As the vehicles pulled up to the front of the building, General Reed came walking down the walkway to meet them. Lieutenant Baker jumped out of the Humvee, snapping to attention and saluting. “Sir, Lieutenant Baker, reporting with the unit...”
“Relax, Lieutenant. You did good. Now, where is that wayward Marine mustang that just loves to get in the middle of excrement every chance he gets? Ah, Captain Bender. There you are. And limping I see.”
Torbin approached the General and saluted. “Sir, Captain Bender reporting back. Mission kind of accomplished, with some new intel I need to brief you on.”
General Reed returned the salute, then grabbed Torbin’s hand. “Glad to have you back, son. A certain Russian Captain has been spitting nails. I just made her head of my Intelligence Unit, pending a promotion to Major. I’ll have her debrief you in private. I couldn’t get any work out of her until she sees you, so I’m not going to try to keep you here to tell me what happened. You can both tell me tomorrow.”
General Reed then turned to Abigail. “Captain Young.”
She snapped to, giving a parade ground salute. “Sir. Captain Abigail Young Reporting, Sir.” General Reed glanced at Torbin after returning her salute.
“Did you already warp her into being a hard ass Marine like you are? Never mind. Captain Young, after hearing the stories of what you’ve done, I expected a ten foot tall Amazon spitting fire.”
Abigail sputtered a bit. “S-s-stories Sir?”
General Reed chuckled.
“My driver, Sgt. Pascal, has an intelligence system that is better than mine, I do believe. He has already told me that you have pulled Captain Bender’s bacon out of the fire at least twice so far. Because this Marine has an unusually high tendency to jump from the frying pan into the fire, That is no mean feat.”
Abigail blushed. “I just did what I was trained to do, General. Anyone would have done the same.”
“But you did it so efficiently, Captain. I am still thinking of ways to use your abilities.”
General Reed then glanced over to a staff car that was just pulling up.
“Well, Captain Bender, your wife has arrived. I will let her debrief you at your leisure tonight. I will expect to see you around noon tomorrow. Get some rest. That’s an order.”
Aleks emerged from the staff car, a serious look on her face. She saluted the General, then made a beeline for Torbin. She grabbed his sleeve and began to pull him away from the others. “Hey, not so fast. My ankle is hurt,” Torbin complained.
“I know, Captain.” Aleks pulled Torbin into the shadows, and exploded in Russian. Torbin, who knew only a little—mostly pillow talk—tried to interrupt her, to tell her to speak in English. This resulted in her getting louder and shaking her finger in his face.
“Ah, begging you pardon, General, but she is being unfair. Captain Bender did not go out of his way to find trouble. It found us.”
General Reed looked at Abigail. “You speak Russian?”
“Da. Yes Sir.”
The General took a moment to contemplate this development. “I wonder what other abilities you have that your Prophet neglected to mention… Never mind. Here is a key to your new home. It is the other half of the duplex in company grade officers quarters where Torbin and Aleks reside. I have taken the liberty to fix a bed for you, and there are a few furniture items—a television, radio, towels, some food, drinks, etc. I would like you to stay near the two Captains to help you get acclimated. You are a diplomatic representative, so I cannot very well have you stay in the BOQ. Madam President wanted to be here to meet you and Torbin, but she was called back to Alaska on some last minute business. She left a package for you that I have placed in your new quarters. Take a few days, a week, to get settled. I’ll know where to find you.”
“General, Captain Bender told me some of the intelligence he needs to brief you on, in case something happened to him.”
“Hm. I think I just asked you to take some time off. Are you going to pull diplomatic rank on me, Abigail?”
“No Sir. Assuredly not. I would never disrespect you.”
“Good. That’s settled then. I’ll have the good Lieutenant drive you to your new home. You get some rest also, Captain.”
What no one knew was that General Reed had received a telephone call from a certain retired Colonel who, years ago, had checked the General out in the B-52. After hearing about the difficulties Abigail had endured for six years, he almost broke his teeth grinding them in anger. He had also quickly arranged for Abigail’s upgraded living arrangements. He was not about to add to her stress by immediately throwing her into the breach of operations. He had done without her up until now, so a few more days would not matter.
Just then, Aleks finished with Torbin, slapped his chest, hard, and walked toward Abigail. The Avenging Angel was taken aback, afraid she was in the middle of a domestic dispute.
Aleks stopped short. Abigail saluted her. “Captain Young,” Aleks declared.
“Ma’am.” Abigail responded. Aleks stepped forward and kissed her on both cheeks. Abigail was completely taken aback.
“Abigail, if I may call you that, the General has told me that my husband is in one piece thanks to you. I now owe you more than I can probably ever repay you. Please accept my eternal thanks.”
She took Abigail’s right hand in both of hers. “I hope we can be friends.”
Abigail seemed to fall into a slight trance as she looked at Aleks. “I do not want to upset you, but you are with child… children. You will have twins. Do not be afraid. My sight is a gift from God.”
Aleks’ mouth dropped open, then slowly closed again. “Twins?”
“Yes Ma’am. I... can just sense it, see it. I have no control, it just happens. Please do not be angry.”
In a rush, Aleks grabbed and hugged her, hard. She kissed her cheeks again, rattling thanks to her in Russian, to which Abigail immediately responded, which resulted in more exclamations and more rapid fire conversation.
Finally, Torbin broke in. “Hey, can I get an English word in edgewise?”
Aleks turned to Torbin. “Come, my Yankee husband. We have much to discuss. Abigail will be living next door to us, per General Reed’s request. Abigail, we will talk much tomorrow. Agreed?”
“Yes… Aleks. Of course.” With that, Aleks grabbed Torbin’s arm and began to lead him to the staff car.
Lieutenant Baker shyly approached Abigail. “Ma’am? May I take you to your quarters?”
She flashed him a large smile. “Of course you may. I would be delighted.” Abigail felt more relaxed than she had in six years. And Lieutenant Baker was hopelessly in love.
CHAPTER 4
KEY WEST, FLORIDA
Adam Lloyd sat at Mary’s desk in the front office, staring at a report he had been reviewing for some ten minutes. The workmen were putting the final touches on the repairs to Adam’s office area, the damage the result of the attack on the Headquarters following the nuke strike. Mary Lou Spence, his assistant, was over with Kat Monroe at the Communications Center, helping put together another news broadcast. Since they had declared themselves sister wives, and both had become pregnant by him, they had been spending a lot of time together. Adam was beginning to feel like a third wheel.
Sitting across the office was Heidi Faust, former Coastie and now his full time bodyguard. Unfortunately, the fallout from the nuclear attack on His Lordship—in addition to the radioactive kind—included some extremely nasty threats against Adam. Following the deaths of Squid young due, the Tschaaa had attacked base personnel without warning, and any ideas of a form of alliance or friendship between the two species had all but disappeared. The idea that “all humans looked alike” would not fly as an excuse. The current residents of Key West had put their asses on the line in the past couple of years to try and create a working relationship with the Tschaaa. It was hoped such a relationship would lead to humans—other than the people of color in Cattle Country—no longer being viewed primarily as meat on
the hoof or a temporary beast of burden. Rather, they would be a primary client species, just under the Tschaaa in importance and function. That had apparently gone up in a mushroom cloud, along with Lord Neptune’s Marquesas Keys complex.
Adam set down the report. His brain was not processing what he was reading, no matter how many times he reviewed the material. He sipped his drink, and noticed the ice cubes were almost gone. He rose to get some more from the ice bucket when Heidi spoke. “Hey Boss, just relax. I’ll get you some more ice.” As she stood up, Adam again noticed her attractive body. Her chin length brown hair was healthy and shiny from good health. She had been training him in martial arts for some time now, busting his ass to get him in better shape. But she had only been able to get him to the gym once since the nuke.
Adam sighed. It had been eight days since the warhead had hit a bit off target, missing killing His Lordship. Instead of hitting and burrowing deep into the center of the Marquesas Keys complex before detonating, the nuclear weapon had detonated in the southeast corner of the huge complex. The blast had been directed outward from the Marquesas Keys, the shock wave, radiated water and blast rushing directly into a Crèche birthing area. The last update he had gotten from El Segundo, His Lordship’s second in command, was that over two thousand Tschaaa had died, some eighty percent being young or adolescents. At least that many had been exposed to various levels of contamination. Lumped in with these numbers were the Squids killed by the U.S. Assault Team and Adam’s own Security Forces when the Squids had gone berserk, attacking all humans in their vicinity. The Tschaaa casualties been kept to the level that they had only due to the fact that they tended to keep spread out, especially swimming the oceans as a young Squid. If the huge Baja California complex had been hit instead, it would resulted in a much larger population being hit.
But this coincidence was scant help for the situation. It had been centuries since the Tschaaa had suffered this level of loss amongst the young all at one time. It was a truly a catastrophic event that resulted in psychic pain of epic proportions. The Tschaaa felt betrayed, believing their young had been targeted specifically.
The humans at Key West felt equally betrayed. Having tried to fight off the attack by their fellow humans, they were suddenly the targets of an attack by their supposed allies. Already called traitors or quislings by some, they had worked toward the bettering of the human conditions in North America. Thanks to the Tschaaa technologies and the recovering of power grid, medical care, food and amenities like a reconstituted internet, the people in Key West had started humanity on the slow climb back to the pre-rock strike level of civilization. Now, it seemed all for naught.
Adam had recently determined that twelve of his people had been directly killed by the Squids in their fury, with some seven Conch Republicans—the outside civilian populace—also being killed. Only five bodies had been recovered. The rest had no doubt been torn apart and eaten.
Captain Bender and his assault team had been so bloody efficient in the destruction they wove on the way off the Base, and the Tschaaa had spent much effort to catch and eat them. He snorted. A certain modern day samurai had hacked to death at least a dozen, with Captain Bender and the four survivors blasting untold numbers with their firearms. Only the efforts of Andrew, the cyborg robocop, had kept the Tschaaa from a more lengthy attack on humanity.
“Here, Boss.” Heidi gave him the newly iced drink. Adam had been living on “rusty nails”, popcorn, stale donuts and liquid bread—aka beer. He had trouble sleeping, constantly getting up to stare out the windows, running alternative possibilities through his mind. He was looking for a way out of this mess, to try to get things back to the way it was before the nuclear warhead had detonated. He had not been good company, especially to his two ladies.
He acknowledged Heidi as she sat down again.“What time is it, Heidi?”
“Just past ten in the morning.”
“Is it too early for a drink?”
Heidi smiled. “Boss, I’ve worked as a bartender. What’s early for some isn’t for others.”
“Think I’m drinking too much?”
Heidi sighed. “Boss, if I had to deal with what you are dealing with right now, I’d be dead drunk. I know you are performing the ultimate balancing act. You want to keep the rest of us ‘little people’ alive, and convince the Squids not to send us all to Cattle Country. I, for one, greatly appreciate that.”
Adam looked at Heidi. They had trained hard together, but rarely had in-depth conversations about current events and conditions, or about policies. She was a loyal soldier, and had proven herself to be better than most during the attempt to kill him. Heidi had even almost taken out Torbin Bender as he fled.
“Heidi, please be honest. Do you think I have a chance?”
“First, if anyone can find a solution, a way out, it’s you. Second, do I think there are a lot of Squids out there who would just as soon kill and eat us all, than use us as workers. And yes, it’s probably a majority of them today, thanks to a whole bunch of dead young.”
She stood up and walked over to the wet bar. She filled a glass of ice, then poured in some tonic water.
“Add some gin, and join me,” Adam suggested.
Heidi shook her head. “On duty, Boss. I need my wits and reflexes about me in case some certain Rebels decide to return.”
Adam grinned. “You want a rematch, don’t you?”
Heidi snorted. “I’ve never been cold cocked before. I’ve been knocked down, pinned, but never knocked out. I owe a certain Japanese warrior a good smack to the head.”
Adam chuckled. “You just about took Captain Bender out, didn’t you?”
“Yes, Boss, I did. But that damned…Samurai showed up. And I would have done better if they hadn’t CS gassed us. Damned cheaters.”
Adam burst out laughing. Finally, Heidi joined in. The one thing Heidi could do better than almost anyone else was to get him to laugh. Her complaint that, in a battle, you could cheat but shouldn’t, was just hilarious given the circumstances.
Finally, Adam composed himself. “Why do you stick around, Heidi? A short trip north, bypass Cattle Country, and you’re back in the Unoccupied States, free and clear. Someone with your martial arts skills would have no problem finding employment. Chances of being Squid Food are greatly reduced. Hell, if I wasn’t responsible for all of this, that’s what I would do.”
Heidi gave a small smile. “Good old-fashioned loyalty, Boss. You and the Chief kept me from either starving, pissing off some Squid with my attempts at fishing, or being eventually jumped just because I’m a women that some find attractive. I may be mean and nasty, but I can only handle so many bad guys at a time. A bullet to the leg would preventing me from running away, still enables someone to use me in other ways.” Adam actually saw her shiver a bit. Bad memories of something.
“So when you ask, I help, Boss. Simple as that. You are loyal to me, I return the favor. And besides...” her smile turned into a smirk. “How many women have the chance to kick the boss’ ass on a weekly basis without being fired?”
Adam snorted. “Hey, I’m not that bad. I’m just getting a bit old, that’s all. Besides, I didn’t grow up in a dojo. Talk about cheating.” They both chuckled.
The weight on his shoulders seemed a bit lighter. Heidi’s no nonsense honesty provided a view that things could always be better, or a lot worse. As long as he kept working to make things better, maybe he could at least keep things from getting worse. Inertia, non-movement, was still better than going down to defeat.
They heard a voice from the repaired winding staircase. “Director Lloyd, are you available?” It was Andrew. He had gotten into the habit of announcing himself as his appearances tended to unnerve some people. A being weighing hundreds of pounds with the capability of snapping bones like twigs was enough to make anyone nervous under normal circumstances. The ability to move quietly like a ninja just added to the freak factor.
“Yes Andrew, I am here, with Petty Officer
Faust.”
The cyborg robocop walked through the open double doors carrying a small case in his huge left hand. “A present, Director. To be used immediately, if possible.”
Adam opened the case and recognized it as a form of small laptop device, screen and all. “That, Sir, is a new secure communication device with which to communicate privately with His Lordship. Turn it on, follow the prompts, and voila—near instant communications, encrypted and secure. Click on the additional menu, you can play mind numbing video games, or download your favorite pornography.” The human part of Andrew had a very droll sense of humor that reminded everyone that yes, he was a human deep down inside.
“I don’t think I’ll be doing either anytime soon. So, I take it this is so I don’t need to use your abilities and equipment to talk securely with His Lordship.”
“That is right, Director. Now, if the workmen are finished in your office, I suggest you take advantage of your privacy contact His Lordship. He has recovered enough now, and wishes to talk with you.”
Adam knew this would be a sensitive situation. He had dealt with El Segundo since the attack, wondering when Lord Neptune would recover enough to be involved with him. Adam knew he had been injured, but his offspring refused to tell him just how injured he was. Now Adam would find out. He might also find out that he was about to be replaced. Maybe even terminated—with prejudice.
He went into his office to find the workmen applying the last bits of touch up paint on the window sills. The older supervisor greeted Adam. “All done, Director. You’ll need to stay away from the molding and the window areas as the paint is still drying. Otherwise, the walls and furniture have been repaired or replaced. Those grenades did a number on your office, but I think we did a good job fixing everything.”
Adam looked around. He could not see any sign of the shrapnel or explosive damage. “Looks great, gentlemen.” He tossed them a wad of bills. “You and the rest of your crew have food and drink on me for a good job done in record time. Thanks.”
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