At My General’s Command Read online

  General Winter chuckled. “You’ll get used to it, and it’s a perfectly good place to be if you’re going to learn how things work around here. It’ll give you a feel for working Stateside, we’re a little less chaotic here.”

  “Not sure I know what to do without a bit of chaos,” Oscar said.

  “You’ll find plenty. As much as we in the military like to make a big fuss about regimen and order, we’re still people, and chaos follows in our wake. Perhaps by working at the center of it, you’ll have a better idea of what you’ll need to do once I can put you in your proper chair.”

  If there was anything he’d learned about having to try to juggle everything on the base, it was that he was never short on a bit of chaos and confusion. Everywhere he looked, there was something demanding his attention or his direct intervention. Maybe with Reyes eventually at the helm of Operations, David might be able to take a breath.

  To his relief, Oscar let out a sigh and gave a nod. “Yes, sir. When do I begin?”

  “You can start in a few days, give you a chance to look around first, and rest after moving across the country.”

  “Yes, sir,” Oscar said.

  David smiled, checking his screen. “Ah, right, and just as a formality, do me a favor and report to the clinic we have on base as well. I require any and all newcomers to go in for a check-up, no matter how recent their last examination was.”

  “Yes, sir,” Oscar said with a curt nod.

  It was as good a time as any to end the conversation. Reyes had been dragged across the country and was expected to settle in quickly. Having been the one to order that and then to have followed up with some unsettling news, David felt he owed the man a break.

  David stood. “Then I think that about covers everything. You’ll have a couple of days to find your feet, maybe see the sights a little. But I’ll need you in here on Monday at 0700, got it?”

  Oscar stood, snapping a salute. “Yes, sir.”

  David motioned toward the door. “Dismissed.”

  With that, Reyes walked out of his office, a noticeable limp in his step as he left. David stared at the door thoughtfully, hoping he wasn’t pushing things too far. Philip had enough sway with Command through his connections that David was already pushing his luck in trying to carefully move the man to another position. Reyes had only recovered from his injuries over the last few months, and there was no telling what his mental state was like after being half blown to hell. If David’s decision blew up in his face, it might be Reyes who paid a higher price than everyone else.

  “Hell,” David muttered.

  His door opened, and Christian walked in, frowning down at a tablet. “Why am I expected to order some fancy keyboard and have it here and ready to use on Monday?”

  David eyed him. “Normally, people give me warning before they walk into my office.”

  Christian looked up. “And why is it being delivered to this office instead of somewhere else?”

  David sighed. “Because you’re getting an assistant of your own.”

  Christian narrowed his eyes. “I told you, I don’t need the help.”

  Yes, he had, several times as far as David could remember. Honestly, with how quick Christian was to refuse help and how adamantly he’d been sticking to it since, David wondered if he hadn’t struck a nerve somewhere along the line by suggesting it.

  “Well, good for us both then, because this isn’t about helping you necessarily. It’s about helping the man who just left my office, and me,” David told him.

  “No offense, but how does my getting an assistant help you?” Christian asked, a wounded note in his voice.

  David smiled. “You’re doing the work of three people, and then some probably. Trust me, this isn’t because you’re not doing your job well.”

  “I wasn’t thinking that,” Christian said, though the relief in his eyes betrayed his thoughts.

  David pointed to the door, “Close that if you would.”

  Christian did so. “What’s going on?”

  “My hope is to place Reyes directly under Philip...as a second in command. It will give him a good feel for the job, and more likely than not, Philip will pass a great deal onto Reyes.”

  “Which makes him look bad, and Reyes better.”

  David winced. “I don’t want...to ruin Philip’s career or to have him demoted. There are plenty of positions, somewhere else, that would suit him far better. And I firmly believe that Reyes has the potential to perform the role quite well.”

  “So, not so much ruin him, but make Reyes look better.”

  David nodded. “If I wanted to ruin Philip, I could. But this isn’t about that, and never was.”

  “Wait, what dirt do you have on Philip?”

  David blinked, realizing only then that he had let a piece of information slip from his lips. Damn, what was it about Christian that drove David to forget himself so easily?

  “Don’t worry about that. That’s between Philip and me.”

  Christian huffed. “Well, that’s no fun. You can’t tease me with some delicious little tidbit and then leave it a mystery.”

  “I can when I shouldn’t have said anything to begin with.”

  Christian continued to stare at him with a frown. David would never admit it, but he honestly couldn’t take the frown seriously. There was something altogether endearing about his subordinate, a man over twenty years his junior, trying to stare him down. As much as he knew it would absolutely ruin Christian’s attempts if David were to call it cute, there was no way he was saying it.

  Christian sighed, giving up. “Alright, so what am I supposed to do?”

  “Order the keyboard for him, and have it here overnight so you can look it over. After that, get him going with a setup of his own, and teach him how to do your job.”

  “And how does that help?”

  “It gives him something to do, which he’s been without ever since he woke up in a hospital months ago. It also gives us time to allow Philip to stop being so stubborn about having someone else in his office with him.”

  Christian raised a brow, smirking. “Us, huh?”

  David frowned. “What?”

  “You said us, not you.”

  David blinked. “Well, I suppose I did. Considering you casually brought yourself into this little mess, you are apparently included.”

  And unlike Reyes, who was an unknown, David trusted Christian.

  Christian smiled. “I take it the keyboard is special for Oscar.”

  “Yes. I looked into it, and it seems this one came highly recommended. I doubt there’s much that you’ll need to learn, as it’ll mostly be him that needs to learn to use it. However, it wouldn’t hurt you to make sure it works, and everything is ready for him. I’m having him come in at 0700 on Monday.”

  “I really hope this isn’t your way of trying to drive the man crazy. If you had any idea what kind of shit comes through that elevator half the time, you might rethink putting someone else out there.”

  David chuckled, opening his messages again. “I’m sure Reyes will be just fine. He’s dealt with his fair share, and you’ll be there to guide him. If anyone can make sure he finds his feet and be able to handle whatever madness this place can throw, it’ll be you.”

  Christian hummed. “Not sure if that’s a compliment or a criticism.”

  “It was meant to be a compliment, but the more I think about it, the more it begs the question as to whether or not you’re completely sane,” David said with a small smile.

  “Right, so a compliment,” Christian said.

  “Yes, I suppose it would have to be, wouldn’t it?”

  “Keep complimenting me, general, and I might start to like it,” Christian said as he slipped back out to the waiting room.

  David looked up from his computer, blinking at the closed door. Had that been...no, it couldn’t have been. David was not going to entertain the idea that Christian had come even remotely close to flirting with him, no matter how te
mpting the idea was. Hell, the fact that it was tempting was a clear indicator that he needed to keep his attention on his work.

  He turned back to the screen and stopped at the newest message. It simply said, ‘read this’ as the title. David could see there was an attachment included, and he debated whether or not to open the message in the first place. After another moment of hesitation, he opened it and saw the attachment was a video.

  Attached was a short message.

  If you don’t want people seeing this, you should call me.

  -E

  David could not think of a time when he’d felt both confused and had a sense of foreboding as he read the cryptic message. What in all hell was happening? He was obviously being threatened, but by who? All he had was a letter, and as he stared down at the attachment waiting to be viewed, he thought he might figure it out rather quickly.

  Taking a deep breath, he clicked the link and let it open up in the built-in player. The program popped up on the screen, showing it was a full two minutes. It also didn’t take long for David to immediately realize what he was seeing, and he felt his stomach plummet.

  Now he knew who ‘E’ was. Jesus, it had been months since he’d last seen Ethan. The younger man had worked at a cocktail bar David had gone to for a meeting with another general. Glances had been exchanged, and then Ethan had slipped David his number. The two of them had enjoyed one another for a few weeks after that. Despite his stamina, David had more often than not found himself worn out by the exuberance and determination of Ethan.

  But that had only been a short-lived thing, something David had been honest about from the start. Ethan was cute, and he’d been a lot of fun, but that was all it could ever be. Despite liking younger men, he rarely found himself emotionally attracted to them. Men in their early twenties were generally good looking, rowdy, and fun to roll around in bed with. However, they still had years of life experience to attain before David found himself genuinely interested. As with the others, Ethan still had a lot of growing up to do, and when the excitement had worn off, David had parted ways, just as he’d warned the man would inevitably happen.

  And Ethan had promised he’d deleted the video.

  “Apparently not,” David muttered as he watched himself on the screen.

  His phone buzzed, pulling him out of his horrified stillness with a jerk. He stared down at the device as if he’d never seen it before, stiffening when he saw an unknown number on the screen.

  He answered it. “Hello?”

  “Good, you answered.”

  David tightened his jaw. “Ethan.”

  “You read the message too, right? You didn’t just watch us having a bit of fun.”

  David glanced toward the office door. “How did you even know I saw the damn thing?”

  “You do know that you can get a notification if someone’s read your message, right?”

  Right.

  “Fine, you have my attention, now what do you want?”

  “Look, you’ve seen enough movies and shit, right? You know how this goes.”

  David made an ugly face. “Money?”

  It wasn’t like he was going to pretend to be surprised, but it just seemed so...predictable.

  David pinched his brow. “How much?”

  “You know what? I’ve been thinking about that for a while, and I’m having a hard time coming up with a good number. But you know, you’ve got to have some money. I mean, big-time general like you, you should have plenty of money.”

  He didn’t make quite as much money as Ethan apparently thought he did. True, he probably made enough to be the envy of a cocktail server at an upscale bar, but it didn’t exactly make him massively rich. Considering he spent most of his time working, his budget was mostly spent on food and little else. His savings were considerable, but he’d never thought they might have to be put to this use.

  David gritted his teeth. “How the hell am I supposed to come up with the correct amount?”

  “You’re a smart man David. I’m sure you can figure out how much is enough to keep this video from getting to the wrong eyes. I mean, hell, it’s the 2010s, right? Being with a guy isn’t that big a deal...maybe. But having a bit of fun with someone young enough to be your son? Shit, I bet the internet would love that,” Ethan said with far more relish than David would have preferred.

  “I don’t exactly have much of a choice here, do I?”

  “Not really, no.”

  “Fine, then just...why?”

  “Why?”

  “Yes. Why are you doing this?”

  “You break my heart, I break your bank...or your reputation, that’s up to you.”

  David jerked back from the phone in surprise. “What? I told you from the very beginning there was an expiration date on whatever we had going. I told you I was only in it to enjoy what we could enjoy, and then we’d move on. You had the choice to walk away, and you chose to keep going.”

  “And I wanted more.”

  The fact that he’d agreed to David’s terms obviously meant nothing. David could only stare at the phone in utter disbelief as the full reality of the situation settled into his gut. Was he really being blackmailed by a man who should have been nothing more than a fond memory because he’d walked away after saying he would?

  Hell, he’d stepped in it, hadn’t he?

  David closed his eyes, knowing he had no other choice but to ask, “How long do I have?”

  “Tell you what, I’m feeling nice at the moment since you’re probably going to be so generous, ya know? So how about I give you the weekend. You get back to me on Monday by this time of day, and tell me your offer.”

  “And if you like it?”

  “You give me the money, and I give you the USB stick that it’s on.”

  David blinked. “You...keep it on a memory drive?”

  “I’m not giving you my computer. You’ll get the original copy on a drive when I get the money.”

  “The money I have to figure out.”

  “You figure out what the price of your long served career is.”

  David closed his eyes. “Fine.”

  “I’ll call you on Monday.”

  The line clicked off, leaving David to stare at his phone in helpless horror.

  Christian

  Saturday’s were not Christian’s favorite day of the week when it came to working in the office. It was generally the day when reports of whatever the soldiers got up to the night before came rolling in. Christian’s Saturday morning was typically spent on the phone, fielding calls from both the nearby town and several people on base with all sorts of complaints and reminders.

  There was honestly only so much that could be done when a soldier got a little too drunk and feisty. The military police certainly worked hard to keep everything on base peaceful, though some days were harder than others. For those that created trouble in town, it was up to the regular police. Of course, if the soldiers found their way into trouble with the law, they were in for a whole lot of hell when they came back to base.

  Not that it stopped the calls though, much to Christian’s irritation.

  Christian rubbed his brow. “Look, Chief Williams, I understand, truly, I do. I’ll be sure to pass the message along to General Winter, and I’m sure he will speak with...Private Jonas’ superior officer.”

  The police chief growled. “That’s what you always say, and nothing ever changes.”

  Christian rolled his eyes. “Save for locking the men down every weekend and preventing them from leaving the base, which is not policy, or law, we cannot do much. We can, however, promise that the private in question will be reprimanded once he has been released from your custody.”

  “Oh, he’s already out. Drunk tank for the night, but he might be looking at some battery charges and destruction of property.”

  Christian grimaced, wonderful. “Well, keep us updated. Either way, Private Jonas will probably wish you’d kept him in jail a little longer after his CO is done with him.”<
br />
  Honestly, who gave the police chief the phone number for General Winter’s office? Christian was going to strangle them.

  “Fine. But I’m growing tired of the General avoiding speaking to me directly. This is the fourth time in two weeks.”

  “I understand that, but the general has a lot on his plate at the moment.”

  Not only that, but Christian had noticed a change in the older man over the past couple of days. Christian had no idea what had happened, but General Winter’s ordinarily quiet and serious nature had become downright surly and almost mute. Christian had received a grunt that morning when he’d greeted him, which was incredibly out of character. General Winter was not a talkative man, but he wasn’t rude.

  “Apparently so busy that he can’t make time to speak to the chief of police,” Chief Williams grumbled.

  “No offense meant, but General Winter has very little time for the things that aren’t absolutely pressing.”

  “Right, and his men causing trouble in my city doesn’t warrant his attention.”

  Christian narrowed his eyes. “How many drunk and disorderly people do you pick up on a Friday night, Chief Williams? How many people do you arrest for battery?”

  “Pardon?”

  “How many of them are for domestic assault? Rape? Attempted murder, or even murder?”

  “What does that have to do with anything?”

  Christian reached out, opening a message as it popped up on his screen. “I want you to take the number of all the people you arrest on a weekend for all of those things, combine them into a pool. Then I want you to pick out the ones that are done by the soldiers coming from our base. Can you do that for me?”

  “I can’t say that I have the exact numbers sitting right in front of me,” Chief Williams said tightly.