Officers and Men Ch. 03

I told my Mum that something had happened to Andy and that I was heading back to London to sort it out. She gave me a hug and said that she hoped it all worked out OK.

I drove back to London at speed, reaching our barracks at about half nine that evening. While I wanted to dash to the Guard room and speak to Andy I knew that to keep our secret I needed to find out some other way, so went to the Operations Room and nonchalantly put my head around the door and asked how things were going, after all I was a bit concerned that something had happened and our secret was out.

"Andy Sargeant has been nicked Mam," said the duty operator.

"What?!" I said in surprise.

"Friday midday Mam, three MP's came into the cookhouse and asked him to go with them."

"Bloody hell!" I said, "Where is he?"

"Guard room Mam," said the Operator.

"Well it's nothing to do with me this time," I said with a soft grin, everyone knew about our little problem some weeks ago. "Has anyone been in to see him?"

"Lieutenant Hall has Mam, took him his gear and everything."

"I'll go visit. Thanks for letting me know." I said, and left.

The thought I'd had on my drive down just wouldn't go away; perhaps it was to do with me. Perhaps someone had smelled the big hidden hairy rat that was our relationship and he'd been locked up until he confessed he was screwing the boss into ecstasy. His lanky boss that had taken down a cabinet minister's son, his lanky boss that had not a month ago almost caused a monumental fuck up that might have put The Army, London District and the Intelligence Corps on the front page of all of the tabloids. We were the Int, the last thing we needed was publicity.

No; we had been better than that.

I walked across the dark empty parade square at the front of our barracks and knocked on the guard room door. It was opened in a flash and a very smart rifleman leapt to attention. "Mam," he said.

"Can I have a chat with Corporal Sargeant please?"

"Well," he said with some discomfort, "Not really Mam, he'd under close arrest."

"Oh for Christ's sake Deano, let the Captain in, she isn't going to try and spring him."

I will confess that at one point on my drive home I did consider it -- briefly!

The guard commander came to attention and saluted, "Deano, get Captain Major a cup of tea, and make one for the jailbird in there."

Deano, a very young looking Rifleman fresh out of training brought two battered china mugs out and took me through the back corridor to where the long row of cells were.

He opened the first, "Andy, you have a visitor..."

Seeing me, Andy leapt to his feet with just the biggest smile, but seeing the Rifleman behind me came to the best attention that he could with no laces in his shoes and wearing trousers with no belt or braces.

"Mam!" he said.

"Corporal Sargeant." I replied, "Tea?" I handed him one.

"Right Andy," said Pete, "we're going to trust you with the Captain here; Mam we'll be just outside if you need us."

"Thank you Sergeant," I said, and pulled the cell door closed behind me. "So Andy," I said, conscious that there could be half a dozen men outside listening to us, "what's happened?"

"Not really sure Mam," he said. "Three MP's came into the office yesterday and asked to see my ID card and said that I had to go with them. They took me off to their truck and locked me in the cage and drove me to the police station. The police said they'd had a report that I'd raped someone and they wanted my DNA to check if it matched a sample they had. The MP's brought me back here yesterday and that's all I know."

He looked so scared and all I wanted to do was hug him and tell him it would be OK.

"Is it..." I thought back to the conversation I'd heard half of the other day but didn't want to confess to, "Is it your ex-fiancée?"

"Could be," he said, "The thought has crossed my mind, but they haven't given me any details."

I stood up, my rage burning inside me a second time, although this time it wasn't my fault.

"OK Corporal, leave it with me and I'll get straight onto it." I finished my tea, needing so much to take my man in my arms and comfort him and by implication me as well, a kiss at the very least, but that I really couldn't do in these circumstances.

Andy stood up again, "Thank you Mam," he said reading my apprehension and desire so well. He came to attention again adding "Mam," he swallowed hard, "I wonder if you could get my phone from the Guard commander and contact my girlfriend for me."

"Of course Andy," I said, hearing someone open the cell door; I was right not to discuss what had happened, they were listening! "What do you want me to say to her?"

He looked at me with that gentle smile of his, "Tell her... tell her I'm so sorry I couldn't get to her parents place and I hope they didn't feel let down. Tell her..." he looked into my eyes, "Tell her I love her, I love her so much that it hurts and I promise that as soon as I get out of here I'll be straight back in her arms... where I belong."

"I'll see to it that she gets the message Andy, in fact I'll add some romantic shit, women love all that."

"Thank you Mam, thank you so much."

I turned, gave him a surreptitious wave and took his phone back to my room for safe keeping. I also rang his Mum and Dad and explained what we figured might have happened.

"Bitch!" Snarled Pam, "just you fucking wait until I get that fucking woman to one side, I'll..." Dave took the phone and said he would contact Lee who could contact the Met Police and find out what was going on.

Not having slept more than a few hours on that Saturday night, I was wide awake and in the shower by seven and ready to kick some doors down.

I contacted the Royal Military Police who could only give me an incident number and suggested I contact the Met. I did so, but as Captain Major of the Intelligence Corps. They referred me to, of all people, the Avon and Somerset Police! They couldn't tell me anything as the investigation was still taking place. I replaced the receiver and contacted my new best mate Katy.

The second her gentle caring voice answered the phone, I was crying.

"Hey hey, Linnie Darling! It's OK, Avon and Somerset's finest are already on the case. She chatted with me for a while longer confirming that Lee had found out that the DNA sample was a match and was from a condom supplied by his ex-girlfriend Alice who made a complaint that she had met him in London a few nights ago when she attempted a reconciliation, and they had started to heavily pet in the back of her car. She had tried to stop him because she knew that he'd slept with some other woman so he put on the condom, and then she begged him to stop but he raped her.

"Which night?"

"Last Thursday," said Katy.

"Bitch!" I screamed, "That fucking bitch!"

"Linnie!" said Katy in a panic.

"Is Lee there?" I said in a rush.

"No... he's at work."

"Find him!"

"What?"

"Lee, find him." I was panting now, "Then you tell Lee to tell the detective to contact our company HQ and ask where Andy was on Thursday."

"Why?"

"Because that mad cow was on the phone talking to Andy when I came back into the room from swimming. Swimming in a fucking hotel pool 300 miles from London. Now Andy's a big lad but no way would it stretch that fucking far..."

"Linnie you fucking beauty!" She screamed, "I'll call you back."

I went across to my office, and waited for David's phone to ring. I woke from a light doze an hour later and ran into his office to answer it.

"Intelligence?" I said brightly and with due innocence.

"Good afternoon, can I ask who I'm speaking to please?" said the voice.

"Captain Lin Major," I said, "How can I help?"

"My name is Detective Constable Ian Cook from Avon and Somerset police. We're trying to confirm the location of Corporal Andrew Sargeant last Thursday evening, at about 2030 hours."

"Oh that's easy," I said calmly, "he was with me in my hotel room, working on our plans for the following day."

"Where was the hotel?" he asked.

I told him.

"Can you evidence that?" he said sounding much happier.

"Yes I have receipts for the two rooms," thought I'd throw that in, "and for the meal we ate that evening in the hotel restaurant, we were there for four days from Monday evening through to Friday Morning when we left. We got to know the waiters and waitresses extremely well."

"And you would have known if Corporal Sargeant had travelled to London in that time?"

"Definitely," I said, "We left for work at eight in the morning, were together at the local Army Reserve Centre all day with other witnesses, back to the hotel for six or half past, then dinner -- more witnesses of course - and a few more hours work in one of our rooms."

"Excellent!" said the Detective, if I send you a statement form could you fill it in to confirm that for me?"

"Certainly, send it now and I'll write it, sign it, scan it and mail it back to you, hard copy in the first class post tomorrow morning."

"Could you let me have the details of the hotel?"

"I'll email you the confirmation they sent me and I'll scan the receipts for you."

"Thank you Captain." He said brightly.

"Can I ask what this is about? I understand you took his DNA?"

"Not really Captain, but this has blown the lid off of the problem, and we'll be re-reading somebody's sworn bloody statement, that's for sure."

"Excellent," I put on my strong Army Captain voice, "when can I have my Corporal back, he's locked in the Guard room."

"I'll contact the Met directly, they should let the RMP know."

"Quick as possible please, he's been in there since Friday."

I could hear a chuckle from the other end. "Put me through to your guard room," he said, "I'll tell them to let him go!"

I had to work hard to keep the emotion out of my voice. "Thanks Detective, I want him back..." quickly adding, "At the coal face, can't have him loafing around in jail..."

I completed the call putting him through to the Guard commander, and hugging Andy's mobile to my chest, and opened my Email account on David's PC. The statement form arrived and I completed it, my phone wedged against my ear and talking to an overjoyed Katy into the bargain, then signed it and walked through to the multi-function printer scanner thing and scanned everything financial I had kept; defending the country against all enemies foreign and domestic is one thing, keeping accountants happy is much harder.

Once I had emailed the whole lot off to DC Cook I walked out into the afternoon sunshine and across the square to find the Riflemen shaking his hand and sending him on his way back with laces in his boots and a belt on his trousers and his bright green beret back proudly on his head.

I wanted to run to him, my wonderful secret boyfriend, my man; I wanted to run to him, hug him and tell him what me and his sister and brother in law had done, and how much I'd missed him.

As I started to walk towards him I heard a voice, it was David the second in command, his rush to the barracks from his weekend away obvious.

"I've just heard, Thank God they've sorted that out." He grinned and we headed over to Andy.

We met halfway, "Andy, yours I believe." I held out his phone, "I contacted you girl," I said, "she got your message."

Andy became the perfect Guardsman and jumped to attention, saluting the two officers in front of him.

"Thanks Mam," he said, reaching out for his phone and putting into the large patch pocket of his camouflage trousers.

I looked him up and down, "You OK Andy?"

"Could do with a shower and a comfortable bed Mam, right as rain after that."

"Well done Corporal Sargeant," said David with a grin.

"Thank you Sir, I understand from the RP Sergeant that Captain Major raised her voice a bit and before I know it I'm out and free."

"I had a phone call from Avon and Somerset Police, seems the person that reported you didn't know that you weren't in London." "Bloody good job you stayed over Lin," said David with a knowing smile. If only he really knew!

We both headed for our rooms at separate ends of the barracks, and he texted me the second I entered my room.

"I'm hungry," he wrote quite simply, "Italian, Piccadilly, sixty minutes. Dress casual but revealing."

I texted straight back, "message received and understood."

I showered, washed my hair, did a bit of an emergency make-up fix and let my hair out of my military pony tail and associated clips. I dressed in a tailored lace top that Katy had bought for me 'because of my fantastic tits' with a balcony bra under it, and went made and put on tights and a short skirt.

I put my green Softshell over the top of all of it, and decided to drive out in my car to try and avoid any 'didn't those two go out on the same evening before?' two and two putting together to make an embarrassing four by the Guard room staff.

I drove out, parked my car by a meter and pumped it full of change to keep it there all evening. I jumped on the Tube and was at Piccadilly Circus in a matter of minutes.

I wasn't the same happy go lucky 'Downtown' whistling chick that had done the same thing a couple of weeks back, this time I was on edge, buzzing with adrenalin and really not sure how I was going to stop myself jumping on my man the second we sat down.

I trotted up the stairs and into the evening just starting to darken.

There leaning on the wall of the Tube station entrance, in the same green jacket as me was Andy. Despite his near miss and his incarceration, no his second incarceration, he looked wonderful and was even wearing the same cheeky grin that he normally had, especially when I was there to see it.

I ran to him.

With my arms around his neck I clung to him, hugging him for all I was worth and trying hard to impact all of my emotion that I'd held in check since his text message Friday evening. Before I knew it I was weeping into his neck and shaking.

"Hey Baby, it's OK." He tried to calm me.

"Oh Andy," I sniffed, "I was so scared, I thought... I don't know what I thought, but I've never been so scared in my life! Oh thank God it's all OK."

I put my hands on his cheeks and kissed his lovely face, every bit of it until I was sure that I was kissed out and he knew for certain that I had worried about him.

"All down to you Baby," he said, at last able to use that particular term of endearment that I loved to hear from him.

"I might have had a bit to do with it," I grinned with just an air of self-satisfaction to it.

"Thank you," he kissed me long and hard and it made my head spin. "I could eat a fucking horse," he said, "let's go."

As we walked to our little Italian place that we had our first London date in, he chatted about what had gone on back with the Avon and Somerset Police.

"Walking to the tube station I had a long chat with Lee. Lee had a chat with Mum and Dad and it seems that Detective Cook had a bit of a bollocking from the Detective Chief Inspector for not doing a simple check like where the fuck I was when the supposed rape was supposed to have taken place. Mum reckons the dopey fuck was so excited to have a real DNA sample like a condom and just wanted to nick people. Of course the army locked me up, a civvy would have been on bail.

The DCI is an old mate of Mum and Dad's and once he found out that Alice had tried to screw over Dave and Pam's boy, he asked her to come into her local station to confirm some things and the nice friendly detective got her again to very sweetly swear on oath that the exact time and date of my attack. Her sister gone with her and she confirmed that Alice had phone her to ask what she should do. She got out her phone and showed him the call.

"He's mental," the sister had said with some spite, "But then that's the bloody army for you."

Alice said that I had dumped the condom on the floor of the car and ran away once I realised what I had done."

He paused as we entered the restaurant, and the waiter smiled and called us straight across to the empty booth we had occupied on that wonderful night.

We ordered the same antipasti but this time I went with a Chicken Napolitano while Andy had a further mountain of pasta with a classic bolognaise sauce.

"The DCI reminded them they were on oath and they both nodded proudly. Then it seems that he showed them copies of the receipts and asked how I could have been having dinner with an Army Officer up north 300 miles away and still be able to rape her in a car in a car park in Kensington Gardens.

The sister insisted that it was just the army covering up for their own and what other witnesses did they have. He showed them the CCTV footage of you and I walking through the hotel reception on our way back to your room at the exact time I was supposedly raping her.

This went for about ten minutes that Alice eventually cracked and claimed it was her sister's idea and she'd never wanted to do it. The sister blamed her and the DCI arrested them both for attempting to pervert the course of justice. They were kept in cells overnight and released on bail the following morning. Both of them are claiming they have mental health problems."

"Can't argue with that," I said.

"Apparently Alice said it was post-traumatic stress disorder because I'd been away at war so often."

"Cheeky bitch!" I giggled.

"Yeah well," he said, "Avon and Somerset remanded them both on bail with a condition that they aren't to come within 100 metres of me."

"I'm pleased." I put out a hand and squeezed his. "I'm not pleased that I missed my weekend with you because of that fucking woman and I now have to wait another two weeks until we can be together again and I get the nastiest feeling that I'll have come on just in time for that."

"I'll take my chances," he grinned, "besides you are just as gorgeous when you are on as when you aren't."

"Awww Andy," I purred, "you say the sweetest things!" I chuckled.

We finished our dinner and Andy was starting to flag just a little bit. After all he hadn't slept well for the last two nights and had been quite stressed. It being only just gone eight, I suggested that he walk back to my car, I give him a lift to a few blocks short of the barracks and I go round the block a few times and drive back.

We did that and kissed and cuddled in my car for a great half an hour and we eventually pulled apart and he walked back. As for me I decided that I would drive the hour or so to Mum and Dad's happy that I could tell them the good news, have supper with them, sleep over and drive into work the next day with no suspicions as to the Corporal and the Captain coming in within twenty minutes of each other for a second time.

It worked well, and I rang him to tell him what I was doing.

And of course it was just as he was walking into the barracks and he had the same barrage of banter as we'd had before. By the time I reached Oxford, I was starting to feel my two disturbed nights as well and parked on the drive just in time.

Mum and Dad were a bit shocked by the whole case but pleased that all was resolved, and looking forward to seeing him for our next weekend off.

I was hoping for a chance for the army to send us somewhere really impressive for a couple of weeks in the summer like Cyprus or Gibraltar or the Caribbean but they didn't think that was a real necessity for us; they did however send a section of us across the Atlantic to Canada. This time as well as Andy, there was my colleague Mick Turner now promoted to Captain, one of the sergeants from the team and a dozen operators and while it was nice to be away from the office and on a bit of a jolly with Andy, we couldn't act any differently to when we were there.

We were on camp and living in barracks so I couldn't even go out with Andy in the evenings unless the whole section did. It was hell.