The Queen of the Night

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Captain Forrester meets the Queen of the Night
9.2k words
4.54
17.1k
12

Part 1 of the 2 part series

Updated 09/22/2022
Created 02/21/2011
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She was a good kid. She could have had everything but she wasn't satisfied with everything, she wanted more. I would have given her everything, I loved her that much. Stephanie stopped being a good kid at around the same time that she stopped being a kid, at around the same time that she lost the kid's innocence that I had fallen in love with and became a woman and realised that she had a control over men that would give her more, much more, than I could give her.

I have known her parents all of my life and we had sort of grown up together and it was our parents' wish that we should marry when we were old enough. For a while it looked as if that wish would be granted. I sprung a surprise on everyone at my twenty-first birthday by, during my speech I asked her to come and stand by me. Taking a ring box from my pocket I, with great ceremony produced the ring and asked her to marry me. She accepted and that should have been the beginning of the happiest time, but alas it wasn't to be.

Don't get me wrong, for a time there life was very good, we both had good jobs and we spent every minute, apart from when we were at work, with each other. From the outside looking in we were, to all intents and purposes, the perfect engaged couple, but, as they say, looks can be deceiving.

At first I suspected nothing, but she began to work late on a more frequent basis, cancelling dates at the last minute and being reluctant to commit to dinner engagements until the last minute. That I wasn't immediately suspicious was largely due to my trusting her and not believing that she would betray me, but I eventually began to suspect her of infidelity. I pushed my trust aside long enough to wait outside her work after hours to see if she was working late. She emerged from the building with a man I knew to be her boss and she was obviously on very good terms with him because she was laughing and smiling at him and they had their arms around each other. They hailed a cab and disappeared from view taking my life with them.

I deferred my part-tine Engineering studies and resigned my job. I had been accepted on graduating high school into Officer Training at the Defence Force Academy Duntroon so I contacted them and arranged to begin Officer Training at the next intake which was in three months. In the mean time I sold my Mercedes and bought a real 4 wheel drive and headed bush. It was the right time of the year, October, the end of the dry and before the wet set in big time, to tour the Top End which was as far from Sydney as I could get, so I headed North up the coast and headed West through Kakadu and into the Kimberly.

I explored the country with its gorges that had not yet begun to hear the roar of the wet season floods, the parched landscape providing little shelter from the searing sun but I pressed on, through the Bungle Bungles with their layered stone beehive formations towering out of the flat scrublands until I hit the Kimberly coast. Here my journey paused while I experienced the wonders of the tidal races where ten metre tides had to squeeze through narrow gaps in the coastal cliffs forming a horizontal waterfall. One tour company with high powered boats would actually take pleasure seekers through these rapids, it was one hell of a ride. Soon the dark monsoonal clouds began forming in the North so I headed down the coast, pausing to feed the dolphins at Monkey Mia before heading to the Margaret River wine country to try their excellent reds.

A week of wine tasting passed quickly and I was on the road again, across the Nullarbor Plains with their hundreds of Kilometres of flat desert countryside skirting the coastline with its hundred metre high limestone cliffs from the top of which I witnessed the migration of the Southern Right whales that moved into the shallow waters to calf and mate. The whale population has increased dramatically since whaling was stopped many years ago so most side trips resulted in sightings.

I avoided Adelaide, travelling instead through the Barossa Valley onto the Sturt Highway through the Riverland with its kilometre on kilometre of irrigated farmland until I reached the start of the Hay Plains, several hundred kilometres of flat, featureless countryside, mostly salt bush with the occasional area of crops before joining the Hume Highway that took me north to Yass where I turned east to Canberra and my destiny.

I checked into my accommodation and took my mobile phone out of my bag and put it on the charger. I wasn't looking forward to checking my inbox because I knew pretty much what was waiting for me. I scrolled through deleting everything from Stephanie and replied to one from my parents telling them not to worry about me and that I was okay. I decided not to tell them where I was and what I was doing because they would probably pass the information on to the bitch, and I wasn't ready to face her just now and probably never.

I graduated as an officer in the Australian Army and it was assumed that I, with my engineering background, would go into the Engineers but I had other ideas and had been working up to this decision, I wanted to join the SAS, I wanted to be in the thick of action and, if I stopped to think about it, I wanted to increase my chances of being killed in action.

One thing, one of many things, that I learned during the three years of intensive, brutal, physically and mentally demanding training was the SAS was about avoiding getting killed by being the best there is. We were taught to second guess the enemy in any situation, and with the emphasis in the current World political climate, that would have to be Afghanistan. It was a case of travel light, travel fast, hit hard and get away.

It was hard up there with the heat and the dust, not knowing where the enemy was most of the time and trying to think like him. The Taliban had a completely different mind-set when it came to fighting than we did, he wasn't above using civilians as a shield for his operations and if our intelligence proved to be wrong and we hit civilian targets it appeared as if by magic on the Web, as a result we tended not to use third party intelligence, choosing to rely on our own.

We, for once, found ourselves having to mount an operation based on third party intelligence and we were discussing the best plan of attack. We had been advised that a Taliban group was based in a small village about fifty kilometres away, but something about this information set the alarm bells ringing loudly. We had satellite images of the village and there was evidence of some sort of military activity but that wasn't what we were worried about. To get to the village we would have to travel down a valley and about five kilometres before the village the terrain was perfect for an ambush, it passed through a narrow ravine with plenty of rocky cover on either side.

We had been ordered to mount the raid for the next day. Again the alarm bells, why had we been asked to wait. A decision was made to do what we do best. A patrol would be sent out in the morning but it would stop well short of the ravine, out of rocket range, and wait. Another patrol would set out at dusk this evening, conditions were in our favour, no moon, and using night vision glasses we would travel half the way in APCs and the rest of the way on foot arriving in the early hours of the morning in time to set up in the high ground looking down from either side into the ravine.

As the sun rose we could make out about a dozen men leave the village and set up either side of the ravine with their rocket launchers. Another group went along the road setting up IED's, (improvised explosive devices) they really meant business, we would be lucky to survive. As soon as they saw the dust cloud from our decoy patrol approaching several men ushered a group of kids and a herd of goats down the road toward the ravine. Their plan was to block the road with the goats forcing our patrol to stop in the ravine in a position that left them vulnerable to attack. Any effort to turn and run would be stopped by the IED's.

The patrol stopped at the same time as the goats entered the ravine and this caused the enemy some concern, they couldn't understand why the patrol had stopped, bends in the road meant that the patrol couldn't see into the ravine and there hadn't been any radio warning. Curiosity got the better of them after half an hour by which time we had a fix on them. Our radio scanner picked up a message from the waiting group to someone. We expected to see someone come out of one of the houses but instead a man emerged from the entrance of a cave some fifteen hundred metres from where were dug in and about five hundred metres the other side of the village. A fix was made on the entrance to the cave and when the order was given three rockets were launched simultaneously. Two struck the men on either side of the ravine while the third followed the man as he ran back into the cave. The result was total devastation, particularly the rocket that hit the cave. It must have been the main munitions stockpile for this group because the explosion was much greater than we would have expected from the rocket. There was a smaller explosion near the entrance to the cave that caused a rock-fall that blocked the entrance. This was followed by a much larger explosion that caused the whole hillside to erupt in a cloud of smoke, rock and dust.

As soon as the dust settled the patrol on the road moved in led by the mine clearance boys and they were soon in the village surrounded by kids and older people. We followed them in and our interpreter began to gather information from the residents. We had managed to complete our mission without the loss of one civilian life.

It transpired that they had been forced to comply with the orders given by the Taliban leader who had also set up a camera team that hoped to get vision of our forces firing on the villagers as well as the fighters. They had been holding the village women in one of the houses but the guards had run as soon as we had attacked and the women escaped.

One disturbing piece of information that we managed to glean from the people was that, the day before, a helicopter had landed near the cave and a westerner had got out and spent about an hour inside before flying away. What did this mean? Was there someone, one of our own, working against us.

It didn't take long to find out who the real enemy had been in that operation. Someone had leaked information to someone else that we were preparing to move on poppy fields, and that someone else didn't want a reduction in production because there was good money to be had from high grade heroin in the US. When there is money involved, in this case shit loads of money, lives no longer matter, not even friendly lives.

I was at the debriefing copping it from the brass; "Captain Forrester, why had you disobeyed direct orders?

"With all due respect sir," I looked directly into the eyes of this jumped up seppo (Seppo is Aussie slang for American; seppo, septic tank, Yank, you get the drift) officer who had ordered the operation, "We felt that there was something wrong with the Intel, so we had a second look at it. The op had ambush written all over it so we used a tactic that started in the jungles of PNG in World War 2 and worked for us in Vietnam, and that was to outflank the enemy, and that meant to not do what the enemy expected us to do, and in this case that meant disobeying your orders. The result was a successful op with no collateral damage and no loss of life on our part. In military terms sir, (there was a sarcastic emphasis on the 'sir') a very successful operation all round."

The attention of the review team was now deflected to the officer who had ordered the op and I left the room while he was trying to explain how it was that the Taliban had foreknowledge of our planned attack and were ready for us, and how it was that he was prepared to sacrifice troops belonging to an allied force.

There were two further results of this outburst. I received a medal for my efforts and a posting to a training position back in Oz. I thought that the whole unit should have been rewarded for what was a perfect team operation, and I definitely wasn't happy about my redeployment. My feelings were that heavy influence had been brought to bear on our command to get me out of the country to minimise the risk of this ever seeing the light of day.

My flight back to Sydney was uneventful, I was flown to Hong Kong and then on to Sydney and, out of uniform I blended in, almost, with the other economy class passengers. Obviously no expense was being spared on me.

I called in to see my parents who were both surprised and pleased to see me but, because of the nature of my career, I was unable to tell them much about what I had been doing over the past four years since I had graduated from Duntroon, they had assumed that I was in an Engineering Battalion that was overseas doing some humanitarian work. I did nothing to dissuade them from that notion. Mother asked about my personal life and I told her that I had none, no wife, no kids, no girlfriend, just me and the Army. "Whatever happened between you and Stephanie, one minute you were just about married and the next you were gone. You never mentioned her whenever we met you, it's almost as if she doesn't exist."

"That's right, as far as I'm concerned she doesn't exist, let's leave it at that shall we."

On my second day back I was walking down George Street looking for a menswear shop that I used to get my clothes from only to find it wasn't there any more when I bumped into a fellow Duntroon graduate. "Forrester, what the fuck are you doing here? The last I heard you were in Afghanistan."

"Hi Pete, good to see you. Yeah well, I guess I was surplus to requirements and got sent home."

"You still with SAS?"

"No, I've been transferred to a training posting. I have a couple of weeks leave before I take up my new posting."

"Ouch! You were so keen to join the SAS I would have thought you'd be with them for the duration."

"So did I, believe me, so did I."

"What are you doing tonight?"

"Nothing planned, why?"

"Do you remember Julie Simpson, that gorgeous blonde at Duntroon, well I'm meeting her tonight, it's beginning to get serious between us, anyway she's got this really smashing looking cousin, why don't I give her a ring and see if she can convince cuz to come and meet a real life war hero?"

"I don't know, I only got in yesterday and I'm still a bit jetlagged."

"Bullshit, you've been trained to be always ready for action, maybe tonight you'll see some."

"Okay, but don't get angry if I fall asleep at some time during the evening. What does the cousin do? Is she married and looking for action on the side, because if she is I don't want any of it."

"I don't quite know, all that I do know is that she's often in the society pages and goes to all the A list functions, so she must be someone important, or know someone important. Where are you staying?"

"The Hyatt. The Army flew me home cattle class but put me up in 5 star accommodation, I haven't worked that one out yet."

"Great, I'll pick you up at seven, put on your best gear we're going up-market tonight."

Seven o'clock and my phone rang. "Good evening sir, it's David from reception, there is a Captain Tolhurst waiting for you."

"I'll be right down, thank you." I looked at myself and considered that I passed inspection and left. Pete was standing in the foyer with Julie who looked better than I remembered. I breathed a sigh of relief, at least I was appropriately attired. I gave Julie a hug and she kissed me on the cheek.

"We're picking Steph up on the way, she lives a Rushcutters Bay." The name Steph set alarm bells ringing until I rationalised that there must be at least half a million Stephs in this world and the chances of it being one in particular were extremely remote. I was just about to say something stupid. I had got out of the car and was holding the door for when I recognised her walk and as she got nearer I recognised the face. I would have said something stupid then but she put her finger to my lips and then kissed me. "Hi Jimmy," her voice was soft and low and very sensual, "don't say anything, please. I'm told that you are vey good at winging it, so let's not spoil the evening, I mean to enjoy myself and hope that you will to. I'll explain it all later."

"What are you two whispering about back there? Don't tell me that you know each other." Pete looked at Julie who just smiled at him.

"All right I won't tell you." I slid in beside her and she leaned against me in exactly the same way that she did so long ago, the same way that would have me with a raging hard-on in minutes. This moment was no exception and she was aware of it.

"Still the same randy bastard I see." Her hand was there, over him, caressing him, what was I to do? Play it cool, I told myself, don't spoil it, I told myself, then I told myself to shut up. I leaned toward her and kissed very softly on those luscious lips of hers.

"Please, you don't realise what you're doing to me, it's been a long while." I whispered, removing her hand. She put it back.

"How long has it been?"

"When was the last time that we made love?" I saw her eyes open wide at that, she was trying to work out if I was angry or not. She didn't answer me. "That was the last time for me and if you don't take your hand of it he'll spoil the evening for me. There's at least four years of frustration down there waiting to explode."

"Jimmy, I'm sorry for what happened back then. I don't know why you left, you just disappeared and I couldn't find you. Could we please forget about it for the time being and enjoy this evening and I promise we'll discuss everything later, okay?"

"Okay. Sorry if I was acting weird but I was caught on the hop and didn't know how to react."

"I thought that you SAS heroes were trained to react to the unexpected."

"War zone unexpected is a far cry from this unexpected and there's no training that can prepare you for that. You obviously came prepared for this meeting."

"Yes. When Julie asked if I wanted to make up a foursome I was going to say 'no', but when she told me who my blind date would be I had to say 'yes'. I wanted to see you again so very much, to see what you were like, to see if you were still the wonderful man that I was in love with or whether the SAS had taken that away. I'm glad that I came."

What was this? She wanted to see me? What possible explanation could she have had for her behaviour back then? I was tossing up whether to call the whole thing off and go back to my lonely hotel or play along and hope that there was some sense in this charade.

We arrived at the restaurant on the Sydney Harbour foreshore, known for its fine dining and, if you happen to be a well known, reasonable prices. I didn't think that Pete or Julie would have racked up frequent diner points, I didn't know about Steph, if she wasn't then this would be an expensive night. It became obvious by the way the staff treated us as we entered that Steph was a client in very good standing, they couldn't have been more obsequious if they tried. We were seated at the best table and the Maitre D hovered to make sure that we were comfortable and that the waiters were in no doubt that they had to be on top of their game tonight.

A bottle of excellent Margaret River Sauvignon Blanc was produced to assist us in our meal selection, the menu was as spectacular and I had problems choosing. "Jimmy," Steph took my menu from me, "I know you like steak so you must try the fillet, please, allow me to order for you." Pete was looking at me with a strange expression on his face.

"Very well, I'm leaving it up to you." It wasn't the challenge that Pete was expecting, it was me giving in to her.