Chapter 64

Flashback – Ben and George (the Butterbar) – Working on the downed chopper

As I ordered, the other Marines started to move the dead crew out of the chopper. I began to search the compartments for medical supplies (mostly to replace what I had used already) and I hit fucking paydirt (thinking back, I shouldn’t have been so surprised)!

There were more supplies on the chopper than Carter had Little Pills. I began to stuff as much shit as I could in my UOP until it got full, then I chucked the rest of the stuff out the door onto the ground.

George came over and stuck his head inside the chopper. I barely missed hitting him with some of the supplies and he sounded more like an officer than I cared for, “Sgt. Blaine what the hell are you doing?”

I replied, “George, waste not, want not! It’s a shame to let all these supplies get burnt to hell, I was just trying to save some of them.”

George began to complain when all hell broke loose and...

Flashback – Jack – in the hospital

Colonel Maggie approached me and complained, “Sgt. Reynolds, I heard you were out of bed and talked on the phone.”

I gave her my best smile and answered, “Yes Sir I did. I called my wife back home to see how she was doing...”

Colonel Maggie interrupted, “Yes Jack, I know. So, how is she doing?”

I replied, “To be truthful Sir, something was wrong but I’m not sure what because I didn’t get to ask her.”

Colonel Maggie said, “Well Jack, let’s fix that problem right now.”

She escorted me over to the phone and the line for the phone parted for us like Moses parted the Red Sea...

Flashback – Masha – The evening a short time later

I was crying because, well for many reasons: Jack was in the hospital and I did not know why; I killed the hooligan teenage girl; and ... and ... and everyone was being so nice to me. Much too nice for a baby killer such as me.

Everyone was trying to comfort me, but it was not helping. My phone rang again and again it frightened me. I jumped and swore, “Tвою мать I want to shoot that phone.”

Louise once again dashed to the phone (and my rescue), I kibitzed as she answered, and heard her as she angrily said, “You have a hell of a lot of nerve hanging up on my aunt Masha and now you call back! She’s still crying from your last call, if you ever do that to her again I will kick your ass!”

I asked, “Is ... Is ... Is that Jack?”

Louise smiled and said, “Yes it is, and now that he’s properly castigated I will let you talk to him.”

She handed me the phone, Jack laughed and said, “Damn, who’s that spitfire who keeps answering the phone.”

I was determined this time to learn about Jack’s injuries so I ignored his question and asked one of my own, “Jack my love, please truthfully tell me why you are in the hospital.”

Jack replied, “Shoot Masha it’s nothing. I caught a piece of shrapnel in my ass. And once again Banzai was there to take care of me. You ignored my first question, but you’d better tell me what’s wrong?”

I took a deep breath and replied, “Jack my love, I killed a hooligan teenage girl who broke into our house.”

There was a short pause and Jack sympathetically said, “Masha tell me everything.”

I told him the whole story while Louise constantly added the ‘badass aunt‘ comments. I was done and one of the nice policemen motioned for the phone. I said, “Jack there’s a policeman here who wants to talk with you.” I handed the phone to him and they had a conversation...

Flashback – Jack – in the hospital – conversation with the police

Hells Bells! I couldn’t believe that Masha was forced to kill a teenage girl. She handed the phone to a policeman (what the fuck was he doing at the house?) and the policeman opened with, “Mr. Reynolds...”

I interrupted, “ ... Call me Jack, Mr. Reynolds is my deceased father.”

He continued, “Okay Jack it is and you can call me Al. I wanted to assure you that Masha is in no trouble with the police department, in fact she did us a big favor when she singlehandedly captured a gang of teenagers that had been terrorizing the buses in this city. You have one hell of a woman.”

I asked the question that had been bugging me, “So what the hell are the police doing at my house?”

Al replied, “We dropped by to express our appreciation to Masha and to show her the file on the little bitch she killed.”

I was slightly shocked when he used that description of the girl so I continued, “So, she must have been trouble.”

He laughed and said, “Hell, trouble with not just with a capital T but in all caps and even bold. That bitch had a gang that had robbed and raped the hell out of the bus riders for about six months and she was the ringleader. It was so bad people stopped using the buses.”

I didn’t like the sound of this so I asked, “What’s happened to the other gang members?”

Al said, “The girls got out on bail and that’s when they attacked your wife. After the attack, we captured them again so they are all back in custody but they aren’t getting out this time.”

I heard some man yell, “The steaks are done, come and get them!”

I requested, “Please let me talk to Masha again.”

Masha came on the phone and I asked, “Masha, it sounds like you’re having a party...”

Masha interrupted, “ ... Jack, it’s not like that at all. Michael from the grocery store cooked steaks on the grill for dinner. You know about Louise, then Gwen and Brenda, two women who work with Louise are here. Every ... every ... everyone is being so nice to me, I don’t understand.”

I heard Louise as she shouted, “Masha isn’t only a badass, she’s a humble badass!”

I knew what I needed to do so I said, “Masha don’t worry about a thing. I’m going to call some friends to help you. I love you and miss you so much!”

Masha finally sounded like her real self when she replied, “Jack my love, take care of yourself and thank you.”

She gave me kisses over the phone, I hung up and Colonel Maggie asked, “It sounds like there are some problems at home?”

I relayed the story to her and watched as she became more pissed off than I had ever seen. She practically spit when I finished, “Jack, let’s take you back to bed, then I’m going to make some calls and make sure nothing like this ever happens to your wife again.”

I thanked her, “Thank you Sir! If you could do that it would mean the world to me.”

She walked me back to my bed and said, “Don’t worry Jack, we’re Marines and we take care of our own.”

We arrived at my bed, a nurse came up and motioned to Colonel Maggie so she moved over beside her and they had an animated discussion. Colonel Maggie came back over and informed me, “Well Sgt. Reynolds, looks like you’re going to have some company. Sgt. Blaine is coming in to be checked out.”

I was shocked and asked, “What the hell happened?”

Colonel Maggie said, “The chopper they were working on was hit by a couple RPG rounds. He was knocked unconscious so they are bringing him in to make sure it’s not serious.”

I asked, “Any chance we can bunk together?”