by Michael Todd
After a few minutes of waiting, he was about to turn back when an JLTV pulled up outside. The driver weaved from one side to the other, which would have been spectacularly dangerous if there had been anyone else on the road. Thankfully, there wasn’t, and Sal had only a handful of nail-biting moments before Kennedy jerked to a stop in front of him. She wore sunglasses and looked a little flushed. He raised a brow and grinned.
“Well…look what the cat dragged in,” he said with a soft chuckle as she pulled herself out of the vehicle.
“Not…not so loud,” she said and raised a hand.
“I’d ask if you had a rough night,” he said as he checked his watch, “but considering that it’s actually three-oh-four in the afternoon, should I ask how your morning went instead?”
“There was drinking,” Kennedy muttered. “And there was talking to a blonde. And then there was…” She paused and shook her head.
“That’s okay,” he responded with a small smile and patted her on the shoulder. “I think I have a good idea of what you did.”
Kennedy lowered her glasses to glare at him. “What did I tell you?”
“Not…so loud?” Sal asked and raised a brow. He was usually allowed to make lewd references to their meet-ups provided that he kept it properly veiled. It seemed like she wasn’t in the mood for that either. Was only a couple of hours of sleep enough to create a hangover?
“Exactly,” she said and patted his cheek lightly. “Anyway, what do you have for us?”
“I just got here myself,” Sal explained as they headed to the door. “I was looking for you since I said that we would meet here at three unless you called me. Since you didn’t, I wasn’t sure if you were still sleeping it off.”
She looked at him again. “You’re acting weird. Why are you acting weird?”
He tilted his head as he pushed the door open for her. “I have no idea what you mean. I’m always weird, remember.”
“No, you’re weirder than usual.” She walked in and waited for him to follow before she continued in a low voice. “If you want to have sex, you’ll have to wait. I’m still a little buzzed.”
He nodded. “Fair enough, but that’ll probably have to wait too.” He went to the board inside the bar. It was used by most the people on base who wanted jobs or had jobs and needed people. Since everyone stationed there essentially haunted the bar at some point or another during the day, it was the only way to facilitate work arrangements without having to use the base’s server—which, like most things, came with a horde of fees.
There were more than a few excuses that he used to escape his sense of guilt over facilitating Kennedy’s problem. He really needed to talk to her about it.
Before he studied the board, he turned to her and tapped her shoulder. “Get us a table, would you? And do me a favor, try not to get too drunk before I get there.”
“No worries on that end, friend of mine,” she whispered, tugged her sunglasses off, and tucked them into her shirt. “What I need is some serious hydration.”
“I think I’m there with you. Could you get me something to drink too?”
Sal held his phone up to the board, took pictures of the various postings, and noted those that would take place within the next few days. One in particular caught his interest—a research trip sponsored by a lab back in the US that would pay top dollar for registration and qualification of the different animal and plant species that had appeared in the last six months.
He guessed that they would probably still search for the Pita plants, but it wouldn’t be the focus of their work. The study and research were what he liked doing most while in the Zoo, and honestly, the necessity to kill things while they gathered the flowers for money seemed like a necessary evil that he had to tolerate to be able to go out there and get data. The job was perfect.
When he walked to the table, Kennedy was already deep in conversation with a couple of men prepping for their trip into the Zoo the next day. A quick look told him that this was the team that would do the research run. Not because they had any physical traits that gave them away, but because he’d worked with them before.
“Jacobs!” one of them said. Because of his short stature and bright orange hair, everyone called him the Leprechaun, even though he had actually been born in southern Michigan and, according to him, had no trace of Irish blood.
“Sergeant Young,” he said and gripped the man’s extended hand. Despite being almost a full head shorter than Sal was himself, the man’s strength was more than prodigious, and he pulled the specialist in for a hug tight enough to leave him gasping at the end of it.
“How the hell are you doing?” Young asked as he ruffled Sal’s hair. “Last I heard, you was in business for yourself.”
“Yeah, I opened my own company,” he said with a laugh as he fumbled to restore order to his hair with his fingers. “If you’re not a gunner, they merely milk you dry when you work for the military. I got out of my contract and started running jobs for myself. It’s mostly research stuff like testing out the new armor, but Kennedy and I have ached for a Zoo run for a while.”
“Yep, yep, the former Sergeant Kennedy filled us in on that,” the sergeant replied and winked at Kennedy, who grinned and shook her head. “After that very profitable trip that the five of us had together last month…” He indicated three other members of his team, whom Sal remembered were called Sousa, Ito, and Carson. “We’ve ached to take another trip with the two of you. Although now you work for yourself, we were worried that you wouldn’t take any more trips into the Zoo.”
“Well, that’s not true.” Kennedy patted a seat that she’d saved for Sal. “But it’s a little more difficult for us to find jobs that need personnel. Are you guys playing that research trip that starts tomorrow?”
“Yeah,” Young replied as he followed Sal’s example and took a seat. “Big money is backing an excursion for the lab geeks to look around. We’re actually in need of a couple more specialists and wouldn’t mind a couple more gunners too. Despite the amount of money funding this, most of it’s going into R&D instead of boots on the ground, so we’re actually short on staff.”
“Hey, no need to ask us twice,” Sal said and raised a hand in mock-surrender as he looked at the glass that Kennedy had put in front of him. She’d gotten Diet Cokes for both of them, he thought with a twist of his mouth. He supported the idea, but not the choice of drink. He took a sip anyway.
“I can’t promise a full wage for freelancers, but that’s not why most folks have joined this field trip anyway,” Young continued. “There are a lot of incentives. Bringing in new specimens gets a bonus. The more details involved, the bigger the bonus, of course. Plus, we’ll head into Pita-rich territory, and there’s always money in that.”
Sal nodded. “No one pays freelancers full-wage, sadly, but we don’t mind. We’re in it for the incentives. Plus, we can use our specialized company tech to find the Pitas easier, which means more incentives. Also, the small matter of the bounties on the flowers—that will be split evenly across the whole team, right?”
“Bullshit,” Kennedy interjected. It was a back-and-forth that they’d worked on to help the teams see what they would gain by letting the freelancers come with them without actually putting it out there.
“Come on, it’s only fair,” he explained and tried not to be too theatrical about it. “I mean, it’s their mission to begin with. We’re simply along for the ride.”
“Well, we appreciate the gesture, believe me,” Young said. “I have a little one who’ll start college in a few years that I’d like to be fully paid for with my time here.”
“Who are you to call anyone little?” Ito asked, grinned, and yelped as Young’s hand flashed across the small table to smack her across the head.
“I’ll call you little if I please it, Ito,” Young retorted good-naturedly.
Sal and Kennedy laughed and clinked glasses before taking a celebratory sip of their non-alcoholic beverages.
“So
what time do you guys plan to take off tomorrow?” Kennedy asked once the tussle between Ito and Young had died down.
“Well, the idea is to start at sunrise, close to around oh-five-thirty, but with the amount of non-military personnel involved, I’d say that we probably won’t leave before oh-six hundred.” Young drank deeply from his beer.
“We’ll be there at sunrise, then,” Sal said. “If only to keep your opinion on specialists from dropping too low.”
Young chuckled. “We all know you’re no specialist, Jacobs. Sure, maybe you are, technically, but with a shooting arm like that, I’d say that you’re more of a gunner. Besides, after the fighting that we forced you to put up with the last time, you’ve earned the right to be a little late, specialist or no.”
“Please,” Sal said. “That little skirmish with the bounty hunters was nothing compared to the shit we ran into on my first trip into the Zoo. I think I told you that story when we got back, right?”
Young nodded. “That was one hell of a hazing stunt Kennedy and her people pulled on your first time, no lying. Still, I’m glad they did, elsewise you would have simply been another soft geek when we met up, and we would have never come to know the badass that lay underneath.”
“No need to butter his ego up any more than it is already,” Kennedy protested and shook her head.
Sal grinned in response. “I don’t think my ego has ever needed that kind of lubrication anyway.” The team laughed, and she groaned.
“Let’s change the subject,” Young said. “Please. I really didn’t need that mental image. I wanted to talk to you anyway, Jacobs, before we left. We had a couple of run-ins with some new and interesting wildlife on our last run into the Zoo. Sadly, though, our specialist died in the field before he could punch all the shit into the server. Unfortunately, that means our team lost out on the bounty that usually goes into that. It’s not much in the way of cash, but if you’d like some quick spending money, you’d get the full specialist cut on it.”
Sal nodded. “If you send it over to me, I can have it turned in before we take off tomorrow.”
“You’re the best, Jacobs,” Young said with a laugh.
“Come on, Young.” Kennedy shook her head. “Sure, it makes you feel good, but I’m the one who has to work with him when he’s riding the compliments like a fucking sugar high.”
“Hey,” Sal said. “I can take a compliment without getting all uppity about it.”
“You might want to try it once in a while,” she said, almost under her breath but not quite.
Young laughed. “So, why are the two of you only drinking the virgin stuff?”
Kennedy shrugged. “I don’t know about him, but I’m coming off a rough bout from earlier today. I need something to take the edge off, and something without alcohol seemed like the right thing.”
Sal looked at her oddly. Now she simply laid it out for everyone else to see? It seemed odd, considering how much she protected her image in front of these guys. Or wanted him to protect her image, anyway.
He shook his head. He would probably bring it up when they were alone, but it was something that could wait.
“Well, considering that I still need a couple of active brain cells for when I spend most of the night putting all this data into the local server, I think that not drinking is the way to go for me,” Sal said with a small smile.
Young shrugged. “I’ve got to say, I admire your resilience. While I’m fairly sure I don’t share it, if you do plan to put a real drink in you, the first round is on me. For the both of you,” he added and winked at Kennedy again. She chuckled and patted his cheek.
“I might take you up on that, Young,” she said with a grin, “but I have some work I need to get done. You ladies can walk into the armory and walk out with some subpar equipment. Us freelancers need to pay for our subpar shit.”
“Hey,” Ito interjected as she flicked her hair back. “I take offense to that. They’re the only ladies on this squad.” She indicated the rest of the men on her team.
They laughed at the joke but instinctively straightened their postures and puffed their chests out at the comment.
“Well, now that the testosterone is suitably pumped up in the room,” Kennedy said with a raised eyebrow, “I think I need to go and make sure that we’re all stocked up for tomorrow.” She patted Sal’s shoulder. “I’ll meet up with you tonight for an inventory check.”
He nodded. “I’ll get started on those specimen reports too.”
“Well, I didn’t mean to bring the mood down,” Young said, not happy that they were leaving. Sal suspected it was because the man had something of a crush on Kennedy. He could see why, of course. He chuckled and pushed from his seat.
“You didn’t,” Sal replied as Kennedy had already headed toward the door. “Us freelancers need to work odd hours. It comes with the territory.” He patted the man on the shoulder, and after a moment of hesitation, mussed his hair up too.
“Revenge is a dish best served cold.” He laughed as Young slapped his hand away. “I’ll see you guys tomorrow morning.”
The team raised their glasses in response, and Sal broke into a jog to catch up with Kennedy.
“You’re going to see Boulos then?” he asked when they reached the parking lot.
“Yeah, he’s still working on my armor,” she said. “Don’t worry about it. I’ll bring all the equipment to the take-off point at o-dark-thir—”
Sal raised his eyebrows, and she shook her head.
“Sunrise,” she explained. “I’ll bring the equipment at sunrise.”
Sal nodded as she turned and walked to the JLTV, but after a moment, he called her back.
He needed to talk to her. Ground rules needed to be put in place during a real talk. This was fun and all, but he felt like some things were spiraling, and he wasn’t sure that he had it in him to check the fall on his own.
“What’s up, Jacobs?” Kennedy asked as she retrieved her sunglasses and slid them on.
It didn’t need to be now, though.
“I’ll see you later.” He shook his head. Kennedy knew there was something on his mind, but she was almost as bad at approaching stuff as he was. They both needed to get better at it. Later.
“Yeah,” she said with a smile. “I’ll come around to your place after I’m finished at Boulos’.”
“I look forward to it.” Sal forced a smile in response.
Chapter Twelve
She knew there was something bothering him. He’d also grown more and more protective of her. It wasn’t that she didn’t approve. For once, she didn’t mind that there was someone out there who cared about her, mostly because he didn’t force his care on her. He showed it, kept his distance, and made sure that she wanted it first.
Sal was weird in all the right ways. She’d never thought that brainy would be her type. Then again, there were a couple of things that she had learned about herself that had been a surprise. Not all of them were pleasant, but they weren’t necessarily unpleasant, either.
She smiled, maintained a firmer grip on the wheel than she usually did, and eased her foot off the gas pedal. It wasn’t like these damn vehicles could move that fast anyway. She’d grown up driving cars that her father had “improved” and tried them out with her brothers. They always broke down after a couple of miles, but they could rush those miles faster than most cars could.
There was probably some sort of gem of wisdom that she could glean from that little nugget of information from her past. She might even be able to figure it out later. For now, though, she kept her mind focused on the tasks at hand. Maybe after a couple of beers and some time relaxing with Sal.
Provided that their relaxing didn’t take the rest of the night.
She smiled at the thought as she pulled to a stop outside the armory, yanked the parking brake on, and hopped out. It was only a quarter past four, so the place would still be fairly busy considering that there were a couple of patrols heading out the next day as well
as the field trip, as Young had put it.
If she was honest, she felt cooped up when she simply hung around the base, even if it was the safer option. They made decent money for their part in testing the new suits and new weapons. Since companies now used the Zoo as a test and display ground for their new popular products, that was a cash cow that would pay indefinitely if they wanted it.
Still, she wanted to be out in the Zoo. It wasn’t the easiest work, but it did have a sense of realization that came with it. Like she did something for the betterment of mankind. Well, protecting folk that were doing something for the betterment of mankind by shooting hostile creatures in their very exotic faces.
It was the best job in the world, Madigan thought with a grin.
She moved through the aisles of armor and noted the inventory officers who rushed around and checked off the various items that they needed. Their needs kept the folks working in the store busy. If she knew Boulos, though, he would hang out in the back and pretend to be busy. Folks with budgets were assholes, she knew that all too well.
Oh, to have a budget paid for by somebody else. She paused to think about how nice that would be for a few seconds before she moved to the back of the armory. Her gaze swept the store in search of where Boulos might hide his massive bulk behind a tiny laptop to pretend that he was too busy “filling orders” to help those who needed orders filled out in person.
She found him where she’d expected to. He was hunched over a small pad that was propped up against a couple of RPGs in the very far corner.
“Boulos?” Madigan asked.
“I’m filling some orders,” he said without looking up. “I think Albie can help you. He’s at the front desk.”
“Right,” she said with a grin and leaned against a shelf. “I think you’ve used that a few too many times since there’s nobody at the front desk anymore. You do know that it’s a prime sales day for you today, right?”