B00C74WTKQ EBOK (10 page)

Adrian acknowledged his identity, and listened patiently to the storekeeper’s recounting of the stories he had heard, answering questions for minutes that seemed to him like hours before Race interrupted.

“You have a ham radio here? Do you have a transmitter?”

The storekeeper said, “Sure thing, Miss. It’s in the back if you’d like to see it.”

Race said, “Maybe in a minute. Can I see you outside Adrian?” Adrian, curious about Race’s intentions, and more than happy to escape the store keeper, went outside with her.

“Adrian” She said, “Everyone near a ham radio knows that you’re more or less engaged to be married to Colonel Linda Fremont. This trader will broadcast the news that you’re traveling with sixteen girls before our tail lights are out of sight. It’s big news, he’s the first to have it, and he’ll jump all over it. When Colonel Fremont hears it over the radio, it won’t matter what the details are, she’s going to be angry and hurt. There’s only one thing you can do– you get on this man’s radio and you call Colonel Fremont and you tell her yourself that you’re taking sixteen orphan girls that you couldn’t abandon on to Corpus Christi with you.”

“Why will it help to hear it from me?” Adrian asked.

“Jesus, Adrian, you really don’t have a clue do you? You can be so smart about so many things, too. It’s a damn shame you can’t see the obvious—but trust me, I have your back on this. Get on his radio, call her and talk about your trip, and mention us girls. Don’t make a big production of mentioning it and don’t go into any more detail than she asks you about. Play it cool, like this happens every day to every man on earth. She’ll love you for telling her. She’ll
hate
it if she finds out from anyone but you. But do it now. If you don’t tell her in the next five minutes, she’ll hear about it by tomorrow morning from someone who will get pleasure out of being the first to pass on the juicy gossip. And you need to tell her the girls are calling themselves Adrian’s Angels.”

“Do you really call yourselves that?”

“Not before now, no. But this is important. If we don’t name ourselves, the rest of the world will make up a name for us and it might not be a good one. I can think of several names we don’t want to be called that could become common.”

“What difference does it make? Who cares what they call you?”

“Oh, Adrian, you can be so dense! It makes all the difference in the world. You wouldn’t want folks calling us Hunter’s Whores would you? Or Hunter’s Harem? Or Adrian’s Amazons? It’s important to us, and if we don’t name ourselves, someone else will and we’ll have no control over what they come up with. Tell her how well-trained and deadly we are, too, how quickly and thoroughly we killed those men that attacked us…that kind of reputation might help us out some day. Go. Call her. Now.”

Adrian made the radio connection to Fort Brazos and Linda was quickly summoned to the radio. He told her about his trip, including a very brief account of finding of the girls—Adrian’s Angels—and how he came to be their temporary guardian. She told him of the local news back home. They professed their continuing love, and all-too-soon the conversation was over—and heard by a thousand ham operators all over the world who eagerly passed the news on to everyone around them.

Later, while they were getting the camp settled for the night Race said, “I don’t know how to explain it to you, Adrian—either you already understand or you’ll probably never understand, so stop asking me. The best I can explain it is this: she’ll want to say ‘I know’ to anyone that comes up to her to tell her about you and all those girls. There’s satisfaction in her hearing about it from you directly. Just trust me on this and always remember it. Tell her any news
first
, always, and you’re likely to be able to stay together a little longer than otherwise.”

Chapter 11

T
hat night the girls made
a large pot of pinto beans and pork. As Little Faye, one of the youngest girls, took a bowl and went to the bean pot, Lena spotted her and yelled “
No
!”

“Why did you yell at her?” Adrian asked Lena. “Why shouldn’t she have beans like everyone else?”

“Because she releases poison gas when she eats beans, that’s why,” said Lena.

“Oh for God’s sake, you have to be kidding me. That little girl couldn’t hold a teaspoon of gas. Faye you go ahead and eat the same as everyone else.” He addressed the rest of the girls who had started to pay attention. “This is a unit, a tight knit group. You can’t single one person out for special treatment if she hasn’t done anything wrong. It’s just not right to make her watch you eat well while she has to settle for less.”

Race had been watching and listening, smiling a bit. “It’s her turn to ride in the cab tomorrow, you know.”

“It is not, why are you changing the rotation?”

“I determine the roster and make changes as I see fit, and tomorrow she rides in the cab.”

“Fine. That’s just fine with me. Faye, you eat all the beans you want.”

Adrian fell asleep that night thinking maybe he ought to have listened to the girls about Faye.
How bad can that little girl’s stomach be? Oh hell, she’s just a little kid and I’ve been around many a grown man with bad gas, no problem.

Two hours after leaving the camp the next morning, Adrian was sitting in the passenger seat and watching the countryside slide by outside the window when he suddenly let out a yell. “Jesus Christ! Faye! Oh my lord.” He frantically rolled the window down and stuck his head out. When the girls in the back saw him stick his head out they began laughing with hilarity.

Adrian spent the rest of the morning with his head mostly out the window and cursing violently. Faye smiled at him frequently. He soon learned that whenever she smiled at him, a gas bomb was about to explode. “Holy shit, Faye! You should’ve warned me yourself. Is this any way to treat a friend?”

Faye just shrugged innocently, then a little smile came on her face. Adrian quickly stuck his head out the window again. Every time he did, he could hear the girls in the back hooting and laughing.

Adrian called for an early rest stop. “Race, you take Faye into the bushes and don’t come back until she’s done her business. Damn. Even Bear is suffering.”

They traveled for three more days before reaching the outskirts of Corpus Christi in the evening. Faye wasn’t allowed to eat beans for the rest of the trip. As they came near the city Adrian called a halt for the day, he didn’t want to arrive in the dark. With the first signs of daylight they resumed the last part of their trip.

Adrian took over the wheel as they approached the city. With the sun rising behind it, he could see smoke or steam coming from one of the refineries, and headed toward it. They eventually came to the refinery entrance, and could see an aircraft carrier docked in the channel near the refinery.
They must have blown the bridge to get that monster in there.

At the gate, they were stopped by men in uniform holding their hands up for them to stop. As he slowed to a stop, Adrian shouted out the window to the girls, “Stay in the truck.”

He slowly opened the cab door and stepped out, keeping his hands in sight of the guards. They looked nervous. “Hello. I’d like to see your CO.”

Recognizing him, the guard laughed and replied, “You already have an appointment. You’d be Adrian Hunter, I presume?”

“How in hell did you know that?” asked Adrian, somewhat startled.

“Just about everyone in Texas knows you’re coming to Corpus with a truckload of girls. Who else could you be?”

“Yes, I’m Adrian. What do you mean, I already have an appointment?”

“The Admiral put out the word to let him know if and when you arrive.” Pointing to a parking area just inside the gate, he continued, “Park over there and we’ll arrange transport to the ship for you.”

“What about the girls? I don’t want to just leave them here waiting.”

“No problem, we’ve got a bus can take you all on board the ship. I’ll call it in; it’ll be here shortly. Tell the girls it’s ok to get out and stretch, but to leave their weapons on the truck. No offense, but you’ll all have to be unarmed to get on the ship.”

“And my wolf?” Adrian asked.

“No problem sir, as long as he stays with you at all times; The Admiral has already cleared him.”

Adrian knew from his military days that this was lenient treatment and didn’t argue. “Understood.” He wheeled the truck through the gate and parked it where the guard had indicated. Getting back out of the cab he told Race “Tell the girls to secure arms and come on out and stretch their legs.”

As the girls were disembarking from the truck, Adrian looked around at his surroundings. He could see men working in the distance in the refinery. Huge pipes ran everywhere with large tall towers jutting up into the sky at seemingly random locations. Knowing something of the basics of refining from discussions with Matt, he could more or less piece together what he was seeing. In rudimentary terms crude oil was pumped into the refinery where it was heated in a large vessel with a tower on it. As the oil was heated specific elements of the oil were ‘cooked off’ as the oil reached their specific boiling points. “It’s a lot like distilling whisky.” Matt had said. “The oil will reach a high temperature then the most volatile stuff will boil off as a chemical steam. When it reaches a certain height in the tower it will be drawn off and condensed back into a liquid state. Except for the certain gasses that will remain in gaseous form. The lighter elements, such as gasoline will come off, then as they’re cooked out of the main vessel the temperature will rise again and the next most volatile material will cook off, and so on. This is how they separate gasoline from diesel from kerosene from natural gas. Eventually what will be left in the vessel is a thick tarry substance. Due to the high temperature this can then be pumped out because it will be liquefied and thinned by the heat. After it’s pumped away a fresh batch of crude oil will be pumped in and the process starts over again. That in a nutshell is more or less how it works.”

The huge aircraft carrier loomed over everything. Men in navy uniforms moved about on deck in a purposeful manner. Even when a ship like this was sitting still, there were, Adrian knew, thousands of tasks that had to be continually carried out. Adrian saw several very large black cables running from the ship and into the refinery area. These he assumed were power cables, transferring electricity from the ship’s nuclear reactor-fueled generators to the refinery.

The guard had placed another man in charge of the gate and walked over to Adrian. “It’s a real pleasure to meet you sir.” He saluted, startling Adrian a bit, but he saluted back automatically. The young guard stuck his hand out and said, “Ensign Fredericks, at your service sir! The admiral has requested the pleasure of your company aboard the ship and asked me to act as your escort.”

Adrian shook hands, admiring the young man’s crisp clean uniform and military looks. He hadn’t seen a man with a short haircut and closely shaved face in a long time, or a man with the obvious pride of military bearing this man had. It was beyond refreshing, it was like a homecoming.

“The shift transfer bus will be here momentarily; while we’re waiting, I need to make sure everyone is unarmed. I don’t mind patting you down sir, but I’ll be damned if I know how to assure the Angels aren’t armed. Any suggestions?”

“Angels?” Adrian asked with a bewildered tone.

“Adrian’s Angels, sir. The girls. Everyone knows about them.”

“Oh, that’s right.” Adrian said, recalling the name the girls had chosen for themselves. “No, I can’t think of anything right off.” Turning his head to where the girls were standing, looking at the ship in awe, he called out, “Race, over here, please.”

When Race approached, Adrian said, “Race, this is Ensign Fredericks. Ensign Fredericks, this is Race Miller, she’s in command of the Angels.” He emphasized the word Angels.

Ensign Fredericks shook hands with Race. “Pleasure to meet you ma’am, a real pleasure. I’ve heard about the Angels and their run-in with the bad guys. Well done, ma’am.”

She said, “Thank you, Mr. Fredericks. It is okay to call you ‘mister’ since you’re an Ensign, isn’t it?”

“Yes, ma’am, it is. I’m surprised that you know Navy protocol so well. We have a slight problem, we’re trying to figure out and maybe you can help. No one is allowed to board ship while armed, except some Navy personnel on official duty. I can pat General Hunter down, but I don’t think it appropriate for me to pat down the girls. Have you any suggestions?”

Race turned to Adrian with a questioning look. Adrian replied to her unstated question, “The Ensign is correct, Race. We can’t board until he is assured that we are carrying no weapons or other contraband onto the ship.”

Race thought for a minute and said, “Do you have a woman on the ship that can perform the search?”

The Ensign slapped his forehead, “Of course,” and immediately jogged off to the gate. They could see him speaking into a microphone. After he was finished he walked back over. “I caught them just before the bus was leaving; a female officer will be assigned to ride out here on it and do the pat down. While we wait, are there any questions I can answer?”

Race said, “What’s the ship doing here, and what are those cables running from the ship?”

“What we’re doing here is a longer story than I have time to tell you right now. But basically those cables deliver electricity from the ship to the refinery. We’re making fuel, mostly diesel. We’ve reconditioned several fishing trawlers to bring in food. The trawlers run on diesel, so it’s a necessary step in being able to feed ourselves. We’re all a little tired of sea food, but it’s all that we have.”

“Where are you from, Mister Fredericks?”

“Please call me Eric. I’m originally from Connecticut. My father was career Navy and we moved and lived all over the world when I was growing up. I joined and have been traveling ever since. I’ve been in the Navy all my life so to speak. We’ve been docked here for eighteen months now, about the longest I’ve lived anywhere to tell the truth. How about you Race? Where are you from?”