Alarm of War by Kennedy Hudner Read Free Book Online Page A

condescendingly. “And you made the jump from a morning at the rifle range to a surprise mission how, exactly?”
    “Hiram thinks they’re going to send us on a major exercise.”
    Skiffington pursed his lips and nodded. “Ah, well,” he said sarcastically. “If Brill says it, it must be so, right?” He looked tall and fit and more like a
soldier
than Brill, and the contrast of the two of them standing side by side somehow made Brill’s hunch sound like a feeble joke.
    “Sergeant Kaelin would never give us five days of light duty,” Brill said defensively. Emily winced.
    Skiffington laughed then, the tone hovering on the edge of outright scorn. “You want everyone to carry thirty extra pounds because the Sergeant is being
nice
? You sound like the lunatic fringe, you know that?”
    Two bright spots appeared on Brill’s cheeks. Cookie Sanchez pushed forward, thrusting her face close to Skiffington’s. “Show a little respect, you piece of shit,” she growled. “While you busy getting’ our asses shot off time after time, Hiram here is the guy who took out two enemy companies. You got balls, Skiffy, I give you that, but you ain’t got the brains of a gnat. Hiram is smart, you hear? If he says the Sergeant is about to mess with us, that’s good enough for me.”
    Emily looked at Cookie in surprise. This was something more than a person just defending a friend. There was a distinct whiff of
ownership
in her tone and body language. Skiffington’s gaze flickered from her to Brill and back again. A little smile tugged at the corner of his mouth. “Well,” he drawled. “Who would have guessed? The notebook geek and the Amazon lady.”
    Emily could sense Cookie sliding towards a fight. “It’s just a smart precaution, Skiff,” Emily said quietly, hoping to defuse the situation. The other members of Blue Company were looking at each other. Not a few laughed. Some look concerned. But Skiffington was in command, and he did not like anyone to disagree with him in public.
    Skiffington snorted in amusement. “We’re going to the rifle range. Bring whatever gear you want, just don’t complain about how heavy it is later.”
    An hour later Blue Company assembled at the rifle range. As they assembled, about thirty of them wore full battle gear. Sergeant Kaelin shook his head wonderingly.
    “I see that some of you recruits are either hard of hearing, just plain stupid, or gluttons for punishment,” he remarked sarcastically. Emily wasn’t sure, but she could have sworn he glanced at her as he said it. She felt a little flicker of doubt. What if she was wrong?
Screw it,
she thought.
If I’m wrong, I’m wrong.
Cookie glanced at her, gave a reassuring wink. Brill kept his eyes fixed straight ahead, his jaw set.
    After ninety minutes of target practice, Sergeant Kaelin blew his whistle and shouted, “Cease fire! Cease fire! Blue Company, load up by platoon on the trucks. Back to base for lunch, then we start to pack up the Company equipment. Get a move on, people!”
    As they boarded the trucks, Skiffington shot her an
“I told you so”
look, then they were headed back to camp, down a long gravel spur that led to the main camp road. Emily’s transport was third in a row of five trucks. As the truck lurched and bounced along, Emily glanced at her watch. Just coming on noon; her stomach was grumbling with hunger. She looked at Brill. He shrugged apologetically. “Sorry,” he said, a little sheepishly.
    “Don’t you go be sorry, sugar,” Cookie said from the other side of the truck. “It ain’t over yet. We got ourselves ten miles or more on this back road. Good ambush territory. You keep your safety off and your eyes peeled.”
    Emily laughed out loud. Of course! “Hey, folks,” she called to the others. “Weapons ready! Keep your eyes on the trees for bad guys.” The others in the truck collectively blinked. Three shook their heads in disgust and went back to talking, but the rest dutifully unlimbered