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she checked to make sure she had her patrol cap in her cargo pocket. Frays could not help but snatch surreptitious glimpses of the area beyond as she followed Major Zachariah Tennyson back into the lobby and down the hall. She had worked in the radio room a couple times but had never been beyond that before. It was kind of busy and cramped with people going here and there like some kind of beehive or something…if bees wore uniforms.
    “I heard about your brother, Airman.” the compact, muscular Marine said over his shoulder as the two of them walked quickly down the hall. The two of them dodged an Asian man dressed as a Blue Diamond contractor. Tennyson glared at the man for a second as if he were trying to start the man’s head on fire with his mind. “Hope he gets well soon.”
    “Thank you, sir.” Frays said, rolling her eyes at the mercenary as she continued following the major. Almost plowing into a pregnant woman was one thing but a friggin’ senior officer? Some people had no respect at all. “I…I guess he was thinking of enlisting.”
    Major Tennyson let her into a large room at the end of the hall. It looked like it had been one of the hotel’s higher end rooms once upon a time: there was a large bed in the middle of the room along with a Jacuzzi filled with water. Frays glanced inside the open door that looked like it led to the latrine with its private toilet, sink and combination bathtub and shower. The latrine looked like it was about the size of her cubicle at the Resettlement Center. There was a large flat screen television mounted to the wall and a desk in the corner that was piled high with papers and binders.
    The man sat down at the desk in the corner and motioned for her to take a seat on the corner of the bed. “Actually, that’s kinda what I wanted to talk to you about.”
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
    Chapter Two
    3 July 2011 1912 hours NorthCom Forward Operating Base Freedom Sanford, Maine
    Lieutenant Beth Haskins stood with her arms crossed over her stomach and frowned slightly. Eight big green, red or blue connexes had floated down on giant parachutes guided down to earth via GPS transceivers mounted on top of the metal shipping containers allowing the airdrop to land within a few dozen feet of the other box that one of the flyboys set up on the Helipad.
    The woman walked over to the nearest container and leaned against the open doors. Three or four of the Blue Diamond guys carried boxes out of the connex and stacked them outside for transport to their area on the other side of compound. One of them, a short guy that looked like he could dead lift a Buick, glanced at the officer as he passed by. “’Scuse me, Ma’am.” the mercenary muttered as he maneuvered around Haskins.
    The guy was close enough that she could get a good look at the man’s eyes. They were all red and she caught wind of a peculiar odor on the man’s clothes. “Hey, come over here for a minute.” Haskins ordered as she waved the man over to the other side of the metal container. “Sir, you wouldn’t happen to have any illegal vegetation on your person, would you?”
    The man gave her a big cheesy grin and chewed loudly on a piece of bubble gum. “Why?” the man asked and glanced back towards his fellows “Lookin’ to score?”
    Haskins sighed heavily and marched back around the connex towards the other mercenaries. “GENTLEMEN!” she announced making everyone stop what they were doing and look at her. “Stop what you’re doing. This is a snap health and welfare inspection. Open those boxes, please.” 
    The three other mercenaries looked at the naval officer as if she had suddenly gone stark raving mad. The senior of the four men, Jason Maddox, set down his burden and glanced over his shoulder at her. “No, don’t think