Chapter 10: Saturday 08 September 2007

Khudabah, Pakistan — Evening of day ten

It's getting harder at night for me to keep my feet up and to keep the rats from biting me. I've found that if I stomp and kill the first ones then others chew on them for awhile and the leave me alone.

They started in on the tortures again this morning. Today, it was some sort of drug they injected into my arm. I think it was truth serum. They started asking questions again, which is a good sign. I was crazy as hell because of the drugs and gave them some fucked-up answers that would lead them nowhere.

This continued until early afternoon, when they fed me a large bowl of hot stew and gave me all the water I wanted. Shit, they even came in and hosed me down before they tied me back up to the ceiling. I couldn't help wondering about this change in their actions.

Hawaii — Saturday Day Seven

I woke to the feeling of fingers running across the top of my head. I opened my eyes to see the most beautiful woman in the world.

"Good morning, sleepy head," Jens cooed. "You were really sawing logs this morning. It was fun waking up before you and getting to play with you. Do you know you moan in your sleep?"

Then I realized my underwear was pulled down. Mortified, I scrambled to pull them up. "Hey, what was going on when I was sleeping?"

"Don't worry, I didn't rape you," Jen answered. "I didn't even give you a blow job, much as I wanted to. I just figured you'd seen all of me, so it was about time I got to see all of you, and I licked, I mean liked, what I saw." She winked. "I couldn't believe that you slept through it."

I grabbed her and pulled her close. "You need to be punished for that, young lady."

"What are you going to do — pull down my pants and spank me?" Jens said, her eyes widening in melodramatic fear.

"Nope, you would enjoy that too much, "I replied. "I am going to tickle you into submission."

With that, the tickling, wrestling match was on. I'm not ticklish, so it was easy for me to win, and we just settled down to some serous cuddling and kissing.

"You know, I used to dream about this when I was a little girl — waking up in the same bed with you each morning. And while my dreams were awesome, the reality is even better. Sergeant Major Bennie R. Blaine, I L-O-V-E you." She punctuated each letter with a kiss. "You know; maybe we'll just stay in bed for the next two days. Too bad we don't have room service."

"Oh, no you don't," I answered Jens. "I know what would happen if we stayed in bed that long, and I promised your parents that we wouldn't do that until our wedding night."

"Then let's run off and get married today."

I looked at her, wanting nothing more than to do just that, and saw that she was serious.

"My love, there is nothing that I would like better than that, and if you really want to do that, we will—"

She squirmed. "—Goody, let's get going." Her squeal cut me off, and she tried to get up, but I kept holding her tight.

"Wait, my love. You interrupted me." I continued, "I don't think you have thought this through. If we get married, even with your father being USMC General, you'll be reassigned and not be able to be my spotter. As long as you are my fiancée, and as long as we don't let our relationship interfere with our duty, we can still work together."

"Shit, shit, shit. I guess I was letting my hormones do my thinking. Dammit, I don't want to be reassigned. I love being your spotter. I guess for right now I'll have to be content being your fiancée," she said with a pout.

"Well, then, my horny fiancée, it's settled. Go take a cold shower, like I do, and then let's eat some breakfast and get going on our two-day vacation," I answered.

Jens jumped out of bed, stripped off her pajamas, and threw them at me, flashing her lovely body at me. "When we get married, I am sleeping in the nude." She slipped off her panties and threw them in my face. "Take a look at these, big boy. Being with you keeps me so hot and wet, I have to change them about three times a day." She ran into the shower before I could reply,.

She was right; her panties were hot, and very wet. I thought about joining her in the shower, but I knew what would happen if I did, so I went to my bathroom and took a long and very cold shower.

Jens had breakfast ready when I walked into the kitchen. She was wearing a nice sundress and had even put on just the right amount of makeup.

I gave her a kiss. "Thanks again for breakfast. You're really spoiling me."

"I'm the one who feels spoiled — being with you is the best thing in the world," Jens answered. "I'm sorry for all the sexual innuendos and teasing. Not having any boyfriends meant that I saved all my sexual urges up for you. I figured once I caught you we would make love, multiple times a day, and that would take care of my urges. I never thought I'd have to wait until I was married for you to make me a whole woman. I figure I'll calm down in a couple of months, but until then it will be cold showers for both of us."

I didn't see her calming down anytime soon, and I didn't want her to. It was kind of nice, knowing she wanted me so passionately. "It's kind of fun, and I think that I'd miss it if it stopped. We've been good at controlling ourselves when we have a mission, and we haven't yet gone all the way. You know my feelings on that and I know you'll honor those feelings."

We finished breakfast, and then I cleared the table and ran the dishwasher while Jens finished getting ready. The doorbell rang and I grabbed the shotgun sitting beside it before I answered it. Matt and Jim stood on the doorstep. Jim was looking pretty good considering the beating he took the other day.

"Damn. You're dangerous enough without that shotgun," Matt said.

Jens walked out of her bedroom. "Hi, boys. Thanks for being on time. I can't wait to get going." From Jens's conversation, I figured out that they were our fricken escort for this weekend.

"Thanks for getting us and our wives this cushy assignment and out of training all weekend," Jim said.

Jens glared at him. "Just so you know, this isn't as cushy an assignment as you think. There have been two honest attempts on Ben's life, and there could easily be another one this weekend. You two are our bodyguards, and I don't expect, I demand that you do your job so that Ben and I can relax. You heard about the major yesterday?"

They both nodded their heads.

"You fuck up, and you and your wives will be stationed in Thule with him."

Damn, she was letting them have it, and she had their complete attention. "You both have your CCW permit and are carrying now?"

They opened their jackets to show underarm holsters with Kimber Ultra Carries in them.

Jens nodded her satisfaction. "One of you will be on duty and carrying at all times, but the other can have fun. However, I want both of you close enough that if you're needed you can be there. But look at it this way, it's better than training all weekend, and it's all paid for." That left them with a smile on their faces.

Matt and Jim had their cars with them. I asked, "I don't want to take a Humvee for the weekend, is there enough room that we can fit in one of your cars until we get to the rental car agency in town?"

Jim replied, "We have plenty of room. You can ride with us."

"Then you get first shift," Matt declared.

Jens reminded us, "Don't forget — we need to stop by the training area. I need to give them the map and instructions on resetting the traps."

"The car rental place is on the way, and I've already reserved the car," I replied. "Let's pick it up first and then stop by the training area."

Jens and I loaded our gear and ourselves into Jim's car. I opened the back door for Jens, and she slid across the seat, motioning for me to get in beside her. I sat down and she scooted over to me and gave me a big kiss. I put my arm around her.

Jim introduced his wife, Sally, to us, and of course Jens had to show her the ring. After that they chatted like they were best of friends.

"I want to thank you all for this weekend getaway. Jim and I don't get much time off and it will be nice to be off the base," Sally said in her east coast accent.

Jens explained that both Matt and Jim would be working some as our body guards and Sally looked a little frightened.

Jim spoke up. "Don't worry, my dear. I don't think there will be much danger for any of us. Jens and Ben are two of the most deadly Marines in the Corps." Sally looked a little relieved.

Jens and I got out at the car rental agency and went in. I walked up to the counter, handed them my credit card, signed my name, and they said they would bring the car around.

"Please make sure the top is down," I requested.

The car was a brand new bright red 2007 Ford Mustang GT convertible with a standard transmission, and it looked and sounded almost as hot as Jens.

"Isn't this every boy's dream?" Jens asked. "A hot convertible with an equally hot blonde to ride in it?"

"Of course," I answered, "But you have wrong, it's a hot car with and even hotter blonde." That earned me a smoldering kiss, and Matt and Jim started honking their car horns.

One of them shouted, "Hey, you two. Get a room."

"Mmmm, that sounds like a great idea to me," Jens said. I punched it and we took off for the training area. "Make sure you don't lose our escort," Jens reminded me. "We don't have the predator tasked to follow us."

I backed off the gas, and Matt pulled around and passed us, making an escort sandwich. This car wanted to run, and wanted to run fast. It was hell keeping between the two escorts.

Jens enjoyed the wind blowing her golden hair. "I love this. I think I need to get one of these."

That gave me a great idea. I'd need to make some calls when I got back to the base. But for right now, my concentration was on the road and on Jens. A sudden gust of wind caught the hem of her dress, and I looked over just in time to see the dress flip up, and...

Nothing. Jens was going commando. I swerved.

"Ben, keep your eyes on the road or you're going to kill us both," Jens ordered.

"I think you forgot to wear any panties today," I replied.

"Oh, did I? I guess I didn't notice," she said with a laugh. "You just keep driving and try not to think of me sitting over here without any panties."

Damn this woman could tease. I just might have to spank her one of these days.

"I am wearing this." She pulled her dress up, just far enough for me to see a leg holster with another Kimber Ultra Carry in it.

"Then I guess I didn't really need this," I replied, opening one button of my shirt to reach inside and pull out a snub- nose 44 magnum revolver from the concealed under-arm holster.

"Damn," Jens said. "That thing's a cannon. But can you shoot it?"

"Four hundred eighty out of five hundred at twenty-five feet," I bragged. "But it kicks like a mule."

Jens took out a bullet and looked at it. "Damn. That's a Black Talon¹."

"I'm through with playing around," I said. "If someone comes after me they are going to die."

We pulled up to the gate at the training area and an LC came up to the car, Giving Jens the once-over. "I'm sorry, civilians are not allowed in this area; it's restricted."

"I'm Sergeant Donaldson and this is Sergeant Major Blaine. We have a weekend pass, and before we leave, the Brigadier General asked us to drop this off. It's a map of the locations of all the booby traps in the training area and instructions on how to reset the traps. Please make sure that the officer in charge of training receives this," Jens answered.

The LC took the package, I spun the car around, and we were gone, cutting across the island on H3. It was too early to check into our room, so we went first to visit the USS Arizona Memorial² on Ford Island and spent about an hour there. The Wall of Honor was an excellent reminder to remain vigilant. We finished off with throwing flowers into the bay by the USS Arizona.

After a somber time of paying our respects, we got back into the cars and caught H3 north. Jens had never been to the north side of the Island, and since we couldn't check-in until 1500 we were going to spend the day at the Waimea Valley and Waterfall Park and the Waimea Bay Beach.

After a short drive, we arrived at the entrance to Waimea Valley. It is set slightly inland in a tropical forest. The area has been set aside as a natural adventure and cultural park. We were going to hike some excellent forest trails that are very peaceful, taking us all the way to the Waimea Waterfall.

The girls jumped out and went to the bathroom to change for our hike. Jens came out wearing a hot pink halter top that tastefully covered everything and a pair of relatively baggy board shorts.

"Wow," I said, "You look like a buff and more beautiful Kate Bosworth from the crappy movie 'Blue Crush'."

"I hope I'm more buff than that fat little Hollywood whore," Jens replied. "Hollywood and most of the movies they make are crap, and Kate fricken Bosworth doesn't even know how to surf. I heard that she tried once but broke a nail so she stopped."

I'm not sure that story was true, but it did start all of us laughing.

"My love," I chuckled, "I guess you have about as much use for Hollywood as I do. That's one more thing we have in common." I kissed her. "Let's get hiking."

The lush, green trail was an easy hike and Jens and I spent the time walking hand in hand. As we hiked I pointed out various plants and animals that I knew, and Jens played a game where she asked me what something was, and if I could tell her I was rewarded with a kiss. Matt and Jim and their wives weren't as much of a bother as I thought they'd be, giving us just enough privacy.

When we finally reached the Waterfalls and spent some time watching the rock divers jumping of off the cliffs into the pool at the bottom.

"Hey, that looks really fun," I joked. "I think I'll go try it."

"Like hell you will," Jens replied. "I've finally caught you, and if you think I'm going to let you go jump off a cliff into a puddle, you're crazy."

I squeezed her and laughed. "You do know that I was just yanking your chain?"

"I know what I would like to yank," Jens winked.

A chorus of four voices piped up, "Hey, you two, get a room," and we all laughed.

Matt and Molly, Jens and I all rented kayaks for the trip back to the entrance. Jim and Sally rented a canoe because Sally was afraid of the kayaks and thought the canoe would be safer. The kayaks were really a piece of crap — nothing like the two kayaks that I lost with the cabin. I had a nice Dagger Approach that I would go touring in and a Dagger Mamba for when I wanted to do whitewater runs. Damn, I was going to miss those boats.

Of the six I was the best paddler, so I spent most of my time sneaking up on the other five and splashing them. They took off after me and I outran them and did it all over again. By the time we reached the entrance, I was the only one who was still dry, but not for long.

Jens got out of her kayak. "I've had enough of this, Mister." She jumped in the river beside me, grabbed my kayak, and flipped it over. The other four were cheering when I came up, so I swam over and started splashing them, and they took off running up the beach.

After drying off, we went back to the cars. It was lunchtime so I took us to a local little restaurant that specialized in Spam, and I mean the canned meat product not the annoying emails.

Jens said, "You're kidding. We're really going to eat here? All they serve is Spam. They have open-faced Spam Burgers, Spam Tempura, Spam Musubi, Spam Fried Rice, Spambalaya, Spam Quiche and they even have Spam Wellington."

Matt replied before I could. "You're in for a real treat. I ate once at a place like this, it took me three hours to leave because I just kept ordering more."

I looked at Jens. "Do you trust me, my fiancée?"

"Implicitly, my dear," she answered.

I ordered her Spam Musubi and Spam fried rice, and Spam Wellington for myself. Matt and Jim each ordered three various dishes and their wives each ordered the open-face Spam Burgers.

When the order finally came, it smelled delicious.

Jens sniffed. "I hope it tastes as good as it smells." She nibbled her food. Matt and Jim weren't wasting any time; they were wolfing down their dishes. "Hey, this is pretty tasty," Jens said with surprise in her voice, "Let me try some of yours." She did, and immediately fell in love with the Spam Wellington. In the end, we shared the three dishes.

"I don't think I can eat another bite," Jens said. "I'm shocked that was so good."

Sally and Molly ate most of their burgers, Jim and Matt polished off the rest and went back, and each ordered Baked Spam.

While we were waiting for the order to come, Sally commented, "Jens, it must be nice being able to eat like that and still stay so slim." This got the three women talking about eating and exercising, and Jens promised to show them some workout routines that they could do. Finally Matt and Jim were done and it was time to head to Waimea Bay Beach.

"Let's lie on the beach first and get some sun. I'm still too full from lunch to go swimming," Jens remarked. We found a good place on the beach, sort of at one end, and I put up the beach umbrella and set up a couple of beach chairs. Jens shucked off her shorts to reveal the matching hot pink bikini bottom under them, spread out a towel on the sand away from the umbrella, came over and tossed a bottle of sunscreen to me.

"Rub some lotion on my back?"

"With pleasure." I started working the lotion into her back, enjoying the feel of her toned muscles. Touching her sexy body drives me crazy.

"Let me know when thirty minutes are up, my love; I'll need to turn over." Jens kissed my cheek and went over to the blanket, lay down, undid the string on her back and fell asleep.

I occupied myself by watching the ocean with the waves rolling in, the the surfers trying to catch them, and the people frolicking on the beach. I felt life, peace, and joy that I hadn't known for many years, and reflected that the source of that joy and peace was lying just a few feet away from me.

As I thought more about my relationship with Jens, the following words kept coming to mind; caring, loving, easy, natural, complete and right. I'd never felt this way before, and it amazed me that I could.

I'd never had any of these feelings with "Jugs," as Jens liked to call my ex-girlfriend. There was always conflict and competition and strife, and not the good competition like Jens and I had that made me a better person. Jugs had been my only real girlfriend after high school, and when she'd cheated on me when I was in basic training, it had wounded me deeply.

I compared the fulfillment of my relationship with Jens to the empty flings the pain of Jugs's betrayal had caused me to seek. With Jens, all the love that I had bottled up for years could finally emerge. I felt as if I'd been blind for my whole life and now I could finally see; now I could finally love. And I could see that even though I loved Jens, I was still holding back; I was still afraid that she would hurt me like everyone else had. But now I could finally understand the depth of her love for me and even more importantly, I could return that depth of love back to her.

I looked at my watch, and the thirty minutes was up, so I walked over to Jens and woke her up, and tied her top ... She rolled over and looked and me and smiled.

"It finally happened, didn't it?" she asked.

I just nodded my head; we both knew what she meant.

She sat up, hugged me tight, and murmured, "I love you, my Ben, and I can tell that you finally love me without any reservations or worries."

"Yes, my Jens. You and your love have chased all the old wounds and injuries out of my soul. For the first time since my parents died, I finally feel. And I finally have a reason to live, and today ... is a good day to live." I whispered in her ear, changing my old motto from, "Today is a good day to die."

Jens hugged me like she never hugged me before and started crying. "I was so worried that I would be too late, that you had been hurt and wounded by so many fricken bitches that you'd never really feel again. I hoped and prayed that if I gave you all of my love without reservation that someday you could get over the ghosts from your past. When you woke me up, I could see it in your eyes." Her tears wet my neck and vanished almost instantly in the warmth.