“Getting an eyeful?” Nea asked.
Hale smiled down at her sheepishly and nodded feeling dumb. Still holding his hand, she tugged him to her. She looked up into his eyes as Hale used his left hand to brush away her crimson bangs. Oh God, there’s those eyes again! A man could swim forever in those emerald orbs, and she smells so good.
He heard the sound of his heart pounding in his ears as he desperately thought, What do I say?
Nea, ended his conundrum by tilting her head upward and pressing forward with her lips. He lowered his own chin, and their lips met. They kissed briefly, and both of their cheeks took on a scarlet hue as the two stepped back and averted their eyes from each other.
Recovering quickly, Nea met his gaze, and said, “Hale, it’s ok.”
She took a step forward and without hesitation he wrapped his arms around her slender frame and pulled her close. His lips sought hers and they kissed. This time the kiss was more insistent. It seemed to go on forever as they explored each other with their tongues. Breathless, they finally broke the contact.
Nea, threw him a smile and dropped her eyes to his waistline and took in the growing bulge beneath his pants. Smiling, she took him by the hand and led him into the trees. Hale’s thoughts snapped back into reality. He was still holding the picture of the unknown woman in his hands. Sighing he looked down at it. Unable to gaze upon the woman anymore he flipped the picture over, on the back was a name and an address. I can tell her what happened. He thought.
Hale slipped the picture into a coat pocket just as his ears registered the sound of snow crunching. Listening he was able to discern two sets of boots as they made their way through the snow toward him, They think I’m shot. He surmised.
The edges of his lips turned up slightly as he thought, They are going to pay dearly for their mistake. He crawled around the base of the tree until he was positive that the trunk was between him and the two approaching men. He then stood slowly to maintain his silence.
He peeked out from behind the tree and spotted the two Russians. They were perhaps thirty feet away from him. They kept walking toward him without breaking stride, They didn’t see me.
Hale brought his rifle up and rounded the tree opposite to the Russians. As the two Soviets registered his presence, he put a bullet in the face of the soldier on his right. Horrified, the other man stood there with a dumb look on his face as Hale worked the bolt on his rifle.
Snapping out of his shock, the man started to raise his own rifle up to take aim at Hale. He never got the chance. The silence of the forest was pierced for a second time as Hale pulled the trigger on his rifle. At this range Hale couldn’t miss, and the unfortunate dropped to his knees and then toppled sideways over onto the body of his slain comrade.
Hale approached the two men and quickly searched them. Unfortunately, they lacked both grenades and vodka. Poor bastards. Quickly forgetting about his victims, he started walking quickly toward the truck, I hope it won’t take to long to change that tire…
Chapter 3
Hale awoke. His head throbbed as he rolled over and wondered. Where am I?
Steeling himself for reality he opened his eyes. His vision filled with a brown padded bench seat overhead. Groaning, he closed his eyes as a wave of nausea passed over him. Fighting the urge to vomit, he steeled himself and opened his eyes again. The first thing he noticed was the light. It was dim. The sun must be setting for the light to be so low.
A shiver ran through his body from the intense cold. As he struggled to keep his eyes open, his vision blurred and another wave of nausea hit him. He clinched his eyes shut and tried to will the demon in his gut to remain silent. This time he failed and narrowly avoided making a mess of his white overcoat. As he leaned forward, the contents of his stomach burst forth from his mouth. Finished, he sighed in relief as the nausea dissipated.
Seeing spots, Hale blinked his eyes several times trying to clear the stubborn dots from his vision as he removed a glove. He reached up with his hand and rubbed his temple trying to relieve the pain he felt in his head. Despite the pain, he was finally able to focus enough his mind enough to once again ask, Where am I?
He closed his eyes and took a deep breath. Opening them, his vision finally sharpened enough to register where he was, the cab of a truck. Looking down at his chest, which was covered in shattered glass, he asked himself, How did I get here? I don’t remember what happened.
Before he could search his mind for an answer to his question, he heard the roar of an engine. The noise, drew his eyes to the back window of the truck. Spots danced in his eyes as he was blinded by the dull yellow glow of twin beams. The dull yellow glow caused his vision to swim and his mind drifted. Losing consciousness again, the next thing he remembers is looking up into the barrel of an SVT-38, “Pokazhi mne svoi ruki.” A voice barked.
Hale’s addled mind raced as he drifted back to his brief lesson in the Russian language given to him by the Army. “Repeat after me.” Oda, his instructor, a stern looking woman of around thirty-five said, “Ya podchinyauys. I surrender.”
Along with the rest of the class, Hale’s tongue stumbled over the unfamiliar syllables of the Russian language. The strange words were so very different from his native Finnish.
From the back of the classroom Sergeant Kivi roared, “You sound like a bunch of drooling simpletons!”
Oda, their Russian language instructor, cast the class a stern look from behind her horn-rimmed glasses, slapped a ruler onto her desk and said, “Focus! Again, repeat after me. Ya pochinyauys. I surrender.”
Hale dutifully repeated the words. When they finished Sergeant Kivi nodded, “Better, but you still sound like a donkey with a tree branch up your ass.”
Oda’s forehead creased as she cast an irritated glare at Sergeant Kivi. “Repeat after me, Ya pochinyauys, I surrender.”
This time the class uttered the phrase in near unison, “That’s better. Maybe you fools aren’t as stupid as you look.” Sergeant Kivi said.
From somewhere in front of Hale a voice said, “No sir. We are plenty stupid. Otherwise we wouldn’t be here training to fight a foe that out numbers us ten to one.”
Oda snorted, trying to stifle a laugh at the words. Sergeant Kivi’s cheeks turned a deep crimson as he leaped to his feet and roared, “Who said that?”
The enraged Sergeant was met with silence as he stormed up and down the aisles of the simple classroom. Stopping next to Hale, he pulled on his shoulder, spun him around in his chair to face him, and bellowed, “Was it you?”
Hale, barely succeeded in fighting down the urge to urinate upon himself at the sight of the enraged Sergeant. It was his second day of training and he hadn’t figured out if the Sergeant was God Almighty or a Demon sent from the foulest bits of hell to torment him. He looked up at Sergeant Kivi’s with wide eyed fear etched on his face as the big man loomed over him. The Sergeant’s scarlet hued face crinkled in rage as his blue eyes bored into Hale’s hazel orbs. It’s as if he is looking into my very soul. Sweat began to glisten on the Sergeant’s forehead as he roared, “I asked you a question soldier. Was it you?”
Hale wiped the Kivi’s saliva from his face with his left sleeve as he replied, “No sir!”
Sergeant Kivi’s eyes narrowed and his nostrils flared as he glared at Hale. The younger man could almost see puffs of flame emerging from the Sergeant’s nostrils. After several long moments, the Sergeant turned and walked up the aisle. Finding another victim, he bellowed the same question. Hale took a deep breath and slowly let it out. Relieved that the Sergeant was gone, and that he didn’t piss himself before he turned his attention elsewhere.