by Shane Crosby
“Magic?”
“Yeah, they call them miracles.”
I started to laugh. “Dub when I heal, I’m going to kill you myself. And, then I’m going to tell Mom you’re mocking Jesus.”
“You always got to bring mama into everything. You’ve always been a cry baby sissy.”
“I’ll make you think cry baby as soon as I’m one hundred percent, it’s me and you, you macabre bastard.”
“Good! Glad you got your fight back. It was killing me to see you laying up there licking your wounds like an injured animal. At least animals fight to the death. You were just lying there preparing to die.”
“Okay, Okay, Military Dear Abby. What happened? Did you get the stuff?”
“There’s good and bad. The good part is I was able to get the samples. I was able to get everything in the drawers at your office. The bad, someone beat me to anything you had in your office refrigerator and they searched your house. It looks like a hurricane hit this place. They must have been spooked or something because they didn’t search anywhere else but your living room and the kitchen. They went straight for the refrigerator, too. Your room wasn’t searched, that was the only sample you had left. I have it packed in a cooling bag. It’ll keep it at the right temperature until we can get it analyzed.”
“Now, are you going to tell me I’m imagining things and everything is going to be alright?”
“No. I don’t have any more fairytales or happy endings to try and sell you on.”
“Was there anything on my desk from someone named Harris?”
“Yes. He found Morris’ car.”
“Where?”
“Doesn’t say, just a note to call him and he found the car. Do you want me to call him?”
“I want to know what he has, but I don’t want to get him killed.”
“Listen, they’ve searched your office. It’s a great possibility he may already be dead. They could’ve seen the note.”
“If they saw it, I think they would’ve taken it. A better question, how were they able to get onto a US military base? Secondly, how did they gain access to my office? Am I a sitting duck in this hospital?”
“I’m not going to lie to you any more, I believe this case is being watched and yes I believe you’re a sitting duck in that hospital which is why I’ve put in a call. Listen, I need you to stay alive until he gets there. Utilize your training to keep yourself alive.”
“Dub, I can’t even go to the restroom alone. I have to pee in a plastic bottle. I have a dang pan to use the bathroom in. I’m just one step above dead. What am I going to do? Shoot someone? With what? I have a catheter. I’m dizzy lying down let alone trying to walk. Man, damn! I gotta use a bedpan Dub! I’m doing worse than an old eighty-year old man.”
“You’re a solider! And, before that, we had to survive in some of the worst parts of Gochian. I damn sure know that you can survive this and you’re not alone. There’s five of us, remember? And, we adopted a sixth one. Nothing’s gonna happen to you. Just stay alive until help arrives. It won’t be long.”
“Yeah, but there’s only one of us here in this hospital room injured.”
“Don, stop feeling sorry for yourself. You survived combat, not once but twice. I left you a weapon, now use it and stop bellyaching.”
“I’ll be here when you get back. If you’re ever in this position, Dub, I’m going to treat you worse.”
“Good. I hope you won’t allow me to give up. I’ll find Harris and let you know what happens from there. Oh and, you need to get some freaking security around here. You don’t have an alarm, cameras, motion detectors, nothing. I feel naked.”
“Dub, I know it’s difficult for you to understand this, but not everyone lives their lives hiding in a hole with Sadam.”
“They don’t?”
“Man bye! Add whatever you like.”
“And, pay for it too, right?”
“Hey, you’re the big man on campus. Special branch of the government, yada, yada, remember?”
“Yeah, yeah, never let me live that down.”
“Not once, bro.”
(Click)
When I finished my conversation with my little brother, I went to the store and purchased some much needed equipment. I took the remainder of the day and into the early morning hours to install everything. Afterwards, I showered without looking over my shoulder for the end of someone’s gun. I’ll rest better tonight, or what’s left of it knowing if anything moves I’ll be notified first.
I know my brother thinks I was hard on him and anyone on the outside looking into our family unit would too. As the older brother, it was always my duty to look after the younger ones. True, we’re not more than a few years apart, but still the oldest is the one who bears all the weight so you better have some broad shoulders and fortunately I have.
CHAPTER FOURTEEN
THE NEXT DAY
BERLIN
Dub
The sun didn’t want me to sleep in this morning and neither did my brother.
Mason Stone the fourth brother in our family. He took the same path as the three before him, joined the military and followed his big brother, Don into the Air Force. He’s a fighter pilot. Our father wears this accomplishment on his chest wherever he goes. He brags about his son, the fighter pilot, defending his country during both wars. Six two, muscles popping out everywhere, green eyes, black curly hair the women would say my little brother is a looker. Glad our parents raised us to be grounded in only that which is genuine. The outside doesn’t make a man. He’s not my little brother any more, though. He’s grown into a full man, amazing how that happens right in front of your face, too.
Little brother felt the need to, allow me to borrow a phrase from my southern brethren, come a calling early this morning. I have to laugh at the thought of that. My mom hated it when I mocked her grandparents. But, for us boys, it was always a favorite past time of ours.
“Hey Dub! Wake up man.”
“Don’t come over here unannounced. I have this house rigged.”
“Awww, I should have known. I have some good news.”
“Proceed.”
“I found your little dude, Harris.”
“I’m happy you woke me up for this! I mean really? It couldn’t wait at least until the sun was up?
“Nope. Oh, I get it. Because you’re usually sleeping in a cave now you’re in a nice comfy bed. You don’t want to get out of it.”
“Little brother, don’t get knocked out.”
“I’m not so little any more give it your best shot.”
I started to laugh. “I love you, little brother. I don’t want to kill you so, I’ll let you slide.”
“Um hmm. I think I can take you.”
“Ha! Nah, not likely. Where is he?”
“I’ll take you to him.”
“With everything going on I didn’t want anyone to see me approach him. I’m afraid he’d be on the kill list.”
“We can call him or just go over there and think of something when we get there.”
“It’s important not to get this kid killed. Don just lost Morris.”
“I agree with you there. Did you tell Don you thought he was dead?”
“Of course, I didn’t, but he knows.”
“Killing him to admit it.”
“Yeah, it would me too.”
“Let’s not mess this one up.”
“We’re going on a mission, good. I’m so happy I could dance a jig.”
“A what?”
“A jig?”
“If I ever see you dancing a damn jig, I’ll disown you.”
“Never, we’re linked together for life.”
“Um hmmm, you start dancing a freaking jig and I’ll do all the research to find out how I can break that link.”
“You’d only be hurting yourself.”
“You wish.”
“Don’t need to. You know it’s true.” I smacked his head and ran to get dressed.
“You be
tter run, big ass Clydesdale. Hey, where are all the boobie traps in here. I’m not
I finished my shower and was raring to go. I wanted to get a look at Morris’ car. I hoped he was in it, hurt, but alive.
“Mase! Let’s go.”
“Right behind you, Bro.”
“I’ll get in the back and lie down. You left your car on the base, right?”
“Of course, I’ve run a few missions in my day. You don’t have to tell me the plan twice.”
“We’ll switch when we get there.”
“Uh, hmmm, is there enough room for you to lie down? I don’t think this jeep is big enough for Shrek.”
I pushed him in the head. “Don’t quit the military to go on the comedy circuit.”
“I don’t know. I might be good at it.”
“Yeah, as good as a Nun in a whorehouse.”
“Look at all that jealousy just oozing out.”
“Man get in.”
“Talking to me like I’ve never gone on a mission before.”
“What you say?”
“Nothing chrome dome.”
“Always gotta go to the head.”
I’m six five. I weigh roughly three hundred and twenty five pounds. My job requires me to be able to take control of any situation. No matter what’s going on around me, I have to come back alive and in one piece. Therefore, I’m all muscle. Which will explain the jokes about my size. Oh, and I’m voluntarily bald.
AMATEUR SLEUTHS
BERLIN
Mase
As we were pulling out of the driveway, Dub called Harris to tell him we were on our way. From Don’s house, it took about half an hour to arrive. We pulled up to the security gate, I showed my ID, the opened the gates and we drove onto base. When drove around to Don’s office and Harris was waiting for us outside. I pulled the jeep around back, parked and we got out to meet him. When I saw Harris, all I could do is shake my head. He looked like he’s not old enough to cross the street by himself let alone enlist in the military.
Harris is about five feet nine; barely nineteen years old still suffers from acne. He looks like a pimple faced lanky kid in middle school. You can tell he has a lot of filling out to do, nowhere in the vicinity of being a man, but he’s been authorized to carry a weapon and drive a tank and do what it takes to protect this nation. If he can endure, the military promises to make a man out of him and from the looks of this little guy, that’s exactly what’s needed.
“How’s it going? I hear you have a message for my brother, Lieutenant Don Cole.”
He looks surprised. “How is Lou?”
“He’s recuperating.”
“Sorry for all the cloak and dagger stuff. We needed to keep all of this under wraps.”
“I understand. Ever since I looked that car up, it’s like someone is following me. I haven’t gone to the site because I was afraid.”
“Afraid of what?”
“Of being in a remote location that I wouldn’t come back from.”
“Understood.”
“You guys ready? Let’s get in and go.”
“Harris, I need you to lie down and stay still.”
“Hey man, with all this weird shit going on lately, you don’t have to tell me twice.”
I turned the jeep around and headed towards the gate. They waved us on through and we were on our way.
“Harris, don’t get up until we get to the site.”
“Like I said man, you don’t have to tell me twice. Does the Lou know they’ve listed Morris as AWOL?”
“They officially listed him?”
“Yes. They’re looking for him, hard.”
“We need to get to this car before the military does. After we go over it, we need to come up with a story to steer them into the right direction without them knowing we found it.”
“And, something good too. I don’t want to spend any time in some Black OPS prison.”
“That’s not going to happen.”
“I bet Morris thought nothing would happen to.”
The directions Harris was giving us was taken us out of the city of Berlin. Every time I thought we couldn’t go any further, he’d say turn left, right or keep going straight. I was beginning to believe he was lost.
“Morris, do you know where you’re going?”
“When did you come up with that? I thought he was lost ten miles back.”
“I’m not lost.”
“How would you know?”
“Turn right at the next little road. Slow your speed or you’ll miss it.”
“Um hmm, I’m taking a nap. Let me know when we’re back at Don’s house.”
“I am not lost. If I wanted to hide something that no one would ever find I wouldn’t make it easy to find it.”
“I agree, but that doesn’t mean you’re not lost.”
Harris hit my arm. “There it is, turn right here.”
I turned right down a gravel covered road. How far is it, Harris?”
“From my GPS coordinates, we’re getting closer.”
“Keep looking at that thing closely. We don’t want to miss it. If we get lost back here we’ll have to use Morris Code to get out.”
“Morris Code? Really Dub? You couldn’t come up with something better than that?”
“That was a bad joke.”
“It wasn’t a joke. We’re all in the military. You know Morris Code exists. We’re the only people in the world who would know how to use it. I didn’t mean anything by it. But, considering Private Morris is probably in the trunk of this car, I guess it wasn’t the best reference to use, huh?”
“You think?”
“Okay, sorry.”
We continued down the narrow winding road until the gravel and rock ran out and we hit a dirt road. The tension and uncertainty in the car is so thick you could reach up and squeeze it with your hand. Each person looking hoping each turn we make will reveal the location of Morris’ car and maybe even Morris himself.
We continued about another mile in a half deep into the forest. The further we drove, the darker and spookier it became. It wasn’t long before someone thought they saw something.
“Stop! I think we’re here.”
“I think that’s the bumper of a car.”
“How can you tell?”
“I’m just guessing, but I think it is Mase.”
“Let’s get out and take a look.”
“Don’t touch anything. We learned that in school.”
“Broke ass Horatio Cain wannabe
“You two are just jealous of my potential.”
I gave off a little chuckle. “Yeah, you’re right.”
“His potential. Too funny. You have the most potential to fall off the Humvee during combat.”
“I’m glad I’m not in this family.”
“You should wish you were in this family. We have a blast. Hey Mase, help me pull these limbs off.”
“One second let’s get some gloves so we don’t accidentally touch anything. Horatio won’t like that.”
“I forgot. He learned that in school.”
“You guys always with the jokes. Don’t quit your day job, please.”
“You either, Horatio.”
“Whatever, man just get the gloves.”
“I hope there’s some gloves back there.”
“Hey we’re in luck. Dub, we stole the right car. It’s loaded with all kinds of equipment that looks like evidence gathering stuff.”
“Tell me you didn’t steal this from our unit.”
“Uh, I can’t tell you that because it looks like that’s exactly what we did.”
“Toughen up soldier. It’s for a good cause.”
“Do you two think that defense will work at our court martial hearing?”
“This kid is wound up too tightly. If you’re going to cry like a little girl, this is the last mission we take you on.”
“Do you promise?”
“Relax pretty woman, this is Don’s car. And, I’m find with
not taking you with us again.”
“We can’t hide from the enemy because they’ll hear all of that crying you’re doing. Hey prima donna, get to work.”
As we started to remove the debris we could see this wasn’t a car any more. They’d cleaned up after themselves.
“We’re too late, this is just a shell.”
“They beat us to it.”
“I wish the Lou hadn’t gotten hurt. We could’ve processed it sooner.”
“Nah, newbie, don’t waste your time on regret. I’m sure they burned this car the night they abducted Morris.”
“I’m with you on that one.”
“We tried.”
“Why does, ‘we tried.’ Always make you feel like you do when you lose?”
“Because we tried or I tried is just a consolation speech you give yourself when you lose kid and we lost this one.”
I WAS EXPECTING YOU
BERLIN
Dub & Mase
After a disappointing day, we dropped Harris back off at the base. He’s not just new to the military; he’s new to life and the ups and downs you encounter. He wore the disappointment and horror at the thought that his friend is surely dead all over his face. His body was even telling how he felt, wronged, dejected and in disbelief. I tried to reassure him that we’ll figure out another way, but his naivety would only allow him to see what was in front him and at the moment, that wasn’t much.
After we dropped Harris off, Mase and I decided to go back to Don’s house to see if we can come up with a speck of dirt to put into this Grand Canyon size hole Trevor has dropped us into. As we drove up, I could see something happened, bloodstains in the yard, pieces of grass displaced, dirt showing and drag marks. I asked my brother to let me out before we drove into the driveway. I walked the sidewalk to make sure my eyes weren’t deceiving me. The closer I got to the stain saw that I was correct. It was blood. I knew Mase could see something happened here today as well, but he kept quiet about it. Seeing all of this carnage that occurred here today doesn’t make me happy. All this does is confirm my suspicions that the case my brothers are working on is not only a threat to their lives, but to all those who are around them.
I went inside to take a look at the security video. Although pointless, I hoped it would show their faces, if we could identity just one person, potentially, we could destroy the entire operation.