He felt her moisten instantly at that and her eyes closed and her head rolled back as she began to pant and buck. He didn’t worry about her needs this time, though, simply taking what he wanted and coming into her again.
“That’s the other side of me,” Mike said, taking his hand off her mouth and pulling out of her. “The rough side of me. Sometimes it will come out.”
“I liked it, Kildar,” Klavdiya said, still panting. “I like you inside of me, taking me. Even when it hurts.”
She cleaned up sketchily and then curled into him again. This time Mike was the first one to fall asleep.
Chapter Twenty-Seven
“Carting your girls around with you, now?” Meller asked as Katya and Lida walked over to watch the building dam. The engineer had hired three dump trucks from the area and some other equipment so the dam was building swiftly. The south side was about seventy percent filled in and the north about halfway with a building mound in the center. Besides the Keldara with hand compactors there were two rolling compactors, which looked somewhat like steam rollers, working the dirt.
“Sort of,” Mike said. “I’m teaching Kat to be an assistant. Not for me, not long term, but it’s something I think she could do as an occupation if she could keep from knifing her boss in the back. And it’s a good way to learn how things work. Lida I’m keeping close as a bonding thing.”
It had been three weeks since training, of the militia and the girls, had started and Mike was on his third young lady in as many weeks.
“And you’ve been doing a good bit of bonding,” Meller said, grinning.
“This is a weird situation,” Mike said. “At least for me. Not that I’m knocking it or anything. The sex is great.”
“Well, fortunately with the training rotation we’re not missing Kat,” Meller said. “But the moans from down the hall are interesting. I guess she enjoys her new status.”
“Apparently,” Mike said, chuckling. Meller was not the first to comment on the sounds, by a long stretch. “How long?”
“Two weeks,” Meller said in a satisfied tone. “Once we’re finished with the main dirt laydown, all we have to do is cover it with clay and start filling. I figure about another two weeks for that. I’m going to turn over to Prael next week and get started on the electric.”
“Don’t forget my brewery building,” Mike said.
“I haven’t,” Meller said. “Prael’s going to start clearing the foundations tomorrow. Father Mahona’s going to be in charge of the construction; it’s going to be straight Keldara construction for the most part. Vanner’s gotten a design for it and he’s working with Mother Lenka on the brewing cycle.”
“Works for me,” Mike said. “I’ll need someone to do the sales, though. I’m thinking of getting the Keldara town brew as an example so we can get some sales lined up for when we have our first batch done.”
“You’re assuming your first brew is going to be good enough for market,” Meller pointed out.
“I’m trusting Mother Lenka on that one,” Mike admitted. “I think she could get a saleable brew out of a stone. Time to go collect the girls before they distract the workmen too much. I’ll be glad to have power from this thing; those generators I had installed are costing like crazy.”
“So is this,” Meller pointed out. “But it’s capital expenditure. You’ll have power from it for a century.”
“I doubt I’ll last that long,” Mike said, chuckling.
“Mike, got something to discuss with you,” Nielson said when he got back to the serai.
“Lida, go to classes,” Mike said, patting the girl on the butt. “I’ll come fetch you later. Katya…”
“I’ll go finish my spreadsheet,” Katya said, nodding.
“Projections on beer sales,” Mike said, following Nielson to the latter’s office. “Might be cart before the horse, but I figure we can start looking at what we might get.”
“And it keeps her occupied,” Nielson said, chuckling.
“And it keeps her occupied,” Mike admitted. “I’m having a hard time finding work for her.”
“Toss her over to me,” Nielson said, sitting behind his overloaded desk. “I could use an assistant that can do spreadsheets.”
“And her typing’s improving,” Mike said. “What can I do for you? How’s the training going?”
“Good,” Nielson admitted. “As far as I can tell at this point. With one exception.”
“Gurun,” Mike guessed. “What’s happening?”
“He’s really being… put on,” Nielson said, frowning. “Not really his fault. Stuff happens and it all gets blamed on him, whether it’s his fault or not. Even when it’s clearly someone else’s.”
“Standard thing with the caillean,” Mike said, grimacing.
“The problem is it’s causing a real rift in his team,” Nielson said. “I’ve spoken to Vil but he just shuts down on the subject. And none of the other team leaders are willing to let him transfer. It’s like the whole clan has shut him out.”
“They have in a way,” Mike said, sighing. “I hate to lose a fighter, but they’re not going to accept him no matter what.” He thought about it for a second and then shrugged. “I don’t know him from Adam. What’s he like?”
“Smart,” Nielson said, shrugging. “I don’t know him well, either, but I’ve talked to Peters about him and he says he’s actually very good. If he wasn’t having this other problem he’d consider him for the team assistant slot. As it is…”
“Let me talk to him,” Mike said, sighing. “Bring him up this evening. If we pull him we’ll do it tonight.”
“Will do,” Nielson said.
“Kildar,” Katya said when he got to his office. “I’ve prepared the spreadsheet on beer sales and a report on potential distributors I pulled from the internet. Two in Europe and six in America. Also… Sergeant Vanner and I disagree on something. I would like you to talk to him about it.”
“He’s the intel head,” Mike said, frowning. “I don’t think you should go over his head.”
“I thought about that,” Katya replied. “But I also think it is important.”
“Okay,” Mike sighed. “Call him up here.”
“Hey, Kildar,” Vanner said when he got to the office. “What’s up?”
“I hear you and Katya disagree on something,” Mike said.
“Yeah,” Vanner said, frowning. “But I was going to bring it up. I’m starting to think her way on it.”
“Don’t make me pull teeth to find out,” Mike said, smiling thinly.
“It’s the usual intel mess,” Vanner said. “I’ve started working on a Humint side as well. I got with Vadim and he’s feeding me everything that his men pick up along with gossip from the town that the girls pick up. Then I’m piecing that together with what we’re getting from intercepts. Katya? You want to cover the rest?”
“The Chechen force that was going into Russia appears to have gotten intelligence that they were to be intercepted by the Russians,” Katya said, pulling out some sheets of paper. “We got that from rumors from Nakosta, which is a town south of Alerrso. They also appear to have been told that it was we who told the Russians they were coming.”
“Crap,” Mike said, shaking his head. “I hate the fucking Russians.”
“Agreed,” Vanner said. “A Spetznaz team, operating in Georgia by the way, got a piece of them. The Spetznaz reported at least two KIA and some WIA, but they only got a small piece. The group was last reported headed west deeper into Georgia and the Spetznaz were recalled, choppered out. The rest of it is surmise from intercepts. The Chechens change frequencies, but they’re really bad at it. They keep coming back to the previous freq, or one that was used recently, and broadcasting. So you get these scraps of intercept that might mean something and might not.”