Kuppers punched me lightly in the shoulder, turned, and jogged away. I stayed against the side of the house trying to sort things out. I finally gave up, turned, and watched Julie go through the drills on her rifle that Doc taught her. I don’t know what our future held, but if she stayed by my side I could and would accept anything. I screwed a smile on my face and made my way back to the improvised range.
We spent another hour on instruction and put twenty rounds each through our weapons. I know what you’re thinking, that’s not enough to get proficient with a weapon. You are right, but we had limited ammo and a fight the next day through multiple hordes. I’m pretty sure we would have enough practice then.
We sat on the ground, and Doc finally had time to teach me how to break the MP5 down, clean, and upkeep it properly, not counting the quick lesson I was given earlier. I reloaded my magazines out of my dwindling supply of 9mm. As I pulled another box of 9 mm out of my pack, I ran across the hollow points Doc had given me earlier. I went ahead and loaded two magazines with them, then marked the magazines with a piece of tape on the bottom. I placed the two special magazines into two open pouches on my left side, making sure I could identify them when I needed them.
When we were done, we cleaned up our area, collected the paper targets, and made our way back to the house. Julie walked on my right side, entwining the fingers of her left hand with my right. She then leaned in close and whispered in my ear, “What did Kuppers say?”
I turned my head quickly and stole a kiss from her luscious lips. “You’ll find out in a little bit,” I said for only her to hear.
She searched my eyes for something, but I tried my best to hide my emotions. She raised our hands to her lips and kissed the tips of my fingers. She then molded her body against mine, and we walked like lovesick teenagers back to the house. I slowed our walk and let Doc enter the house. I turned our direction toward the edge of the hill, overlooking the ocean down below. We stood there quietly, her in my arms. We watched the sun sink slowly into the ocean then kissed like we did back in college, slow and full of patience. If I knew that would be the last time we would be that peaceful again, I think I would’ve made us stay at that house until we both died of old age. Instead, I twirled her around and marched us both into the house to join our new family.
Dinner was a soup made by Apache, using the last of the venison, some potatoes she found in the pantry that somehow hadn’t gone bad, and some canned vegetables she found in the wine cellar. She even baked some kind of flat bread out of cornmeal and other ingredients she found.
When we walked into the dining room, Angel bounded across the room and threw herself into Julie’s arms. “I wanna sit next to you tonight.”
“Well, ok then. I like sitting next to pretty girls like you.” She carried her over to the table and sat her down next to her.
I came around the table and made to sit on the other side of Julie when Angel stopped me in my tracks, “Nope, I need you to sit on my other side.”
I stared into her eyes and saw something. What, you ask. I’m not sure, even now. It was a pleading filled with urgency. I relented and walked to her other side and took my seat. She let go of Julie’s arm and shifted sides taking mine, “I want to spend my time left with you.” Her voice was so quiet I would be amazed if anyone else heard her. I turned my head and kissed her forehead, we locked eyes again and I again saw something. If she were an adult, I would say that I saw acceptance. Go ahead and ask me what acceptance, and again I’ll tell you I don’t know.
We drained more bottles of wine and enjoyed ourselves, eating dinner with each other, laughing over more Delta stories, only to have them challenged by SWAT stories. Kuppers got to his feet and all voices fell, eyes moved in his direction and he took command of the room. If you looked up natural born leader in the dictionary, it would have this man’s picture. If I had just one ounce of whatever made him who he was, I felt like I could take over the world.
“I have news. I spoke to the General and made a deal to get the C-130 and attached air support. Tomorrow at first light, we leave to fight our way back through Fort Bragg and to the airstrip Dan has mission planned for us.” A round of applause went around the table. I was the only one who didn’t join in. I knew the price he was going to pay to help Vic. I could see that Kuppers was going to leave it at that.
I met his eyes and gave him a hard stare. I raised my voice over the applause to be heard. “Tell them what it is going to cost us for this support. Remember our conversation.”
If Kuppers eyes could’ve burned through me, I think they would have. Vic stopped clapping and looked to me then to Kuppers. He knew how to read expressions, and he read ours. He knew something was happening between us. “John, I’ve known you a long time. I know when you are hiding something. Spit it out, get it off your chest.”
Kuppers dropped his gaze to the table and spoke, “I have promised the General that after this mission I will fly back to his base and serve at his side. I will be leaving the team.”
Senshi was the first to react, “You cannot, you said you never would go back after all that happened.”
Doc stood, kicking his chair back, “You will not go alone. I will go with you.”
The floodgates opened then. Cupcake and Senshi both stood and agreed they would also follow him back.
Apache looked to the floor and shook her head. I saw tears forming in the corners of her eyes. Brian then slapped the table open-handed, bringing everyone’s attention to him. “I will be continuing with Dan to his father’s farm. I owe him my allegiance.”
Vic looked over and examined his friend, “I cannot continue with you anymore, John. I appreciate what you have sacrificed for me, but once Sharla is safe, I am done fighting. I will go with Dan and Brian, hopefully find a way to start a new life.”
“Vic, I wouldn’t let you come with me anyway. After everything your marriage has gone through, the sacrifices you made for me. I would tie you up to stop you from following me. Sharla needs you now more than ever.”
All eyes swung to Apache. She raised her head slowly and wiped away the tears from her eyes. She took a deep breath and held it for a three count, then pushed it out in a rush through her mouth. “This is the hardest decision of my life. I am in debt to you, Kuppers, for everything you have done for me, but I’m done. I will be going with Dan.” Kuppers expression broke the cold indifference he usually had plastered to his face and fell for a second. I could see that her defection hurt him.
As fast as the sorrow showed through, it was gone. The mask of cold indifference plastered itself back into place. “Someone needs to protect those guys, good choice.” He turned his attention to Delta, “Hase, you and your men have been assigned to my command after this mission.”
Delta had sat there and watched the drama unfold in front of them. Hase looked at his men after Kuppers made his comment. They nodded their agreement to some unspoken decision. He stood and addressed Kuppers, “Actually, sir, my tour was over a month ago. I just stayed on to help.” He looked over at Apache, and they shared a moment between each other. An entire conversation was played out in that look. “I will be following Apache after this is all over. I have already spoken to the men, and Howser will be the new lead after I leave.”
Before Kuppers could say a word, Heaven stood. “I will also be leaving at the end of this mission. If Dan will have me, I will go with them.” Delta had just been gutted, yet they stayed stoic.
Kuppers looked over the room and met everyone’s eyes. He nodded to himself, as if in agreement with something. “Tonight sucks, we just halved our team, but that doesn’t happen ‘till we have Vic’s wife safe in hand. We work as we always have. There will be no hard words or grudges held. Now I suggest we get the showers going. Get everyone clean then get your asses to bed.” With that Kuppers left the room.
Julie bent over Angel’s chair and whispered in my ear, “Go talk to him.”
I got up, drained my wine for courage, and made my way around the table. Vic’s hand shot out and caught me, “I found some cigars. Let’s grab those and go out and talk to him together. I’ve known this man a long time. Trust me, I know how to deal with him without getting bit.”
We swung through the kitchen and retrieved a bottle of Port, three glasses, and the cigars Vic had hidden. We made our way outside to the dark driveway. We found Kuppers sitting on a picnic table staring up at the sky. Vic took the lead and approached him. He came over to his side and held out a cigar. Kuppers eyed it, then took it and bit an end off, spitting it out onto the grass. Vic flipped open an old battered Zippo and flicked it to life. Kuppers leaned out and lit his cigar on it. I took this as my cue and opened the Port. I poured three glasses and handed them out, keeping one for myself. Vic lit his cigar and held the lighter out for me. I leaned in and puffed my cigar to life. We sat on the table quiet, enjoying our port and cigars. After a while Vic spoke up, “We can always just take the Humvees and run the gauntlet, fuck the General. It’ll be like old times.”
Kuppers grunted, then took a big puff off his cigar. “We would never make it. Then Sharla would bring me back to life just to cut my balls off and kill me again. Nope, I will do everything I can to assure this mission succeeds. Then after picking her up, I will ignore the General and transport you guys safely to Dan’s ranch. After making sure you’re safe, I will take whoever wants to go and head back to the General.” He puffed on his cigar some more, and we all became quiet.
“Kuppers, I’m sorry I pushed you in there. I know you’re not used to people questioning you.”
Kuppers cut me off before I could get any farther into my apology and explanation, “You need to stop talking, Dan. The more you go on, the more I think I may punch you. Let it go. You were right, I was wrong. Everything is good between us.” Never once during his speech did he look at me. Just kept his eyes forward and puffed on his cigar.
I slid my eyes over to Vic who motioned for me to let it go. I sighed and puffed my cigar back to life. We drank our port and enjoyed the night and each other’s company, even though we never really spoke much. Kuppers smashed out his cigar on the table and threw the butt over the cliff. “You two get your butts inside, get cleaned up, and get to bed. Tomorrow is gonna suck hard, and I’m going to need both of you at your best.” I patted Kuppers on the shoulder and turned my back on both of them.
I headed back in and went in search of Julie. I found her in our room, having girl time with Apache and Angel. They had dug out brushes and nail polish and were having a great time. “Hey babes, how did things go?”
“I was ordered to shut up, take a shower, and go to bed.” I sat on a little chair in front of the bed and removed my boots.
“The clothes from your backpack were washed today and hung in the walk-in closet,” Apache explained.
“How did you find time to wash clothes by hand?”
“There are these things called washing machines, Dan,” Angel said, giggling.
“Oh, you’re funny!” I ran and jumped on the bed, pushed her over, and started tickling her, bringing out a tiny roar of laughter. I stopped, then brushed her hair from her face with my hand and kissed her forehead. “I love you little one.” I kissed her again and jumped off the bed. I kissed Julie and threw my socks at Apache. Her eyes flashed, and I thought she was going to attack me to teach me a lesson.
“Shower time,” I said. Then in my best terminator voice, “I’ll be back.” I turned my back and all three broke up with laughter.
I peeled off my armor and uniform, wincing from the bruises on my side and back. That damn bullet had to have damaged something when it hit me during that battle with Ridder, and with all the action since then could not be good for it. I turned on the shower and was rewarded with hot water and steam. I climbed in and let the water run down my back and onto my legs. Stress seemed to be the new normal, but my body was not happy with how much I was carrying on my shoulders. I used the razor that I had found in the shower and shaved my head and face clean, except for leaving the goatee in place, then washed my body and rinsed off.
I climbed out and dried my body down with one of the warm, plush Egyptian cotton towels. I entered the enormous walk-in closet and found my uniforms and other clothes washed, dried, and folded. I took my time and searched through the drawers and hanging clothes. I came across a pair of men’s green silk pajamas and poured myself into them. Oh yeah, now I’m styling. I sauntered into the room doing a little dance and humming Richard Thompson’s 1952 Vincent Black Lightning. One of my favorite songs, back when songs told a story. I found Julie lying on the bed naked, with her hair down framing her face. I stopped mid hum and stood there, suddenly drunk in love with her beauty. A glow emanated from behind her, outlining her luscious curves and silhouetted her, like a goddess lying on a cloud.
She smiled at me seductively, then bit her bottom lip. “You gonna stand there like an idiot? Or are you gonna get over here and make love to me?” Her voice was heady, dripping with a sultriness that I could not ignore even if I wanted to. We made love many times that night. We were making up for lost time, and in this new world, you took every chance you had when you were safe to show your love to those you could lose at any moment.
We woke up together in a tangled mess of limbs and, without a word, rose and prepared for the day. Doc had found a hiking backpack and camping supplies in the garage and created for Julie her very own Zomgo pack, complete with sleeping bag, MREs, clothes, and, most importantly, extra ammo. We packed everything we thought we might need. I had Julie help me with my armor since my back was killing me today. I attached my weapons, then slung my pack on, and almost fell to the floor in pain. Julie sat me on the bed and disappeared into the bathroom. She came back with a glass of water and a bottle of Advil she found. She also brought back some feminine products she found and crammed them into her pack.