Major Keller, scanning the crowd, recognized some familiar faces and after telling Luke he’d catch up with him the next day, the older man headed off in the direction of three men Luke didn’t recognize. Luke shrugged to himself and dropped into observer mode. Luke counted nearly forty men and a smattering of women in the high-ceilinged room, and his eyes flicked to scan the security station located adjacent to the side door. He didn’t immediately recognize anybody, but he remained vigilant for threats.
A small group, perhaps a half dozen in all, immediately cut away from the waiting crowd and arrowed in his direction. Luke caught the motion from the corner of his eye and his hand again fell to the pistol riding on his hip. Too long to unlimber the rifle, he calculated, but if he could hold off the initial rush and reach cover…
“Luke!”
The voice made the young sergeant’s knees buckle, and his head whipped around in surprise.
“Amy? What the…”
The slender shape hit him with considerable momentum, and he felt long legs wrap around his thighs while he stood rooted in his spot like a poleaxed bull. Her pleasant scent of fresh soap and pine needles filled his nostrils, and Luke wrapped his arms around the fatigues-clad young woman clinging to him.
“Oh, honey,” she hissed with emotion, “I missed you so much. You look terrible. When did you get here? I was so scared after I heard about what happened. Were you there? Did you see it?”
Her words flowed like an avalanche, gathering rocks and more force as it rolled inexorably over him. Emotions, tightly packed away in a sealed compartment, burst free and threatened to bury him like the avalanche he was imagining.
“Whoa,” Luke sputtered, taken aback by this sudden, unexpected reunion. Was he seeing things? Did the helicopter crash after all? No, he decided after a moment, this was no illusion. No hallucination. As he buried his face in the beautiful girl’s hair, he quickly remembered he hadn’t taken a shower since hitting the decontamination tent, weeks and weeks ago. Wiping down with a damp cloth just didn’t qualify.
“Oh, lord, sweetheart, you need to get away,” he feebly protested. “I stink like five kinds of roadkill.”
“You are mighty pungent,” drawled another familiar voice, and one he instantly recognized. His father. Luke gave Amy another thorough kiss, not as embarrassed about that as his filthy clothes. After all, he had managed to at least brush his teeth that morning. Luke glanced at the group accompanying Amy and saw Sam Messner and a few more familiar faces. David Metcalf. Angel Guzman. Mike Elkins.
“What are you guys doing here? It isn’t safe!” Luke exclaimed, forcing the words out. He felt a lump in his throat and found it hard to speak. He’d missed his family so much, and he realized these people, in addition to his father, constituted his new family. He would spend the rest of his life with Amy, but Mike and David were his new uncles and Angel, the older brother he’d never had.
“Not a lot of ‘safe’ going on at the moment, son,” Sam Messner pointed out, his tone different from the last time they’d spoken. Somber, but not depressed.
Luke hadn’t had time on the chopper ride to even reflect on those last few days with his father. In the wake of his mother’s funeral and the weeks spent in their hopeless quest, Sam Messner had gone through a quiet breakdown of his own, and Luke only recognized it in hindsight. Now, the young man worried they might suffer a repeat of the shouting and carrying on that occurred when he’d first announced his plans to join the National Guard.
“So, why are you here? And why did you bring Amy?” Luke demanded, his well-honed emotional detachment continuing to fray under this unexpected reunion.
“He didn’t bring me,” Amy retorted tartly. “I didn’t give him a choice. When the call came, I was packed and ready to go. I didn’t know you would be here, but at least this would get us closer to you. And here you are!”
“Call from who?”
“Ah, that would be my doing, Luke.”
That voice, Luke thought, and he turned to address the speaker. He remembered that voice.
“General Hotchkins? Sir?!” Luke exclaimed, shocked by the sudden appearance of yet another person from his past. Still new to his military profession but having seen his father do it plenty of times when still on active duty and around officers, Luke snapped to attention but did not salute. They were indoors, after all.
“At ease, Sergeant,” the general responded crisply, then stood and regarded the young soldier with sharp but tired eyes. Luke carefully returned the examination and tried to hide his reaction. Hotchkins appeared gaunt in his uniform, and his thick head of hair, once merely sprinkled with gray, had turned almost completely white.
“You look like you’ve gained some of your weight back,” General Hotchkins commented evenly, trying not to stare at the grim, young sergeant. “How long have you been on the line, son?”
Luke had to think about the question, since his days ran together after a while. “Came up the first week in January, sir, so I make it about two months,” Luke finally managed to say. “My scout squad runs ops in the field, but the LT wants us to sleep inside the wire at least once a week.”
“Well, Sergeant,” the general concluded, “spend some time with your family for the rest of the day. Get cleaned up and see if you can round up a fresh uniform. We have a little get-together planned for tomorrow up the road at 0700, and you and your father have been invited. Your father knows the details for your transport.”
“Thank you, sir.”
“Don’t thank me just yet, Sergeant,” the general replied cryptically. “You don’t know why I’ve asked you to be here.”
Luke absorbed the implications and gave a curt, “Yes, sir.”
As the general took a step back, Luke took note of the four men forming a loose cordon around the general. He didn’t recognize any of them from his interactions with the Arkansas National Guard, but he knew the type. Something around the eyes, Luke realized. These men exuded the air of stone-cold killers, and suddenly Luke felt a pang of worry. Not for himself, but a sharp tang of fear for the general and his family. He didn’t even know General Hotchkins’ wife by name, but he knew the man drew considerable strength from her. How else did a man survive the death of a son? Luke hoped she was still alive, wherever she might be.
“You know he didn’t ask for you by name, right?”
His father’s voice drew Luke back to the here and now, and he refocused on his father and his words.
“I’m sorry, Dad. What do you mean?”
Sam Messner gave a small chuckle at his son’s confusion.
“The general. We got here yesterday, and he was already getting this meeting set up. I don’t know the details, not having the need-to-know, but this must be something big. I overheard his conversation with the liaison officer here with the Texas contingent, and he didn’t ask for you by name.” Sam paused, and his face showed some of his old concern as he continued speaking. “He did for your friend, Major Keller, but he just asked Captain Bartaloni to request the sneakiest operators from Second Brigade. And guess who showed up? What have you been doing up there?”
“Killing bad guys and breaking things,” Luke quipped, and then he shook his head in silent apology. “Sorry. Just having a hard time coming back is all.”
Sam nodded, understanding. “Hard to shift gears.” Glancing down, he seemed to take note of the subdued insignia on Luke’s uniform. “Made sergeant already?”
Luke briefly explained how he’d been fast-tracked into Second Squad, and how he’d eventually taken over the outfit from Hernandez. He mentioned a few of their operations, including his first trip out with Silcott. By this time, the rest of their small group had drifted closer, and Amy ducked back under his arm and leaned into him, a comforting cuddle.
“Wait a minute,” David interrupted. “You managed to blow up a whole battery of Red Legs and didn’t invite me? What the hell, Luke? I thought we were friends.”
“Sorry, man, and it was two batteries.
Plus, a motor pool full of vehicles. Dwayne and I got to watch the fireworks from close by, and it was like the Fourth of July.”
“That must have been risky,” Amy murmured, her words carrying a tone of concern.
“Not really, honey. Their security was a joke and the lack of spacing, showed somebody got lazy. Just co-locate the two batteries together to simplify logistics, and ignore the possibility of hostile action?” Luke pointed out, his voice scornful. Then he continued, his voice more somber. “They’ve tightened up security since then, though. After the bomb went off and we held off their planned attacks, my squad has been forced further out to find targets.”
“So, you were there? When the bomb went off?” Mike Elkins asked, interjecting himself into the conversation for the first time. Mike, like the rest of the group from back home, wore the camouflaged green uniform favored by the Texas Army National Guard, without name tape or any rank tabs. Mike looked lean and fit, having shed all his extra weight in the months since the lights went out, and like Luke’s father and General Hotchkins, Mike’s hair showed more gray than ever.
Luke nodded. “We were far to the east at the time, but yeah, we saw it.”
“They really used a nuke? No bullshit? I heard it might have been a fuel air bomb instead,” Mike continued.
“No, I know some of those MOABs can create a mushroom cloud, too, but I saw a Geiger counter about twelve hours after the thing blew. The air was still mildly radioactive, so I was glad we had the suits.”
The mention of the MOPP suits triggered another round of questions, and Luke finally held up a hand before he got into that story.
“I’ll tell you guys everything. But first, I think I remember the general saying something about getting cleaned up. Do they have showers in this place?”
That got a laugh from everyone else, including Amy, who was quick to point in the proper direction.
“They’ve set this place up as a barracks, and that includes a block of showers,” Amy explained. “Got a generator up and running. Go ahead and drop your pack here, and I’ll see about rounding you up some fresh clothes and a towel.”
Luke, torn between spending more time with his love and ridding himself of the awesome body odor he could feel wafting off his filthy fatigues, opted to steal one more lingering kiss before releasing the catches on his heavy backpack, and stowing the sixty-five pounds of torture on the concrete floor near the other gathered gear. He also shed the rifle, the bulky magazine carrier, and the body armor, but not the pistol belt. He never went unarmed. Not ever.
The young sergeant found the row of four individual shower stalls retrofitted into what had obviously once been a break room of some sort. This time of day found the showers unoccupied, and Luke wasted no time shedding his dirty uniform, scuffed boots and tattered remnants of underwear, before stepping inside the most distant stall and testing the water. Warmish, but tolerable under the circumstances.
Using the sliver of soap, he found half-stuck to the wooden support serving as a shelf inside the shower chamber, Luke lathered up quickly, including his oily and grimy hair. Using a piece of his t-shirt as a washcloth, he scrubbed hard, feeling the dirt come away with bits of dead skin cells sloughing off. After a minute of vigorous action, Luke then stuck his head under the spout, and he turned on the water for a quick dousing.
He tensed, his ears barely making out the sound of the wooden door swinging open on his stall.
“You’re still quick with your showers,” the low voice murmured, and Luke opened his eyes to stinging soap, to see Amy pushing her way into the small stall. She was as naked as the first day he’d ever laid eyes on her, but with something approaching a proper diet for the last several months, she no longer appeared like the pathetic, starving child. No, no child here, Luke thought with stunned realization. Amy Landon looked all woman at that moment.
“Amy, wait, you shouldn’t be in here,” Luke babbled, feeling himself respond even as his cheeks began to redden with embarrassment. “My dad’s right out there!”
“No, Luke, this is right where I need to be,” Amy replied, an impish smile on her lovely face. “I’ve had a lot of time to think while you were gone, and I decided it was time to take the bull by the horns, so to speak. And the door to this block of showers? Locks from the inside.”
She giggled at that last bit, and then carefully folded the towel and the two sets of fatigues over the side of the shower stall before pouncing on Luke like a hungry predator.
Amy might have giggled like a school girl, but she filled his arms in comfortable fashion. She devoured his lips with fierce kisses, and Luke could barely control himself when her hands roamed his muscular frame with reckless abandon.
Luke, initially taken off-guard by this sudden flare of wanton passion, found himself responding with a will and he crushed her body to his. She felt warm and slick in the water, and exactly right in his arms. Electricity ran through his veins and he realized he never wanted to be parted from this woman again.
“I love you,” he whispered, nipping at her ear as he leaned over.
“Then love me,” she replied, her voice low and sultry like he’d never heard before. “Love me, my sweetheart, and never let me go.”
The water grew chill after a time, but neither of the teens noticed.
Luke’s soul, so long tortured by the simmering anger that threatened to overflow into his life, began to heal under Amy’s ministrations. He felt his barricades fall as his emotions finally broke through, and when Luke slowly sank to the rough concrete floor, body wracked by the uncontrolled sobs and bitter tears, Amy held him close while, at last, he let his grief find an outlet.
CHAPTER 52
After getting dried off and dressed in clean uniforms, a befuddled and emotionally-drained Luke, and a beaming Amy, rejoined their small group and commenced to catching up on the last two months.
“You kids get all cleaned up?” Mike asked, wiggling his eyebrows suggestively.
“Oh, stop, Mike,” Amy replied, laughing but without a trace of shame in her voice. “I had to see if my man had any new scars.”
She let the others think what they might, but for Amy, the truth was even better. Wiser than her years, Amy knew what’d happened in the shower represented a major breakthrough for the couple. After weeks of dealing with the zombie that was the man she loved, this new revelation offered her nothing but hope.
The mention of new scars got a look from the gathering, and Luke shook his head. For seventeen years old, he’d already picked up more than his share.
“What’s with everybody in uniform, anyway? You guys all enlist? Or re-upped?” Luke inquired, not sure he was going to like the answer.
“No,” his father quickly assured him. “This is so the guards can tell the sheep from the goats. We are here as guests,” he gestured around the large open space. “But not everybody knows everybody else. The uniforms show we are all on the same side, and they make it harder for any outsiders to infiltrate the group. I mean, plenty of uniforms floating around, but these are all the same style.”
Luke nodded, seeing the sense in the common apparel.
“All right, now that I’m clean, and inspected,” Luke said, trying to project a friendly demeanor, “let’s get caught up on what’s new.”
For months, Luke had been running on his anger while suppressing other emotions, and he knew the result made him seem flat and unaffected. That’d been fine when he was running on autopilot after his mother’s death, or when he was scouting and fighting with his squad, but as he’d recognized, these people were family, and he didn’t need to treat them like objects. So he tried, cracking the seal on his emotional controls like he’d done earlier with Amy. Well, maybe not quite like that, he thought with some amusement. Still, he was aiming for something other than rebellious youth, or sullen teen.
Not surprising when the group wanted to be filled in on Luke’s recent exploits. Luke’s earlier comment about the MOPP gear remained the number one topic
of interest, and he related the details of the ambush and their subsequent discovery.
“You gave the warning?” Sam blurted out, casting a shocked look in his son’s direction. “I hadn’t heard that mentioned in the reports I’ve read.”
“Fat lot of good it did,” Luke grumbled. “At least, we managed to bring back a bunch of suits for the men to use, but even then, there weren’t enough for everybody. I know whole platoons went down with radiation poisoning. Not to mention the thousands dead from the blast itself.”
“Luke, you can’t think that way,” David Metcalf interjected. “You can’t save everybody, and at least your warning got people under cover and allowed the commanders a chance to adjust the lines. And credit to that sniper for taking out the truck where he did, because I heard if the driver had gotten just a mile closer to our troops, the results would have been much worse.”
“Did the sniper’s bullet make the bomb detonate? I thought that was just in movies,” Angel added.
“No,” Sam replied with certainty in his voice. “But if the truck was dead, whoever was tasked with triggering the device must have decided they were close enough. No way to lug a ten-kiloton device around while under fire.”
“Wait,” Amy started, shocked. “You think somebody set that thing off by hand? A suicide bomber?”
Sam and Mike Elkins exchanged a look, and the bigger man shrugged. Mike finally spoke up.
“Probably,” he said. “Never thought I’d live to see another nuke set off on American soil.”
“Another?” Angel asked, confused.
“Yeah, we did a lot of nuclear testing in the fifties and sixties,” Sam explained, and he saw Angel shake his head at the idea.
“I seem to remember something about that, now that you mention it. One of my teachers talked about it. Just seems crazy, though.”
“Oh, if you want to see crazy, you should see the spec sheet for the Davy Crockett,” Luke quipped, and Sam Messner glanced around with a look of concern. David and Mike both seemed to stiffen as well, as if sharing the same thought.
Midnight Skills Page 40
