The FO Officer

In the end she pulled in a favor and one of the Joint Chiefs stood next to a podium asking the press to walk away from this story. His people need secrecy in which to work in, not a camera lens pointed at them. Public opinion backed him up and the story hunters went off to do something else.

Jo Jo then turned her attention to Ashley. "Your Hoops, it's out there now so get used to it. Personally, I think it suits you, but it's you carrying the weight, so I'm giving you five minutes to think about it, keep it or I will squash it for you."

I felt her glare, then Ashley turned back to Jo Jo and said. "It's catchy, I'm getting used to it. Brendan took me out to dinner last night and said the same as you just did. I'm keeping it." A smirk came to her lips and she added. "Mind you if a call-sign comes along that has 'don't fuck with me' connotations, then I'm dumping this one and grabbing that one."

Jo Jo smiled, then shook her head. "Picky, picky."

Jo Jo straightened the paperwork on her desk and stood up, looking at them once again.

"Okay rest up today, we're off the Brecon Beacons tomorrow afternoon." She then looked directly at me, now I started to worry. "By the time I've got Trapper John out of my mouth, one of us could be dead, keep the fancy name but you're going to be known as Trapper on operations and out in the field."

She then looked me up and down. "What have you got in casual wear and if I hear jeans amongst that list I will hit you with this table."

I ran through what I had packed; the rest was in storage.

She nodded and turned to Ashley. "Go with him and find something acceptable since he's your 'accompanied by' this evening. My wife is traveling up from the fashion house for dinner at the boat club. It's Curtis's birthday dinner tonight and you know how he hates these things, so the boat club committee has gone all out."

Ashley nodded and I followed along as she left the office.

*******

Jo Jo watched them descend the steps and make their way towards the Sergeants Mess. She felt Freddy's presents slightly behind her.

"Have you given any thought about what you're going to do?"

Jo Jo continued to stare a little longer. "At the moment, nothing. I just wish Ashley had said something, I've given her enough opportunity, since she got back."

"So you're going to allow it to continue?"

She knew her friend, she had lived on the boat with her long enough, Jo Jo had hoped that Ashley had said something, anything when she got back.

Both turned and went back to their desk's, it was only then that she continued the conversation with Freddy. "We're not in a combat zone as of yet, so I have time. That doesn't mean I'm pushing this decision away. I aim to talk to the wisest man I know tonight, I figure he will welcome the distraction." A little smile crossed her lips, before she added. "Well, at least until he knows the content of the conversation that is."

Even Joan wasn't going to tell Freddy everything, at least not yet. The call she had from one of her friends at 12th Intel Regiment, still filled her with rage. When the helicopters took the hostages and Ashley back to their base hospital, she was checked out like the rest. It seems Ashley invoked doctor confidentiality and asked for the morning after pill. The female doctor was on the edge of refusing when Ashley allowed the doctor to examine her internally. The rescue came too late, at least one of them raped Ashley as his two friends held her down, which is why, not only did she kill him during the assault on the camp, she went back into the hut when Brendan gave her a gun and shot a dead man once again.

When the dust had settled, Ashley, Rick and Brendan sat down and wrote a report detailing that day. All three were waiting for Jo Jo when she arrived at the estate. Not once did Ashley mention her rape or the conversation with the camp doctor. Jo Jo stood. Freddy watched her for a moment and then went back to his paperwork.

She walked out the front door and down the steps before pulling her cell from her pocket. Jo Jo listened as her cell rang the number she had just added from memory. It rang three times before a familiar voice answered it. "Ruth, I need to see you in private, I'll be at the boat club in twenty minutes, can we talk in the apartment? We're going to need the communications equipment you have there as well."

*******

As Jo Jo came to the end of why she needed her help, Ruth just sat, mouth half open. The face of Constance on one of the screens beside her held almost the same picture.

It was Constance who spoke first. "I swear to you Joan, she never mentioned any of this while she was here."

Joan smiled to herself. Constance hated calling any of the Unit by their call-signs, even Rick was still Rick in her eyes, even when his wife called him Halo in an unguarded moment around the children.

Joan took a breath, then added. "I can't act on the information I have because I shouldn't have it. That conversation was strictly between the camp doctor and Ashley. Ashley hasn't said anything in the three days they have been back here. But I know that if we are called upon, I can't include her when the Unit is active."

Ruth nodded her head. Constance was but a second behind. Ruth then asked if she wanted Curtis in on this conversation.

Joan shook her head. "At the moment no. I do plan to talk to him later tonight, but I want to go into that conversation armed with a plan."

Her gaze went to Constance once again. "I know I'm leaning heavily on you two, but to me, you are like the wives of this Unit, we look after our own. I need to lean heavily on your knowledge, when I eventually confront Ashley, I need to have a working plan to lay out in front of her."

Constance nodded in agreement. She even confessed once that since meeting Rick, he and the Unit have sure added some excitement into her life. Constance asked for an hour, she was going to talk to the people at Walter Reed Hospital. Both nodded and her screen went blank.

It was then that Ruth looked hard at Joan. "Okay, spill it, what else is bugging you?"

Since both were still seated, Joan knew she had nowhere to run.

"If Constance comes up with a solution like she always does for us, it will mean I will have to tell Brendan. It's going to turn him inside out because he didn't get Ashley out fast enough. To ease his guilt I will of course send them both over. But that leaves me two down in the Unit, if we get called upon, I will have to recall Brendan and it will throw any progress Ashley would be making."

Ruth nodded in understanding. "That's a lot of what if's in there."

Joan took that moment to stand and walk over to the kitchen. She made them each a coffee while they waited for Constance to return. All Ruth heard as Joan's back was to her was, "Welcome to my world."

A short time later, the screen flickered and then when they still hadn't noticed, one of those polite coughs came through the speaker. Joan and Ruth left their seats by inches.

That caused Constance to giggle. "Glad to see I still have it."

Ruth turned her attention to the screen. "That's not even in the ballpark of funny."

All three women still had smiles on their faces.

"Ladies, I've been a busy girl."

Both women sat in awe at the progress one woman can make in an hour. The Unit had spent three months in Texas just before Joan had joined. The Colonel of the host regiment had now retired, but not before leaving his successor with the opinion that having the Unit around his regiment was a colossal morale boost. The Colonel had now made an application to the Pentagon for the Unit to join them again for a two-month loan and inter-country sharing of expertise.

"When I spoke to the Colonel, he damn near tore my arm off. The Unit seemed to have left a favorable impression the last time they were there."

Constance only needed to pause for effect as both women in the apartment at the boat club instantly saw the true meaning. With the Unit in America, Joan could send both Ashley and Brendan to Walter Reed so that Ashley could start to heal.