“So, how did your day go?” He said with apprehension.
“Not bad. I didn’t know where everyone went though. I almost started hiking myself. I thought this might be another test to see if I could get out of the Alaskan wilderness alone.”
“Are you mad at me because I didn’t tell you where I was going?” His voice became amused.
“No.” He thought I was being possessive.
“Well, what then? You’re too quiet.”
“I assume the men normally have a daily exercise routine?”
“Yes. Why?”
“I’d like to lead them in the morning if that’s all right.”
“I’m sure we can work that out. Why?” He asked again, his expression grim.
“I think I should use Black’s tactics. You were right. I need to make the men respect me.” I shrugged.
“What happened?” His tone became ominous and I began to regret even mentioning it.
I started to tell him the story and when I reached the part where Sullivan called me names White jumped up and yelled, “What?” He was half way to the door by the time I caught his arm.
“Let me finish. I threatened his job,” White cut me off in mid sentence.
“As you should have. As far as I’m concerned, Sullivan no longer works with the company.”
“I don’t know if I want to go that far yet. Lets give him a little time to consider what he’s done. His attitude doesn’t make sense. I’m not sure he’s rational.” I didn’t understand my feelings of guilt in this matter, but they were there all the same.
“I’m sorry, Alex, but I don’t agree. We can’t afford this type of attitude in the company.” He pulled his arm free and grabbed his coat. My objections went unheard as he left my room. I put my coat on and followed after him before I realized I didn’t have my shoes on. I went back into my room and slipped them on. I didn’t even take the time to tie them. White was already gone and I didn’t catch up to him until right outside Headquarters.
“White,” I started to say but he ignored me and went inside so I followed, right on his heels.
Cadet Sullivan had company and they all jumped to their feet and stood at attention as White and I stormed in. “Commander White,” Sullivan said and the other two men backed away from him somewhat.
“I’ve just been told some very disturbing news, Sullivan.” White’s voice was dripping with rage.
“What would that be, sir?” Sullivan feigned innocence.
“We both know what I’m talking about. Commander Grey informed me of your termination and I wanted you to know it is official. I will draw up your last check and have Sam fly you to the nearest airport as soon as he can find time.”
“What?” Now Sullivan was grasping it. I felt a surge of glee followed by those same feelings of guilt. I knew Sullivan had been wrong, but I didn’t want to be the reason a man lost his job.
“You are relieved of your duties as of now. I suggest you get your stuff together.” White’s tone remained terse and stern and it put me on edge.
Sullivan diverted his attention to me and yelled, “You got me fired, you stupid bitch!”
I knew what was coming before I ever saw him move so I was between White and Sullivan before White could connect with his punch. I grabbed White’s arm and slowed him enough so Sullivan could dodge out of the way.
“No.” I said calmly and White got a hold of himself.
“I knew you were his whore!” Sullivan said from behind me. I kept Whites gaze until I was sure he wouldn’t try to go after Sullivan again then I turned around.
“Sullivan, you are walking on thin ice here. I actually didn’t want to fire you but now I’ve changed my mind. You may go now.” I added this last part just to make him mad and it worked. He lunged for me and I was aware of White moving in to intercept but I was faster than both of them. I got in a good punch to Sullivan’s eye and had him down on his knees before either he or White could get involved in the fight.
“Nice,” White complimented me.
“Thanks,” I said as I held Sullivan’s arm stretched straight out behind him. Black had put me in this position a time or two and it was very uncomfortable. If a person struggled too much they would break their own arm. Sullivan sat stiffly on his knees trying to catch his breath. He didn’t say anything more so I knew he had his anger under control. This meant one of two things. He could be coming up with a plan or he had conceded. I decided to find out which one it was and released him. He pulled his arm around and clutched it to his body. I had made a perfect shot to his eye and it was beginning to redden. He looked at White and started to say something but White shook his head ominously.
“Take him into custody, gentlemen,” he told the other two.
Other than a wild look and tense body language, Sullivan didn’t protest any further and allowed the two cadets to lead him away.
When the two cadets returned they immediately saluted White who said, “At ease. Were you two here to relieve Sullivan?”
“Yes, sir,” they both answered him.
“Carry on then.” White turned to face me and said, “Shall we?” Then we both moved toward the door. On the way back to the Officer’s barracks White said he should inform Johns of the incident and I should come with him. We went directly to Johns’ room and were greeted warmly. Once inside, I could tell the room was well lived in. My room was more like a hotel room, but Johns had his set up more like an apartment with many personal things throughout. He had pictures hung on the walls, a computer desk with a printer but no computer and other personal belongings and all had the look of permanence.
White and I took a seat at the small table in the kitchenette area and Johns said, “So, what brings you two here at this time of night?”
“I fired one of your guys.” White informed him.
“Who?” Johns asked.
“Sullivan.”
“Sullivan?” Johns’ voice was troubled. “What happened?”
“He is disrespectful and combative,” White was still tense.
“I’ll take care of it immediately.” Johns started to make moves to leave.
“I’ve already taken care of it. He’s in custody and I’ll have Sam fly him out of here tomorrow. “ White made it clear this was final by changing the subject.
“What time do the men usually get up for morning drills?”
“We’ve cut it down to just Sunday drills,” Johns said guiltily.
“Is that so? Johns, I have to say what I’m finding up here is a disaster so far. We’ll begin at,” he looked at me.
“Four A.M.” I answered him.
“Understood.”
“We better all get some sleep so we’ll be ready for the long day tomorrow.” White added and turned to go.
I followed him out of the room and as soon as the door was shut behind us I said, “Is this normal?”
“No. Johns is officially up for review and I’ve decided I’m going to demote him. This is unacceptable from someone we’ve promoted to CO.” White was angry. He didn’t allow me to reply and left me standing outside my room alone. It was going to be a long day tomorrow and I needed to get some sleep. The one thing I wouldn’t do is stand on the sidelines and bark orders. I planned on showing these men I could outdo them.
*****
Chapter Six
White must have still been in bed when I knocked on his door the next morning because he answered in nothing but a pair of pajama pants, catching me off guard. He noticed my reaction and grinned at me.
“Excuse me, I’ll get dressed.” He was clearly amused which embarrassed me further. My face became hot and I avoided looking at him until he turned away from me but then I took one more look. It was for the best, I told myself. He shouldn’t be answering the door like that anyway.
He emerged from his bedroom fully dressed and said, “Is this better?” My face started to feel hot again but I shrugged it off and changed the subject.
“How exactly do you want to
do this?”
“You are going to go get them out of bed. We are only utilizing one of the barracks right now, so that’ll make it easier for you.” He went onto tell me how to go about rousting the men out of bed. I was to be loud, direct and demanding. This should be easy enough, I thought.
When we reached the barracks I got a mental picture of White standing in front of me with hardly anything on and became flustered. I did not want to repeat that experience with a different man and especially not with thirty-two different men. I had slowed somewhat and entered behind White. The building wasn’t set up as I had expected it to be. I’d envisioned one large room with men in beds in a row along each wall, but this was much more private. We were standing in a long hallway with doors on each side of us for the length of the hall and one door at the other end.
“There are twenty rooms and we bunk the men two to a room. Just pound on the doors and yell at them to get up.”
This might be easier than I thought. I began on one side of the hall and started banging my fists on the doors and yelling, “Up and at ‘em boys. Let’s go,” and other similar phrases. Some of the men were already coming out of their rooms when I reached the end of the hall and started making my way back down the line of doors on the other side. Most of them had confused looks on their faces but they all stood at attention including White at the far end of the hall. Soon the entire barracks were standing at attention outside their doors. White took the liberty of addressing the men at that point. He introduced me and explained to them I was going to head the morning drills. Then he spoke to me quietly.
“I’ll go get Johns and meet you at the open area across from Headquarters.” Then he left me alone with the men.
When all the men stopped exiting their rooms I said in a commanding voice, “Out!” I’d learned a few one word commands from Black.
I instructed the men to line up once we were outside. As soon as they were in formation I led my troop on a nice little run to the open field where I was to meet White and Johns. They weren’t there when we reached it so we began our pushups without them. We started with fifty and by pushup forty-eight White and Johns showed up. I led them in a fast run around the open field. After the third lap around, White and I were the only ones not out of breath. I slowed our pace to a jog for the next two laps and some of the men were able to catch their breath but Johns dropped out.
As we lapped him I said, “Only four more laps Commander.” I heard some of the men groan behind me so I threw back at them, “unless I lose count.” I didn’t hear any more complaints and everyone kept up. As we finished our last lap I led at a slow jog to the mess hall. Once we stopped I turned around to see the men walking around or standing doubled over trying to get their breath back. I will admit, I had given myself a good workout and White was a little sweaty and breathless. He gave me a huge grin when I looked at him. I didn’t return it for fear of the men seeing it. I let them mill around for a little while and then called them to attention again. They lined up as expected and I marched them into the mess hall. Breakfast was still being prepared so I let the men take a breather before they ate. I went to my office and White followed me.
“Good workout,” he complimented me as he shut the door to the room.
“But bad timing. I didn’t really want to give them much of a break before breakfast.” I would get it down eventually.
“Well, think of it this way; at least they’ll be able to hold their breakfast down now that they’ve had a bit of a rest.” He winked at me.
“I didn’t think they’d be this badly out of shape.” I commented as I started laying out paperwork on the desk.
“Me either. This is going to be good for them. I’m really disappointed in Johns. He should be doing more than just Sunday drills.”
“Yep, and he should march with the men too, no more driving along side of them.” I added.
“I’m not going to tell him he’s demoted until I have someone lined up to come replace him though. We really should get to the compounds more often than we do. We obviously need to keep a better eye on things, at least here.” White admitted.
I mentioned Sullivan and White said he’d round him up after breakfast.
I looked at White As we sat down to eat and was going to make conversation, but he shook his head and put his fingers to his lips. I thought this was strange until I noticed the entire room was devoid of conversation. This must be standard procedure, I thought. The only sounds were utensils on plates and the women in the kitchen. I ate as fast as I could and when I got up to go to my office all the men rose, whether they were done eating or not. I emptied my left over food into the trash with a line of men behind me, waiting to do the same. One by one they lined up at attention. They stood in rigid formation for a time before White curtly dismissed them. He left me alone in my office, saying he’d be back after he’d given Sam the responsibility of getting rid of Sullivan.
About midmorning White returned. He’d let Sam pick two other cadets to accompany him and Sullivan to the nearest airport. The two cadets and Sam would then be sent to another compound.
“I wanted to interview Sam,” I groused.
“Sorry, but he was the best choice.”
We decided to put off the interviews for a day or two. The men didn’t know exactly why we were here anyway so we didn’t throw off anyone’s schedule. As if they had any schedule up here. White and I kept the rest of the men busy all day and soon it was time for dinner. The evening meal was different than the breakfast and lunch we had all endured. There was conversation at the tables, though it was subdued. I watched some of the men talk and they knew they would have an equally hard day tomorrow so most of them planned on going directly back to their barracks. A few of them complained about the shrew that came with White and I was glad for it so I would know who to keep a good eye on later. All of this was said quietly but my ability to read lips wasn’t common knowledge so I had the advantage.
White was quiet for the duration of the meal but as the men started filing out he asked, “So, what were they saying?”
“They talked about the drills, the early morning start tomorrow and going to bed. Nothing really worth repeating.”
“I can remember going through basic and one hot topic was always the drill instructor. I’ve always wanted to know what the men say about me. Didn’t they say anything about you?” He asked.
“Yeah, a few of them had a couple of choice things to say, but I’m glad. That means I’m not too easy and it wasn’t all of them so I’m not too hard either. Besides, it’ll be good to know who thinks what.” I replied.
“Exactly. You are going to have to teach me to read lips. I’d love to know how to do that.”
“Sometimes you hear something you wish you hadn’t. But, if you want to learn how to read lips, you should go to Colin. He’s so much better at it than I am. I’m getting better, but I still miss a few words here and there.”
“We’ll see,” White said as he rose from the table. I watched him empty his tray and leave the building. I really had no reason to stay there alone, but I didn’t want to follow White around so I sat for a few minutes more. The ladies in the kitchen kept looking out at me so I decided it was time for me to go. As I stepped out into the cold air I decided to go to the Iceberg Lounge for a coffee so White wouldn’t hear me come back to my room yet.
Upon entering the bar, I noticed ten men scattered throughout. Most of them were gathered around the pool table but a couple of them were at the bar. I took a seat a short distance away from everyone and said my hellos to Joe. I ordered a coffee and he brought it to me right away. I tipped him generously and watched the scene around me.
I started watching their lips to pass the time more than out of real curiosity of what they were saying. Almost immediately they started talking about me and of course I heard things I really didn’t want to. What was it with men and their extreme fascination with the size of particular parts of a woman’s anatomy? Was talking about it a ma
le bonding thing, I wondered. To me, it was just stating the obvious. Now, if you were to talk about a hidden tattoo or something unseen by your fellow man that would be worth some conversation. I turned to face into the bar. I had counted the bottles of liquor behind the bar at least twice and decided it was time to go. I didn’t fit in here and it was painfully obvious.
I thanked Joe and started for the door when I heard, “Commander Grey.” I looked in the direction of the voice and saw a blonde man coming my direction. He had been one of the men with something to say at dinner.
“Yes?” I answered him and noticed the whole place was watching us.
“Jack and Jill over there say you beat the living shit out of Sullivan. I say they are full of it. But the rest of the guys here want to hear your side of the story.” Jack and Jill as he called them were the two men that witnessed the confrontation with Sullivan in Headquarters.
“Jack and Jill eh? Well, sounds to me like Jack and Jill are exaggerating a bit. I just reminded Sullivan of his manners.” I didn’t like this; it could easily turn into a brawl with me in the middle. I kept an eye on every last man in the room as they all came closer. I looked at Joe and he was already on the phone, hopefully calling White to come back me up.
“I didn’t say she ‘beat the living shit out of Sullivan’ I said she stopped Commander White from doing it.” It was either Jack or Jill trying to diffuse the situation.
“So, what did Sullivan do to the Commander to piss him off so bad? Did the Commander catch you two in bed?” The blonde man asked me.
“I can tell you’ve got a couple of drinks under your belt, Cadet. However, I suggest you remember your own manners before you get yourself into the same position Sullivan found himself in.” I should have went straight back to my room, I was kicking myself.
Reflections of Grey: Book Three of the Alexis Stanton Chronicles Page 8