No Place for Females

Chapter Fifteen

I took the safety off my rifle and ran towards the back of the house. I had no idea who or what was causing Khalesia to scream, but whatever it was, I wanted to be ready for it. Her screams sounded muffled, as if her mouth was being covered. I heard Musa yelling.

Oh, God. What was happening? A very small part of me wanted to run and hide. But the bigger part of me knew that running was not an option. I might not be alive if those kids hadn't helped me. And they were kids. I owed it to them.

I wasn't sure which side of the house I could go around without being seen. After a moment of indecision, I followed Khalesia's path. I inched around the house as quietly as I could. When I was close enough, I stuck my head out slightly to see what was going on.

A man was holding Khalesia by the neck and pointing a pistol at her head. I recognized him as one of the men who had come to the house the day before. Musa was aiming an AK-47 at the man. Khalesia screamed and struggled as the man tightened his grip around her neck. He was screaming at her and Musa was screaming at him.

Unless I acted soon, he would shoot her, on purpose or by accident. But I didn't know if I could make the shot. They were too close together. I might accidentally shoot Khalesia.

I could hear Ben's voice in my head. Put a red dot on it.

I raised my rifle.

###

Ben was sitting next to the holding tent, handcuffed and feeling ashamed and pissed off. He couldn't believe he'd lost his temper and made such a stupid mistake. Although it had felt good to suckerpunch Markham, it hadn't been worth it. The ruckus had interrupted the VTC, and all the senior officers were in that tent with Colonel Bount. To save face, Markham claimed that Ben was completely out of order. Bount had ordered the base security forces to take Ben to the holding tent and detain him. Ben went out screaming, but it was no good. Markham had reached Bount first, and now there was no way Bount would ever listen to what Ben had to say.

Ben couldn't stop thinking about what Maria had told him. There had to be a way to get someone to follow it up. He found it hard to believe that they hadn't already debriefed her. At times, he couldn't believe the idiocy of Marine Corps leadership. No, that wasn't true. Not all Marines were idiots. Just Markham. And Ben was willing to admit that he was an idiot, too.

Maybe if he could get the attention of the guards, he would be able to get someone to listen to him. They were processing his paperwork now, and he sort of knew the guard who was in charge of security. They had been in the same platoon in Parris Island. LaFrenier was his name. He was a good dude. Maybe he would listen to Ben.

"LaFrenier!" Ben shouted. "LaFrenier!"

Crap. Maybe everyone had given up on him. If only Jonesy were here right now. He would have helped Ben to figure out a better plan. "LaFrenier!" he called again.

LaFrenier walked out of the tent with an annoyed look on his face. "Cooper, what the hell are you yelling for? You're in enough trouble as it is. Don't make me throw you into the tank."

The tank was where security forces held unruly subcontractors and dissidents that tried to make trouble around the base. It was really just another tent, but Ben knew they would wrestle the unfortunate rabblerouser into a straitjacket before putting him in there.

"LaFrenier, dude, I really need you to just give me a few minutes to explain what happened."

LaFrenier shook his head. "Dude, I can't. Look, I know Markham is an asshat, but you can't just punch the dude. He's got his head so far up Bount's ass that when Bount farts, it comes out of Markham's asshole. There's no way you weren't gonna get hammered for that."