CHAPTER SEVEN
Four hours later
Wednesday morning
March 26 – 5:45 A.M. MDT
Military Intelligence, Buckley Air Force Base
After rounding up Raz, Vince, Troy and Matthew, Alex’s Sergeant reminded her that she forgot Sergeant Larry Flagg.
Again.
And where was Sergeant Flagg?
He didn’t answer his home phone or his cell phone. Matthew dropped by his home on his way to base. Sergeant Flagg wasn’t at home. Figuring he’d show up, they once more forgot Sergeant Flagg. Certainly, there was plenty of work to do.
About an hour later, the Denver Police called. Sergeant Lawrence Flagg had been picked up for driving under the influence with a blood alcohol of 0.45. Because his blood alcohol was so high, the police took him to Denver Health for detox. Alex’s cell number was the only number he could remember this morning. Of course, the Denver Police would be happy to release him to her custody but Major Drayson needed get him.
Dressed in her winter gear, Alex left the men with detailed instructions on what they needed to resolve while she was gone. One last, ‘Get to work’ and she wandered down an early-morning quiet hallway. Turning into a long still hallway, she felt alone in a quiet world.
“Where ya going?”
Alex yelped with surprise. On guard, she turned in place to see a large, muscle bound man. He laughed at Alex’s response. Even in his heavy winter gear, his barrel chest and twenty inch arms were apparent. Smiling, his tear drop tattoo scrunched into the brown skin near his left eye.
“Gotcha,” Trece said.
“Andy! I thought you and Chris were out of the country.” Alex was swallowed in a muscular hug.
“We’re a part of your team, Major,” he said.
“So where’s Chris?” She raised an eyebrow.
“Getting coffee for you,” Trece said.
Alex turned to see an equally muscular man trot down the hallway with a travel mug in his hand. Beaming at Alex, his near albino skin and pale blue eyes glistened under the florescent lights.
“Here you go, Alex,” White Boy said.
“What do I owe this privilege?” Alex asked.
“We are hoping you’ll request us for this project,” White Boy said.
“I sent the request a couple hours ago,” Alex said. “How did you…?”
“We have our ways,” Trece said. He winked at Alex. “Where ya going?”
“Pick up Sergeant Flagg at Denver Health. He got a DUI last night.”
“That’s mighty unbecoming,” Trece said. “Isn’t he an officer?”
Alex curled her lip at Trece.
“Are you going to…” White Boy started.
“Kill him,” Alex said.
“Now Alex, that’s mighty violent,” Trece said. “I’d offer to kill him for you but…”
Alex laughed.
“Can we come with you?” White Boy asked. “We hear there’s a contract…”
“You look like you could use our company,” Trece talked over White Boy. “We are your favorite White Boy and Trece.”
“I think you’re the only White Boy and Trece,” Alex said.
“See the coffee worked,” White Boy said.
With the two men beside her, Alex walked to her Jeep CJ.
“I can’t believe they didn’t blow this car up,” White Boy said. “How long you had this?”
“Since high school,” Alex said. Pulling up to the guard gate, she added, “Don’t tell anyone but this is the only car I can drive.”
The men laughed. Friends for over a decade, Alex and Jesse met them in the mess hall in Bosnia. Trece and White Boy laughed, workout and generally cheered Alex and Jesse through the rest of the tour. They celebrated Jesse and Alex’s acceptance to Special Forces school. They arrived ready to party not moments after Jesse and Alex graduated. Throughout her career, Trece and White Boy would pop up at the oddest times: stuck in Bagdad during ‘shock and awe;’ in the middle of a sandstorm in Afghanistan; two days after she married John and just now, when she had been told they were out of the country and couldn’t get back for a week.
As always, she was happy for their inane company.
She’d hoped to get them a hundred percent of the time. For now, forty percent of their time would have to suffice. Of course, since Trece talked one hundred percent of the time it felt like she had him one hundred percent time.
Turning into the parking lot at Denver Health, she snorted at her joke.
“You’re not as funny as you think you are. I however am much funnier than…” Trece held the entrance door for a woman. “Well, hello.”
While Alex and White Boy continued through the door, Trece stop at the door to flirt with the nurse. Alex spoke with the Denver Police then the doctor. She signed papers, and even arranged Larry’s bail, before Trece caught up with them.
“That was a sweet honey,” White Boy said.
Trece beamed his acknowledgement of the sweetness of the woman. Alex opened her mouth to ask what took him so long then decided she didn’t want to know. She closed her mouth
“She has a sweet friend,” Trece said. He held up two phone numbers. “Perfect for some lonely visitors.”
“When have you been lonely?” Alex asked.
“Could happen. Could happen,” Trece said. “Well hello…”
He and White Boy stopped to watch a nurse walk by. Blushing, the nurse waved her fingers at the men.
“Where have you been? Siberia?” Alex asked. She showed her ID to a policewoman near the nurse’s station. The policewoman pointed toward Larry’s door. “You’re randy even for you!”
“Desert,” Trece said. “Did you know there is a war going on?”
“Two.” Alex wrinkled her nose at him.
“Three really,” White Boy said.
Alex stood in front of Larry’s door.
“Well hello…” Trece said to a passing nurse.
“Why don’t you stay here and I’ll deal with Flagg?”
“Great idea.”
“Do not leave this door,” Alex said. “No bathrooms, no…”
“We’ll keep it zipped at least until we leave the hospital.” Trece smiled his alter boy smile.
Alex scowled a ‘You better’ at him then went into the room. Larry was watching television. Sitting up on an elbow, his face broke into his characteristic bright smile.
“Hi Major!” Larry exclaimed. His hands grabbed at his throbbing head.
“Slowly,” Alex said.
“Where am I?” Larry asked.
“Denver Health. You got very drunk last night. The Denver Police picked you up outside the Squire on Colfax. You were passed out in your car. You had alcohol poisoning. And you now have a DUI plus a whole bunch of other trouble.”
“Oh.” Larry’s bright smile faded. “I was just thinking that I’ve never been in the hospital before.” Larry flipped his legs to the edge of the bed and lurched forward to grab his head again. “I guess I was in the hospital when you broke my leg. But I was on base. It wasn’t much different than being in the barracks. How long will I stay here?”
“The doctor wants to see you this morning to decide. You have been very, very sick.”
“I feel very, very sick. Why do you look so serious? Aren’t you the one who always says ‘Don’t take everything so seriously’?”
“You have a lot of legal problems. I’m able to take custody of you, but Colonel Gordon is looking to discharge you for conduct unbecoming of an officer.”
She paused to let the information sink in.
“But guys get DUIs all the time. They don’t get discharged.”
“You’re an intelligence officer, Sergeant Flagg. A Special Forces Intelligence Officer. Tell me. Who do you know who is a Special Forces Intelligence Officer who has received a DUI?”
Larry fell silent.
“No one, I guess.”
“We can demote you. Hell, the Admiral might want your beret.”
“My beret? Yeah, you may as well take my beret. You hate me anyway.”
“Hate you?” Alex groaned.
Jesse appeared by her side. “He got his orders to go to the sand. He’s leaving in three months. He’s freaked about going to war so he got shit faced.”
Alex crossed her arms.
“Don’t let him ruffle you.” Jesse moved in front of her. “And don’t yell. It’s a hospital.”
Alex gave him a curt nod.
“What does the great Jesse have to say?” Larry asked. “He’s the only fucking person you care about, and he’s not even alive.”
“You can see Jesse?”
“I see the dust light up… like sparklers… So what did he say?”
“He said you got your orders.”
Larry face blanched then went red. His mouth flapped open and closed. Looking away from Alex, he mimicked her crossed arms. When he turned back, he was one hundred percent angry, drunk and hung over.
“You forget me. Every single time. Troy thinks I’m a joke. Matthew treats me like I’m three fucking years old. Raz won’t even talk to me. Vince pinches his eyebrows when I talk. No response. Just this weird look. Trece told me he was going to kill me. Kill… ME! And the Jakker openly laughs when I talk.”
Alex could barely contain her disgust for the Sergeant. She fought, worked, struggled and suffered to get a chance to wear a beret. This stupid, selfish drunken fool would throw it away.
“Here are your options.” Alex pressed forward to keep from throwing up. “First, you must apologize to your commanding officer for your conduct, attitude and diatribe. Once your commanding officer accepts your heartfelt apology, you must apologize to the men.”
“Then what?”
“Colonel Gordon can move you to a team at MI, either Fort Carson or Cheyenne Mountain. They do straight up Military Intelligence. Your other option is to work this out right here, right now.”
“I… I… Can I think about it?” Larry asked.
“No,” Alex replied. “We’ve been assigned to a complicated and challenging situation involving the President’s best-friend. We need to be able to count on every member. Today. Right this minute.”
“Oh,” Larry said. He lay down on the hospital bed and stared at the ceiling. After a few moments, he whispered, “I don’t know how to work it out, Major.”
Tears squeezed from his blue eyes.
“I might be able to help you.”
“But don’t want to help me,” he said.
“Fuck Larry! Are you twelve? You are a God damned Special Forces SOLDIER in the United States Army.”
Alex bit her lip to keep from any further yelling. Jesse was right. Yelling in a hospital was stupid. Shaking her head, she moved toward the door.
“I’m sorry, sir,” Larry said. “I’m drunk, hung over, and sick. I’m behaving very poorly. Especially to you. Is there a way to make it up to you?”
“You can tell me what this is about,” Alex said.
“Did you send me to Iraq to get rid of me?”
“No, Larry,” Alex said. “You joined Forces straight from college. You have to do at least one tour. The rest of us were regular Army before we trained for our Berets. My Sergeant, for example, did three tours in Afghanistan before going through training. Vince went to Annapolis, graduated top of his class before becoming a SEAL. He’d still be underwater if he wasn’t injured.”
“Oh.”
“Exactly,” Alex said. “I think it will be good for you to get out in the field and actually do what you were trained to do. Isn’t that why you joined? To serve your country?”
“No, Major. I joined to work for you. My uncle… was…” Larry looked away from her. “He’s not really my uncle. He’s my uncle’s best-friend from elementary school. His parents lived next door to us. My uncle is only five years older than me. I spent a lot of time with him and his friend when I was growing up. His friend joined the Army when I was in high school. He was… held… in… Siberia. You probably don’t remember him but he lost a foot to frost bite?”
“Lieutenant Colonel Fred Hossa,” Alex said.
“He said he will never forget seeing your team, the Fey Special Forces Team, cross country skiing across the horizon. He said he never had been more proud to be an American. He knew he was safe when you, a beautiful woman, pushed your hood off and laughed at something a team member said. That was probably Jesse, right?”
“Jesse made a couple jokes about Mexicans in the snow,” Alex nodded. “Jesse was born in Mexico. He hated the cold.”
“I thought, ‘That’s what I want to do.’ I want to save people who are held hostage. They opened direct entry to Special Forces for college graduates when I was almost done with Harvard. I finished up and applied. My parents were furious but there wasn’t much they could do.”
“If you went through all of this to work for me, why did you fuck it up?”
Larry shrugged.
“What happens now?” Larry asked.
“The doctors will come to check you out. If you’re all right, you’ll come with us. Drunk, hung over and sick, you’ll work today. You need to apologize to the men and Colonel Gordon. You must deal with the legal ramifications of your actions, whatever they are. No excuses.”
“Yes sir,” he said.
“When we get to base, we’ll speak about your other allegations with the men. Teams work things out among themselves.”
“I won’t let you down, Major.”
Larry’s eyes and tone were so sincere that Alex almost laughed.
“You better not.”
Larry nodded.
“Oh, one more thing,” Alex said.
“Yes, Major?”
“If I ever see you take even one sip of alcohol in my presence, I will kick your ass. The doctor will tell you this, but the only way you could get that drunk is if you have a genetic propensity for alcohol. Drink and you’ll become an alcoholic. I will not tolerate an alcoholic in my life.”
“I swear I will never drink again,” Larry said. “I know I can become an alcoholic. There are lots of them in my family.”
Alex scowled her sincerity at Larry then tapped on the door. White Boy opened the door.
“The doctor is here,” White Boy said
Alex nodded
Looking past Alex, White Boy said, “You all right, kid? She wasn’t too mean?”
Larry shook his head.
“Where’s Trece?” Alex asked.
White Boy shrugged. After seeing the doctor, checking in with the Denver Police, they were on their way to the car before Trece reappeared. He didn’t offer an explanation for where he had been. Noting the anger on Alex’s face, he continued his jovial commentary the entire drive back to base.
Arriving at her office, she was met by her Sergeant at the door. But even with her Sergeant’s intervention, it was clear. The men hadn’t worked while she was gone. Trailing her Sergeant, Trece and White Boy, she marched to her group work area. Standing in the doorway, she watched them play Nerf football. Her Sergeant cleared his throat and the men turned to look at them.
Without saying a word, Alex turned in place. She walked back to her office, closed then locked the door. She could hear the men try to get around her Sergeant. They called her telephone. She received IM and email. None of which she answered.
Instead, she placed a telephone call to the Admiral in charge of Special Forces. She waited only a few moments before he took her call. A half hour later, Colonel Gordon knocked on her door. While he tried to persuade her, he eventually acquiesced to her request. She followed him out of the office.
Walking to her group work area, she found them diligently working on the things she asked them to do hours before.
“I have disbanded this team,” she said. “The Admiral is looking for new assignments for each of you. You will be contacted either by Colonel Gordon or the Admiral regarding your next assignment. Captain Hutchins, you have been returned to the Navy. Agent Rasmussen, you have been returned to Homeland Security.
“My decision is final. While within my power, I have not added a note to your files regarding the dissolution of this team. As far as the world knows, we were asked to complete a project that was beyond our scope.
“I remind you that you are officers in the United States Military. In the future, I hope you are able to work for someone you’re able to respect.
“Do not contact me, write me, email me or IM. That is a direct order from your superior officer. Thank you for your attention.”
Without saying another word, she walked out of the building to her car and drove home. Once there, she worked her way through the voice, fingerprint and code security in her basement office. Locking the door, she collapsed in a heap on the floor.
And wept.
F
