CHAPTER 4

“Why do you keep staring?” Kate told him.

Phil Conner sometimes had that whole bug eyes thing going on. His voice was usually kind of flat and he normally sounded monotone when he spoke. Right now he had some strange kind of look on his face as he kept looking up at her hair. Katie tried to ignore it and then, finally, a waiter came and flagged them for a table.

The base officers club was about the best place to eat if you were trying to escape the exotic and that was something Feyland had in abundance. Katie was perfectly happy to sit down for a normal meal when she came down here to NIKA. The added bonus was that there was no chance of the waiter mixing your alcohol up with that of an Elf. They simply didn’t serve the methanol variety in here and that’s all Elves could drink.

Despite this safety feature, Katie had gotten quite used to sampling her beverage first, just to make sure. She did it this time, as well, and without even thinking. Then she could not help but notice that Phil had yet to quit staring, “would you stop that already!” Katie glanced around the club to make sure nobody was noticing. She was sure there would be plenty of rumors about them as it was.

Phil simply said in his pleasant voice, “looks good on you.”

“Thank you,” Katie snapped, “now stop staring. You know Vega saw us together already. She’s probably already up at Jungle Jim flapping her gums about it.”

“Let ‘em,” the way Phil said that almost sounded like “fuck ‘em.” He probably meant that too.

Katie tried something else, “so you’re still working for Isaacs?”

“Oh yeah,” Phil replied. Then he saw Katie’s attempt at keeping a certain look off of her face. Phil knew what it meant and said, “I don’t blame him. It wasn’t his fault.” Phil sounded pretty flat when he said that but, what Katie wondered was, did he really mean it? Then in the same tone he said, “it was mine, plain and simple.”

That drew a very concerned stare from Katie, “don’t do this Phil.”

“What?” He still kept the same even tone, “I’m not doing anything Katie. It’s true, that’s all. I even told Congress that in those hearings. We had all the danger signs and I just misread them.”

Now Katie was pretty angry about it, “we didn’t know what we were looking at. Did you ever consider that?”

“Of course,” Phil nodded in agreement, “that doesn’t mean it isn’t my responsibility.” He then almost made Katie want to puke when he said, “and I hope you’ve forgiven me now.”

Katie had to back away from the table for a minute and then she said, “for what?”

“I sent you out there Katie,” Phil told her seriously, “you were out numbered, you were out gunned, and all I had were a few video clips. I should have never done that. Then you came back and saved my ass.”

“Phil,” she was almost pleading with him now. Then she backed off and said, “do you know why I’m back?”

“You’re a good soldier,” Phil told her. “I always knew that. That’s why it was you out there that night. We work in the only profession in the world where you get punished for being good at what you do.” Then with an almost empty look on his face he said, “and the punishment is a death sentence.”

Kate lowered her voice, “that’s not why I’m here.” He just sat there with that blank look so she told him, “I’ve never told anybody this. Look, when I went home, nothing was right. I couldn’t relate to anybody. The people that weren’t asking you stupid questions, that you couldn’t answer, well, they just didn’t care. I tried to get…”

Phil blurted out, “what happened to Rob?”

Katie lowered her head, “what do you think? He’s gone. I broke it off with him, not three months after we got home.”

Now Phil developed an almost horrified expression as he asked, “why? I remember how you used to go on and on about him. Was there somebody else?”

“No,” Katie sniffed and then said, “I tried and, I couldn’t get close to anybody else. I don’t just mean romantically ether. I mean anybody. Every time somebody tried, all I wanted to do was run.” After Katie let that sit for a moment she then felt ashamed for forgetting to ask, “how’s Paulette?”

“She’s fine,” Phil replied.

Katie waited for Phil to elaborate but, he didn’t. They both just sat there in uncomfortable silence till after they ordered and then their meals arrived. Katie finally asked, “so why are you back?”

“Oh,” Phil looked surprised by the question, “just the usual weird stuff that goes on here. I’m running an errand for the General. That’s pretty much what I do at the White House.”

Katie whistled, “the White House, big time. Must be something to remember and put in the old scrap book.” That came out somewhat sarcastic and Katie only realized it after she said it. She tried to correct herself.

“No it’s ok,” Phil told her as she stumbled around looking for the right words. He then agreed with her, “after this place, the White House doesn’t seem such a unique experience, if you get my drift. Besides, I’m really only doing what I always have.”

That was something Katie was not going to bother to say. Phil had been, for many years, Bob Isaacs water boy. Everybody knew it and, apparently, that included Phil. He also seemed to know something else and that was what Katie was thinking. He commented on it, “I had my shot and I blew it. I don’t want another.”

“Please Phil,” Katie said in a very sympathetic tone. “Don’t do this. You were a good leader. You still are. You can still get the job done.”

“No Katie,” Phil replied but, then he surprised her by what he said, “you don’t understand. This isn’t about what I can do for the cause. This is about me personally. I don’t want it. I don’t want to feel that anymore.” It looked as if he almost lost his temper. That was something that Katie had never seen him do, ever.

She asked him bluntly, “your career?”

“I’m a Lieutenant Colonel now,” Phil was right back to calm again, “most guys retire here. I guess I will too.” Before the silence could return, Phil changed the subject “so what have they got you doing now?”

“Operations,” Katie told him. “I’m running the S-3 shop for the five-oh-sixth. It’s actually getting kind of dull if you ask me. Hasn’t been a lot of activity in the last year. Every now and then, a war party will come down from the north. We hunt them down and that’s about the size of it. We must be getting good at it, our casualties have been low, our kill ratio is running at about fourteen to one and General Hammond is a happy camper.”

“You don’t have to tell me,” Phil replied. “He likes putting his face in front of the camera. He’s all over the news back home. He’s promised to end the war by Christmas.” Phil found those words almost funny and he had to comment on them, “doesn’t he realize that, in our business, that’s like saying do good out there? I hope he knocked on wood after he said that.”

Katie almost laughed, “well he’s got plenty of that around him to knock on. What are people saying about all this back home?”

Phil just shrugged, “right now? I don’t know, not much I guess. I mean I’ve seen some stuff on the internet, the usual idiots saying the usual stuff. I don’t think they’ve actually changed their lines since the Vietnam War. You’d think they might have figured out a few new ones by now.”

“Well that’s good to know,” Katie replied, “I don’t have to worry about anybody spitting on me when I get back.”

“Didn’t say that,” Phil replied. Then he elaborated, “if you change flights at JFK some of the baggage handlers might do it but, that wouldn’t have anything to do with the war.”

Was that a joke? Kate snickered and then smiled, “good to know there’s still a human in there Phil.” Before Phil could say it, Katie injected, “yeah I know, that’s saying a lot these days.” Everybody knew that line. It was probably more common now than, “they can put a man on the moon but they can’t…”

“Speaking of which,” Phil went on, “how’s your counterpart?”

“Oh I got the pick of the litter on that draw,” Katie said in a funny tone.

The way she said it made Phil wonder, “something wrong with the guy?”

“Not a guy,” Katie said, “and I don’t suppose there is anything wrong with her. She’s as competent as they come.”

Phil put it together, “you got Taylya Ceascu didn’t you? I saw her name on the list back when we were at Fort Reilly. I wondered about that.”

“For an elf,” Katie said, “I guess she’s ok. She’s Noveus-Faeyu and they’re a hell of a lot easier to deal with than those Olyan-Notae ass holes. Remember those guys we had up at Nottakay?”

“Of course she’s Faeyu,” Phil replied, “her father runs that entire clan.” Then Phil shook his head, “you know I never got her.”

“Why is that?” Katie didn’t get any elf but, this sounded more specific.

“Well,” Phil considered his words. “Every elf I’ve had to work with, the one thing I’ve always noticed about them, it was like they couldn’t wait to get away from us. They were always looking forward to their next assignment. She’s about as connected as you can get. She doesn’t have to work with us and it’s almost like she goes out of her way to do it.”

“Oh,” Katie was feeling more comfortable now. It was almost like the old days, “sweet juicy little rumor about that. I heard tell she hooked up with one of those operators she used to work with. That Delta Force guy? I don’t remember his name but, I know he was one of the ones, at RAF Merlin, who did our training.”

Phil considered it and his ultimate response was, “huh.” Then he thought some more and said, “you know they got ambushed or something like that. Half the unit got it on some op in the Triangle. That was a big pooch screw too. I remember a lot whispers about that. Happened right about the same time as our, well, you know.”

“I remember,” Katie replied. Then she licked her lips and said, “you know I asked her about that once.” Phil looked up from his food and Katie leaned over a little and said, “she told me, I should go ask Ian Balfour.”

Again Phil went, “huh.” Then he went back to eating and saying between bites, “that’s a name I haven’t heard in a while. Too bad this country doesn’t have laws against war profiteering. I bet this place here,” Phil motioned to the base around them, “cut into his business. What was that place he used to own?”

“Still does,” Katie replied, “Phvengs. It’s out past Merlin, in Kalean-Erc.”

That made Phil search his memory, “dumpy little town with lots of Orcs, Apes, and humans, none of them with a pot to piss in? I drove through there once. Felt like spraying myself with disinfectant after, and I didn’t even get out of the Hummer.”

“Oh yeah,” Katie replied, “that’s the place all right. Only come on Phil, you really don’t believe that guy makes all his money with that club, do you?”

“Never thought about it,” Phil replied.

“What’s that new drug on the street,” Katie asked rhetorically, “you know, back home? Pixie Dust?”

“Fairy Dust I think,” Phil told her unconcerned. “I don’t know, I don’t keep up with that stuff.” Then Phil thought about it and saw what she was driving at, “wouldn’t surprise me one little bit.”

“You know we do get the news here,” Katie said. “It’s not like the old days. They bring in recordings with every delivery. I saw where Congress is getting ready to outlaw that stuff. Some countries already have.”

Again, Phil only shrugged. Katie got a mischievous tone, “gee I wonder what’s going to happen to good old Balfour if they do that?”