Mueller frowned. "I'd think this was your office."
"It is, but we already contributed," Wendy answered. "In other words, what are you here for?"
"Ah, we were told we could find Captain Anne Elgars here," Mueller said. "From the picture, you are not Captain Elgars. However, it is nice to make your acquaintance Miz . . . ?"
"Cummings," Wendy said, wincing at the anticipated joke. She had lived with her name her whole life. "Wendy Cummings."
"Master Sergeant Mueller," Mueller said. "Charmed. And is Captain Elgars available?" he continued as the baby let out a howl like a fire engine.
"Sure, I'll get her," Wendy said. "Come on in."
She stepped around Kelly, who had chosen the middle of the floor as the obvious place to do a life-sized Tiger puzzle, and walked towards the back.
Mueller looked over his shoulder at Mosovich and shrugged, then stepped through the door. The room was filled with the sort of happy bedlam you get with any group of children, but the noise was dying as the kids noticed the visitors. Before too long Mosovich and Mueller found themselves in a semicircle of kids.
"Are you areal soldier?" one of the little girls asked. Her eyes were brown and just about as big around as saucers.
Mueller squatted down to where he wasn't much over their height and nodded his head. "Yep. Are you a real little girl?"
The girl giggled as one of the boys leaned forward. "Is that a real gun?"
"Yes," Mosovich said with a growl. "And if you touch it you'll get a swat."
"Guns aren't toys, son," Mueller added. "What's your name?"
"Nathan," the kid said. "I'm gonna be a soldier when I grow up and kill Posleen."
"And that's a fine thing to want to do," Mueller opined. "But you don't start off with a big gun. You learn on little guns first. And someday, if you eat your vegetables, you'll be big like me. And you can kill Posleen all day long."
"Without getting tired?" one of the girls asked.
"Well . . ." Mueller said, flipping a surreptitious finger at Mosovich for laughing, "you do get tired."
"Okay, let's start getting ready for lunch, children," Shari said, coming out of the back with Elgars and Wendy. "Leave these gentlemen alone. Wash hands then sit down for grace."
"I'm Elgars," said the captain, ignoring the children. She had white powder on her hands and a cheek.
"Captain, I'm Sergeant Major Mosovich with Fleet Recon and this is my senior NCO Master Sergeant Mueller." He paused and then nodded as if he'd done some sort of a mental checklist. "Your commander, Colonel Cutprice, sent a message to one of my troops asking him to come down here and find out if you needed rescuing from the shrinks. I don't know if you remember Nichols, but you two went through sniper school together. He got banged up on our last op and is still down in the body-and-fender so I came down here with Mueller instead. Anyway, here I am."
"Okay," Elgars said, with a nod. "So am I being rescued from the shrinks?"
"Is there someplace we can talk, ma'am?" Mosovich temporized. "Someplace quieter?" he added as the children trooped back from the bathroom.
"Not really," Elgars said, raising her voice slightly over the children. "The kitchen isn't much better. We'd have to go to my quarters and I can't really afford the time for that."
"Is this where . . . Do you work here, ma'am?" Mosovich asked.
"Sort of," she answered. "I help out. I'm following Wendy around, getting my bearings again."
"Well," Mosovich frowned. "Okay, the question, ma'am, is, how do you feel about going back on active duty?"
"I feel okay about it," Elgars said. "Can I ask a question?"
"Of course, ma'am."
"Are you here to evaluate me?"
It was this question that had made Mosovich pause early in the discussion. The question was whether to answer honestly or do the two-step. He finally decided that honesty was the right policy even if it wasn't the best.
"I guess you could say that, ma'am," the sergeant major admitted. "I got told to come down here and check you out then report back to your commander in writing as to your perceived fitness. You don't normally use a sergeant major to report on an officer and I'm not a psychologist. But I've been beating around this war for quite a while and I guess the powers that be trust my judgement."
"Okay," Elgars said. "In that case I'll be honest too. I don't know what the hell a captain does. I can shoot, I know that. I can do other stuff. But I keep finding holes. And I have no idea what the job of a captain even is. So being a captain would be tough."
Mueller tapped Mosovich on the shoulder and whispered in his ear. Mosovich turned and looked at him with a quizzical expression and held a finger up to Elgars. "Captain, could you excuse me for just a moment."
He and Mueller went over into a corner of the daycare center and spoke for a moment. Elgars could see Mosovich shaking his head and Mueller gesturing. After a moment, Wendy came over to ask Elgars what was going on.
"I dunno," the captain replied. "But I don't think I'm gonna like it."
Mosovich came back over and looked at both of them. He opened his mouth for a moment, stopped, glanced over his shoulder at Mueller. Looked at Wendy for a second then looked at Elgars.
"Captain," he said over the shrilling of the children in the background. "I don't think we can get a good read on how you really feel about your abilities in this environment."
Elgars looked at him for second, looked at Wendy then looked back. "So, what would you suggest?"
"Mueller suggests that the four of us go take a turn up on the surface. Maybe go to dinner, go to a range, see how you feel about being in an environment other than . . ." at which point Shakeela started with one of her patented howls " . . . a daycare center."
"Sergeant Major Mosovich," Wendy asked with a raised eyebrow, "are you suggesting a double date?"
"No," Mosovich said. "Just a chance to talk somewhere other than in here."
"Uh, huh," Wendy said, glancing at Mueller, who returned a look that said butter wouldn't melt in his mouth. "Well, Shari can't take care of the children alone. I think that Captain Elgars is capable of taking care of herself, however, so why don't the three of you go?"
"Okay," Mosovich said with a shrug. "Works for me."
"Hold it," Elgars said. "Wendy, how long has it been since you've been to the surface?"
"November?" Wendy asked with a frown.
"Uh, huh," Elgars said. "What year?"
"Uh . . ." Wendy shook her head. "2007?"
"And how long has it been since Shari had anything resembling a break?" Elgars asked.
"Taking the kids to the surface wouldn't be a break," Wendy noted. "But . . . I don't think she's been out of the Urb since we came here from Fredericksburg. And the last time I was up there was . . . was to give testimony," she continued with a stony face.
"Well, I think we should all take a trip up to the surface," Elgars said.
"With the kids?" Mosovich asked incredulously.
"Sure," Mueller said. "With the kids. Stress testing for the captain."
"Christ, okay, whatever," Mosovich said, raising his hands. "Stress testing for me. We'll all go up top and have dinner someplace in Franklin. See how Elgars handles being out and about. I'll include that in my report and we'll see what Colonel Cutprice says."