Disclaimer
This story is a work of fiction. None of the characters portrayed herein represent any real person, living or dead. It includes characters invented by Chip Masterson including the muscle super kid, "Danny Henderson" who appears in a number of stories created by Chip. These characters are used in this story with his express permission, (Thanks, Chip!) although this story differs substantially in tone and theme from stories written heretofore by Chip. There are inconsistencies between Chip's story line and mine. The characters in my scenario dwell, therefore, in some sort of parallel universe.' Also included in this story is a character inspired by "Billy," the lead character in John D's "Billy Muscles up." One incident is borrowed directly from the "Billy Muscles Up" series and some of the things Billy does in this story echo "Billy Muscles Up." However, although this "Billy" begins with more or less the same personality and physical strength as the original, events take "my Billy'" in a somewhat different direction. My use of the "Billy" character is with John D's express permission. Thanks, John D!
If you are looking for erotic stimulation, please look elsewhere because you won't find that here. Aside from some coarse language and violence, this story could almost be rated "G." But if Chip's "Danny" series is one you have enjoyed, you may find this story entertaining as well. My interest in Chip's "Danny" series has been mainly, "what are people thinking and feeling?" (Something Chip has preferred to leave to the reader's imagination.) This story delves into that question in just a little bit more detail. Of particular interest to me as well, is how some of these characters respond to situations and circumstance that could happen to anyone as well as how they react to extraordinary situations.
I've introduced my own characters in this story, among them, "Andy Jackson Partlowe," and, to some extent, this is HIS story... how he came to meet Billy, Danny and his friends and how he reacts to their phenomenal strength and abilities.
My thanks to the web master for his work in maintaining this site and for posting this story. I would like to express my special thanks to Chip Masterson and John D. for graciously sharing their characters with me and especially for their work and creativity in creating their stories. This story is dedicated in their honor.
Thanks a lot for sharing, Chip and John D...
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Two heavily armed marines emerged from the hole. Two more men climbed out of the hole. The young staff sergeant in charge spoke softly. "You two men get up the ladder and secure the entrance to the stairwell from second deck. Watch your corners!"
One of the two men responded, "Aye aye, Staff."
As the two marines ascended the stair, the staff sergeant spoke to Salas. "Wait here, we'll check the passageway on first deck and come back for you. More marines continued to climb out of the hole until the staff sergeant stopped them. OK, guys, that's enough. Let's clear first deck passageway and then the rest of you guys can come on up."
Andy stopped the staff sergeant. "No, listen, wait up. Let me check."
Andy searched the ground floor, probing with his mind. The passageway was deserted, but the office directly across from the door leading into the stairwell was occupied.
Andy pointed across the passageway through the peephole window in the door, "There's four guys in the office directly across. They ARE armed. All four... M-16's and berettas."
"And down the way, third door on the left. Two more in that room. And the offices on the two far corners at the other end of the building. Four guys in the room on the left. Two more in the room on the right."
The staff sergeant snarled through his teeth. "Oh FUCK! I KNEW it! Now we're gonna hafta fuckin' waste our own goddamned guys. Man! I hadda BAD feelin' about this op... A REAL bad feelin' about this goddamned mutherfuckin' op!"
The Admiral spoke up. "Not so fast, son. Andy can you get these guys off the hook? Goddamn, I'm gonna wring Lassiter's neck for putt'n these kids in a position like this!"
Andy responded, "Yes sir. As Billy likes to say, "No doubt in my `military mind.' Consider it done, Admiral. They're all out like a light and will be for at least the next hour. First deck is now secured, sir."
The Admiral turned to the Marine staff sergeant. "Check it out, son. Post two Marines each at every door and on signal, you all move into your assigned spaces at the same time. Don't take any chances. Shoot anything or anybody who fuckin' MOVES! You got that?"
"Aye aye, Admiral! We're on it. OK guys move out! Let's do it!"
Three minutes later, the staff sergeant was back. "Admiral, I've got my guys checking every nook and cranny on first deck but I can tell you now, sir, this deck is secure. Those guys are all out cold..." He pointed to Andy, "...just like he said."
The young marine staff sergeant stepped in front of Andy, took his hand and pumped it. "I've been in this man's outfit long enough to know when not to ask any questions. But thank you. I don't know how you cold cocked those guys, but you just saved us from having to waste some fellow marines. You don't look old enough to be an ex-jarhead so I doubt you know what that means to us... It means a helluva LOT. Thanks!"
The Admiral said, OK, Staff, check on your guys at the ladder well door topside and report status back to me."
"Aye aye, Admiral!"
The young staff sergeant topped the ladder and verified that the door was still secure with his men standing by.
He was standing in front of the Admiral with his report in less than thirty seconds. "We're good to go, Admiral."
Salas led the men up the ladder and called Andy back up front. "OK, kid. Think you can do it again?"
"Yes sir! I sure can!"
At that moment, unseen by the men below, an access panel in the stairwell ceiling was slid slightly out of position and a lone sniper poked the muzzle of his side arm into the crack. He took dead aim on the crown of Andy's head and squeezed the trigger...
The split second before the sniper fired, Andy moved slightly to his left. The round tore through his right trapesus muscle, shattering his collar bone and traveled downward, coming to a stop inside his chest cavity, collapsing the right lung. Andy dropped to the deck, a bloody froth bubbling from his lips.
From a dead stand still, Danny jumped up, crashing through the slightly offset access panel, landing on the roof alongside the hole. With blinding speed, he disarmed Andy's assailant, crushing his sidearm as he had done Lt. Col. Briscoe's pistol back at El Toro. He looked into the young man's eyes and said, "Run fucker. Get outta here before I kill you with my bare hands! The sniper obeyed with alacrity and scuttled away."
Billy was alongside Andy in a flash. His heart was thumping against his ribcage. He checked Andy's pulse. "Salas, he's alive, but he's hurt real bad. He needs a corpsman, NOW!"
Admiral Tucker turned to the young staff sergeant and said, "Call a corpsman forward, at once! And get stretcher bearers up to our position through the tunnel! Get this man back to the field hospital. I want status as soon as they get him stabilized. Tell the doc I said HE WILL NOT LOOSE THIS MAN!"
The young staff sergeant didn't even wait to acknowledge. He dashed below to pass along the Admiral's orders.
The Admiral said, "Salas, get some men on the roof, now. That kid's up there all by himself. Scotty was already climbing up a ladder attached to the bulkhead leading up to roof access. When he emerged through the opening, he drew his pistol, the pistol he'd borrowed from Vince back at the National Guard Armory, and scanned his surroundings. Danny was nowhere in sight. There were two cinder block structures on the flat roof. One was about a third of the distance from his position to the opposite end of the building, dead center, front to rear of the building. The other was a blockhouse near the far end of the building. There was a large microwave dish antenna placed along the centerline of the building, half way between the first cinder block structure and the one near the other end of the roof. Scotty heard shots fired from the opposite end of the building. He dashed for the nearest cinder block structure. He backed against it, inched along the wall to his left and peered around the corner. He was met by a hail of bullets and he jumped back taking cover. Now his was pinned down. Grazing fire was being directed over the hole in the roof from where he'd just emerged so Scotty was alone on the roof, except for Danny. Scotty wondered, "Where in the hell IS he?"
Scotty turned around, looked up and surveyed the distance to the roof of the cinderblock structure. He holstered his pistol and jumped, grabbing hold of the top edge of the structure. Scotty was no 'superman' but he was strong as a bull. He easily muscled himself to the blockhouse roof. He retrieved his pistol and crawled, prone across the top of the structure. Grazing fire continued to be directed over the hole in the roof, now to the right of Scotty's position. He spied Danny taking cover behind the micro wave antenna. Scotty knew what Danny wanted to do. He had intended to uproot the antenna dish and hurl it like a Frisbee into the snipers' position. But he didn't dare. The heavily armed men, one armed with a SAW had Danny pinned him behind the concrete antenna support. Not even Danny could hope to dodge a withering hail of bullets like that! Scotty saw a clear avenue of approach to Danny's position from his left. He retreated to the far side of the roof of the blockhouse, did a running jump down to main roof level and sprinted to the near side of the concrete antenna support, taking cover behind it alongside Danny.
"OK, Danny, I'm with you and I know what you're up to. Whenever you're ready, give me the signal and I'll cover you as best I can with my side arm while you rip that microwave dish loose and let em have it. Danny, do it fast and then hit the deck!"
OK, Scotty. On three!
One, two, three....
Time slowed down for Danny... And for SCOTTY!
Was it ANDY? ... In their minds? He'd said nothing to them with his mind. But a `mind link' had just been established between Danny and Scotty and now both were moving at blinding speed.
Scotty edged around the corner of the microwave dish concrete support and picked off every one of the snipers at his leisure like rats in a rain barrel. It was as though they were standing still. Danny hopped atop the concrete base to rip the dish antenna loose but he stopped. There was no longer any need. All of the snipers were down. In no more than two seconds, Scotty had shot them all! With his blinding speed, Scotty had seemingly had so much time with his shooting that he was not even obliged to shoot to kill! He'd had the luxury of taking leisurely aim, making sure that while each of his adversaries were down and out of the fight, none of them had been killed!
The area was now secure. With grazing fire no longer an issue, marines emerged through the opening and fanned out over the roof.
From atop the concrete antenna support Danny looked down at Scott and said, `Well, hello there Scotty boy. Yah come to my rescue again?" Danny jumped down, landing alongside Scotty. "That's two times in one night! How in the FUCK did you DO that? I couldn't move any faster than you just did!"
"Scotty shook his head and said "I dunno. Must've been somethin' Andy did with our heads. Lets get back down below." Danny reached out to give Scotty a `thank you' hug, but he missed! Scott had already turned and run back to the opening leading down to second deck."
He climbed through the hole in the roof and shinnied down the bulkhead ladder. Danny just hopped down through the hole landing on the floor. "How's Andy?" they both asked.
Salas answered grimly, "Bad! Real bad. Billy carried him back to field hospital himself. He's there with him now. Admiral's given orders to get status back up here to us as soon as they know something.
Scotty said, well, Salas, I though it was bad before I went topside. But when we were on the roof, he did a `mind link' between Danny and me. That sped me way up. We'd never have managed what we did if he hadn't.
Salas said, "Scotty, I don't think so. I don't see how. We're not even sure Andy's gonna MAKE it!"
Danny turned white as a sheet and murmured, "Oh dear God, no!" The Admiral stepped up to Danny and reassured him. They'll do the best they can for him, son. Now all we can do for Andy is hope and pray."
Salas spoke up. "We've still got General Lassiter to deal with. He's the man responsible for all this carnage. Unless we take him alive, all this was for nothing."
The Admiral agreed. "You're right, Salas. Let's press on."
He turned to the marine staff sergeant. "I'm sorry, son. We're gonna hafta secure this deck in the blind' since we've lost our radar.' Our objective is Lassiter's office at the other end of the passageway."
"S'OK sir. That guy Andy did his best... and he took a bullet for us. He may be only a civilian, but I still think he deserves some kinda medal."
"Staff sergeant, I'll see to that. And if he pulls through, you'll have the honor of pinning it on his chest!"
The young marine beamed. "Sir, yes SIR!"
The staff sergeant said, OK, Admiral, I guess it's now or never."
The Admiral said, "OK, son, anytime you and your men are ready."
"OK, sir, here's the plan. I'm gonna open the door and stick my head out into the passage way. I'll pop back in, if I don't get my head blown off, and give the signal. The rest of you guys, when I make a break for the passage way, I'm gonna high tail it for the double doors at the other end and take position on the right side of the doors. LeBlanc, you follow and take position on the left."
The staff sergeant pointed to three of his men and said, "You guys trail behind LeBlanc and take position along the bulkhead to your left."
"I want two guys on both sides of every door along the passageway and the rest of you... Three more guys on each door. Stream along the bulkhead from this end. Guy on the far end boots in the door. Guy on the near end next to the door goes in shooting. Rest of you guys go in after him. Just make sure as hell you don't shoot each other. No blue on blue' (casualties from friendly fire,' ed.) tonight. OK, guys?"
Admiral, when we get the deck secured up to General Lassiter's office, I'll give you the signal and you can come on up to me. But wait for my signal! Don't get `antsy' and jump the gun. All right, sir?"
"OK staff sergeant. This is your op. I'll play by your rules."
"Yes, sir. Thank you sir!"
The young staff sergeant peered out the door into the passageway. The coast was clear. "OK fellahs, let's move out!"
Billy hadn't waited for corpsmen to arrive. He scooped up Andy and in a blur disappeared down to first deck, down into the hole and through the tunnel leading back to their primary staging area inside the base. He emerged from the first tunnel and dashed into the second, through it and out to the field hospital outside the main fence at the edge of the base.
A triage team took Andy, placed him on a gurney and rolled him away at a dead run. Billy stood there, numb. This really WAS the worst day of his life. He had no more tears. He was beyond that. He asked the corpsman chief petty officer, "How long before they know anything?"
"Look, man, we don't have time to pass along status on these guys now. We got all we can handle just sorting out the ones we can keep alive and getting em stabilized. We're not even bothering with the ones we can't. This is a fucked up last minute goat rope!' Some of these guys are gonna die tonight, alone and in agony. And there's nothing we can do about it."
"Then take me to my friend."
"No. There's nothing you can do for him, now. He either makes it or he doesn't. You interfere with our triage or O.R. teams, I'll have you forcibly removed."
Billy could easily have made short work of this fellow, but the guy spoke before he could even deliberate in his mind about actually doing anything. "Look, I'll go on back there and check him out for you. I'll find him for you and come back here with his status, IF you promise to wait right here. I'll be back in five. OK?"
Billy said, "OK, I'll wait right here. I'll give you five minutes by my watch. Then I'll be coming back there to find out for myself."
The corpsman chief was back in three minutes. "OK, Partlowe, A. J., that's your boy?"
"Yeah!"
"He's alive but he's pretty badly off. But there's plenty of guys a lot worse off than he is. Bullet lodged in his right lung. Right trapesus and collar bone shot all to hell. Infection's the main worry. He makes it the next twenty-four hours, he'll pull through."
"Take me to him."
"Can't. He's being medevaced to El Toro. Helo should be takin' off right about now."
Billy vanished before the corpsman chief's eyes.
He ran back through the tunnels to Lassiter's HQ.
He arrived at the landing on the second deck just as the young staff sergeant called to Salas and the Admiral.
"Sir, second deck secure up to the double doors at the far end!"
The staff sergeant's men and had burst into the offices along the passageway. There were armed defenders in every room but they all surrendered without a shot being fired.
Billy told his friends, "Andy's alive. They've medevaced him to El Toro. The next twenty-four hours will be critical. When this is over, I'll hafta get right over there.
The Admiral said to Billy. "As soon as we take that bastard down the passageway into custody. We'll all make our way back to the helos and fly straight back there."
Admiral Tucker, Salas, Danny, Billy and Scotty padded down the passageway to the door leading into Lassiter's suite of offices.
Marines were hustling their prisoners out of the other offices and down the ladder to first deck, down into the tunnel and out of the area.
A half dozen leather necks joined the staff sergeant and his men at the door.
The staff sergeant turned to the Admiral. "OK, sir, the rest of this op is yours. Just tell me what you want us to do."
The Admiral conferred with Salas. "Well, we don't know exactly what's on the other side of that door. Lassiter's bound to be surrounded by a pack of guard dog die hard goons. I want this guy alive. Bad. But I DON'T want any of these kids killed in the process. You got any ideas?
"Yes, Admiral, I do. Billy, Danny and I have been in there and we know the layout. Lassiter's office is at the rear of the building. It's down a passage way leading to the left from the reception area. I think our best bet is to have the staff sergeant and his guys bust into the reception area and secure it. I'll take Billy and Danny and two of these marines up to the roof. Billy and Danny will punch a hole in the roof and we'll all three drop down into Lassiter's office and take him into custody. Admiral, as soon as we get him, I'll call you in to formally make the arrest. Staff Sergeant... By the way, son, what's your name?
"Staff Sergeant Hernandez, Miguel C., sir."
OK, Miguel. I'm Salas.
"Nice to meet you, Salas."
"Well, Miguel, I want that reception area secure. When we bust into Lassiter's office, I don't want ANY unpleasant surprises from the reception area. Give us two minutes from my mark to get into position on the roof. We'll hear the ruckus when you break in. That'll be our signal to bust through the roof and make our drop into Lassiter's office. I'll just have to trust you, Miguel, that you and your guys get the job done.
"Yes sir. Me and my guys WON'T let you down."
OK, who you gonna to send up topside with us?"
Staff Sergeant Hernandez ordered, "Nguyen, LeBlanc, you guys go with Salas and his pals. When they bust through and make their drop, get over the hole in the overhead and cover em. Any body tries to take a shot at em, you waste em. Got it?"
"Nguyen answered, Yeah Staff Sergeant, roger that."
"OK, as soon as we get the reception office secured, my men down here and I will move up to the General's inner office door. As soon as we hear you guys breaking through the overhead, we'll make our move and bust into the General's office. I wanna see Lassiter gettin' popped if I can make it in there in time. Admiral, you don't go inside until I come out for you. Just wait right here."
"OK, Hernandez, I got it."
Salas turned to Billy and Danny. OK, guys, let's get on up to the roof. Hernandez, start your two minute count on my mark...."
"Five, four, three, two, one, MARK!"
The three supermen vanished. Nguyen and LeBlanc dashed off, making their way to the roof.
Hernandez turned to his men. "OK guys, standby..."
"One minute..."
"Thirty seconds..."
"Fifteen..."
"Ten, nine, eight, seven, six, five, four three, two, one..."
"NOW!"
Hernandez kicked in the door and burst into the room.
There were three black clad heavily armed men in the room. Hernandez sprayed a volley into them and they dropped to the deck. The other men poured into the room with their weapons at the ready.
There were no other men in the reception area. Hernandez snapped his fingers and pointed to the passageway leading to Lassiter's office. Two men followed him to Lassiter's office door and lined up side by side up with their backs along the bulkhead, Hernandez stationed closest to the door.
Through the door, Hernandez heard part of the ceiling crash down into Lassiter's office, followed by three thuds as Salas, Billy and Danny landed on the deck.
From just outside, Hernandez kicked in the door. He and his men burst into the office, quickly scanned the room and trained their weapons on the general.
Lassiter was alone, seated at his desk with a pistol lying on the desk in front of him. Salas, Danny and Billy had landed immediately across the desk in front of the General amid debris from the roof and ceiling.
In a flash, Billy retrieved the pistol, crushed it in his fist and dropped it to the deck.
Salas, spoke. "General, the game is over. You're under arrest for treason, murder and kidnapping. Admiral Tucker is waiting outside to take you into custody. You'll stand trial in Washington. Now sir, if you will please stand up so I can check you for weapons."
The general did not look up. He continued to look down at his lap.
Salas, spoke again. "General..."
General Lassiter moved his right hand to his lap, pulled up another pistol and placed it into his mouth. Billy and Danny both dove across the desk. Danny `clotheslined' the General across his forehead and Billy snatched the pistol.
Lassiter fell backwards in his chair, landing with such force that the wind was knocked out of him. Danny pinned him and Billy, casting the general's second pistol aside and begin to frisk the him, searching for other weapons. Salas moved around the desk and motioned for the boys to stand up and move away. Then he completed the body search, finding a combat knife hidden in the general's boot. He reached down to the General's office chair and with his index finger, punched a hole through the upholstery. Then he tore loose a strip of leather, pulled the General to his feet, turned him around and, using the leather strip, tied his wrists behind is back.
"Danny, Billy, sweep the room! You two marines on the roof, stay alert! Keep your weapons ready.
"Yes sir."
After another minute or so, Salas was satisfied.
"OK, Hernandez. All secure. Go get the Admiral."
Hernandez lead the Admiral into Lassiter's office and barked, "Attention on Deck! Gentlemen, the Admiral..."
Except for General Lassiter, everyone in the room snapped to... even Danny, assuming some approximate semblance of the position of attention.
The Admiral said, "Carry on." Then he said to Hernandez. "OK, son, I'll let you do the honors since Lassiter is Marine and so are you. We'll let the Marines take care of their own."
Staff Sergeant Hernandez stepped in front of General Lassiter and saluted. The General, his hands tied behind his back, was unable and, in any event, disinclined to return the compliment.
"General Lassiter, sir, I am placing you under arrest... Under Article thirty-one of the Uniform Code of Military Justice, you have the right to remain silent. You are warned that anything you say may be, and probably will be, used against you at Court Martial. You have the right to counsel. If you choose to answer any questions, you may terminate any interrogation at your discretion. Sir, do you understand your rights?"
The General did not answer.
Staff Sergeant Hernandez continued... "The General has declined to answer. Under the Code, silence is deemed as assent."
"... Admiral, I'm surrendering this officer to your custody."
Very well, Staff Sergeant Hernandez, I assume custody of the prisoner. The two men exchanged salutes and Hernandez left the room."
Tucker stepped in front of Lassiter and asked, "In God's name, man, WHY?"
The General spit in the Admiral's face. "You're no better than the rest of these queers. This isn't over. It's over for me, maybe, but there are many MANY others out there who will take up the standard and rescue this country from pansy weakling faggots like you."
The Admiral made no effort to remove Lassiter's spittle from his face. It rolled down his cheek. He shook his head sadly. He tried to muster his rage but couldn't. All he felt for this madman was abject pity.
He continued softly, "You've betrayed your oath, General. You betrayed our country and everything it stands for. You betrayed the Constitution. But, worst of all, you betrayed these young kids entrusted to your command... seducing and manipulating and brutalizing them into treason. How many of those young men are out there... lying dead, dying or maimed because of what you've done?" The Admiral was close to tears from a broken heart.
"Men under you command, acting on your orders, kidnapped two civilian women and a fine young man... a young man I proudly claim as a personal friend, and terrorized them, not to mention countless other atrocities your men have committed in the last twenty-four hours. You and your patsies are not patriots. You and those men are nothing but common thugs. What in God's name made you loose your faith? What in God's name did that to you and turned you into this monster you've become. If opposition of your vicious agenda makes me a queer' or a pansy,' fine. Considering the source, I wear your appellation as a badge of honor. Because, General, I would rather be cock sucker... I would rather be anything... ANYthing but a NAZI like you."
He turned on his heel and left the room, calling over his shoulder. "Bring him along, Salas."
On the first deck, the Admiral met with General Webster whose men had, by and large, secured the entire base, completely subduing Lassiter's headquarters citadel. "Ritchie, I was going to take this man back to DC, but he's a Marine and so are you... Staff Sergeant Hernandez made the arrest. Would you allow him to accompany you as YOU escort General Lassiter back to Washington to stand charges. Hernandez is a good man and a born leader. He sure as hell kept MY ass in line! You should be proud of him."
"Admiral, I'd be honored to take Hernandez along... I've got some info for you on Andy. He's at El Toro and his condition is stable. There's a blackhawk inbound from El Toro... ETA in about five... They'll fly you and these guys back to there."
"Thanks, Ritchie. Thanks a lot! I'm gonna stay out here in LA until we get Andy's situation sorted out."
The helo set down inside Lassiter's erstwhile citadel and Admiral Tucker, Salas, Danny, Scotty and Billy boarded. They flew to El Toro, landing in the parking lot adjacent the Naval hospital there.
They were ushered into the intensive care unit. Andy was lying on a bed, unconscious with an oxygen mask on his face and a half dozen IV drips plugged into his arms. The attending physician was just leaving his bedside.
"He's stable but critical. If we can stave off infection, he'll pull through. But he's got a tough road ahead." The doctor nodded and left the room.
Billy stepped up to the bed and took Andy's right hand, pulled it to his lips and kissed it.
He turned to Salas and said. "Find our mothers."
The Admiral said, "They're billeted in the BOQ here on base. We also had Danny's and Scotty's parents moved here from your base. I'll send a car for them. They can be here in fifteen minutes." The Admiral left the room.
In less than fifteen minutes, the Admiral returned with Mrs. Hartlander and Mrs. Partlowe.
Billy turned and hugged them tightly. Tears were streaming down his face. He made no effort to hold them back. He led them to Andy's bedside. Mrs. Partlowe took her son's right hand and held it, Mrs. Hartlander at her side with her arm around her friend's waist. Dawn was breaking outside the window.
About an hour after daybreak, Andy woke up. "He couldn't speak. The first person he spied was Salas who smiled. "Andy, I keep telling you, we've GOT to stop meeting like this!"
From behind his oxygen mask, in spite of his pain, Andy grinned broadly.
"He `thought' to Salas, where's mom and Billy and Mrs. Hartlander? Are they OK?"
Salas answered with his voice, "They're right here, Andy... They're right here."
"And Danny and Scotty and Cole... and the Admiral and Vince? Are they OK?"
"Everybody's OK. We're all right here for yah, buddy."
Billy went up to the bed, leaned over and kissed Andy's forehead. Andy `thought' to him. "I love you, Billy."
Billy "thought" back, "Me too buddy. I'll never let you outta my sight again. Never! I just can't trust you to stay outta trouble."
"Well, that's how we got started, isn't it? You appointed yourself my `guardian angel' a long time ago."
"And a fine `guardian angel' I turned out to be, you lying on your back like this."
"Fortunes of war, Billy... and the `breaks of naval air.'"
Billy smiled again at Andy's easy use of navy parlance. You'd have thought Andy was the navy man.
With his voice, Andy croaked. "Look you guys. Nobody's had any sleep for over twenty-four hours. Everybody get out of here and find someplace to get some `rack time.' I'm really tired myself so lets all just... go... sleep..."
Andy slipped back into unconsciousness.
Billy said, I'll stay here. You guys go on ahead. I'll rack out here in the chair. I'll be OK in an hour or so.
Billy turned to his mom and Mrs. Harltander. "Listen you two. It looks like Andy's gonna be OK now. Go on back to your quarters and get some rest. I'll call you if there's any change or if he wakes up. You can get back over here in just a few minutes if you need to. I'll see you later this afternoon." Billy kissed them and sent them on their way.
The Admiral ushered the two ladies out of the room, followed by Salas, Cole, Danny and Scotty.
They left the building and were met by an olive drab military van, driven to the BOQ, shown to their quarters and everybody went to bed, dog tired. Everybody, that is, except the Admiral and Salas.
"Salas, I'm gonna stay out here for a couple of days. I want to make sure Andy's OK before I leave. And before I go, I wanna sit down with you and then with you and Billy. I know we've lost Billy from the Naval Academy, but I've got a couple of ideas kicking around in my head and I wanna go over them with you and Billy."
"Sure, Admiral. I'll be glad to sit down with you and Billy's already committed to giving you a hearing. I'm not sure it'll to any good and I can't say I'm gonna be in favor of whatever you propose. Might be you and I will find ourselves wrangling with each other over Billy's future. I'll wanna hold onto him and Andy with both hands."
"Sure, Salas, I understand that. But there might just be a way we can share' those two. And there might be a way for you and I to work together. My tour of duty at the Naval Academy is almost over. And my next assignment is as director of the Naval Intelligence Command. Like I said, I'm not even at the talking stage, yet.' I'm still in the `thinking phase.' But I think a, frank heart to heart talk about these boy's futures... Billy's, Andy's and Scotty's... and even Danny's when he gets a little older, might be worth both our whiles. And do you think you could talk Cole into sitting down with us? I'd like him in on this as well."
"Just let us know when you're ready, Admiral."
"Seventeen Hundred this afternoon. I'll have the hospital set aside a conference room for us there. That way, we can stay close to Andy and still take care of our business. Meanwhile, I think I'll head on off to my quarters and rack out for about forty winks."
The two men parted company.
The phone in Salas' BOQ rang. He checked his wristwatch. 1545. He's slept most of the day away! How long had it been since he'd slept that long at one stretch? He couldn't remember. He picked up the receiver. It was Billy...
"Salas, you better round everybody up and get `em down here. It's Andy..."
"Oh my God Billy..."
"Just get a move on, Salas. Hurry!"
They arrived together in ICU. Billy and the navy doctor were waiting. The doctor said, "He appears to have taken a turn for the worst. His fever is elevated to 106 and still climbing. He's slipped into something like a coma even though I hesitate to call it that... We ran and EKG (electro cardiogram) and an EEG (electro encephalogram). Heart rate's way up, which doesn't make ANY sense at all, and the EEG is off the scale. I thought you people might wanna be here."
Billy, his mom and Mrs. Partlowe moved to Andy's bedside. Billy took Mrs. Partlowe's hand in his and placed it on Andy's right hand. Then he held both their hands in his. He said nothing. He just needed the physical contact. Andy's hand was hot. He had a raging fever.
Mrs. Hartlander placed her right hand around Billy's waist and the three of them stood vigil at Andy's bedside.
Billy called over his shoulder. "Danny, see if you can find your pastor and try to get him to come up here."
Danny nodded and left the room.
In about an hour, Danny led Pastor Rick into the room. He spoke briefly to Mrs. Partlowe and to Mrs. Hartlander, offering what comfort he could. Then he said a brief prayer, asking that Andy be healed and restored to health. There were other men in the building, dying or maimed. Pastor Rick had offered to assist the navy chaplains in this `grim business' and they'd accepted. They were swamped with casualties and his help was sorely needed. After a few minutes, he moved on to minister to others among the wounded and their families, as well as to family members of the dead who had begun streaming onto the base to claim their bodies.
Most of the group had been shooed out of ICU into an adjacent lounge where they had fallen asleep. Only Billy, Mrs. Partlowe and Mrs. Hartlander were awake when Andy woke up again.
They were at Andy's bedside when he awoke. He regained conscious very suddenly, was momentarily disoriented, and then remembered where he was. He smiled at his mom, Mrs. Hartlander and at Billy. "In a very clear voice, he said, how long was I out?"
Mrs. Hartlander said, "Salas called our rooms over at the BOQ at about three forty-five. It's a little after ten p.m. now... A little over six hours, I guess."
"Well, gee you guys. You must be feeling like the walking dead..."
Billy added, "...To say nothing of how YOU must feel..."
"Billy, funny thing is, all of a sudden I feel just fine..."
"Oh, Andy... I'm so glad you're not in any pain..."
"No Billy, it's not that... I mean... I feel really... well... good! Real good! In fact, I'm kinda wonderin' what would happen if I got up outta bed."
None of them even bothered trying to stop him. No one thought Andy would get any farther than tensing his muscles to move before giving up. But, before they could stop him, Andy sat upright in the bed and worked the kinks out of his right shoulder. He had turned and draped his legs over side of the bed and prepared to drop from the high hospital bed down to the floor before Billy finally recovered and restrained him... "No, no, no! Easy, Lil' Bro."
Andy said, "Billy, what happened?"
"We were at the top of the stairwell at Lassiter's HQ. There was a sniper on the roof. He pulled aside an access panel in the ceiling and shot you. He must've been goin' for a head shot but, somehow, he missed. Hit you in the right trapesus. The bullet tore you collar bone all to hell and went down into your right lung. They're gonna hafta cut you open and get it out. Only reason they haven't already is because they said they could go another day before they hadda move on that. They're swamped right now with wounded.:
"Well, Billy, my collar bone doesn't feel like anything's wrong with it..."
With his left hand he felt through the battle dressing for his right collar bone and rolled his shoulder again. "I'm tellin' yah, Billy, there's nothing' wrong with me. I feel as good as I've ever felt in my life!"
"Andy, lie back. Lemme get the charge nurse over here. Mom, Mrs. Partlowe, make him lie back down."
From the nurse's station, the charge nurse had overheard the conversation and had ambled over to investigate.
Billy addressed her. "Ma'am. This man got shot last night. We're trying to get him to relax and lie back down."
The charge nurse, knowing full well Andy's condition from his charts looked at him, seated on the bed with his legs draped over the side rushed up to him and said, "Young man! Lie down..."
Instead, Andy quickly removed his IV's, hopped off the bed, stepped away from it and did a standing back flip to a hand stand!
Then, cocking his arms, from his handstand, he 'leapt' back to his feet. "Oh wow! I never COULD to THAT before. But I've always wanted to!"
Salas poked his head inside the door. "Everything OK in here?"
He saw Andy, standing on his feet. Andy grinned at Salas and said, "I'm baaaack..."
For a full minute, no one was able to speak. Finally, the charge nurse went over to the nurse's station and paged the ICU duty physician. He came through the door in less than thirty seconds. By this time, Scotty, Danny and Cole and the Admiral... and Vince, who had finally returned to El Toro, came into the room. The charge nurse described for all of them the two gymnastic feats Andy had just accomplished...
The physician turned to Andy and asked. "Son, would you mind sitting back down on the bed and letting me check under your shoulder dressing?"
"No sir, I don't mind at all. But I'm sure you're gonna see, everything is just fine."
The doctor and charged nurse carefully removed Andy's battle dressing. There was no sign of last night's wound. No mark. No scar. No redness or inflammation... Nothing! It looked as though Andy had never been shot at all!
The doctor turned to the charge nurse and said, let's get him down to X-ray. I wanna check on that bullet in his right lung.
Andy was back in ICU inside thirty minutes and five minutes later, the doctor followed holding two X-ray images. He popped them into the clamps at the top edge of a backlit panel on the wall and turned to Andy and the others. "The image on the left was taken early this morning, right after you were admitted. Note the bullet entry wound.... Here... and the tissue displacement leading down through the thoracic cavity to... here... in the right lung, where the bullet came to rest... Note the slug here... and trailing fragments distributed more or less evenly along the track of tissue displacement nearly all the way back to the entry wound. This `constellation' just below the point of entry is comprised of bullet fragments and bone shards where the slug impacted the clavicle. The darker spots are bullet fragments. The white ones are bone splinters."
The physician pointed to the image on the right. "This is the image from the X- ray taken only a few minutes ago... Note the complete absence of entry wound, tissue displacement or even the bullet itself, as well as the fragment trail... All of that is just... gone... There is no evidence whatever from this second X-ray that you were ever shot. Note also the condition from the first image of the clavicle. It is split in two at this point... Here... And, again, note the bone fragments distributed downward from the bullet entry wound. In the second image, the clavicle is completely intact. Again, no evidence whatever of last night's injury. I've only been in medical practice for a little over five years, so there's plenty of guys in this facility who've seen a lot more than I have. But I gotta tell you, I've never seen or even heard of ANYTHING like this!"
I wish I could call in some of the other docs to have a look. But they're still `assholes and elbows' right now, just dealing with the mess from last night. Mr. Partlowe, I wanna get you moved out of ICU. There's no need for you to be here anymore. We'll transfer you to a three man ward immediately and hold you for observation until tomorrow morning. But from the way it looks now, we'll be releasing you then. There'll be no need to keep you and, frankly, we need the bed. But when this is over, we need you to come back here. We'll hafta to run some tests on you."
Andy said, "Well, doc, if you need the space, why not just let me go now?"
"I can't. Not without Senior Medical Officer OK. And It'd take a miracle to break him loose right now."
"Well, c'mon. Lemme get dressed and lets go find him. If I'm standin' right in front of him and you've got my charts and X-rays , it's plain as day I'm healthy as a horse. He'd let me go, wouldn't he?"
Billy said to Andy. "Well, getting you dressed will present the biggest challenge. They canned everything you were wearing last night. There was blood all over everything."
"Well, Billy, find SOMETHING for me to wear. I can't very well go out onto the street in this stupid hospital gown."
The Admiral spoke up. "We'll draw you some cami's from small stores. I'll get someone on that right now. You're gonna be kinda tough to fit, though. You're built like a little sawed off version of Scotty or even Billy... short, but kinda big in the chest, shoulders, arms and legs."
Danny spoke up. "Hey, wait. My folks have some changes of clothes for me back at the BOQ. They even brought an extra pair of sneakers for me. Mebbe that stuff could fit him."
Andy grinned at Danny. "Yeah, thanks, kid. I'll take everything but your skivvies. Admiral, think you could requisition me a fresh pair of boxers from base small stores' or will I hafta go combat?'"
Everybody laughed. "We'll come up with something, Andy."
In twenty minutes, Andy was pulling on Danny's change of clothes, except for that pair of fresh boxers the Admiral had ordered from small stores. The ICU duty physician led him to the Sr. Medical Officer who was standing outside one of the O.R.'s. The pace had begun to slow down just a little bit. Andy was released on the Senior Medical Officer's OK, but with the understanding that he'd be back down there next morning for some tests.
The Admiral suggested that they all go back to the BOQ. He asked Salas, Cole, Billy, Andy, Scotty and Danny to join him and Vince in his suite. "I'd like to talk to you guys for just a few minutes. Then we can get with your families and try to find ourselves some rations, maybe down at the mess hall. I guess it's been a coon's age since anybody's had anything to eat."
The Admiral entered the sitting room in his suite, followed by Vince, Salas, Cole, Billy, Andy, Scotty and Danny.
Admiral Tucker spoke first, "Andy, we're glad you're OK, son. I don't begin to understand the miracle that's just happened to you. But that's what I'd call it... nuthin' short of a goddamn miracle."
Vince agreed, "Fuckin' A!"
Andy replied. "Well, maybe. There's bound to be some kinda logical explanation. But I'm sure beat to shit figgurin' out what it is. I don't remember gettin' hit. I was standin' there one minute. Next thing I know, I wake up in a hospital bed... Now with you guys..." He pointed to Billy, Danny, Salas and Cole. "...hey, it would make perfect sense. Last week I heard Salas telling Billy how these super guys heal in ways that would make you think it was some kinda miracle. I've known Billy half his life. And I've never known him to get sick. Salas picked up on that little `oddity' and he hadn't known Billy so long as an hour! But that's them. Not me. I have normal physiology. So that doesn't explain what's happened to me at all."
Scotty broke in. "Wait a minute, Andy. Lemme get this straight. Did you just say you don't remember anything from the time you got hit in the stairwell last night to the time you first woke up in the hospital?"
"Yeah, Scotty... That's what I said."
"Andy. Think back. Are you absolutely sure?"
"Scotty. I'm tellin' yah. I was standing in the stairwell. I don't even remember gettin' hit! I didn't feel a thing. Next thing I knew, I woke up in my hospital bed and, for the third time in a little over a month, there was Salas across from me tellin' me how `we gotta stop meetin' like this.'"
Scotty looked at Danny who looked back. Danny said, "Scotty, do you wanna tell `em or shall I?"
"You tell `em, Dan."
"Thanks, Scotty. I was hoping you'd let me do it... Well, last night right after Andy got shot, I jumped up onto the roof. I found that goon who shot Andy from up there. I grabbed his gun and ran him off. I wanted to kill him with my bare hands. I didn't trust myself not to, so, like I said, I ran him off. Thank God he went ahead and left. Well, right after that, these guys at the opposite end of the building started takin pot shots at me... No problem at first. I can dodge a bullet. So can Salas or Cole or Billy. It's easy when you're like us cuz we're just so fast. You can see a bullet comin' at you and you just move outta the way. Everything around you just slows way down, or seems to. Well, then one guy opened up on me with the SAW and the others selected their weapons to full auto. Well, I can dodge "A" bullet. I can even dodge quite a few bullets. But there's gotta be somewhere I can dodge TO that's not saturated with flyin' lead! When the whole bunch of opened up on me, all I could do was dive behind this concrete support block under the microwave antenna on the roof. I wanted to rip the dish loose and hum it into the snipers' position. But I couldn't because they had me pinned down. And, remember, they also had you guys pinned down in the stairwell by firing right over the access hole in the roof. I didn't know what the fuck to do. Well, somehow or other, I guess Scotty made it out onto the roof before they started shootin'. Either that or the dude's fuckin' bullet proof and he never told me. Next thing I know, Scotty's right beside me behind the concrete block antenna support. He's got his pistol out ready to take on all those snipers single handed to cover me. He told me to hop up on top of the concrete block, rip the dish loose and let em have it. I remember this exactly, cuz he told me to do it fast... you know... like how I can do, and then hit the deck."
"Well, next thing yah know, there's this `mind link' that pops up between Scotty and me. We assumed it hadda be Andy. Now he's sittin' there tellin' us it wasn't. Funny thing... Salas said that exact same thing to Scotty and me last night... that it COUDLN'T have been Andy.."
"...Well, Andy neither of us really believed him till we got down here to the hospital and saw you. And I guess then we were so worried about you, neither Scotty nor I either one thought about last night until just now..."
"...Well, so then, with the mind link,' things started to slow way down. For me AND for Scotty. But here's when it started REALLY gettin' weird. Not just the mysterious mind link' that now we don't know WHERE it came from... Whenever Andy's linked himself to Scotty and then to any of the rest of us, their minds can stay up with ours. They can even do stuff with our bodies really fast just like we were doin' it for ourselves. But that's OUR bodies. Not theirs. It's impossible for Andy or Scotty either one to move that fast in their own bodies, even if they're linked up to one of us. Their minds can speed up but NOT their bodies... But, guys, I'm tellin yah... Scotty DID move that fast last night in his OWN BODY! He moved so FUCKIN' fast, I hadda kick myself in the ass just to keep up! I hopped up onto the concrete antenna support all set to rip loose the dish right after Scotty popped around the side of the base to cover me. Well, before I hadda chance to do my thing, Scotty had picked off every one of the snipers. And yah know, right after that, I tried to reach around to give that boy a hug to thank him for saving my butt for the second time in one night... and he was just GONE! I'd reached out to hug him and I MISSED! And guys, I NEVER miss!"
"Which reminds me... Scotty boy, now I gotcha where I want you... You're NOT gettin' away from me this time, dude."
Danny went over to Scotty and hugged him tight. "Scotty, thanks, big bro., for saving my ass... Again! Thanks for bein' for there for me. I love you, buddy."
Scotty was a little flustered by Danny's display of affection. As a rule, Scotty wasn't very demonstrative himself with affection. But he bore up with as much grace as he could and said, "Yeah, sure, kid... Any time. I love you, too."
Danny continued. With a smile he said, "Well now that little order of business has been attended to... Where was I? Oh yeah. So, anyway, we've got not one, not two but THREE little mysteries goin' on here... One: How did Andy heal up so fast? Two: Where did that `mind link' between Scotty and me come from? And Three: How was Scotty able to move so fast on the roof last night?"
The men around the table looked at one another. Nobody said anything. The only sound came from a round analog wall clock as the second hand ticked past the hash marks arrayed around the circumference... The time was 0000, midnight.
Wednesday (the second)
To be continued...
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