Autumn Assassins: [#3] A Special Operations Group Thriller by Stephen Templin

Author:Stephen Templin [Templin, Stephen]
Language: eng
Format: azw3
Published: 2016-08-21T04:00:00+00:00

17

A glorious sunrise warmed Max as he strolled out of the Navy Lodge on base with Tom and June.

“Max, I’m sorry about what I said about Mom the other day,” Tom said. “I know—”

Max held out his hand to cut him off from saying more. “Don’t start going all Cinderella on me.”

“Okay, freak,” Tom said playfully.

“Ass wipe.”

They both laughed.

Max’s phone rang, but the caller ID displayed a number he didn’t recognize.

“Hello,” Max answered.

“This is Admiral Bolton’s office,” a man’s voice said. Mr. Ice Water.

Max stopped feeling the warmth. “Max here.”

“Admiral Bolton would like to see you this morning as soon as possible.”

“Could you tell me what this is regarding?” Max asked.

“He just wants to see you now.” The voice was impersonal and gave no indication of praise or punishment.

“We’re on our way,” Max said.

The call ended and Max, Tom, and June got in their car.

“Who was that?” Tom asked.

Max took the wheel. “Admiral Bolton’s office. He wants to see us. Probably to congratulate us.”

“I have a feeling he’s not going to congratulate us.”

When Max, Tom, and June arrived in Admiral Bolton’s stateroom aboard the USS Blue Ridge, he remained seated and didn’t offer the three a seat. They waited for him to say something, but he just sat there studying them.

“Twenty-eight thousand seven hundred and fifty-eight dollars,” Admiral Bolton burst out.

“Pardon?” Max asked.

“No pardons!” Admiral Bolton raised his voice. “Bodywork for one car door, a new front end and alignment for two cars and a delivery truck, hospitalization for one delivery driver, replacement of two mopeds, and glass repair for one sliding glass window. That’s just the start. The Japanese woman whose apartment you burst into is talking about suing the Navy.”

Max looked at Tom and said, “I told you we should’ve apologized.”

Admiral Bolton gave Max the evil eye. “And the man you apprehended is dead,” he said.

“How did he die, sir?” Max asked.

“Heart failure.” The XO pointed at him and Tom. “I should have you two thrown in the brig. We don’t tolerate this kind of behavior. Not on this base.”

“What does Admiral Earp think about our apprehending a spy?” Max asked. Surely the Seventh Fleet commander couldn’t be this pissed, too.

The admiral raised his voice. “Admiral Earp is too busy putting out all the fires you started! He doesn’t have time to think. That’s why he told me to take care of you three. I knew the minute you people first came aboard that you’d be nothing but trouble.”

“If that anthrax is used, there will be trouble,” Max reminded him.

“I’m not going to argue with you. I was up with Admiral Earp until late last night.”

Tom seemed to relish the thought of Admiral Earp and his XO up late at night. Normally, Tom was the steady brother and Max the cheeky, brash one, but Tom had a hard time resisting such an easy dig at the Navy. “Navy,” Tom mumbled, “one thousand men go to sea and five hundred couples return.”

“What was that?!” the XO shouted.

June stood stiff in frozen silence.

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