Project Whores

Chapter 9

Inclement. Once again, it was raining in Bagram. The downpour was not hard, but it was steady. This kind of weather was common and had a direct effect on the power. Because of the rain, the electricity was on and off, which meant the internet was up and down. Kyle was somewhat of a workaholic and usually went into the office early, and stayed late. This morning, he was on the phone trying to talk his wife, Candy, through getting the television back to cable after she and the kids watched a movie. They bought the TV last time he was home and it was high tech, so she was having trouble with it. He just got to work and the timing was poor, but was doing everything in his power not to lose his patience. He had to call her back three times because the connection would drop when the internet went down. While this problem was not uncommon, it was especially bothersome to him today for some reason. Then, of course both of his boys wanted to talk to him, so once that was over with, he told his wife he had to get back to work. “OK baby, have a good day and I’ll talk to you later. I love you,” she said, and ended the call. Kyle made himself a cup of tea while he waited for his email to come up. When he returned to his desk, he stared at the screen, but could not seem to concentrate. The reason he could not get it together today, was the same reason he could not get it together for the last week: Rejoice Battle consumed his thoughts day and night. Her touch, her taste… The way she rubbed his head… Kyle was completely unaware of the smile on his face at that moment. What the hell, Kyle? he thought, with genuine concern. You have to chill! This woman moved him and he could not figure out why. When her body touched his, time stood still. It was surreal, like they were moving in slow motion on the big screen. But in this movie, the credits never rolled because they never stopped. Kyle envisioned laying with her every night and waking to her every morning. Several times, he stopped himself from going to her room and knocking on her door. If I could just see her, hear her voice, he thought, dejectedly. He had not laid eyes on her or talked to her since the last time she came to his room. Why did I treat her like that? No matter how he tried to justify it, guilt poked at him whenever he thought about that night. He knew he’d hurt her feelings and for some reason it really bothered him. Kyle did not consider himself a mean person. A little insensitive maybe, even Candy had told him that many times, but not mean. He kept remembering the way she looked at him before she left his room.

He was determined to right his wrong and went to the DFAC three times per day every day looking for her, but she was a constant no show. Of course, he also went by her office several times, but could not seem to catch her. Where could she be? Kyle was starting to think she was dodging him, and while he could not blame her, his mission was to find a way to make her forgive him. He scrolled through his emails while simultaneously devising a master plan to run into her, and the intra-theater travel manifest popped into his in box. The manifest listed the names of civilians who utilized Military Aircraft or other air transportation to go to other camps, and allowed managers to track the movement of their employees. He opened the attachment and compared it to the list of subordinates he expected to arrive today. When he got to the name Bastion, George, the name just below it caught his eye; Battle, Rejoice. She had been to FOB Fenty, and was returning this morning. Kyle purposed in his heart he would see her today, even if he had to go knock on her door.  

As he considered what he could possibly say when he did finally catch up with her, Dane Fuller walked in and told him he was needed in the yard. Kyle was a senior logistics manager in Materials. His department supplied everything from equipment to plastic utensils to every other department on the project. He managed a very large staff and had a huge amount of responsibility, but this was not his first rodeo. He was a senior manager because his track record proved he could handle the workload and the motley crew he constantly had to supervise. Dane was his second in command.

When he got outside, everyone was gathered, as they should have been, for the morning briefing. The materials yard was a wide, open field that housed hundreds of large, steel containers that held all supplies necessary for work, life, and sustainment, with the exception of food. Consumables was the responsibility of Class I. That said, Materials was one of the most important departments on the project. Kyle scanned the crowd and saw that Malik and Fremont, two of his newer troublemakers, were arguing. He walked up and they both looked at him and stopped speaking. Kyle did not say a word. Fremont was fairly new, but Malik had been a nuisance since he got there three or four months prior. They were both twenty somethings who needed to grow up. Malik was an extremely good looking kid, but he was as unkempt as anybody Kyle had on his crew. His clothes looked like hand me downs that had been handed down twice. He had nice hair, but it always looked like it needed to be cut, and his speech was terrible. But he was not fooling anyone. Malik was not raised to look and behave the way he portrayed himself. It was an act, and not a very good one in his manager’s opinion.  Kyle’s mother was a school teacher and she always said she could write a book on her students just by looking at their teeth and listening to them speak. Malik had perfectly straight, white teeth and his report writing would rival Dane’s, which was way above average. There was no way he wrote like that and talked like an ignoramus. Parents who saw to your dental care and made sure you were educated were not usually ignorant or absentee, nor did they raise ignorant children. Kyle was not sure why Malik was fronting, but he had no doubt he would find out soon enough. He did not know much about Fremont, but the little he knew, could be summed up by saying he was a slick one. Fortune had not smiled on him as far as good looks or smarts, but he was sneaky and for some reason he latched onto Malik, although they argued a lot. Fremont was no dummy, though. He was always well dressed and groomed. Everything matched and was color coordinated, he overcompensated for his looks and it seemed to work out just fine for him. He definitely got his fair share of female attention. Kyle knew it behooved him to keep his eye on both of them.