Captain O'Reilly's Woman - Ashes of Love 1 Page 14

  Not for the first time, David was thankful that Samantha was riding with the rear-guard a full day behind them. She was now almost two months pregnant and had started feeling queasy in the morning. That and being jostled over bad roads made him grateful that, when she arrived tomorrow, he’d at least be able to offer her a fully set up trailer with indoor plumbing and electricity. He turned his attention back to the officer beside him.

  Lieutenant Ramos was probably David’s age, around six feet with that powerful, hungry build that defined most recon soldiers. He had dark eyes, a deeply tanned complexion and long, dark hair he wore pulled back into a loose knot at the back of his neck. His look was bizarrely at odds with his standard-issue army cap and fatigues. But then recon soldiers weren’t supposed to look like regular Army. They were supposed to blend in with indigenous populations, peaceful and hostile alike. They were ghosts, trained observers and lethal in weaponless combat.

  David himself had spent two years doing recon work so he appreciated the sacrifices and the risks they took.

  The Army had only six reconnaissance units and they were sent out all over New North America, checking on the viability of communities that submitted proposals to the Reclamation Program. Checking the truthfulness of their claims, they made sure a reclamation unit, when it arrived, wasn’t walking into an ambush. They were the cowboys of the modern Army and it was the kind of work that often attracted wilder and rougher recruits.

  But since the reconnaissance operative standing beside him had made it to the rank of lieutenant, David assumed he’d mastered the less staid aspects of his personality. “Any new developments since your last report, Lieutenant?” David asked.

  “None, sir. The town’s got a head man and a rudimentary town council. There’s a local gang that strong-arms the population in these parts. They drop in from time to time.”

  “Define time to time,” David asked, his eyes narrowing as he looked down at the lieutenant. He had great respect for the work recon units did, but because they operated outside of normal Army structure, their leaders often fell into the habit of not fully reporting their moves or situation. Instead, they relied on themselves and their unit. That was important but Lieutenant Ramos knew he was operating under David’s command for the next week or so. He had to get back into the habit of sharing detailed information.

  “Yes, sir,” Edward replied, sounding properly chastised. “The local gang...twenty to thirty men. The numbers vary. They come into town roughly every two months, shake down the population for food, supplies and use strong-arm recruitment tactics when their numbers are low.”

  “When were they here last?” David asked, thinking that a group that organized would have to be infiltrated, their leaders identified and their members arrested. He wondered why the Lieutenant hadn’t jumped in and started the job himself. It was the kind of proactive work that got officers recognized and promoted. Ramos, with his years of experience, should have been all over that.

  “Just under six weeks ago.”

  David nodded. “And the state of the town’s water, electrical and food-supply network?” Jeez, getting information out of this guy was like pulling teeth.

  “Well water and two jury-rigged solar-panel fields. Enough power generation for approximately two hours every afternoon. The farm land around here is good so they’re fairly self-sufficient as far as food goes. But they’re not on anybody’s regular delivery route so if they need additional supplies or food they can’t grow themselves, they send a couple of trucks out and barter for what they need.”

  “Have you tested the water quality?” David felt his patience slipping away and his ADC, who was standing by his elbow taking notes, raised a brow when he caught the tone in his voice.

  “Um...yes and no,” Lieutenant Ramos hedged. He grinned up at David apologetically. “We took samples but our medic was transferred out two weeks ago. There’s no one else in the unit who knows how to test them.”

  David nodded. “Well we’ll take care of that. Today.” He glanced back down at Ramos. “You’ve arranged for me and my staff to meet with their head man today?”

  “Yes, sir. All set,” Ramos nodded firmly. “Would it be possible to set up a rudimentary health clinic before the rest of your squadron gets here? The town’s been without medical care for some time.”

  “Yes. Absolutely.” David turned to his ADC. “Tom, make a note that Lieutenant Ramos has requested that medical aid be one of our top priorities.” He shot the Lieutenant a pointed look. This was more like it. At least the man was capable of some proactive thinking.

  David, his heads of staff, Lieutenant Ramos and Ramos’ sergeant arrived in town before their thirteen-hundred meeting with the interim mayor of Montpelier. They and the MPs with them walked the two main streets in town. They looked over the row of rough stalls, currently empty, that served as the community’s open-air weekly market. One of the Army’s massive, armored medical RVs pulled up nearby, beside what had likely been, at one time, a public park. It was now rank with overgrown weeds, refuse and derelict vehicles. The base’s head medic, like David, was an old hand at spotting the possibilities in locations. David, himself, couldn’t have chosen better.

  Montpelier, like other such communities, would continue to operate on the barter system for at least another two months. Before then, their economy wouldn’t be stable enough to revert to government-backed currency. The market would stay, but the Army would see that it improved. The most visible and meaningful, public site for reclamation would be the town’s central park. Having their first clinic on that site, beside the market, meant that everyone would see—and take pride in the visible proof of their return to prosperity.

  Wishing he didn’t feel the need to, David cast a disparaging look in Lieutenant Edward Ramos’ direction. When David was a first-year sergeant and working recon, he’d met reclamation commanders with a detailed set of plans in hand, from prioritization of the community’s needs right down to the suggested location of playground swings. But not everyone had David’s strengths. He moved on.

  Ramos was conspicuously silent during the meeting with the town council as well. He started off well enough, introducing David and his heads of staff, said that he was glad he’d been able to bring the Army to Montpelier. Then he sat at the back of the room with his sergeant and did nothing more than observe after that.

  But the council was eager to get started, eager to hear what the Army had planned for them and especially glad to hear that a mobile medical facility was now up and running in what had once been their town square. One of the councilmen left briefly to put a message out over the CB network. On his way out, he made a point of specifically thanking Lieutenant Ramos for making that happen.

  After sounding out the council members about their town’s needs, David proposed a plan of action for the first week. He emphasized that the Army was there to provide tools, technical expertise, health care and security only. All improvements would be the exclusive results of the town’s labor. By the time the meeting was concluded, the walls of the meeting chamber were covered with oversized pieces of paper, showing a detailed schedule of work. It outlined how many people would be required at each job site and what, if any, special skills would be required.

  David and his staff left the meeting, leaving the job of gathering and organizing a labor force in the hands of the town council and to have teams ready by seven-hundred hours tomorrow morning. As they passed the mobile clinic, David noted with satisfaction that a swath of lawn in front of it had already been mowed and that there was a triage area outside, and a queue of people waiting their turn for the first medical and dental care they’d probably had in decades.

  Before he returned to base, David confirmed that his electrical engineers were already vetting potential sites for solar and wind-power arrays, MPs had set up visible and covert posts on the access routes into town, their maintenance corps was clearing a new dump site and ground-water samples were being tested for contaminants.
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  When he crawled into bed that night—alone, for the first time in almost three months—he missed his wife so desperately his bones literally ached for her.

  * * *

  “They’re here.”

  David’s head shot up from the paperwork on his desk when his ADC slapped the flat of his hand on his office-door frame. Grabbing his cap, he shouldered his way past Sergeant Stevenson and rushed out.

  “You know you could try playing a little hard to get. Geez you’re embarrassing.”

  David was suddenly in far too good a mood to pay any attention to Tom’s high-handedness. “Bugger off,” he shot back absently just before the outer door to the command post slammed shut in his wake. He headed over to the infirmary when he caught sight of the buses passing through the second checkpoint and heading his way.

  Samantha was one of the first medical personnel to step off. Private JT Winters followed close on her heels, carrying not one but two duffel bags. Before he even had a chance to think about what he wanted to say to her, Samantha’s head tipped to one side and her eyes narrowed as she walked up to him.

  “Are you all right?” she asked quickly, taking in the smudges beneath his eyes and the papery creases at the corners of them.

  He sighed contentedly. “Yes. Now that you’re here.” She continued to look at him assessingly. “I don’t sleep well without you,” he admitted quietly, touched her arm fleetingly then looked up and nodded in greeting when other members of the medical unit began filing off the bus.

  “I’ll, um, take this to your quarters, Sam?” JT piped up, glancing at one of the duffel bags he was carrying. “Captain,” he said politely and kept moving.

  Somebody, David had no idea who, walked by them and coughed loudly...only it sounded suspiciously like “Kiss her.”

  He looked around, his brow furrowing but nobody reacted.

  Then somebody else coughed. “Kiss her.”

  “Go on.”

  “Kiss her already.”

  The murmurs were more distinct now. Louder. And they got louder and more distinct until David and Samantha were standing in a sea of moving personnel, all of them grinning and bellowing out of the corners of their mouths.

  David cleared his throat. He pulled off his cap, bent to Samantha and kissed her softly. Just enjoying the scent of her, he relished the fact that she was there. He felt her mouth split into a wide grin when the personnel around them cheered before moving on. Finally, he straightened from her and, side by side, they walked back to the command post.

  * * *

  “I can’t begin to tell you how much I love indoor plumbing,” Samantha sighed as she wiped a damp cloth over her face and neck. She switched off the faucets in the private head off David’s office. After she dried her face and hands, she smoothed her hair and put her cap back on. “I’ve only got a few minutes before I have to report to the infirmary,” she said as she turned to him. And smiled. David was leaning in the doorway, watching her. A lopsided grin lifted one corner of his full, sensual mouth.

  “How was the trip?” he asked, touching the side of her face then letting his hand drift down to rest on her lower abdomen.

  “Long. Dusty. Bumpy. But we’re good. Both of us.”

  “I was worried,” David admitted with a sigh.

  “Well you can stop it right now,” Samantha admonished him gently. She smoothed her hands down the front of his shirt, caressed him lightly then rested her fingers on his waist. “We need you in top form these first few days. So get your focus and your game face together, all right?”

  David inhaled deliberately. “In other words,” he grinned, “suck it up, troop, and get on with it.”

  “Exactly.” Standing up on tip-toe, Samantha kissed him. It was poignantly, sweet and far too quick. She settled back down on her heels and smiled when he kissed the base of her ear before straightening away from her. “I’ll meet you at our quarters for supper.” After one last, fleeting kiss, she left to report for work.

  On her way out, she chatted briefly with the sergeant, asking him how his day was going and how the work in town was progressing. As she crossed the road and turned down the walkway leading to the infirmary, Lieutenant Edward Ramos and a few of his men, on their way to the motor pool, caught a glimpse of her retreating backside.

  “Nice ass.”

  “New ass,” Ramos added speculatively. He glanced around, noting the now-empty buses pulling away. “Hmm. There may be a reason for sticking around this dump a few more days after all. Come on,” he said, and continued on his way to the motor pool.

  * * *

  “Major, can I speak to you about my duty roster?” Samantha caught their chief medic, Doctor Major Fred Stern, just as he was leaving his office the next morning.

  He leaned on the corner of his desk, looked down at her affectionately then ran his thumb across the brim of the cap he was holding in his hand.

  “I thought you might.” When Samantha’s brow furrowed, he set his cap aside. “You’re to be quarantined on base for three weeks, Corporal Coop...O’Reilly,” he corrected himself. He held up his hand when Samantha opened her mouth to protest. “You’re in your first trimester and this is a community that’s been without a medical facility since zero GW. Three weeks will be enough time for us to find out what kind of communicable diseases they might be harboring and get the population inoculated against anything that might harm that baby you’re carrying.” He stood and set his cap on his gray head. “And this order comes straight from me, not your husband. So don’t go busting his chops over it.”

  Samantha shot him a look and put her hands on her hips.

  “Yeah...I know you wouldn’t.” Doctor Stern chuckled. “I just like yanking your chain.” Then he grew serious. “Being pregnant in an un-reclaimed area is a world of different from being pregnant in one that is.” He looked at her pointedly.

  “Yes, sir,” Samantha acknowledged with a resigned sigh. She saluted then stood aside as he left.

  * * *

  Just as Samantha was logging in for her shift in the infirmary, Lieutenant Ramos was sitting down at the temporary desk he’d been assigned in the MP building. He scanned the personnel-profile menu. He needed to replace three members of his team—two grunts and one medic. If he was lucky, he’d be able to pick them from the personnel on base instead of waiting for HQ to assign him more people. He hated this part of the job. Newbies were always transferring in an out of his unit and if he could have gotten away with operating with just his core group of three trusted men, he would have. But the Army kept tabs on the numbers and wouldn’t allow him to operate below full strength of twelve. With reason. You needed a certain amount of muscle to operate safely in un-reclaimed areas. You needed numbers to make your presence felt and stand up to gangs of crooks. Grunts were a dime a dozen but medics were a different matter. None of them lasted more than a few months and he couldn’t operate without one. One, the Army wouldn’t let him. Two, they and their skills were the perfect bargaining chip in any community. His mouth thinning, he selected the medical-personnel profiles, narrowing down his choices to medics only and scanned them. The ones that had served for any length of time, he eliminated immediately. Then he scanned the remaining profiles, looking for somebody young and green.

  Just when he’d all but given up hope, he noted a special-notation flag on one of the files—RI. He sat up straighter and opened the personnel file. RI, other than the obvious, meant special pull at HQ, something he’d enjoy taking advantage of. Ramos whistled softly. “Hello, darlin’ ” he murmured to the screen as he scanned Samantha’s photo. He glanced at her vital statistics but didn’t look much further than her age, weight and measurements before closing out the program and asking one of the other officers working nearby how to access the duty-roster menu.

  * * *

  “So if you’re going to medical school next July, what’s the Captain going to do while you’re in Kentucky?” JT looked down at Samantha from the third rung of the ladder he was
perched on. He recounted the boxes of sterile gloves, size medium, then called out, “Twenty-four.”

  “Twenty-four. Check,” Samantha acknowledged, making a mark on her clipboard. “We’re not sure yet,” she answered, adjusting her seat on the counter she was perched on. “Size large next.” She watched JT climb down a rung and start counting. “The base in Kentucky is really big and the reclamation program operates out of it. I’ve sent through a request that he be assigned there while I’m at school. Now we’re just waiting to hear back.”

  “Eighty-seven,” JT called out then turned around and sat on one of the rungs, looking down at her. “How weird is it? I mean, you getting to tell HQ where you want Captain O’Reilly stationed?”

  “Eighty-Seven. Check. Pretty weird, JT,” Samantha acknowledged and crossed her legs absently. Then un-crossed them. Crossed legs, although comfortable, weren’t optimal for her circulation and before her pregnancy advanced, she needed to get out of the habit.

  “Is there a patient?” Samantha called out automatically when she heard someone enter the storage locker behind her. She jumped off the counter. Since most personnel were working in town, the clinic was quiet during the day. With JT’s help, she was checking the inventory, making sure all the supplies they’d left with had made it to Montpelier with them. In this squadron, things hardly ever fell off the back of the truck but supplies could be stored incorrectly and she was double-checking against that. When that job was done, she’d go back to hitting the books in preparation for medical school.

  When there was no response, Samantha looked around. Her head tipped to one side when she saw an officer, one she didn’t recognize, inside the big locker. It was strictly off limits to all but medical personnel. If they hadn’t been in the most secure facility in the centre of a double-fenced compound, she’d be slamming the all-come, panic button...just in case their visitor was an intruder from off base looking to steal something. But, as this guy was obviously new, she decided to cut him some slack despite the fact that, as she turned around, she’d caught him checking out her ass.