Soldier's Daughters (46 page)

She gazed up at him. ‘They’re both OK, aren’t they?’

‘Sunburned, thirsty and the medics’ll probably want to check them over but yes, as far as I know, they’re pretty good for a couple who have spent that long out in the bush.’

Immi spotted James coming out of the mess tent.

‘Oi, sir,’ she hollered. ‘It’s good news.’

James Rosser charged over. ‘Really?’

‘Honest,’ said Jack Raven. ‘The adjutant heard it on the net. The Air Corps have scooped them up. They’re heading back here.’

James picked up Immi and spun her round before planting a kiss on her cheek. ‘Sorry, Corporal Cooper,’ he said, putting her down. ‘But that news had to be celebrated.’

‘Don’t mind me, sir,’ said Immi, pink with embarrassment and pleasure. ‘I’m as chuffed as you are. Captain Lewis and I shared a room and we’d got friendly. I was so worried about her. But not as worried as you must have been, eh?’ She gave James a smile and a half-wink.

‘No, well…’ James coughed. ‘I was a bit, but really only like you were. As a friend…’ He smiled back at Immi. ‘Mind you, didn’t I see you and Blake at the corporals’ club bash together?’

‘Yeah, well…’

‘You and Blake?’ said Raven, suddenly frowning.

‘Not really, Jack. I’ll admit it now, I used to have a thing for him but not any more. Let’s put it this way, if we’d got it together I don’t think anyone would have called it a match made in heaven. He reads books, I don’t, he does ballroom—’

‘Ballroom?’ said Jack.

Immi nodded. ‘Straight up. I bop, maybe a bit of body-popping. He drinks wine, I drink vodka and slimline or Bacardi and Coke. You get the picture.’

‘So you don’t know,’ said James.

‘Know what?’ asked Immi.

‘About Blake’s dad.’

‘About his dad?’ said Immi and Jack together.

‘Really?’

‘Come on, sir, spit it out,’ said Immi.

So James told Immi and a very interested Jack Raven who Corporal Blake’s dad happened to be.

‘Bugger me,’ breathed Immi – almost shocked into silence, but not quite. ‘Commander Land Forces.’

‘The CLF,’ said Jack. ‘Holy cow. And I’ve got the scoop.’

‘Nice to know that this unholy mess has brought good fortune to someone,’ said James.

For a moment Jack Raven looked almost ashamed, then he laughed. ‘Hey, I had nothing to do with the mess, I’m an innocent bystander.’ He grabbed Immi’s hand. ‘Come on, kiddo, you can help me file the story. I want you to tell me what both these guys were like. I want every detail.’

As Immi followed Jack into his tent she gave James a wink.

James watched the helicopter land. Like everyone around him, he was thrilled that the two missing soldiers had been found alive and well. Even those who didn’t know either Sam or Luke Blake were going about with an added bounce in their stride because the happiness caused by the good news was contagious.

James turned away as the helicopter descended onto the pad, away from the dust and dead vegetation kicking up into an almighty tornado of swirling air, aviation fuel fumes and hot exhaust. As the pilot killed the engine and the rotors began to slow and the noise from the Bell’s engine lessened, James turned back and there was Sam, clambering out, looking badly sunburned, gaunt, strained and grubby but otherwise in one piece. Behind her was Luke Blake – the CLF’s son, as everyone now knew. They looked ridiculously happy. Why wouldn’t they? thought James. The pilot had already relayed the news back to the camp that the pair had run out of food and water and, if they hadn’t been found, would probably have faced death before morning. Their rescue, in the nick of time, was enough to make anyone happy.

James watched them beginning to move away from the helicopter towards the medics who would want to check them over. They had their arms linked. No doubt they were both feeling pretty wobbly after what they’d been through – exposure to the sun for days, a lack of water and also food. Of course they’d want to support each other. And then they looked at each other and the look between them spoke volumes; of emotions, regrets, shared experiences. They stared at each other, unblinking, for the longest of moments. It was apparent to James and probably everyone else that despite the hullabaloo going on around them they were oblivious to everything except each other. It was only when Andy Bailey walked up to them and spoke that they came back to reality.

James knew with a sixth-sense certainty that the Sam who had got off this helicopter wasn’t the Sam he’d seen a few days previously in her workshop. Something had changed her and he didn’t think it was the brush with danger.

As Sam walked away with Andy, still clinging onto Luke Blake, James didn’t wave. He was fond enough of Sam not to want to interrupt whatever was going on between them. He knew the army wouldn’t approve but he hoped for both their sakes they found a way to get around the rules and regulations about officers and other ranks fraternising. He thought it might be almost impossible. The army had unbent about many things, including being gay, but that sort of fraternising… no way.

A text from Jenna, with Milward’s number, pinged into Maddy’s phone. She only looked at it for a few seconds before she made up her mind and rang it.

‘Hello, Alan. It’s Maddy Fanshaw here. Thanks for getting Seb back when I was in labour.’

She heard him stammer a greeting. The man was such an old prude when it came to anything to do with women – like childbirth. Then he said, ‘Did Seb get back in time?’

‘Almost. He wasn’t here for the actual arrival of the baby but he got here a few hours later.’

‘Good, I’m glad. And all well with you and the little one?’

For a naughty second Maddy considered telling Alan about her stitches, but then decided that would be too cruel! ‘I’m fine and the baby is too, which is great considering her early arrival. Look… Alan.’

‘Yes?’ He sounded wary.

‘About what Jenna told you – about Michelle?’

‘Yes.’ He sounded even more wary.

‘Can you just forget it?’

‘How d’you mean?’

Maddy took a deep breath. ‘I mean I don’t want any action to be taken. I don’t know if the girl was lying or telling the truth but Seb and I will sort things out between us. I don’t want the army sticking its oar in.’

‘But… but…’

‘Yes?’

‘But it’s already gone up the chain of command. Although I only told Lieutenant Flowers’ CO about the fighting, not… ahem, about the other business. Jenna was insistent that I didn’t. ’

Maddy breathed a sigh. Thank the Lord… the affair was still pretty much a secret. ‘Even so, I don’t want any action taken. I want the whole business forgotten. Everything. It’s nothing to do with the army. It is an entirely personal matter.’

‘But… but…’

‘But nothing, Alan. Can you sort it for me, please?’ She used her stern voice, the one she used on Nathan when he was being really difficult.

‘Yes, yes, of course.’

Michelle was about to leave the classroom where she’d been teaching her recruits about the Geneva Convention and all its implications. The recruits were all beetling off to change for PT while she gathered up her papers, switched off the laptop and the PowerPoint projector and left the room as she would wish to find it herself. Of course, as well as tidying things up she was desperate to keep busy and occupied – anything to keep herself from thinking about when the commandant’s axe might fall, anything to fill her mind with trivia rather than worry.

‘Have you got a moment, Michelle?’

She glanced up. It was the admin officer for the training depot. Instantly her stomach lurched and guilt overtook her again. Shit – this was it, she had no doubt. It had been almost twenty-four hours since her last interview with the commandant so he’d had plenty of time to think about disciplinary procedures or summary punishment or both. She knew she had to expect the worst. Her father’s reassuring hug before he’d left for his meeting at the MOD hadn’t really helped, although he’d clearly meant it to – a show of fatherly support and love, which had touched her to the core, a demonstration which would have been unthinkable twenty-four hours earlier.

‘Keep me in the loop about developments,’ he’d said. ‘I do care. I hope you believe that now. And whatever happens I’ll be there for you.’

She’d had to blink back the tears at that. Weirdly, maybe stalking Maddy hadn’t been the disaster it outwardly appeared to be; not if it meant her relationship with her father was in a better place than it had been for almost twenty years.

She gazed steadily at the admin officer, trying to look calm, trying not to let her feeling of sick nervousness show. ‘Why?’

‘The commandant would like to see you?’

‘I’ll just finish here.’

‘Leave it,’ said the admin officer.

God, that last order didn’t bode well. Michelle dumped her belongings back on the desk at the front of the classroom and followed the admin officer out of the teaching block and across the camp to the headquarters building. The pair didn’t talk. Michelle wondered if Captain Wilkes knew the reason for the summons. And if he did, how many others were privy to the allegations? Too late for regrets now, though. What was that song that Cher had sung…
If I Could Turn Back Time
? Didn’t everyone wish that occasionally? Except she seemed to find herself wishing it on a pretty regular basis. Maybe, in the future, she ought to take Sam’s often-given advice and count to ten before acting.

As on the previous evening, she stood outside the commandant’s door and knocked.

‘Come.’

She marched in, halted in front of his desk and stood to attention as she saluted.

‘Sir.’

The commandant stared at her. ‘It’s your lucky day, Flowers.’

Michelle swallowed. ‘Sir?’

‘Captain Fanshaw’s wife has made a specific request that this sordid matter isn’t pursued further. But, as you admitted to me that the allegations were true, there is a part of me that is inclined to ignore her request.’

Michelle’s heart, which had lifted with the commandant’s first sentence, came crashing back down with the second.

‘Sir?’

‘However, she obviously is adamant in her wishes and I imagine she wants to forget the incident so I shall respect her decision.’ The commandant stared at her. ‘Why she is doing this, God alone knows, although I hear she’s just had a baby so maybe that explains her judgement. Or lack of it.’ The disgust on the colonel’s face spoke volumes. ‘So… you’re free to go. You are no longer confined to barracks.’ Michelle felt that he’d be much happier if he’d been able to convene a summary court-martial, try her, find her guilty and order her to be shot at dawn. And frankly, that was almost what she’d expected to happen. God, the relief that it hadn’t…

The colonel continued and Michelle forced herself to listen to him. ‘That said, your behaviour will be reflected in the grading and my comments in your annual confidential report and I suspect the repercussions from that will affect your promotion prospects for some years to come. On the other hand, if you work very hard and don’t transgress again, you may yet develop into a useful officer.’

His expression indicated that he doubted it but Michelle didn’t care, she felt faint with relief.

‘The ball is in your court, Flowers. Screw up again and no one will be able to save you.’

‘Yes, sir,’ she managed to stammer out.

‘But let me make this very clear, if you so much put a single toe out of line in the remainder of your time here I will throw the book at you. Understand?’

‘Yes, sir.’

‘Now, get out.’

Michelle almost forgot to salute in her hurry to obey him and flee. Once she was at a safe distance with a shut door providing another layer of safety she got out her phone and texted her dad, asking him to ring her when convenient.

Her phone rang almost instantly.

‘And?’ said her father with no preamble.

Michelle relayed the previous five minutes. She could hear her father’s sigh.

‘God, you’re lucky. You’ve been given a second chance, so make sure you don’t blow it.’

‘Shit, no.’ And she’d been given a second chance with her father too. As soon as Sam got back from Kenya she’d have to tell her everything. She needed to ask Sam’s forgiveness too, for ignoring her advice about keeping away from Maddy. Back at Christmas she’d warned her, had said it would end in tears. Well, she’d been right. Again. Maybe, thought Michelle, she really ought to accept that Sam’s judgement was better than hers.

The two senior officers, weary from their flight, clambered out of the CO’s Land Rover and headed into the hut that was the Archers Post medical reception station. There, side by side in the tiny ward, were their respective children, both looking red with sunburn, tired and a little drawn, and with saline drips being fed into their arms.

Sam was the first to speak. ‘Hiya, Dad.’

Tim looked away and blew his nose. ‘I thought I was going to lose you.’ Then he let out a slow breath. ‘It’s been a tricky couple of days.’

‘We didn’t mean to get lost.’ Sam glanced across to Luke’s bed and saw that he and his father were also still looking at each other – neither making a move.

Then Luke cracked first. ‘Hello, Dad.’

‘Hello, son.’ There was a pause before the general said, ‘Have you any idea what a hole your rescue has just punched in the defence budget?’

‘A big one, I should imagine.’ Luke didn’t sound the least bit contrite.

‘Exactly. So in order to pay that sort of money back, I expect you to make a full recovery and return to your duties in double quick time.’

Luke stared at his father. Then he said, ‘How’s Mum?’

‘I think she’ll be better now she knows where you are and what you’re doing. When you lit out…’

‘I’m sorry.’

‘Are you? Really?’

‘I was angry with you. And Mum. Neither of you believed me. You both blamed me and you never asked to hear my side of the story.’

‘I know, I was wrong.’

Sam and her father stopped shamelessly eavesdropping on the conversation taking place across the ward.

‘I’m sorry, Dad,’ she told him.

‘What on earth for?’

‘For making you worry. You don’t need that sort of shit… not after…’