Vietnam: Ground Zero 1 by Eric Helm

Author:Eric Helm
Language: eng
Format: mobi
Published: 0101-01-01T00:00:00+00:00

IT WAS JUST AFTER TWO when Gerber walked into the team house. Morrow was sitting at one of the tables, her notebook in front of her next to a can of beer. Her eyes were closed and she was tapping her chin with a yellow pencil. Her damp hair hung straight down, and there was sweat on her forehead and upper lip. She had unbuttoned her khaki shirt to her navel.

"Thought everyone was asleep," said Gerber to announce himself.

Morrow jumped, as if she had been jabbed, and snapped, "Don't do that. You scared me to death."

"Sorry," he said. He turned to the coffeepot, but it was empty. He stepped to the refrigerator and pulled it open. A lone can of beer sat in it, but when he picked it up, he discovered it had already been opened. He gave up looking for something to drink and sat down opposite Morrow at the table.

"I thought maybe we should talk," said Gerber.

Morrow took a deep swallow from her can of beer, as if steeling herself. "Talk about what?"

"You conning my exec into letting you go on his patrol."

"Nothing to talk about. I wanted to go along, and I knew that you would never allow it if I asked you, so I short-circuited the system and got to go. Simple as that."

"Simple as that," repeated Gerber. "Jesus, Robin! What the hell were you thinking of? Nothing is as simple as that."

"Well, listen to the hypocrite," she said. "Nice job, Robin. Way to con Crinshaw, Robin. But when it's you who gets conned, it's a different story."

"Okay," said Gerber, holding up a hand to stop her. "I deserve that. I haven't been fair. But you could have done some real damage if anything had happened to you."

"Don't worry about it, Gerber," she said, suddenly angry. "I was just doing my job."

Gerber watched her, wondering when he had lost control of the situation. He had thought it would be a good chance to talk to her about conning her way onto the patrol, and suddenly he was on the defensive, as if he had done something wrong.

As he stared at her, he saw she was an attractive woman. She looked a little the worse for wear, away from the luxuries of hot showers, air conditioning and good food, but still damned attractive. If she didn't look so much like her sister, he would have made the effort to talk to her, to be with her sooner. Now he had gotten off on the wrong foot.

He smiled at her and said, "Can we start this again? I don't think I handled it quite right."

"Okay, Captain, we can start again."

"Let me put it this way," he began and then stopped, wondering why he was trying so hard not to insult the woman. She had duped one of his men into taking her on a patrol when she should have been in the camp. "Next time you want to do something like go on patrol, have the courtesy to ask me.

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