Chapter 58

Flashback – Ben and George (the Butterbar) – Spotter training and other things.

George proved to be more help than hindrance and in some ways he was better than Jack – he had a hell of a good eye and spotted insurgents even when they tried to hide. Then would identify their location in 'clock format'. As an added bonus, he didn't give me near the shit that Jack gave me.

We cleared the south-most side of the building and were getting ready to move to the East side when the Captain yelled from the North side, which we had already cleared, "Sgt. Blaine, get your ass back over here, we're under attack."

George made it to the North side of the building first and yelled, "Banzai hurry, we have three waves of the insurgents headed toward us."

I made it to the North side of the building and George was right, this was an all-out charge on our position. I setup with my rifle and began to kill the fuckers, but there were so many of them I knew I would need help. I yelled, "Captain, we'd better get the rest of the team over here!"

The Captain came over and said, "Christ, where did all those fucking towelheads come from?"

Instead he brought the rest of the squad over and when the insurgents were in range, they began to take them out. George was beside me so I suggested, "George, the Captain made a mistake in putting the entire squad here. Please check the other side of the building to see what's going on."

George listened to my suggestion, jumped up and then he yelled, "Captain, the other sides of the building are even worse - the insurgents are even closer."

The Captain swore, "Those sneaky bastards! He divided up the squad and deployed them to the other three sides of the building."

George came back beside me and asked, "Banzai, how did you know?"

I had switched to my M4 and replied between shots, "Hell, it's what I would have done and it only makes sense."

George expressed concern, "Banzai, I'm not sure that we're going to survive this..."

I shut down his negative thinking, " ... Listen to me George, don't give up! We've only begun to fight."

I did decide I needed to make some suggestions to the Captain so I took off to find him. He was busy swearing at the squad when I came up. I suggested, "Sir! Perhaps we need to get the AC-130 back here before we're overrun."

He gave me a dirty look and said, "Sgt. Blaine if you were killing these fucking towelheads instead of flapping your mouth at me, we'd be fine. Now move your ass and start killing these fuckers."

I was fuming when I moved back by George and said, "Hells bells, there's one born every minute. The Captain isn't going to call in any air support."

George asked a hell of a question, "Banzai, do you think I should bypass him and call in the air support?"

I was shocked at his offer, thought a second and advised, "George, you can't do that because it will ruin your career. It's better if we document this and go to Colonel Maggie when we get back."

George earned some more respect when he pulled out a mobile phone and used the camera on it to document what was going on.

The Captain came over to give us another ration of shit and finally one of the towelheads got lucky and bounced a round off his helmet. He fell to the ground, I looked at George and suggested, "Now would be the time to take over and call in the air support."

George began to call in the air support while the rest of the squad cheered. I was not surprised when no one went over to the Captain to check on him. I supposed the rest of the squad felt the same about him as I did.

George commanded, "Marines, hold your positions, we have an AC-130 coming in five minutes."

Another cheer went up from the squad as George came over and suggested, "Banzai, I know you don't want to do this, and I don't want to make it an order, but perhaps you should check the Captain."

George was certainly right - the last thing I wanted to do was check on the fucking pain in the ass Captain! But because he asked me and didn't make it an order, I jumped up, grabbed my UOP and knelt beside the Captain. His pupils were both equal and reactive which was a great sign; there was also no blood coming out of his helmet, so I assumed the AK round came from far enough away that it didn't penetrate his helmet. However, the blow was enough to knock his ass out and probably gave him a concussion. George was moving around the rest of the squad and motivating them so the last thing we needed was for the Captain to wake up and take over the squad again. I made a 'medical' decision and medicated the hell out of the Captain to make sure he was out for the count.

George worked his way over adjacent to me and asked, "How's the Captain doing?"

I grinned at him and said, "He's lucky as hell and probably only has a concussion, I medicated him to keep him from waking up."

George gave me a dirty look and began to ask something when we were interrupted by the chainsaw sound of the AC-130 kicking ass...

Flashback – Jack – in the hospital

I opened my eyes; where the hell was I? A nurse came over and said, "Well, it's about time you woke up."

I spoke and it came out in a croaking voice, "What the hell happened?"

Then nurse replied, "You had surgery and are in the recovery room. You gave us a few worries because of the way you responded to the anesthesia. I will let those who are waiting know you're awake."

I wondered who was waiting to see me since I didn't remember Banzai coming back with me. It seemed like it took forever and I was surprised when Colonel Maggie walked into the room...

Flashback – Masha – The next day

I practically jumped out of my skin when someone touched me but I relaxed when I heard Louise's voice as she said, "Masha, I hate to wake you, but I need to get to work today. I know you didn't sleep well last night but are you okay to take care of Linda today."

I opened my eyes, looked at the clock and Louise was correct - it was late. I jumped out of bed and answered, "I am sorry that I over slept Louise, give me five minutes and I will be fine taking care of Linda."

I rushed into the bathroom, rapidly took care of my morning needs and came out. Louise laughed and said, "Masha, you are amazing: You spend five minutes in the bathroom and come out looking better than when I spend half an hour. Here's Linda and don't worry, I called work and we're all coming back here again tonight. Oh, Michael wanted me to remind you that John is coming by today to fix the door. She giggled and added, "Please make sure you don't shoot him."

Louise handed Linda to me and added, "I almost forgot, Linda's been bathed and fed so have a great morning and we will see you tonight." She left through the garage so I didn't have to move the couch away from the front door.

With that, Louise was gone. I took Linda into the kitchen with me and noticed that Louise had made a pot of coffee. I forced myself to have a cup of coffee, some yogurt and toast with butter for breakfast.

I tried to figure out what to do next, when I jumped like crazy because the doorbell rang. I slowly slipped to the front window, looked out and noticed a van and a man in a repair uniform. I walked adjacent to the front door and asked, "Are you John?"

The man answered, "No Ma'am, I'm Fred from the phone company. I am here to fix your phone line."

I asked, "How did you know I had phone troubles?"

He explained, "A man named Michael called and told us that your phone line was damaged. I wanted to tell you that I'm going to be in your back yard fixing the line."

I replied, "That would be wonderful."

He left, I checked out back and watched as he began to work on the phone box. It was comforting to know that my phone would work again soon.

I had finally relaxed again when the blasted doorbell rang again - still I jumped just like before. I looked out the front window, saw a pickup truck and a different man standing at the door. I carefully approached the door and asked, "Are you John?"

The man answered with a gravelly sounding voice, "Yes Ma'am, Michael asked me to come by and look at your door."

I replied, "Give me a moment." I sat Linda on the floor and struggled with the couch, finally I moved it and tried to open the front door. The door fell off its hinges but thankfully John caught it before it crashed to the floor.

He began to look at the door and delivered some bad news, "Well Ma'am, it looks like not only the door is destroyed, they also destroyed the door frame. I will have to replace everything."

I asked, "How much will that cost John?"

He pulled out some paper, began to write, erased a few times and said, "Sorry to tell you this Ma'am, but even with the friend of Michael's discount it's going to cost fifteen hundred dollars."

I blinked and asked, "How much?"

He replied, "One thousand, five hundred dollars."

I continued and asked, "Is there some way to make the door stronger so this can't happen again?"

John scratched his head, thought for a few minutes and suggested, "Well, we could replace the whole wooden door jam and front door with a metal door - it wouldn't look as nice but it would be more secure."

I inquired, "What would be the cost for that?"