Heaven’s Gate
57 Career
Whitney’s tour in Turkey was over on the first of October and by Sunday she was home and in my arms for a two-week vacation. I was happy and a little pissed that she didn’t get a break in the middle of her deployment. She said things had been difficult and she was thankful to be home for my birthday. As far as that was concerned, I couldn’t have had a better birthday present.
“Just eight months and you’ll be home for good,” I said as I held her in my arms. “I miss you so much, Whitney. You’ll be so proud of the kids. They’ve really progressed. And Judy is turning into a great instructor. You know she’s defending her master’s thesis in Criminal Justice this month? She’ll have her degree in December! Would you believe she wrote her thesis on legal implications of personal and corporate security? She handles security for the village, the ranch, the studio, and the corporate offices. There has not been a single incident since you left. I’m giving her credit for that. And the shows. Well, they are draining. But I have this week off while Adam fills in for me. He’s on the road in San Francisco this week. I was happy to let him have that trip.” I was rambling and excited and punctuating every sentence with kisses as we lay in the master suite and recovered from our first round of love-making. She seemed as hungry for me as I was for her.
“Brian. Um… Oh, God, I’ve missed you.” There were tears in her eyes and she hugged me fiercely. Being hugged by Whitney could break your back. I had a feeling she hadn’t cried much in the past four years. “Let’s just make love and forget about everything for a while. We can talk later.” So we did.
Dani was the only one who joined us in bed. Whitney wasn’t much into girls, but she loved to be held by Dani. Everyone did. In the big bedroom, it was different. Everyone was around us and touches were freely given and received. She clung to Rose as I licked her to an orgasm and actually hugged us as Hannah and I made love.
She watched the kids do their forms and the kids were all attentive as she corrected them and demonstrated a few new moves. Watching Whitney naked as she moved through her forms was like watching a dance of elegance. Her long form glided through the forms. She was cut. Her arms, legs, back, and abs rippled with muscles. She was probably twice as strong as I was. And I knew she was lethal. I was surprised when she didn’t want to spar with me.
“You know, in all the time we worked with Master Xi, he didn’t let us spar. Everything was forms and control. Yet when you needed it, the power of the universe was at your command,” she said. “I understand now. You showed remarkable restraint the last time we sparred. I didn’t. I don’t know restraint. I can’t afford it.”
On Tuesday, the second week of her leave, I woke up at four-thirty and found her sitting in bed. She was staring off into space. Her jaw was clenched and a tear formed in her eye.
“What is it, Whit? What’s on your heart?”
“They killed one of my men,” she whispered.
“What? When? I never heard about anything happening anywhere near Ankara!”
“Nairobi.”
“When did you go to Nairobi? I thought you were in Turkey.”
“I was. I don’t know how much you know about Marines, especially the MPs. Platoons are usually led by a lieutenant. As a first lieutenant, ‘promotable’—meaning I’m on the list for captain in a few months—I’m commanding a detachment three platoons in size. Half the Marine MPs in Europe and Africa. A hundred and twenty men and women. You know I was sent to Ankara, but I spent as much time at Incerlik. We had an air training exercise there. With USAF, Turkish Air Force, Marines, and a Navy ship at anchor off the coast, I moved a platoon to Adana. I still had a platoon in Germany, two squads in Ankara, and I sent two squads to Nairobi and Dar es Salaam. They were green. It was first deployment for most of them, and what better way to get them used to focusing on their jobs than to send them to a couple of nice peaceful embassies as a security force?” She wiped her face with the back of her hand angrily. It suddenly clicked. The embassies had been bombed in August.
“They never had a chance. A truck pulled up to each embassy at the same time and blew up two tons of explosives. My sergeant was at the gate aiming at an insurgent who threw a flash-bang grenade into the compound when the truck blew up,” she whispered. “I sent him there to die.”
“Whitney, you didn’t send him there to die. You sent him there to do his job. He did it. You should be proud of him. We all should be.”
“Well. That was the beginning of a pretty tense few weeks. We were locked down. I sent a reinforcement squad from my Ankara group. Then we got orders to launch an attack into Afghanistan on the training bases they have there. Everything has been quiet since then.”
“Afghanistan? Who was responsible for this?”
“Some new terrorist organization called al Qaeda. We’re hunting the mastermind. It was so perfectly timed that neither embassy could warn the other.”
“I’m sorry, Whitney. I know what my feelings were after the attack on campus. I can only imagine how you feel, losing one of your men. I wish you didn’t have to go back,” I said.
“Well, you get your wish for once,” she snorted. “I’ve been transferred. I even had brass come down and congratulate me for the disciplined way my troops behaved under fire, organized immediate assistance for the injured, and secured the embassies. All twenty-four of them received Bronze Stars, which are the fourth highest decoration for achievement or valor. And in recognition of my troops’ behavior, I am being transferred to Fort Leonard Wood.”
“They’re mad at you?”
“No. Believe it or not, it’s a reward. I’m taking over security at the base and preparing to take over MP instruction. Leonard Wood is a multi-force installation where MPs for all services are trained. But even it needs an active police force. I’m in charge of it.”
“I’m so glad you’ll be home soon. Whitney, I worry about you every day.”
“I know you do, Brian. And I’m thankful for that. I dream about being in your arms every night. But darling, I’ll have a month off in June. Then I’m going back.”
“You’re what?”
“I’m not leaving active duty. I’ve been offered a Regular Marine Corps commission and told that once my papers are filed, I’ll be promoted to Captain and I’ll become a trainer for the future MPs. I like the Marines, Brian. If I can make more of them safe with good training, so much the better.”
“But…”
“And just think. I’ll only be 300 miles away. I get more leave time as a Captain and even long weekends. I’ll be back a lot more often than in my first tour. And $3,300 a month plus a living allowance! How can you beat it?”
How? $3,300 a month for a Captain in the Marines? And I sit at a desk and talk to idiots on television for nearly $7,000 a week?
I can tell you how to beat it!
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