Cadet 3

by Commander James Bondage

  He stood up the moment he finished, shouting, “Take that, you dirty little bitch!” Robin did not hear him, as she had passed out. The Rear Admiral placed Robin’s feet back on the platforms, loosened the rope a few inches, and slapped her face until her eyes flickered open as consciousness returned.

  Merry was in better shape than her sister. Murchinson returned her to stand on the platforms and patted her cheek. “That was the best fuck I’ve had in a long time, and you are the most beautiful girl I think I’ve ever seen. I wish there was some way to keep you alive, but I can’t think of one. I just want you to know, when the time comes, I have nothing against you, any of you, personally. It’s just business.”

  “That will be a great comfort when you kill us, I’m sure,” Merry said faintly.

  He laughed, and slapped her bottom. “That’s the spirit! If Cafferson was here, I’d admit to him that I was all wrong about his girl soldiers. If the other ones are anything like you, they’re plenty tough enough. I would tell him that, right to his face!”

  While his colleagues were busy with Robin and Merry, Admiral Hall had not been idle. Leaving Jodie still spread out on the drum, he attached a pair of automobile jumper cables to her breasts. The powerful springs on the clamps made the teeth very nearly meet in her flesh, and the tips of her breasts rapidly started to turn red, then purple. The cables were attached to a control box, and he set the control panel to give the screaming Jodie shocks at ten second intervals. Then he tipped the cylinder back, plunging her head into the water again, and started to viciously pound into her, watching the bubbles and ripples on the surface of the water made by Jodie as she fought for her life. This time, he did not relent until the bubbles stopped and her small white form was still and limp. Then he pulled the handle, bringing her back to the air, but not necessarily to life. Her eyes were open and unseeing, her lips blue. At first, it appeared as though life had fled her body.

  “No, no, you’re not getting off that easily,” he told the unmoving Jodie. He laid his head on her chest, and detected a faint heartbeat. Then he began to administer mouth to mouth resuscitation while manually working her chest, and in a few seconds, she responded, coughing weakly and bringing up water from her lungs.

  Hall batted her head back and forth a few times with blows of his open hand, until she opened her eyes. “So you’re back with us. Good. I still haven’t tried out that cute little ass of yours. I hope it hasn’t been spoiled by too much whoring for Cafferson,” he said.

  As he talked, he rapidly released the cuffs on her arms and legs, picked her up with ease and flung her face down on the drum. After the near drowning, Jodie was too weak to offer any resistance during the brief moments when her hands were free. He attached restraints to all four limbs and tightened the cables, until she once again felt as if her arms and legs were about to be separated from her torso.

  “I’ll need a little time,” he informed her, “So I’ll whip you for a while. If half the rumors I hear about you are true, that should get both of us going,” he said. “Anyway, you’ll admit that I do pretty well for a man of my years. Do you still think I’m ‘long and soft and filled with semen?’ or would you like to change the wording?”

  Jodie turned her head, coughed, and said something inaudible. Hall stooped lower, and said, “I didn’t catch that. Say it again, a little louder this time.”

  Jodie took as deep a breath as her condition and the pressure on her chest permitted, and then whispered haltingly, “I was wrong… The part that’s soft and… filled with semen is… your head, asshole.”

  Hall straightened abruptly, his face beginning to redden again. “You still haven’t figured out how to keep that smart mouth under control, have you?” he asked. He picked up the slender metal rod he had used before, examined it and threw it to the floor, then strode quickly across the room to the hose. The reel squeaked as it spun furiously, as he rushed back to Jodie with the hose clutched in his hand.

  General Murchinson was resting, getting ready for another round with Merry. He followed his angry colleague with his eyes, and when Hall raised a length of hose over his head to strike Jodie, the General said, “I happened to catch some of your conversation with Blondie, and I can’t tell you I was happy with what I heard. I suddenly have the feeling that you got me into this under false pretenses.”

  The Admiral lowered his arm and slowly turned to face Murchinson. “I trust you are not basing this on something General Cuntface here said. I would hate to think you would allow her lies to cause trouble between us.”

  “I wouldn’t say I believed anything, but I will admit that something she said started me thinking,” Murchinson replied. “You promised me you had the Navy entire high command and most of the Army and Air Force lined up, ready to declare for us as soon as the ball dropped, and that the lower ranks hated Lawrence and couldn’t wait to get rid of her.”

  “That’s what I said,” Hall agreed. “So what?”

  “So, I have not heard of anybody on the General Staff outside the Navy throwing in with us, not one General from the Air Force, and not a single Major General or higher from the Army. Come to think of it, I only have your word that anybody in the Navy besides your son is on board,” he answered. “On top of that, as far as I can tell from T.V. interviews, newspaper articles and my own sources, nine of ten of the officers and men in all three services think Lawrence walks on water. They fucking worship her, and I have a very strong sense that they would happily blow out the brains of anybody who touched a hair on her head, which is not exactly what you told me, is it? I agreed to attend your little tea party because I wanted another chance to be the CGS again, even if you would have most of the real power. I didn’t do it to help you get your revenge, right before we both draw firing squads.”

  Hall did not respond immediately. He seemed to be fighting to keep his emotions under control. At last he said, “So, after all the years we’ve known each other, my word is not good enough for you. Well, allow me to point out that we have the two essential Army Generals, the commanders of the MPs and the N.S.B…”

  “Who are both Brigadiers and idiots, and are about as respected and influential on the General Staff as dead cockroaches,” Murchinson finished for him. “And what about the rest of it? I have no personal quarrel with Lawrence, and unless you can show me how this plan of yours is going to work, I’m thinking about getting out before the whole thing comes down around our ears. I have an alternate identity ready, secret bank accounts, the works, all set up years ago. If you want to make like Samson in the temple, you can go ahead without me.”

  For some reason, Hall suddenly relaxed and smiled. “You’re making a mountain out of a molehill, Alfred,” he said. He glanced over Murchinson’s shoulder and made a tiny movement with his head as he continued talking. “The Army and Air Force brass are just waiting to make sure Cafferson’s pet is really out of the picture. They don’t want to stick their necks out for anything less than a sure thing, like you. But they’ll come around in the end, you can count on it,” he said soothingly. His expression suddenly hardened, and he nodded his head sharply.

  Robin and Merry shouted “Behind you!” Murchinson started to turn around, but before he could complete the movement, a length of wire wielded by Rear Admiral Carroll passed over his head and tightened around his throat. The General made a harsh gargling sound and clawed futilely at the wire. Bright red blood spurted from a severed artery and he collapsed to the floor. He lay there unmoving, his head twisted at an unnatural angle, resting in a spreading pool of blood.

  “Well done, Bobby,” Hall said. “The coward didn’t give us any choice. He was about to jump ship and go over to the other side.”

  “I have no doubt about it, sir,” Carroll said, “but it leaves us with the problem of explaining how this happened.”

  “Hmm, let me think about it, for a minute,” Hall said. He moved to the desk, sat in the revolving chair, and stared at the ceiling, rubbing his hand over his mouth.

&n
bsp; “All right,” he said at last, “there’s really only one way we can do it. We’ll make it look like one of them did it... that one,” he said, pointing at Merry. He closed his eyes and massaged his temples, as if trying to stimulate his brain. “She got loose somehow… we didn’t see it, because you were helping me interrogate Lawrence… and she came up behind him with the wire…”

  “But what about the other two?” Carroll asked. “We can’t leave them alive, but how do we account for them?”

  “I know, I know,” Hall said irritably. “OK. She’s got Murchinson with the garrote around his neck, and she threatened to cut his throat unless we released Lawrence and her sister. So we did. Then, her sister goes for Murchinson’s automatic and looks like she’s about to fire, so we are forced to shoot her in self-defense. She garrotes Murchinson before we can stop her, and we shoot her and Lawrence in the melee. Not great, but with Jonas running the investigation, we shouldn’t have a problem. Get that cunt down here,” he pointed at Merry, “and we’ll start with her.”

  “Is there anybody but you stupid enough to buy that idiotic story?” Merry asked as Admiral Carroll let out the rope and opened the noose. “You can’t possibly think you’ll get away with this.”

  “I agree, it’s not what you would call ‘airtight’,” Hall admitted as he seized Merry by her arm and pointed his .45 automatic at her head, “but we really have nothing to lose. If we don’t give some explanation for this…” he nudged the corpse with the toe of his shoe, “…we’re both headed for the firing squad. Unless you can suggest a better plan, Cadet.”

  Jodie lifted her head and turned as far as she could to face Hall. “Give yourselves up. You can escape the firing squad if you surrender yourself and plead insanity. Because you really are insane, Admiral Hall. This coup of yours proves it. You are an Admiral; you’ve planned some of the biggest naval operations in history and you come up with a plan a ten-year old would laugh at. Now, all you can think of is killing us and setting up some ridiculous crime scene that your son won’t buy for a second. You are a sick man, Admiral Hall, and you need treatment.”

  Hall appeared to be considering Jodie’s words. He looked at her uncertainly, his face filled with doubt and fear. “How can I trust you? If I turn myself in, how do I know you won’t have me shot as soon as you’re in charge?”

  “Look at me, Admiral Hall,” Jodie said, her eyes locked on his. “Look at me. Surrender, and I will make sure you receive psychiatric care. I promise I will not permit you to be criminally charged. You have my word. Look me in the eye: you have my sacred word,” she repeated.

  He gazed at Jodie in silence for a long time, his decision balanced on the edge of a razor. Finally, he lowered his gun. “I… I believe you.” To Admiral Carroll, he said, “Let them go. It’s over, Bobby.”

  “But what about me?” Carroll demanded, practically in tears. “You have an insanity defense, but what do I have? I followed your orders; I killed for you. What am I supposed to do now?”

  Hall shrugged. “You’ll just have to take your chances,” he said.

  The pudgy Carroll’s face suddenly resembled something seen in a nightmare. “You can take your chances… in Hell!” he shrieked. He whipped the wire, which he was still holding, around Admiral Hall’s neck, and pulled sharply.

  At the same moment the door flew open and Captain Hall rushed in, followed by a half-dozen plainclothes Naval Internal Security men. All of them held guns pointed at the two Admirals. “Everybody freeze!” he shouted.

  “Fuck you!” Carroll screamed. He pulled the loop around his superior’s neck tight with all his strength, nearly decapitating Admiral Hall, whose head flopped backwards. A great column of blood spouted from the severed neck, soaking Carroll and Merry before the body dropped to the floor. Carroll made a weird gobbling noise, and ran across the room, away from the newcomers. Seven automatic pistols fired in a ragged volley, and Admiral Carroll pitched face forward, dead before he hit the ground.

  Captain Hall rushed to where his father’s body lay. He knelt by the corpse and, disregarding the blood that soaked his uniform, cradled his father’s head in his arms, staring down at the dead eyes. He remained there, unmoving for a long time, oblivious of all attempts to communicate with him.

  At last he felt a hand on his shoulder and heard a soft soprano voice say, “Captain Hall.” He looked up to see Jodie standing over him, wrapped in a suit jacket she had borrowed from one of the NIS men. She spoke quietly. “I’ll see that he’s taken care of properly. You need a rest, and then you must return to your duties. Your country needs you.”

  The Captain swallowed, nodded, and rose to his feet. He braced at attention, faced Jodie and saluted. “General Lawrence, I want to resign my commission and surrender myself to whatever authorities you designate. I am unworthy to wear the uniform of my country. I am guilty of aiding and abetting treason and conspiracy, and I am ready to make a full confession.”

  Jodie returned the salute, and smiled up at the tall Captain as she shook her head. “I’m sorry, Captain Hall, but I cannot permit that. Your resignation is not accepted. You are ordered take a one month leave of absence, after which you will report to directly to me for your new assignment. Is that understood, Captain?”

  “But…” he began, then stopped and swallowed. “Yes sir, understood,” he answered. “Thank you, sir.” He saluted again, executed a training manual about-face, squared his shoulders and marched away.

  “Do you think he’ll be all right?” Robin asked as they watched Hall’s receding back.

  “He’d better be,” Jodie said. “I’m going to put him in charge of my new National Security Agency.”

  Chapter Nine: Chief of the General Staff

  Only two months had passed since the attempted coup, but to Jodie it seemed like two years, or perhaps two decades, because much had happened in such a short time.

  An investigation had revealed the threadbare nature of Admiral Hall’s conspiracy. After Jodie saw the final report, she wondered how Hall had ever induced anyone to join the crack-brained scheme. He had managed to secure the allegiance of only one other high naval officer, a Vice Admiral in Naval Intelligence, and even he had gotten cold feet and backed out when the balloon went up. There were a few Captains and Colonels actively involved, and three Admirals on the General Staff were shown to have been approached, who neither joined the conspiracy nor reported it (they all chose retirement on half pay over contesting charges in courts-martial). The commanders of the NSB and the Military Police were cashiered and sentenced to twenty years to life at hard labor instead of the death penalty, at the insistence of the new CGS. As Jodie had discovered from her personal experience, the MPs had developed a culture of corruption and abuse of prisoners. Their ranks were thoroughly purged of the worst elements, and the organization was then folded into the new Unified National Security Agency, a creation of Jodie’s. (A certain Captain John Harkness of the Military police was being sought in connection with the arrest of General Lawrence and her aide, Captain Bransom. He had disappeared the day the coup collapsed, and his whereabouts were still unknown. “He has more brains than I gave him credit for,” Jodie commented.) The UNSA encompassed all the police/security services of the various branches of the military and the old NSB. Jodie placed the newly promoted Rear Admiral Jonas Hall in command of this new agency, and gave him a seat on the General Staff.

  Not everyone was comfortable with the power of the new security agency. “I’m OK with it as long Hall’s in charge, I guess, but what happens when somebody else takes over?” Kate Swenson asked Jodie as they sat on the back porch of the latter’s Georgetown townhouse with Merry, Robin and Steph, drinking beer and watching the fireflies blink on and off in her yard. “It’s not going to be easy to find somebody else you can trust with the keys to the kingdom.”

  “Quis custodiet ipsos custodes?” Jodie murmured, half to herself.

  “That’s Latin, right?” Kate asked. “Well, about all the Latin I know is ‘E
pluribus Unum.’ What does it mean, boss?”

  “It’s from the poet Juvenal,” Steph explained. “It means ‘Who will guard the guardians?’ ”

  “It’s an old problem, goes back to before Roman times,” Jodie said. “We give the UNSA the power to keep us safe and make sure there is never another coup. But who will keep us safe from them?”

  They sat in silence for a while, sipping their beers, deep in thought. “I have a suggestion,” Merry said. “It’s probably stupid, but maybe it will give somebody else a good idea.”

  “Let’s have it,” Jodie said.

  “Well, Kate’s unit isn’t busy now…” she began. This was true. With the elevation of Jodie to Chief of the General Staff, the need for the secret unit commanded by Colonel Bransom had passed. The Colonel had gratefully taken the opportunity to retire, again. “So why not use Cafferson’s Black Ops unit as super-secret security agents? They could keep an eye on the UNSA to make sure it doesn’t decide to take down the government, and report directly to you. And you don’t have to worry about whether they’re trustworthy.”

  Jodie sat straight up and stared at Merry. “So it’s stupid, right?” Merry asked.

  “No, not exactly,” Jodie answered. “Actually, it’s brilliant, except I think they should do more than just keep an eye on the security agency. They could be my personal eyes and ears, and be sent undercover to investigate any part of the military where we think there might be trouble. What do you say, Colonel Swenson?”

  Kate had just been promoted to Major for her part in protecting Jodie in the recent coup. She held a much lower opinion of her abilities than did her friends, or indeed any of her superiors, who had invariably recommended her for promotion. She now objected. “Dammit, Jodie, you can’t just make me a Colonel because you had one beer too many. I just made Major, and what happened to Lieutenant Colonel, anyway?”