Chapter 22

Present – Stacy – The Barn

I continue to SLLS and also watch Ben open the door. I'm impressed and feel much better when he stands to the side of the door and uses a rope to open it. When I feel it's safe, I start heading back towards Ben with the horses but suddenly Ben yells, "Stacy, stay where you are with the horses!"

I stop, start to ask him why, when ... holy frack!!!! It's ... it's ... it's like all the IEDs start going off at once and something (I can't begin to understand what) happens at the bunker. I hit the ground and the horses take off like their tails are on fire! I throw my hands over the top of my head as stuff is falling on top of me. I've never been particularly religious but this seems like the end of the world for us and seems like a really good time to ask God for a favor or two: First one for Ben and then one for me – then, something really bad happens!!!

Present – Ben – The Bunker

I knew it was too good to be true: The sapper had the door wired. I blurt out to Stacy to stay where she is then barely have time to hit the ground myself. I watch as the horses bolt and as Stacy hits the deck, she tries to dig herself into the ground. On the ground she's really not in any danger and it's funny as hell watching her squirm, so I start to laugh.

The explosions are over as quickly as they started, but my laughter continues. I forgot just how much fun it is (okay maybe I never knew how much fun it could be) training a green recruit. I stand up and yell, "Olly, olly oxen free. Stacy I think it's all over, please be very careful."

Stacy stands up and I realize my choice of the word green is apropos for more than one reason as she leans over and pukes. The released tension gives me a reason to find it amusing and I begin to laugh again...

Present – Stacy – The Bunker

I am mortified! When all the IEDs exploded three really bad – no three devastating things happened to me. First I wasn't able to control my fear and I finally wet my pants – I'm so embarrassed. But even worse, some of the stuff that fell on me – was pieces of putrefied dead banditos. Then to top it all off, I puked because of the smell. I ... I ... I smell like pee, rotten bandito and vomit but the worst thing of all - Ben's laughing at me!!!

I fight it, but I can't control myself...

Present – Ben – The Bunker

Shit! Untold years of martial arts training, combat experience on every continent, expert rating on virtually every weapon that fires a bullet and I still haven't found any defense against a woman's tears...

Stacy falls to her knees and starts crying like crazy! How in the hell did this become my fault?

I run down the path (I'm still not certain all the IEDs are gone), reach Stacy, sit on the ground beside her and hug her. Now I understand what she's upset about: She peed her pants and has a few little pieces of the rotten bandito on her.

I say, "Stacy, things are fine. Don't worry."

She pushes me away and continues to sob, "You ... you ... you laughed at me."

Oh shit! I forgot my first rule about women - when things concern them or their looks, they have no sense of humor! This one isn't going to be easy to fix...

Present – Stacy – The Bunker

Ben hugs me and it feels really good but I'm such a mess I can't stand for him to see me this way, Plus, he laughed at me. I'm in no mood to have him close to me! I just want to run away and hide in my embarrassment. I push him away and say, "You ... you ... you laughed at me."

Then I jump up and try to run but Ben quickly catches me, wraps his arms around me and says, "Stacy, I'm very sorry for laughing..."

I interrupt, "Ben, I hate being laughed at..."

He interrupts, "Stacy, I wasn't laughing at you! I was laughing at the circumstances and it was wrong of me. Please forgive me."

Hmm, all this mess could end up being a blessing in disguise. I relax in his arms but my voice still quivers when I say, "Be ... Be ... Ben, I don't understand what part of any of this is funny. When the IEDs went off I wasn't worried about me getting hurt, I was worried about you. Then..."

Ben silences my babbling with... a KISS! Now it surely wasn't the best kiss I've ever had, shoot there wasn't even any tongue. But still it is a KISS! And even after I had vomited!!!

Present – Ben – The Bunker

Shit! Can I fuck up anymore or any worse today? I don't know what possessed me to do it, but I kissed Stacy to shut her up. Thank God I realized what I was doing before I slipped her the tongue, but she sure tried to slip me the tongue. I pull away from her and can tell from the look in her eyes I seriously screwed up. I apologize, "Stacy, sorry about that. I don't know what came over me..."

She smiles at me, takes my hand and interrupts, "Ben that was really nice of you, please don't ruin it by saying anything else that's stupid. I really need to find a place to clean up and I would prefer if it wasn't in that nasty house."

What I need right now is a big distraction for her. I pull my hand out of hers and say, "Well, we have a bunker to explore and with the way the sapper defended it there must be some really valuable things inside."

Stacy responds, "That still doesn't help me clean up."

That's the problem with women, they have a one track mind. And when it gets derailed by a little thing like cleaning up, that's all they can think about. She takes my hand again as we head toward the bunker...

Present – Stacy – The Bunker

Well Ben might not realize what came over him, but I sure realize what's come over the both of us and I certainly know what a kiss, even an almost chaste kiss means. Yes my heart is singing such a sweet song as only a heart can sing. Now I just have to make him realize it.

I take his hand and we walk toward the bunker which almost killed us. Before I would have experienced fear and need to pee, but either because I've already wet myself or the redefinition of my relationship with Ben, I don't have that issue to deal with this time. However I still need to get cleaned up.

He fights, frees his hand and says, "Stacy, look we still need to be very careful entering the bunker. There could be more IEDs and I need both my hands."

I grin and reply, "Yes Ben I understand and I'm sure you want me to watch your ass."

He gives me a little bit of a dirty look (he must have finally figured out the 'watch ass' comments - it's about time) and answers, "Yes you will cover my six from beside the bunker – the exact same place that I stood when I opened the door."

I smile at him and ask, "So how does this help me get cleaned up?"

Ben responds, "Stacy, sometimes in war you have to just put up with some inconveniences and annoyances. Listen, what happened to you after I opened the door is no big deal to me. What's important now is that we put everything behind us and focus on the mission at hand, which is the safe in-fil of this bunker. Now I haven't mentioned it before, but with this crazy-assed sapper setting IEDs everywhere, this might be the most dangerous thing we've ever done."

Shoot, my relaxed mood just flew out the window like an escaping canary and took all the music in my heart with it. Now I'm not only uncomfortable about my condition, I'm worried again about Ben and this fracking bunker. I complain, "Ben let's just forget about this bunker."

He answers, "No way Stacy. If the sapper took such pains to protect the bunker, he had a good reason for it. Now, take up your position where I told you, cover my six and I'm taking up position on the other side of the door. Once I'm sure there's no IEDs, then I will enter and secure the bunker."

I do as ordered but request, "Ben, I would feel much better if it doesn't bother you, if you told me what you were doing."

He smiles at me, "Sure I can do that."

We take up our positions beside the door, I begin to SLLS, Ben pies the bunker with his periscope and I ask, "What do you see?"

Ben swears, "Dammit! I don't see jack. I knew something was fucked up with this door!"

I continue to SLLS, become even more nervous and request, "What the hell are you talking about?"

He responds, "Damn this guy was fucking cagey! He had a door within a door and I opened the wrong fucking one, that's what setoff all the IEDs."

I question, "I don't have any idea what you just said."

He ignores me, backs up and begins seriously looking at the wall beside the door. He doesn't find anything then he moves back to the door and asks, "Stacy, push the outer door towards me I want to examine it."

I step to the side, making sure not to step on any dirt (I'm still not sure all the IEDs are gone) and swing the door toward Ben. He catches it and begins to examine it. I want to ask him what he's looking for, but don't want to become a nag especially since we finally have a relationship.

It seems like it takes forever, but he looks at me smiles and says, "Well, here goes nothing. I sure as hell hope I'm right and don't blow my hand completely off." I start to complain but it's too late...

Present – Ben – The Bunker

Yeah this guy knew how to build IEDs and booby trap a house. The door I opened was an outer door. Behind it is a steel box about a foot deep which was filled with homemade claymore type mines. Now I understand why I couldn't see into the bunker. But how the hell could the guy open the real door. I search the wall for another keyhole, don't find anything, so I ask myself what I would do. I come up with a pretty good idea, especially after looking at the fake outer door. But it requires me to use my hand to search inside the steel box – unfortunately this could be deadly for my hand.

The one thing you learn when you make IEDs is you don't want to make them too difficult to trigger or to disarm. If you make them too difficult to trigger, then you run the risk of them not detonating when you want them too. And if you make them too difficult to disarm, then you run the same risk, only this time they detonate on you when you try to disarm them. The 2X4 IED landmines smacked of this premise: They were utterly simplistic in design. I was certain the sapper followed the same simplicity here.

I begin to search the doorway and just like I thought: I turned the fucking lock the normal way to open a door which in this case was the wrong way because it opened the outer door. My fingers feel where the lock, when turned the right way for it, presses a lever, I take a deep breath, hope I'm right and order, "Stacy, press your back against the wall."

She starts to complain but I ignore her, press the lever and the inner door starts to swing open. I yank my hand out of the way as the inner door swings open and ... for once nothing happens!

Present – Stacy – The Bunker

Okay, I need to do more than pee this time – Ben's concern over this bunker door has almost scared the poop out of me. What the heck is it about men? Frequently they just can't leave well enough alone!

Ben's now concentrating and stops explaining things to me. Then he opens some sort of new door that I guess was behind the other door. I expect everything to blow up again but this time thank goodness, nothing happens; other than some light comes out of the bunker.

He finally explains, "Well, that might have been the right way to open the bunker. But I'm still not sure it's safe Stacy, so stay there and cover my six."

I watch as he sticks his periscope around the door and begins to pie the room. He whistles which scares me but then he adds, "I think we hit the jackpot but I need to be sure."

He takes a rock, throws it into the room and again nothing happens. He gives me a grave look and says, "Well, here goes nothing." Then he walks into the bunker!!!

Present – Ben – The Bunker

Yeah I take a big risk, but I've been working on getting into the mind of this sapper and I think I've got a good bead on it. So as I walk into the bunker, nothing happens, other than my mouth falling open - we have indeed hit the jackpot!!! This place is setup not like a bunker, it's more like a combination of a fallout shelter and panic room – but one question still smacks me in the face. Why didn't the sapper and his family retreat to the bunker?

I'm still not 100 percent sure there won't be more surprises in this bunker, but for right now I feel it's safe for us to be in here. We just have to be careful about everything we open and everything we do.

I see something, smile and yell, "Stacy, what's the one thing that's been on your mind for the last thirty mikes?"

She yells inside, "Well I need the toilet and also to get cleaned up."

I walk over, check it out by opening the door and it doesn't blow up on me so I respond, "Well, there's a nice as hell bathroom in here which the banditos haven't touched!"

To her credit she doesn't fly into the bunker, instead she asks...

Present – Stacy – The Bunker

Ben has found a real bathroom in this bunker! Now that's worth something to me. My first instinct is to run in and use it, but I fight that and ask, "Ben, is it safe for me to come in and use it?"

He answers, "Sure, come on in."

I run in, see him smile at me and point to a door. I carefully open the door and yes it's really a bathroom. I start taking care of my needs and ask, "Ben would you please find my pack and bring it to me?"

I sure don't appreciate his answer, "Stacy, I will but not until you are finished with your essential business. Remember, 'two is one and one is none.' You need to cover my six while I go and recover the packs. Just remember there are two reasons for the famous saying, 'don't get caught with your pants down.'"

Two reasons, well the first is obvious because I have my pants down right now, but what the frack is the second reason? I think while I'm finishing things, then I blush and realize the second reason is ... sex and almost begin to giggle. Yes that would not be good. I do take a little extra time and try to get the blown up bandito off my clothes without any luck. There's nothing at all I can do about my pants being wet for right now. But I sure eye the heck out of the shower since soon it and I are going to become good friends.

I walk out of the bathroom and see Ben examining some boxes on the wall by the doorway. I walk over, lean against him, put my hand on his strong shoulder and ask, "So what did you find?"

He says, "If I had opened the door correctly it would have automatically shut off all the IEDs. But because I only opened the outer door, I think it triggered all the IEDs. I'm pretty sure were safe now."

I gripe, "Just how sure is 'pretty sure' because I think I've had enough excitement for today."

He laughs (at least not at me this time) and replies, "About ninety-five percent sure we won't trigger anymore of the IEDs if any of them are left. This doesn't mean there aren't other IEDs around just waiting for us. Now I'm going to go get the packs, I want you to stand watch at the doorway and cover my six. If all hell breaks loose, close the door because you will be safe in here and you press this lever to open the door from the inside."

I grin and him and say, "Okay, I've got your ass. But there's no way in hell I would ever close this door and leave you outside not even if Santa Ana and his whole army was still alive and attacked us. If you go down, I go down fighting right beside you."

He glares at me and argues, "Stacy, that's cover my six." Oh yeah, he knows what I'm doing with my ass comments – hey this girl just wants to have some fun, even in the midst of this war.

Ben heads out the doorway as I remember Ben telling me doorways are funnels of death. So, I don't stand in the doorway but I move outside, put my back against the door, SLLS and watch Ben's fine ass.

He gets to a point where he's going to disappear around the front of the house and I wonder if I should move to continue to cover his six. He stops in a safe looking place by a tree and motions for me to come up beside him and that answers my question, we are doing bounding overwatch...

I carefully slip up beside him as he smiles and comments, "Your situational awareness was excellent when you came here."

I touch his shoulder and say, "Thanks, I wasn't sure we were doing bounding overwatch and was concerned about not being able to watch your ass."

He glares again but mostly ignores this ass comment and answers, "If there's even the slightest chance of danger, we will always move using bounding overwatch. Now stay here and I will recover the packs."

I grin and say, "You bet, I've got your ass."

He glares at me again, moves carefully to where we left our full packs, puts his pack on his back and my pack over his front and heads back toward me. It's going to feel wonderful to get out of my wet pants but even better to get a fracking shower!

Ben reaches my position and corrects me, "Stacy, you're a little distracted. Get your mind back into the game."

Yeah Ben doesn't miss anything! Since his kiss my mind has been preoccupied with the normal what, when and how questions. What did the kiss really mean, does it mean the same thing to Ben as it does to me? When will he kiss me (and do other things) to me (again)? And how should I act toward him?

I reply, "Sorry Honey, I guess I'm a little excited and I will try my best to get my mind back in the game."

He gripes, "Stacy, don't try just do it."

I decide he's right so I say, "Okay, I've got lead on this leg of bounding overwatch. You have my ass." I don't verbally add, 'anytime you want it honey' but I sure do think it...

Present – Ben – The Bunker

Shit! I really fucked up. Things were really good between Stacy and me, we made a good team, but the one little accidental kiss (just to shut her up) has her flirting with me like ... yeah flirting with me like Ms. Donaldson use to flirt with me. I watch her as she heads back toward the bunker. She's doing a hell of a job and she does have a fine ... Dammit now she has me distracted again. If Stacy keeps this shit up, I'm going to dump her fine ... I mean dump her ass like I did with Ms. Donaldson.

She gets to the bunker, gets settled in and motions for me. I push all the bullshit out of my thoughts and make sure she has her mind in the game before I move toward the bunker. I make it to the bunker, drop both packs on the concrete and command, "Stacy for right now I want you to stay right here because we know it's a safe place. I still don't trust this sapper so I'm going inside. I will close the door and then open it again. I want to be sure closing and opening the door doesn't come with any more surprises."

She complains, "Ben not to disobey a direct order, but what happened to 'two is one and one is none'? If I'm out here I can't cover your six and you can't cover my six."

Shit! I hate it when my words come back to bite me! At least she used six and not ass this time. So I decide to take the coward's way out and I lie, "Good job Stacy! That was just a test." We both head into the bunker and I close the door...

Present – Stacy – The Bunker

OMG Ben is such a terrible LIAR! I have to bite my lip to keep from giggling. 'That was a test' my ass. I wisely decide not to confront Ben about the lie because then he might try to get better at it - Grandmamma taught me to never let a man know you can tell they're lying - but we can always tell when they lie.

I do worry some when he closes the door since I half expect this bunker to become our coffin. Ben commands, "Okay Stacy, move to the back corner before I open the door again." I do as ordered, he opens the door and I'm relieved when the bunker doesn't become our coffin. However, I become real excited about what I've found. I ask nicely, "Ben please come here and see what I've found."

He closes the door and walks back to me as I point to the horse's tack and say, "You were right, here's everything we need for the horses."

Ben laughs, "Yeah, now we've got everything we need for the horses, except for the horses. Or did you forget they ran off?"

I boldly counter, "Oh yeah! I'll bet you they come back."

Ben wisely says, "Stacy, I'm not going to take that bet until I know what we're betting."

Shoot, there goes my chance of easily getting another kiss. I respond with a bit of mock anger, "Be that way! I'm going to go shower and change my fracking clothes!"

I storm into the bathroom with my pack and practically ruin everything by giggling! I take off my clothes, look at them and sigh – another pair of ruined clothes. If I keep this up I will have to start wearing animal skin bikinis like in that crazy old movie with the hot girls and dinosaurs (Author note: One Million Years BC).

I turn on the shower, get the water just right, climb in and luxuriate letting the water caress my body. If only Ben was here to wash my back it would be perfect...

Present – Ben – The Bunker

Shit! Stacy is a piss poor liar! She acted like she was pissed at me but I could see the corners of her mouth creep upwards in a telltale smile. What she doesn't realize is she's given me an excuse to now act pissed off at her which should keep her distracted from the accidental kiss I gave her earlier...

Enough of this woolgathering it's time to explore the rest of the bunker. No it's not a bunker – it's really a hell of a nice man cave! But I must keep in mind how truly devious the sapper was! Which reminds me of the really big question, why the hell didn't he and his family retreat into this bunker? If he had done that, they'd still be alive. It bothers me and makes me wonder whether this bunker is as secure as it seems?

On either side of the same wall as the doorway, there are big metal cabinets which have attracted my attention. I walk over to one, carefully check it for possible IEDs, don't find any then turn the handle to open it and grin! This is a hell of a nice gun cabinet! Just from glancing at the weapons, I can already see I will be changing what I'm carrying. But I want to get more exploration done without Stacy here to bother me. I carefully check and then open the cabinet on the other side of the door and discover it's full of ammo. This isn't quite the ideal way to have these cabinets setup. If it was me, I would have had the weapons and the ammo for each one in the same cabinet, in an emergency, you could grab a weapon and the ammo for it at the same time.

The wall on the left side of the doorway as you walk in has what looks to be a computer on a big table. I turn it on. It boots up just like any other computer then automatically runs a surveillance camera program with twelve split screens. This is sweet because we can now see what's going on outside the bunker, in the house and the surrounding area without opening the door. I don't remember seeing any cameras so I remind myself to look for them when I'm outside again.

There's another big cabinet adjacent to the surveillance table so I open it and find a rack of VHS tape decks that must be hooked to the surveillance camera system. There's a shitload of tapes stacked by date, but they don't interest me right now.

I cross the room to the other wall which is lined with big cabinets. Once again not trusting the sapper I open each one carefully. The first is filled with duffle bags - each bag has a name on it. There's John, Elena, Michelle and Maxwell – they are evidentially go bags for each family member and will require scrutiny later.

Someone was a labeling fool. The next cabinet has what looks to be horse packs labeled survival rations. I peek inside one and grin because they're not MREs. Instead they're some sort of high end looking freeze dried food. It makes me wonder if this family was LDS because I've heard there were a bunch of LDS that moved to Texas from Utah.

The last cabinet on that wall is packed full of BDUs, underwear and socks, again labeled by name. This gives me an idea so I look at the sizes and smile...

Present – Stacy – The Bunker

I shower until my skin looks all wrinkly like Grandmamma's, step out of the shower, dry off and what the frack! Those aren't the clothes I set out earlier – Ben replaced my clothes with real military looking clothes. Shoot even the underwear (which are too much like granny panties for my liking) are camouflage. How in the frack did he get in here without me hearing him? I check the sizes and they're almost perfect for me, the bra is going to be small, but I'd rather wear a jog bra anyway, so I pull a clean one out of my pack. I look around for my dirty clothes, even checking for the dirty clothes in my pack, but they're all missing ... Ben is certainly sneaky. Too bad I didn't hear him because I would have invited him in to scrub my back...

I stand in front on the mirror and admire my body: It's firmer and tighter than ever! I guess that's one of the benefits of being in war. It has turned my nineteen year old body back into a fifteen year old body, except all my baby fat is gone!

I brush the heck out of my hair and notice the roots are finally going back to my normal blonde color. I really hate having black hair and now that we're away from the cities perhaps I can let it go natural. I check my nails and note they are a wreck; oh well I guess manicures and pedicures are casualties of being in a war.

I even take the time to apply just a little bit of subtle makeup. Now that I have a boyfriend, I do need to look my best. I put on the new clothes, adjust them so they're perfect, double check my ass to make sure it looks good in these pants and step out of the bathroom. I don't see Ben so I call, "Ben where are you?"

He answers from a good distance away, "I'll be right there."

I wait for what seems like forever and notice the computer which I guess is a surveillance system. I wander over by it and Ben finally comes out of somewhere way in the back of the bunker. He's grinning from ear to ear so I ask, "What has you so happy."

He practically gushes as he says, "This place is probably the most perfect man cave I've ever seen. It has everything." He pauses, lets his eyes roam over my body and continues, "Oh by the way, I'm glad those BDUs fit you."

I smile and reply, "Thank you for the compliment. Someone really sneaky stole the clothes I had put out for myself."

He answers, "Yeah, I also grabbed all your dirty clothes and put them in the washing machine."

I blush because one pair of my undies needed some extra care, Ben laughs and says, "You don't have to ask me, I took proper care of your underwear." Now how the heck did he know what I was thinking? I will have to ask him later.

I say, "Well now it's your turn to shower while I get to explore this so called perfect man cave."

He countermands me, "Stacy, there's nothing I'd like better than to take a shower." He sniffs and continues with a wrinkled face, "I really need one. However I want to give John, Elena, Michelle and Maxwell proper burials first."

I sure as heck don't want to get all dirty again so I answer with a frown. Ben notices and explains, "Don't worry Stacy, you're standing watch while I do all the work."

I ask, "So how are we going to get back in here?"

Ben tosses me a set of keys and says, "Well I found extra keys for the whole place so we each have a set. Just remember to turn the front door lock clockwise to open the door."

I question, "Front door? Does this mean there's a back door too?"

He smiles and answers, "Yes, it leads into the stables. The horses are back and I've given them some feed."

I get all excited and want to see the horses and these stables, but I know first we have the sad duty to bury the owners of this nice ranch. Yes war is hell because sometimes nice people die...

Present – Ben – The Bunker

I'm not looking forward to burying this family – I've buried too many people already in my life and this family certainly didn't deserve to die. It's still an unsolved mystery as to why they died in the first place. With resources like this man cave they had to seriously fuck up. Digging their grave is going to be a powerful reminder not to ever fuck up like they did.

I hand Stacy a new tactical vest and pistol rig. She looks at them and says, "What's all this?"

I answer, "It's a tactical vest with a holster for your new pistol."

She gets all excited and replies, "A new pistol! What do I have?"

I reply, "You're going to be carrying a SIG Sauer P220 combat¹ pistol in .45 ACP. It's one of the best and most reliable pistols in the world."

¹ Sig Sauer P220 combat – A double-action or single-action blowback pistol based on John Browning's 1911 design. These pistols are practically indestructible: They have been dropped in mud, shot in the slides, dropped over thirty feet onto concrete and even endured explosions and still function. Many SOCOM and SWAT units now carry these.