“I’ll jump out and take a quick look around the truck to make sure we didn’t bust anything loose,” I offered.
A quick inspection revealed no damage and we were back on the road heading to the alarm at a slower pace. After ten more minutes Todd slowed the truck down and said we were near the site. It was just dusk, and he cut the headlights off so that we wouldn’t be as noticeable coming from the roadway, turning onto a side road that led to the site.
As we approached, I could see no vehicles of any kind but still could not see the site itself. “Security control, this is security one. We’ve arrived on site. Stand by for a sit rep,” I said into the mic. Security control acknowledged my message, waiting for the situation report that would tell them if we had a real problem or not.
We parked about a hundred feet from the site and dismounted our vehicle. Todd walked toward the site on one side of the road and I took the other. We drew near enough to tell that no one was present inside the fence, which allowed me to begin breathing again. Todd signaled for me to take cover behind a large rock and give cover for his final approach.
I flipped the safety off and selected single fire on my M16 and scanned the surrounding terrain for anyone hidden in the brush or lying on the ground. When Todd got to the gate, he entered the code and went on site. After another minute, he signaled me to join him on the launch site. We walked the fence line looking for holes or other signs that tampering had taken place and found nothing. I was about to tell him that everything looked secure when I heard the very distinct sound of a rattle, signaling the presence of one of the numerous rattlesnakes that dotted the terrain where our sites were located.
I looked down at an adult rattler coiled and ready to strike. Before I could react and warn Todd that there were snakes on site, it struck my leg just above the ankle. I screamed like a schoolgirl, jumped and flipped the fire selector over to full automatic and opened up on the snake. Before I could take my finger off of the trigger, fifteen rounds were fired in just over one second. Todd yelled and hit the ground thinking that we were under attack. The snake all but disintegrated from the powerful bursts of my weapon.
Todd came running over to see what I had just fired on and was dumbstruck to find what was left of the snake. While he was ranting at me over discharging my weapon, I was examining my leg to see if the snake had penetrated my combat boot, which rose about six inches above the ankle. I was relieved to find that while there were signs that the inside of the boot had the beginnings of two punctures, the fangs had not managed to strike flesh.
“God bless whoever invented combat boots!” I said with immense relief. I hated snakes. I hated snakes more than almost anything else in the world and now I had a real reason to hate them. One had just tried to kill me.
“Are you okay? Did you get bit?” Todd asked with genuine concern.
“No, but if it had struck any harder, I would have venom in me right now. I imagine this is what set off the intrusion alarm, wouldn’t you?”
“Yeah, more than likely. I need to call this in right away. I’ll use the secure phone to do it; you change magazines so that you have a full load in the clip. Then get the truck and drive it up here.”
I knew it was a big deal if we discharged any of our weapons for any reason. There was now a ton of paperwork to fill out, and command had to be notified by security control. I really didn’t have a choice but to shoot the damn thing. I hoped it wouldn’t get me in trouble with the major after having just been given a choice assignment.
After finishing our check of the site, we left to finish our rounds. We would have to do the reports when we got off duty, which meant less sleep and relaxation. The rest of the night went as normal as one could hope. There were no further alarms or incidents of any kind. We got back to our field base as the sun began its daily rise in the east. I gassed up the truck for the day shift and headed inside, where we found the NCOIC of the station waiting for us.
“Okay, what the fuck happened out there on Bravo Forty-Nine?” asked the irritated sergeant.
“Basically, Sergeant, I stepped on a rattlesnake in the dim light on the site, and it struck my leg. I jumped back and shot it before it could strike again. It was pure reflex on my part and the snake is definitely dead.”
“Well, you may have to report to the CO when you get back to base. No one likes a report of a weapons discharge because everyone and their grandmother have to be notified. You opened up with an M16 inside the secured area of an ICBM, which makes it a “nuclear incident.” A report will be at the Pentagon by this time tomorrow. Fill out all the reports, turn them in to me for review and then hit the sack.”
As we were getting ready to sleep, Todd looked over at me and said, “Don’t let it worry you. It was a justified use of your weapon and that’s how the reports will read. Don’t let that old bull of a sergeant in there scare you. Get some sleep before we have to do it all over again tonight.”
It took me almost ten minutes before I could shut my mind down in order to sleep. I kept replaying the incident over in my head. There really wasn’t anything I could have done differently.
The tour of duty was over and we arrived back on base in late afternoon where I found a note at the armory telling me to report to the CO first thing in the morning. My guts tightened up and a mild feeling of fear crept into my heart. Damn, there was nothing else I could have done! What did they want me to do? Just let those stinking snakes bite and do nothing? Todd once again reassured me that it was routine. The CO had to talk to me so that he could report to his bosses that he had talked to me. Weapons discharge really was a big deal.
I parted ways from Todd with no plans to get together as we were both to report to base police for duty after a one-day break. We both would be catching up on some sleep and getting our uniforms ready for this duty. We wore Air Force blues for base patrol and not the green army-type fatigues. Our leather gear also had to be highly shined along with badges and belt buckles. We were, after all, the elite of the Air Force ground combat troops. In fact, we even wore distinctive red berets for base police duty.
After grabbing dinner and getting my uniforms ready, I hit the sack after watching more news on the world situation. In reports from the Soviet Union, it seemed like the old-style hard-line Stalinists were back in power, and that wasn’t good for anyone. After all, Stalin had murdered more than twenty million of his own citizens in his climb to, and maintaining of, his power to rule the Soviet Union.
The next morning I got up, showered, and dressed, but didn’t go to breakfast. I had butterflies the size of pterosaurs. I sat in my room until ten minutes before my appointment and left for the base police building where the CO maintained an office. The same aide was sitting at the desk and when I stopped in front of him, he just looked at me and smiled.
“Glad to see you’re unarmed, Callahan,” the base comedian said.
“Funny. I’m reporting as ordered.”
“He told me to send you right in when you got here. So, knock on the doorjamb, and report.”
“Enter,” was the reply to my knock. I stood before the major’s desk and reported as I had just a short time ago. When he looked up, I saluted and he returned my salute.
“Callahan, I have here the reports on your discharge of your M16, including a supplemental report from Sergeant Claymore. Do you have anything to add to the official reports of the incident?”
“No, sir. Everything in the report is just as it happened.”
“Can you look at me and tell me you had no other choice but to fire fifteen rounds of ammo into that snake?”
“Sir, I had no other choice. The rattler struck me once and was coiling back to strike me again. He hit my boot the first time, but I was afraid he would go higher on the second strike, sir.”
“Very well. Then I consider the matter closed, and will classify it as a justified use of a weapon in order to defend your life. Hopefully, you won’t run into any snakes while manning the desk here in this building or
I fear there wouldn’t be much left when you were done shooting!” he said with a smile.
“Yes, sir. I hope I never run into another snake anywhere.”
“You understand when to report to Sergeant Gray for your new duties?”
“Yes sir, tomorrow night at twenty-two hundred hours for guard mount. I’m looking forward to the job, sir, and I appreciate the opportunity.”
“I have confidence in you, Callahan, and know you’ll do a good job for Sergeant Gray. That’s all. You’re dismissed.”
I saluted and left the office. On the way out, I smiled at the aide at the desk. He almost looked disappointed that he didn’t get to hear me being chewed out and I wanted to give him the finger, but resisted the urge.
I was now starving but had missed breakfast hours so I would have to wait until lunch. When I returned to the barracks, I found Todd waiting in my room, sitting at my desk with a look of concern on his face.
“Well, what happened? Are you okay?”
“Great to see you, Todd. Yeah, I’m fine. He just asked me if I had another choice besides firing, and I told him no. As far as he is concerned, the matter is closed. He asked me if I understood when to report to Sergeant Gray, and I said yes, and that was it.”
“Good. I felt fairly certain that you were out of the woods on this, but you never know. It is the military, after all, and the Pentagon was in on the deal. Look, you got any plans for the rest of today?”
“Not really. I figure like in the field, we’ll have to sleep tomorrow during the day, so we can stay awake all night long. Whatcha got in mind?”
Todd smiled and looked down my body. “My car is here. Why don’t you change, throw your personal stuff into a bag, and spend the rest of today and tonight at my place? I’ll cook us dinner again and get some beer. Interested?”
“I don’t know. It isn’t fair for you to be buying the food all the time for us, and I can’t afford to help right now. I don’t have any way to pay you back,” I replied, looking as innocent as I could pull off.
“Oh, you’ll pay for dinner, don’t you worry about that. And you won’t need any money. Come on. Change and let’s get out of here; this place gives me hives.”
Todd watched closely as I changed into shorts, T-shirt, and sneakers. I threw my toothbrush, comb, and a change of underwear into a small bag and we were gone. As we rode back to his place, I asked, “Can you drop me off on base tomorrow evening, early? I want to make sure my uniform is perfect for my first appearance at base police.”
“Yeah, no problem. While you are learning desk duties, I’ll be on patrol. I’ll probably have Police Four assigned to me. Police Four, as you will learn, is your general call car for any routine calls you receive at the desk. Sergeant Gray will have Police Three, the duty officer, who is a second lieutenant, will have Police Two, if we even see anything of him, and God forbid, the CO has Police One should he have to come out for some reason. There more than likely will also be a Police Five, which will give you three cars for incidents. Security control also has three security trucks on patrol in the restricted zones and they can be borrowed if the shit hits the fan.”
As he finished his little briefing, we arrived at his place. When we got out of the car, he popped the trunk and pulled out groceries that he had bought on the way to pick me up on base. He sat them on the kitchen table and headed to his room to change into shorts. I began to pull things out of the bags so they could be put away. Midway down in the second bag, I found a box of rubbers and a very large tube of lube. I smiled and put them back so he didn’t know I had found them.
“You didn’t have to start doing that. Get a beer and go sit down and relax; it’s our day off.”
“Well, if you insist,” I replied with a smile. “What’s for dinner anyway?”
“I got us a couple of steaks for the grill, some corn on the cob, and baked beans and coleslaw. You like?”
“Oh hell yeah, I like.”
After he put everything away, he grabbed a beer and sat down on the sofa next to me and put the television on. “Do you plan on visiting the gay bar here in Cheyenne anytime? ’Cause if you do, you better be careful: the place gets staked out by the Office of Special Investigations every once in a while. They like their occasional witch hunts and there is no better fun for them than huntin’ queers.”
“Well, I’m sure President Windsor will be repealing all that ‘don’t ask, don’t tell’ bullshit in the near future. They better do their huntin’ while they can. But to answer your question, no, I had no plans on going out to the bar or trying to hook up with anyone. Why do you ask?”
“Oh, I was just curious, that’s all. I kinda like you, and you’re easy on the eyes.”
“Well, that’s sweet. Thank you. I like you also and you’re hard on the eyes, but not in the looks department, just the dick department,” I said with a laugh. “Besides, I always seemed to fall for my teachers in high school, and you did say you were teaching me things.”
“Oh yeah, I’m gonna teach you a few things if you want to learn.”
“You’re thinking about my ass cherry, arn’cha?”
“Now why would I do that? Sir, you have mistaken me for a wanton hussy who only wants one thing!”
When I stopped laughing, I looked at him, and leaned over and stole a kiss. It was just after noon, but I smelled cologne on the man. “Look, you are a man, a horny young man, and yes, I know what you want. If you’re nice, you might get a crack at it, but I can’t promise you anything. I know I’m not the first one to tell you that your size frightens me when I think about you wanting to stick that thing up my ass. I can almost feel my asshole pucker shut!”
It was Todd’s turn to laugh out loud and lean over to me for a kiss. I put my hand around the back of his head and held him longer than he was planning while we played dueling tongues. I might not know anything about fucking, but I sure knew about kissing.
When I let him go from the kiss, he looked at me and smiled with a twinkle in his eyes. The last time I noticed that in a guy, he managed to talk me into bed for the first time. Since Todd had already passed that goal, I could only imagine what he was thinking.
We had a couple more beers, and then he threw the steaks on the grill, and I shucked the corn and got the water boiling. We sat down around seven to eat, and the food was fantastic. The food on base was good, but nothing compared to steaks on the grill, corn on the cob, and a handsome man to eat it all with.
We cleaned up and sat back down to watch a movie. It was Mel Gibson in one of his cop movies and we enjoyed the give-and-take between Gibson and Danny Glover. Toward the end of the movie, Todd put his arm around my shoulder and I sank into his solid chest. It felt right, but it was far more than any potential bedroom action that made me content; it was the closeness with another man. I was a guy who needed affection in my private life and Todd showed no signs of being afraid of expressing that. I ate it up like a puppy dog with its first bowl of puppy chow.
When the movie ended, he bent down and kissed me warmly. I smiled and he flicked the television off with the remote. “Well, it’s after ten and here’s what I suggest: we lay down for an hour or so and get some sleep. We wake up about one, get up, shower and find something to occupy our time. We need to be able to sleep in the daytime tomorrow so we can report for third shift tomorrow night.”
“Okay. Sounds like a plan. But are we able to just go to bed and sleep for an hour or two?” I asked with a smile.
“What do you think we’ll occupy some of our time with after sleeping?”
I laughed and we got up and went into the bedroom, took off all our clothes and jumped into bed. I snuggled up to Todd and he put his arm around me and we fell asleep. By the time we woke up, it was actually three o’clock, which was way past when Todd thought we should be back up.
“Okay. You jump in the shower, and I’ll put some coffee on.”
I was done washing and turned the water off and opened the shower curtain to find Todd sitting t
here waiting for me with a towel in his hands. His gaze fell down my body and came back up. I smiled at the obvious appraisal of my body that he was engaged in. So, I played along and did a slow turn while standing in the tub so he could once again check out my ass. He threw me the towel and gave me his hand to lean on while I got out. He stripped his shorts off and slapped me on the ass as he turned the water back on and got into the shower himself.
I dried myself off and brushed my hair, which was longer now that I had gotten rid of that “just out of boot camp” look. I heard the water turn off and it was my turn to quickly sit down with Todd’s towel in my hands and when he opened the curtain, I looked his body over. My breath still caught in my throat upon seeing his long dick and low-hanging balls, which were quite relaxed from the hot water. He was just so damn big; I couldn’t help but stare again. Todd then did his own turn in the bathtub and I was able to admire his bubble butt again. It was a thing of beauty.
He got out and took the towel from me and quickly dried off. “Just wrap the towel around you and let’s have our coffee before fun and games, okay?”
“Sounds good to me. Why bother with the towels, though?”
“Nosy neighbors. All I need is for them to be peeking into my windows and see us cavorting around in the nude. Next thing you know, they’re calling the base. As long as they don’t see anything, we’re fine.”
We sat at the breakfast bar in his kitchen and sipped a really good cup of coffee. He used imported coffee from Hawaii, called Kona roast, which had an incredible flavor and cost about $26 a pound. He saw the expression on my face and said, “I only use the best for special company.”
I blushed and said, “I bet you tell that to all your tricks.”
“Ha! As I told you, it’s been some time since I last got laid. I was about to begin chewing the paint off of the walls when you came along.”
“Well, let me ask you then: Why didn’t you go to the bar, or advertise on the Internet? After all, there is no shortage of gay men in the area, I’m sure.”
John Simpson Page 4
