WINCHESTER AND YOUNG – CHAPTER 13 – FALLOUT
FEATURING JADE YOUNG, CAPTAIN LAMONT CRANSTON, AND GENERAL CHRIS MUHER
DISCLAIMER: I DON'T OWN ANY OF THE SAILWEAVER AND SUPERNATURAL CHARACTERS, THEY BELONG TO THEIR RESPECTIVE CREATORS. DON'T SUE ME PLEASE.
One of the two officers escorting Jade knocked on the door to the general's office. "Come in," came the reply. The officer opened the door and entered with Jade in tow.
"Ms. Young, delivered as ordered, sir," said the officer who had opened the door.
"Thank you, gentlemen," Muher said, nodding. "You two, are dismissed. I am sure Jade understands that she is to stay put."
"Yes, sir," the first officer said, as both saluted and left the office. They closed the door behind them.
"So," Muher started, holding Lamont's report in his left hand, and tapping it against his right. "Lamont's report states that things went south, care to fill me in on it from your perspective?" His tone left no option for Jade to refuse his request.
"Sir, I arrived, as scheduled, for my interview with Mr. McKay," Jade started to give her report. "There had been nothing, in any of the reports I'd been getting, that this was anything other than a standard interview. My plan, was to use the interview to see if I could get some further clues regarding the case. Unfortunately, none of the reports had prepared me for the fact that whoever had hired McKay didn't want me to leave the interview among the living."
"He never said whom those superiors were?" Muher asked.
"No, sir, he pulled the gun on me, and started firing before I even got a chance to ask," Jade said, shaking her head.
"That's unfortunate, and I doubt that he will tell anything to us if we question him. Hopefully, Master Tristan can pull it out of him. By the time Tristan is done with him, he'll likely wish he'd told us instead," Muher said.
"Did Captain Lamont get his wound treated?" Jade asked.
"I sent him directly off to medical after he finished his report to me," Muher said.
"He should have gone to medical sooner," Jade said, looking at Muher. "He insisted that he process McKay himself. That he did that, then came to you for a report, you sent him to medical, concerns me."
"I don't know who was more reckless in this case." Muher glared at Jade. "You for not preparing for all possibilities, including getting yourself killed, or Lamont for neglecting treatment of the shoulder wound for so long. If that wound had been anywhere else, he likely would have bled out to give me his report before going to medical."
"If we hadn't had McKay in the backseat, I would have made him give me the key for his car and driven us both back myself," Jade said.
"You know, I think you actually would have, and you were trained by the best in hand-to-hand combat," Muher said, thinking. "I have a solution that will please both of you greatly, meaning neither of you will like it at all. Lamont, get over here, stop hiding in the shadows. You've been there this whole time."
"Yes, sir," Lamont said, coming out of the shadows to stand next to Jade. He did glare at Jade for the comment she'd made that she would have taken his car keys.
"Lamont is an expert in weapons and is one of my best trainers. I want him to train you, Jade, in the use of both a pistol and a knife. Both are weapons that are common, so no one will question you having them," Muher said, warming up to his subject. "Lamont, your responsibility is to train her so that she is as good, or better than you. I want everything you know to become instinct for her by the time you are finished training her."
"But, sir," both Lamont and Jade said at the same time.
"Did I hear any objections?" Muher asked with a smile, his eyes, however, were as hard as steel. There would be no room for argument here.
"No, sir," they both said together. "No objections here."
"Glad to hear it, you will work together until Lamont is satisfied," Muher said, seeing his point had been made. "Who knows, depending on how this works out, this might become a permanent thing. Dismissed."
Jade and Lamont both saluted and left the general's office. "You couldn't have taken my car keys away from me, even if McKay hadn't been in the backseat," Lamont said, glaring at Jade.
"Really, and what would you have done if that shot had hit a little lower? Bleed out and cause a traffic accident?" Jade said, glaring back. "How I'm going to put up with this, I have no clue. I have no choice, but I guarantee I could have taken those keys."
"Really? Then we're going to start with a little hand-to-hand refresher tomorrow before the good stuff," Lamont said. "Meet me at practice field two at eight bells in the morning watch. I'm going to make you eat your words."
"Bring it," Jade said, turning off towards her quarters. She noticed Lamont behind her. "Are you stalking me now?"
"Unfortunately, no, my quarters are also this way," Lamont said, stopping at quarters two doors from Jade's.
"Thankfully, I don't have to look at your face anymore," Jade said, opening her door and entering her quarters. She slammed her door shut behind her.
"Likewise," Lamont said, yelling down the hall, even though her door had shut. He went into his quarters and slammed the door shut.
If any officers had been passing down that hallway at that time, they would have heard Jade and Lamont yelling at the same time from their quarters. "Jerk!"