Bound Together
Chapter 1: Missing
'Myers,' a voice called over the training ground. One of the new recruits separated from the group running track and presented himself to the trainer. 'You've got a phone call at the main building.'
The recruit's face showed confusion. 'Who would be calling me here?'
'An air force officer,' the trainer replied, surprised by the question. 'You're retired military, aren't you?'
'Yes, the marines,' the recruit nodded. 'But I don't know anyone in the air force.'
'Air force, marines, navy or army, it's all the same to me. All you military types are already disciplined and easy to train. Rise through the ranks more quickly too,' the other man shrugged. 'Don't keep your call waiting.'
The trainee nodded, his arm twitching as if he had been about to salute but supressed it. The trainer smiled as the younger man jogged off to the main building on the training grounds. Old habits die hard.
'Hey Eric,' the receptionist greeted him with a flirty smile. He winked at her as he accepted the phone.
'Myers,' he grunted.
'Mr Myers,' a gruff voice greeted him from the other side of the line. 'My name is Colonel Williams. I'm the wing commander at Turtle Cove and I'm calling about your wife.'
'Pardon me, sir,' Eric bristled. 'But I'm not married.'
The receptionist giggled, indicating she was listening to his side of the conversation while she pretended to work.
'You are Eric Myers, former marine of the 2nd battalion of 1rst marines at camp Pendleton, are you not?' the colonel's voice sounded bemused now.
'Yes, sir,' Eric answered courtly.
'Well, we have you on record as the husband of a Lieutenant Earhardt. You are her first contact and listed as next of kin,' the colonel explained.
'I don't know any…' Eric started, but the general interrupted him.
'Lieutenant Taylor Earhardt?'
'Oh,' Eric breathed. 'That wife.'
The receptionist's shoulders slumped.
'I'm afraid she's gone missing during a routine flight a few weeks ago and hasn't checked in since. We've now officially listed her as MIA. Her personal effects are waiting for you to pick them up,' Williams explained.
'With all due respect, sir. Can't you contact her family and have them claim it? I haven't seen, heard or spoken to her in years. Since we married to be precise. Honestly, I'd forgotten all about that farce. Thought it would've been dealt with by now.'
From the corner of his eye, Eric noticed the receptionist perk up again. He couldn't quite believe the woman. She was nice to flirt with in passing, but there was no meaning behind it for him. Just some innocent flirting. All the recruits were doing it, why did he have to be special?
'I figured something like that,' the colonel admitted, startling him out of his contemplation. 'Since she spelled your name wrong on her application form. But you were the only Eric Myers at Pendleton.'
'I don't mean to be rude,' Eric sighed. 'But why is the commanding officer at the base calling me? Don't you have personnel to make these calls for you?'
'Normally I do, yes. But for Lieutenant Earhardt I make an exception. You see, I'd love to call her family, but you're not only registered as her first contact. Mr Myers, you're her only registered contact or family. There's no one else I can call. And I've met Taylor as a recruit before I was promoted and lost track of her until she got assigned here. As far as she's aware, she has no living relatives.'
Eric cursed under his breath. 'Well, in that case. I can't leave the training grounds until the weekend, but I'll drive up to Turtle Cove and pick up whatever there is then.'
'We'll have it waiting for you,' Colonel Williams offered. 'Have a good day, marine.'
Before Eric could protest the label put on him, the connection was cut. Eric handed the horn back to the receptionist, he now realised he didn't even know her name, and headed back outside to re-join his group of trainees. His thoughts were whirling.
Eric stood at attention in front to Air Base Wing Commander's desk. Something about the atmosphere had him revert right back to his military training. He regarded the box on the desk like it might explode at any moment. The personal effects of Lieutenant Earhardt were pitiful, to say the least. Possessions at a base were always kept to a minimum, varying depending on how sentimental a person was. Eric Myers was anything but a sentimental person and even he had had more personal effects on base.
'I wanted you to see this,' Colonel Williams addressed him, picking out a sheet of paper from a file and handing it over.
Eric quickly recognized it as part of an enlistment form. His eyes were drawn to the contact information for next of kin. "Erick Meyers" it said, obviously she hadn't been able to figure out if his name was written with a C or a K, so she'd just gone for both. Nor had she known the first E didn't belong in his last name either. She had gotten his date of birth right though. Must've remembered it had been his 21rst birthday when they met and counted back from there. At the phone number and address it had Pendleton Marine Base written boldly across it.
The form summed up what they actually had known of each other quite nicely.
'At least she was honest,' Eric sighed and looked at the Colonel. 'And I'll tell you honestly, I'm not proud of what happened.'
'I'm sure,' the Colonel nodded. 'But we've all done things we aren't that proud of in our youth. I'm guessing alcohol was involved?'
'I plead the fifth on that,' Eric shrugged, feeling some colour rise on his cheeks. 'What happened to her anyway?' he asked, changing the subject.
The Colonel gave him a small smile. Of course he knew Taylor shouldn't have been drinking that night and wouldn't have been able to buy the alcohol herself. 'Like I mentioned over the phone, it was a routine flight like any other day,' Williams allowed the change of subject. 'And she was one of our best, in line for another promotion too. She reported seeing something and going to investigate it. Moments later her jet disappeared off the radar.'
'It crashed?' Eric asked.
'No, that's the mysterious bit. She did her name proud and did an Earhart. The plane disappeared from the sky into thin air. We've searched the area she disappeared, but found no crash site.'
'Couldn't it have gone under water?'
'No,' Williams shook his head. 'The only body of water around here that's large enough to make a jet disappear is the ocean and her flightpath took her inland. I have no explanation as to how and why the jet and Lieutenant could've disappeared.'
A chill ran down Eric's spine at the words. The idea of people disappearing into thin air was unnerving. But for that person to be the one he was accidentally married to. It made him realise his situation might never be resolved now.
'There's another matter I didn't mention over the phone.'
'I'm almost afraid to ask,' Eric sighed.
'There's another form where your name is mentioned. I'm pretty sure it's one she never thought would be used, but… Well, now she's listed as MIA, the form makes us legally bound to pass her pay to you until she's found or time has passed that we have to list her as deceased.'
The thought of suddenly being a widower without actually really having been married to her send another set of chills down Eric's spine. 'I can't accept it. I don't need it.'
'No one is telling you to spend it,' the Colonel sighed. 'But we can't pay her directly anymore and since your officially her husband. I'm sorry, but it's not something you can refuse.'
Frustration bubbled up inside the younger man. One drunk night in Vegas and now he was suddenly stuck with a box of stuff from a girl he didn't even know and forced to receive her paycheque too. It felt so wrong, like he was invading her privacy. And yet it was her own doing by naming him on official documents. 'Where should I leave the necessary information?'
Colonel Williams noticed the change of tone in the man's voice instantly. He wanted to get out of his office as fast as he could now. Given what little he knew of the actual circumstances, but being able to hazard a pretty accurate guess, he couldn't blame Eric for it. 'You can leave it at with my secretary,' he offered. 'Now, if you would excuse me. I have a base to run.'
Eric recognized a dismissal when he heard one. He saluted the Colonel before picking up the box and left the office. As he left the information to his bank account with the Colonel's secretary, there was one thing he knew absolutely sure. Meeting Taylor Earhardt had not made his life any easier.
A/N: Okay, this is a working title, but it will probably stick because it fits the plot I'm intending. And I don't know how fast I'll be able to write and update this. But… I just thought to leave the first chapter right here and see what you all think.
