Chapter 14

Kelly awakened and was surprised to see Cathy at her bedside. She blinked and said, “I guess I ought to say something stupid like, ‘Where am I?’ Cathy, you look great!”

“You’re back in England. They wanted to send you to your quarters, but I insisted you stay in the hospital. It’s good for the image. Besides, it’s sort of tacky to get the Purple Heart without ever being in the hospital. How do you feel?”

Kelly moved around and found she really felt fine. She moved her arms and legs and everything worked. There was a small bandage on her left shoulder, but that was all. “What happened? It doesn’t look like I got hit very hard. Where’s Mike?”

“You didn’t. You just got nicked by a piece of shrapnel but you bled like a stuck pig. I don’t know how many units of blood they pumped into you, but your crankcase was nearly empty. Mike’s fine, but he’s going to be here for a while. They had to do some serious excavating to get all the shrapnel out. Do you want to try to get up? You can, if you want to.”

Kelly sat up in the bed. So far, so good. She swung her legs over the side of the bed and carefully stood up. There was a wave of dizziness, but Cathy was holding her arm. The dizziness passed, and she walked over to a chair in the room. Then she realized she was wearing one of the classic backless hospital gowns. She grimaced at Cathy, but sat down. “Ouch! This seat is cold on my bare ass.”

Cathy went to the closet and brought her a lovely flannel bath robe. She slipped it on and sat down again. “How long have I been here, anyway? What’s happening in Germany?”

“You’ve been here two days. The doctor says you were unconscious for about 24-hours from blood loss, and then you slept for another 24. Right now our armored units are about 200 miles east of where we started. The Russians are reeling. Your comments on the command structure were prescient. They can’t seem to get organized enough to give the right orders. We’re hitting units that aren’t even set up in battle formation.”

She shook her head and said, “Kelly, you really called it!”

Cathy cocked her head and looked at her friend. “Now would you like to visit your intended? He’s next door. I don’t know if he’s conscious yet from his last bout with surgery, but at least you can see that he’s more or less in one piece.”

They went next door. Mike was asleep with his left shoulder heavily bandaged. Cathy said, “He’ll be fine. By the way, have you been playing with your carving set on Mike’s back?”

Kelly nodded and smiled sheepishly as Cathy pressed Mike’s call button. Moments later a nurse appeared followed by a doctor.

Cathy said, “Doctor, I would like to introduce you to Kelly Jackson, your patient. She’s also a competitor. She’s the one who stitched up Mike’s back. I knew it had to be her.”

The doctor smiled and shook hands with Kelly. “Colonel, how far did you go in your medical education? That was a bullet removal, wasn’t it?”

Kelly said it was and asked what he thought of it.

“It is as fine a piece of work as I’ve ever seen. And I must say, your sutures are much neater and finer than mine. There should be no scar at all.”

“Damn!” Kelly exclaimed in exasperation. “I was hoping there would be something nice to show our children. ‘This is where Mommy carved up Daddy. And it wasn’t even Thanksgiving.’ As far as your question goes, Doctor, I haven’t graduated from high school yet. My qualifications consist of flunking biology twice.”

The doctor’s jaw dropped. “You can’t be serious!”

“She’s very serious, Doctor,” Cathy said, “And I happen to know it’s the absolute truth. After all, she’s only nineteen.”

“Come on! That’s impossible! She’s a lieutenant colonel in the army. She can’t be nineteen!”

“You’re incorrect, doctor. She’s now a full colonel. The President approved her promotion yesterday. Kelly gets a promotion more or less with every paycheck. She was commissioned as a captain in March, and it’s now July. She’s definitely doing well in this man’s army. By the way, when can she go home?”

The doctor just shook his head. “Kelly, how do you feel? You look fine.”

“I feel fine, Doctor. But what about my shoulder? Will there be a big scar?”

“I don’t think there will be any at all, Kelly. The shrapnel cut you, it didn’t embed. You were stitched by a plastic surgeon who’s awfully good. General Adams ordered it. In fact, I’m confident there will be no scar at all.”

“Well, can I check myself out then?” Kelly asked.

“I am supposed to check with General Adams, Colonel. Just a moment.”

The doctor went to the phone and placed a call. He told the office that Colonel Jackson was conscious and ready to go home. He was told to ask her to please wait for a few minutes. He relayed the message to Kelly who went back with Cathy to her room.

She sat at the sink while Cathy shampooed her hair, dried it and began to brush it out. “Your hair is the most beautiful I have ever seen,” Cathy said. “It’s the color of yellow gold. With your eyes, you are a knockout! Kelly, I’m sure Sam is going to present you with a medal. I have a pair of pajamas for you. They’re men’s, but you could wear the top. Do you want to?”

Kelly said that was a great idea. Cathy got the pajamas and Kelly stripped off the hospital gown and put on the pajama top. Cathy just shook her head in amazement as she saw Kelly’s nude body. “Kelly, you have to be the most beautiful girl in the Army. Hell, in the country! Your figure is marvelous. Want to get back in bed now? I think your visitor will be here in a few minutes.”

Kelly grinned and clambered into bed. She felt wonderful after the shampoo and the extended hair brushing. A few minutes later there was a knock on the door. Kelly said, “Come in!” and the door opened.

It was General Adams. He looked at Kelly and breathed a sigh of relief when he saw her alert and smiling.

Adams walked up to the edge of the bed. “Colonel, you disobeyed orders. I distinctly remember ordering you to keep your head down!”

Kelly grinned at him and said, “I’m sorry, sir. I tried.”

He turned from the bed and went to the closet. Hanging there was Kelly’s flak vest. He brought it back to the bed. “How’s your stomach feel?” he asked.

Kelly said it was fine and then touched it. She suddenly realized it hurt. She moved her hand around and found that much of her body was bruised. She looked puzzled. Adams had been watching her movements and showed her the flak vest. “Kelly, this has had a workout. We recovered two intact slugs. You were hit in the body at least five times. The Kevlar stopped the slugs, but they still hit hard. You should be bruised. There are three more hits on your helmet. You are a very fortunate young lady.”

He stepped away from the bed and gave Cathy a group of small boxes to hold. He kept one and went back to the bed. “Kelly, I have a few mementos for you. It is my honor, Colonel, to present you with the Purple Heart for wounds suffered in combat.” He pinned the medal to Kelly’s pajama top, being careful not to stick her with the pin. He turned back to Cathy who gave him another box. “This is the Distinguished Service Medal, for the planning you did that made our breakout possible.” He pinned the second medal. It was repeated with the Legion of Merit for her original plan.

Finally, he said, “The President has instructed me to tell you that a second Medal of Honor will be presented to you as soon as you can conveniently visit Washington to receive it. Incidentally, you missed something, Kelly. A few minutes after you passed out, a West German armored spearhead penetrated and started tearing up the remaining Russian tanks. It was quite a sight!

“I have also been asked by the Chancellor of Germany to tell you two things: First, the new bridge they’re planning across the Weser River is to be named the Kelly Jackson Bridge. Second, he has received permission from our President to award you the Golden Order of the Knight’s Cross, the highest military decoration his nation can award. He leaned over and kissed her on the cheek.

Then he said softly, “Kelly, how fast can you be ready to be Cathy’s maid of honor? I can’t wait much longer.”

She smiled up at him and then looked at Cathy. “The next thing you know, General, you’re going to be asking me to give her leave, aren’t you? How about if you two get married on Saturday, and I give her the rest of Saturday and all day Sunday off? As long as she’s in the office bright and early Monday morning?”

Adams grinned back at her and said, “That’s what we love about you, Kelly. You’re all heart!” He stepped back from the bed and said, “The doctor tells me you’re ready to leave. I would like to buy you lunch and talk about a temporary assignment. Do you feel up to it?”

At the mention of food Kelly suddenly realized she was starving and said so. Sam left the room, and Cathy helped Kelly dress. Kelly hadn’t realized how sore her body was. She looked at the flak vest carefully and said, “Cathy, I have to write a letter to Smith & Wesson. I wonder if they have a reconditioning service?”

Cathy asked Kelly to check herself in the mirror. She had tied the girl’s hair back in a pony tail. Kelly realized that Cathy was way ahead of her. Although the decorations had just been awarded, she saw that the top row showed the Medal of Honor, and the DSM; the second row had the Legion of Merit, the Silver Star and now an oak leaf cluster on her Purple Heart, along with her new silver eagles of a full colonel.

Cathy just shook her head. “Kelly, there’s no one alive with the set of decorations you’re wearing. And you’re getting an oak leaf cluster for the Medal of Honor. You look like you stepped out of a recruiting poster.” Cathy stood at attention and saluted smartly. “Is the Colonel ready to meet her public?”

Kelly grinned and returned the salute. “Lead on, Captain.”

Kelly signed herself out of the hospital and went out to the curb where Adams’ driver was waiting. He saluted smartly as Kelly approached, and she returned his salute. As she got in the car the driver said, “You look great, Colonel. It’s good to see you on your feet.”

Kelly stopped and smiled. She said, “Thank you, Sergeant. That’s very thoughtful of you to say.” They drove off toward the Senior Officers’ Mess.

Sam said, “Kelly, that’s why you are the sweetheart of the troops here.”

She looked at him in surprise. It was news to her.

Adams continued, “Kelly, everyone knows about your performance in action. The word is out, though, that you have a kind word for everyone. You don’t take yourself seriously. In fact, you don’t seem to care about yourself at all. You just care about others, starting with Mike Callahan. But the list just grows. There’s me, Cathy, Ned Carlson, Jim Ames and the whole damned 82^nd Airborne...”

He looked at her, shook his head and continued, “You really don’t understand, do you? Jim Ames told me what happened. You’re under murderous enemy fire, and in your best Park Avenue accent you ask him to ‘do lunch’. Then you greet him with a cup of coffee prepared exactly the way he drinks it.”

He slowly shook his head. “Kelly, those men are tough. They’re probably the toughest we have. Yet when the word spread that you were down, they just went berserk. When the armor arrived, there were just a few stray pieces to pick up. I can tell you there were tears when they brought you out in an evacuation helicopter. I don’t think the President himself gets the level of cover you had. Kelly, there were four helicopter gunships that escorted you all the way back. Then there were F-15’s and even more stuff up high.”

He smiled and added, “Kelly, I guess the reason the guys all love you is that you don’t understand. You just do things and are surprised when people are astounded at what you’ve done.” He looked outside as they rolled up to the entrance to the mess.

The three had a table in the corner. After ordering, Sam brought up the new assignment. “Kelly, John St. Clair has asked for you to be temporarily attached to his group. He’s persuaded me that he needs you. You may remember the last briefing? Well, he wasn’t blowing smoke.

“It’s like computers: There are people who are experts in computers but don’t have the foggiest idea of what the users’ needs are. Then there are the users who don’t have the faintest idea of what the computers are capable of providing. He described the situation quickly at the briefing. He has a bunch of people who are fluent in Russian but who have no sense of strategy or tactics. They can translate, but they have no clue what they should be translating. Then we have a bunch of line officers who don’t know what information could be available, so they don’t ask for it.

“Kelly, you are the first person John has ever seen with fluency in Russian and an incredible sense of strategy and tactics. He wants to put you in charge of his translators.

“Then there’s Ned Carlson. He is still shaking his head about the breakthrough. It was letter perfect. I don’t think there’s been a military operation like it since we were hit at Pearl Harbor. Our casualties were zilch. You chopped off the head, and the body had no direction at all. Carlson wants you to extend your activities and work with his LRRP units. He thinks he can do it again, and he wants to borrow you ... in your spare time, of course.”

Adams grinned at her and added, “I told him he would have to fight McDonald’s for your services. That is the career choice for high-school dropouts, isn’t it?”

Kelly grinned back and nodded her head vigorously. “It sure is. And I’ve decided I look good in a uniform, too. Cathy says I have a bright smile, so I think I can make it as a counter girl, don’t you?”

“Kelly Jackson, you are too much! Your problem is you’re so damned smart, you don’t realize how smart you are. To get even, I am going to set you up at the War College later. You will cut those eggheads to pieces. And it will serve them right!”

He looked at her thoughtfully and continued, “I said it initially as a joke, but the more I think about it, the better it sounds. The fact is there are a bunch of eggheads there who think that if you don’t have Ph.D. after your name, you can’t know anything. Furthermore, actual combat experience is virtually a disqualifying defect for employment. I think you would cut them to ribbons. And it couldn’t happen to a nicer bunch of guys!”

It was agreed that Kelly would move her office to SACEUR headquarters. After lunch, he showed her around the headquarters while Cathy took care of moving her things.

John St. Clair came in to welcome her. “Kelly, you’re looking good. How do you feel?”

She smiled at him and said, “General, aside from a few bruises, I’m fine. I am a little sore, though.”

He shook his head and said, “A few bruises? I saw your flak jacket, young lady. Your body took a pounding. ‘A few bruises’ indeed! Are you up to meeting your staff?”

She said she was, and a meeting was called for thirty minutes later. While she was waiting, she got a call from Ned Carlson. He talked to her about his LRRPs — Long Range Reconnaissance Patrols — and asked if she could work with them. She said of course she would, so they made arrangements for her to fly over to Germany the next day for a briefing session. She checked her watch and went into the conference room.

Kelly was surprised to see there were over thirty officers present who were called to attention when she entered. St. Clair came in a moment later and introduced her. “Gentlemen, this is Colonel Kelly Jackson. Since this concerns Russian documents, I am asking her to conduct the meeting in Russian.”

Kelly glared at him — it was news to her — but she began in fluent colloquial Russian. She started by describing the basic Soviet military textbooks. She pointed out that many things in the Soviet Union were essentially unchanged from the time of the Czars. They were almost embedded in the Russian character. The first is an authoritarian structure. The command pyramid is rigid: All orders flow from the top. Second, there is a deep-seated conservatism: Once they find a formula that works, they stick with it religiously until it no longer works. The current Russian formula — essentially unchanged since World War II — uses massed artillery and tanks, with the tanks often used as mobile artillery. She then issued a series of assignments and divided the work. Then she took questions.

“Colonel,” a major asked, “where did you get your education in Russian? You speak like a native, but you don’t look like one.”

“Major, I got my education at the end of a whip. When your body is being cut to ribbons and your blood is constantly dripping on the floor, it provides a certain incentive. I learned. Next question?”