Revolution 2.2

Redmond, WA, USA
2 June, 2030 1900 UTC-7

	“Boss, you got some visitors!” shouted Fred, as Sam and Tobe wolf-whistled.
	I charged downstairs, taking the stairs two at a time, then slowed to a sedate stroll as I hit the downstairs hall and ambled up to the visitors to our den of iniquity as they stared nervously at the gathering horde of men.
	“Beat it, ya bums.” I said in mock anger.  The guys dispersed back to their various distractions leaving me with a now nervous looking brunette who looked like she was Haida or maybe Salish and about 19, her short skirt and cream blouse under a blue bolero making her look like a fashionable UWash co-ed headed out for a night at the club, and an older redhead with a disapproving scowl, who stared at me, bare arms akimbo on hips clad in a sleek dress that hugged her curves and made her look both prim and sultry at the same time.  Even angry she was lovely, perhaps lovelier than she’d been the last time I saw her.
	“Rae.  How’s tricks?” I asked with a cockeyed grin.
	“Don’t “How’s tricks?” me, Harry Beecher!” She snapped
	“What no love?”
	“Not on your life.  You want to explain yourself?” She demanded.  The girl next to her looked at her, shocked and glanced at me with a slightly terrified expression.
	“Step into my parlor and I’ll do just that little thing.” I bowed to her slightly and waved her down the hall.
	“...said the Bishop to the Actress.” she muttered as she swept in.  “I suppose I can trust your...minions... not to molest my friend while we talk?”
	“They will be perfect gentlemen.”  I turned to the Indian girl,  “Miss if you’ll take a seat in the drawing room there, I’ll have one of the lads bring you tea or coffee as you prefer.” I gestured to a side room that looked out over the side yard and the ocean beyond.
	“Coffee please.” she said and nodded shyly.
	I watched her walk through the door and realized why Rae had brought her into the fold, girl had an ass on her that would make a cardinal kick out a stained glass window and legs that went ALL the way up.  As we passed the dining room entrance I snapped my fingers at Easy and motioned him over.
	“Whatcha want boss?” his eyes downcast and bloodshot, the weed had definitely done it’s job.
	“I want you to make up a pot of coffee in the french press. Put it and some cookies on a tray and take it into the drawing room.  Serve the girl and stay with her.  Talk to her.  Do NOT break cover, but talk to her, keep her entertained while I talk to this lady here, OK?”
	“Sure boss.” he said, eyes far away.  Boy was in serious trouble, even after the talk.
	“Good, go.”
	I led Rae into the rear parlor that I used as an office and offered her a seat.  She, being the obstinate and ornery sass that she is, immediately sat in my chair.  As I dropped into the wingback opposite her I sighed and she let me have both barrels.
	“Harold Henry Beecher what in the name of FUCK do you mean by breaking my cover like this!?”
	I held my hands up “Wait now, your cover is still secure.  For all the world knows I just ordered up a couple of call girls for my guys, not that anyone has us under scrutiny.  Our perimeter is secure and monitored out for six blocks and I have anti-listening devices so thick in the house that anyone trying to eavesdrop on us will wind up with a migraine in 5 minutes.”
	“SOP is not to make ANY contact at all until it’s time to exfil goddamnit!  What in the name of Lysander Spooner do you think you’re doing?”  She demanded
	I leaned forward and tried to keep my voice soft.  “I think I’m trying to keep one of my troops from losing his shit before the ball drops.  The OpPlan is tight enough as it is without my troop being down a man come go time.”
	She stopped dead.  “The kid you sent to wait on Darlene?”
	“Yeah.”
	“Tell me what happened.” she sighed.
	“You saw the news today?” I asked and she nodded.
	“The kid caught a rabbit outside.  Couldn’t risk the noise, so he had to...I ORDERED him to kill the tango quietly.  Six weeks out of ACT and less than three weeks in the field and I ordered him to put an axe in the back of some young jarhead’s noggin while he was out cold.  He’s a 17 year old kid from the bush and he’s taking it hard.”
	“Damn Jack Hunter to hell and back!” she raged quietly.  “I’ve told him not to send green troops straight into active ops like this!”
	“I’ve made that point myself, ducks.  General Jack says he hasn’t enough blooded troops to go around and it’s not like we can conscript any, is it?  Only fools and madmen stick around for more than one tour of combat.  After the one taste, most of the lads want nothing to do with active ops.”
	She nodded knowingly “You do realize that you qualify, right?”
	I grinned and nodded. “Oh yeah, on both counts.”
	“What is this, your third tour?”
	My grin turned to a grimace. “Fourth.”
	She sighed again.  “OK, tell me what you’ve done for him so far.”
	I leaned back into the chair.  “I’ve talked to him, walked him through the logic of it, assumed as much of the responsibility as I can, tried to defuse the limbic response, even got him high, but he’s obviously still there, “at the scene, in the moment”.  I was originally hoping to just get him laid, I don’t think he’s had pussy since pussy had him,” She grimaced at my crudity, ” but when I looked for an outcall service, your ad was the first to pop up.  The serendipity of it was too good to pass up.  I need this kid functional until after the Op is over, and I can get him back home and into a treatment program before he REALLY cracks up.”
	Rae leaned back into her chair and stared thoughtfully at the floor for a longish time, her fingers tapping rhythmically on her silk-clad thighs.  Finally she spoke.
	“Fine.  Darlene and I will take the edge off your damned cubscout.  Make sure your guys understand this is not a party call, that we are medical professionals and their comrades-in-arms.  I don’t want either of us to have to fend off any of your guys, OR have to listen to any barracks humor.”
	“Absolutely Rae, you’re a lifesaver!” I gushed “A true paragon of Hippcratic virtue and the genteel sex.”
	She arched an eyebrow.  “Also, you will feed us, and as our time is money, our time will come out of YOUR operating budget.  For the entire night.”
	My smile dropped a micron, for women like these as call girls, that was easily six or eight grand; but I REALLY needed all-hands on deck to pull this off.  “Sure Rae, whatever you say.”
	“Oh, and take a shower before you come to bed, you smell like fearsweat and nitro powder.”
	My grin was back in full-force “Whatever you say Rae, whatever you say.”


	The kid had hit it off with Darlene the call girl, and Easy was made a man before desert was ready.  Rae ate a steak AND the better part of a salmon fillet along with a handful of asparagus and shallots in hollandaise, a baked potato with everything but the kitchen sink on it and a quart of beer.  The lads were impressed.
	They were even more impressed when I introduced her as Doctor Rachel MacDiarmid of the Magdelene’s Guild and Colonel MacDiarmid of the Intel Corps of Hunter’s Regulars.  Needless to say, they were perfect gentlemen.
	After Easy and the girl came down (he in sweats and a tee and she in a bathrobe) Tobe served up a colossal banana pudding with toasted meringue, fresh bananas (good produce is hard to come by in AK since the US embargoed us back in 2022, we get it, but it ain’t cheap) and scratch pudding made with butter and egg yolks and real banana extract.  Before we exfil, I think we’ll fill up a trailer with spices, seasonings and extracts.  I dunno if we’ll sell ‘em and get rich as Croesus, or just keep ‘em and eat like kings, it’ll be hard to go back to sea salt and whatever herbs we can grow on the windowsill.

	After dessert, I had a word with Easy, then Rae took him back up to his room to talk, while The lads and I entertained Darlene with old Blues songs. Tobe couldn’t carry a tune in a bucket, but he can play spoons and Mick sings like a bird.  After a couple of hours, Rae came back down and Darlene went back up and the lads played a bit of IrishTrad in Rae’s honor while I went and took my shower.  Around midnight everyone racked out and I led Rae up to my room to sleep.

“To sleep”, yeah, right.