DEADLY DILEMMA by Dan Stratman (story read aloud .txt) 📗

Chapter Seven

Cyndi and Lance hustled up the snow-covered sidewalk toward the entrance to a dated, two-story brick building—home of the 322nd Missile Squadron. They had identical military-issue camouflage-pattern backpacks slung over their shoulders. The packs contained everything needed to go on short-notice alert in case of an emergency. A flight suit, boots, underwear, socks, and most importantly, three days’ worth of high-calorie energy bars were in their bags.

Lance opened the door for her. They turned left and hurried down the hallway with their fellow missileers.

Cyndi cut in front of Lance and walked backward. “You lied to me.”

“Sounds like someone’s ego got a little bruised at the gym,” he quipped.

“You have had martial arts training, haven’t you?”

He tried to maneuver around her, but each time Cyndi moved to block him.

“You can try to avoid me, but it isn’t going to work,” Cyndi stubbornly declared. “I’m going to follow you until you tell me about your training.”

After trying his best to evade her, Lance stopped. “No, Captain Stafford, you won’t.”

“Wanna bet?” Cyndi defiantly crossed her arms, blocking his path.

Lance chuckled. “Twenty bucks says you won’t keep following me.”

“You’re on. Twenty bucks it is.”

He pointed above her head. “Read the sign.” When she turned to look, he slipped past her and went into the men’s locker room.

General McNeil stormed into his office and immediately bumped into a step ladder.

Oliver Higgs, a scrawny, pimple-face nerd, clutched the wobbly ladder with one hand while he secured the cover to a smoke detector. “Hey, watch it, asshole,” he barked, without taking his attention off the cover.

“What the hell did you say?”

When he looked down, Higgs’s face paled even more. “Oh, crap.” He scrambled down the ladder and fumbled a weak salute with his left hand. “Sorry about that, General, sir. I didn’t realize it was you.”

McNeil pointed his finger in Higgs face. “Son, you are damn lucky you’re a civilian.” He looked up at the ceiling. “What the hell are you doing up there?”

“Replacing the battery,” he replied with a squeaky voice.

A tiny red light on the cover blinked every five seconds.

McNeil’s eyes narrowed. “Didn’t you change it last week? And the week before that? Don’t you have anything better to do?”

“Leave him alone, General. It needed a new battery.” Lola Crawford, executive secretary to General McNeil, had no hesitation coming to the defense of the frightened nerd. Crawford wore skintight leopard-print leggings, huge hoop earrings, and way too much three-dollar perfume.

At twenty-six, she was the youngest executive secretary on the base. Other secretaries had pointed opinions about how she managed to climb the ladder so quickly but only shared them behind Crawford’s back.

She wasn’t pinup calendar material but was considered the hottest woman in her trailer park by her male neighbors.

“He came over right away when I called. Oliver is like my own personal IT department. He put in a new battery and fixed my laptop. He’s a friggin’ genius with all that tech stuff.”

Higgs blushed at the compliment.

McNeil had a perplexed expression as he looked back and forth between the two. Then he burst out laughing. “Kid, she is so far out of your league, it’s embarrassing. Take your schoolboy crush and go find a Star Wars convention.” McNeil opened the door to his office and pointed to the hallway. “You can get all dressed up and pretend to be somebody.”

Higgs folded up his ladder and skulked out of the office with his tail between his legs.

Crawford shook her head in disgust. “You’re such an ass.”

McNeil planted his fists on her desk and leaned toward her in a threatening manner. “You’re speaking to an Air Force general, Miss Crawford. I won’t tolerate that kind of insubordination from you or anyone else. You will address me as sir or general.”

“Then why don’t you fire me?” She tried to goad him with her defiant response.

Surprisingly, McNeil took a breath before pouncing on her blatantly insolent remark. He chose his words carefully. “We both know I can’t fire you so soon. Even though your complaint was tossed out, some people might view that as retaliation.”

She glared at McNeil. “And some people might say you lied through your teeth.”

A self-assured look crossed his face. “Without any evidence to back up your accusation, it wasn’t very bright of you to think they’d take the word of a secretary over a one-star. You have a lot to learn about how the military justice system really works. Next time you—”

Colonel Wilmer unexpectedly walked in, holding a manila folder. Sensing the tension in the room, he retreated and said, “I’m sorry, should I come back later?”

“No, Colonel, stay.” McNeil straightened up. “I was just explaining something to my secretary that she’s confused about.” In an offhanded voice he asked, “So, did you remember to send the quarterly staffing reports to the Pentagon, Miss Crawford?”

“Yes, sir. Oliver showed me how to save backup copies in the cloud in case I ever need them in the future.”

“I’m surprised you thought of that,” McNeil said in the most demeaning tone he could muster.

“I’m smarter than you think, General,” Crawford shot back.

McNeil walked away and waved Wilmer toward his private office. Over his shoulder he got in a parting shot loud enough for everyone to hear. “I doubt that.”

Crawford’s face turned crimson at the mean-spirited jab. She gave the general the bird behind his back.

McNeil’s large private office was a far cry from the spartan outer office. Dark wood paneling covered the walls. Tastefully upholstered couches, an antique coffee table, and overstuffed chairs provided a separate sitting area in front of a roaring fireplace. Pictures of McNeil standing next to prominent people adorned the walls. A door on the right side of the office led to a private bathroom and shower. A massive, carved oak desk dominated the center of the impressive space.

Noticeably absent from the desk were any pictures of family.

McNeil tossed his gym bag on a couch then sat in the high-back leather