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AOS CAMP:
Mark Woolly is walking beside Joyce as they pass through tent city, and they stop when they see a guard posted outside Monroe’s trailer. He recognizes the guard as one of Everex’s men and Joyce waits while he goes over. “What’s going on, Sir?”
“Your mom’s been arrested for hiding spies.”
Mark is dumbfounded. “What? Spies? She wouldn’t do that!”
The guard shrugs. “That’s what I was told.”
“Where’s my mom?”
“In jail, for the moment. You know the Major.”
Mark understands the guard’s meaning and knows the major is probably going to kill her. He moves away and continues past Joyce without seeing her.
“Hey Joyce!” the guard hollers. “How about one for the road when I get relieved?”
Joyce shows him her middle finger, then hurries to the door of her motor home.
Christa and Judy see Joyce approaching, and scramble into the tiny bathroom. They hear the door open and close, and a moment later, the bathroom door opens.
Christa sees Joyce’s surprised look and thinks she might scream out a warning, but she just stares at them.
“Do you mind?” Joyce says in her high voice. “I have to go really bad.”
Christa and Judy exchange puzzled looks, step out of the bathroom, and wait while Joyce hurries inside and closes the door.
A few moments later, Joyce leaves the bathroom and stares at the two women. “What’s going on around here?” Neither of them answers. “Look, I’ve seen you through the window of the Monroe’s trailer and I know you’ve been hiding, but I don’t care. I won’t turn you in to these assholes, if that’s what you’re worried about.”
Christa looks at Judy for confirmation, who shrugs, so she explains everything to Joyce and waits for a response.
Joyce sits down at the kitchen table. “Everex is sick in the head and will kill your friends. If you want to save them, you’ll have to do it soon. Most of the soldiers are leaving tonight, so that might be a good time for a rescue.”
Christa sees the bitterness in Joyce’s eyes. “Will you help us?”
“Everex shot my husband and made me become a prostitute. I’d love to kill him and the bastards who have been using me. What do you want me to do?”
“First, we need to get word to our friends in the jail, then we’ll need some kind of diversion while we get them out.”
Joyce smirks at them. “The diversion’s not a problem. It might be tricky getting word to them in the jail, but I think I know of a way.”
***
As he walks through tent city, Mark realizes if his mother has been hiding spies, his father must know about it too. No! My dad wouldn’t do that to me. He knows how much I love it here.
Mark doesn’t notice the people mulling around the tents. He knows if Mom really hid some spies, then Everex will suspect Dad and he’ll be arrested as soon as he comes back from field training. Everex won’t hold a trial. He’ll just kill them both. He finds himself torn between his love for this army and love for his parents.
He quickens his pace and as he hurries across the parade ground. He notices the way everyone moves with a sense of urgency, and he can hear the growl of diesel engines. Someone yells his name, and he turns to the voice. Brian Everex is running across the parade ground, so he stops and waits for his friend.
Brian can’t stop grinning as he stops in front of Mark. “Did you hear that we’re leaving tonight to attack another army?” He doesn’t wait for a reply. “My brother said I can go with them. What about you? Are you going with us?”
At any other time, he’d love to go, but right now, his parents are more important. “Maybe. I have something I have to do first.”
Brian looks at him curiously. He finds it strange Mark isn’t as excited as he is, but shrugs it off. “Okay. Maybe I’ll see you later.”
Mark watches Brian run off. If the Major is leaving tonight, he won’t want to leave his parents in jail while he’s gone. Mark realizes he must hurry and find Pam and somehow warn his dad. He has no idea how to get his mom out of jail and hopes Pam can think of something.
Mark enters the long corridor of the girl’s dormitory. It smells of perfume and sweaty clothes. Women carrying backpacks rush past him, and one of them smiles and winks at him. He steps into Pam’s room. “Mom’s been arrested. She’s in jail!”
Pam leaps up from the bed. “What are you talking about?”
“The Major had Mom arrested for hiding some spies. I think they’ll arrest Dad when he gets back, even though he didn’t have anything to do with it.”
“What do you mean spies?”
“I don’t know all the details. I just know that the Major is probably going to kill them before he leaves tonight. We have to hurry.”
Pam grabs a jacket off the back of a chair. “Tell me what happened.”
Mark walks at a brisk pace while he tells her what he knows. “The thing is, Everex won’t even give Dad a chance to clear himself.”
“Okay,” says Pam as they approach the back of the dining hall. “You go find Dad. I’ll go to the jail and talk to Mom to find out if it’s true about the spies.”
Mark runs toward the road that leads to the big meadow where his dad is training, hoping he’s still there.
***
The three women exchange frightened looks when they hear a knock on the motorhome door. Joyce stands, peeks out the window, and recognizes Sergeant Major Davis, the sadistic bastard who treats her so brutally in the special services tent. She opens the door and looks down at him. “What do you want?”
“You look like shit.”
“That’s your fault, so leave me alone.”
“Get out. We’re taking your motorhome.”
Joyce holds back her sense of panic. “What? You can’t just take it.”
“I can do whatever I want!” he snarls and tries to grab her arm.
“All right!” she says and steps back. “Just let me pack a few things. Tell me where you want it and I’ll drive it over.”
Davis stares at her for a moment. “Park it in front of my cabin. The rest of the guards and I are going to use it while we’re traveling.”
“I want it back when you’re through.”
Davis grins. “Sure thing, if there’s anything left of it.” He laughs and walks away.
Joyce closes the door and looks at Christa and Judy. “Did you hear that?” Both women nod solemnly, and Joyce grins at them. “Don’t worry. I’ll let you out as we pass tent city. No one will notice.”
Joyce walks around the end of the bed, kneels, and brings out a large black suitcase. She opens it and reaches inside, then holds up two small blocks of tan-colored clay wrapped in cellophane. “Plastic explosives.” She sees the stunned expressions on Christa and Judy. “My husband sold this stuff. He always kept samples around in case he met a prospective customer.”
Judy grabs one of the blocks. “Do you know how to use it?”
“Yes. He taught me how to set up the demonstrations while he talked to customers. There’s nothing to it, really.” She drops the explosives back into the suitcase and holds up an electronic device. “All you need is a timer and detonator.”
“So what do you plan to do?” Christa asks.
Joyce smirks. “Get even.”
***
Mark’s heart beats fiercely as he forces himself to keep running along the road. He forgot it’s nearly five miles to the meadow. He stops when he sees movement through the trees. While he tries to catch his breath, a truck suddenly comes around the bend and he waits for it to come closer. Three more trucks follow, and the last truck slows to a crawl when it comes by.
Mark recognizes the driver as the training officer, Luke Ardle. “I’m looking for my dad,” he says as he trots beside the truck.
“He’s in back. We were told to arrest him, but I don’t know why.”
“Can I ride with him?”
“I don’t see why not? Jump in.”
Mark waits until the truck is nearly past him, then jumps onto the bumper. Two sets of hands help him over the tailgate, and when he looks up, he sees his father sitting between two men with rifles. He walks back and kneels in front of him, and sees the frightened look in his eyes.
“They arrested me, Mark!” Harold says in a quivering voice. He suspects the two women were caught, and wonders if his son knows about them. The imploring look in Mark’s eyes tells him he does. “I didn’t have a choice, son.”
When Harold sees the hurt look in his son’s eyes, his heart drops into his stomach. He knows he’s going to be shot, but the look from his son makes him feel as though he already has a bullet in his heart. He stares at his hands and sees them shaking.