Another One Bites the Dust

by Lani Lynn Vale

  The woman had a silent snarl on her face, and I wondered what I’d done to piss her off; it’s not as if I’d ever seen her before. The other four men looked to be reserving judgment until I’d proven myself in some way. They all looked alike. All had a beard, dark colored hair, and deeply tanned skin. The only difference was, was the amount of bulk they sported, but even that wouldn’t have been noticeable if you weren’t looking closely. Which I assumed was their objective.

  “Alright, ladies. You all know why we’re here,” Layne said when I interrupted him.

  “Actually, I don’t. Why don’t you enlighten me?” I said briskly.

  “We don’t really want you here. We could have done this on our own. The only reason you’re here is that Layne here said you could help. Why don’t you shut up and listen to him.” The she-devil said.

  Layne silenced her with a sharp command, and I couldn’t help but chuckle at her chastised look. “We have a man in lockdown. The past two weeks we’ve been hearing chatter through the locals that there’s an attack planned on COB Speicher. From what we can surmise, they want the base back, and us out. Preferably dead. The young man in custody has some serious training. When PFC Torres found him, he came in without a fight. It’s been sixteen days now, and everyone has tried to break him and couldn’t. That’s where you come in. We need what he has.”

  “Why would you need to have me recalled? Why not just call me, I would have come.” I asked perplexed.

  “We tried. Apparently, the brass no longer wants civilians that aren’t in a contract with the government working on anything that has to do with National Security, and that takes months of fucking paperwork, and we don’t have that time to waste.” Layne explained.

  I nodded in understanding. The government was really starting to crack down on certain matters. That’s the whole reason most of the men from our team got out when they did. They were tired of the bureaucracy bullshit. “Alright. What am I allowed to do to him?”

  The she-devil snorted in derision, and I continued to ignore her. The men however seemed to think it was humorous and a few chuckles rent the air. It was a legitimate question though. Everything depended on how fast the information needed to be obtained. Over the years, I’ve honed my skills, and planned going in how far I was willing to go.

  “Whatever it takes.” Layne said simply.

  “He won’t be able to get it done. Then what are you going to do?” SD scoffed.

  “O’Hare, you have a lot to learn.” Layne chided.

  “He hasn’t even been in the military for over a fucking year. He’s rusty and out of practice. What can he do-” O’Hare was saying before I lost the control on my patience and reacted.

  O’Hare was sitting across the room from me, sitting behind the table with her arms crossed over her chest. I didn’t let that stop me though. One second I was leaning against the wall and the next I had O’Hare pinned to the chair. Around the room, I could feel the men tense. They reacted, but it was too slow. I already had O’Hare in a position that didn’t bode well for her future if she decided to fuck with me anymore.

  “Let me tell you something, little girl. I’m in better shape now that I was when I was eighteen and finished with boot camp. I could kill you right now, get away, and none of these men could do a single fucking thing to stop me. I’m not fucking you, and you’re not my sister, so I don’t have to deal with your shit. Why don’t you check that attitude of yours, because I’m extremely tired of hearing the trash that is spewing from your mouth. Are we clear?” I asked.

  She reared back her head, and I knew what was about to come. Letting go of her left hand and transferring it to my right, I swung my hand up and turned her face before she could spit at me. I just laughed. Obviously, she thought I was joking, but I wasn’t.

  “That’s enough,” Layne said. “O’Hare, I think it would be best if you sat this one out. It’s obvious to me that you can no longer keep detached from this project.”

  I let her go, and returned to my position across the room, resuming my relaxed position. This time I crossed my feet though, showing her that I didn’t see her as a threat in the slightest. O’Hare continued to argue, but got nowhere. She stormed from the conference room in a flurry, and I was grateful that I didn’t have to deal with her anymore. There was nothing worse than having someone on your team you couldn’t trust.

  “Thank you, Baby Jesus.” The man with the lightest of bulk said.

  There was a round of agreement that followed in that statements wake, and I cracked a smile for the first time since I left Payton standing on the tarmac.

  Chapter 3

  You can trust your dog to guard your house, but never trust your dog to guard your sandwich.

  -T-shirt

  Payton

  “Who did you say you were again?” I asked with a large amount of confusion.

  “My name is Claudia. I’m here to start training you with Alpha.” She said gesturing to the massive German Shepherd that was sitting fancily at her side.

  I hunkered down, ass to the back of my legs, and regarded the beautiful boy. He was pure black. Not a hint of brown shown over his entire coat, and he was gorgeous. Normally when you think of German Shepherds you think about the brown and black coat, but this big boy only had the coarse hair, pointy ears, and long nose that was synonymous with Germans, but with a pure midnight coat.

  He looked at me with an intelligence that quite frankly freaked me out a little. “I’m sorry to say that I didn’t order a dog. Not that he’s not pretty stinkin’ awesome, but I would hate to take him when he’s not really mine.”

  My moral code at times can be iffy, but I draw the line at stealing someone else’s badass dog. The longer I stared, the larger he seemed to get.

  The tall sable haired woman, Claudia, smiled a breathtaking smile and then said, “Max said you would do this. Sol told me that Max arranged for the dog, and to get him here as soon as possible. You were in luck, I was doing a police training seminar in Lubbock with Alpha, and could just zip right on over within a couple hours. I was supposed to deliver him next week, but we didn’t see any point in boarding him on a plane just to be shipped right back the next week.”

  “Oh, my God. I’m going to kick his ass. Do you know how to get to Iraq?” I asked facetiously.

  The man was relentless. He’d been gone for two and a half days, and already he’d called me more than he had in the past month when he was here. He’d asked multiple times how I’d been sleeping, but I never told him the whole truth. Yes, I slept, but not very well. I’d gotten a little over eight hours total in the last seventy two hours, which was not conducive with work, or functioning for that matter.

  He’d asked me repeatedly to move into his place, but I was adamant that I stick it out, get over the hang-up I had with being alone. Somehow, he knew that I was lying though; he knew I wasn’t sleeping.

  Answering the phone at three in the morning, bright eyed and panting probably didn’t help my case. Around three this morning I’d woken up from the same recurring nightmare. The one where I was laying on the concrete, face down, with the two men standing over me. They took turns kicking me. I’d started out in a tight ball, but after a few minutes, I no longer had the strength to protect myself. My scream of pain when one of them stomped down on my hip was what woke me from sleep. Instead of the futile effort of going back to sleep, I started my morning workout of Insanity three hours early.

  When Max called, I’d just finished the workout and was lying on the floor in a heap. He was lucky my phone was on the floor playing the latest John Corey book on audio; otherwise, I wouldn’t have had the strength to get up and get it. He never did mention why he was calling so late, well late for me since it was four in the morning. My only guess was that he’d somehow knew I wasn’t sleeping. Which explained the dog now exploring my apartment. The man just couldn’t mind his own damn business.

  Then a thought struck me. “Wait a minute. What do you mean when you say you we
re doing police training?”

  She gave me another bright smile. “Alpha is a protection dog. He’s trained to protect his trainer, or in your case owner. He will protect you from anything you could possibly imagine. Burglaries, muggings, fires. You name it; he will protect you from it. He’s also a trained service dog. Which means you can take him anywhere you want. Max took the liberty of having you certified as needing a service dog as well. You should have something in the mail within the next couple of days. You can even take him to work with you.”

  I rolled my eyes heavenward. That man. He was such a shit, as well as stubborn and annoying. He was perfect. “I’m not sure what hospital policy is, but I’m pretty sure they won’t let me bring my dog to work with me. Probably against public health standards or something. Don’t you actually have to have a medical condition to use a service dog?”

  She regarded me with sadness in her eyes. “Honey, you have three locks on your door. From what I can see you have alarms on the window, although kind of flimsy, but they’ll work. You have a baseball bat leaning in the corner, a stun gun on the coffee table, and a Taser on the mantle. You obviously have had some sort of attack at some point in time, and you’re scared shitless. A, you need an alarm. B, you probably have PTSD, but you’re stubborn and refuse to go talk with someone, and that in itself is a medical condition, which enables you to have a service dog. C, the hospital you work at can’t refuse to let you have the dog. It’s against the law.”

  What the h-e-double hockey sticks? “Wow. I can’t believe you saw all that with less than two minutes in my apartment. FYI, alarms cost out the ass, and I don’t have the money to buy one.”

  I wasn’t touching the PTSD comment with a ten-foot pole. I’d heard it time and time again from my parents, brother, and friends. I didn’t want to talk to some random stranger about my fucked up head either.

  She nodded in understanding. “Very true. I’ve had to be very observant in my life. Let’s just say when I wasn’t, I got hurt. Now, seeing as Alpha has made himself at home on your couch let me go over some of the commands with you. What you can ask him to do, and a little about his history. We’ll do this a little bit over the next few days until you can do it without my help. I understand you work tonight, so we can work for an hour or so today, and I’ll take Alpha back to the hotel with me until tomorrow afternoon. After that, he can stay here, even if you have to work.”

  Sure enough, the dog was knocked out on my couch. Good thing I had a sectional, or there would be nowhere to sit. The dog took up two whole cushions, and then some. I couldn’t help but laugh at that. I’d always wanted a dog, but my childhood wasn’t conducive with a dog.

  My dad was career Marine. Last year, he retired at the age of sixty-five at the rank of Colonel. Over the course of my childhood, we’d never been in one place more than three years. Even now, he still actively participated in a civilian capacity. I didn’t exactly know what he did, then again I never really asked. He made it a point not to discuss his job with us, and I never asked. I didn’t want him to lie to me, as I was sure he would have to do. I was convinced he did some secret military spook stuff.

  My mom was originally from Jefferson, TX. When I turned eighteen, I looked for a school that was near my extended family. Every weekend for the past five years, I’ve had Sunday dinner with my dad’s parents, Pepaw and Nanny. It’s so nice to have roots after spending my entire childhood anticipating the next move. When my father finally retired, they bought acreage across the street from my grandparents. For the first time in my brother’s life, he didn’t have to worry about moving, which to a teenager means the world.

  “That sounds like it will work, but I have a dinner tomorrow with my grandparents. Can you come around noon? I have to be at dinner by three. That’ll give me a couple of hours to work with you two, and then drive the hour it takes to get to Jefferson from here.”

  “Let’s get started. The first thing I want to tell you is that Alpha will ‘guard’ if you tell him to. For instance, say you were in a situation where you needed Alpha to protect someone else besides you. He understands German and English, so for this session we’ll go with English, and then work on the other language. All you would say is ‘Guard’ and he will do it.” She explained.

  For the next hour and a half we worked on commands, and by the end of it, I was ready to worship at Max’s feet. Already I was feeling safer, and I was ecstatic. I couldn’t wait for Alpha to stay with me permanently. Max was one perceptive man.

  ɸ

  That night at work, I asked my supervisor, Tammy, about bringing a service dog with me to work.

  “Honestly, Payton, I would have to ask my boss. I don’t see a problem with it, but it could be a violation of some kind, and I haven’t the slightest idea about those. Let me run it by the director, and I’ll get back to you.” Tammy said.

  I nodded in understanding, and then went to the board that told me what room patients would be mine tonight. I was the newest member of the well-baby and postpartum nursing staff. Can I tell you I absolutely love my job? Who wouldn’t want to hold newborn babies all day long?

  “You will never believe the size of the latest baby! Eleven pounds thirteen ounces. She did it naturally, too!” Cheyenne said to me as I walked into the nurse’s station.

  “Holy Crap! That is one awesome woman! When I’m pregnant, I won’t be having any pain meds either. I want to see if I can do it naturally.” I said jokingly.

  Cheyenne burst out laughing. “You’re so full of shit. You’ll be walking in the door demanding the epidural before anyone even examines you.”

  Cheyenne was one of my closest friends. We’d met during our first year of nursing school two years ago. Then when we started our jobs a couple of months ago, we got even closer. We also found we have a lot in common. The best friendships are built on inappropriateness and sarcasm, and we had that in spades. Cheyenne had in turn introduced me to her best friend, Ember, and another of their group, Blaine. It was the type of instant friendship that you knew would last a lifetime.

  The night shift went by quickly. I was able to make the nearly twelve pound baby’s acquaintance, and was flabbergasted to find out that the mother was a young girl, maybe the age of fifteen, who was only an inch or so taller than me. I would have loved to see how big she was before she gave birth. Before we knew it, Cheyenne and I were walking out to the employee parking lot.

  My scooter was in the designated parking spot for motorcycles, and I laughed when I saw Cheyenne’s ride next to mine. Hers definitely won seeing as her ride had one hot sexy man sitting astride it.

  Sam was a gorgeous specimen of a man. Tall, broad, and built in all the right places. His Ray-Bans reflected the morning sun, and I was drawn to the smirk he had at the corner of his mouth. He was hunched over the front of his bike, elbows resting on the gas tank as he watched us approach. A black skullcap covered his hair.

  “Get any crap about your ‘beanie’ today, Sam?” I asked with a laugh.

  He glared, and I laughed harder. When I’d first met him, he was wearing a skullcap just like the one he was wearing now. Max and James were giving him shit about him calling it a ‘beanie.’ Needless to say, Sam didn’t take kindly to being made fun of, and put the boys in their places. I knew where he got the beanie from though. It was a Northern thing. One I’d heard a lot when we were stationed in North Dakota.

  Sam has warmed to me some. When I first met him, I was scared to even talk to him. When I get nervous, my attitude comes out to play, and unfortunately, that is what Sam got. It took us a few months before I was able to calm down enough when he was around to be nice to him. I’m sure he thought I was a really big bitch.

  “Bite me.” He said in a deep voice.

  Not as deep as Max’s, but it still gave me a little shivers inside. I was a whore for a good voice.

  “Where at?” I asked pleasantly.

  “How ya doin’, Bubbles?” Sam asked in a super sweet voice.

  Too swe
et if you asked me. I would never live this down. Now Cheyenne would want to know, and then everyone would know that I wore boy’s underwear.

  “I’m great. Max had a dog delivered to me yesterday. Know anything about that?”

  He smiled, and I knew he was aware of what was going on, probably even more so than me. “Yeah. Sure do. Let’s go sweet cheeks, I’ve got a shit to be and places to do.”

  Sam was kind enough to wait for me to get on my scooter and pull out in traffic before he left. Although it was an alpha-male thing to do, I was grateful none-the-less. You learn a new respect for parking lots and public places that leave you isolated once you’ve gone through a beating as I had. I would take anything I could get.

  Chapter 4

  I’m not gonna count to three, I’m not even gonna count to one. You will shut the fuck up, or I’ll sing you a lullaby.

  -Shawshank Redemption

  Max

  I ignored the whispers. The looks. The pointing. It’s like fucking high school all over again. These grown adults didn’t have anything better to do but gossip, and they didn’t even have the slightest idea what the hell they were even talking about, just passed off judgment based off of hearsay. Hell, it was nothing new, but it still hurt. I hated this part of my job. I didn’t enjoy inflicting pain, and especially not on a teenager. He was eighteen though, and that made him legal in the eyes of the law. It didn’t matter that he was helping his father, and only doing what he was told to do. At some point, you have to start thinking for yourself, not letting others do it for you. Especially when they put your life in danger.