Chapter 9

A baby was giving me smooches while pulling on my nose with one hand and one of my ears with the other. Little Dan was grinning and jabbering at me as if telling me I had to get up. I snuggled with him, causing squeals and giggles, until Brandy snatched him up and told me, "Get up, and go take a shower. We all want to be with you a little while before you leave. It's already six-thirty."

I didn't get enough sleep, but I did need to get up and visit with everyone before we left. Tina interrupted my shower by getting in with me. She snuggled up to me and said, "We don't have time to fool around, but I wanted to have some intimate time with you. I seem to never get to be alone with you, and I do need to tell you how much I enjoy being with you."

The shower wasn't nearly long enough, but I think Tina and I did get to enjoy each other's company.

Everyone, including the band and brass guys, was there to see us off when I came out to the living room area of the suite. The five of us who were leaving had a chance to have some coffee and breakfast while Lisa and I made the rounds to play with all of the kids, and give a hug and kiss to all our women.

It was soon time to go, so Elmer, Tina, Jane, Lisa, and I grabbed our equipment cases, along with our suitcases, and went to the resort's front entrance for a ride to the nearby airfield. We drove right up to the G550 that had a minimum of military markings. It did sport a big USO on each side.

Elmer made sure our equipment had all been loaded, and we added our luggage to the pile. Lisa and I kept our equipment cases with us, because we would probably want to arm ourselves before getting off the aircraft.

Lisa leaned over to me and said, "It was tough not trying to get into the front and fly this thing. We're usually the jockeys."

The General boarded, decked out in his uniform, with all of his insignia and commendations proudly displayed. He took off his jacket before sitting down, and handed it to a lady in uniform to hang up for him. I think Lisa and I were both surprised to have an active duty person perform hostess duties, but who else would you have take care of a General? Another officer, a captain, got on with a briefcase, and we were introduced to him as the General's Aide-de-Camp, usually referred to as his 'Aide'. I suppose the General did have to travel with some support.

The pilot stepped into the cabin and told us, "Relax, and have Sgt. Mary Curran provide refreshments and meals for you. This is going to be a long flight, with one stop for refueling and possibly to change crews in the Philippines. We do have a second crew aboard, but we'll see what our orders are when we refuel. Enjoy your flight and be sure to avail yourself of the civilian refreshments, as well as one of the internet consoles or sat phones, General. We'll get this show on the road if you will all make sure you are buckled in."

I know Lisa probably felt the same as me. We should be in the cockpit, not sitting in the cabin. It was as if we were in the cockpit, as I was picturing each step in preparation to spool the engines up and prepare for takeoff. I watched Lisa's face, and I'm sure she was imagining the same as me.

We were soon at altitude, and Sgt. Curran came back to make sure we passengers were comfortable, and also to see if we wanted anything. She asked all of us if we wanted breakfast, thinking that a bunch of civilians wouldn't have taken time to eat this morning. Little did she know that my household was all comprised of early risers.

The General had Lisa move to a seat next to him so they could catch up with what had happened these past years. Tina and Jane were chatting about what our life was like back in Florida. Elmer had the sergeant seated with him, enjoying finding out what it was like to be a General's hostess. I took the time to lean my head back and consider where I was in my life, and what direction it might take in the future.

My life as a Deputy U.S. Marshal was important, but so was the time I spent on missions for the Secret Service. Since Lisa had partnered with me, it seemed as if we were able to overcome almost any adversity. It was uncanny the way we could work together, move with confidence as to where each other was, and what the other was doing. Knowing how well we worked together made me smile. It also made me wonder what the Secret Service or NSA might have in store for us. The CIA knew better than to come to us, but I'm sure they would try to entrap or entice us into working for them again in the future, but we now knew what to ask if they did.

I must have dozed off, as Sgt. Curran woke me to ask if I might like some lunch. With a smirking grin, she said that she was serving some delicious in flight sandwiches and coffee. She even mentioned that she had some beer on board should I want one. I thanked her for asking, and said I'd love some coffee and a sandwich.

Lisa was now sitting across from me, and had her old acoustic out and was playing some of the oldies she loved to play. She said, "Your Blues King is waiting for you," when she saw me looking at her. "I tuned it earlier so we could do some practicing. How about we put some kind of playlist together so that there's some order to what we're going to do."

"Good idea. Have you eaten yet? If not, eat something, and then we'll work on the playlist. It might be a good time to practice some vocals with Tina. We did a couple of things while harmonizing that time on the island. We should do some of that."

Lisa agreed, "I need to eat too. We'll do that, and we'll practice some with Tina if we can separate her and Jane long enough."

Everyone enjoyed the sandwiches made up by an in-flight kitchen somewhere. They are almost always ham and cheese, tuna, chicken, or turkey salad on white bread. I've always wondered why they didn't make the sandwiches on whole wheat, but they didn't. The good Sgt. Curran did have unsweetened iced tea, along with some very good coffee.

I picked up my Blues King when we had finished eating, and meandered through a bunch of simple blues riffs that I always enjoyed when I played with this special gift from Lisa. It had been during our earliest relationship, while I had gone on Steve's sailing adventure, when I had been given this jewel. I had played it hundreds of hours for my personal pleasure since then.

Lisa and I began playing some of her special songs and had Tina and Jane come to join us. We were sitting in seats facing each other, with Lisa seated next to Tina so they could sing together. The two sounded beautiful from their first verse. It was my job to play a harmony rhythm background that could have been, or would be, on my bass in our concert.

Jane surprised me when she began singing in harmony with the two while she sat next to me. Both Lisa and Tina looked up at her as they sang, and kept right on singing. Lisa stopped playing, and I took up the melody on the Blues King as they finished the song.

Elmer exclaimed, "That's not fair. I don't have the controller to save something like that. It was beautiful with the three of you. You have to do that for me while you're performing. It's almost like we need another guitar so Chuck can play his singing bass in the background."

We practiced for two more hours until we were asked to put our instruments away and buckle up as we were in the pattern to land for refueling.

It was good to get off the aircraft and stretch our legs. All of us, including the General, actually jogged up and down the tarmac to get some circulation going. Sgt. Curran and the other female airman jogged with us. The lazy ones were the pilots who walked around and around the aircraft. I'm sure they wanted to inspect it, as well as keep watch as it was refueled. They didn't change crews, so we were going to enjoy being attended to by the same two hostesses and flown by the same crews.

I cornered the Aircraft Commander while we were on the ground, and told him that Lisa and I were both G550 rated and had hundreds of hours in one, should they need a break. I mentioned that both of us had some trepidation during takeoff, knowing exactly what had been going on in the cockpit. The officer said, "The General told us you two were both experienced pilots in this aircraft, so I think we were more than a little self-conscious on takeoff. I'm glad we passed muster. I think this crew is going to be your host throughout your tour to entertain the troops. At least, we all hope so."

We settled down to rest a little after taking off on this trip's last leg. I watched as the General and his Aide dozed off. Lisa put her head on my shoulder and went to sleep, while Tina's head was being petted in Jane's lap. Elmer was chatting with Sgt. Curran and Airman Trost, the other attendant, once again.

Lisa wanted to do some more practicing two hours into the flight, so we began assembling a playlist and the order of presentation. Lisa really wanted to do a battle of guitars, and said I should start out with my guitar, and then switch to my bass to really mesmerize the audience. Elmer said he agreed with Lisa and said he wanted to make sure he had us mixed right. Lisa and I did some acoustic guitar battling to get the feel of what we would do. My wonderful mate told me, "Let's just let it happen. We'll do something else if it isn't working, but I love when we go at each other. It may not be better than sex, but it is really special."

We were still practicing, singing, and taking notes, when Airman Trost came to tell us that we were preparing to land in Bagram Airfield, Afghanistan. We stored our instruments and the Aide asked if we were going to be armed before we buckled up. Lisa and I opened our travel cases and I put my backup on my prosthesis, while putting my shoulder harness and my sport coat on. I watched as Lisa pulled one of her small Glock backups and gave it to Tina. I had to smile, as who would believe the "Hey you, I'm a doctor!" would be as deadly as she was.

The only people overly surprised were Sgt. Curran and Airman Trost. They didn't realize that we were more than entertainers.

The landing was as smooth as it had been in the Philippines. A troop transport came out to the aircraft to get us and our luggage after we were parked near a group of buildings. Upon entering an office area with everyone jumping to attention for the General, he asked us, "Can you guys still do a show tonight after practicing all afternoon, or should we schedule it for tomorrow?"

I asked the General, "How did you think this might go, General?"

"My original thoughts were to do a show here tonight, another in Kabul tomorrow, then back here for a show for another group tomorrow night. We'll go to Shindand and Kandahar from there, and then take two days to do the Marine installations of Dwyer, Leatherneck, and Delaram. You should be worn out by then, and can rest while we go to Kuwait, followed by Bahrain, Qatar, and Dubai. Do you think you can handle it?"

Lisa looked at me, rolling her eyes, but said, "Hey, if you can do it, I can too." She looked at Elmer and asked, "Do you think you can handle that much moving around?"

Elmer sat stunned at what the General was planning. "Hell, if you guys can do it, I can too, but I can tell you that it's going to be tough to tear down and put back up twice a day like that."

The General said, "I'm going to make sure you have a couple of guys who you can use at each location as grips, or what you call roadies, to get your equipment moved. That you didn't even flinch at what I hoped we could do is really good. You're going to entertain thousands, and they'll all know they were given a good time by Marines and their friends."

"Well, General, let's get to this first show and put it on. This will give us a shot at doing it live in front of some troops. I'd bet you announced this a while ago, so we're going to have a big group."

"Oh yeah, Chuck. The men were all jockeying to get to see you guys and just to view Lisa, but you won't believe how these guys will react when word gets around about the other two women. Did you ever get to see a USO show when you were over here?"

"Never did, General. My unit was always in the field. We only rotated in and out for a shower, clean BDUs, and ammo. Remember, we were scouts, not garrison troops."

Lisa said, "I wasn't here long enough. I lost my bird early and was sent back and picked up by the Secret Service."

We were hauled to a nearby hangar that was heavily guarded, but also contained a few thousand troops. They were milling around in the big hangar and as we began setting up, the crowd was quiet at first, and then began getting louder and louder.

The girls went behind a screen and put their dresses and some makeup on, brushed their hair, and stepped out to a horde of hollering men waving their arms and shouting nice things to the girls.

The crowd silenced all of a sudden, and all stood at attention. The General had walked out on the stage and stood in front of the crowd. He smiled, and then said over the PA, "We want to welcome Chuck and Lisa from the Blues Expedition. They have Tina and Jane with them to help them with some songs. Hey, lift your pant leg, Chuck." I showed my prosthesis off. "Chuck lost that leg doing what you guys do, and this good-looking lady with the fancy guitar was shot down in Iraq not that long ago. You're going to be entertained by a couple of Marines and their friends, so relax, enjoy, and let them know you appreciate them coming."

The crowd burst into applause. Lisa picked that moment to give her strings a crash. Elmer had her cranked up, so it was nearly deafening. We went right into some SRV stuff, with me singing and Lisa doing her best to really fill in the back. I switched to bass and let her do her Janis Joplin imitation while really wailing. We changed to Lisa with her acoustic, while I played bass from there. We sang a duet, and then the two other girls began singing with Lisa as I played bass background.

We took a break for a drink of water from a plastic bottle. I picked up my guitar and Lisa jumped in front of me, really giving me a wail to challenge me. I gave it back to her, and I swiveled my guitar to my back and put the bass on while she did it again. I gave it back to her again, but with the bass, and we were into it. I kept switching back and forth between my SG and the bass until Tina whistled with her fingers in her mouth. Who would have known this fox could do that.

Over the microphone, Tina said, "These two can do this all day, but we have more shows to do. It was great to be here with you, and we all wish you a safe tour and for you to get home safe."

With that, Lisa and I did a blues closing that had to make the troops smile.

Surprisingly, the troops left the area quickly and orderly. We helped Elmer pack and he told us as we did, "If I get as much good stuff from the other shows as I did on this one, we'll have not only something for these guys, we'll have some awesome commercial material. It was that good. The guy doing the video seemed to be on the ball. I've already asked the General if we could keep him for the tour."

We were taken to the VOQ, or the Visiting Officer's Quarters. The girls were given a couple of rooms, and Elmer and I shared a room. Elmer teased me that he might not be as good-looking as Lisa, but he would try to entertain me. I threw a pillow at him as he laughed.

We were taken to the open mess that served twenty-four hours a day, to eat the fare that the men ate. It wasn't bad and brought back memories. The General sat in the VIP area. We didn't join him and sat in a group with the cameraman that Elmer had found instead.

I know that I was beat and my fingers were tender by the time we finished eating. I'm sure Lisa's fingers felt the same way, but we were all still high from entertaining. We agreed to go to bed early as we had to be on the bus to Kabul by nine. Doing two shows and the traveling tomorrow would be even more difficult. I figured Elmer would have it the toughest, though.

I didn't have any trouble going to sleep, and I don't think Elmer did either. I was wide awake at six, local time, and was showered, shaved, and pacing out in the dayroom before seven. Lisa came out dressed and ready to go, but said, "Tina and Jane stayed up and played a little longer. I think you're going to have trouble separating those two when the time comes. You might want to talk to Sam to see what it might take to transfer her to Tampa. Maybe we could work out a deal to take her back home on a temporary assignment to see if she really wants to stay with us. However, it's going to be a challenge to get those two apart."

"I'll call Wanda and see what she thinks. Sam might do just about anything we want after what his people pulled on us. The psychiatrist has had time to report that we aren't killers by now. Whether they believe it or not is another thing, but the shrink has all of the videos to back it up. Hey, we might just go over to Hawaii and relax over there a lot of the time if they don't keep us. Between Florida, our island, and Hawaii, can you think of a nicer agenda?"