A Few Good Men

by Cat Johnson

  John smiled. “Only you wouldn’t want to just rest and enjoy the time off for one extra day.”

  Jazzy shrugged. “Well, I do enjoy parts of it. I’ve been sleeping so much during the day that sometimes I sneak into the MWR in the middle of the night. At times I find it pretty empty, and I can usually catch the wife on the webcam after she puts my son in bed. If I can get on the corner machine and angle the screen toward the wall, I can get a bit of privacy. Mmm, mmm. What she shows me is enough to heal what ails a man.”

  John’s ears perked up.

  “And how…never mind.” He’d investigate the aspects of talking dirty and webcam sex on instant messenger on his own, after he got this first bit of unpleasantness with Jazzy over with. “I want to talk to you about something.”

  His crewman frowned and nodded, looking actually serious, a rarity. “Of course, sir.”

  John let out a small laugh. “This isn’t a tank commander talking to his loader. This is me talking to my friend.”

  Jazzy raised a brow and nodded again. “Okay.”

  “And in that capacity, I’m going to tell you if you tease me or repeat what I’m about to tell you, I’ll wait for you to heal and then beat the crap out of you.”

  Grinning again, Jazzy looked intrigued and maybe even a bit smug. “I will only agree to those conditions if I can set one of my own.”

  John frowned. “What’s that?”

  “That I’m allowed just once to say I told you so.”

  “Told me so?”

  Jazzy nodded. “Yup. When you admit I was right and you do like having a pen pal and you do like Summer.”

  John felt his brow crease and his eyes narrow until the relief that Jazzy already knew took over. He sat heavily on the empty bed across the room and buried his face in his hands. So much for his supposedly unreadable poker face. “How did you know?”

  Jazzy laughed. “When I sneak into the MWR against doctor’s orders, I don’t always catch my wife. So I catch up on my emails. Summer wrote and told me you two have been writing to each other pretty regularly. And if I’m not totally off base here, I think she’s trying to get information about you out of me.”

  He looked up to see Jazzy’s brow raised as he waited for that info to sink into John’s brain. “What kind of information?”

  “Well, I swear she was feeling around to find out if you’re married or have a girlfriend. I didn’t let anything out because I didn’t know how you felt about her. I was going to talk to you about it eventually. She’s a really sweet girl and considering what she does for a living, she’s surprisingly insecure about herself. At least that’s the feeling I get from her. So if you aren’t interested, it might be easier on her to lie and say you’re involved with someone. But if you do like her…” Jazzy left the suggestion hanging in the air.

  John took in a sharp breath as this latest concept hit him. She was afraid he was already involved with someone else. Well, he would have to straighten that misconception out immediately. Then maybe these other dates would stop.

  “So are you interested?” Jazzy probed, although judging by the look on his smart-ass face, he already knew the answer and just wanted to hear John say it out loud.

  John reluctantly gave in. “Yes, I’m interested.”

  His friend smiled. “So what do you want me to tell her?”

  “Nothing. I can handle that part myself.” But there was still that other sticky part. “What do you make of this dating thing of hers?”

  Jazzy grinned wider. “You’re jealous.”

  John rose to leave. “Never mind.”

  “Hey, now. Wait a minute. I won’t tease. I promise. Sit back down, and I’ll tell you what I think and what I know.”

  Scowling, John decided Jazzy’s offer of inside info was too good to pass up simply because of his pride being hurt. He crossed his arms but remained standing. “I’m listening.”

  “She’s still going on these dates because it’s been really good for her book sales, and her dating blog is actually getting a ton of hits and comments lately.”

  “So that’s it? It’s all just a marketing ploy?”

  “Well, no. Not exactly. Not at first anyway. It didn’t start as that. She originally started the dating because she really did want to find a good guy. But she said something else in her last email.” Jazzy smirked and made him wait for it.

  Damn, John hated Jazzy having something on him. “What did she say?”

  “That she thought she’d already found that guy, and she’d probably stop the dating soon. You wanna know who I think that guy is?”

  John looked up at his friend’s self-satisfied face and was almost afraid to say what he was thinking. “Me?”

  “Yes, you. Jeez. Do you have to be hit over the head?”

  “No.” But how the hell was a guy supposed to know when every time he turned around the woman who interested him was out on a date with another man? He frowned. “Are you sure?”

  “I’m married. I’m pretty good at reading females. Believe me. If I am wrong about this, you can have a shot at me in the boxing ring as soon as the doc says it’s okay.”

  There had been times John had wanted to pummel Jazzy, but this was not one of them. In fact, he was pretty tempted to give him that big, wet kiss Maureen had mentioned in one of her emails.

  “Okay.” In the process of heading for the door, John paused and turned back. “And if you tell the other guys, Jazzy, I swear—”

  “I know, I know. Don’t you worry. Your secret is safe with me. I won’t say another word about it after these last two… You’re welcome.”

  John watched Jazzy beam smugly and couldn’t help the smile that crossed his lips. “Thank you for twisting my arm into emailing Maureen.”

  “Ooo. Maureen, huh? Wow, so that’s her real name and she told it to you? I’m impressed.”

  Shit, he’d let that slip out.

  “Jazzy…” John’s voice crept low with warning.

  “Shutting up now, sir.”

  “Good.”

  John left the room with a smile on his face. Next stop, the MWR to reply to Maureen. He would set this woman straight about a few things, then enjoy a hopefully tasty, non-gray meal. They were serving Easter dinner in the chow hall, and John was suddenly starving.

  Finally, he felt in control again, like he had a plan. It was a good feeling.

  Chapter Thirteen

  Maureen silently read John’s email and, since it was Monday and she was at work, had to stifle the happy sounds that kept escaping her throat as she reread key sentences.

  I know we’ve never discussed this before, but I want you to know I’m not involved with anyone else.

  Anyone else. Did that imply that he considered himself involved with her? And exactly how involved?

  Though I’m not allowed to give you an exact date, my deployment is up very soon. I’m scheduled to go back to Germany with the platoon, but if you want, I could get some time off and come to the States to meet.

  If she wanted. She wanted nothing more.

  It was crazy but no less real. She wanted to dance around the office, shout at the top of her lungs, at the very least tell someone. Anyone. But there was no one to tell, not even Peter. Not as long as she kept it all a secret.

  All she knew was she couldn’t sit still any longer. Getting up from her desk, Maureen decided to wander around the office a bit. The choices for distraction were pretty limited. There was always the coffee room, or she could go to the restroom, then maybe downstairs to the vending machines to get a diet soda. Not exactly equivalent to dancing, but it would serve to get her away from her desk. Then she could sit back down and begin to work on her response to John. She wanted it to be perfect but she wasn’t sure yet what to say.

  Maureen opted for the coffee room since that morning someone had brought in bagels and she could use a little snack with her coffee. She stopped short in the doorway when she saw Tiffany already in there, but it was too late. She’d been spotted.


  She silently berated herself for not checking if the coast was clear first as she moved to the coffee maker.

  “Hello there.” Tiffany grinned while very pointedly going out of her way to reach her left hand in front of Maureen’s face to take a coffee cup.

  Maureen leaned her head back to avoid losing the tip of her nose to Tiffany’s manicured talons when a glinting caught her attention. Eyes opened wide, she gazed upon a glittering diamond on the left ring finger of her nemesis. “Oh my God. Is that—?”

  “An engagement ring? Why, yes, it is.” Tiffany’s evil smile spread wider.

  “What… How… When?” Maureen seemed incapable of forming actual sentences.

  “This weekend. My Marine got two weeks of R and R and flew here. We met for the first time Friday night. He proposed Sunday. Not bad, huh?”

  Not bad? Jeez. Maureen thought things like this only happened at the chapels in Las Vegas, and that was after massive amounts of alcohol consumption.

  “Um, wow.” What exactly could she say? Not what she felt, that she was very happy it was the Marine and not the soldier, who she secretly knew was Jazzy and John’s friend, Morales.

  Then there was the other thought that crossed her mind, and it caused the strangest feelings in her. Rather than her initial knee-jerk reaction of being envious of Tiffany over this strange turn of events, it instead gave her hope.

  John wanted to come to meet her during his leave. The same thing could happen to her. Wow. That thought made her weak in the knees.

  Perhaps it was lack of oxygen that brought on this strange euphoria, perhaps love, but whatever caused it, Maureen grabbed Tiffany and hugged her hard. With actual tears in her eyes, Maureen said with a sincerity that surprised even herself, “I’m so happy for you.”

  Tiffany pulled back with a frown. “Uh, thanks.”

  “I gotta get back to my desk.” Maureen released the shocked woman and turned to rush back to her computer and John’s email.

  “Wait, didn’t you want coffee?” Tiffany called after her.

  “No, not really.” Maureen smiled. She wanted to get back and write to John. Now she knew exactly what she wanted to say and what she wanted to do.

  On more than one night she’d dreamed of John making love to her. Now her dreams would probably include his proposing, because apparently these things actually happened. They could happen to her.

  She didn’t know what his feelings were, but meeting in person would be the perfect way to find out. Nearly bubbling over with excitement, Maureen sat down to write. She’d planned to play it cool, but that seemed beyond her now.

  John,

  Yes, yes, yes. I want to meet you more than anything else on earth. When? Where? Just tell me and I’ll be there.

  Maureen

  Heart pounding, she hit Send and settled in for what she hoped would not be too long a wait.

  “Morales.” John had already asked the man for the salt twice at the dining hall table and been ignored both times.

  The large Texan jumped. “Yes, sir.”

  “What the hell is wrong with you today?” He rose and grabbed the salt shaker himself, deciding it was easier.

  Morales frowned. “Sir? I don’t know what you mean.”

  Gonzo shook his head from his seat across the table. “He means you’ve been moping around all day. You don’t hear anyone when they talk to you. The only time you paid attention was in the driver’s seat in the tank this morning. The rest of the day you were like a zombie.”

  He shrugged. “Sorry.”

  Gonzo rolled his eyes and stood. “I’m going back up for a piece of cake. Anyone else want one?”

  Had there been decent coffee to go with it, John would have accepted the offer. Since there wasn’t, he shook his head instead. Morales simply scowled, so Gonzo left for the line to get a slice of leftover Easter cake the military thought would make the soldiers happy and forget they were away from home and family on yet another holiday.

  Once alone, John leaned forward toward the younger man. “Morales. If you need to talk about anything, I’m here as your friend not your commander. Nothing you tell me would go any farther.”

  Morales screwed up his mouth. “It’s no big secret, sir. Just embarrassing as hell.” John waited as Morales sighed and then continued. “My girl Tiffany dumped me.”

  Hmm. John could lend a sympathetic ear, but he was really not prepared to dispense advice on love. He was having enough issues already trying to figure out what to do about his feelings for Maureen. Luckily, it seemed as if Morales was happy to just keep talking and didn’t expect any words of wisdom.

  “So get this, she got all twisted over me not emailing her when email was down, as if I can do anything about the damn Internet connection. I’m in Iraq, for Christ’s sake. So she got extra chummy online with some frigging Marine she admitted she was writing to the entire damn time she was writing to me. She just never bothered to tell me that fact back when she was sending me sexy pictures of her in a bikini and telling me she had feelings for me.” Morales rolled his eyes.

  “Anyway, this Marine gets leave, goes to New York to meet her for the first time this weekend and then asks her to marry him. And sure enough, she said yes. She didn’t bother to tell me any of this until I finally got the email earlier today. But she wants to know if we can still be friends. And from the way she wrote it, all flirty, I bet she wouldn’t mind being friends with benefits, if you know what I mean. I’ll tell you what, we can be friends again when it snows in hell.”

  When the tirade concluded, John didn’t know what to say. He decided to go with a safe old standby. “I’m sorry.”

  Morales let out a bitter-sounding laugh. “It’s okay. It wasn’t like I was in love with her or anything. I’ll miss the instant messenger sessions and her webcam though. She had a body that would make a man stand up and sing. That’s for damn sure. But now that I think about it, she wouldn’t even show me any bare boob and it seems like I was doing all the sexy typing to her. She got more out of that than I did there in the MWR. Hell. I tell you what, she’s gonna miss me, not the other way around.”

  John tried not to imagine those instant messenger sessions for himself. The thought of what Maureen, being a romance author, could write to him was enough to make parts of him stand up and sing.

  Finally, Morales took a deep breath. “You know what? I think I will get me some of that cake.”

  As Morales rose and joined Gonzo in the cake line, John shook his head. Webcams, having sex on instant messenger. It was a whole new world out there. Unfortunately, his repertoire of dating was from the old one. Apparently he had a lot to learn about the new world of cyber space.

  But right now he had to go back to the world of military paperwork. He rose and stretched his back, wishing he could take off the body armor, knowing he couldn’t. Swinging by the cake line, he said goodbye to his two guys and headed outside to the administration building while trying to ignore the sounds of mortar fire not far in the distance.

  Upon entering the building full of offices, he spotted his lieutenant speaking with a gray-haired man dressed in all black, right down to his body armor. Not exactly great camouflage for daytime in Iraq.

  His superior waved him over. “Staff Sergeant John Blake, this is Commander Hank Miller.”

  Introductions made and hands shaken—the man in black had quite a grip on him—John was about to excuse himself and head for his desk when his lieutenant stopped him. “Commander Miller would like to speak with you privately, Staff Sergeant.”

  John felt his brow rise. He nodded. “Yes, sir.”

  What the hell could this be about? He looked toward the lieutenant for some clue but received no more than a smile. Figuring a smile was better than a frown, John followed this Commander Miller into an empty office and closed the door behind them.

  The man flopped into the chair behind the desk and leaned his elbows on the metal surface like he was used to being there. John remained standing
until the commander motioned to the chair. “Please sit, Staff Sergeant.”

  By default, John sat in the only other chair in the room and waited.

  The man pursed his lips, obviously sizing him up. “You have family back in the States, Blake?”

  Was this small talk or something more? He was betting on the something more. “Just my grandmother, sir. In Pennsylvania.”

  Miller nodded. “Got yourself a girl back there or in Germany?”

  John raised his brow. Well now this was getting awfully personal. “No, sir.” Not exactly. Not yet anyway, and he sure as hell wasn’t about to tell this guy he didn’t even know about Maureen.

  “So a location change wouldn’t be a problem for you then?”

  Uh, oh. “No, sir. I’ve gone wherever the Army has sent me for going on ten years.”

  Miller nodded.

  “Good, good.” The man tented his fingers and looked at John over the top of them. “You happy, Blake?”

  John felt his eyes open wide in surprise. What was this, some sort of counseling session? “Sir?”

  “In your position. Are you happy being a tank commander?”

  What the hell? “Um, yes, sir. I guess so.”

  “Where do you see yourself in a few years?”

  Hopefully not in fucking Iraq. “I’m a career man, sir. I don’t know where I will be, but God willing and if I’m still able to, I’ll be in the Army in some capacity.”

  “There are other places for a man of your skills than in a tank platoon in the Army. Positions that are still military, still working toward your pension, but a position where you may be more valuable to your country, under the radar so to speak.”

  John frowned until it started to sink in. He nearly slapped his own forehead when he realized it. The man dressed in black was Black OPS—talk about a cliché. “You’re a recruiter for SpecOps? And you’re interested in me?”

  Commander Miller outright laughed at what must have been a very comical look on John’s face. “Why so surprised, Blake?”