PRESENT DAY

Markham’s eyes slowly fluttered open. His first sights were blur, then dark, then his conscious kicked in at a snail’s pace, but it was enough to get him a bit more situated.

All he saw was black; this was not where he was a few minutes ago. It felt like moving mountains with a toothpick, but he managed to gather up enough strength to move his head. For some reason, he really could not move much else on his body, though he could feel every limb and muscle.

As more of his conscious was injected back into him, he took a look at his arm. That was when he saw the chain, and the vast expanse of space between him and the ground. He looked at his other limbs and saw the exact same thing. That was when the full force of the pain rushed in like a flood.

His brain immediately began panic proceedings, and his heartbeat literally made him bounce up and down while his breathing became erratic. He frantically looked around and saw walls, a really high ceiling, and what looked like heavy machinery. There was barely any light to make sense of much else in the room, but the light shone all over him.

“Markham Greene? Is that the name you bear?”

Markham looked in the direction of the voice, but could not recognize the face of its owner, who was seated ever so calmly in a folding chair a few feet away.

“It says so on your driver’s license, which also has your face on it.” The person stood up and walked slowly over to him, her heels echoing loudly through the building. As she came into view, Markham saw a girl he would definitely have tried to biblically know under different circumstances. She was thin, dressed in a green suit that looked straight off the red carpet, and she had yellow heels to match.

“Markham Greene, I’m Connie Bledsoe. Pleasure to meet you.” She extended her hand to shake his, and then pulled it back as though she’d just realized he couldn’t move his hand. “My sincerest apologies, I completely failed to consider your temporary immobility. You’re probably wondering where you are and what you did to get here. Do not worry, Mr. Greene. All in good time. If it brings you any consolation at all, I have no intentions of ending your sorry, miserable life this night. But, I do have plans of teaching you the art of being a gentleman.”

*****

FIVE YEARS AGO

Every seat in the small conference room was filled with four-star generals and highly decorated men. Mina stood next to the leader of her unit, Major General Givens, as he gave his speech. It was a bittersweet moment for her.

“I consider it an honor to be the one to present this medal today. This day happens to be the twenty-fifth anniversary of the passing of a hero, Lieutenant Colonel Kennard Murson, who was brutally murdered upon returning home from combat, where he saved the lives of fifty men. I can think of no better day to present our newest Brigadier General, Wilhelmina Simpson, and congratulate her for exceeding her father’s footsteps, and displaying the kind of gallantry that would make any airman proud. Well done, Brigadier General, you have earned your promotion. Congratulations.”

Mina stepped forward as the Major General affixed her new regalia on her uniform, but part of her mind was elsewhere. For the last few days before this day, she’d been really pondering the death of her parents. Most of what she knew was from the articles from the time, even though she’d been there, but for some reason she couldn’t get her mind off of it. She’d gone over the reports each night for the last four nights, but nothing jumped out at her.

Mina’s head returned to the present as the room applauded here. She saluted them, and they saluted back. She stepped up to the podium.

“Thank you, Major General. I was aiming to save eighty men so I could best my father at something, but this is better. It is my greatest privilege to wear this uniform, to fight side by side with my brothers and sisters to defeat our enemies on every battlefield, and to…”

A face in the crowd sent her back to a moment long lost in the recesses of her mind. A day in her childhood where she’d fallen on the floor and hit her head, but somehow she couldn’t find it in her to cry. She couldn’t move, she couldn’t speak, she could barely keep her eyes open. All she could hear was a very loud ringing in her head, and suppressed sounds that could have been people talking. She was face up when she fell, which allowed her eyes to frantically scan the room in the hopes that her father would come and pick her up.

She scanned and scanned as the people sounds got louder and louder, and sleep began to kick in. The last face she saw before she fell unconscious looked a lot like the one belonging to a man sitting among the high-ranking officers. She was sure she’d never met him before, yet his face felt more familiar to her than the portrait of her father than hung behind her on that stage.

“…To claim victory for our beloved army. It remains my pleasure to serve until I have given my last. Thank you all, and God bless this great nation.” Mina went back to stand by the Major General as the national anthem was played.

*****

PRESENT DAY

The Port of Stilts was its usual easy self on a late Friday night. Containers were being lifted off of cargo ships, customs officers were checking ship manifests, and sailors were coming off their bases to enjoy a night out on the town.

It was not uncommon for the odd call girl squad to be hanging around the docks in search of foreign currency in exchange for their special brand of favors, which was Sukuyaa’s intention that night. Wearing a dress that barely passed for clothing and greatly exaggerated her legs, she made her way into the front office of the customs service.

The officer on duty, Thomas Soumane, saw her as she walked in, and shook his head. He’d been on the receiving end of her service and could attest to the euphoria it provided. A euphoria he would never experience again on account of Sukuyaa’s rule of not going back to the same well more than twice.

“Too bad it’s a busy night, my darling, because I have a party favor you would never have enough of.”

Thomas sighed and placed his head in his palm. “Its too late at night to be taunting a tired man. What did you come here for?”

“Wow. Can’t a girl just be here to say hello to an old friend? How do you flex a hello without any guilt in your soul?”

Thomas’ facial expression remained more serious than a heart attack.

“Fine. I was asked to come get you.”

“By who?”

“Whoever the guy was at the gate who drives a black Jeep.”

Thomas thought about what she said for a second, and then, “The captain? He’s inside his…” His words trailed off as his sight confirmed the absence of the captain from his office, which was right behind him.

“Boo, it sounded like an emergency. You should hurry before you get fired.”

Thomas began to massage his temples as the headache he’d felt began to intensify.

“Headache, my darling?”

“Yeah, I haven’t had much sleep. I was supposed to be off tonight, but then they called an all hands on deck. Something about it being too busy tonight for just the scheduled guys.”

Sukuyaa reached in and took over the massage as Thomas continued. “Oddly enough, our next all hands was meant to be next Tuesday, but for reasons no one seems to know, orders came from above that changed the schedule.”

As she continued her massage, she looked over the counter to see if she could find anything of use, but she had no luck.

“Your boss wanted you to bring some document. He said it has the list of the ships that are supposed to be unloaded this night.”

Thomas looked at her, puzzled. “He already has that. Why would he want…”

He went inside the captain’s office to look for the document, and Sukuyaa quickly took an even closer look over the counter. She looked up just in time to see him coming out with the document, almost getting caught in the process. “Let’s go, honey bunny. Clock’s ticking.”

*****

Thomas and Sukuyaa walked all the way to the main gate, which was a good three miles from the office. He’d wanted to take one of the official cars, but for some reason, none of them were in the lot. His head was pulsing at this point, and he could barely keep his eyes open.

“Tommy, did you enjoy the afternoon delight I sent to your office? I made sure to tell the delivery guy to put it in your hands and your hands only.”

“Oh yeah. Nothing beats some good curry goat. I didn’t think you’d remember, but I was glad you did.”

“I remember a lot more than you think, Tommy. Believe it or not, I actually think highly of you.”

“Well, I think well enough of you to accept that, so thank you.”

Sukuyaa took his hand and gave it a hurtful squeeze.

“Better learn to think highly of me too, Mr. Officer, given that I’ve just gone out of my way to save your life.”

Thomas managed a cackle, even though it caused his head more visible pain. They were approaching the front gate. “Saved my life? How exactly did you save my life, Miss Sukuyaa?”

Sukuyaa turned to him and raised her hand, showing a minute pin in it. “Like this.”

Thomas finally felt the pain of the barely noticeable nick in his palm just as they reached the gate. He suddenly began to feel light-headed, which quickly progressed into dizziness, and then he heard and felt the massive explosion that rocked the entire Port of Stilts compound.

He saw the smoke, heard the alarm horns going off, but then the dizziness intensified until he finally blacked out.

So Mina’s now a brigadier general, good to see! Who are the others, though? I guess we’ll find out as we go forward…