Naloxone, also known as Narcan among others names, is a medication used to reverse the effects of opioids especially in an overdose.

The Butterbar came back, saw what I was doing and asked, "What's going on?"

I omitted part of the truth in my explanation, "The morphine dose was too strong for Jack and he was having some breathing problems. I'm giving him Narcan to counter the effects of the morphine."

The Butterbar informed, "I hope he's ready to transport in twenty because the chopper will be here by then."

Jack was already doing better so I assured him, "Yeah, not a problem." I needed to keep the Butterbar busy so I asked, "Can you take over here? I need to go through Jack's pack and pull out the spotter gear. Just give him one cc every minute and continue to check his breathing."

The Butterbar took over for me and I began to search Jack's pack, not only for the spotter gear, but also for the extra drugs I had obtained for him. The last thing I needed was someone like Colonel Maggie finding those in his pack.

Son of a bitch! I took the time to arrange Jack's pack before we left and the old fart had already messed it up, nothing was where it was supposed to be. I swore under my breath and continued to search for the spotter gear and the drugs. The Butterbar wondered, "Sgt. Blaine, what is taking you so long?"

This time I didn't omit anything when I said, "Jack never does keep his pack organized." I finally found the drugs and distracted the Butterbar, "How are Jack's vital signs."

He began to check Jack's pulse while I slipped the pills out of Jack's pack and into one of my leg pockets that was empty. The Butterbar said, "I think he's doing fine."

Jack woke up and yelled...

Son of a bitch! I woke up and my ass felt like it was on fire! I swore, "Banzai what in the fuck did you do to me?"

Banzai came over, touched my arm and said, "Jack, the piece of shrapnel in your ass hit an artery. I had to do surgery to close the bleeder."

I vaguely remember the shrapnel and that I pulled it out of my ass but I was in a hell of a lot of pain so I continued the complaints, "Shit Banzai! Can't you give me something for pain?"

Banzai leaned down and whispered, "Jack, the morphine combined with all the other drugs you'd taken did a number on you. Sorry about this, but for right now you're going to have to man up and tough it out."

The Butterbar remarked, "I think that's our chopper..."

I interrupted, " ... What fucking chopper is that..."

Banzai interrupted me, " ... Jack, you're headed back to the base so the real surgeons can finish what I've started." Then he leans closer and whispers, "Just remember – don't let them know about your back."

I asked, "Well, who the fuck is going to be your spotter?"

The Butterbar said, "Sgt. Blaine told me I was going to be the spotter."

I swore, "Hells Bells! What the fuck do you know about being a spotter? Banzai..."

Banzai interrupted, " ... Jack, there's no choice in this, your chopper's here so man up."

Banzai and the Butterbar tossed my pack on the back of my legs, picked up my stretcher and began to haul ass down the stairs. The fuckers almost tipped me off the stretcher a couple times so I complained like hell...

They finally got me to the ground without dumping my ass off the stretcher, hauled me to the chopper loaded me on board and Banzai said to the flight nurse, "Jack's in a hell of a lot of pain. The morphine tanked his vitals so I gave him some Narcan IV to counteract the morphine. But it's made him crabby as hell. I put four sutures in the bleeder in his ass and packed it with gauze."

The flight nurse praised my report, "Sgt., it looks like you've done an excellent job. Thanks for not closing the wound, it would only make things worse. Don't worry I will take good care of your friend."

I complained, "I'm not crabby when I'm not in pain."

Banzai, shook my hand and said, "Godspeed Jack! Don't worry about me."

He left with the fucking Butterbar and I asked, "Hey how about something for pain?"

The nurse replied, "Sorry but with the Narcan in your system it wouldn't work anyway."

Son of a bitch – Banzai did it to me again!

Flashback – Masha – A pleasant surprise!

I started to clean the blood from the dead teenage girl off my carpet when I heard a car drive up. I was concerned it might be some of the hooligans come to harass me again. I briefly thought about getting another shotgun out of Jack's safe, but decided to look out the window instead and was happy with that decision: Jack's car was in the driveway and several other cars were parked along the curb in front of my house. I watched as Louise, Linda, several other women and Michael exited the additional cars. What were they doing here? And I certainly did not look presentable for company, not while in my work clothes.

Louise led them to the front door, which was destroyed, knocked on the door, stuck her head inside and said, "Masha, do you mind if we come in? I've brought some friends to help clean up your house and fix your door."

I sputtered, "Louise, I ... I ... I..."

Louise laughed and said, "Come on in everyone and meet my adopted aunt Masha."

They walked into my house and Louise began the introductions, "Masha, this is Gwen and her boy George, Brenda and her girl Tina and of course you know Michael. Everyone this is my badass aunt Masha."

The women came over, hugged me and kissed me on the cheek. Michael said, "It looks like I need to get to work fixing the front door."

I didn't notice it, but he had a tool box with him so he walked over to the front door and said, "Wow, they really messed this up, but don't worry, I can fix it, at least for tonight."

He began to work and the other women asked, "Masha, tell us what happened."

Louise interrupted, "First Masha let me take those cleaning items from you. I will get started on your carpet and wall."

I looked and then noticed the wall, it was a huge mess.

I told Gwen and Brenda what happened; it was very hard and I cried several times. They both hugged me and told me how I was a hero and kept calling me a 'badass'. Their children played with each other and Linda while I spoke with their mothers. Louise came over and said, "All done Masha, how does it look."