Chapter 2

Four hours later Starsky was rudely awakened at 5:00am by a clattering of pan lid on pans and O'Malley's dulcet tones telling them to rise and shine. After 8 weeks of basic training, and before that boot camp, Starsky was used to this type of alarm call and he was instantly awake, bounding out of bed and standing to attention at the foot of the bunk, shivering slightly in the cold of the very early morning. O'Malley stood at one end of the bunk house, his stick under his arm, ready to commence the day.

'What are the army values?' he called loudly

'Loyalty, duty, respect, selfless service, honour, integrity and personal courage, Sir' the men reeled off like a host of green clothes parrots.

'And what is the warrior ethos?'

'I will always place the mission first; I will never accept defeat; I will never quit; I will never leave a fallen comrade behind, Sir' they chorused loudly.

'Stand at ease'.

Each man placed their feet shoulder width apart, their hands clasped one inside the other in the small of their back, their right foot never moving. O'Malley walked down the length of the bunkhouse, then back again, taking in each of the ten men.

'Stand easy'

They let their arms fall to their sides.

'And rest'.

They stood relaxed and waited for O'Malley to tell them their orders for the day.

oOo

One day blended into the next during the following weeks of training which the men endured in the specialist unit. The Army had, during the past few years discovered the usefulness of snipers in major war zones and now this base, on the Mexican border was used to train young recruits who'd shown an aptitude for marksmanship. While their basic training had been the same as for every other recruit, they were now expected to partake in extra exercises in shooting anything from pistols to semi automatics and to riffles and rocket launchers. Starsky and Traff both scored equally highly on all the different weapons they used and became popular with all the other eight men in their unit save one.

From the first moment Cade had seen Starsky, he had take an instant dislike to the handsome young soldiers. He hated the fact that Starsky and Traff had such an easy rapport with all the other men and also to some extent with the drill instructors. While all the drill sergeants used the same techniques of training; yelling and shouting and generally putting their soldiers down was the standard Army approach to training efficient fighting machines, the two dark haired boys seemed to be able to let the noise and chaos roll over their heads, coming back from each gruelling training day with a smile on their faces and a joke always on their tongues. While Cade took every insult thrown at him as personal, Traff and Starsky laughed it off and in doing so, they made their comrades feel better, talking over problems, making light of discomforts and generally leading their team.

And all the while, Cade looked on from his self imposed exile, never missing the chance to put Starsky or Traff down. But while Traff had been with the unit for months, Starsky was still seen as the new recruit and the blond soldier saw him especially as fair game.

After one particularly tedious, hard day, during which the unit had been left doing a 10 miles run in full pack through a rain storm, Cade had once again decided that the time was right to get his own back on the popular boy. He waited until Starsky was at his super, then snook back to the bunk house and took the safety catch off the brunet's rifle. After they'd all eaten, O'Malley took the unit back to their bunks for final kit inspection and as each soldier stood at the foot of their beds with their rifles in present position, he took each weapon in turn and checked it for operational efficiency and cleanliness. As he got to Cades, O'Malley made some observation about the amount of mud still adhering to the stock of the weapon and shouted at the blond that he was slovenly and shoddy. Handing the weapon back, Cade's cheeks glowed red with embarrassment, but he knew he'd get his own back pretty soon. In Cade's eyes, the only one in the unit who deserved the shouting was standing right beside him.

O'Malley took Starsky's rifle next, expecting the perfection he'd seen in the young soldier from day one. Only Starsky's anger marred an otherwise perfect soldier, but deep down, O'Malley knew that anger could also benefit a man out on the jungles of 'Nam. He put the rifle to his shoulder, sighting down the barrel and his finger slid into position against the hair trigger. As he was about to give the weapon back, his finger snagged on the trigger and unexpectedly the rifle boomed into life sending splinters of wood flying left and right from the hole made in the bunk house wall. Soldiers too flew left and right as they ducked behind their beds to take cover and O'Malley's face paled.

Recovering his composure quickly, he flipped on the safety and flung the rifle back at the shocked soldier.

'Are you trying to kill us ya fuckin' moron?' he yelled, his face inches from Starsky's.

'Sir, no Sir' the boy said in a shocked voice. He never left the gun with the safety off. As young as 4 his Dad had taught him about gun safety and how to leave weapons. It was second nature to him to always check that weapons were left unloaded and with the safety on. He heard a stifled snort and looked sideways. Cade had his hand up to his mouth and his shoulders were shaking. The blood boiled in Starsky's veins but he knew now was not the time to get even with the blond. He concentrated instead on what the drill sergeant was telling him and caught up with the part where O'Malley was telling him that he was a liability and would spend two days in solitary to help him focus his mind. As he was marched from the room, he saw once again the grin of satisfaction on Cade's face and his hatred of the blond grew more intense.

oOo

It was a more careful brunet who emerged from the stockade two days later. O'Malley had been to visit him and had asked him if anyone could have sabotaged his weapon and although the drill sergeant knew Starsky was lying when he denied it, he couldn't force the information out of the young man.

And so Starsky was back to join his unit for the final exercise of the training. It was a 2 day route march to an unknown destination out in the desert and at the end of it would be a marine type assault course. The first day went well although it was exhausting as the soldiers were once again in full packs and had to cover 25 miles at a reasonable pace in the hot sun, before setting up tents in the dark and cooking a meal over an open fire. The men slept well that night although it was cold. The desert air was frigid and in the morning, Starsky awoke to see his breath misting in front of him. His clothes were damp and cold but he took the discomfort in his stride and by 7:00am, they had broken camp and were once more on the move.

By midday, they reached their goal which was an area used by the military for training marines. The testing ground looked like an over sized assault course and O'Malley drew his unit around him and explained what was going to happen.

'Right men. This will be the last exercise we do together. This is a pass or fail day. Not all of you will complete the course, but for those who do, there will be a passing out ceremony and a ticket to active duty. For those who don't make the grade, there's still the regular units'.

Over the next ten minutes, the drill sergeant outlined what each man would be expected to do. The test took the form of physical activity, while they cleared various obstacles and at marked points they would be expected to fire at chosen targets. The whole exercise would be done under battle conditions and there would be soldiers firing blanks at them and the simulated noise of battle around them. They had a specific time to get around the course and they were to act as one unit. After checking they were clear in their instructions, O'Malley blew a whistle and the exercise was on.

Traff set out in the lead with the other nine men stringing out behind him, Starsky automatically taking up the rear position as the guns stated to blow off on either side of them.

The first obstacle was an eleven foot high wall which they had to scale. This was something Starsky hated. Most things he could cope with, but heights scared him witless and Traff and one of the other guys helped him over as he swallowed down his fear in the heat of the battle.

Over the next hour, they went through their paces, climbing, jumping, balancing and belly crawling their way across the obstacles, pausing at the respective points to loose off round after round into given targets. While Starskys bullets always hit their mark, more often than not into the bull, others were not so careful and twice, Cade missed the target altogether, his panting and gasping making his aim wide and off mark. He looked around him, expecting a wise crack from the brunet, but none came. Starsky was too involved in his own performance and his commitments to getting his team through the exercise to worry about cheap jibes. And yet that seemed to fuel the blond's anger even more.

The last obstacle of the course was a submerged concrete tube which they had to get into and swim through to the opposite side. The tube was about 10 yards in length and the water was dark, greasy and murky. Traff, who was still leading paused and got the men into order.

'Ok, it's a tough one but we can do it. Just take a deep breath an' follow the guy in front. When you get out at the other side, haul yourself outa the water and then pull the guy behind you out. Got it?'

The nine other men nodded and got themselves into order, Traff first and Starsky still bringing up the rear. Right in front of him Cade shivered as he waited for his turn.

One by one, the soldiers lowered themselves down into the grimy water, took a lungful of air, and disappeared into the murky depths, emerging gasping and spluttering at the far end of the tube as Traff counted them out. The young soldier was busy helping to haul bodies out of the water to leave the way clear for the next soldier through and finally it was Cade's turn.

'You next' Starsky said.

'I know'.

'Well go on. They're all waiting. We're still on the clock ya know' the brunet urged impatiently.

Cade licked his lips apprehensively.

'It'll be ok' Starsky said. 'I'll be right behind ya. If ya get stuck I'll help'. He saw the pale face and the shaking hand and he could tell that the blond was scared out of his wits.

'C'mon Cade. It's easy'.

'It's easy for you. You're so fuckin' perfect it's all easy for you' the blond muttered viciously.

Starsky snorted. 'Yeah right! So easy for me. Shut your pie hole Cade an' just swim huh. Or are ya too yellow? Want me to go tell O'Malley that you're shittin' yourself huh?' He said it not unkindly, more to get the soldier to move and start the obstacle. It had the desired effect. Cade lowered himself into the water and disappeared below the surface as Starsky too plunged in.

The water was tepid and greasy and it stung at the brunet's eyes as he submerged, the water filling his ears so that the sounds of the gunfire and explosions above ground were muffled and distorted. He took a deep breath and set about following the quickly flashing boots of the man in front. Although he knew the tube was finite, it was still eerie and he had the feeling immediately that he could drown at any moment.

Stowing the fear deep inside him, he launched himself off and followed Cade's heels, feeling the deep burn inside his lungs as the oxygen was swiftly used up. The tube seemed to go on for an eternity and soon Starsky started to panic a little. He hated the feel of the water around him, cocooning him in a deathly embrace and he longed to pull pure clean air into his lungs. Ahead he saw light and with renewed vigour, he struck out for it, his arms pulling him along strongly now that his target was in sight.

But as he started to surface, he felt his way blocked. Looking up, air bubbles streaming from his nose, he saw the bulk of the blond soldier in the exit to the tunnel. He pushed against Cade's heels, but instead of the big man getting out of the way, he felt Cade kick downwards against his head.

Struggling now with his lungs almost at bursting point, he tried to push past the other man's body to get to the surface. But Cade had seen his chance to get back at the popular soldier and did his best to obstruct the brunet.

Starsky felt his head start to spin, the tunnel of light becoming a mere pinprick in his consciousness as he gave up the unequal struggle with the water. As he felt his lings screaming for air, he made a last effort to push Cade out of the way before darkness surrounded him for good.