The Chronicles of Benjamin Jamison: Call Sign Reaper Read Free Page B

and anything else he found in it. Ben asked Gus if he would have the night cook make him a cheeseburger and fries, and he would be down after he cleaned up to eat. He realized he had missed dinner in all the excitement during the evening.
     
    Back in the hover car, the major got on her com and asked if they had found or seen anything. They both replied with a negative. She told the sergeant major and Gunny to meet her at the car. The short Asian man was Sergeant Major Mathew Kim and the large black man was Gunnery Sergeant William “Bill” Smith. The two of them had worked with the major since she was a second lieutenant. They had both been mid-rank NCOs at the time.
    The major decided to regroup. “Let’s go find the sheriff’s office and see if we can bail out those slugs I hired and get them a ride back to their ship. We’ll turn in after that and meet for breakfast at 0700,” she said.
    Bill called up emergency services on the hover car navigation. That got him the sheriff’s department as well as the hospital. He wasn’t sure if the sheriff would get them medical attention, and he thought they owed them that. As long as they didn’t push their luck with the major, she would probably take care of them.
     
    Ben found soap in the shower and a new toothbrush in a drawer in the bathroom. Gus wasn’t kidding; they left a lot of things behind , he thought. Clothes, furniture, towels, bedding. Whoever the man was, he weighed about as much as Ben but was shorter. Gus provided the washer and dryer for the apartment, so Ben threw his clothes in. He found a pair of scissors and made shorts out of a pair of pants that fit him in the waist but was four inches too short.
    The shower felt so good. The hot water and soap washed off the dirt and smell of the creek. His cuts and scrapes stung and his busted lip was swollen and throbbed a little, but overall Ben was feeling a lot better. He dressed and put on some sandals he found in the closet and went downstairs to get his cheeseburger and fries. His food was ready and in a basket. It smelled wonderful. He asked the night cook if he would take his money up to the bar, pay for his food, and get him two beers. Gus came back a minute later with two beers and his money.
    “It’s on the house from here on out.”
    “Thank you but you don’t have to do that,” Ben said.
    “Yes I do. You stepped up and helped when I needed it,” Gus replied.
    “They were assholes and had it coming.”
    They laughed. Ben said good night and headed up the back steps to the apartment. The food was good and the two beers helped him to relax even more. He lay back on the bed and closed his eyes. He hoped tomorrow would go back to normal. He would go home to the farmhouse and help the Vander Hoyts with anything they needed done on the farm.
    He thought about Major Andrea Anderson, then wondered, What the hell was with those damn spacers? If it had just been, the spacer crew he could have wrote that off in his mind as a fluke. The thing with the major followed right on the heels of the fight, so there is something fishy as hell about both of them. It was a nice kiss once she responded.
    Deep down Ben knew it wasn’t over. He knew he would see the major and her boys again soon. She didn’t seem like the type to just give up and go away . Ben drifted off to sleep.
    The major, sergeant major and Gunny were at the sheriff’s office. The spacer crew was all in one cell. They were mostly upright except for the big meathead who was out of it on painkillers. The major told the sheriff that the spacers were her crew and she had let them off the ship while they took on fuel and supplies. He chewed her ass up one side and down the other, telling her that the place they had tried to trash and persons they assaulted were friends of his.
    The night judge had already set their bail and fines earlier so after the sheriff was through yelling and the fines paid, the cell was opened and the spacers helped each