“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 gossip. “I don’t buy it,” He leaned down and picked 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.”
“Up yours, 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,” Donnie 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 laughed, 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 simply stared at him. “You can’t do that!” Popo said.
“No way, man, he’ll kill you!” Dom said.
“Why?” Donnie asked. “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 couldn’t hear. Donnie walked up and joined them. They both turned to him, smiles still on their faces.
“What’s up, you two? Something funny?”
“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 turned a shocked glare at him.
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 shrugged. “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 messed up as the one we live in.”
Apollo and Maria looked at each other and burst out laughing. Apollo turned to Donnie, “A hound in a bone factory?”
He grinned back at them, “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, shoot…everybody knows,” Donnie chuckled.
Sanchez and Apollo exchanged looks. “The colonel?”
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 new 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 backwater 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 20th 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. 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 governmental 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 identification, 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 ended 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 was 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 waiting 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 informed 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 observed 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, Sir,” Laura answered.
“How are the new recruits doing in comparison to the other team?”
“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 program 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, sir. 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 went full speed into politician mode again. “There may be a pecking order, especially 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.”
“Thank you for doing it now, Senator.”
“Long overdue, colonel.” Franklin slapped his hands together to indicate the matter dropped. “Now, on to other business, since you have me as a captive audience.” Franklin indicated the facility that Mitchell had built under the hangar at the far west side of Tinker. “I know we’ve seen this before, and you’ve taken all of us stuffed shirts on tours numerous times…” Franklin turned to Matt and lowered his voice, “but let’s get real here a moment, Matt. What could we have done different in Texas to have prevented what happened to our boys?”
Our boys? Since when did he give two shits about these men? Matt thought a moment, then replied, “Proper support would have gone a long way, Senator.” Matt began walking back toward his office and Franklin followed. “I don’t know if you recall, but when we started this operation, we were promised all sorts of satellite support. We didn’t get it, and it cost lives.” Matt paused then added, “Those positions can obviously be replaced with other people, but the lives of those men can’t. We spent millions training them, augmenting them, arming them, and deploying them all over this side of the world and then we left them hung out to dry because somebody wouldn’t hand over a stupid satellite when we needed it?” Matt pointed his finger at Franklin and practically spat, “That’s just bull!” He headed back down the hall towards his office and continued, “Our operation doesn’t cost much in the way of black ops. You know that as much as anybody because you sit on our Oversight Committee. But if we could have had…even some unmanned drones. They don’t have to be armed drones, but that would be nice if we happen upon a group of trolls or, God forbid, some leprechauns end up on our shore. Or hell, if we got a dragon over here somehow.” Matt opened the door and allowed the Senator into his office. He went in and continued. “I know that there are contractors out there that are making some pretty cheap these days, but our budget is tight. And it gets tighter each year.”
Franklin was nodding his head. “Yes, it has been. And it doesn’t help that Canada and Mexico haven’t been paying their portion of the bills, either. It’s pretty much just us picking up the tab.” He scratched at his chin and thought a moment. “If I can push for a ten percent increase in your budget, will that help?”
Matt was shocked at first that Franklin was even willing to increase his budget. Something was definitely amiss here. He was always the first the try to cut the legs out from under the Monster Squad, but now he seemed to be…well, at last acting supportive. “Ten percent would help, but with fifteen I could purchase two drones. One armed. It wouldn’t get me much in the way of armaments, but I might could procure those from here through regular non-black op channels,” Mitchell stated. “It still won’t be easy.”
“Perhaps the hangar above could be converted to something useful?” Franklin added. “Drone remanufacturing?” Mitchell could read between the lines on Franklin’s face. He meant more than he was saying.
“Use my people to ‘remanufacture’ drones?” Matt asked.
“Maybe a few are too damaged for repair? A few extra spare parts are relocated to our use?” he added. “Just thinking out loud,” Franklin stated with a smile. One more nail in your coffin once everything goes public.
Matt rolled the idea around. “It would mean more than just my people might have access to the hangar.”
“Only in limited numbers, and for limited amounts of time,” Franklin stated. “And, since many drones are very classified, you could definitely have a reason to post guards outside the hangar.”
Mitchell was liking the idea less and less. Possibly, just possibly, Franklin was coming around to their way of thinking, but now he was condoning illegal activities. “I’ll bounce the idea off Laura and see what she thinks. If there’s any holes in it, she’ll find them and we can plug them before we try to implement it,” Matt said. “But you’re pretty sure you can get me the increase in funding?”
Franklin chuckled. “Matt, as much as I hate to admit it, I was the reason you didn’t get your funding increase last time.” Franklin stood and stepped to Matt’s private bar. He nodded toward it and Matt simply nodded, giving permission. Franklin poured two fingers of scotch. “If I go back to the OC and tell them you need an increase in funding…me? Do you really think they’ll try to shoot it down?”
“I suppose not.”
“No. You would suppose correctly.” Franklin swallowed the drink and sighed. “As I said, I know I’ve been a real son-of-a-bitch where you and your people are concerned. I’ve been struggling with that ever since the Texas incident.” Franklin stared out of Matt’s window and noticed the lab was back in operation. He could see a young man in a lab coat working diligently on something.
Franklin nodded with his chin. “You have the lab back up?”
Matt tried to appear nonchalant about it. “Hmm? Oh. Yes. Laura found this guy and brought him in a while back,” Matt said. He stood and went to the window where he could just make out Evan below. “Sort of a quiet fellow, but he does good work according to Laura.”
“Is he following up on that…what was his name…the vampire? Is he following up on his work?”
“I don’t know,” Matt lied. “Laura receives his reports and follows up on his work. Too sciencey for me.”
Franklin stood there and watched the man for a moment. If he recognized him, he made no mention and his face didn’t show it. After a few moments he turned and set his glass down. “Show me the new men.”