The Grey Man- Changes Read online

  The sheriff said, “Hell of an intro. I’m John Holt. For my sins, I’m a captain with the San Diego County Sheriff’s department. This is Bryan Hunter. He’s the chief of police for Carlsbad, and that gent is Tony Gomez. He’s the chief for Oceanside.”

  They all nodded and looked at Jesse with interest. A little flustered, she said, “Hi, I’m Jesse Cro- Miller. Just got here, newly married. I’m- Well, I was, er, am a deputy sheriff in west Texas.”

  Chief Gomez looked sharply at her. “What was your maiden name, ma’am?”

  Jesse sighed. “Cronin. And I’m betting you heard something about me, right, chief?”

  Both Holt and Hunter looked at them with renewed interest, and Hunter finally said, “Okay Tony, give!”

  Chief Gomez smiled. “You carry a big Colt Python, and you had a little set to with a couple of cowboys earlier this year in a Mexican restaurant, right?”

  Jesse blushed. “Well, it was more of a ‘you made a mistake’ confrontation than anything else.”

  Gomez smiled. “Not according to the patrol sergeant that responded. He said you had one cuffed, one with a broken wrist, and with a mark on his forehead that looked suspiciously like the business end of a Python had been used to get somebody’s attention. And somebody pissed his pants.”

  Leaning back, he actually laughed. “You even stood up to one of the rooks, and Sergeant Burt had to send him away, from what I heard.”

  Jesse dropped her head, and said, “Well, I didn’t break the guy’s wrist. That was one of the Marines with us. The guy had a knife to his date’s neck, so I kinda distracted him till Matt could get in position and grab his wrist. And I got tired of the mouth and I might have used some persuasion to get his attention. Sergeant Burt was very nice, and we’ve actually been back there a couple of times for dinner.”

  Captain Holt asked, “Mrs. Miller, what department are you with? And if you don’t mind me asking, what happened to your leg?”

  Something in the way Holt asked the question made Jesse hesitate. “Well, I’m with Pecos County Sheriff’s department, and right now I’m on medical leave of absence. I was shot in a home invasion.”

  Thankfully, Darlene called the meeting to order, and quickly got to the three officers, each of whom gave presentations on their departments. Captain Holt was last, and when the Q&A came, the first question was from a wife who had just moved to the area with her husband from Cherry Point. She asked why she couldn’t get a concealed carry permit, as she’d had one for years, both in North Carolina and Virginia.

  Holt danced around the issue, saying there had to be good cause, and that the sheriff’s department was very responsive to 911 calls. The wife interrupted him and asked if the department could really respond in less than two minutes, saying she’d looked at the website and response times averaged eight-ten minutes, with longer times in the more remote areas. She then said, “Well, since the average crime is over one way or the other in ninety seconds or less, and I’m going to be home alone with my two young daughters for six months to a year at a time, why can’t I get a carry permit? Or are you discriminating against us poor unwashed military people?”

  Holt turned red and stomped out of the meeting, much to the displeasure of the wives. As he was leaving, Chief Gomez handed Jesse a card and said, “When you get out of the cast, come see me. And watch out for Holt. He’s political and so is the sheriff. The sheriff doesn’t like people he doesn’t control carrying in his jurisdiction, LEOs or otherwise.”

  Jesse took the card and replied, “Do you, chief?”

  Gomez chuckled. “Hell no, I don’t mind! I know how shorthanded we are. Do you, Brian?”

  Chief Hunter shook his head. “Nope, not a bit. Too bad you don’t live in Carlsbad. I’d have put you on my reserve force today. Broken leg or not!”

  Both the chiefs were quickly surrounded by the wives some complaining, some wanting to know if there was a way around the sheriff. Jesse hobbled over to where Darlene was dealing with a man in a white shirt, and comparing the bill with the contract. Darlene finally signed a check and presented it to him saying, “Next month, let’s try a small buffet of appetizers and see how that works.”

  Turning to Jesse she said, “Okay, you ready to blow this pop stand?”

  Jesse nodded. “Yeah that was less than impressive. The sheriff sure as hell didn’t make any points tonight.”

  ***

  Three days later, Marlene picked Jesse up from PT and took her to the Brills’ house. Waiting there was Darlene and a stack of paperwork. Darlene and Marlene explained what they’d done to set up their business, and Jesse finally found their business license in the pile of papers, Darlene handed her a disk with an excel spreadsheet and called it their books, to which Jesse rolled her eyes after opening the file.

  “Where are your bank statements? Where are your invoices and receipts? Quarterly tax statements? Y’all have been filing right?

  Marlene said, “It’s all in this box, I think, or maybe the other box. Darl, didn’t we lose a box of stuff in the last move?”

  Darlene replied, “Yeah, that was all the stuff from Lejeune, still have no idea where it went.”

  Jesse shook her head. “Oh my God. Y’all do realize you can get in serious trouble for not filing, right? Where are your previous year’s tax filings?”

  Darlene hung her head. “Well, actually we’ve never filed any. We just figured up how much we spent and how much we made, and split it. Then, we just filed it on our personal taxes.”

  Jesse looked at them suspiciously, “Just how many boxes of stuff do you have? And where is it? And how much product are you moving each month?”

  Marlene shrugged. “I guess eight or ten pieces. Oh, I forgot, I got a letter from that salon up in Newport.” Scrabbling through the unopened letters in the box, Marlene held it up triumphantly. “Found it!”

  Darlene snatched it, tore it open and went pale. “Oh my God! Oh my God! They sold. Every piece sold.”

  Marlene grabbed the letter and started reading, letting the check inside fall to the counter, “Oh shit, they want more pieces, Darl. Shit- We don’t have any.”

  Jesse looked between the two, then looked at the check and gaped at it. It was for $11,000. “Wait, wait, you mean to tell me you got jewelry into a salon in Newport? And it sold for eleven thousand dollars? What the hell is it? Solid gold?”

  Distracted Darlene said, “No, it’s gold, silver and semi-precious stones. Maybe we can redo some of those again, but with some slight changes.”

  Marlene thought for a minute. “Yeah, that would work, and I’ve got a couple of ideas for some new ones too. I like the idea of sets, and if all those moved, that’s the way we need to go.”

  Jesse waved. “Ladies, yoo hoo, over here.” When both of them were looking at her Jesse continued, “Okay, I think we, well, you, have a serious problem. This is obviously not some five and dime business, and it sounds like you’re making a lot more than you told me.”

  “Wait a minute,” Darlene said and disappeared from the kitchen. Coming back about five minutes later, she started pulling jewelry boxes out of a bigger box. “This is what we do.” Handing Jesse a pair of turquoise earrings, she pulled a matching necklace of another box, “See? Stuff like this.”

  Jesse was stunned at the beauty of the earring and necklace combination, noting that it wasn’t the heavy type like she had from the Navajos but finely wrought and patterned. Turning it over, she saw a very small D&M on the clasp and another on the center piece of the necklace. Setting the pieces back down, she looked up at them. “Is that y’all’s company?”

  They both nodded and Darlene handed her another set, this time earrings and a bracelet in gold. Jesse sucked in her breath. “Oh, that is beautiful! Where did you learn how to do this?”

  Darlene said, “Well, I grew up in a jewelry store, my granddad started it and my dad took it over, so I literally grew up there. Daddy did some designs and I learned how to work gold and silver and other stuff. M
arlene is really the designer, I just do what she tells me.”

  “But this takes smelters and jeweler’s tools, and-”

  “Got all that. It’s in the garage. Mike bitches about it, but I told him either I got half the garage, or I was setting up in the living room. That’s why we’ve never lived in quarters since he made staff.”

  Jesse regretfully handed both sets of earrings and bracelets back saying, “Okay, pack up all the paperwork and lemme go see if I can sort this out. And deposit that check!”

  Marlene asked timidly, “In whose account? Mine or Darl’s?”

  Jesse sighed. “You mean to tell me you don’t even have a company account? Drop me off, go directly to the bank and get one established now, today!” Digging in the box, she found the business license. “Take this and give them the numbers off it. Get the account set up and let me know what it is.”

  After another search of the house led to one more shoebox size box of papers. They were all loaded in the van, and trundled over to Matt and Aaron’s apartment.

  Four hours later, Aaron came home to find Jesse looking frazzled, with papers scattered everywhere. “What blizzard hit this place?” he asked, after giving her a quick kiss.

  Jesse looked up. “The ‘Lenes and their damn business! This just might be the biggest mistake I’ve ever made! ARRGHHH! This is a damn accountant’s nightmare! For a couple of successful long-term Marine wives, they just- ARRGHHH!”

  Aaron said, “Um, okay. I really need a shower. Then we can order Thai, okay?”

  Jesse smiled. “Sorry, hon, it’s just that I took this on, thinking it wouldn’t be that hard.”

  Matt came through the door and laughed. “Damn, Jesse, what did you blow up?”

  Jesse glared at him. “Don’t you start, Matt! Don’t even go there. Don’t you have someplace to be?”

  Matt gulped. “Well, Felicia and I are going to a movie.”

  “Good, by the time you get back, I’ll have this cleaned up. Now both of you, go away.”

  Loadout

  Jesse and Aaron rode down to North Island with the Brills since Jesse still couldn’t drive the truck very well and didn’t want to chance it on the interstate. Darlene drove and kept up an incessant stream of chatter, including poking fun at her hubby, Mike, over his focus as she called it. “He’s already there. Shit, he left three days ago. I learned a long time ago not to let him drive. Who knows where the hell we’d be, or how many people he’d have run over by now.”

  Passing over the bridge onto the Strand, Aaron leaned over and whispered, “I’m not gone, yet, and I love you, Jesse!”

  Jesse hugged him back saying, “Well, not completely gone, but at least half way-” But she said it with a smile.

  Aaron looked at her. “Sorry, but there is just so much to do-”

  Jesse laughed. “And so little time. Thankfully, Matt told me what to expect. It’s your job to get everybody in the platoon ready: gear, meds, shots, personal issues, yada, yada. I know the Corps isn’t a nine-to-five job, hon. I knew that coming into this, but I do want us to have some us time, too.”

  Darlene interrupted, holding out her hand. “ID cards, everybody.” Brill handed his over, and Aaron reached forward passing his and Jesse’s cards up. The gate guard at North Island gave them a cursory glance at each side and handed them back as Darlene eased the car through the gate. “Air terminal or operations there, hubby of mine?” she asked.

  Brill came momentarily out of his fog. “Depends, nah- Air terminal. That should be where everybody is mustering. Aaron, get me a quick muster on Det Alpha, and I’ll use them for cat herding and the final loadout.”

  Aaron slumped. “Got it. I’ll leave the doc and radio out, since they’ve got other assignments already.”

  Brill just nodded, slipping back into his mental preps and ignoring everyone else. Darlene found the little air terminal, with the C-17 sitting in front of it and parked up near the street. Jesse groaned but Darlene said, “No way am I getting any closer. I’ve seen more damn wrecks in this parking lot than on I-5, between send offs and returns. People are just flat-ass brain dead, or so damn horny they can’t wait to get home or to the nearest hotel.”

  Jesse laughed as Aaron turned pink. She poked him and said, “Oh ho. Is there something I should know, Mr. Miller?”

  Aaron shook his head. “No, just remembering something I saw in the parking lot a year ago- Talk about couldn’t wait-” As he turned redder and redder, Jesse marveled at Aaron’s seeming prudishness, knowing he wasn’t one. But he did color nicely sometimes.

  Brill, still in a fog, got out, popped the rear hatch and grabbed his backpack and seabag. Kissing Darlene perfunctorily, he murmured something in her ear and headed toward the terminal building.

  Aaron helped Jesse out of the van. As he pulled his backpack on, he dropped his seabag at his feet. He folded Jesse tenderly in his arms, gave her a long kiss, and told her that he loved her. She hugged him tightly, then released him saying, “You better go, or Brill will be on your ass. Pardon me for not walking you to the terminal.”

  Aaron gave her another quick hug and said, “No, don’t even try. It’s not worth the effort and I don’t want some idiot knocking you over. I’ll leave my phone on till the last minute.” Picking up his seabag, he trotted after Brill and soon merged into the mass of Marines churning around the air terminal.

  Jesse sighed as she leaned against the hood of the van. “Is Brill always like that?”

  Darlene chuckled. “Oh yeah. Ever since he made sergeant. He’s got this laser focus on stuff, especially major things like this, and me and the kids get pushed to the side. I know it, he knows it, and the kids know it; but that’s just him. He always makes up for it on the backside of the deployments though,” she said with a smile.

  “Yeah, I saw Aaron starting to do that, and I thought it was something I did wrong, but Matt set me straight. He said as deployment gets closer and closer, they just want to be gone. To ‘get the damn thing on and get it done’ was what he said. And they aren’t intentionally shutting us out, it’s just that deployment is the culmination of what they live for. Everything else becomes secondary until they are actually there. Kinda like putting on makeup, one layer at a time until it’s time to leave.”

  ***

  Inside the air terminal, Aaron quickly rounded up three of his teams, mustered them, detailed them to various tasks and reported to Captain Ragsdale, the team commander. As people checked in, their backpacks and seabags were quickly loaded on pallets, secured and moved to the C-17. As Aaron watched, the battalion weapons arrived, with his fourth team as the security force. The cargo was already pre-palletized, and they were slid into the cargo hold along with a pallet of ammunition. As Aaron checked them in, the following truck arrived with the HQ pallet and he confirmed their backpacks and seabags were on that truck. Swapping out teams, he gave the security team a break and a chance to get a few minutes with family if they were there.

  Without realizing it, almost two hours had passed. He quickly texted Jesse. You still here? She came back immediately: yep, going potty in terminal. Ten minutes. Looking around, Aaron called to his JTAC[2] Sergeant McKenzie, “Hey Mac, first sergeant just left with the colonel. Can you cover for me for a few lemme say bye to the wife?”

  McKenzie nodded. “Go for it. I’ve got it.”

  Aaron ducked into the air terminal to find Jesse, Darlene and a couple of other wives sitting in the chairs by the door. Jesse stood up and stumped over to the door with Aaron asking, “How much longer?”

  “I think probably fifteen-twenty minutes. The heavies are in a final meeting, and then we’re gone. We’re riding the C-17, so it’s going to be about twenty-two hours of flight time, so don’t expect to hear from me for a couple of days, maybe up to a week. After we get to Bagram, we still have to move over to the ISAF compound in Herat,” Aaron answered.

  “ISAF?”

  Aaron said, “International Security Assistance Force. It’s a mixed bag of coalit
ion forces. Us, Italy, Spain I think.”

  “No Afghanis?”

  “Oh, they’ll be there, too. It’s where we’ll be working with them, from the briefs we got. And we will carry weaps at all times. There have been a few green on blue, but we’re not going to let that happen to us,” Aaron answered.

  Grabbing Aaron’s shirt, Jesse said fiercely, “You better not! You better bring your happy ass back to me in one piece, just like it is now.” She pulled him into a tight embrace, kissed him and whispered, “I love you, Aaron Miller. Now get out of here before I start crying.”

  Aaron, hugged her back, told her he loved her, and walked back out to the ramp as Jesse and Darlene started back for the car. Aaron climbed the aft ramp back into the C-17 and found Sergeant McKenzie. “I’m back, Mac. I don’t know if we’re getting the better or worse deal on this.”

  McKenzie shrugged. “I’ll take this ride any day. I can stretch out and I don’t have to worry about my knees hitting the seat in front of me. Food ain’t as good and no flight attendants but fuck it. Leg room!”

  Aaron chuckled. “Yeah, that’s true. Okay let’s get a muster before Brill gets back. I want to be sure we’re all accounted for. You circle around the pallets and meet me on the back ramp with whomever you find.”

  McKenzie nodded and headed forward as Aaron turned to collect the other team members he could see. As soon as they got a good head count, Captain Ragsdale stepped into the cargo hold, “Got everybody?”

  Aaron nodded. “Yes, sir. All Det Alpha is present, sir.”

  “Good! As soon as the colonel and master gunnery sergeant get here, we’re gone. Nobody leaves the bird other than to go into the terminal for a head call at this point,” Ragsdale said.

  The Air Force loadmaster came over saying, “Okay, since you guys are all here, lemme give you a quick and dirty.”