He made his way over and plopped down between his two friends, slinging an arm over both their shoulders. “Ready to double your workload?”
Rick looked annoyed at being interrupted, while Trev looked a bit relieved. But both dropped their previous argument when they realized what he was saying. “Davis is dumping all the training on us?” Trev asked.
“We’ve got a good start on it, and the new recruits know the routine.” Matt shrugged. “Sarge figures you can handle it.”
Trev nodded reluctantly. “If we have to. Now that the valley’s empty and everyone who could evacuate into the mountains has, the flow of fresh volunteers has dried up. Once we finish training these guys we’ll probably be ready for new duties ourselves.” He gave Matt a sidelong look. “So where you guys headed?”
Before answering Matt banged his fists on the table a few times and whistled to get everyone’s attention. “My squad. Davis wants us on the southern slope tomorrow morning. The spot where we were hunting. That’s our ground, now.”
Pete snorted. “What’re we going to do there, twiddle our thumbs? Not even the blockheads are stupid enough to attack up that hillside.”
For once Matt ignored his friend’s attitude. “Back to hunting, actually, if we’ve got the time. And just in case the enemy is stupid enough to attack up there, Sarge wants it covered. We’ve got the two day shifts, while he’s going to give us a few volunteers to take the night shift. We’ll be lending them some night vision gear for the job.”
He stood, squeezing his friends’ shoulders as he stepped away from the bench. “I’m going to grab some dinner, then we can go over our new duties.”
“So does that mean we’re handling the training on our own?” Alice asked, sounding a bit annoyed. He didn’t blame her; the work hadn’t been the easiest with two squads, and now Trev’s squad would have to figure out how to manage it on their own.
He nodded. “Davis will probably pull Trev aside sometime tonight to talk to him about it.” With a nod to his people he went to grab some food.
They spent a bit longer than usual in the mess tent, not only so the two squads could discuss their new duties but so they could enjoy their last chance to eat together for who knew how long. But finally Matt gave in to the irritated looks soldiers and volunteers were shooting their way, as they squeezed into the packed tables around them. The tent was crowded and his people had been hogging this table for long enough.
Standing, he ordered everyone back to camp to get some rest while he went over to talk to the civilian cooks. They’d have to start packing meals to take with them, and he wanted to make sure the mess tent was warned ahead so they could plan those meals. Everyone else out on patrol or manning sentry positions got food prepared ahead of time, so it wasn’t an unusual request.
Trev kept him company as he filled the cooks in, and before long they were ready to make their way to the Aspen Hill camp. A dozen steps outside the entrance they passed a few men making for the mess tent. Matt didn’t recognize them as some of Vernon’s people, at least until one of the men stepped forward to block their path.
“How’s babysitting duty going, Smith?” he asked in a mock jovial tone. “Bet it’s a relief to tuck your tail between your legs and hide in camp. Keep up your winning streak of not seeing any action.”
Matt gave his friend a worried look, but although Trev’s jaw tightened he didn’t rise to the bait. With just the slightest nod to acknowledge the man’s existence he started to walk around, and Matt kept up with him on his other side.
He was almost surprised when Vernon’s thug reached out and caught Trev’s arm, but only because Davis had ordered the two groups to avoid each other. Obviously only one side was interested in honoring that.
“Hey, you’re just going to walk away?” the man asked with a harsh laugh. “I don’t blame you for being pissed off that even after you tried to smear the Sheriff’s name, Davis still trusts him more than you and sent us to do your job.”
Trev tried to pull away, but the man kept a tight grip. Matt glanced at Vernon’s other two fighters, standing close behind their friend looking ready, and bit back a sigh. He didn’t want this to come to blows, but it looked as if they might not have much choice.
His friend met his assailant’s eyes. “Davis ordered me not to cause trouble,” he said quietly. “So I’m going to ask you nicely to let go so I can walk away.”
That wasn’t exactly a challenge, but Trev definitely wasn’t backing down. Vernon’s man noticed it, too, and he wasn’t intimidated. “And if I don’t?” Instead of answering, Trev kept meeting his gaze, and the man abruptly grinned. “Okay fine. Wouldn’t want to get the Sergeant mad at me.” He started to drop his hand.
Trev punched him square in the face, putting his whole body into the blow. The man barely made a noise as he dropped, momentarily stunned.
Matt felt a surge of relief as he rushed to intercept one of the two remaining men as they went for his friend. He’d thought Trev was so intent on the hand holding his arm that he hadn’t seen that Vernon’s man was about to hit him with his free hand. His friend had been just the slightest bit faster.
The former sheriff’s other two men were roaring in protest as they rushed to help their companion. Either they didn’t realize he’d been about to throw the first punch, or they didn’t care. The one squaring off with Matt slowed down as if he was about to hit him, and Matt didn’t catch how he dropped one shoulder for a tackle until a split second before the man struck him full in the chest. He tried to twist away, too late, and they both went down.
For a furious few seconds Matt rolled in the dirt with his assailant, trying to wrestle his way into a better position. For his part the shorter, slightly lighter man fought viciously rather than with any particular skill. He tried to throw dirt in Matt’s face and hit his neck and shoulder, and he went for Matt’s eyes and dug a painful scratch on his cheekbone.
At that Matt’s patience for the fight snapped, and he backed away just enough to slam his fist into the man’s face three times in quick succession. Vernon’s fighter fell back to the ground, momentarily stunned, but as Matt tried to roll away he came back cursing and swinging at his head.
The first hit was hard enough to make Matt’s ears ring, but before his assailant could land a second blow strong hands caught his shoulders and yanked him away. Half a second later Matt was grabbed and hauled to his feet as well.
The fight immediately went out of him when he saw that it was a Marine holding him. He’d been aware of shouting in the background, but in the heat of the moment had barely heard it. Vernon’s man had also stopped thrashing, although he was still cursing as he held a hand to his bloody nose.
Aware of his surroundings for the first time in almost a minute, Matt looked around and saw that the camp had come to a standstill around them. A small crowd had formed at the entrance to the mess tent, and at the Aspen Hill camp Rick and a few others had paused in rushing over, either to help or break up the fight.
And storming their direction from the command tent was Davis himself.
When he arrived the sergeant looked between all of them, face getting redder by the second. Finally he spoke, his voice deceptively calm, and that sent warning bells ringing in Matt’s head to join the ringing in his ears.
“The five of you,” he said quietly, “just seriously stepped in it. I don’t tolerate fighting in my camp, but the fact that I ordered you to stay away from each other—” he cut off abruptly, breathing sharply through his nose, and it was almost ten seconds before he continued with his temper once again under control. “You’re each going to tell me exactly what happened, and you’d better hope I don’t catch you lying.”