Page 30 of Bernadette
“I understand,” Chuck said as he settled back in his seat next to her to listen.
Bernie looked around and saw she had everyone’s attention and took a bracing sip of her coffee before she drew in a deep breath and let it out slowly. “The higher ups in both the Marines and the Navy came to present me with a case. As I mentioned earlier, I didn’t always go out on a mission, and that was the reason they came to me.”
“Can you explain that further?” Chuck scowled at her.
“The last mission I had been on was eighteen months prior. No one knew my face.”
“Ah,” Chuck said as he nodded and sipped his beer. “Sorry, I won’t interrupt again.” He smirked at her when she only looked at him with a raised brow. He ignored the snickers from the others around the table.
“Anyway, the higher ups paired me with a SEAL commander of equal caliber as myself. They, the SEALs were having trouble infiltrating a certain cell. I had already sent in two team of my girls and nothing.” She looked at the ladies, then the men. “See, if there’s no activity, I mean no gathering of correct, or any Intel on a mission, I don’t leave my women in the hot zone. We are trained to be in and out in under twenty-four hours. The most I’ve had a team on a mission had been forty-eight.” She held up her hand when it looked like someone was going to say something. “That’s a mission with the SEALs. Not their own mission. Those could last up to two weeks, but I preferred no longer. Anyway, after at least two weeks of planning with the higher ups and the SEAL commander, we were able to garner an invitation to a very posh dinner party that was being held. Only heads of state, and other diplomatic people were invited. The Commander and I went in as a couple. Five minutes in, I knew we were in trouble."
"Why?” Everyone asked.
“We went in naked, and I’m not talking clothing.”
“Shit,” Ava said as she leaned back in a huff. She crossed her arms beneath her breast and shook her head. “Outside, too?”
“Yes.”
As Bernie seemed to collect herself, everyone turned to Ava. “She means no weapons, no cameras, no microphone, no recording devices, and no back-up on the outside.”
“Oh, shit,” the men said as they turned to Bernie.
“The commander’s SEAL team was five klicks away, the closest they could get. They could only watch us on their satellite, and that was spotty at best. Their backup was people in Washington watching and giving them directions.” She drew in a deep breath again and looked at her clasped hands as she continued. “The party went off without a hitch, and between him and me, we were able to get the information they needed. The next day, as we were coordinating an attack, something they had been wanting to do for weeks, we were attacked. Ambushed to be exact. I guess you could say we were caught with our pants down.
“When the bullets started flying, one of the SEALs grabbed me and threw me to the ground, covering me with his body. The others grabbed weapons and fired back. I still had my weapon in my hand from when I was inspecting it before strapping it on my hip. I looked around through the haze of gunfire residue and saw several men creeping toward us. From my position beneath the SEAL that knocked me to the ground, I strategically picked them off one by one. That allowed the men to get into position and start firing back. By the time it was over, the SEAL on top of me was dead, the commander was gravely wounded, and I had three bullets through my knee.” She reached down and patted the outside of it. “Nothing in the thigh, or lower leg, all in my knee.”
“They wanted to incapacitate you.” The comment came as a statement, not a question.
“Yes, when the dust settled, we realized that it had been fifteen against fifteen. We were able to interrogate the lone survivor to see who had ordered the attack, as well as why. Turned out to be an ISIS cell the commander had been trying to get information on. Once we had our Intel, we called for extraction and got the hell out of there. We were just being lifted into the air by our rescue squad when we saw at least twenty Jeeps with ten people apiece heading to our location.”
“Who was left there?”
“Fourteen of their dead, and one gravely injured man. We were able to get our injured and dead out. We left nothing behind but spent bullets and possibly some fingerprints, and our food containers.”
“Do you think they’d come after you after all this time?”
“No, because once we turned over the information from that lone survivor, another team was sent in behind us and took care of the cell.” She paused long enough to look around the table, before she continued, “Along with several others.”’
“What’s the prognosis with your knee?” Janice asked from her side of the table.
Bernie sighed heavily and shook her head. “At most, I’m eighty percent healed. The base doctor wouldn’t release me for field duty. Not that I wasn’t used to riding a desk, but I wanted the option to be able to grab my gear and go. I no longer have that luxury.” She shrugged, before saying softly, “I took retirement.”
“Medical?” Astrid asked.
“No, full retirement. Chronologically, I’ve been in for nineteen years, but I retired with twenty-five years under my belt. I’m good with that. During all that time, the only injury I had was this last one.” She rubbed her knee when she said it and saw confusion on the men’s faces. Thinking she knew what the questions would be, she answered before they were asked.
“Chronologically means from the year I joined to the year I got out. The added six years was the military add-on time. Oh, not for you to serve, but because you served. Whenever you do a year deployment in another country, chronologically that’s one year, however, on your record that one-year counts as eighteen months. It adds up over time. My pension is that much higher, because I was able to retire with twenty-five years on my record.”
Bernie watched the men turn to look at the women with frowns. They all nodded, and it was Joyce who answered. “I tell everyone I was in for twelve, but technically, I got out with eighteen on my record. I figure those extra six years are a bonus, and I only count the physical years I was in.” The men seemed to understand, and when no one had any questions, she turned her head to look at Chuck.
“So, what’s your story?”
Chuck looked at her in confusion, the shook his head. “I don’t have a story.”
“So, you just plopped down on this earth as you are right now?”
Chuck grinned when the men chuckled. “Well, no.”
