“Damn, he’s quick!”
Paul stood stock still in the almost empty commissary, hand well away from his sidearm, chin lifted and very, very aware of every move he made. The knife being held to his throat was so close that when he swallowed, he could feel his stubble catch on the keen edge. “...I don’t think I need a shave right now, sir,” he quipped to cover the fright he’d just gotten.
“Any particular reason for creeping around at night, Captain?” Colonel White asked testily, but he did remove the knife he’d been using to slice up some fruit moments before Scarlet had startled him. The colonel placed the knife on the cutting board and turned to fully face his officer, arms folded over his chest.
Paul successfully resisted the urge to touch his throat and check for bleeding, but he did take a half step back out of range. “Just on my way to the coffee machine. I didn’t mean to sneak up on you sir, force of habit,” he apologised, showing the colonel the thermos he was holding.
“I certainly hope so,” was the colonel’s short reply, edged with warning. “I’ve heard about your little wager.” The undertone of ‘Don’t even think about trying that with me’ was all but laid out in neon lights.
“I operate under the assumption that you know everything, sir,” was Scarlet’s glib response, earning him a half-amused snort from the colonel.
Yesterday in the Officers’ Lounge, Grey had made the fatal boast that with his sharp hearing he couldn’t easily be snuck up on. With the proverbial gauntlet thrown and in the mood for a little mischief, Scarlet had promptly tested that assertion. He slipped out of Grey’s line of sight, waited a moment, sidled up behind Grey and suddenly poked him in the ribs to make him jump and yelp in surprise. After the laughing and good natured ribbing had died down, Ochre had wagered that Scarlet couldn’t sneak up on all the Colour Captains if they knew to expect him. Scarlet had accepted and set about doing his level best to give his fellow officers heart attacks.
Strangely, or perhaps not, Blue was the only one he hadn’t managed to surprise yet as the Boston-born officer proved to all and sundry exactly how he had survived three assassination attempts. Adam’s situational awareness, coupled with his knowledge of how Paul’s mind worked, gave him an almost preternatural sixth sense of when to stop, dodge or on one occasion step back and deliver a reverse elbow strike to the gut just before Paul lunged at him.
But in any case, Scarlet had been making his way through Cloudbase’s commissary when he’d spotted the CIC all but radiating the desire to be left alone, proverbial storm clouds darkening the air about him. Truth be told, Paul hadn’t intended on sneaking up on the colonel- he didn’t have a death wish- but the colonel was on the path to his intended target: the coffee machine. He’d planned to simply slip past, fill his thermos and leave without disturbing White, but he must have inadvertently startled him- hence the fruit knife to his throat.
A thought occurred to Paul and it seemed to stand up to inspection, so he dared to venture it. “I’m taking this to the Promenade,” he began, hefting the thermos in his hand. “The astrophotography club is setting up there right now- it’s the Perseid meteor shower tonight. The skies are forecast to be clear and they reckon it’ll be quite the show.”
“Yes, I heard,” was the colonel’s neutral reply.
“You’d be more than welcome to come, Colonel,” Paul invited. “There’s a bit of a picnic and potluck midnight feast whenever there’s a big show like tonight,” he explained, indicating the packet of biscuits he’d left on one of the tables near the door, “and they’re quite happy to let the rest of us have a look through their telescopes.”
He could see the colonel mull over the idea and that it held some appeal for him, but would it be enough appeal was the question. Whatever had caused the Old Man’s dark mood, he was reasonably sure that the air of wonder and delight at the ‘stargazer picnics’ would go a long way to help him out of it.
“Perhaps I might stop by,” Colonel White said at last. “When is the meteor shower expected to peak?”
“Roughly 2300 hours.”
“Noted.” The colonel nodded and stepped back towards the table. “I shan’t keep you then.” He then seemed to recall something. “Have you succeeded in surprising Captain Blue yet?”
Colonel White noted that Paul had the grace to look somewhat abashed as he made his reply of “No, sir, not yet.”
“Good luck with that, you need it from what I’ve heard.” White half turned to go back to his fruit- not in part to hide his amusement at his senior officers’ antics. There were days he felt more like the headmaster at a school rather than the commander of a secret military base, but both this exchange and the invitation had gone a long way to lighten the inexplicable bad mood he’d found himself in tonight. “You’d best get on your way then,” he advised, stepping clear of Scarlet’s path to the coffee urn.
“Yes, sir.” Scarlet nodded to him, picking up on the implied dismissal.
White watched from the corner of his eye as Scarlet filled his thermos, collected his biscuits and made his way out the door. He waited a moment longer, then turned to a darkened corner near the serving hatches. “You can come out now, Captain Blue.”
“Thank you, Colonel.” Adam emerged from the concealing darkness he’d ducked into just before Paul could spot him. He’d started to sneak out when Paul had entered the room, but when Scarlet had accidentally startled White, he’d gone back into hiding.
This time, White couldn’t help the smile of amusement that tugged at his mouth as Captain Blue padded to the doorway, carefully checked the hallway in both directions and slipped out- going the same way as Scarlet. If he was reading the American captain correctly, it seemed that Blue was intent on turning the tables on Scarlet. If he did manage to do so, it would be quite the sight to see.
With that thought in mind, Colonel White considered the large bowl of fruit left out by the kitchen staff for any midnight snackers. His decision made, he pulled it closer and selected some oranges to add to his platter.
If he was going to go to the picnic to observe all antics and goings on, not just the meteor shower, he’d best cut up some more fruit.