by Rob Mclean
Angela leapt from her mother’s hold and scrambled at the door, searching frantically. “Where’s the lock? The lock?”
“Don’t worry, it’s locked,” John said. He put his foot down and the car rolled sedately forward.
Zeke let go of the door handle. His hand slid to his side. His face fell and his shoulders slumped when he realized that they weren’t going to stop and that the girl he should have married had been lost to him. Looking through the rear-vision mirror at the pathetic figure, John could almost feel for the guy.
He then saw Angela turn around in her seat, watching Zeke as they drove away. “Sorry,” she said, her voice almost a whisper, but John heard the apology in it.
Zeke’s read her lips and his face contorted into an ugly snarl. He slammed his fist down on the boot.
Angela spun back around to face the front and buried her head in her hands.
“Sorry?” John said quietly to himself. In the mirror he could see Zeke. He was waving his balled fists, his chest pumped up, shouting something that wasn’t likely to be a blessing.
As they moved slowly out of the car-park, every member of the congregation watched them pass. John resisted the urge to smile and wave.
Chapter 35
A soft knock at his cabin door disturbed the Admiral from his thoughts. Before him, the screen listed the entire crew of the fifth fleet under his command.
“Enter,” he said. His eyes didn’t leave the screen.
Lieutenant Grey appeared at the door. Still in full uniform despite the late hour, she marched into the Admiral’s office with a wad of folders under one arm.
Before closing the door behind her, she took a surreptitious look up and down the corridor outside. Then with a loud click, she locked the stateroom door behind her.
It was only then that the Admiral looked up.
The Lieutenant gave him a half twisted, overly coy smile as she took off her cap and shook out her hair. She dropped the folders on the floor and undid her top collar button. “Permission to strip?”
Normally he would have been happy to play along with the game, but tonight he had other things on his mind.
“Ahh…” he watched as she undid a couple of more buttons, exposing her cleavage. Her breasts were being squeezed together and almost burst from her blouse by what he knew to be a non-regulation, black, lacy push-up bra. He remembered that it was part of a matching lingerie set that looked incredibly sexy.
She put her hands to the sides of her breasts, helping their buoyancy. “Would the Admiral like to inspect the squoobs?”
“Squoobs?” he echoed. He would normally be out of his chair and all over her like a slobbering dog, but not tonight. He had far too much to do before he would be ready for battle with the AntiChrist.
“Squished boobs,” she said, not noticing his lack of response. She teased him further by pushing her assets together. He felt his desire stiffening and his resolve fading, but he knew that had to get himself and his fleet ready.
“Cover yourself up, Lieutenant,” he said, dragging his eyes away from her enticements. “I called you here because there’s work to be done.”
“Oh…” She stared at him, a blank look on her face, not comprehending his rejection at first. “I’m sorry.” Her cheeks reddened. She hastily buttoned up her blouse and retrieved her cap. “I thought…it’s been so long since we…” Her fingers fumbled as she did up her collar button.
“I know, and I’m sorry, but it can’t be helped. There are more important things afoot.” He straightened some papers on his desk while she finished tidying herself up. “There just hasn’t been time lately.” At least that much was true. Since flying in from L.A. he had barely had time to pray.
With her uniform impeccably back in place and her composure returned, she asked in her most professional voice, “You wanted to see me, Sir?”
Typical women, running hot one minute and a damned frosty ice queen the next; still he wasn’t going to worry about that now. There are plenty of others on board, including her ex-husband, who would scratch her itch if she wanted, and he wasn’t going to worry about that tonight either. Instead he returned his focus to the screen before him.
“I have the names and details of all our people in this fleet on the screen. I have been going through them trying to sort them into atheists and believers, but this damn computer is taking me all night,” he pointed his accusation at the screen and with a look of frustration, turned to her. “I thought you might be able to help me.”
She walked over behind his desk, leaning across him to take the mouse. Her delicious body was only inches from his. He could smell her sweet, fragrant perfume and it took all his control not to run his hand up the back of her stockings.
“And this is more important than quality time with me?” The scowl she wore as she scrolled down the screen told him what she thought of his priorities.
“I need to know where our people stand on this issue.”
“Right now? Tonight?” She raised an eyebrow. “Isn’t there anything else you’d rather do?”
“Look, normally there would be,” he put his hands up to placate her, “but I want to split the fleet…”
“Into atheists and believers?” She couldn’t hide the surprise in her voice. “You think it will really come down to that?”
“Sure, it will now that our alien visitor has made it an issue.”
“Okay,” she returned to the computer, and with a few mouse clicks and keystrokes, she had the job done. She turned and stood facing him with a proud smirk on her face. “Built for work and play.”
“Damn, that was quick. Thanks,” he said grabbing the mouse. He started scrolling down the spreadsheet, but she placed her hand over his.
“I’ve just saved you hours of work,” she said. She took his hand and smoothly guided it over to her body. “Can’t you spend just a little time with me?”
He pulled his hand away. He was amazed how quickly the ice queen had defrosted. Now she was back to into playful, sex-kitten mode. He was sure he’d never work out women.
“No, not tonight. I told you, I’ve got work to do.” He scrutinized the lists on the screen.
She stood and straightened her skirt. “Do you need any more software help?” She glanced at the computer screen.
“Yes, don’t go just yet.” He motioned for her to sit without taking his eyes from the screen. “Did you know that those bastard Commie chinks took souvenirs from the Apollo lander?”
A look of shock on her face told him that she didn’t.
“But you wouldn’t because that information hasn’t been released to the public, you understand?” He took his eyes from the screen to make sure she acknowledged him.
She nodded absently. She was used to picking up all sorts of classified stuff from the Rear-Admiral.
“Damn godless bastards. They think they’re safe…” he growled as he scrolled though the list of names. “Ah, good, you’re on the list of believers.”
“What?” She turned and peered at the list, then shook her head. “I shouldn’t be; haven’t been to church since the divorce.”
“But you do believe in God, don’t you?” he asked.
“You’re really serious about this stuff, aren’t you?”
“Were you baptized?”
“Look, it’s like the census and all those other forms you have to fill in when you join up. You just tick a box. I didn’t think too much about it at the time, I just ticked that box because I had been to church once or twice, but mainly because I thought it would look better on my file. I’m sure just about everyone else did the same,” she shrugged. “Does it really matter?
“Where you’ll spend Eternity? It’s the most important decision you’ll ever make,” he said, surprising himself with his seriousness. Judging by the frown on the Lieutenant’s face, she was beginning to see the truth behind it and how important it was to him.
“But, does it matter to us?”
“It sure does. Tomorrow
I’ll be splitting the fleet.”
“Tomorrow?”
“Yes, so which ship will you be on Lieutenant?”
“I…I don’t know,” she stood lost in thought. He could almost see her mind trying to work out what the implications might be.”
“I want you on my ship,” he reached out to hold her hand. He was relieved to see her respond with a smile.
“Of course, I’ll always be with you,” she touched his cheek. “But I hardly think calling out ‘Oh God, oh God’ while riding the wild pony…”
“Stallion,” he corrected with a grin.
Her wicked grin returned as she again took off her cap. “We’ll see about that,” she said kneeling before him. He didn’t resist as she expertly undid his belt.
From the wall across in front of his desk, the happy faces of himself and his wife Elma and daughter smiled accusingly down upon him. He put their faces out of his mind with great effort. Soon I’ll make it all right, he promised them, but now he was in Lieutenant Fiona Grey’s expert hands.
“Oh look, it is a pony,” she said grinning. She rolled her lips inwards, wetting them with a quick flick of her tongue. “You know, I’m a sucker for a pony ride.”
He leaned back in his chair and with a groan, surrendered to her ministrations.
Despite the pleasure he felt, it occurred to him that this was pretty much what the 9/11 terrorists had also done on their last nights on Earth.
Chapter 36
After a short drive in stony silence, John dropped Angela and her family off at their home after church on Sunday.
As arranged beforehand, they had a quiet midday meal where a polite conversation took place that didn’t involve any of the morning’s drama. John didn’t say much and he noticed that Angela was also similarly quiet. She avoided his eyes and kept her head down, which only added to his growing sense of frustration.
Angela’s apology to Zeke kept repeating itself in his mind. How could she want to say ‘sorry’ to him? It made John feel like he was some sort of kidnapper, stealing Angela away from the one she really wanted to be with. But how could she have any feeling for that loser? He couldn’t understand it, but instead of talking about it, he ground his teeth and refused another offering of potato bake.
After the meal, he helped Geoff into his armchair by the window while the ladies did the dishes. He explained to Geoff that he had to go and get ready for a soccer game later that afternoon. Although it didn’t start for hours, he didn’t want to hang around someone who didn’t seem to want to talk to him. As his confusion gave way to irritation, he felt it best he left before he said something he might regret later.
Geoff sensed his unease and put a paternal hand on his shoulder. “Don’t worry about that little punk.”
“I’m not,” John lied.
“I never liked him,” Geoff said. “He was always a bit full of himself for my liking. Thoroughly over-indulged too, and not just by his parents.” Geoff nodded towards the kitchen. John presumed he was referring to Angela’s past. “But Clarice liked him, supposed to be a good Christian boy.”
Not being a Christian was always going to be a stumbling block for John. He briefly thought about saying that he would be and going to church every Sunday, but he then saw the problems it would cause with his family, not to mention where it might put him with the new world order and the company.
Mostly though, he simply couldn’t get his head around the ideas that the only way to heaven was to believe in some guy who died two thousand years ago. He knew that he wouldn’t fake that sort of belief, not even to be with Angela. He shook his head at the impossibility of his situation.
“If it’s any consolation,” Geoff continued, slapping him on the shoulder, “you’re my preferred candidate.”
“Thanks.” John smiled. The old man’s words did lift his spirits and give him hope, but how much influence did he have in his daughter’s life and how much longer would he be around anyway?
“Angela,” Geoff called out in a louder voice. He then saved his energy and waited until his daughter appeared, drying her hands with a tea-towel. “John is going now. You might like to see him out.”
Angela handed her tea-towel to her mother, who had appeared behind her.
“Thank you, sir,” John said taking Geoff’s hand in a handshake.
Geoff placed his other thin, frail hand over John’s. “Good to see you again, son.” He gave John’s hand an encouraging squeeze.
John acknowledged it with a smile, and then turned to Clarice. “Thanks for the meal, Mrs. White.”
“You didn’t eat much. I do hope it was alright?”
“It was fine. I just wasn’t that hungry,” he lied again. Her dismissive frown told him that she didn’t believe a word of it. He didn’t care what she thought. If he had eaten up all she offered, she would probably be complaining that he ate them all the way to the poor-house.
“I’ll finish up the dishes,” Clarice said to her daughter. “You’d best see your guest out.” She then disappeared back to the kitchen without another word.
Angela led him out the front door. With a wave to Geoff, he followed her out the door.
She walked wordlessly in front of him to his car in the driveway. A gentle breeze made the sun glint off her hair as she walked, wafting her delicious, pheromone-laden fragrance to him and reminding him of why he wanted her so badly.
She stopped and ran her hand over the fresh dent in the boot of his car. John saw it as her way of bringing up the subject that he had wanted to talk about for the last few hours.
“Not a bad effort for a little guy.”
“He was pretty angry,” Angela said by way of apology. “Sorry about the car.”
“Couldn’t care less about the car.”
“But, you said…at the church…”
“It’s just a car.”
“Oh,” Angela took her hand away from the dent and took John’s hand in hers.
“You’re cross with me, aren’t you?” she said. She kept her eyes downcast, and he felt her playing with his purity ring. John answered with a tight silence.
When he didn’t respond, she wrapped her arms around him and gave him a hug that he didn’t return.
“Don’t be like that,” she implored.
John saw the glint in her eye and heard the playful tone in her voice. His jaw ached from clenching it for so long.
She held him with her hands draped over his shoulders. She looked up at him, her soulful, blue eyes reflecting her sincerity. “I didn’t mean to upset you.”
He hated the way she was so assured of his affection. He wouldn’t have minded so much if he could be sure she felt the same way. “You said sorry to him.”
“Well, you’ve got to feel sorry for him,” she said with a slight grin. “He has lost me, hasn’t he?” She tossed her hair back and gave him a dazzling smile. He didn’t smile back. It annoyed him that she was treating his feelings so lightly.
When she saw that he didn’t return her smile, her expression fell flat. She let go of John and turned away. “Look, of course I feel sorry for him. He looked so upset,” she flashed him a guilty look, “but we’ve been going out for so long, he’s been a big part of my life. I know he’s been a selfish jerk.”
“He drugged you. What sort of guy drugs his own girlfriend?”
“He says that the other guy did that, the one that he got the pills from.”
“But he left you there, unconscious in a nightclub. Come on, that’s unforgivable.”
“Yeah, but he panicked. He’s never been in trouble before and his parents would kill him if they knew what he was doing for me.”
“Getting the drugs for your father?”
“Yes, so in some way, it’s sort of my fault too.”
“No, I don’t buy that. The only thing you can be blamed for is still having anything to do with that loser.”
“But you can’t expect me to suddenly forget everything about him just like that.” She waved her ha
nd in the air with a flourish as if to conjure up a disappearing spell. “I’m sorry, but I do still have feelings for him. We’re just going to have to work through it, okay?” She gave him a hopeful smile.
He longed to return her smile and hold her in his arms, but he knew that he couldn’t let things stand as they were. He saw that she was the sort of person who wanted to please everyone in her life; everyone from her mother, her friends, including her ex and now him. He knew from his own experiences that it wasn’t possible. He felt that he had to force the issue.
“You can’t say sorry to me and him at the same time. You can’t please everyone. In this case, someone is going to be hurt.”
John dug his car keys out of his pocket and unlocked his car. “If you think you still have feelings for that loser, and it’s me that you have to hurt, then I’d rather you do it now.” He opened the car door and took a step inside.
“Wait, don’t go-”
He used the car keys to point at her while he spoke. “You know how I feel. You have to sort out where you’re at.”
He got into his car and started the engine. Angela stood with her arms crossed and wore an affronted look on her pretty face. She made no move to stop him as he backed out of the driveway. As he put the car into drive, he saw that she had already turned and without a backward look, was striding inside, her fists tight at her sides.
Chapter 37
The hot August sun hung heavily over the Fortitude Valley training complex, making everyone sweat. Those in full black riot-gear had it the worst, but all the squads eventually got to have a turn at playing unruly civilians.
Twice already this morning John had to reprimand some squads for being over-enthusiastic when dealing with their civilian charges.
“You’d think they would know they’d be on the receiving end when it was their turn to be civies,” he said to Grace as they watched another exercise.
“It’s the heat, Johnny. Time to call a break before they kill each other.”
