Wrought Iron, Book 1 of Merlin's Message

Chapter 7 - Facts and Feelings

Dinner was quiet.

Mike made biscuits in a cast iron pan. Dafydd did a passable stir-fry from dried beef and cut-up green, yellow, and red peppers. He called it a "fry-up."

"Emm, good stuff, Dafydd," Mike mumbled around a mouth full of food.

"Alright, thanks. You did good with the bread too, mate."

"Thanks." Mike grinned.

Gavin cored some apples and found some brown sugar to stuff in the middles. He wrapped them in foil and baked them around the hot coals.

"Love the apples," Mike held his in a fold of cloth and ate it with a spoon.

Dafydd nodded with a grunt of appreciation, and Gavin said, "Thanks."

"Hey, Hannah," Taeko started. "Not bad having three guys cook for us. What do you think?"

"Is it weird watching three guys fixing dinner for us and complimenting each other's recipes?" Hannah giggled.

"I think we're establishing the correct working relationship," Taeko stated.

"Are they making fun of us?" Mike asked.

"Yes. I think they're having a laugh," Dafydd answered. "You offended?"

"Not a bit, man. Just asking."

"And don't even think about asking us to do the dishes," Taeko informed them.

Mike and Dafydd laughed.

Gavin smiled but stayed quiet.

They were all tired. Soon after cleaning up, everyone started getting ready to sleep. Taeko walked over to Gavin.

"Uh, hey," she started.

"Hey, Taeko, you look worried. Is Hannah okay?"

"She's fine, Gavin, already asleep."

Taeko glanced around, and her gaze fell on Dafydd for a second before looking back to Gavin.

"It's Dafydd. What do you know about him? Has he told you anything he hasn't told the rest of us?"

"Just that he's never been to college."

"I overheard that. So who, or what, is he?"

"Don't know. What do you think?"

Taeko lowered her voice. "It's like this. Dafydd left one of the duffel bags open, and I saw some kind of military hat, like a beret, sort of a faded green with a badge on it. It's an upraised sword with a couple of wavy blue lines."

"And? You know what it is?"

"Yeah. My Dad, years ago, was in the JMSDF in Japan."

"JMSDF, as in Japanese Navy?"

"Yeah. My Dad was part of the first of the Japanese Navy's special units. They called it the Special Boarding Unit."

"Sorry, but I'm not following you."

She puffed air out of her cheeks. "The JMSDF wanted help getting the unit together, and the good old USA was too busy or something. So the British sent a group of their special Navy guys. They're called the Special Boat Service. And their badge is the one I saw in Dafydd's stuff."

"I've heard of the Special Air Service. SAS is like the UK's elite SpecOps guys. I haven't heard of the Boat Service."

"SBS is their Navy's special guys, like the SAS or our Navy Seals."