Brett Battles - No Return

“China Lake’s a naval base, Danny,” Alison said.

“Yeah, but where’s the water? Correct me if I’m wrong, but isn’t the Navy’s thing boats?”

“The Navy needs a place to test its planes and weapons,” Wes said. “So they set up out here a long time ago. Nothing better than the empty desert to drop a bomb in. And it’s ‘ships,’ not ‘boats.’ ”

“Seriously, Danny,” Dione said. “It was all in the episode brief.”

“Like I’m the only one who never reads those.” He looked around the table for support, but everyone stared back at him like he was an idiot. “Okay, fine. Sorry.”

“I think it’s time for that first round?” Dione suggested.

“Right.” Danny climbed out of the booth.

“Take Tony with you,” Alison said. “So they won’t card you.”

“Ha-ha,” Danny said, glaring at her. Though he was twenty-seven, he had one of those baby faces that made him look like he was barely out of high school. By comparison, Tony, a couple of years younger, actually looked like he was in his late twenties. As Danny turned for the bar, he motioned Tony to join him. “You can help me carry the drinks.”

As soon as they were gone, Alison and Anna decided to make a pre-drink trip to the ladies’ room, leaving Dione and Wes the only ones still at the table.

“Don’t spread this around yet,” Dione said, “but the office wants us to try to make up the time without adding a day.”

“Did you expect anything less?”

“I was looking at the schedule, and I think if we cram two of Tuesday’s interviews into Monday, we’ll be able to do it.” She gave Wes a hopeful look. “Might mean working an extra hour, though.”

Wes shrugged. “I could always use the overtime.”

“It’s just an hour.”

“Easy to say with your cushy staff job. Freelancer rule number one: Get paid for every hour you work.”

She gave him her best puppy-dog eyes, which only caused him to sneer. With a chuckle she shrugged. “Hey, it was worth a try. I guess it’ll be cheaper than shooting an extra day. I really should charge the Navy for the lost time.”

“Seriously, Dione. We saw someone die today.”

“I know, I know. I don’t really mean it. It’s just that officer taking our footage pissed me off.”

“He didn’t take it. He asked for it, and we gave it to him.”

“Ha! If we hadn’t, I’ll bet he would have taken it.” She looked around. “Get this. I talked to the office, expecting them to be as upset as I was, but they were all like it was no big deal, and that we’d done the right thing handing it over. Come on. Doesn’t anyone have any journalistic integrity?”

Wes stared at her, smirking. “Uh, not sure you know this, but we shoot vacation spots. We’re squeezed between a show called Quest for the Perfect Cocktail and Tanya Takes a Trip . Where, exactly, does journalistic integrity fit in there?”

As Dione scoffed, Danny and Tony returned carrying several drinks. They weren’t alone, either. Behind them were two men wearing jeans and button-down shirts, but giving off the obvious vibe of military.

“This is Lieutenant Wasserman,” Danny said, nodding his chin at the man closest to him. “And this is Lieutenant … uh …”

“Jenks,” the other man said. He held out his hand to Wes. “Just call me Ken.”

“And I’m Reid,” Wasserman added, also shaking Wes’s hand.

“I overheard these two guys talking about the crash, and told them we were there,” Danny explained. “They wanted to meet us. Well, you specifically, Wes.”

“Danny mentioned that you tried to get the guy out,” Tony said, then mouthed behind Danny’s back, “Sorry.”

Wes cringed inside.

“Your friend here told us you actually got up next to the cockpit,” Jenks said. “Is that true?”

Wes nodded.

“Said you were trying to get him out.”

“His harness was jammed. If I had a knife, maybe. But …” Wes just let it hang, not knowing how to finish.

“Did you talk to him?” Wasserman asked.

“Briefly. Sort of. He wasn’t in much condition to talk.”

Jenks nodded knowingly. “I don’t doubt that. What did he say?”

Wes adjusted uncomfortably in his seat. “Nothing much. He was in a lot of pain.”

“Did he tell you what happened?” Jenks persisted.

“Look,” Wes said. “I don’t know what to tell you. He basically only acknowledged that he was conscious. I was too busy trying to free him to get into a conversation.”

“Of course.” Jenks leaned back. “Sorry. I didn’t mean to push.”

“Thank you for trying to help him,” Wasserman said. “That means a lot to all of us.”

“We won’t bother you any longer,” Jenks added. “But we do want you to know your tab’s on us tonight. I mean all of you.”

“You don’t need to do that,” Wes said.

“We insist.” Lieutenant Jenks held up a hand, indicating further protest was unnecessary.

“Thanks,” Wes said.

They gave Wes a nod, then turned and left.

“For a second there I thought they were going to salute you,” Danny said as he sat back down.

“Well, that was … interesting,” Anna said. She and Alison had returned in the middle of the conversation, but had hung back until the two Navy men had left.

Danny took a swig of his beer, then said, “When I started talking to them at the bar, a couple of the women came over. They were even more interested than our Navy friends.” He leaned toward Wes. “Man, if you play this right, you’re not going to have to sleep alone the whole time we’re here.”

“Danny,” Alison and Anna chided almost in unison.

“So not cool,” Tony said.

Wes shook his head. “Okay, I’ve had enough.”

He motioned for Dione and Alison to get out of his way, then scooted out of the booth.

“I’ll see you all in the morning.” He tossed Alison the keys to the Escape and started across the room.

“Sorry, man. I didn’t mean anything.…”

If Danny said anything more, Wes didn’t hear it.

He weaved through the crowd and headed for the door. As he pushed it open a voice called out, “Wes, hold up.”

Looking over his shoulder, he spotted Tony moving around a small group of people standing just inside the entrance.

“Mind if I tag along?” Tony asked.

“Be my guest. But you’re missing free drinks.”

Tony let out a halfhearted laugh. “Sorry about the thing with those guys in the bar. That was all Danny.”

Wes smiled. “Don’t worry about it. I know how Danny is.”

“A deadly combination of harmless and clueless.”

Wes laughed. “Exactly right.”

They walked in silence for a few minutes, the whole time Wes sensing that Tony had something he wanted to say. Finally the production assistant worked up the nerve and asked, “You think we’ll have time to do a little training this trip?”

Over the past couple of assignments, Wes had been tutoring Tony on camera techniques during downtime. “I don’t see why not. That is, if you don’t drop the ball like you did today.”

“Drop the ball?” Tony looked confused.

“What is it I like to have in my hand when I’m drinking my coffee in the morning?”

Tony looked momentarily baffled, then he laughed to himself. “Poppy seed muffin.”

“And what was missing from my hand this morning?”

“A poppy seed muffin,” Tony said. “Sorry. Completely my fault.”

“You want to learn to be a good cameraman, then the first rule is take care of the one teaching you. I’d hate to forget some critical piece of information because I hadn’t had a proper breakfast.”

“I’ll do my best.”

“I know you will.”