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swinging a battle axe than as a soldier with a rifle. However, he was a soldier in the truest sense of the word. Fiercely
loyal to his country and friends, he would never consider letting
any secrets entrusted to him slip out. I felt that Linda was right
and he would never be one to run to the press with a juicy story
like this, as long as he gave us his word.
    If Sid was the textbook warrior, Sara would
be better described as a killer. Cold and calculated, I could
easily picture her shooting down her enemies with a sniper rifle,
then calmly talking about her slaughter over breakfast. Of the two
of them, she would scare me more to have as an enemy.
    I didn’t know her as well as Sid, but as they
both lived by the same creed, I could probably trust her as well.
Decided, I said “Ok, let’s get hold of them and see who’s willing
to come down here. We’ll tell them all that it’s just to get
together though, and then feel them out before springing the
news.”
    “That works for me,” she said with a
satisfied nod. “I was trying to think of how to approach the
subject on the phone and was coming up blank.”
    Laughing, I replied “That’s the kind of phone
call that would get them to send the friendly folks with the
butterfly nets to come and take us away to a nice comfy padded
room. Let’s set it up like a casual little party and take it from
there.” In agreement, we both went inside to get the ball
rolling.

Chapter 7

    Linda: Party Surprises

    We had gotten lucky with our invites. Carl
was at loose ends until his next project began in a month, and was
looking for something to do. The Jensen’s were just finishing their
lectures for the latest class at the Ranger Training school in Fort
Benning, GA. They had all agreed that a little gathering at my
place would be a nice change of pace, and everyone would be
available starting next Monday.
    We spent the time until they arrived getting
the house ready for guests. We cleaned all of the common areas, put
fresh linens on the spare beds, and laid in an extra stock of food
and drink. Some work we did by hand, and some we did the other way. When the day finally arrived we were both
nervous, but willing to see things through. Carl arrived at the
airport first, and we both drove out there to pick him up. Mark was
going to lend Carl his truck for the duration of his stay, but Sid
was planning to rent a vehicle, so they would simply come down to
my house when their flight arrived later tonight.
    We had a big steak dinner planned for
tonight, but stopped off for a quick snack on the way back since
Carl had just spent the last eight hours in various airports and
was starving. With a couple of beers and a few dozen hot wings
under our belts, we arrived back home in good spirits. Mark and
Carl immediately claimed spots around the patio table and began
swapping stories and news. Men liked to claim that women spent all
of their time gossiping, but here were these two chattering away as
if had been years since they had talked, rather than weeks.
    Knowing that Mark would return the favor
later when my friends arrived, I made myself busy preparing a small
tray of snacks for us and brought it out with some drinks. Deep in
a conversation too technical for me to easily follow, I went and
laid out some wood in the fire pit. Getting that started occupied
me for a few minutes, and once I had a cheerful fire going, I
called the boys over to join me. Abandoning the remains of the food
tray, they quickly complied.
    Settling down into the canvas chairs around
the fire, they continued their technobabble geek speak, only
occasionally remembering to throw me a conversational bone. After
about an hour of nodding my head to discussions like ‘friction loss
effects on mass flow ratios’, I was glad to hear the sound of tires
rolling up the gravel of my driveway. It sounded like Sid and Sara
had finally arrived and I quickly got up so I could greet them.
    The rest of the evening was much