JoJo and the Unit Ch. 01

My boss acknowledged and I cut the call, then dialed another number and when instructed I added the extension number. "Children's surgical ward, Nurse Singleton speaking."

"My name is Mister Braithwaite, my cousin Maggie is one of your volunteer helpers today. I know you can't have cell phones on your ward because of the sensitive equipment you use. But it is imperative I speak to my cousin. My daughter Keyleigh was involved in a very serious accident today and I need Maggie to turn her phone on and call me as soon as she can."

I heard a scraping of a chair in the background and a solemn promise from Nurse Singleton that she would find Maggie and inform her right away.

Less than four minutes later, my cell flashed Maggie's number.

"What's going on?" The fear in her voice was new to me.

"Listen to me, do you have your grab bag in the car?"

"Yes, always."

"Good, go get it, change into your running gear and shoulder the bag, leave your car where it is; you can't use it anymore. Maggie, it's going to take me twenty minutes to even get close to you, run, Maggie, use any back alleys, wooded areas, pedestrian footpaths and any alley-ways you can find that don't give access to cars. After twenty minutes, turn on your phone and tell me where you are. Go now, Maggie." Her phone went silent.

I knelt down by the sink, opened the cupboard and slid the panel at the back to the side. The shoulder holster, Sig and ammunition came out and I slid the panel back again. With everything I needed, I left the Keyleigh Ortiz and got into my car.

*******

Telling Maggie to run was easy; she and Freddy either ran as a couple during the week as part of his fitness regime, or did the odd half marathon together. I smiled to myself when I figured that at this moment, Maggie was probably fitter than I was. My phone ringing brought me out of my revelry and I pushed the cars hands free button. She didn't even sound like she was breathing heavy when she told me where she was, I was very close to her, the name of the next street I passed confirmed that and I quickly indicated, pissing off the driver behind me in the process.

Two streets later she leapt out from between two parked cars, her grab-bag now in her hand. That ended up in the foot-well and she took the front seat and belted herself in. I pulled away and told her everything I knew, starting with the call from my boss.

Once I had cleared the housing area she was running around and was on one of the more major roads, Maggie smiled, and said, "Welcome back."

She even leaned over and kissed my cheek. I gave her my very poor rendition of the Godfather, when I croaked, "Just when I thought I was out, they pull me back in!" She slapped my arm in retaliation, but I continued to give her all the information that I knew, which she soon figured out wasn't much. She also noticed my jacket open and the grip of my Sig peeking out.

"The rest of the families are either en route or already at Kenton Barracks; you're the last. When you're all there a helicopter will take you all to safety until all this is over."

That's when my cell interrupted us again, Maggie remained silent when I answered and spoke to Ruth. "I have everything ready, I also called Gil."

Not knowing that Maggie was in the car and Maggie not sure if she should say anything, she just listened as Ruth explained that Gil had the boat fueled and the water tank fully filled and heading in the direction of the Cherry Trees within the hour. He would park the boat up, tie her to the bank and lock the doors.

Gil told her that he had already arranged for his wife to pick him up at a discreet distance from the cherry trees, once he had walked across a few fields. I also told Ruth that I had told them both to move into the apartment above the clubhouse, for now or until the dust settled.

We both heard Ruth say. "Good, that saves me trying to persuade them. Curtis, I have four of my security team already mid-Atlantic. They will be staying with them until further notice; they are due to arrive at the club no later than four in the morning."

I thanked my wife. I heard. "Be safe husband of mine." I think we both closed our phones down at the same time.

I then glanced at Maggie, and the silence was worrying.

"Curtis, if I asked you where my husband is, would you tell me?"

I glanced again and told her that I wouldn't tell her if I knew, but I could tell her that no-one knew at the moment. The Unit was still making their own way back home. We drove in silence for a while; the signs for Kenton Barracks started to become more common. It also allowed me a moment to let my mind wander.

My boss had chosen well when the Unit attached itself to the barracks. No troops that ever came there liked it; the nearest town was three miles away. It was originally built during the Second World War for the Americans to stay in when they first started to arrive. They took one look at most of the buildings and hated them. Over the course of the two years they were there, they pulled down various buildings around the camp and replaced them with more modern and functional ones.

When the war was over, the Barracks were closed and left abandoned for two years before the cold war became more chilled and the government re-opened it. They modernized the heck out of it and turned it back over to the Ministry of Defense. Because it was so isolated, most of the regiments that came there must have thought they were being punished for something. The Unit flourished under the isolation; no one came to Kenton Barracks unless they had to.

I pulled my car onto the slip road leading to the entrance gates, and all four of the troops stood at the gates were armed. Because I still came to see the Unit, mostly when Ruth took both the girls and left for America for a few weeks, I still had my ID, and thankfully it was still up to date, I took Maggie's ID and wound the window down so I could hand them both over.

One of them took them inside and we waited. Three police cars came the other way and the barrier lifted so their cars could leave. The same soldier came out again, this time with a smile on his face. "We've been expecting you, sir; your group is in the admin building and they plan to use the parade square as the landing site for the helicopter that's already inbound."

I took our IDs, handed them both to Maggie and thanked the soldier. He, in turn, nodded to someone else who opened the barrier and we drove in at the regulation speed.

*******

We had got halfway between the main gate and the parade square when everything went south. Shooting started somewhere off in the distance, and a klaxon sounded. Its continued noise seemed to seek out every corner of the camp with its warning. Armed soldiers poured out of the surrounding buildings. The helicopter taking the families away was just touching down and was already taking small-arms fire. A Cobra and an Apache attack helicopter literally flew over the top of the now landed helicopter to engage the vehicles tearing across the grass towards the parade ground.

Each of the vehicles looked just like the ones in the desert countries the Unit had been to: stripped down to the basics and carrying at least one heavy machine gun as well as heavily armed men in the back. I did quickly wonder how many of the Prince's men were mercenaries, since the vehicles now lent themselves to certain Middle Eastern influences.

The Cobra was taking multiple hits, but kept returning fire. Then the most bazaar sight I have ever seen: three civilian helicopters flew over the roofs of the buildings, they turned side on, and attached to the gaping hole left by the now-removed sliding side door were fixed four scaffold poles, and attached to that was a heavy machine gun. These people came with their own ad-hoc attack helicopters. They tried to center their firepower onto the landed helicopter. The Apache must have already sensed this because the pilot put his bird between them and the civilians now getting onto the helicopter.

The heavy fire coming from the troops around the parade square was having its own effect. As the vehicles became casualties, the Prince's men left the vehicles and pushed forward on foot. I backed my car between two buildings and told Maggie to stay down, I had already pulled my Sig out and had a hand on the driver's door when Maggie handed me my ID. Nodding my thanks, I looped it around my neck so that it dangled in front of me, since I wasn't in uniform, I didn't want to be mistaken for one of the terrorists. One of the guards from the gatehouse rushed up to me and yelled over the top of the gunfire coming from the parade square that I needed to get the civilian on the helicopter. Two of his friends came as back-up.

Even with the Cobra acting as interference, the helicopter picking up the families of the Unit was still in grave danger. I pulled the guard close to me so I didn't have to shout and told him my name and rank again, and that I was commander of the Unit. Recognition came to him eventually, and he nodded. I then told him to get on his radio. He was to tell control that I was ordering the helicopter to leave while it still could.

While the guard radioed my order, the Cobra started to spill smoke; it had taken so much from the attacking helicopters and ground fire that it shocked the hell out of me that it was still in the air. Soldiers were smashing windows at the main office and used the top two floors with the added height advantage to back up the now heavily under fire Apache. The Apache centered his gun on the lead helicopter and tore it to shreds, it spun in mid-air before exploding and then crashing just in front of the Prince's attacking troops.

It then turned its attention to one of the other helicopters. Judging by the way the pilot flew the helicopter; he was intent on receiving his share of virgins in the afterlife, since his course was now aimed directly at the helicopter on the ground. The forward gun on the Apache shredded his helicopter and that, too, crashed just short of the parade square.

The pause in their advance was pounced upon by the RSM, who rallied the people around him and charged the group on the ground. Coming under fire from three different directions stalled the Prince's attack. The one remaining ad-hoc helicopter seemed to pause in its own attack.

I heard the helicopter on the ground push power back onto its rotors; I knew it was time the get the fuck out of Dodge. Maggie was my responsibility now. I yelled at the guard that I was leaving with the civilian, and he hesitated. This was against all his orders. I think the fact that the helicopter carrying the families away was now twenty feet off the ground and climbing, along with the heavily smoking Cobra still ready to defend it, may have influenced his decision making from then on.

The guard nodded and talked again into his radio as I got into the car and headed the wrong way out of camp. The guards at the gate lifted the barrier and a couple of them stood on the main road to make sure it was all was clear as we left the carnage behind us.

The silence in the car was deafening, my heart went out to Colonel Franklyn and every solder defending Kenton Barracks, as well as the Air Force folks who took on extraordinary odds to get my people out of harm's way.

It was Maggie who broke into my thoughts.

"So you're stuck with me then."

I laughed. If nothing else, it broke me away from my thoughts and centered me again on what needed to be done. I pulled my cell out and used speed dial.

My boss answered on the second ring. "Yes?"

"I won't waste time giving you details; you will be getting plenty of them over the next few hours. Two's second didn't make it to the helicopter. I have her with me, I am closing my cell down. I have a lot to do and need time to hide her, I don't need distractions. Give me a week; we will work out what to do then."

"Agreed, do you have a safe place to hold her?"

"Yes. Thank everyone at Kenton Barracks for me, you have no idea how brave they were, but you will soon."

I closed my cell and tossed it to Maggie, who made sure it was shut down and proceeded to pull the card out.

Thankfully, Maggie did manage to get some rest as I drove around the countryside, I could have gone in a direct route but I needed dawn's early light. She woke when I slowed and came to a stop.

******

Maggie did a quick look around and frowned; I got out smiling. When I retired, I knew I needed a job, and that's when Gil offered to take me on to help around the boat club. It was also something light since I was still on the mend. To celebrate, I took Ruth and the children to one of the country pubs that also served meals. It's one of those places that we found by accident and liked it so much that we would keep coming back. The two small villages either side of it kept it in business, along with the canal that ran through the bottom end of the pub's garden.

The influx of tourist saw to it that the profit margin it made over the summer would keep it going when the winter kept the tourists away. On one of those visits, the owner told me that he planned to sell up and retire to warmer climates along with his wife. I sat down with Ruth, and an hour later we both sat down with the owner and his wife. A week later an American company owned a public house in England.

Ruth smiled when I said to her, "I'd like to see how you're going to make this place tax deductible, and persuade the IRS it is one."

The owners left behind some really good staff, two of them only recently married and living with the husband's family. We sat them down and made them an offer: run the place like it is, since to us it was perfect. They would get a wage and a share of the profits at the end of the year, plus they would get to live in the now vacated flat above the pub for free. They couldn't agree quickly enough. We did have one other stipulation: a garage was going to be built in the car park, and I was the only one with the key. They still couldn't agree quickly enough.

With the purchase of the pub, a few weeks later came my interest in the derelict boat yard, Ruth asked me if I was nesting. I knew it was time to come clean. I loved my wife so deeply that lying to her was simply never going to happen. I put out my hand, and like always, she smiled when she took. We went for a walk along the canal while I tried to focus my thoughts.

During a storm not long ago one of the trees that protected the canal from the occasional strong winds coming across the fields didn't fair too well. When it fell, it landed in such a way that other than the top branches, it sat snugly against the bank.

A member of the committee for the boat club talked to the Waterways Authorities and they sent a man down to talk to us, since they couldn't figure out what we wanted. We took him over to the tree and explained it to him. He smiled and said he knew just the man. Two days later, Lenard Harris turned up in his truck. He used a chainsaw like it was just an extension of his hands. The man was an artist with a chainsaw, he's that good. He cut all the branches away from the main trunk of the tree, then he went after the roots.

Once the roots were removed, he planted another tree in its place. I suspect, to Lenard, this was when the fun part started. Lenard sliced at the trunk of the tree in such a way that it now turned into a bench for people to just sit and relax, either on their walk along the canal or to watch the canal boats cruise along the canal. He then painted the new seats with some kind of water proofing. When he opened the can, everyone around took a step back; the smell was something else. Even when the afternoon sun bore down on it, it still took a day or two to dry. It's now one of the most popular places for the dog walkers to sit and chat, as well.

When Ruth and I walked along the canal, we used that same bench, we sat down and I started to talk.

"I can't explain this to you and not make you look at me like you've made a huge mistake in marrying me."

Ruth stood and almost went straight to attack-dog mode, I let her pace for a moment or two, and eventually she sat down again. Her hand grasped mine but her stare was directly in front of her.

"You better have a damn good reason for starting this conversation with that."

I shrugged. "I wish I could, Ruth. All I can say is that seconds before I woke in the hospital, I saw something. Over the time I was on the mend, I tried so hard to see if that very same image would return. It was perhaps a second of something, I will call it premonition perhaps."

Her grip on my hand became almost fierce.

"The best way I can describe it, baby, is that I saw a wave, a big wave and the only thing standing between it and me was the Unit. To a man, they stood firm as they were facing it when it engulfed them. When the wave had lost its power and receded back into the ocean, the Unit was gone."

I turned and looked at my wife, a part of me expected the words, 'divorce this lunatic' to follow.

"It comes up in my dreams from time to time, I try and make out more details as it happens, but the dream is always the same."

Her focus was solely on me now. "You believe you had a premonition that the whole Unit will be destroyed?"

I was reluctant to the bitter end, but I knew it was futile; Ruth was my wife, my bed partner and truly was the ying to my yang. I told her once that she was the one I had been looking for all my life; she threw herself at me and damn near hugged me to death while she cried into my shoulder.

"I have to do all I can to prevent it, Ruth, even if I can only put a dent in what I've seen, derail what I have repeatedly seen since I was in hospital, until I can see a different outcome."

Her eyes narrowed slightly. "So that's why you've been pushing yourself physically so much just lately?"

All I could do was nod my head; my physio-therapist tried to slow me down. In the end, she resigned herself to keeping me from ending up in hospital again, so she sat me down and adjusted my fitness program.

When I nodded in agreement, Ruth slowly stood and paced. Her face showed the intense thought process her mind was going through. At times like these, it was always best just to let her.

Suddenly she stopped and stared at me for a moment, before saying, "Okay, I'm in. What do we need to do next?"

My wife was true to her word, even though it took a second to register what she had initially said. I smiled, more from relief that I had shared something that I believed would drive a wedge between us, and she would leave the lunatic Englishman, seeking divorce as quickly as possible.

"All I know, baby, is that sometimes; one man can make a difference."

Ruth had that grin on her lips when she said, "Well, you can add, 'and his wife,' to that statement from now on."

She went on to remind me that when we married, I was still a member of the Unit. She regarded every wife and child within the Unit as either a deep personal friend or an extension of her own children. When we, as the Unit, left on a mission, and baring a company emergency, she would stay in England and wait and worry alongside the rest of the wives while keeping a brave face on herself for the sake of the children.

"Each and every one of them are the sisters I never knew I had until I married you. We have all promised each other that none of our children would ever become orphans. Not while any of us live and breathe."

She blushed when I looked into her eyes. 'God; I love my wife so very much.' I guess she read my thoughts as well.

For months, we worked outside of anyone's knowledge. The garage was built so I could hide the car. The garage also had a small room extension that I used as a storage space. That's when I went to see a gentleman in London: a man who for a price, you could buy his silence and also items that came across his desk. Was I doing something illegal? Yes, sure I was, but I had shared blood, sweat and tears with every member of the Unit. I wasn't going to let this premonition take them without a damn good fight.