Page 258 of 5+Us Makes Seven

“No, I want to get this over with,” I said as I walked past his desk.

“Hold on,” he said, standing up.

I kept going, opening a door that divided the two halves of the metal container. Captain Jeffries looked up from his desk. He frowned the moment he saw me.

“You wanted to talk?” I asked, standing near the door.

“Do you know how much trouble you caused today?” he asked.

“I’m simply trying to do my job.”

“And so am I. Sit down.”

He pointed to the plain armless chair in front of his desk.

“I need to go see the medic,” I said, changing my mind.

“You were fine enough to come straight here, you can sit down and talk a minute.”

I sighed, annoyed, then walked over and sat down with my arms crossed over my chest.

“What the hell were you thinking?” he asked as he shook his head.

“I needed to see Samangan without soldiers with me. You guys frighten people.”

“We save their asses is what we do.”

As he scowled at me, I lifted a hand to my head and gingerly inspected the bandage.

“Go see the damn medic,” he said. “If you sneak out again, you will be shipped back to the States. Do you understand?”

“Yeah,” I said as I stood up.

I turned and walked toward the door.

“One more thing.”

I stopped in place.

“How did you sneak out? We’re secure here, so someone must have helped you.”

I swallowed, not turning around.

“Nobody helped me.”

“Bullshit,” he said. “I’ll sort this out.”

When he said nothing else, I continued forward. My headache had gotten worse since we returned. I hoped the medic would give me something to numb the pain.

THREE

Cooper

When I finished my reports about the interactions with the Taliban in Samangan earlier that morning, I left the CO’s office and headed to check on Jade in the metal building that served as our medical center. We hadn’t gotten along well since she arrived, but I admired her fighting spirit.

The other reason was that I hadn’t seen a sexy American woman in over a year, at least not one in person. With no females stationed at FOB Cobra, I spent long stretches of time forgetting what it was like to be around a woman. At least one I’d be interested in.

As I approached the CHU (Containerized Housing Unit) she had all to herself, I cleared my mind of all negative thoughts. Normally I would have nothing to do with a woman like her, a liberal media elitist. But in this case spending time with her couldn’t be all bad.