Cadet 3 by Commander James Bondage Page B

military
formality. “So you can see why my judgment can’t be trusted in this
case, sir. So, with all due respect, I think it has to be your call, sir. I want you to know you can count on me to
back you 100 percent, whatever you decide, General Lawrence.”
    Jodie understood what Kate was trying to do.
She patted the tall blonde’s shoulder and said, “Go back in the
tent and stay with him until we decide what to do. I want to
consult with the others and see what they think before we make any
decision.”
    “Yes, sir,” Kate said, looking up at the sky
and all around, as if she detected something. “But I should remind
you that every second of delay increases the chance that…”
    “I’m pretty sure that five minutes won’t make
much difference, one way or the other,” Jodie cut in. “Now, get in
there with him, and stay there,” she said, pointing at the
tent.
    Kate nodded and ducked down to re-enter the
tent, while Jodie returned to where Merry, Steph and Robin waited
for her, and squatted down among them. She quickly summarized what
she had seen and what Murphy had said, leaving out any mention
Kate’s personal relationship with the intelligence man. “The floor
is open for suggestions,” she concluded.
    “I think he’s right. We should get you out of
here right away, Jodie,” Robin said. “One of us can stay behind
with Dick Murphy, but you’re the important one.”
    “I agree,” said Merry. “I volunteer to stay
back with him.”
    Steph surveyed the others and shook her head.
“Forget it, girls. We’re supposed to protect you , not
the other way around. If anybody would be left behind, it would be
me or Kate. But we’re not leaving anybody. Murphy knows the risks;
we all do. We knew there might come a time when we would have to
put our lives on the line to carry out the assignment. Anyway, as a
practical matter, how would we get him to the hospital in time to
do any good, if the only means of transportation is gone? I agree
it’s too dangerous to stay around here any longer. We’ll put Dick
in the vehicle and take him with us. Whatever happens to him after
that is out of our hands.”
    “I told Colonel Bransom that I would put
myself under the orders of my security team, so I guess that means
you and Kate are the hostesses of this cotillion, Steph,” Jodie
said. She rose to her feet. “Let’s rig up a stretcher for Dick and
get out of here, posthaste.”
    “Never mind,” said Kate, who had returned
unheard. In a voice as empty of emotion as the vacuum of outer
space, she finished, “He won’t be needing it. Dick Murphy is
dead.”
    Jodie stood up and stretched out her arms to
hug her grieving friend. “Kate…” she began. She stopped in her
tracks when Kate held up her hand.
    “He’s dead and that’s it, General,” she said
harshly. “We have to go on without him, and we need to go now . There’ll be time later to remember absent friends.”
    “You’re right, Kate,” said Jodie. She
surveyed the clearing. “But we can’t run off and leave this mess
behind.” She waved her hand at the campsite and the bodies of
Billy’s gang. “The second anybody finds this place and sees all the
Army-issue gear, they’ll know we were here, and after that all
they’ll have to do is follow the SUV’s trail to find us. We need to
get as long a head start on pursuit as we possibly can get.”
    “It’s not going to take Sherlock Holmes to
figure out that somebody with a M-63 cooled all these hillbilly
assholes, either,” Robin pointed out. “We need to do something with
all the dead meat before we leave, stash it somewhere out of sight,
at the very minimum.”
    “Right, and we have to do it all on the
double,” Jodie said, automatically taking command again, as she had
on the first day at the Academy. “Robin, you break down the tents,
and pack up all of our stuff. Steph, you go around and clean up any
traces of Billy’s gang: their loose gear, the ropes, blood,
whatever. The