A Stella & Margarita - Desert Sex Pt. 09

“You bitch,” Said Margarita, “You know I won’t say no! If Stell doesn’t forgive me for doing this, I mean if I kill someone and Stell thinks the worse I will take it out on you for as long as you live. Just so you are aware of how much you are asking of me,”

“I know,” Tilley sat in her office chair, lonely, with 3 phones on open lines, all waiting for her to respond or change their orders. “Mags, let me tell you that these people are not good people, if this starts to go wrong, they will try and kill her. That is why I or we need you to cover her. We want her back safely, with you, do you understand me?”

“Matron, I know what you are doing. I will cover her and I will tell her what I’ve done not you or any of your fucking spies, do you understand me?” said Margarita.

“I understand, and thank you Mags,” She replied.

When they finished speaking, Margarita started to get her head right, to not think about Stella and what she is going through. The copter couldn’t land on the roof of the Marine and Harbours Building in the Port, so it hovered as low as it could safely. Corrine just jumped out and landed like an athlete, then called for the package to the thrown to her. She caught it and put it down, she then beckoned Mags to jump, but she hesitated and hung on to the side of the copter. The pilot, screamed at her to jump, she felt a hand in her back and another prying her fingers free of the helicopter and she was pushed out. She fell maybe 6 feet and straight into Corrine’s waiting arms, they both stumbled backwards. Corrine held onto her tightly. And asked. “You, OK?” Margarita nodded and picked up her gun case.

Mags was about to ring the Matron but her phone rang sooner, it was Freddie.

“Ma’am, look South and you will see several red brick buildings, large ones. Do you have binoculars with you?”

“No, but I have my scope,” she answered.

“Even better,” He said, “I am flying a drone above one, and I need you to concentrate on the middle window top floor. Understand me, ma’am?”

“I do, yes, I have it in sight now.” She told him.

“Great ma’am, now get set up, we don’t have a lot of time,” He continued saying, “We will blow the window out so you can see the bad guys, OK”

“Understood,”

While she was having this conversation Corrine was unpacking her rifle. In no time at all it was set up to shoot. Mags laid down, got comfortable and looked down the scope. Saw the window and knew that her Stella was in there somewhere. Hurt, bleeding, but strong.

Freddie looked at the clock, 2 minutes to arrival.

“Get ready everyone, make certain the Medi-vac team is on standby.” He asked to no one in particular but got an answer “Affirmative,” All of their eyes were on the screens.

He spoke to the Commander of the 13th. “On your word, we will blow the top floor window for our cover,”

A voice came back “Understood, we will count you down,”

Freddie spoke to Margarita, “Ma’am, we will count you down,”

She handed her phone to Corrine as she stayed quiet and fiddled with the scope bringing everything into sharp focus. She took note of the range and the wind. She steadied her breathing and waited. Clearing her mind, all she thought about was Stella and that these people were going to kill her, she said to herself, ‘Over my dead body’.

The 13th arrived on time, exactly on time. They parked their vehicles out of sight and took up their positions. Their scout was out of sight in a nearby empty block full of overgrown weeds and general rubbish, a couple of old mattresses someone had put together to make a tent or a place to sleep rough, she hid under them and took out her binoculars. She studied the situation and reported back to the team. The front of the building is exposed, she told her Commander. “50 yards from each corner, you’ll be out in the open.” She reported to him.

“Understood,” He ordered two groups of two soldiers to lay down covering fire on all front windows on his count of one while he and six others would rush the front of the building under the cover of smoke and the covering fire.

“On my count 3 – 2 – 1 Go Go Go.” Four smoke grenades were thrown into the front of the building from either end.

Freddie told the big guy to smash the top window, He rammed his large drone into it and the old brittle glass smashed easily.

Margarita took aim, she found one target immediately and eased on the trigger the person fell. She kept searching for other targets and found none.

There was a lot of shooting from both the ground floor and the second-floor windows. She couldn’t hear what was going on but saw a wisp of smoke pass across her scope. She didn’t take her eyes off the scope, she searched the top floor, or as much as one window could let you.

The rush to the front door was chaotic, but it was organised chaos, the smoke covered most of their approach to the front door but the Chinese didn’t wait to see where anyone was and kept up their firing blindly through the thick smoke-filled street. Two from the 13th took hits before they made it across the street.

A grenade blew open the front door and close-quarter firing took its toll on both sides. The Chinese soldiers retreated to the second floor, raining fire down on the soldiers as they tried to enter the building. Grace and Lui Wang had positioned themselves behind the hay bales on the ground floor but kept out of sight and chose not to return any fire at that time. “Grace, we shall wait until they have pushed them up the stairs,” Lui Wang told her friend.

“We shall leave the same way that bitch came in, underground.” She told her. Grace nodded.

The fighting between the two sets of soldiers became bloody. The Chinese were well-armed and were not expecting to survive the battle. They kept out of sight and fired down the stairwell at the front door. It was a bloody mess. More smoke grenades were thrown into the building but the Chinese kept up their relentless fire from the elevated positions. Soon the smoke was so thick two of the Chinese soldiers ran up the stairs to escape the choking smoke. Margarita saw them as soon as their heads appeared over the top of the stairs, she fired, taking the top off of the head of the first soldier the second stopped but only for a brief second before being cut down by the soldiers below. The shooting now had become spasmodic. The Chinese waited for the smoke to clear or thin out. Realising that going up to the third floor was now no longer a safe option.

The Chinese now were all but finished. What they started out with, the 15 well-trained soldiers plus their command structure were now whittled down to just two men. They had no idea where either Grace or Lui Wang were, for all they knew, they were dead.

They sat looking at each other knowing that death was their destination. Being captured and spending life in prison was not an option. They took a deep breath and stood up, they inched their way over to the stairs, raised their weapons and as soon as they were seen they were cut down in a rain of bullets. There was silence. But the Australians were professional, there were no gung-ho heroics. They waited. Two men from the 13th raced in through the door as their comrades provided covering fire. There was no return fire. Two more entered the building the first two shooting straight up the stairs. No return fire. They slowly started to make their way up the stairs. Everyone watching for the slightest movement. As they approached the first floor, they laid flat and took a quick peek. There was no more shooting, no movement, and no sound. They stayed there waiting, listening.

It was the Major who shouted down to them. “All dead up here, except me, Major Stella Murphy. Let the Matron know I am still alive?”

There was no reply.

Grace and Lui Wang heard what was said as they sat on the cold damp concrete floor, behind the hay bales. Lui in one of her expensive three-piece suits, now all dirty and Grace in a below-the-knee length simple skirt. Her blouse was soiled with sweat and splatted blood from a wound to her neck, not a fatal one but still uncomfortable. She looked at Lui Wang and sighed. “You have failed Lui Wang. The meeting will go ahead without disruption, we have been betrayed, I fear.”

Lui Wang had never heard Grace sound so defeatist, it worried her. When discussions turn to statements like this it means only one thing. She slowly adjusted the gun in her lap, her hand moving it ever so slowly to point it in Grace’s direction. She knew she would be a valuable hostage for the Australians or their American cousins.

She was too slow, Grace shot her in the head from where she sat. Her death was instant. There was shouting and she felt bullets hitting the hay bales, then a searing pain as one penetrated her back. She screamed out and threw her weapon away and slumped over, she heard the voices and running feet, and she felt the blood oozing from the hole in her back. She closed her eyes and waited for the grim reaper to collect her. But it wasn’t her time yet.

The whole firefight took no more than 23 minutes from the first shot fired.

Leftenant Collins walked up the last few steps and popped his head up to take a quick look. He saw two dead bodies and Major Murphy, she was sitting quietly, still tied up and glaring back at him.

He got onto the phone and told Freddie it was all over and to call the sniper off. He waited for confirmation before going any further.

Freddie smiled and knew the Matron had got the word also. Then speaking into the other phone he said, “Ma’am, you can stand down now,” he said to Corrine holding Mag’s phone. The Major is ok,”

Margarita relaxed for a moment but didn’t change her position. She kept looking through the scope at that window. She had seen a head of a soldier pop up and then back down. She didn’t take a shot. Corrine passed on the first message she knew Mags wanted to hear, by resting a hand on Margarita’s shoulder, she said, “She is safe,”

When Mags didn’t acknowledge and didn’t move, she repeated it and said to her, “You can relax sweetie, it is all over, your Stella is ok,”

“Corry, sweetie,” She used the term back at her in an undisguised show of contempt, “Tell Freddie to get Stella on the phone for me before I stand down. Only one person to approach Stella to hand her a phone, understood, sweetie,” her tone was cold and hard. Stella was right, when you take a life you lose a little of your soul.

“Ouch,” Corrine replied, “That was rather harsh Mags,” She got onto the phone back to Freddie and passed on her message. In turn, he passed it on to the Leftenant in the warehouse.

The Leftenant stood up and held a knife above his head and slowly approached the Major. Stella smiled as he approached. The smile was weak, her eyes now heavy as the infection in her calf was creeping along in her bloodstream.

“You look nervous Leftenant, be careful with that knife,” Her voice was just a murmur. Collins cut the bonds that tied her and then handed her the phone. She slumped to one side, the Leftenant caught her and called out for a medic. One came running up the stairs as fast as he could and arrived just as Stella put the phone to her ear. “Hello, who’s this?”

“It’s the future, Mrs Murphy, you promised me you wouldn’t get hurt,” The tears were streaming down Margarita’s face before she heard how soft and weak Stella was. “Don’t you dare die on me, OK! Please baby please don’t die,” She put her rifle down. Corrine hugged her and kissed her on her head. “I’m coming for you, don’t you go anywhere OK?”

There was silence as the medic took the phone from her hand, “The Major is unconscious and being transported in 5, do you copy?”

“Yes, I copy,” and the line went dead.

The Matron picked up her secure line and reported back to the General.

“Sir, we have Grace and the Major. We lost two they lost ten.”

“That’s not too bad then overall. We cleaned up this Lui Wang woman, we got hold of the British asset and saved our own, the meeting is going ahead as originally planned, so all’s well that ends well, hey. Well done Matron, drinks on me in the mess,” he was about to hang up the phone when the Matron cleared her throat. “What is it, Matron?” he asked.

“I had to call in an outsider to provide cover, someone we trusted to provide cover for the Major, a long-range specialist as it turned out. Very short notice I am afraid Sir,”

“Why are you telling me this? It is an operational matter, why am I being told, Tilley?”

“It was Margarita, she took two out, she is very, very, good. Better than all the rest. Simply the best!” She told him. (RIP TT)

There was a lengthy delay before his response he asked, “I see, is she going to be a problem?”

“We might have to make some concessions at some point in time. Speaking of which, how are you doing with finding her Mother?” She asked politely, knowing or reminding the General that concessions have already been made to pull this ‘black ops off’.

“Hhhmmm, not too good, I might pinch Freddie from you now this little job is done and dusted,” He stated.

“We have nothing planned coming up, have we? At least not at the moment, I am certain he and his team would love to help,” She explained enthusiastically, knowing full well Freddie hated working under the watchful eye of the General.

“Matron, when you do your debriefing with the Major, make it clear she has done her duty and a little fatherly advice for you, include Margarita when you talk to her, so she knows everything. It might help them put this out of their mind, until the next time!” It was put as fatherly advice but was in fact an order.

“Will there be a next time General, the Major stuffed up a little, and made it messier than it had to be!”

“Who said anything about the Major?” He answered and abruptly hung up.

The Matron sat back down and poured herself another stiff drink. Facing these two women together would be a challenge. She smiled to herself and felt the tiredness and the stress of countless long days and sleepless nights. She leaned back into her soft leather chair and closed her eyes for a moment. She was startled when a phone rang. She looked at the 3 mobile phones on her desk and picked the one up that was flashing. “Hi, Margarita, how are you feeling?”

“It’s Corrine, Matron, How do we get out of this place, it is getting dark and cold and this place is locked up tighter than a fishes ass hole.”

The Matron smiled “I’m sorry, Myers I got caught up with something else, I’ll send someone around to pick you up,”

She rubbed her eyes and called out to Celina, who poked her head into the office, and Matron told her, “Arrange a car to collect Myers and Margarita from the Port, all on the QT, please. Let’s get them back into the apartment with a meal laid on and some quiet time.”

“Yes ma’am,” Came the reply.

She then picked up another phone and dialled Freddie he answered quickly, “Yes Matron,”

“You are working with the General for a while, the length of time is up to you, find Margarita’s mum for her.”

“Yes Matron, is everyone OK?” He asked as he did after every violent mission.

“We lost a couple but they lost a lot more. Well done to your team too Freddie, once again you came through in a crisis. It doesn’t go unnoticed.” She told him.

She then picked up her secure phone and contacted the Leftenant, “Collins, who did we lose?” was her first question.

“Carver and Blake,” He replied and then continued, knowing that the Matron wanted all the details, “Craver is single and has no living family, Blake has a two-year-old and another on the way. The lads are going to look after his family, we have an education fund and we’ll make certain they don’t go without.” He told her.

“Who is breaking the news to them and when?” She asked.

“He use to ring home every night around 9 pm. So we have the local Chaplin and support services going at that time.” The Leftenant explained.

“What story are they being told?”

“Same as always Matron, a vehicle accident,”

“Thank you Leftenant, and a job well done today. I am so sorry for your loss mate,” The tone in her voice said it all, she was genuinely sad at losing two precious lives. She thought her job was tough then thought about how a group of strangers were going to tell a young mother that her husband isn’t coming home.

“All casualties to the base hospital. I’ll meet you there. The drinks are on the General tonight, no time limits, and everything is open, understood?”

“Understood ma’am and thank you,”

She poured yet another drink, she buried her head in her hands. How had this job got to be so hard of late?

“Celina, can you get the car taking Margarita and Corrine to turn around and take them to the base hospital please.” She instructed. “And get in touch with Bianca and tell her to get herself there as well, and you too,”

She rang the base commander to advise him the operation was concluded and everything was back to normal. She informed him that there were wounded incoming and to get ready for ‘gunshot’ wounds and other injuries. She told him that she had several guests arriving at the officer’s mess, it was to be opened as required by the personnel attending. He understood the meaning.

Matron finished her whiskey and straightened herself up. She collected her phones and put them all in her handbag. She visited her private bathroom and made herself comfortable. After brushing her hair and applying her lipstick, she looked into the mirror and saw a strange woman. One who was much older, her eyes looked tired and empty, they lacked a sparkle and her whole body looked worn out. She felt so lonely.

She put on a false smile and walked up to the heliport. Knocking on the pilot’s door she waited for him to answer. He had been sleeping, he finally answered. “Yes,”

“I need a lift out to Edinburgh,” The Matron told him.

“Yes ma’am, I need five minutes to dress ma’am,” He explained.

“I’ll wait,” Came her reply. She walked over to the guard rail and looked out at the cityscape. Sucking in the cool fresh air. Even up at that height, she could still smell car fumes from below. She looked down at the small building across the street, took a deep breath and thought to herself, ‘How fucking lucky are you two, after tonight you are home free’, well free from me.

There was a cough behind her and she heard the pilot open the helicopter’s doors for the. She took one last look at the apartment below and then walked briskly to the black sleek helicopter, got inside and started to get her head together. She put on the headset that was just placed on the front seat next to the pilot. She smiled at him and apologised for interrupting his sleep. He just smiled at her and replied, “It’s my job, ma’am,”

Still, she smiled and said thank you again.

The trip continued in silence. The Edinburgh Airforce Base from the air at night was a large square black hole in the middle of a sea of suburban light. It looked strange to the Matron that such an important military facility had allowed the urban spread to come up to their perimeter fences. The price of progress she was once told.

They landed smoothly, as always, and she told the pilot to grab the rest of his sleep. He smiled and nodded and said “Yes ma’am,”

The Matron made her way over to the medical centre or in other words the Base Hospital and walked straight in, her shoulders pushed back a fierce look on her face. She looked at the pretty nurse behind the counter who she stood upright when they made eye contact and pointed down the hallway. The place was quiet, which meant the injuries were not life-threatening or the patients hadn’t arrived yet. She marched up to the counter which wasn’t manned at the time, and she slapped her hand down onto it making a loud whack. A doctor poked her head out of some curtains drawn around a bed.