Chapter 11: Routine

Jackson and Hawk were already waiting for him.

“Brian, is this going to throw our food situation off very much?”

“No, Sir. The local tribe is making an extra effort to keep us supplied, especially since we’re paying customers. Worst case, we’ll change the menu in a couple of days, to cover for what we don’t have, and deal with it then.”

“Top?”

“I was actually in the command center, because I wanted to check on how they were doing in the barracks, when it went down. We pulled up the recordings. You can watch it, but I’ve seen too many of these kind of incidents over the years. She was a slick one, making sure that not only didn’t Hall notice, but neither did anyone else. I’d say that the food was actually okay to eat, but I’m going with better safe than sorry.” He looked at el-Azizi. “Thank you for catching that. It wasn’t visible to us at all.”

“You’re welcome, Sir. It wouldn’t do to have something happen to the Captain.”

“Oh, really? Sir, anything we need to know?”

“Well, it’s one of two things. Either Zuhra is one hell of an actress, or we’re well ahead of our original schedule. Since she’s already figured out the real purpose behind this camp, I’m going with ahead of schedule, even if we do end up losing a few more.”

“If I may interject, I would say ahead of schedule,” el-Azizi said. “Captain Anderson said I should tell you thank you, Sergeant Hawk. So, thank you. Sincerely.”

“You’re welcome. You know, if anything, I think the incident this morning, in addition to what we’ve already had happen, will help us in the long run. You’ve shown the bad apples you’re not afraid to use less than lethal force that will really fuck them up. You’ve also shown them we’re also not afraid to use lethal force as well. If we can use you as a bit of a go-between, I think we’ll be okay.”

“I wondered exactly what my role was going to be in all of this. I accept. I’ve done many things over the years I need to atone for. I don’t know if it will help, but I may be able to give you advice on some things, as well.”

Anderson nodded, saying, “We’ll keep that in mind. Remember that while I accept what you’ve said, and in spite of anything else, trust still has to be earned.”

She nodded. “Of course it does. I completely agree. I just have two requests.”

Jackson frowned. “You do? What are those?”

“The Captain now needs an alarm clock, and a larger bed.”

“NOT a word, Andrew!” Anderson said with a gleam in his eye.

The rest of the day went well, after the breakfast fiasco. Davis showed the staff the toys his crew had created, then was shocked and amused when el-Azizi suggested some slight improvements to them. When they had everyone gather for the movie that night, the two women who’d screwed around last night stood, so they wouldn’t accidentally fall asleep. The movie that night was Fort Apache.

Because he’d been busy with computer work, Anderson hadn’t returned to his quarters after lunch like normal. When he walked in, he stopped and just laughed.

“What’s wrong?” el-Azizi asked. He simply pointed. His full sized bed, which had at least been big enough for them if they didn’t move around much, had been replaced by a king sized bed. There also was an alarm clock on the nightstand.

“I think that’s a sign your men approve,” she said.

“I don’t really care whether they approve or not. I’m just wondering about whether we break the bed in properly, or get a shower first, and then break the bed in properly?”

“Why not both?” she asked with a laugh, taking his hand and pulling him towards the bed.

“Well, I’m not a teenager anymore, so if I fall asleep, it’s on you. Or it’ll be in you, one or the other.”

“You’re a funny man,” she said, as she helped him take his boots off. Once he was as undressed as she was, she pulled him down on top of and then into her. Her wetness made it easy for him to slide inside her.

They never made it out of bed for a shower.

The alarm going off at six woke both of them.

“Shit. I’m so tempted to turn that off, so I can cuddle more,” Anderson said.

“I thought it was the woman who’d want to cuddle after sex?”

“We never did get our shower last night. Time for a whore’s bath before we exercise.”

“Excuse me?”

He grabbed two washcloths from his drawer. “Pits and privates. Well, in your case, I think a real one is needed. Pits, tits, and slits.” He wiped some dried semen from her breasts. She smiled and helped him as well, since she didn’t have to get dressed.

“Good morning, First Sergeant!” Anderson said when they made it to the exercise area.

“Good morning, Sir!” Jackson simply nodded at el-Azizi, since she was a prisoner. “A little complaining last night in the barracks, but your usage of pronouns, plus the women from Three that were in the kitchen, kept that to a minimum.”

When Reveille sounded, there were close to a quarter of the women running out to take their place on the field without bottoms on. They were carrying them. Anderson also noticed that they were all running, or as close to running as they could. “Is it just me, or did I not hear any trash can lids this morning?” he asked.

“GOOD MORNING, LADIES!” Jackson yelled.

“GOOD MORNING, SIR!” came roaring back.

“Yes, it is! Let’s start off with stretches, shall we?”

“YES, SIR!”

While doing stretches, Anderson moved closer to Jackson. “Did I miss something?”

“There’s still a few slackers, but the men made sure and explained to anyone that asked what was going on. It’s so damned simple, really. Just do what we tell you, when we tell you, and we’ll get along great. We need to rearrange their living arrangements later. OKAY! Now, let’s start with Jumping Jacks!”

Anderson just went back to where he had been exercising and kept going. When it was done, he went back to his quarters, so they could properly shower before breakfast. The only problem he had making his bed was it was simply too large, so he couldn’t get the blankets tight for bouncing a quarter.

Inside the chow hall, he was greeted by a smiling black face at the counter, dishing out the food. “Good morning, Sir! Good morning, Miss el-Azizi.”

“Good morning, Pearlina. I’m guessing the quality of the food will be similar to that from yesterday’s lunch and dinner?”

“Yes, Sir! I spent some time with Sergeant Hall, talking about who we need in here. Some of these girls can’t fry water. I think we’ve got things sorted out, though.”

“Very good. I can’t help but notice you’re wearing scrubs that seem to fit you properly.”

“I tell you what, some of these girls are too stupid to figure things out. Jest cause you gave us ones that don’t fit right don’t mean we can’t trade things around. Lot of the girls in my barracks have spent some time behind bars. Me, too. That’s where I learnt how to cook like I does, doin’ a dime for manslaughter. You keep busy, time goes by faster.”

“That it does, Pearlina, that it does. Things do smell good, I’ll say that. Thank you.”

“Welcome, Sir. Let me know if they is anything you like special. If I can get it, I will.”

The coffee they had this morning even tasted better.

“Connors, what exactly is going on with the food and even the coffee?”

“Pearlina spent the last five years of her ten years learning how to become not just a cook, but basically a master chef. She knocked fifteen minutes off their prep time for this morning by getting some things ready last night and just refrigerating them. She’s already got two women doing prep work for lunch.”

Anderson pulled out his iPad, checking something. “She was listed as dangerous because of her prison term, for killing an ex-boyfriend. She was also a political supporter of fuckwad, and was working at a greasy spoon diner.”

“She’s black and uneducated, Sir,” el-Azizi said. “That’s a common denominator in who that party tried to keep as their supporters. You don’t think a five-star Michelin restaurant is going to give her a chance to run their kitchen, do you?”

“Unfortunately, racism does exist like that. And not just here in the South and Midwest. There are two things that go back to Mister Great Society himself, LBJ. One quote is disputed, ‘I’ll have those niggers voting Democrat for the next two hundred years.’ What’s disputed about it is whether he said ‘niggers’ or not. The other isn’t disputed in the least. ‘If you can convince the lowest white man he’s better than the best colored man, he won’t notice you’re picking his pocket. Hell, give him someone to look down on, and he’ll empty his pockets for you.’ I think the roots of our Civil War were founded in the ashes of the first, because of the way cities grew afterwards,” Anderson said.

From where he’d sat down with his tray, Jackson said, “You asked me the first day the guests were coming in why you and not me? It’s comments and analysis like that.”

“Fine, be that way. Well, an officer’s work is never done. I have to do some ‘George’ work. Get the residents realigned as you see fit.”

He and el-Azizi went to his office, where once the door was shut, she finally asked the question she’d been holding the whole time. “What is ‘George’ work?”

“The stuff you pass off to the lowest ranking officer. Troop morale officer, VD control officer, weapons inspection officer, mail officer ... all the jobs that you would pass off and let ‘George’ do it. Well, I’m the only officer, so it’s all on me.”

“VD Control officer?”

“No short arm inspections, fortunately. I can tell you this, since you know why we’re here. All of you were checked before you were chosen to come here, to make sure you’re all free of sexually transmitted infections. So were we.”

She blinked. “They expect you to have sex?”

“Expect? No. Planned for it because humans are humans, especially in this kind of situation. It’s going to happen. The only thing we can do is mitigate the fallout when it does.”