Chapter 23

Present – Byron – At the cabin

Now this should be great! He walks up to the driver's door opens it and yells, "Sgt. get your ass out of that car right now!!"

I fight back a laugh when Thom flies out of the car - yeah, even though he's not in Army anymore, when a General (or former General in this case) gives you an order you still follow it.

Man, Jennifer didn't play fair! She called in her dad, and her dad called in Thom's old Captain and they start reading him the riot act.

Glen yells, "Just who in the hell do you think you are to cause such dissension in this team."

The Captain adds, "I should have court-martialed you when I had the chance - you were always too big for your own britches. Now look what you've done!"

Thom sputters, "But Sirs!"

The Captain interrupts, "I don't want any of your lazy-assed excuses. Now if someone did that on your team how would you treat them?"

Thom answers, "I would..."

Glen cuts him off, "When we want you to talk, we will tell you what you can say." He looks at the Captain and asks, "What do you figure, KP for a month?"

The Captain nods his head, "At least. Plus, I think he should have to lead PT everyday too..."

Present – Thom – At the cabin

Shit this isn't fair! Jennifer called in the brass on me and they are chewing my ass. I need to think fast and save what little bit of ass I have left. Then I come up with a hell of an idea.

I interrupt, "Sirs! Permission to speak concerning a matter which could impact Ms. Donaldson's life."

That gets their attention and Glen threatens, "Sgt., this had better not be one of your hair-brained tricks because we were just getting started. Permission granted."

I state, "Sirs! I'm not sure if Ms. Donaldson informed you about how Megan attempted to kill her in the psychiatric hospital."

I notice confusion and concern cross Glen's face and he admits, "No Sgt. this is new information for us, please elaborate."

I tell them (making sure not to exaggerate because brass can smell lies) the whole story. I finish it by suggesting, "Sirs Jennifer wanted to use us to help track Ben Blaine, but she already has Matt, Jim and Linus for that mission. I think Byron and I would be better used to track down and take care of Megan."

Present – Byron – At the cabin

Shit! Thom has volunteered me to help him track down and 'take care of Megan'. I was really looking forward to some down time in the library especially since we now have Mabel, the new cook.

I can tell it's already too late (and Thom has wormed his way out of another sticky situation) when the Captain asks, "Does 'take care of Megan' mean what I think it means?"

Thom smiles and states, "Sirs I respectfully refuse to answer that question."

Glen and the Captain begin to discuss Megan then they turn, look at Thom and announce, "We agree with you and want you to leave in the morning."

Present – Thom – At the cabin

I reply, "Yes Sirs! It will be best if we both rest here tonight and then leave first thing in the morning."

Then something happens that I didn't count on as the Captain says, "No you will leave right after PT."

I begin to complain, "But Sir..."

He cuts me off and declares "Look Sgt., you owe Jennifer Donaldson a day of PT for missing PT this morning."

Then it gets even worse when Glen commands, "Byron, while you two are on your mission, I think it would be good for you to lead the Sgt. in PT every morning and report his progress back to us."

Byron happily replies, "Yes Sirs, that is an excellent idea."

I could kick his ass for that...

Present – Jens – At the cabin

I remain in the shadows and listen to the whole thing. I wasn't upset when Thom suggested they go after Megan because I was going to reassign them anyway. But the overriding concern is because I'm not sure that Thom could follow orders about not confronting Ben. Thom is a loose cannon and there are better things for loose cannons to do than covert surveillance. However I do need to make one big change to their plans. I step out of the shadows and interrupt, "I like this plan except for one aspect of it. I do not want Thom or Byron to 'take care of Megan'. I want them to find her and then notify me."

Thom asks, "What if she tries to kill us?"

The Captain laughs, "Since when did you become afraid of a woman. You will follow these new orders Sgt. We expect you to capture Megan without injury and then notify Jennifer Donaldson."

I add, "And while they are at it I want daily reports on their progress."

Thom complains, "Daily reports! What do you think I am, a REMF?"

I laugh, "No, otherwise I'd only send Byron. I want the detailed daily reports including your PT so I know you two are actually working and not out goofing off."

Thom slaps his forehead and complains, "Detailed daily reports including our PT, I'm not going to do it!"

I grin at him and remind him, "Thom if you want the funding for the TSIFFTS to continue at its current level, then you will do as ordered."

Present – Thom – At the cabin

Shit! Things have gone from bad to worse to nearly intolerable. How the hell did Jennifer know I was planning on taking a good long time to find Megan? I look at Byron and he's grinning like a mule eating briars, the bastard.

Jennifer does have us over a barrel since she has funded the hell out of the TSIFFTS and if we lost that funding we would have to cut back on operations - and I'm sure she would let everyone know it was 'my fault'. She's a smart and sneaky little bitch and has put one over on me for right now. I look at her and complain, "I sure as hell don't like this, but we agree to your terms."

Jennifer questions, "Who's this new lady."

Byron answers, "This is Mabel our new cook."

I add, "She makes the best damn food I've ever eaten and can cook anything."

Jennifer grins, "Welcome Mabel, we can talk about your pay later, but right now we have a bunch of people that are hungry."

Mabel states, "Just show me to the kitchen and give me about thirty minutes."

Present – Yasmeen – At the cabin

I wake up and some strange lady is helping to clean my room. The room smells very bad and I question, "New lady, what bad is smell."

She turns toward me and answers, "Yasmeen, you should not have used Zarika's clothes as a bathroom."

I sit up in the bed and complain, "New lady, that do I not. I make mess but not do bathroom."

The lady argues, "Yasmeen, if you lie to me again I will wash your mouth out with soap. Now come over here and help me clean up the mess you made."