Chapter 10

Present – Thom – Rescue mission - Washington DC

In desperation I call Linus on the emergency phone. It takes him a few to many rings to answer then he sounds out of breath so I complain, "Linus, what the hell is going on with you?"

My ears have cleared and I hear some noises in the background as he replies, "Thom this had better not be one of your pranks or drills. I'm busy as hell and if it is I'm going to kick your ass!"

I keep hearing the noises and since I wasn't born yesterday, I'm pretty damn sure what I interrupted. I stifle a chuckle and order, "Linus code red, Hammer and Todd are down hard, Byron has a broken wing and I've got a broken wheel. Now get your ass here yesterday! I'll text you the coordinates so get your ass out of bed and get here ASAP."

As he starts to complain, I hang up the phone, enable the GPS on the phone, grab the coordinates and text Linus. I hear the sirens getting closer as Jim drives up in the car. Dammit! He hadn't bothered to move the dead guys out of the way so he just tries to drive over them and now we're screwed!

Present – Maria – Extended stay hotel - Washington DC

Linus's 'emergency' phone call makes him stop! At first I am pissed off, but then I watch his face change and realize it really is some sort of emergency. While he's busy on the phone, I finish by myself (damn I hate having to take matters into my own hands), jump out of bed, run to the bathroom, clean up and throw on my BDUs.

I walk out of the bathroom just as his call finishes. He gives me a funny look as I say, "Listen, I don't know exactly what that was all about. But get your ass out of bed and get ready because it sounded like an emergency and we need to roll."

He starts to complain, "Maria..."

I interrupt and order, "Listen here! If you think you're going to love me and leave me then think again. I understand that there's some sort of emergency and I'm sure as hell not letting you go and face it alone. So get your ass out of bed, go clean up in the bathroom and let's roll!!!"

He starts again, "You and I need to have a serious conversation about this!"

I override his complaint with, "Yeah, you can tell me all about it while we're driving to wherever the hell we're headed. I'll grab my go bag, do we need any weapons?"

Linus grabs his go bag, heads to the bathroom, kisses me on the cheek as he passes me and says, "We probably do, and we'll also need any medkits you have."

I head to my closet, grab a couple of rifles, all the medkits I have, and wait for Linus. He's crazy if he thinks I'm letting him do whatever he's going to do by himself. Now that I've finally found a real man, I'm sure as hell not letting him go - at least not without me!

Present – Linus – Extended stay hotel - Washington DC

Dammit! I don't know whether I'm more upset about Thom's interruption or Maria being hard headed. She (and most other people) doesn't know about TSIFFTS and I'm not sure I want her to know. But I can certainly tell there's no way in hell she's letting me take off on my own. And even if we discuss it, there's not enough time to fight her. Oh well, I guess we're going to have a new team member. I wonder what the hell Thom will say when he finds out.

I grab my go bag and head to the bathroom. I notice Maria left out some wet wipes so I use them to wipe off the funk from our extended lovemaking session then throw on my clean BDUs. I open the door, head out and Maria is ready to go.

I try one more time, "Maria, you should really stay here..."

She smiles at me and says, "There's no way in hell you're getting past me and out of this room without a fight. Now my guess is you have some injured friend or friends and don't have the luxury of taking the time it will take to fight my ass to get past me. Besides, I'm a pretty good medic and you can probably use my help."

I reply, "You're right we don't have time for this bullshit - let's go." We grab all her gear, my go bag and head downstairs. I begin, "We're going to have to commandeer a Network van."

She just waves a set of keys at me and offers, "No we won't, I already have keys for the one I use working for Jens."

Perhaps having her along is a good idea after all...

Present – Thom – Rescue mission - Washington DC

I lean over and puke! I'm sure I just lost whatever I'd eaten for the last three days. I look over and Byron's doing the same!

Jim's a hell of an asset to the team when we need someone to man the computers or drive a boat. But sometimes he really screws the pooch and this is one of those times. He's run over the dead bastards, gotten the car stuck and made a hell of a gruesome mess trying to get it unstuck. There are pieces of dead bastards all over the place and the air reeks of dead flesh and burnt rubber! It's as bad as anything I ever saw in Nam and I sure as hell wasn't prepared to see anything like this here.

I yell at Jim, "What the hell do you think you're doing?"

He opens the door, looks upset and says, "Sorry, I was trying to get here quicker."

I notice the sirens getting closer so I shake my head to get rid of the cobwebs and command, "Well the car isn't going anywhere now. Grab the rest of our weapons and two stretchers out of the car and bring them here."

As he starts pulling stuff out of the car, I look at Byron and ask, "You think if we rig up a stretcher like a travois, you can drag it?"

He laughs and answers, "Is the Pope Catholic? My legs are fine but what about you?"

I explain the plan to him, "Jim's going to drag the stretcher with Todd on it and I'm going to lean on him for support. Now get over and give Jim some help."

I know we shouldn't move Hammer, but we really don't have a choice. I supervise Jim getting Hammer on the stretcher, make sure the chest tube is still working, then Jim picks one end of the stretcher up and using a couple of rifle slings, hooks it to Byron's shoulders. I point down the alley and say, "Byron, bust a hump and take the second left - we'll catch up with you ASAP."

After Jim helps me up, I put a couple rounds into the car's gas tank, then light a flare and throw it under the car. We go to where Todd is, Jim puts him on the stretcher and we both take off after Byron. As the sirens get closer, I pull out the phone and call Linus again...

Present – Linus – Code Red - Washington DC

I activate the GPS on the emergency phone and input the coordinates Thom sent me as we head toward the parking lot. I'm trying to figure a way to take out Maria when we get to the van but she threatens, "Linus, I know you're trying to come up with a way to dump my ass and go on this mission yourself. You can just forget about it mister because I'm coming with you even if I have to kick your ass and hogtie you. Now instead of being so damn secretive why don't you tell me what the hell we're doing so I can prepare for it?"

I decide I can't waste the time fighting with her, so I lie to her and tell her I have some friends that were jumped by a gang and have been injured. I'm quite proud of the story I concocted on the fly. We are driving by the time I finish my story, but Maria laughs and challenges me, "Linus, if you can't lie any better than that, don't even bother. I understand that you have some injured friends, and I even accept you can't tell me how or why they are injured."

I am going to answer her when the phone rings again, Maria says, "I'll take it, you keep driving." I don't get a chance to argue as she just picks up the phone and answers it...

Present – Thom – Code Red - Washington DC

I call Linus to tell him we're on the move but get surprised as hell when I hear some chick say, "This is Linus' phone."

I yell at her, "What the hell are you doing with Linus's phone bitch, give it back to him."

She yells right back, "Listen you grumpy old fart! When we get together I'm going to kick your old wrinkled saggy ass so hard, it will jiggle like Jell-O for a week! I am Sgt. Maria Gonzalez and Linus is too busy driving to answer the phone right now so you can either shut the fuck up or give me the message to relay to him."

Shit! What the hell sort of female panther did Linus get himself hooked up with! I no longer hear the sirens so I know the cops are at the scene of the dead, burning bastards and car. If things weren't so serious I'd laugh my ass off about Linus. I decide to leave a message with her, "Listen princess, tell your lover boy the police are probably all over the position I sent him so he needs to avoid it. Have him stop a mile away and wait until I send him updated coordinates."

She starts yelling about not being a princess and kicking my ass so I laugh and say, "See you soon princess." I end the phone call and complain in frustration, "Dammit Jim can't we move any faster?"

Jim responds with, "Shit Thom, you're the one slowing us up."

I figure I'll teach his ass so I jump on the stretcher with Todd and say, "What's your damn excuse now!" I'm amazed when we actually do pick up speed! I guess Jim was right, not that I would ever admit it to him.

When we pull up beside Byron, he looks over at me riding on the stretcher, laughs and teases, "Damn Thom who do you think you are, some sort of Raja?"

I can tell Byron is using comedy to hide his pain and decide to help so I counter, "Well if I was, you and Jim would be the two ugliest elephants in India. In fact you'd be so ugly I'd make you walk backwards."

We all try our best to laugh then I add, "Linus is on his way and has some sort of female panther with him."

Byron looks over at me in alarm and begs, "Thom please tell me you didn't insult her?"

I laugh and ask, "What, me insult a woman?"

Present – Linus – Code Red - Washington DC

Maria's phone call with Thom actually went better than I expected since she was only half pissed, not totally pissed. Thom has a knack for being able to offend most of the women he meets. How he ever gets so lucky with his truck stop trollops I will never know. Maria is still swearing up a storm so I try a threat, "Listen, you need to simmer down because girlfriend or not, I'm going to throw your ass out of this van. Now tell me what Thom said."

I wonder what the hell happened because she calms right down, smiles and inquires, "So, I'm your girlfriend?"

I realize my 'mistake' but it's already too late to take it back. I ignore her question and ask, "Are you going to tell me what Thom said?"

She replies, "Well when he wasn't being an insulting old bastard, he said the police are probably at the coordinates he gave you and to stop a mile from that area and wait for him to send updated coordinates."

I comment, "Okay let me know when the GPS says we're a mile away. Now don't get all upset about Thom, he really is a great guy he just doesn't always say the right thing or say it the right way."

Maria gripes, "Well, the old bastard called me princess so I'm going to kick his ass. When I was a kid the other kids teased me by calling me princess or Speedy."

I nod my head and agree, "I understand Speedy because of your last name, but I don't understand the Princess part."

Maria says, "Well that's because you don't know my whole name: My mother thought it would be fun to name me Maria Antonietta Gonzalez. She had this thing for that French bitch and I had to suffer with it my whole life."

I decide to try to cheer her up and joke, "Well, don't lose your head over it."

It works as she laughs and responds, "Now that was a good one, much better than 'let them eat cake'. By the way, we just passed the one mile mark."

I pull over as Maria adds, "I'd love to haul your ass in the back of this van and screw your brains out! But it sounds like I'd better get things ready for your friends who were 'attacked by the gang'."

I slap her ass as she hops into the back and threaten, "Behave or I will have to put you over my knee."

She yanks on my ear and says, "Yeah, but you'd probably like that too much! Now don't bother me, I have work to do."

I sit in the driver's seat, with the engine running and wonder what the hell I did to deserve all this!!!

Present – Byron – Code Red - Washington DC

It's interesting: In a stressful battle situation with injuries, sometimes comedy is the best way to keep everyone from blowing up at each other. However I can tell Jim's struggling to drag both Todd and Thom but I know he won't complain because he feels badly and responsible for what happened. It sure as hell wasn't his fault; it was just a bit of bad luck.

I study the neighborhood were in - it's mostly commercial buildings which were destroyed in all the rioting and suggest, "Thom I don't know how much longer I can keep moving. I'm sure we've gone over a mile and soon the police will be having patrols in this area. We need to get into one of these abandoned buildings."

Thom looks at me and then agrees, "You're right, we need to get off the street and check on Hammer and Todd. Jim, head toward that building on your left."

As we head to the building, Thom crawls back to a standing position and says, "Okay Jim, make sure it's clear."

Jim heads inside, is gone for about five minutes, comes back and reports, "The coast is clear." Then he lifts the stretcher and we all head inside. I command, "Let's head to the back so we can use our lights."

The inside is a total mess! We almost fall several times but make it to the back room. Thom hobbles over, closes the door, puts a chair under it and says, "I'll check on Hammer. Jim you take care of Todd. Byron update our position, text the coordinates to Linus and tell him to get his ass here yesterday but to watch out for the police patrols."

Present – Maria – Code Red - Washington DC

I just 'happen' to bring the emergency phone with me in the back of the van. Okay that's not the truth; I really want a chance to verbally bitch slap that bastard when he calls again. Call me 'princess'! There's only one princess around here and that's my Princess Boss, hey that makes me wonder where the hell she went.

I'm hanging up IV's when the phone rings. I finish the IV, grab the phone and yell, "You son-of-a-bitch!"

Then I hear, "Excuse me Miss, but I think you have the wrong person." And I suddenly realize it's not – who did Linus call him – oh yeah Thom.

Linus orders, "Give me the damn phone!" I blush furiously, hand him the phone and swear I'm going to get that bastard if it's the last thing I do.

Present – Byron – Code Red - Washington DC

Yeah right, Thom didn't insult Linus's girlfriend, just like he didn't plan for me to be the one to get an earful about it – damn devious bastard. One of these days his mouth is going to overload his ass and I can't wait to see that day. Linus comes on the phone and says, "Sorry about that Thom."

I reply, "Linus, this isn't Thom, this is Byron. I'm going to text you updated coordinates as soon as I'm done with this call. We are in the back of the building so see if you can access the alley. Make sure to give the first area a wide berth and keep a lookout for police patrols. Now what are you doing bringing a new person, especially a woman, on this code red?"

He replies, "Byron, it was either fight her ass and be late as hell or bring her with me. So I made the decision (I hear a bunch of yelling in the background that sounded like 'he didn't have a choice') to bring her along. Besides she says she's a good medic and I figure the extra hands will help."

I hear more shouting in the background and have to bite my tongue to keep from laughing. Thom is right, she sounds like a female panther – a female panther in heat! I reply, "Well you know how Thom is, especially about skirts, so do your best to keep her from killing him. Now get here as soon as possible!"

I hang up the phone, grab the new coordinates, text them to Linus's phone then look over at Thom, who looks like the cat that swallowed the canary. He says, "Now tell me was I right about her?"

I shake my head, "Thom, I think you've really messed up this time."

He laughs, ignores my warning and brags, "They both deserve it! What the hell is Linus doing bringing a civi, especially one that wears panties, on a mission - let alone a Code Red!"

I reply, "Well, did you ask him?"

Present – Thom – Code Red - Washington DC