The Chronicles of Benjamin Jamison: Call Sign Reaper (4 page)

Damn it, it’s the major’s goons. They’re just fucking with these people. They know what happened in here last night.

Cindy came out with a tray. It had his eggs and bacon and toast, and another plate with just toast. She walked to take the major hers first and then came walking back with an empty tray.

She looked at Ben and winked. “The pretty lady says for you to come and join her in her booth.” She leaned in a little closer, winking again. “I would be all over that and I don’t like women,” she added. Just saying. Now go eat your breakfast and don’t screw it up.”

Ben walked over and sat down in the booth across from the major. He was staring at her and she was staring right back. She was chewing something and making a face like she really liked what she was eating.
Toast isn’t that good,
he thought. He looked at his plate; an egg and probably half his bacon was gone. He looked up at her and she was smiling innocently. She must have hoovered it. He looked around the room quickly and saw everyone was engrossed with the fake rangers. He turned back to her.

“Lady, did you eat my damn food?”

“Nope.”

“Bullshit. I had three eggs and three pieces of bacon when this passed by me at the bar. Now I have two eggs and one piece of bacon. Don’t you know you don’t steal a man’s breakfast?”

“You just eat. I will order you more food,” she said. “I want to talk to you, so I will talk and you listen.  Cindy dear, would you get Ben another egg and some more bacon? Seems that some of his has gone MIA.”

“Yes ma’am,” Cindy replied, heading to the kitchen.

Ben just sat there looking at her. “What do you want with me?” he asked.

The major looked at him and said, “just eat and I’ll explain.”

Ben put his fork to the eggs, picked up a piece of toast with his other hand and dug in.

“I know what happened to you, Ben,” Andrea said.

He made a noise with his mouth full of eggs to indicate he was hearing her.

“I know you were railroaded and set up for a fall on that drug charge,” she continued.

He swallowed. “Tell me something I don’t already know.”

“Colonel Thomas disbanded your unit after you were gone and sent them all over the galaxy to different units.”

Ben stopped chewing and with a mouthful of food said, “Why would he do a stupid thing like that?”

“Your unit, more than anyone else in the Corp, knew there wasn’t an ounce of truth to the charges and that you were innocent,” she replied. “We believe he knew he didn’t have their loyalty and never would. He probably was worried he would get a stray bullet someday if they were ever behind him.”

“That’s ridiculous,” Ben said.

“Well the general found out about all the transfers and has been moving your old unit to my command in the background. I have Sam, Jeff, Thad, Buddy, and Veronica all working for me now. Their orders were top secret and once they were moved all their records were transferred to my office so they can’t be checked out and viewed by anyone,” she said. “When I met with each one face to face like we are doing now they all said the same thing. They would come and work for me if I got you reinstated.”

Cindy was walking up with a plate that had six pieces of bacon and two more eggs. Ben’s plate was empty so she took it and set the new one in front of him. She walked away thinking things seemed tense in that booth.

Ben started cutting up the two eggs and saw a hand dart in and steal a piece of bacon. He looked at her with his meanest look and she just smiled as she munched on it.

“So the reason why I am here is to offer you a job. Put you back with your team,” she said.

Ben sat and thought for a few seconds. “I have a couple of conditions and need some answers before I can give you a final answer,” he said finally.

Andrea smiled. She was thinking she had him. She knew his old squad being on board would help bring him over. He didn’t think about it too long. She hoped he was serious. “Tell me what they are and if it’s within my power I will answer you right now. If it’s not I will forward them to General Grey and he will make the decision.”

“First, I want to remain a civilian. I have already had my honor taken from me, at least on paper. I will not put myself in a position to be betrayed again. My destiny will be my own,” he explained. “I will draft a contract outlining rank, pay, position and, if I don’t like working for you I can walk away. There will be more to the contract but you get the idea, don’t you major?” he said, looking her straight in the eyes. She was the first to look away. She felt the good feeling slipping away.

“How much time do I have to put this together?” he asked.

Not wanting to give him too much time, she answered, “I would like your answer Monday morning.”

I need more time
, he thought. “Monday evening, close of business. We will meet right here.”

“Done.” That would give her time on Monday to talk to the general about this civilian in the ranks proposition. She didn’t think she would want this with a clause allowing him to walk away or that the general would, but she would try to keep an open mind.

“You said you had two conditions. What’s your second one?” she asked.

 
Here it comes
, she thought. He’ll want his own quarters equal to a captain’s or a steak every day with dessert or some craziness like that. Ben was looking at her. He could see the wheels turning in her head as they sat silently.

“Andrea.” Using her name, he caught her off guard. “Condition number two is that you spend the day with me tomorrow, and you can’t back out.” He smiled as he looked at her face. He lifted his hand from his lap and reached across the table, putting it under her chin and lifting it, closing her mouth. “I believe this is a condition which you can answer without the aid of the general.”

He can’t be serious,
she thought.
He’s asking me on a date?

Ben continued. “You have until 0800 tomorrow to message me with your answer. I will be at the Vander Hoyts’. If the answer is yes I will see you by 0900. By the way, you look beautiful today —but dress casual tomorrow.” Smiling, he got up and left. She slid to the end of the booth and leaned out to watch him walk away in his cutoffs and sandals.

“He has a nice ass,” Cindy said, walking past.

“He sure does,” she said, smiling.

Ben ran up the back steps two at a time and got his laundry. He locked the apartment door and headed down the dirt road into farm country. The major’s men saw their cue and got up to pay their tab and wait in the car for her.

“Were the customers any help?” Cindy asked them.

“They were very helpful,” Bill said as he took his change and handed Cindy a tip.

“Thanks,” she said. “Come back anytime you’re in the area.”

“Thank you!” Bill said. “We may be seeing you again soon.”

Matt was already out by the car. Bill looked over at the major before walking out; she was staring at the vacant seat where Ben had been sitting. It looked like she was trying to work something out in her mind but wasn’t having any luck. He knew something wasn’t right. She was never confused about anything.

Ben hadn’t walked half a mile when he heard a hover car coming from behind him. He stepped off the road and turned to see the sheriff’s hover car pull up and drop down to about a foot off the ground.

He put down the window. “Your name Ben?”

“Yes sir that’s me. I suppose you want to talk about the fight at Gus’s last night?”

“Yes I do son, can I give you a lift?” the sheriff answered.

“Sure, can you drop me off at the Vander Hoyts’?”

“No problem,” the sheriff said

Ben got in the hover car. The sheriff asked him to recount what happened and said would stop him if he needed clarification of the facts. Ben started talking and the sheriff didn’t interrupt. When he was done, Sheriff Kilroy said his story was almost exactly like Gus’s and better than the customer recollections. Ben laughed and told him not to go to the bar and ask what they remembered. The story would sound like they fought off a whole army with only bar towels.

The sheriff looked as if he was just remembered something serious. “Look Ben, while those spacers were locked up my men heard them talking a lot of shit about tracking you down and getting even with you and Gus. I’ve already messaged Gus to watch his back.”

The sheriff saw Ben’s body tense up.

“If they go after any of my friends or the Vander Hoyts they will regret it for the few seconds they will have left to live.” Ben’s face was like stone, betraying no emotion. “You know they will try to hurt or even kill someone this time.”

The sheriff believed Ben, and he nodded his understanding and didn’t say a word. They arrived at the farm.

“Anything else, Sheriff Kilroy?” Ben asked.

“No son, that’s it for now. Just call us if they show up.”

“I can’t promise you anything,” Ben said, “but I will if I can.”

  Ben got out of the hover car and ran up the steps two at a time. The sheriff saw Janet circle her arms around the young man and squeeze him tight as Harold patted his shoulder.
God help those men if they come here to this farm looking for trouble,
the sheriff thought.
The customers had told him what Ben had done and how fast he moved.

Ben went up to his room to change into some jeans and a T-shirt. He put his work boots on and started out the door and then stopped. From under his bed he pulled out a foot locker and removed a Marine fighting knife. It had a heavy blade about a quarter inch thick and was six inches long in a spear point shape. The top three inches of the blade were a false edge but Ben and his team had sharpened all theirs to a wicked double edged point. He slid a leather belt through the belt loops and the knife sheath, positioning it on his right thigh. Then he headed downstairs and outside to the barn.

The major left the bar and got in the hover car with Matt and Bill.

“I’m going to take you two back to the hotel so you can catch up on any reports you need to get done,” she said. “Matt, message the team and see that they’re not all in the brig.” she said. “I have a few things I want to check on before I talk to the general on Monday.”

They split up at the elevator. Andrea walked into her room and slipped out of her sundress. She lay on the bed and looked at the clock. She was going to sleep for about eight hours and then go out after dark.

Ben looked around the barn. It was typical of barns built back on Earth hundreds of years ago. Anubis was very similar to Earth — 0.97 g and a 23.33 hour rotation around its sun. When they began colonizing this galaxy the ships were like arks. They brought people, animals, grain, farming equipment and building supplies. The government, wanting to do things different this time around, designated whole planets for a specific purpose. Anubis was an agricultural planet.

The government wanted to ensure that all the planets would be able to have food. Even if a planet was inhabitable, that didn’t mean Earth crops would grow. Until they knew what they could adapt to, they had to have food. Other planets in the system were not prohibited from growing food’ they did in green houses, but it was a small percentage of what was needed to feed a planet with a growing population.

Ben had chosen this planet for its lack of technology and hadn’t expected trouble to find him here, or at least not so soon. He had been arranging hay bales and plastic barrels as he thought about the recent changes to his plan and staying under the radar.

He went back into the house and lifted his foot locker onto his shoulder and took it out to the barn. All his worldly possessions were inside. Sitting it down on top of a barrel, he opened the box. Inside, everything was neat and organized. He had a thermal suit folded perfectly. Lying on top of it was a manila envelope with some pictures in it. He didn’t have many. There were a couple from when he was growing up and one of him and his team before a mission standing on a loading ramp. He had some fingerless black leather gloves and a pair of black combat boots lying in the bottom. A combat katana lay across the length of the box with a strap to wear it across his back. The Tsuka and Tsuba were one molded piece of black textured FRN. The blade was folded steel and covered in a black Teflon coating. The Ha, or edge, was razor sharp.

Ben had owned three other combat katanas during his four years in service. There always came a time when it was used for something other than what it was designed for and it was pretty much useless after that — a pry bar being the usual culprit.

He removed the katana and the thermal suit and put them aside. He stripped out of all his clothes. He had spent four years showering with men and women and had no issues standing around nude in the barn. He just hoped Harold or Janet weren’t going to stick their head in the barn to see what he was doing. He looked at the scars on his body. There were lots of memories there. He lifted his hand to his temple and traced the scar that went to the base of his skull from behind his ear. His implants used to be there. Once he wasn’t government property anymore, they had removed them. The surgeon was really good. The scars on his head and brain were minimal and unlike some others, he came away with no brain damage. He ran his fingers through his hair. It has grown long in the ten months since his discharge. He didn’t shave every day now either. He would let it go two or three days before he picked up a razor. He wanted to blend in and this was part of his new persona. His body was tanned from working weekends on the farm.