Chapter 220

By 6PM I had parted with most of the 30K and was headed to the swamp to she exactly what I had bought. Getting into the swamp was a lot easier than getting into my small compound. Well it seemed easier. There were all kinds of observation devices and more than one dead fall along the way. The swamps idea of a dead fall was a 1/2 pound of Semtex swinging on a cable from a roadside tree onto your car. Slightly more lethal than a bitch with a over and under shotgun waiting for you at the house.

In the case of the swamp they pretty much knew who I was before I got to the end of the two mile drive way. It dumped me into the parking lot of the administration building. The driveway ended and it was pretty much the only paved road on the property. ATV were the only mechanized means of transportation. I wasn't sure it that had been the case my only other visit to the swamp compound. It was shortly after my release from the hospital so I was still suffering emotion injuries.

In the parking lot I saw the big ass Budget Rental Truck. The rear loading door was up and several of the crates were open. By the time I made it out of my car Colonel Martin and Liam were standing in the parking lot. I could tell Colonel Martin was trying to decide how he should greet me.

I walked to him and shook his hand very masculine I thought. I could be girlie but I could also be butch. The situation called for butch. Martin handed me a bank transfer for 25K. The voucher said it was for two cases of electronic devices from the embassy at Tripoli. My bet was that there was some other hardware involved. However I took the money for the two cases. I had no idea what was inside the other nine crates.

"So can I go into the truck to see what the fuck I bought?" I asked.

"By all means we would prefer you have dinner with us and stay the night. You can leave in the morning for home," he suggested.

"That sounds like fun," I said thinking of Liam and Andrew.

"On that note I have warned both The Sergeant Major and The Post Commandant that you are not to be disturbed." Martin said.

"I see, I suppose they told everyone else?" I asked.

"The have indeed." he said. "So you can go check out your truck. I will send someone for you when we begin serving dinner."

I nodded and moved to the back of the truck. The men had repacked the crates. One of the crates the right size to hold whatever the Swamp had been looking for had not contained it but had contained laptop computers of an unknown brand. There were probably a hundred of them. The three other crates held boxes of Chinese dinnerware. One of the cases held cutlery. Mostly there were things That would make me a small profit. Then I came to a crate of 9" tablets from china they were most likely knock offs but I could sell them anyway. I needed to get the items back to County Seat where I could check the electronics and see if anyone wanted the crates of cutlery and dinnerware. In the mountain environment the crate of blankets would sell pretty well I thought.

"Well I'll be damned. Hello Melody how are you?" I asked.

"I am going good Sylvia. Meeting these guys has been a life saver for me. I get up at 5AM and start breakfast. Then I go to Sandhills community college. I'm taking culinary arts. I'm going to be a real fancy chef one day. Right now I just cook for these guys. Breakfast and dinner they fend for themselves for lunch." she said.

Fend for themselves meant they didn't eat at all. If they had anything it might be peanut butter crackers. I didn't say anything since it was dinner time. "Do you have any idea where I should sit?" I asked since I was the first one to arrive.

"They told me you were going to eat at the Colonel's table," she said.

"Melody are you clean," I asked.

"I have been clean for over two years," she said. "Here no one is on drugs and they keep me clean and straight."

"Well sounds like you are on the right track," I said taking a seat at the Colonel's table. I drank coffee for several minutes until the men started filtering in. There were about twenty men and to my surprise five women. The women looked like combat vets from a Eastern European state, or maybe middle eastern state like Israel.

I smiled at them as they passed. Then the colonel entered the room and everyone stood, so I did as well. When in Rome, I thought.

When he reached his chair, the Sergeant Major said, "Seats." The men and women were seated and a couple of there brothers in arms served them and us dinner.

"I thought you had Melody for this?" I asked.

"We do but she needs help now and then, and the troops need to know who the boss it now and again," Liam said.

"By the way this pasta with meat sauce is quite good. So you have KP to remind them?" I asked.

"When there is a need, if not that there is always the march through the swamp. It's a long difficult trail," he explained. "And Melody has proved to be quite a good cook. Also she seems to be an asset in dealing with the new females we are recruiting these days."

"I can imagine she is quite the little asset. I know it is changing the subject but what about my car. How are we going to get it back to the mountains?" I asked the Colonel. Truth is we are using this as a opportunity to take some photos of the church camp. We need to make a layout for it." he said.