Day 20-3
"Well, well, well, well! Now what kind of a mess are you in this time, Riggin?"
"Oh, my God!" My eyes get real big. "How the hell did you end up here, Sir?" I grin broadly at Lieutenant Colonel Mossburg, my former Battalion Commander, who has walked in together with the Private.
"And a good day to you too, Riggin," he grins back. "Actually that's a question I should be asking you."
The Private is just staring at the both of us, his mouth open in total disbelieve.
"Well, Sir, it's a real long story, but I'm sure glad to see you."
"Is that so! And just what makes you think, I'm here to bail you out?" Mossburg inquires, however with a smirk.
"Oh, come on, Sir..."
"Private," he interrupts me, grinning, "do you have any idea, how much trouble this man has already caused me?"
No answer. The Private merely shakes his head, his mouth still open.
"Well, let me tell you a little about this Sergeant Chase Riggin here then," Mossburg says, giving me a furtive wink. "He is probably the most stubborn, pig-headed, insubordinate, loud-mouthed, beer-drinking, cussing, trouble-making, red-neck Hillbilly, you will ever get to meet in your whole life. Now let him out," he rattles off in one single breath. "Private, let him out," he repeats, grinning from ear to ear when there is no response.
"Yes...yes, Sir! Just a moment, Sir!" The Private turns red and hustles out the door.
"Thanks!" I breathe a sigh of relief. "Damn, Sir, I didn't know you thought so highly of me."
"Welcome, and sure I do," he gives back. "So what's all that stuff about you and Cut getting into it with a bunch of Government boys?"
"You already heard about that?" My eyes widen again.
"Bad news travels fast, doesn't it? I just happened to be in Bradford's office when your little MP-buddy called. Imagine my surprise when your name comes up," he says with a little bit of a sneer. "Anyway, as far as what I got out of Bradford, he isn't too happy with you right now. Says you disobeyed direct orders, getting him into all kinds of hot water with some agent..."
"Yeah, but there's a whole lot more to that story, Sir," I throw in.
"Found that out too, Riggin. I thought I'd take a little stroll over here and see what's going on, then I run into a certain Lieutenant Hughes and we get to talking."
"He's already here?"
"Yup! And for what he told me in a hurry, you guys made quite a mess of things."
"Actually we cleaned up quite a mess, Sir," I reply somber. "Or at least we're working on it. You know where LT is at now? He doesn't know all of what happened yet."
"He's trying to get all that paperwork straight, so they let you out of here."
"Great! Hope he..." I stop in mid-sentence when the door opens again.
The Private is back, along with Sergeant Donnan and Lieutenant Hughes.
"Chase," LT sounds concerned, "I just found out about Jimmy. What happened?"
"I'll tell you on the way. We gotta somehow get up to Seattle. That is, if they let me go."
"Sure! I got everything taken care of. Hurry up a little, Private," he snaps since the MP is fumbling with the keys. "Got all your stuff together already. We'n take my Hummer up, and I get a hold of Bradford later."
"Thanks, LT," I say, stepping out of the cell. "And thanks a bunch, Sir!" I salute Lieutenant Colonel Mossburg. "You too, Sergeant. See ya later."
"Take care," Donnan grins. "And tell Reece and Jimmy I said hi. Maybe I'll come down when I get off duty."
We shake hands, and then I am out the door.
#####
The drive to Seattle also seems to take forever, maybe just because my nerves are so far gone, if I have to go through another wait, I am ready to lose it. On top of everything, I am out of cigarettes—smoked the last one this morning, after digging that bullet out of Jimmy's side.
"So what happened, Chase?" Lieutenant Hughes starts since I don't say a word for the first ten miles.
"Well...man, you wouldn't happen to have a smoke on you, would ya?" I ask.
"In the glove-box. Help yourself."
"Thanks!" I pull out the pack of Camels that looks like it has been in there forever and a day. Don't matter. I'll smoke anything right now. "Well," I repeat, lighting one of the cigarettes, and start filling him in.
He doesn't interrupt once, just the expression on his face gets harder the longer I talk. "So Micheals is dead," he finally says, long after I finish.
"Yeah," I grumble, "but he got out the easy way."
"How so?"
"Well, he sure deserved more than just a bullet."
"Hmmm," he muses thoughtfully, "tell me somethin', Chase. That little remark you made up there, sayin' you needed me to pull one more string? What was that about?"
"I can't tell you that, LT," I answer hesitantly, not even realizing that my hand is fiddling with the bear-claw necklace I am wearing once again. "Was just somethin' that slipped out and shouldn't have."
"Somethin' to do with Jimmy, right?" he inquires, glancing over at me, but I don't reply. "Look, Chase, I saw his reaction when you said it, and that little discussion afterwards."
"Yeah, and that's why I can't say nothin'. Cut got onto my ass for it already."
"Maybe I ask Jimmy about it myself. Did you really dig that bullet out of 'im?"
"Had to, LT. That damn Huey took too long."
"Man, you sure got more nerve than a bum tooth." He shakes his head. "That why he gave you his necklace?"
"Nah," I hesitate embarrassed, "he gave me that the night before all this shit happened. Don't ask me why, LT. I never got a straight answer out of 'im either."
"Hmmm," he goes again, "sure hope he's alright though. Them civilian doctors, I trust 'em just about as far as I'n throw 'em."
"You an' me both, LT," I agree. "I tried to get 'im checked in at the med center, but..."
"Yeah, I heard," he snickers. "Scared the shit out of the girl at the desk and got arrested."
"Anything you ain't heard yet?" I smirk.
"Yeah, how'd you and Donnan figure out that you both know Cut?"
"Well..." I play with the necklace again and explain what happened.
"Weird!" he muses, then our conversation is over when we pull up at Seattle Memorial Hospital.
#####
Room 132
Chief looks up at us when we walk in, and my mouth drops open. Lieutenant Hughes doesn't look much better.
"What the hell do you think you are doing?"
"Eating!" Jimmy replies with a smirk.
He sure is! Damn him! Here I am worrying my ass off, and here he is sitting at the table like nothing ever happened, eating Cheeseburger and French Fries. He even got 'im a beer. Wonder how he got by with that?
"We'n see that," LT chuckles since I am still staring. "What? Cut call room-service for you or somethin'?"
Another smirk, and Chief shakes his head, motioning us to sit down. He pulls out a plump-full brown bag from behind Cut's duffel bag, and hands it over to LT. "Beer is over there," he points at the small night-stand beside the bed.
"Man, you got some kinda nerve, Jimmy!" I finally get back to my senses. "They catch you with that..."
He gives me a one-shoulder shrug and grins broadly, and I just shake my head, walking over to get a couple beers.
"Where is Cut?" I inquire, returning to the table, and handing LT one of the cans.
Chief is chewing on a mouthful of Fries, but makes a motion with his left hand—the right one is in a sling—like putting a phone receiver to his ear.
"Hey!" Cut walks in right at that moment. "You guys better got me some of that chow left. 'Bout time you showed up, Chase. Anyways, Deanna says hi, Jimmy, and she misses ya. Here!" Cut bends down and gives Chief a kiss on the cheek, almost getting slapped with a burger in return.
Jimmy looks at him like he isn't all 'there'.
"Hell, she said to give you a kiss from 'er," Cut chuckles, then adds more serious, "don't worry, I just told 'er that you's okay, and I'd have you home in a couple of days."
Chief draws a relieved breath, but with a wince and a quick reach for his tightly bandaged ribs.
"You alright?" I squint.
"Looks to me like he's gonna be just fine," Lieutenant Hughes assesses.
"Yeah," Cut snickers, "considerin' he gave that little Korean nurse one hell of a hard time, when she tried to get 'im to put one of them hospital gowns on."
"Can't say's I blame 'im there," LT throws in.
"Looks like he got his way with it too," I muse, since Chief is actually still wearing his own bloody pair of camo-pants. "But I'd still like to know whose idea that was," I continue, indicating the beer can in my hand.
"Mine of course," Cut admits without hesitation. "Had to do somethin', man. That stuff they feed you here makes you sicker than you was comin' in. Besides," he grins roguishly, "that little Korean nurse now really kinda got a thing for Jimmy. She's the one who helped me sneak the stuff in here."
I just shake my head. What can you say to that!
"Anyways, Chase," Cut continues, "where the hell have you been so long? We's worried to death."
"You were? Man..."
"Oh, he was a little held up," LT snickers since I don't give no further information.
"Held up?" Cut casts me a quizzical sideways glance.
"Yeah," LT answers for me again, "he had to check out a holding-cell for a while."
"Huh?"
The 'bright' reply gets Cut a squint from me, and the rest of the story from Lieutenant Hughes. "By the way," he adds, "you know a guy by the name of Rick Donnan?"
"Rick...man, I sure do!" Cut gets excited, and Chief gives him a quick left-handed sign. "Yeah! Man, where'd you see him? He's from down in Tulsa..."
"Well, he's here now," I throw in. "He's an MP-Sergeant down on base, and I had the pleasure of gettin' locked up by 'im."
"Bet he enjoyed that."
"More'n I did anyways," I answer dry. "We found out, kinda by accident, that he knows you and Jimmy..."
"Wait a minute," Cut interrupts, "was he the one who put the fax through, 'bout Jimmy being allergic to morphine?"
"Sure was. He remembered it from that Rodeo...by the way," I squint at Chief, "didn't know you's ridin'. How do you work that with the buzzer anyways?"
The—actually way too direct— question earns me a quiet smile and the indifferent remark, "I can count to eight!", from Jimmy. Great! Ask a stupid question! Guess there's a whole lot I didn't know about you.
"Damn, Chase," Cut gets back to the previous subject, "remind me to shake Rick's hand for that one, 'cause I wouldn't've even thought about it."
"Well, you just might get a chance to do that, Cut. He's supposed to stop by later."
"Gees, it's a small world," he muses.
"You'n say that again. Never guess who come to bail my ass out, besides LT that is."
"Who?"
"The name Mossburg ring a bell, Cut?"
"Moss...holy sheep-shit! He's here too?"
"Yup! Hell of a reunion, eh?"
"See," Lieutenant Hughes snickers, "one can never have enough connections."
"Sure right about that, LT!" Cut and I say it at the same time.