Rough Pt. 03

Jason kept shaking his hand, saying, "Damn, this is a good idea. Lots of isolation to talk about the project, and women around for stress relief."

Arnie went inside and said, "Shower time for Jason and Emmy. You get the deck all to yourselves while I fix some special drinks." He handed towels to Emmy as she went out to the deck.

The two women inside eyed him. "You didn't get enough, did you? And now Jason is here with his woman. Where are we putting them?"

He thought a minute. "What if I get the extra mattress down from the rafters and we fix them up in a corner of the deck with one of the duvets?"

Julia flashed her eyes at him and said, "I have a better idea. Change the inside bed and give to them. The two of us will entertain you on the spare mattress on the deck!"

Dinner provided excellent food and drink. The women chattered, mostly about the desert, while Jason and Arnie talked quietly about organizing the mission. Because of the classification needs, it looked like Jason and Julia were going to be the only communications and logistics support that knew what was going on. He asked Jason if that was a problem.

"Arnie, I already like working for you, and we are only two days into it. Sometimes, lean and mean is best. Remember, if we are ambushed, some mighty powerful people will be on top of the situation in a hurry."

Arnie added, "And damn mad about our cover being blown."

Jason and Emmy tried to veto the inside bed, but were loudly voted down. Snuggled under a thick duvet on the deck, Julia and Angie were full of mischief, one whispering in each ear.

"We've got you now. After this afternoon, your big cock is limp as can be."

The talk about more was just talk. They were asleep in minutes.

In the early predawn, animals were moving in the brush and he was awake. So was Julia, who snuggled closer. "This is the most dangerous time, isn't it?"

He kissed the top of her head. "Yes. If you are an animal, you better know what those noises mean or you will be eaten soon."

Her kiss was gentle and prolonged. "I like being paired up with you. Can we be rough on rough, like you are with Angie?"

The slap was loud. "Invading my territory, are you?" Angie thought to herself that more than a little rough was going to be needed to keep them alive. She hadn't seen this much firepower assembled for past assignments. Nor any truck with multiple Generals.

Two loving females beat on him quietly, saying they needed to let the guests sleep. In moments, a dark shadow appeared in the cabin doorway. "What's going on out here?"

It was Emmy, wide awake. Arnie got up and stuffed her into the warm place where he had been. "I will do coffee. Then a run before breakfast." The desert twilight was brightening fast.

In a few minutes, he brought them mugs of strong coffee. "Stay where you are. Jason and I will talk work."

Arnie had a light on so he could mix batter for pancakes. There was juice on the table. Jason asked, "You told them no assassinations?"

"Yes. They agreed, which means we have to figure out how to eliminate the threat without killing the assets."

"Take blood and iris scans and fingerprints. Tell their Embassy they have twelve hours to remove evidence or it goes on the Internet?"

"Poor bastards may be killed by their own people."

"If it is a shootout, Arnie, we are going to kill them before they kill us."

"Yes. I think the training syllabus better have generous time with weapons. No time in the field to learn how to use a new weapon. And need to make sure everyone knows those formations to avoid taking friendly fire."

Julia walked in with her running clothes on, and they stopped the conversation abruptly.

Her lips were a tight line. "We need to get one thing straight. I can be tough when I need to be. There can't be special arrangements for the women. One team, everyone carrying a full load."

They looked at her. The face was a mask of determination. And an athletic body to go with it. Arnie was pleased. Turning off the relationship switch was going to work.

About a hundred yards into the run, Jason and Arnie realized Julia was out to inflict a lesson. Jason said, "Shit, Arnie, we're only going to see that fancy rear on this run."

"Jason, how did we luck out with a tough one? She can cram it down our throats all she wants."

Arnie had said thirty minutes out and thirty back, but she stopped to let them catch up. Angie and Emmie had dropped out at the beginning when they saw what was happening.

She held up her palms. "One team?"

"One team!" They took it slower on the way back, talking about filling out the team. "Are there going to be any other women?"

"I have a dozen folders with me, and no women in them. But other nominations are still coming." Jason's eyes were curious. "Do you care one way or another?"

"I guess not, and I certainly don't want any concessions made because of gender. I'm not really a front line team member, am I?"

"No. You are short about four years of training and field experience."

"So, concentrate on my logistics job and learn enough to take care of myself?"

"Julia, you are impressing two hard case veterans. Keep it up."

She surged forward at the end, leaving them to a cool down walk the rest of the way. Jason elbowed Arnie, "What is it about you and team building? I wouldn't have picked her out of a lineup in a million years."

"Like I said before, she touched all the right bases."

"We should sit down with my folders after breakfast. I think she could help."

"Yes, let's give her a shot. Women have different instincts."

Jason pounded him on the back. "You can say that again."

Julia was just finishing her quick shower, completely relaxed about being naked in front of two secret ops guys. Arnie was pleased again. Not much room for modesty in a field assignment.

The first sun was on the deck. Very hot plates of sunnyside eggs with pancakes were put in front of them. Jason and Arnie smiled at each other. Soon, there wouldn't be any breakfast like this.

Finished drying her hair, Julia walked over and reached for a glass of juice. "I suppose you are thinking I can arrange a breakfast like this for the team every morning?"

"Beats IHOP by a mile."

"Do not hold your breath..." Her smile was tantalizing. Maybe she really would manufacture good breakfasts. But not very often with daily 4 am reveille.

The session with the candidate folders was tense. Multiple services had put forward their best people. Not standard behavior for a multi-service effort. Usually, best people were reserved for inhouse assignments. Committee style projects failed too often and that was hard on promotion chances.

Jason suggested, "Let's outline the basic requirements for the team, even though we are still short on specifics."

"An ideal team has two sniper level shooters. Two big bulldozer bodies to deal with battering needs. Two stealth experts for scouting. A genius or two to analyze tactics." Arnie looked at Julia and Jason.

"Yes. That's a good sort. Let's do a quick scan and sort these." Jason kept being impressed by Arnie's command of the assignment. Julia was silent, staying in learning mode.

After an hour, the dozen folders had sorted into 3 shooters, 3 stealth, 4 bulldozers, and 2 psych guys. That was after impressive credentials in all aspects of special ops.

Jason asked, "If there aren't any more candidates, would we go with 8 of these?"

"Possibly. Let's dig into them until noon. Keep a private sheet with a 1 to 10 rating on each. We'll compare afterwards. To protect privacy, I am going to assign numbers to each folder. Use that in your ratings."

"I'm not a professional like the two of you. Still want me to read these and do a rating?

Arnie looked at her. "Yes, for two reasons. First, you have seen a lot of folks like these go by on your plane trips and have a sense of their personalities. Jason and I value that kind of opinion. Second, you are going to work closely with the chosen candidates and the more you know about them the better you can provide support."

Julia looked intently at the folder marked number 9. She knew she was being given an opportunity another woman might not have received, courtesy of her impact on Arnie in both the switched on and the switched off halves of their relationship. Damn, she was tingling where she shouldn't be.

Number 9 was Army. Played tackle on the football team at the Point. Opted for infantry and for Green Berets as soon as he could. Age 27. 6-3 and 230 lbs. Fast for his size. Did the 40 yard run in 5.5 seconds his senior year. 3.85 transcript. Three missions in GB and a medal. Had been in Black Ops last three years and no mission records available. There were two sheets of proficiency scores.

Julia sat back and closed her eyes. What was a big bruiser with brains doing in this game? Not enough in the folder to say. Julia wrote down a 9 for number 9 on her small piece of paper.

As they worked through the folders, it was apparent they were strong candidates. Looked strong enough on paper to take on anything their opponents had in place.

Just before noon, Arnie collected the slips and just added the scores for each man together.

"Folks, highest grade was a 10, lowest was a 7. We have three at 27, six at 26, a 25, and two at 24. All of our individual ratings were within a point of each other."

He went on, "We could fill the team with men ranked 9 or a little under. So far, I'm impressed."

Julia asked, "There is nothing about a psychological profile in these folders. Isn't that important?"

Jason answered. "That's something you have to be very careful about. And very personal. These guys are in a business where they are likely to kill people in carrying out the mission. But they are also human beings. It's the team leader's responsibility to do the interviews and decide whether they know the line between inflicting death on an opponent, and killing for the thrill of it."

Arnie nodded and Julia said "oh shit" to herself, sorry she had asked the question.

They rose for lunch. Arnie wrapped an arm around her and said, "Julia, you need to be able to compartmentalize in this business or it will drive you nuts. This session with the folders was in a room that we just closed the door on. No need to think about it again until we are back east. Unless you found special food fetishes, that is."

She turned to hit him, but they had ducked away, headed into the kitchen. She found a chair and sat in the warm sun, letting it wash away a morning concentrating on killing skills. She was green, she knew, and hoped she could invent rooms in her brain that she could close the doors on.

When they came back with a plate of sandwiches and a pitcher of lemonade, she was topless and smiling.

"Need to catch up on my tan before the mission."

They hooted, and she added, "No perving. You've got your own women along."

Emmy and Angie came out and saw their guys ogling Julia. Action was required. Soon, three sets of impressive boobs were taking the sun.

Arnie asked, "Do we get paid extra for this hardship duty?"

Julia giggled and said, "Mission work is done for the day. What is the afternoon agenda other than watching our tits?"

Angie said, "It's Emmy's choice because she just got here and hasn't had a chance to see anything yet."

Emmy had her eyes closed, enjoying the warm sun. The others were admiring her fortyish tits that had sexy tan lines. Angie said, "Better be something active, or the activity will be on beds right here."

Jason and Arnie were hard and not worrying about it. These women enjoyed a stiff cock and had already been worked over.

Finally, Emmy asked, "What about petroglyphs? Are there any nearby? Near enough not to be a long drive?"

Angie responded, "A very nice group is about two hours drive. Is that too far?"

Silence while wheels turned. Arnie said, "Jason and I will take a pass and work on assignment plans. The artist here should go along. Treat it as educational. She is going back to school after this is over."

Julia had her top on and was opening her mouth to protest when she saw Arnie's firm glance.

"Yes sir. I understand sir." She didn't smile. The switch was off.

But Emmy said, "The women will make a full day of it. Not today. Let's just go for a good hike. The men probably want the exercise anyway."

When Arnie looked up, the tip of Julia's tongue was pointing at him. He wondered what position the switch was in.

It was Angie's turn to lead and she put the women in front, knowing the men could not keep from talking about mission plans. "This is my nature hike. Lots of desert botany, and we can make a loop at several places."

It wasn't long before frequent botany stops had the men in front, opening a gap. Arnie asked, "What do we know about motives for this intrusion event?"

"One reason for all the secrecy is that the intel guys don't have a good fix on motive. They are not even sure the players are Russian. Could be a mercenary group being paid from almost anywhere."

"I guess that means we are supposed to deliver a few live ones for interrogation?"

"Until you and I get our clearances for this caper, we are stuck with guesses."

"When did you say we are going east?"

"Wheels are turning back there. I get daily phone calls with lots of euphemisms. The security wall is as thick as I've seen."

"I have a new theory, Jason. The reason why this is so high level when it seems an ordinary insertion to you and me is because some sensor went off with a nuclear signature."

They followed the women for a few minutes while he chewed on that.

"Damned if I don't think you're right. Could have been one of the biologicals, but if that showed up anywhere in the East Coast Metroplex, they would have gone to General Quarters before now."

"Yes. Look at what that ricin business did to Tokyo."

They kept walking, each thinking over the angles on nuclear.

Arnie suggested, "A sensor wouldn't necessarily know the radiation was from a weapon vs another source."

"They are getting better, but if the source was weapons grade but not in a weapon, sensor could still be confused."

His thinking ventured farther afield. "Damn it, if our guess is correct, the whole team is going to be plunged into emergency decon training. Not to mention enough personal gear to sink a battleship."

Jason was not on that page. "There are smarter heads than that. Those folks are trained and stationed here and there. With all their fancy equipment."

After a moment, he asked, "What if they only have a whiff of radiation? Something that needs a team like ours to localize and evaluate? The nuke folks mostly don't have that training."

They hadn't been watching and noticed the girls had disappeared. Arnie sat on a rock and broke out the water. "We're lost in the desert. I guess we deserve that, talking about nukes."

Jason looked at Arnie with a thin smile. "One of those laugh or cry moments?"

After several quiet minutes, Arnie said, "Jason, they haven't told us this, but I think we will be handed a really sketchy folder of background materials when we get back east and told to go find out what the hell is going on. Without making a single ripple in the pond. Totally deniable."

"Fits what we have seen so far. Means we better recruit a smart, tough team able to turn on a dime."

"When we get back to those folders, remind me we need some hounds to sniff out trouble!"

A voice said loudly, "Look at this, sitting down on the job. Either they have figured it out, or they are working that horrible motto, 'scared shitless but still smiling.' "

Jason and Arnie scrambled to their feet, growling, "Women will behave. This is an NSC assignment."

Emmy pushed back. "How many times have I heard that? You spooks seem to run on a special brand of NSC adrenalin. Must be distilled in Cuba!"

The banter was light but the emotions were tense. Jason and Arnie kept the hugs and kisses coming on the way back.

Arnie nudged Jason off the path for a moment. "If we run across one of those whiffs, there is going to be pressure for instant assessment. Why don't you see if you can get your hands on some info on signatures. Low enough classification for the three of us to study out here."

* * *

Arnie was enjoying a warm front and a warm back but everyone was awakened by Jason's phone going off. The ringtone of his secure phone. He came stumbling out to the deck, answering it with "Yes sir, No sir." He was tossed a jacket to deal with the forty degree temperature. Arnie told the women to stay where they were and got the stove going for hot water. Emmy was in the doorway and was pointed to the spot where he had been.

Jason had wandered over to the SUV and climbed in, waving a hand to follow him. Julia was asked to handle the coffee.

Inside, the vehicle was cold but out of the wind. Jason's end of the conversation was stilted but at the end he was smiling from ear to ear. He mouthed, "You'll never believe this!"

In a minute, he was talking logistics. Someone from the east was coming to them. "Yes sir. We have multiple vehicles and will pick you up." The other end said something and Jason answered, "Aye aye, Commander," before clicking off.

"God damn, Arnie, was it ever a good idea you and I had that conversation yesterday. Stay here with me for a minute because we can't talk about this with the women. Not even Julia until she has her higher clearance."

"That was Commander Timothy Reilley, most recently Assistant Engineering Officer of the nuclear carrier USS Carl Vinson, and now attached to the NSC as staff to the Director of the Nuclear division. He says he needs to talk to us face to face. Instead of our going there, he is coming here because he was born and raised in Sonora and wants to visit his folks."

"I told him we were doing our desert PT to get ready and he said he badly needed a good run."

"If he turns out to be a jock, let's try to draft him for the team. He can be our sniffer!"

"Knows how to get up early. Was at his desk at six am. This has possibilities, Arnie!"

"What do we say to the women? They know anything on that phone is important."

"Let me handle it. I will tell them my boss at NSC is sending a staffer with some sensitive, hand to hand transfer documents. Won't be the first time that has happened."

When they got back to the shack, three women were bundled up, sipping steaming coffee. Mugs were transferred with expressions that suggested an update was needed.

Before Jason could get going, Angie asked, "Eggs? French toast? You've gotten us all wide awake."

Arnie mumbled, "French toast." Julia didn't look very friendly, but put her hand in his hair and pulled lips together. "I'm supposed to get used to middle of the night phone calls, aren't I?"

He tried for a kiss, but she held him off.

"Fraid so."

This time, she spoke out loud, "I didn't realize how easy it was going to be to keep the switch in the off position."

The others looked at them, trying not to laugh. He pulled the switch off person to his lap and whacked her bottom. "I'll off you!"

They laughed, and so did Julia, collapsing into him.

By this time, tempers were cooling, and Jason's spiel went down easily.

Emmy asked, "When is he arriving? Should the women do the pickup?"

Jason smiled. Tim was coming for both work and play. Sending three women as a welcoming committee was a great idea. Arnie nodded vigorously and stuck his hand inside Julia's down jacket. "Yes. Fine idea. Special Agent Julia Collins can introduce herself as Team Liaison to visiting VIP's."

Julia was trying to sit up and get his hand out of where it didn't belong.

"Damn, back to the salt mines of Flight Attendant."

"Go in your running clothes and tell him that Agent Smiley understood he was needing a trail guide."