Chapter 18
I was at the tool cage in Facilities when Todd Greene walked in and asked me if I had ever seen a cattle drive. Todd was one of the new guys from Las Cruces and had been hired on to replace Marvin after he was killed. He wasn’t a Marvin, but he wasn’t really all that bad either. I sort of figured that once he got with the program, he might make a pretty good sprinklerfitter.
“No, I haven’t,” I said.
“Then you better get outside,” he said. “The Maniker’s are delivering the payment for their little girl’s rescue.”
I walked out the entrance to Facilities and saw four horsemen keeping around ten head of cattle grouped together. “Fresh beef,” I said as my mouth watered.
“No shit,” Todd said. “But ten head aren’t going to go far down in the hole.”
He was right of course; we were fast approaching the four thousand population mark again and it was starting to get just as crowded as it had been before. Still though, ten head of cattle were nothing to turn your nose up at. I saw Carl Maniker as he dismounted and walked into the Ranger HQ and wandered over myself. Before I could get there, he walked back out with Packer and they watched the men on horseback keeping the cattle grouped together. As I walked up, I could hear them talking.
“You really should be talking to Governor Ortiz,” the Major was saying. “She’s in charge of making arrangements like you’re talking about.”
“Just doesn’t seem right, talking business with a woman.”
“Well, you might want to try and get used to it, around here,” Packer waved his hand at the hole. “We put the folks in charge that are best suited for the job; she’s our choice for head of government.”
“So, you work for her?”
“In a way, yes, but we have a system of checks and balances in place much like how our government was supposed to have worked before the crash.”
“Yeah, that turned out pretty well, didn’t it?” Maniker struck me as a disagreeable man, but one that kept his word.
I stepped up and said, “Mister Maniker, may I ask how Charlotte is doing?”
He looked at me and I could see the wheels turning, “Oh yeah, you’re the soldier married to that little spitfire.”
I laughed and then Packer laughed also, “Yeah, that’s me.”
“She must be a real handful.”
I smiled and said, “Not really, she is about as sweet as they come until you step on her toes or screw with those she loves.”
“Well, I did notice she apologized to you for putting Richard down. I don’t know if I would like my wife kicking some big ole boy’s butt for me though.” He looked away and then back at me, “Was she serious about kicking his rear to keep you from killing him?”
“Yes, I was,” Debra said as she walked up behind us. “I saw the look in Daniel’s eyes and decided to thump Richard the Dick’s ass in order to keep the peace. We just came from a fire fight, Mister Maniker, that’s guaranteed to get the blood pumping and my husband is one of the best there is at ending people’s lives when they earn it.”
Packer interrupted and said, “In extreme circumstances. We don’t normally go looking for conflict.”
“Don’t worry about it, Major,” Maniker said. “My son has a tendency to run his mouth no matter how many times I’ve warned him about it. Personally, I think having his ass handed to him by a pretty little thing like Mrs. Tarn here was one of the best things that’s happened to him.” He laughed and added, “You ought to hear the version that he’s spreading around to the other ranchers; you have a bunch of secret, female, special operations people that were no doubt trained from birth to assassinate people.”
“Good grief,” Packer said.
Maniker became somber and said, “As far as Charlie goes, she has nightmares and wakes up demanding to be allowed to come here and be trained to be a soldier. At first, I told her absolutely not, none of my women need to be trained to kill, but I’m beginning to wonder if maybe it might not be such a bad idea. It’s pretty obvious my sons and I can’t be around to protect them all the time. She also told me you folks have a school here, that right?”
Packer nodded and said, “Kindergarten to twelfth grade with college level classes to come. We have started training our young people to protect their selves, but there’s also a community service requirement. When the students turn eighteen, they join the Militia, or the Rangers and serve two years active duty. After that, they are members of the Militia Reserve until the age of forty-five.”
“Well, no harm in a child learning how to be competent with a firearm, I guess. When do the classes start and is there a fee involved?”
“No fees, we use the children to perform work commensurate with their ages and abilities, so long as that work does not interfere with their training, or academics.” Packer smiled and added, “We even allow them to commiserate with their fellow students about how harsh they are treated.”
I smiled inwardly as I realized the dumb old Ranger that Packer pretended to be had just let slip a hint of his command of the English language. When I was a kid, it took me forever to finally grasp the difference between commiserate and commensurate. He had just used both words correctly in two related sentences. Impressive.
“Sounds interesting,” Maniker said. “I have four grandsons in addition to Charlie, would you have room for them also?”
Packer nodded his head and said, “Absolutely.”
“I’ll talk it over with the kid’s parents and get back to you, in the meantime, where can we put these cattle?” They walked away together as they discussed possible places to keep the small herd, but I figured a meat locker or freezer was good enough for me.
Between work at Facilities, trying to do research on Sara’s computer, mine had taken a dump and was being worked on, Militia duties, and training, there absolutely was not enough hours in the day. I seemed to be rushing everywhere and never seeming to finish anything. Debra was on me constantly to eat, to sleep, or help her with one thing or another. You should have seen her reaction when, after a shower, I put the same clothes back on because they were the least dirty ones I had.
“Daniel, please don’t tell me you put your underwear on inside out because you don’t have clean ones.”
“I opened a new package of briefs and socks, so no, they’re not inside out.”
“I check for your dirty clothes, so I can wash them; where are you hiding them?”
“Uh, I’ll get to them, Babe, I promise, but…”
“Where are they, Dan?” Shit.
“In my MOLLE Ruck, my two duffle bags, and…” I tapered off in embarrassment.
“Where?”
I hemmed and hawed and finally muttered, “Under the bed?”
“Is that why the bedroom smells like a locker room?! Dan, I swear to god if you don’t slow down and take care of yourself, there are going to be some damned serious repercussions. Have you eaten today?”
I started rubbing my forehead and trying to remember whether I had, or not. I was sure I had a sausage sandwich…no, that was yesterday, oh crap.
“Babe, listen, I…”
“No, don’t say a word. You think I can’t tell you’re losing weight again? What am…I…going…to do with you? Please, Honey, don’t do this to me. You’ve got the snivels again, your eyes have dark circles under them, and I know you’re not drinking enough water.” She grabbed my wrist and pinched the back of my hand.
“Ow! What the hell?”
She pointed at my hand and said, “Look at that! It takes forever for your skin to return to normal! You’re going to end up in the clinic! In fact, we’re going to the clinic right now and have Doc Horne give you a physical, when was your last one?”
I looked blankly at her and said, “Uh, physical?”
Horne put me on an IV and bed rest for twenty-four hours, but said I wasn’t going to be released until my urine was clear. I thought I was going to go nuts thinking about all the crap that was being left undone, but after Debra broke down and started crying, I kept my mouth shut and rolled with the program. I started feeling a lot better and actually started thinking more clearly also. I guess I need to listen more closely to Debra’s concerns and wants.
As soon as I was released, I went straight to Facilities to find out how far behind I was and Morgan rudely informed me I was on vacation until further notice, however; I was on call if my expertise was needed for something that couldn’t wait. Okay, so I looked up Shayla to find out if we had any duties or training scheduled and she informed me that, by Major Packer’s orders, I was on medical leave until I had gained thirty pounds unless we were attacked by overwhelming enemy forces. By then, I was suffering from wounded pride and desperation as I kept seeing things piling up, so, I called Sara and told her I was coming by to do some research and she told me that Debra had already nixed it. I felt like walking in circles, pulling my hair out and howling at the moon.
Debra got home at five in the afternoon and sort of tippy-toed past me as I sat in the Marlow chair and sulked. I was on my third quart of beer and it was hitting me hard. “Well, look whose here,” I said. “Did you have an interesting day? Get to hang out with your battle buds? Tell a few jokes, have a few laughs?” I got up and followed her into the bedroom where she was changing out of her uniform. “Did you tell everyone how pussy-whipped you had me? I bet they got a laugh out of that. Did you…”
“TARN!” I froze and then turned around to see Major Packer and Gilly standing just inside our front door, “You better ease off that bullshit right now!”
I turned completely and faced him, “I need to be researching! I need to find the facilities the ZPGers are operating from, there’s work here in the hole that needs doing! I must finish my Militia training! And it seems like everyone is trying to slow me down! I have to finish, Major! I have to keep everyone safe! I have to…to…” I shook my head and set the bottle of beer on the floor, “I’m sorry, Sir, I’m failing you and everyone else, but I’m failing Debra the most. I can’t seem to do anything right, no matter how hard I try, I’m never good enough. I’ve never been good enough. I…” Like I said, the homebrew was hitting me pretty hard.
Debra’s arms slid around my chest from behind and I felt her head press against the back of my shoulder, “That’s not true, Daniel. You’ve been more than good enough since the first time I met you. Everyone knows how important you are, everyone knows how good you are, how loyal you are, how driven you are, and how lucky I am.”
“I don’t know how you got stuck with me, what happened? Were you one of those kids that were forever bringing home stray dogs? Birds with broken wings? Is that what I am? Another broken wing?”
She released me and slid around until we were facing one another, “A broken wing? No, not unless I’m the one that broke it. You are tired, Daniel, you’re burned out, you need to rest and recharge; that’s why everyone is sending you home to rest. Have you looked at yourself in the mirror? God, I can count your ribs, your hipbones are protruding, your ass is flat and your arms look spindly, but you keep pushing forward. You have to stop, you have to take a break, if you don’t, we are going to lose the most valuable asset we have and I will lose the love of my life.”
“She’s right, Daniel,” Packer said. “You already found two of the secret locations of the ZPG assholes. The one at Denver International Airport, and the one in the old salt mines of Kansas.”
I rubbed my eyes and wiped away tears, “There’s another one.”
“What?” He asked. “Where?”
“Outside of Castaic, California. It was originally an access tunnel for the Feather River project back in the late 1960s and the early 70s. They used the existing tunnel to branch off from and riddled one of the mountains with shafts and tunnels. Looking at lists of supplies and other crap, I figure it holds close to ten thousand people; about the same as Denver.”
“Ten thousand?”
I nodded, and then dragging Debra with me, I sat down in the Marlow chair. “Excuse me, but the last week or so, my right leg has started to bother me again.”
Debra, who had been in the process of sitting on my lap, immediately lifted herself back up, “Daniel?”
“It’s okay Babe, it just bothers me when I have to walk a lot.”
“But you’ve been running with me every other day,” she said as she gently lowered herself back down.
“Yeah, I didn’t want you to worry about me.”
Gilly shook her head and said, “Martyr much?”
“Always,” Debra chuckled.
“Would anyone like a beer?” I asked.
Debra rolled her eyes and said, “And he uses deflection as a method to avoid discussions he finds uncomfortable.”
“So, do I,” Packer said as Gilly nodded her head and smiled. “So, let’s change the subject; I’ve got a proposition for you.”
“Okay,” I responded.
“I’ve been thinking about the amount of ammunition and supplies the administration procured for EXSEC, but what we received was not what we were promised, why? Can you check into that?”
“I already have and I sent that to you at least two weeks ago in an e-mail.”
“Damn, I must have missed that one, so…?”
“The Denver enclave was expecting trouble with the ranchers and others, so the ammunition, MREs, and gear were diverted there.”
“So, their hold on the Denver enclave is tenuous, huh?”
“Maybe, the people of Colorado that lived outside Denver were fairly individualistic and conservative in their outlook. After Denver was taken over by liberals moving there, the city and surrounding areas dominated the political culture of the state.”
“Any idea if Denver was hit with their Blue Aerosol?”
“If I remember correctly,” Gilly said. “There was a transcript of a conversation with a Ham radio operator from out that way. They described weeks of absolute terror after several drones passed over the city and surrounding area, so yeah, it probably happened.”
Packer shook his head in disgust, then Debra said, “They kept killing their own, the people that supported them, whenever they attacked cities. Why?”
“Too many of them,” I said. “Way more than they wanted alive afterwards, so they took them out too.”
“Useful idiots,” Packer said. “The true fanatics wiped out the Saturday Night Socialists.”
‘Saturday Night Socialists,’ it was the first time I had ever heard the phrase, but I understood it immediately. The people who sat around with their friends drinking the latest trendy wine, or beer from the local micro-brewery while proclaiming the righteousness of Socialism, but then returned to their jobs in Capitalistic Corporate America. They had big paying jobs, fancy cars, and homes most people dreamed of, with illegal immigrant gardeners, maids, and nannies for their politically correct single child, because they worked cheap. Yeah, useful idiots.
“They never received the shipment though,” I casually said.
Packer became instantly alert, “How do you know that?”
“Because they placed another order and they were told since they lost the first shipment, if they couldn’t guarantee acquisition, then don’t make the request.”
“I wonder what happened to it?” Packer sighed.
“Near as I can tell, it made it to the railroad freight yard in Denver and that’s where the shipping manifests stop.”
“So, all that ammunition might be sitting in a railroad car in Denver?” He asked.
I shrugged, “That’s my guess.” I drummed my fingertips on Debra’s thigh and added, “I assume you’re just interested in the 5-5-6, 7-6-2 NATO, and nine-millimeter?”
He looked at me and asked, “What do you mean?”
“That shipment was combined with another one in route to Denver. The other one consisted of all new manufactured 7-6-2x39 and 7-6-2x54r. According to the list I saw, it also included some weapons for the UN Peacekeepers that were sent to Denver.”
Debra sat upright and said, “Wait, what?! United Nations Peacekeepers in Denver? Our Denver?!”
“Yeah, I tried to find out what country they were from, but all I could find was a request to discover if translators would be needed. Apparently not, so they must speak English wherever they are from.” Again, I shrugged.
“Any chance further research might make a trip there worthwhile?” Packer asked. “What I mean is, I’ve seen, and been, in railroad yards and they can be confusing. Is there any chance we could locate that car, or cars, and salvage it?”
“I have no idea, but in all honesty, the chances of locating it are slim and none,” I said. “I’m seeing the same information the Denver Enclave has seen and if they can’t find it, there’s not much chance I will.”
“I would appreciate it if you would look into it none-the-less. Between training and the battle we were forced into, I’m seeing a shortage of ammo raising its nasty head.”
I started to get nervous, “How short are we?”
“Not bad for now, but we can’t go shopping like we used to,” he replied.
“Does this mean I can start researching again?” Anything to relieve the boredom and it had only been two days, so far.
Debra started to squirm where she sat on my lap, “Major, you know how out of shape he is and we agreed…”
“Babe, I’ll be sitting at a desk and flipping virtual pages, not running the woods. Come on, I’ll go nuts sitting here with nothing to do.”
“No, you’ll end up starving yourself because you forget to eat! Major, please, if I could stay and keep an eye on him, he might be able to do it, but I need to be training other snipers, and I have other duties, so I can’t stay with him all the time.”
Gillian suddenly looked interested in the discussion and said, “What if we had a caretaker, someone who would bring him meals and sit with him while he ate?”
I got ready to put my foot down, “A babysitter? Are you kidding? For the sake of all that’s holy…”
“Did you have someone in mind?” Debra asked.
“Wait a minute…” I started,
“Yes, Maria Estevan, she’s a real nice older lady who keeps wandering around trying to help out, but she’s had no formal training at anything. However; she raised five children of her own and was caring for eight grandchildren when the crash came. Unfortunately, she lost her whole family in Las Cruces the night of the Locos, as she calls it.”
“I don’t want a…”
Debra got excited, “Gilly, the apartment and the end of the lane is empty, we could move her in there and get her all set up; she could check on Daniel throughout the day and make sure he drinks enough water. That would really ease my mind!”
“Hey, I don’t need someone to…”
“Does Daniel like Mexican food? She fixed Jerry and I tamales and oh, my, god, they were so good.”
“Hey, I’m sitting right here and I don’t like…”
Debra levitated off my lap and grabbed Gilly’s hand, “Let’s go talk to Felicia and see if we can get that apartment for her!”
“Wait, hold it…”
All three of them stood up and started out the front door as the girls were talking a hundred miles an hour. Just before he closed the door, Packer stuck his head back in and said, “At this point, it doesn’t matter what you want, the only thing that matters is what they want. Go with the flow, Daniel, you’re less likely to drown.” He winked and closed the door.
Shit.
Chapter 19
“Please be nice to her, Honey, she’s really a good person and she’s lost her entire family.”
“Babe, I’m not going to be mean to her, I just don’t think I need her.”
“Says the guy that’s thirty pounds underweight because he forgets to eat or doesn’t have the time. Daniel, we’re going to try this whether you want to, or not. I mean it, I’m not going to watch you wither away to nothing.”
“I already said I would try it for your peace of mind; when is she coming?”
“I told you last night, she’ll be here at eight this morning to make you breakfast, and then again at noon for lunch. If I get stuck at work, I’ll call her and she’ll fix you dinner at six.”
“Babe…”
“You promised me, Daniel, don’t make me leave worried, okay?”
I nodded.
“Daniel?”
“Okay, okay, geez.”
She gave me a good kiss and then whispered into my mouth, “If you’re a good boy today, we can work on your cardio tonight.”
“What are the parameters that constitute, good boy?”
She gave me one of her rare giggles and said, “Well, I guess I’ll ask Maria and she can tell me if you were good, or bad.”
“That’s not fair, good and bad can be both objective, or subjective terms.”
She poked me in the chest as she said, “I’m leaving, be good and eat your vegetables; I’ll see you tonight.” She practically ran out the door because I harassed her so long. I had a passing thought, if she’s late to morning formation, is that a bad Daniel thing? Damn, I hope she gets there on time. I sat at the table and opened the laptop; it was time to get started on what might be a dead-end.
As usual, I was surprised when the knock at the door caught my attention, the clock on the wall said it was 8:05. Opening the door, I was met by the vision of Maria Esteban. She was tall, almost as tall as me, blond hair, thin, but not overly so. There were laugh lines around her eyes and mouth and she smiled quickly at me.
“Daniel Tarn, I am Maria Esteban.”
“Hello, Mrs. Esteban, please come in,” I said as I stepped away from the entrance.
“Your wife said you had the makings for breakfast, is there something in particular you would like?” She walked in and glanced around before gravitating to the small kitchen.
“Uh, no, nothing I’m craving. Will you be eating with me?”
“I ate earlier in the cafeteria, if I may ask, why don’t you take your meals there?”
“The time it takes to walk the distance, is wasted time I generally need for other things.”
“I see,” she shrugged and opened the refrigerator. “Yes, this will do nicely. Debra says you prefer sausage over bacon.”
“Well, actually I prefer sausage over that maple flavored bacon, but regular bacon is fine.”
“Wheat toast and she says you prefer your eggs over easy, correct?”
“I prefer wheat over white, and rye over wheat, but, yes, Ma’am. Over easy, or scrambled, omelets are always good.”
“I see you have a fresh pot of coffee…” She sniffed it and then said, “Well perhaps not so fresh.” She glanced at the table where my laptop sat and frowned at the cup of cold coffee beside it. “Do you drink a lot of coffee?”
“I pour more coffee than I drink sometimes, but yes.”
“Your wife says you forget to eat and I guess you forget to drink your coffee also. That’s a shame, I can’t tell you how many times I’ve wanted a cup of coffee and didn’t have any, and here you sit throwing it to waste.”
It was a bit irritating to be called wasteful, so I said, “When it gets cold, I reheat it in the microwave; it never gets wasted.”
“Of course, you do.” She glanced around the room and finally said, “I’ll get started on your breakfast.”
I decided Debra may have been a bit quick to call Maria nice. She can cook though; I’ll give her that. She’s also very efficient. She can also be irritating.
“Are you going to eat your breakfast cold, or will you reheat it in the microwave like your coffee?”
I glanced up and she was staring at me, “Excuse me?” She pointed to the plate that was partially hidden behind the screen of the laptop. “Oh, I’ll eat as soon as I finish what I’m working on at the…”
She reached over and closed the laptop, almost with my fingers still inside. “Do you like it when people ignore the work you do? I don’t; your wife says you are a good man who gets side-tracked. I’m thinking you consider yourself too important to be concerned with the worries others have for your health. I also believe you consider others to be beneath you. Who or what they may be, or represent, is unimportant as long as they don’t interrupt you, or distract you.”
“That’s absolutely untrue and you have no idea who or what I am. You just met me and you’re judging me? Get to know me first and then try psychoanalyzing me. Perhaps you should examine your own intentions and misconceptions about people in general.”
“I’ve already done so, and you fit quite well within my conceptions of men and people in general. Do you want me to reheat your breakfast, or will you eat it cold?”
I picked up the plate and almost tossed it into the microwave before slamming the door and punching the two-minute button.
“You do realize there is probably no one making those anymore? If you break it in a moment of irritation, you can probably kiss it goodbye forever.”
“Are you supposed to sit and watch me eat?”
“Yes, even if you become petulant. That was your wife’s word, not mine.”
I started to smile, but remembered I was supposed to be angry. Instead, I took a deep breath and slowly released it. “I’m trying to change the way I do things, so my wife doesn’t worry about me so much.”
“You are not doing it very well.”
I turned and looked at her, but instead of the scowl I expected to see, there was a genuine smile, “No, I guess I’m not. Please continue reminding me when it becomes necessary.”
“We have reached an understanding, this is good.” She continued to smile as she added, “Using the microwave draws power we need for other things; are you going to take your plate out and eat, or reheat it again?”
Two minutes was too long, the sprinkling of grated cheese she had topped the hash browns with stuck to the roof of my mouth and burned the crap out of it. I was going to have blisters for sure. Damn it. She just shook her head and the look of disapproval she had reminded me of Debra.
“A glass of cold milk would be nice right about now,” she said. “But you don’t have any.”
“The only milk available is that powdered stuff and I don’t care for it very much.” She rose from where she was sitting and began going through the cabinets and drawers until she found the packets of water flavorings, we kept available. Moments later, she placed a glass of orange flavored water beside my plate. “Thank you, I forgot about those.”
“Yes, Debra said, you often have your head up…”
“My ass? I guess more often, than not.”
She frowned in disapproval and finished, “She said, you often have your head up in the clouds.”
“Oh, sorry.” I could feel my face flushing red.
“Now is the best time to moderate your language, before Debra gives you the gift of children.”
“Yes, Ma’am, you’re right of course; I’ll try and remember that.”
She glanced at her watch and then back to my plate, “Good,” she said, as I wiped the plate with the remnants of the last slice of toast and stuffed it into my mouth. “You clean your plate well, so there is no waste; do you like salsa? I believe Debra said that you did.”
“Yes, I do, but too much cilantro can really put me off of it.”
“Some salsa makers definitely overdo the cilantro, but I use it sparingly.”
“Great, if you do make some, I’d be happy to try it out. Unlike many people, how hot salsa is doesn’t make it good in my eyes; I don’t mind it, but it’s the flavor I like.”
“The cafeteria makes burritos that have potential,” she said. “But they are rather bland and they should toast the tortilla; I’ll bring you one for lunch with some homemade beans, rice, and my salsa.”
I hesitated and then said, “I sort of like to add ketchup to my burritos, rice and beans, I hope that won’t offend you?”
Maria laughed, and then said, “Don’t tell anyone, but so do I.” She stood, collected my plate and glass and began washing them in the sink. I opened my laptop and brought up what I had been working on before breakfast. A few minutes later, she walked to the door as she said, “This has been a good start and I know Debra will be pleased; I’ll see you at lunch. By the way, I have been moved to the apartment at the end of your block, if you have a special request, simply call my number and tell me what you wish to have and I will prepare it if the ingredients are available. My phone number is on a piece of paper attached to your phone.”
I looked up and smiled as I said, “Breakfast was quite good, Maria, thank you.” She left and I buried myself in the computer.
Maria’s rice and beans are to die for! The way she reworked the burrito? Wow! Her Salsa? I suggested to her she start bottling it for the Exchange, that shit was outstanding!
I was able to start gaining weight again, so I started hitting the gym and working out every morning before going back to the computer. With my increase in exercise and the steady diet of good food from Maria, I was soon not only back up in the range of weight I normally was, but I actually hit 190 pounds. I was stronger and in better shape than I had ever been. Packer had given Debra some special consideration initially and kept her work hours closer to my own, but eventually the rotating shifts began to start again and we began seeing less of each other. Packer finally gave the go-ahead and I returned to work at Facilities with the result I could only search the internet while I was off work. I would be sleeping while she worked, or vice versa, so often, we might only interact for an hour or so each day. Danni, Dan, Banner, Dak and Rich, like Debra, had shifting hours also, so we seldom got together like we used to, but when we could, we did. I started to notice that when Debra and I were together when our hours aligned, she was often argumentative and complained about the time I spent researching, or withdrawn. I knew that as soon as I finished finding that damn railcar of ammunition, I could make things better between us, but for now, we needed that ammo.
Maria Esteban asked me one afternoon why I spent so much time on my computer and after I explained what I was doing, she said she knew a young girl from Las Cruces that was also good at using the computer. She suggested we meet and put our heads together. I’ve always preferred working alone when I was doing research, but Maria was adamant the girl would be helpful, so I decided, why not? I figured I’d give it a shot and see how it went.
Julia Ortiz, no relation to Felicia, was admitted to NMSU Las Cruces when she was sixteen. She was extremely bright and also very eager to do something other than work in the kitchen of the cafeteria washing dishes. In the first week we worked together in the evenings, we made tremendous headway in the search for the railcar. She would sometimes ask me questions about how to approach a man without coming on too strong and I started to worry she was becoming interested in me, but she finally told me about a young man she had her eye on, named Tony. She was interested in joining the Militia, I think because Tony had joined, but was concerned about how heavy all of the gear was, so I allowed her to put on my gear with loaded magazines. She was a little alarmed by how heavy it was.
“Good god, how much does this stuff weigh? I mean, this stuff is heavy!” Julia was slightly built and on the thin side.
I laughed and said, “It can be at first, but you get used to it, plus the Militia doesn’t normally carry more than six magazines; I prefer to carry more.”
“Yeah? Well, I’d like to see the trucks that carry this crap around; they must be huge!”
“Not really, they are actually designed to hold…” I stopped and thought, yeah, ammo is heavy. How much could you fit into a railcar and how much would it weigh? What are railcars rated for? Would it be too heavy for one boxcar? Would they need several to ship a significant amount of ammunition? “Julia, I need to find out a few stats for ammunition, so I probably won’t need you anymore this evening. Why don’t you go hang out around Tony?”
“Are you sure? I mean, I kind of wanted to put an outfit together for the dance tomorrow, so yeah, if you don’t need me?”
“No, go ahead and see what you can come up with; see if you can blow Tony’s socks off.”
She bailed and I set to work digging up information. I knew what ammunition the Denver Enclave had ordered; it was almost two million assorted rounds. The Russian ammo would be the heaviest and I quickly discovered the 7.62x54r ammunition weighed in at 55 pounds per 880 round case. Holy shit! I was happy my bullpup ammo was much lighter than that.
Debra was working late shift and I wouldn’t see her unless she woke me when she came in. Normally, she would just crash in the Marlow chair because she didn’t want to disturb me. I kept working on the railcars and finally went to sleep an hour before she would be coming home, but I left her a note on the fridge. I wanted her to know I thought I might be getting close to a resolution. When I woke the next morning, she was sleeping in the chair, so I slipped out and went to work at Facilities.
When I was on my way home, I noticed some strange faces around the Ready Room and when I asked, I was told a contingent of Airmen and Marines from Holloman were onsite to attend the Spring Ball that Felicia had organized; I guess that was the dance Julia had spoken of. I rushed home and started going over what I had discovered and then began digging deeper. Around five pm Debra walked in and asked without preamble, “Are you going to the Ball?”
I looked up and smiled, “Babe, I’m almost there! I think I may have the information concerning that ammunition and where it’s located by the end of this evening!”
“So, you’re not going?” She wasn’t smiling, not at all.
“Babe, look, I’ve been working on this for weeks, I’ve almost got it, I’m almost finished.”
“Have fun with your computer, I’m going to the Ball with the rest of the gang. If you get tired of reading, take a nap.” She walked through and into the bedroom and a few minutes later, she came out with a garment cover and an overnight bag she kept her make-up in.
“Babe, wait a minute, all right, give me a few minutes and…”
She stopped at the door and quietly said, “I’m in competition with a laptop, and there’s no way I can compete with your probable porn stash. Have a fun evening.”
“Hold it! Hold it right there!” The sudden flash of anger caught me by surprise, “You have no right to insinuate…”
“No, I guess I don’t. Good night, Dan.” She slammed the door as she left.
