Return of the Phoenix - 01 (14 page)

14

“Seriously?” Popo asked. “Apollo and Sanchez?”

“That’s what I’m hearing, man,” Dom said. “Heard it from one of the newbies. Said they was getting’ bizzay in the showers.”

Donovan was leaning against his bunk listening to the go
ssip. “I don’t buy it,” he said, leaning down and picking up the latest copy of
Guns & Ammo
. “Apollo wouldn’t go for another team mate.”

“He might if it was you, bitch!” Dom said, punching Donnie in the arm, laughing.

Donovan smiled and shook his head. “Seriously, Dom. Listen to yourself.”

“Fuck you, man. Have you really
looked
at that little
mamasita
?” he said. “She’s smokin’ hot!”

“Yes, I’ve seen her. And yes, she is…very attractive,” Do
nnie admitted. “But, this is Apollo. You know how strict he is about everything.”

Popo spoke up, “And I’ve seen how protective he is about her, too.” He hooked his chin toward the chow hall. “When she steps in the shower, his chest grows six inches. When she’s in the room, he gets two inches taller.”

“And when she’s in the room, your nuts shrivel up!” Dom said, slapping at Popo’s back.

“Okay, okay, give it a break,” Donnie said. He thought a minute before adding, “I’ll just ask him.”

The other two just stared at him. “You can’t do that!” Popo said.

“No way, man, he’ll kill you!” Dom said.

“Why?” Donnie said. “We’re grown men.”

“Well…because,” Dom replied.

“Watch me.” Donnie walked toward the chow hall and entered through the barracks doors. He scanned the room and found Apollo and Sanchez eating together at a table, laughing at something that he hadn’t heard. Donnie walked up and joined them. They both turned to him, smiles still on their faces.

“What’s up, you two? Something funny?” he asked.

“Sanchez was telling me about the time she was on patrol and these two meth heads decided to—”

“Are you two a couple now?” Donnie interrupted.

“What?” Sanchez asked.

Apollo just stared.

“Sorry, but there are rumors going around about you two, and rather than listen to grown men gossip like a bunch of blue haired old ladies, I thought I’d just ask you.” Donnie said, straight faced.

“What business is it of yours?” Apollo asked.

“Officially? None. None whatsoever,” Donnie said. “Unofficially?” He glanced around the room, then turned to both of them, “I think it’s cool as hell if the two of you are hooking up.” That brought shocked looks from the both of them. “I like the hell out of both of you, consider you both my friends, and would be happier than a hungry hound in a bone factory if two of my friends found something worth fighting for in a world as shitty as the one we live in.”

Apollo and Maria looked at each other and busted out laughing. Apollo turned to Donnie. “A hound in a bone fact
ory?”

He grinned, “A perv in a porn shop?” His smile got wider. “Wait! A hungry baby in a strip club?”

Sanchez elbowed him in the ribs. “Okay, stop it! Good grief, your puns are horrible!” She and Apollo looked at each other for a moment then shrugged. Finally Apollo nodded. Sanchez turned to Donnie, “Yeah, we’re ‘seeing’ each other. Sort of. Nothing really official, but yes.”

Donnie nodded. “Okay. Cool. I can dig it.”

Apollo smiled. “So we have your approval,
dad
?”

“I suppose, but if you’re gonna drill the shit out of her, we have to find you a more private place than the showers.” Donnie grinned. “I mean, for chrissakes, I
wash
myself in there!”

Apollo tried to stab his hand with a fork, but Donnie was quicker than he looked…even laughing. Sanchez grabbed his shirt, “Hey! Who ratted us out? Ing?”

“Oh, hell…everybody knows,” Donnie said.

Sanchez and Apollo exchanged looks. “The colonel?” he asked.

Donnie shrugged. “I dunno about admin, but the rest of the squads know.” He grinned again. “But I wouldn’t worry about it. It gives them something else to talk about.” He got up to leave again, then turned around, “Might make shower time a little more interesting, though.”

*****

Surprised that the airlines didn’t lose his luggage, Franklin hurriedly rented a car and departed the airport. The girl at the rental counter did her best to sell him rental insurance, but Franklin wasn’t born yesterday. He knew that rental insurance was a scam and he’d have no part of it.

He made his way up I-44 to I-40 and across the construction zones to the downtown area. Traffic was heavy, especially in the construction areas, and he was not surprised at the sheer number of pickup trucks and SUVs on the roads in Oklahoma.
Don’t these people realize that they’re destroying the planet with their greenhouse gas emissions? Couldn’t they drive a Prius or an electric car? Hell, no faster than the traffic is moving, they could walk!
Franklin reached over and turned up the air conditioner on the Lincoln Town Car’s dash. It was ungodly humid in this shithole state. He loosened his tie so that he could breathe a little easier.

He glanced at his watch, and missed his Rolex. He had dropped it at the jewelers for repairs and he had to wear a Patek Phillipe that his wife had given them on their 20
th
anniversary. It was a beautiful watch and was probably more expensive than the Rolex, but the Rolex was more well-known to even common people. He remembered the time difference between Oklahoma and D.C. and then looked at the clock on the dash. It was lunchtime. That helped explain some of the traffic. It also meant that there was a chance that Mitchell wouldn’t be at the hangar. Franklin smiled to himself as he continued to force his way through the traffic.

He made his way through Oklahoma City proper, through Del City and to Midwest City, which, to Franklin, was just one big suburb of Oklahoma City. You couldn’t tell where one ended and the other started.
Too many rednecks inbreeding in too small of an area,
he thought. When he reached the outlying fences of the Air Force base, he began to slow the car and watch for the gates. He debated on coming in the back way, but that would surely get a call to Mitchell. If he came in the front gate, he could use his Government ID and perhaps the gate guard would not know who or why he was there and simply allow him through. Weighing his options, Franklin decided to chance going through the front gates.

As he approached the main gate, he went into politician mode, plastering on his best fake smile and flashing his gover
nmental identification. The gate guard waved him up to the guard shack and stopped him. Franklin rolled down the window of the car, “I’m Senator Franklin. Had a little layover here in your fine state and thought I’d do a little checking on some pet projects I oversee back in D.C.” The guard looked at Franklin’s identification and without expression or explanation, waved the senator’s car off the side to the Pass & ID building.

“You’ll have to get a visitor’s pass, sir.” Then the guard looked up for the next car.

“But son, I’m a United States Senator—” Franklin protested.

The guard looked down at Franklin and sternly stated, “Sir, I don’t care if you are God, Himself, unless you have a valid military ID or other base commander approved form of identif
ication, you will have to go to Pass & ID and get a visitor’s pass. Thank you and have a nice day. Sir.”

Franklin dropped his head in defeat. He knew better than to argue with a base cop. A ‘rent a cop’ gate guard at that.
I’m sure he’d like nothing more than to pull his weapon and shoot me right here for causing a scene, the gun-happy little bastard. Why else would anybody join a military organization?! Probably get a medal for shooting a terrorist attempt at the gate if I argued with him,
Franklin argued in his mind as he pulled the vehicle over to the small building on the right of the gate.

Franklin went into the building to get his temporary visitor’s pass only to find a bureaucratic nightmare. He had to show ID to get the visitor’s pass, but in order to take the vehicle on base, he had to show registration, proof of insurance and that the tag was up to date. It didn’t matter that it was a rental. After numerous trips back and forth to the vehicle to look for paperwork, he en
ded up calling the rental company and having them fax the rental agreement (he had forgotten to take his copy with him) to the Pass & ID building. Although the lady behind the counter wasn’t hateful with him, Franklin could tell that she not being particularly
helpful
. It took him over an hour and a half to get the single slip of paper to place on the dash with the date written on it giving him permission to enter the base and a temporary base pass.

Whenever he had his secretary set up his coming to the base, all of this was taken care of ahead of time. A car was wai
ting for them and they simply drove through a gate, but try to pull a surprise visit and…dammit!

Mitchell got the call as soon as Franklin entered the building and ‘Debbie’ the lady behind the counter at Pass & Id, made things as interesting as she could for the good senator. She i
nformed Mitchell herself as soon as Franklin left. Matt did his best to appear surprised when Franklin came off the elevator and entered the underground facilities.

“Senator,” Matt gave an award winning show of shock. “What brings you to Tinker?”

“Had a layover at Will Rogers and thought I’d drop by and see how things were going since the…’unfortunate incident’ in Texas.”

“Well, senator, things are going splendidly,” Matt said. He turned toward the hallway that led to the overlook on the indoor training range where both squads were training in the indoor CQB simulators. “If you care to join me, I can show you where we’re at.”

“That would be great, Matt.” Franklin was in top form today, showing real concern and flashing smiles at all the right times. “I’d really appreciate it.”

As they stepped out onto the overlook, Laura Youngblood was already there, observing the squads and taking notes onto her electronic pad. She pulled up a set of binoculars and o
bserved the two snipers that had set up at a distance for a while then she made new notes. Mitchell and Franklin said nothing as the clearance drill finished up. When both teams yelled ‘clear’ at almost the same time, Laura hit her stopwatch and noted the times. She nodded and turned to Matt. She had a smirk on her face. Matt knew what it meant.

“I take it that everything is going well?” Franklin asked.

“Much better than expected, senator,” Laura answered.

“How are the new recruits doing in comparison to the other team?” he asked.

“The new squad members have been blended with the existing squad members to create two entirely new squads, sir,” Matt answered. “Ms. Youngblood and I discussed this at length, and while we weighed the pros and cons of keeping the original squad together for continuity, we really felt that they had more to offer the newer squad members if we split them up and made two entirely new squads out of the group.”

Franklin nodded his head as if agreeing and understanding. He wanted to give the impression that he was supporting the mission in every way. “Was there any…animosity among the original team members and the new people, Matt?” Franklin asked, trying to sound supportive and truly interested in the pr
ogram at the same time. “Any friction due to the loss of their comrades?”

“Actually, Senator, they seem to be handling the loss as well as can be expected.” Matt answered honestly. “As far as friction with any of the new people? No, I can honestly say that there hasn’t been anything but support between both. They’ve come together and formed
one
team. True, it’s two distinct squads, but they are truly one team now.”

Franklin smiled and shook his head. “You know, Mitchell, I gave you a lot of grief when the team was hit down in Texas.” He took a deep breath and let it out slowly, thinking about what he said next. “And, to be completely straight with you, I said some things that I immediately regretted as soon as we hung up the phone.” Franklin was shaking his head and finally turned to look Matt in the eye. “I can’t expect you to forgive a self-absorbed SOB like myself, but I would like to apologize to you…and to Ms. Youngblood.”

Mitchell wasn’t sure what Franklin was up to, but he could feel his skin crawling. He knew that Franklin was an excellent liar, but for just a moment, he almost thought the man was sincere. He simply gave him a slight smile and nodded his head. Franklin extended his hand to offer a handshake and Matt took it. If Franklin wanted to act like they were friends, Matt would play along. “Thank you, senator. I really do appreciate it,” Matt said. “It takes a big man to say something like that, especially to someone that he doesn’t have to.”

“That’s where you’re wrong, colonel,” Franklin said, going into politician mode again. “There may be a pecking order, e
specially in government and the military. But this is still the United States where all men are created
equal
. As far as I’m concerned, I should have called you right back that night and
begged
your forgiveness.” Franklin sighed. “But I am a proud man. And regardless of the personal problems and stresses I may have at work, I refused to do the right thing at the time.”