Texas Nights - Book 13 of the Damned of the 2/19th

CHECK OUT MY BUTT AGAIN!

Log Base Delta
Sarajevo International Airport
Sarajevo, Bosnia (Contested Zone)
31 May, 1992
1600 Hours ZULU - Saturday

Operation Shield Strike - Day 3

"Chief, Chief!" Seacord came running up to where I was leaning on the bumper of a 5-ton, smoking a cigarette. She stopped in front of me, smiling widely. "Guess what, Chief!"

"Fairies popped out of your butt," I guessed.

She laughed at that then waved off to where I could see two Chinooks coming in. "They found some of Viper!" she smiled.

"They what?" I hated it when I did that.

"They found some of Viper! The SAR guys saw a 203 flare! They're alive!" She said.

I pushed off, throwing my cigarette down and crushing it with my boot, before jogging toward the helipad. Not the one slated for casualties, but the one for ferrying troops of the USS Saratoga or out of West Germany, Turkey, or Italy.

My M-3 kept bumping my hip so I grabbed it, keeping my finger off the trigger as I ran.

The rotorwash was pretty heavy as the two helicopters set down. I stood out of range until the door opened up and men started getting out. I glanced over at the tall government building still in sight, noting that while the fires had gone out it was still a scarred reminder of this whole damn thing.

"Chief!" Peel yelled, jumping out of the helicopter. She ran toward me, laughing, her SAW thumping the back of her helmet. She grabbed me around the waist, hugging me and lifting me up off my feet. "We made it! We made it! I rode in a helicopter! I jumped out of a plane again! We were really low! They shot at us! BAM BAM BAM!"

oh lord

I hugged her back, letting go of her and holding her at arm's length to look at her. She had a cut on her cheek that was almost healed, her pupils were pinpricks, she had a split on her lower lip that the blood was still gummy on and a new split at the edge of her upper lip that had healed. She had camouflage and old blood on her face and neck. Her knuckles were split, the cuts almost healed. She was dirty, smelled bad, and her uniform had seen better days. On her LBE she had a knife of a design I recognized from my days at Atlas. A Soviet fighting knife. Her SAW was wrapped with cloth around the forward heat shield and I could tell she'd modified her sling again.

"Momma's proud of you, honey," I told her, making her face light up. She grabbed the carry straps on my LBE and started jumping up and down in little hops.

"They chased us! Then we ambushed them! BRAP BRAP BRAP! We ran all the way to the site! Then we killed a bunch of people! I blew up a tank! Then Stillwater and me did stuff in the buildings! I can't tell you about that though! Shh shh shh! Stillwater said I should be in isolation! LOOK AT MY BUTT! Then we went outside! We shot down a helicopter! BRAP BRAP BRAP! Then I killed another tank! I was all out of AT-4's now! BAM BAM! Dead tanks! AT-4 OUT! Then we blew up the site! KABOOM! And then some troops chased us! But we ambushed them! I had my SAW! And we killed them all. BRAP BRAP BRAP! BLARGH DEAD! CHECK OUT MY BUTT! Then they started dropping arty on us. BAM BAM BAM! But we all ran away! Stillwater got lost! We found an empty village! They chased us! We played hide and seek! I'm really good at it! Two guys came into the ruined house I was hiding in and I stabbed them! SHANK SHANK! Neither one made any noise except for blargh-dead! LOOK AT MY BUTT! Then we snuck around till we saw the helicopter! CHOOK CHOOK CHOOK! Then we fired a flare FWOOSH! and they picked us up! I got to ride in a helicopter again!" Peel said, her voice rapid-fire and the words almost tumbling together. "Did I do good, Momma? Did I do good?"

"You did real good, honey," I told her.

She saw Donovan and ran over to him, grabbing his LBE and jumping up and down.