CHAPTER 43

“Try that wire,” Lolita told her platoon sergeant as they sat around the opening to her little command post. It was an order but, he had been taking it as a suggestion. Ben was not that happy about it either.

Ben took a deep breath and then puffed on his cigar as he reminded Lieutenant Vega, “you sure about the color? Cause I remind you, Lieutenant, we‘re not exactly putting together a science fair project here.”

Lolita was going to answer the guy but, then she saw who their visitor was. He had a dopey smile on his face, a big rifle hanging on his shoulder, and he was just watching her. Vega turned on her scowl and then said to the guy, “what the hell do you want Specialist? I thought Bravo Company was still down in Way Out, drinking margarita’s on the beach.”

It was not enough to erase Gabe’s smile, “well we were but, now we’re here. I saw what you were doing and kind of thought you guys might need some help.”

Ben was still trying to make sure all of the wires were exactly where they were supposed to be before he touched them. He did not look up when he said, “if you’re looking for work Specialist, I’m sure Captain Mack needs plenty of help right now. Why don’t you go do that?” He did not add the last part which was, “stop fucking with my Lieutenant already.”

The phone inside of the CP rang and Vega wasted no time scrambling to answer it. Ben decided to wait until she got back before he continued with their project. He also decided to use the time to stare at this junior enlisted man with the sniper rifle. The kid excused himself and left in no short order. Then, when Vega came scrambling back out of the whole, putting on her over shirt, and grabbing for her gear, Ben asked her, “one minute Eltee.”

“There’s an officers call at Battalion,” Vega replied in a not so happy mood.

“It can wait for what I’ve got to say,” Ben told her. She was his leader in the field, his superior officer, his boss, and none of which made any difference because he was her Platoon Sergeant. He, alone, could make life a living hell for her if he so chose. This was a fact that every Lieutenant was keenly aware of and, as such, Ben was giving the orders under the right circumstances. This happened to be one of them.

Vega snapped, “what?”

“I know all the rumors about you,” Ben told her.

“They’re just fucking rumors Taylor,” Lolita snapped. Ben looked out towards the departing Specialist Foster who was now almost gone from sight. Then Ben looked back towards Vega and she got a very disgusted look on her face. She was almost insulted and told him, “oh hell no. Give me a few points for taste, will ya?”

“What I know is this Lieutenant,” Ben replied, “when Bravo left on that strike op, you were happy as shit.” Ben reconsidered his words, “well, less hostile at any rate. Now they get back and that guy shows up sniffing around your hole before we even hear that they’re back.”

The metaphor was kind of hard not to get and Vega winced as she told the Sergeant, “lovely metaphor, Sergeant. Nice and gross when you get right down to it. Only, it’s my business and I’ll…”

“That’s where you’re wrong Lieutenant,” Ben cut her off. “It became my business the minute they stuck you in my platoon. You know, with the word going around on you, nobody wanted you in their company, let alone running a platoon. Have you run into any of that crap here?”

There was not much Lolita could say about that. She even felt guilty about it because her Sergeant had hit the nail right on the head. She had expected a lot of crap and Taylor had been more than cooperative with her. He had also been patient and even nice. Now Lolita wondered if there was a price attached to that. What was Taylor saying? She just asked him, “so what is it you want Ben?”

“What I want?” Taylor looked back up to where there concealed positions were, and most of the platoon, “that should be obvious enough. I want my kids, you, and most of all me, to get the hell out of this place without living up to it’s namesake. That’s what I want Lieutenant. That means if you got a problem then we all do.”

What was the guy saying? Vega was not really sure so she got up to leave. When she did, Taylor told her, “I can make it go away if you want? If it gets to be too much of a problem then I’m going to have to do something Lieutenant, plain and simple.”

Lolita rolled her eyes and then gestured to the wires, “oh, you mean like we’re doing with the perimeter?”

“Easier to seek forgiveness than ask permission,” Taylor looked down at the bundle of wires and said, “and besides all that. Nobody said we couldn’t do it.”

Now Lolita realized he was not going to let this go and, she knew very well, he could back up everything he was saying. Their current project had been his idea and, she had to admit, it was a damn clever one. What kind of sneaky underhanded bullshit would he come up with for her? More to the point, what scared Lolita was, “don’t mess with Foster. Trust me, that’s some shit you don’t want coming down on you.”

Of all the things that Ben had expected her to say, that was as far from any of them as Ben could have imagined. He became confused and asked, “what the hell happened with you two.” Ben stood up and got next to her so she could hear his subdued voice, “this is a little more serious than some unauthorized carnal knowledge, isn’t it?”

At first it looked as if the Lieutenant was going to say something but, then it appeared as if her words had slammed into a brick wall, inside her head, and Vega became flustered as she got out, “just don’t fuck with the guy, Sergeant. Trust me, that’s some shit none of us wants.” Vega stomped off towards the task force command post and left Ben standing there, still confused, and even more concerned. As for Vega, there was nothing she could do about it right now.

On the way there, Lolita turned the corner of a bunker and found an unwanted pest sitting casually on some sandbags. He smiled at her and waived. At first Lolita was going to walk right off but, then she stomped up to Foster and told him, “you fucking stupid prick!”

Foster lit up a smoke and told her, “we’re kind of in public here Lolita. You mind keeping it down?”

She got right in his face, “I’m just chewing out an enlisted man that rightfully deserves it, ass hole. You’re the one that said to keep things cool and what the fuck are you doing? Don’t think I don’t know.”

Foster easily stood up, put his helmet back on, and then lazily began to wander off as he said, “it’s all fine Lieutenant. Just remember our little talk.”

That left Vega huffy when she entered the command bunker and found that a good number of the task force officers, and several of the senior noncoms had gathered. It was the biggest meeting that Lolita could remember since they left Coven Hill. It made Lolita even more nervous, so, she edged around the crowd to where Major Conner was quietly sitting and doing his usual patience thing. He did not seem particularly upset that Vega had singled him out but, then again, nothing ever seemed to upset the man.

Lolita poked him and said, “Major, when this is over with, is it possible for me to get some face time with the colonel, finally?”

Conner did not even bother to look at the young girl, “is this about your perimeter again?”

This time Conner did more than stare off into space. He actually looked amused as he gave a glance to Sergeant Major Lewis, who was sitting right next to him. Lewis looked very amused and he was the one who replied, “colonel Pong has been informed Lieutenant. Your concerns have been duly noted.”

Lolita replied, “but sir, I think that…”

Conner still had not looked in her direction, “that’s all Lieutenant. The briefing is about to start.” When the grumpy Lieutenant walked off, Phil looked to Lewis and told him, “a mixed blessing at best.”

Ed sniffled a laugh and said, “I think she’s doing just fine over there Phil.”

“Course you do,” Conner told him, “you don’t have to put up with all her bullshit, most of the time.”

“Yeah but,” Ed countered, “what kind of bullshit is it?” When it was clear the Major didn’t get it, Ed pointed out, “the kid is doing her job Phil. She’s not up here playing office games which, I can’t say for all our young officers. So what if she‘s a little paranoid about her sector? Isn‘t that what we‘re paying her to be?”

“To a point,” Phil replied, “not so paranoid that she spends all her time bitching about goddamn animals setting off her trip flares.”

Ed held up a finger and added, “she only has to be right, one time.”

Now Phil did look at the Sergeant Major, “you don’t think I don’t know that? I have to look into every contact report she sends over here, Ed. Why do you think it’s such a pain in the ass?” Phil smoothed out his ruffled feathers, at least ruffled for him, and he added, “she’s sitting on a game trail. That’s all.”

Everyone quieted down as Pong stepped up to the situation boards and looked at the collected group of officers, “we’re facing a situation right now. You might have noticed our elf buddies are currently elsewhere. The Olyan-Notae recalled them to one of their forward bases for, um, consultations. The reality of it is that they got some kind of diplomatic crisis going on down in Cheau-Gan. I have no idea what it’s all about but, what that means for us is, our new orders are to hold in place. That is just for the time being. This situation could change at any minute.”

Pong let his people get their rumblings out and then he told them, “the good news is that I didn’t get any kind of war warning with the note from Colonel Isaacs. The bad news is, as you all know, that doesn’t mean a whole lot in the Hurt. S-4 is telling me that we’re currently fixed for supplies. Our support base at Seau-Neaut is currently secured as well. Way Out seems calm enough so I’ve handed over security of that base to the units there. This base needs all the shooters we got so, for the time being, we won’t be rotating anybody back to the rear.”

That did not go over well even if the crowd tried to keep their displeasured grunts to a minimum. Pong let them settle and continued, “we will still be running ops but, no movement to contacts. They will be strictly recon missions, that are considered vital for the security of this position which, as I said, we have been ordered to hold. I know a lot of you were looking forward to getting the hell out of here. Maybe even getting as far as home. Don’t worry people. This will all blow over.”