On Distant Shores (Exiles Triology Book 1) (8 page)

He walked over and gave her a squeeze and a kiss, “And I was trying so hard to keep from waking you up.  You didn’t have to get up and make breakfast.”

Jo blinked sleepily at him,“What kind of wife would I be if I let my man leave the house for three weeks without a good breakfast?”

“A well-rested one, baby,” He replied.  He patted her on her stomach, “I would rather you and the baby get a good rest.”

She shooed him away, “The baby and I are fine.  Go put some clothes on before I jump you and make you late for work.”

Mike laughed, “Is there something wrong with that?”

“Good point, but you have to go to work, and I’m not going to be the reason you get into trouble,” she replied.

“Okay, okay, you win.  I’ll get dressed.”

He walked away, and looked over at the dogs.  There was no way they would be asleep with the smell of eggs and sausage in the air.  He could see the soft, pleading eyes in the kennels, “Looks like the girls are awake.”

“Babe, when you get some clothes on, can you let them out into the backyard?  They probably need to pee.”

“Yep, I’ll get that done.”

He walked to the couch, let the towel drop, and put on the clean clothes.  He put on khakis, a polo shirt, and work boots.  He put his belt on, then walked over to the cabinet and pulled out the holstered Sig P220 .45 and threaded it onto the belt.  On the other hip he put two spare magazines.  The brown leather belt, brown leather holster, and brown leather magazine holders with the basket weave design had been his birthday present from Jo.

When he was dressed he let the dogs out of the kennel and carefully herded them to the back door so they wouldn’t get too excited and pee on the floor.  The drugs in their systems made that possibility a little more likely.  The dogs went outside, walked around sniffing, then did their business and came back to the house hoping to get in on the breakfast scraps.  Mike left them outside so that he could have breakfast in peace.  He could hear Fiona whine.

Mike sat down at the table and put butter and jam on the biscuits.  The eggs were scrambled with onion and peppers.  Jo sprinkled cheese over the top of the eggs, and he put pepper and salt on the eggs.

“You know, you should at least taste them before you season them.”

Mike nodded contritely, “I’m sorry, chef, it will never happen again.”

“Yes it will,” Jo stated as she kissed him on the top of the head.  She placed a brown bag onto the table.

“What’s that,” he asked.

“For the road.  I put biscuits with butter, sausage, and cheese in there.  There are six of them.”

Mike grabbed her hand and kissed it.  He tucked into the breakfast and polished off the food pretty quick so he wouldn’t be late.  He finished his coffee, stood and turned to Jo.

She melted into his arms, and put her head on his chest, “Are you going to call me when you get there?”

“I’ll if I’m allowed to, it shouldn’t be a problem.  You know how it is.”

“Okay,” She rested her head against his chest.  She definitely knew how it was.  She was always fearful when he left, and grateful when he came home.  This was the part that she hated.  She knew that in his line of work, there might come a day when he walked out the door, and never came back.

They stood there for the better part of two or three minutes, just holding each other. 

“You take care of you and the baby until I get back.”

“Okay, I will.  I love you.”

“I love you, too,” reluctantly, he loosened his grip and gave her a kiss. 

She returned it, and then let him go.  She walked with him to his pack, watched as he picked it up.  She held his hand, and then at the front door, she grabbed him, turned him, and fiercely pulled him towards her.  She gave him a passionate kiss, surprising him with the intensity.  She pulled away, “So you don’t forget me.”

He smiled at her, “As if.”  He leaned in, and light as a feather’s touch, kissed her on the cheek, turned and walked out the door.  She watched through the door as he went to the truck, put in his back pack, hopped into the front seat, and fired up the engine.  He waved at her, pantomimed a kiss, and drove away.

She sighed, and closed the door.  She walked back to the kitchen, then noticed the dogs outside.  She walked over to the door and let the dogs back in.  They were both moving slowly, but they seemed to be doing okay.  Jo grabbed some bread, opened up a bottle of pain medication that the vet prescribed for the girls.  She started wrapping the bread around the pills, and dipped the bread in the grease in the skillet.

“That should get them to eat the pills,”
she thought.  Moira was looking expectantly at her.  Jo couldn’t see Fiona.  She looked around.  Fiona was standing at the front door.  Her tail was wagging.

“Oh, baby, Daddy’s gone.”

Jo fed them the pills, checking to make sure that they didn’t spit the pills back out.  Then she put on coffee, cleaned the table, and put the plates into the sink.  She waited until the dogs were done with their food, and she put them back into their kennel.

It was too late for her to go back to sleep, so she grabbed some of the sausage biscuits and filled a cup with coffee.  She watched the morning news while she ate.  One of the dogs, probably Fiona, whimpered as she sank into sleep.  The morning stock market news was on, but she wanted to listen to something light, so she turned the channel until she found some news personalities on a couch talking about the latest Hollywood gossip.

Soon, she was done with the food and the coffee.  There was still nothing interesting on TV, so she stood up, took the dishes to the sink, and put them in.  The coffee cup she kept, poured some more coffee, then walked to the bedroom to get ready for the day.

--------------------------------------

Mike drove to the back end of the parking lot.  He hopped out of the truck, grabbed his bag, locked it, and walked over to the front gate.  Everett and Mickey were both standing outside the turnstile, in front of the window where the guard was.

“Hey guys, do we have a ride over to the flight line?” Mike asked.

Everett nodded, a cup of coffee in his hand, and his travel bag at his feet, “Yeah, the staff duty driver is going to take us over there.”

They stood around for a few more minutes and the duty driver came out, apologizing for the wait.  Mike, Everett, and Mickey followed him over to the SUV, and got in.  The driver started down the road, and ten minutes later they were at the gate to Peterson Air Force Base.  Had they waited until later, there would have been a problem getting through the traffic in Colorado Springs to the Air Force base in time for the flight.  Mike rounded up their military IDs and passed them to the duty driver.  The duty driver pulled up to the gate and handed the IDs to the young Air Force military policeman.  He took a look at each of the IDs and then matched them individually to the people in the car.  He asked where they were going. The duty driver told him that they were going to the PAX terminal.  The MP nodded and let them through the gate.

They arrived at the passenger terminal and Rob and Tom were there to meet them.  Tom’s wife was also there with a fast food bag holding sausage biscuits.

“Hi, Barbara, how have you been,” Mike asked?

Tom’s wife was a petite blond with smiling,blue eyes.  She looked tired, “I’m doing okay.  My sister is in town, so it gave me a chance to bring Tom some breakfast before you guys leave.”

Barbara was a sweet woman, but God help you if she thought you were being disrespectful to her husband or children.  That last bit was of a dig at the fact that Tom had to be out here in the morning for guard duty on the pallet.  Mike took it in stride.  He knew she didn’t mean any harm.

“When can Jo and I get you and Tom out to the house for dinner?” he asked.

She brightened at the idea, “Well, I still have two kids down with chicken pox, but I hope that they’re better by the time ya’ll get back.”Her Tennessee twang came out while she was talking.

“Maybe you can give Jo a call, and you two ladies can figure something out.”

Barbara agreed, and then turned her attention back to Tom.

Rob approached them, “Hey stragglers, you need to show your IDs so that they can verify that you’re on the manifest.”

Mike nodded, and then said, “I’ll be in,in a moment.”

The guys set off with Barbara in tow to go inside the passenger terminal.

Mike was lucky that the light rain had stopped and the clouds were clearing in the east.  He loved this one thing about Colorado Springs more than anything else.  In fact, he would often get up early just to see it as it happened.  It was great in the winter time when the sun came up later in the morning.  Slowly the twilight would lighten.  Then, the sun hit the high peaks of the mountains, just west of Colorado Springs.  As the sun illuminated the mountains, they blazed a luminous rosy glow.  Mike watched, sipping coffee as the sun lit up the day.  Finally, Mike could put it off no more.  He slipped inside the passenger terminal.

He walked over to the counter and showed his orders and ID to the airman behind the counter.  She checked, verified that he was manifested on the flight.  Mike walked to the waiting area, to the seats that the team had appropriated.  Tom gave Barbara a kiss, then she said goodbye to everybody, and then left Tom with the team.  They started pulling out E-readers, E-media players, and personal tablets to keep busy.

“How was your weekend?” Everett asked.

“Well, we took the pups to get them spayed.  They were drugged and unhappy all weekend.  But they’re getting better,” he replied.

“If you cut off my lady bits, I’d be pretty upset,” Mickey chipped in.

Everett replied, “The last time I saw your lady bits was the twenty mile hike we did in June.”

“It was just of chafing, not as bad as you guys made it out to be.”

“Yeah, well you may want to lay off of all the damn squats.  When your thighs start rubbing together, there’s a problem.”

Mickey decreased the body building supplements after that misadventure.  Now, while he concentrated on strength training, he did a lot of running and hiking to ensure that never happened again.

“How did your weekend go?” Mike asked Everett.

“It was good.  I like to spend time with Becky and Sam.  It’s not like I get to spend a whole lot of time with them.”

Becky and Sam, or Rebecca and Samantha, were Everett’s twin girls.  He had them with his second wife, Vicky.  They were going to be heart breakers.  They were twelve years old heading for thirty-six.

“We had a good time.  But they’re starting to talk about boys, and that doesn’t sit too well with me.”

Mike nodded, “Around here, I agree.  If you don’t watch it, they’ll be married to a Private First Class, living in a trailer park.”

Tom started singing a country music tune about a young married couple, with no money, living on nothing but love.

“You can stop now, Tom.  You aren’t helping,” Everett stated.

Tom chuckled.

Rob looked at Tom, “Man, that’s just wrong.  That’s his little girls you’re talking about.”

Tom replied, “Look who’s talking, the man who dates a different girl every weekend.  You’re the guy that fatherswarn their daughters about.”

Rob looked offended.  “I have never treated a woman with disrespect.  Every woman knows what they’re getting into before they come home with me.”

Mickey snorted, “So you’re telling me, that all of those intoxicated women that you take home, know that you won’t be calling them when you’re done with them.”

Rob flashed sad eyes at Mickey, “Now you’re just insulting me.  I never take an intoxicated woman home.”

Mike said, “Wait for it. . . ”

Rob continued, “Because I don’t want to hold a woman’s hair out of the toilet while she throws up.  It’s just disgusting.”

Tom laughed, “The man who esteems the virtuous woman willing to sleep with him, because the non-virtuous woman throws up too much.”

Rob flashed his white teeth in a smile, “They’re very pleased to go home with me.”

Mike gestured with his arms, encompassing the room with his hands.  “Something seems to be filling the room, pressure is growing, what can it be?  Can one man’s ego grow so large?”  His hands went to his chest, “Can’t breathe, ego . . . consuming . . . all air . . . in the room.”

The group laughed at Mike’s theatrics.  Mike continued, “you sir, are a slut.”

Rob replied with a world weary shrug of his shoulders.

Finally, one of the Airmen behind the service desk came out and yelled the number for their flight.  They got up, grabbed their bags, and started walking to the shuttle that would take them out onto the flight line to board their plane.  It was a ten minute ride.  The pallet was loaded, and locked onto the ramp.  The team climbed aboard the C-12 through the passenger hatch and sat down.  The plane started taxiing shortly after they fastened their seat belts.  As the plane started rolling, the back ramp moved up and locked into place.  The load master called over the microphone on his head set, and the plane moved to the runway.  The plane started down the runway, lifted off, and the team was on its way.