Page 2 of Mama & Pops
I stared at her until another boom went off followed almost immediately by another window shattering. “You’re gonna give me all kinds of fuckin’ trouble, ain’t you?”
She grinned. “Trouble’s my middle name. Get in position. I’ll wait until you’re behind him.” She pointed at the barrier next to the stairs and I saw where she meant.
“Yeah, that’s where I thought I’d wait. I’ll let you know when I’m ready.”
We stared at each other hard for a moment before she spoke. “What’s your name, soldier?”
“Sergeant Michael Wilbanks. At least, that was my rank when I was discharged.”
“Honorable?” She raised an eyebrow.
I rolled my eyes and pointed at my Army issue fatigues. “Of course. Still wearin’ the uniform, ain’t I? Re-upped after my initial tour. Not this time, though. Had enough of the killin’.”
She nodded. “Dr. Josephine Peyton, Captain, US Army. Or I was. You can call me Jo. I got a four-six-one discharge for ‘inadequate personality’ ‘cause I told a general touring our field hospital to suck my dick when he said the men in my ward were sacrificed for the greater good, then couldn’t tell me what the fucking greater good was.”
I couldn’t contain my bark of laughter. “Promise me when this is over, you’ll let me take you out on a date.”
Josephine smirked. “Well, I guess that depends on whether you’re able to take this guy down or not. I won’t go out with a pussy.”
“That sounds like a challenge.”
She shrugged. “If it gets this guy to stop shootin’ the place up, take it however you like.”
Another boom broke the moment. People screamed all around us, but the only person I saw was Jo and her pale blue eyes. Before I could think too much about it, I leaned in and wrapped my hand around the back of her neck, pulling her in for a hard kiss.
At first she stiffened, then seemed to melt into my touch. We crouched there behind a fucking counter. When she gave a soft gasp, I thrust my tongue inside her mouth. I tasted the sweetest woman I’d ever had the pleasure of meeting. She smelled like wild honeysuckle and citrus and I knew I’d never live through another spring without remembering this scent. My cock shot hard and I growled when she whimpered under my touch. Josephine didn’t seem like the kind of woman to whimper much, so I hoped I was doing something right. I wasn’t sure I’d ever wanted a woman more than I did at that moment. I knew nothing about her other than she had a smart mouth and a keen mind. She’d said she was a doctor, but I knew she was much more. She was a warrior through and through. And I wanted her for my own.
The kiss lasted only a few seconds before I broke it off. She looked adorably dazed, a soft look of pleasure on her face. When she opened her eyes, it took her a brief moment to focus and she almost smiled… Then she scowled again. Seemed to be her default setting. “Do that again without permission and I will fuckin’ bury you.”
I tried my best not to smirk at her. Not sure I succeeded. Then, with one hard look into her eyes, a promise as well as a warning to be safe, I ran for my cover at the top of the stairs.
Once I was in place, I made eye contact with Jo. She gave me a crisp nod, then moved closer to where the shooter had taken his stance at the top of the stairs. It was eerie how he calmly fired his gun. Round after round. He didn’t shout or scream or demand anything, but the report of his shotgun echoed in the vast terminal, speaking volumes for him.
“Hey, soldier!” Jo called to the guy from her cover at the bottom of the stairs. “Hold your fire.”
“Ain’t takin’ orders from no one no more!” the guy screamed in Jo’s general direction. He didn’t appear to be looking for her so much as he was looking for the next target. A pillar in the middle of the room caught his eye and he fired. Dust and shrapnel exploded around the area, sending the few people hiding behind it screaming and scurrying off to find better cover.
Jo had to yell to be heard over the shouts of people running for their lives. “I know you don’t wanna kill no one here. If you’ve been to ‘Nam, I know you’ve had enough killin’. I sure as fuck have. Come on. I just wanna go home, man. Have a beer. Maybe get laid.”
“Ain’t been to ‘Nam yet, but I ain’t goin’ back to base neither.”
“No one said you were.” He’d stopped firing momentarily, likely to reload. Jo took that opportunity to talk to the guy. “Where you stationed?”
“Fort Knox.” The guy’s voice was quiet now. I wondered if he was scared to go back or if he was thinking about his buddies. I could see now he was black. Light-skinned, but black just the same.
“Gettin’ picked on by white boys who think they’re better’n you?”
I hadn’t expected Jo to go there, but I’d seen it more times than I cared to admit. Especially with younger soldiers who had no idea what they were getting into when they signed up. We were all warriors, brothers on the battlefield, but in the barracks, prejudice was alive and well. She must have hit the mark because he was silent a long while before speaking again. He didn’t start shooting, though.
“Ain’t all I thought it was gonna be. My dad was in France during World War II. When the draft started, he said I should join the Navy. Said I wasn’t smart enough to go to college so I should go ahead and join the Navy before I got drafted to the Army. Only, the Navy didn’t want me on account ‘a I didn’t get no high school diploma. When the Air Force wouldn’t take me neither, I was gonna go on back home, but the guy at the office took me next door and the Army signed me. I didn’t want to sign up, but they said I’d have a better chance of gettin’ to stay home if I volunteered. I think they tricked me.”
“They sendin’ your brigade to ‘Nam?”
“Yeah. Dad says I ain’t smart enough to not get my head shot off.” There was a loud sob as the kid broke down. “I don’t wanna get my head shot off, lady!”
“I know. How old’er you, honey?”
“Eighteen.”