Beck looked at his watch. It had been late when they’d left the office; now it was really late. He looked over on the couch. Heather was asleep. Poor thing. She’d had a rough night. He went over to her and gently shook her shoulder.

“Heather. Heather, wake up.”

“Mmmm?”

“Heather, if you’ll get your things I can take you to base camp. It’s safe ( Read more... )

“ - and the goat’s bleating gave us away.”

Heather doubled over laughing, having to wait to speak until she caught her breath.

“Oh…my. Did they make you clean the barracks with your toothbrush?”

“No - the commandant actually thought it was funny, although he couldn’t say so. We were merely confined to quarters for a week.”

“I thought they’d ( Read more... )

Beck sat in the office and watched Heather from behind the glass. She’d been acting…off… lately. He couldn’t quite put his finger on it. She seemed a little more hesitant, shy, almost nervous, looking over her shoulder more often.

He put on a more professional look as she came into his office with an armload of files.

“Hey, I’ve got some more ( Read more... )

“Well, now what?”

“You mean now that we’ve told New Bern to go to hell?”

“Well, yes.” That was one way to put it. Fed up with the continued resistance, and the fearful non-helpfullness of the citizens of New Bern, Beck had pulled his troops out of New Bern completely. Anyone who wanted to leave with them could, but once he left, they were on ( Read more... )

Heather looked in the mirror at her outfit and sighed. Twice in two weeks. It was a conservative grey top and black skirt - what had become her ‘funeral outfit’. It had gotten way too much use this past year and a half. Just putting it on made her feel gloomy.

But Edward had asked her to come. So she would go. She knew he hadn’t asked anyone ( Read more... )

After a quick examination of the mortar used in the attack that killed Jessie, Beck placed severe restrictions on New Bern. He instituted strict curfews and increased patrols. He raided suspected hideouts and weapons caches.

And all the while, he made perfectly clear his objective: Phil Constantino’s force. If New Bern wanted these restrictions ( Read more... )

“Sometimes I wish Texas hadn’t prevented the ASA from attacking us right away. At least then Constantino would believe that I really defected.” Beck said in exasperation as they walked down the street.

He was referring, of course, to the continued opposition that Constantino’s forces had maintained despite his public declaration of defection and ( Read more... )

Heather stood on the steps of city hall, waiting along with the others. Jake and Hawkins were returning. They would have come back earlier, but were held up by Hawkin’s need to heal.

As the Humvee pulled up, she watched Darcy throw her arms, very carefully, around Hawkins; Emily nearly tackled Jake. She supposed some would think her jealous of ( Read more... )

Beck wandered over to the impromptu first aid station. He’d initially thought that this would be a bad idea. Heather had come to him and suggested that they have a barbeque for Memorial day. A big one, with the soldiers joining in. He hadn’t seen any real problem until she suggested a soldiers vs. civilian football game. He’d warned her that ( Read more... )

Heather took in the last batch of daily reports to Beck. He’d been doing better. He was understandably quiet and sad, but he wasn’t ignoring it anymore. He’d even taken to putting his picture of them on his desk while he was working. It was getting awfully worn; she made a note to see if she could find any way to laminate it - a frame wouldn’t ( Read more... )