No Return by Brett Battles

left.
    “You’ll have to take it without me.”
    “He’s not going to be happy,” Janice said.
    “Make something up. You can fill me in later.”
    “If that’s what you want.”
    “No choice,” he said, then disconnected the call. Immediately he punched in a new number.
    “Commander Forman’s office, Seaman Litoff speaking.”
    “This is Lieutenant Commander Andersen. I need to see the commander now.”
    “Sir, the commander isn’t here at the moment.”
    “Where is he?”
    “I’m afraid I’m not authorized to give you that information.”
    “Well, Seaman, I suggest you call your boss and tell him I’m on the way to his office and he’s going to want to see me right away. Understood?”
    “Yes, sir. Understood. Can you tell me what this is regarding?”
    “No.”
    Lars disconnected the call.

AS IT TURNED OUT, WES COULD HAVE STAYED longer at lunch.
    “Our afternoon schedule just got canceled,” Dione told the crew once everyone had regrouped at the motel.
    “You’ve got to be kidding me,” Monroe said.
    “It’s the crash,” Dione explained.
    Wes frowned, confused. “I thought we weren’t going back out to the Pinnacles until Monday or Tuesday.”
    “I’m not talking about the Pinnacles. We had those Native American sites on the base this afternoon. But I just got a call from our Navy contact, who said because of the crash all unnecessary visitor passes have been revoked. That includes us.”
    “Well, that sucks,” Alison said.
    “Pool time,” Danny said, smiling. Everyone turned and stared at him. “What? You guys brought suits, right?”
    If they were going to have the afternoon off, Wes realized now might be the time to take care of that unfinished business, the errand his mother had asked him to do. He’d been dreading it, and had secretly hoped he’d be unable to make time to visit the storage facility. But he also knew it was something he had to do. Now was as good a time as—
    “Just because the schedule got screwed up doesn’t mean we can’t get anything done,” Dione said, looking directly at Danny. “We’ll get some B-roll.”
    While Wes felt a sense of reprieve, Danny suddenly looked like a kid who’d been told the trip to Disneyland he was about to take was really heading for the city dump.
    “All afternoon?” he asked.
    “As long as it takes.”
    B-roll shots were usually taken on the go as a crew was shooting other things. The name was a holdover from the days when everything was shot on rolls of film. The A-roll, though few, if any, called it that, was the scripted shots, while B-roll was random shots taken as they came up.
    “Danny, you and I will take the Highlander, and Wes, you can take the Escape,” she said. “I’m looking for beautiful desert images. Anything you think will be interesting.”
    “Why do I need the chaperone?” Danny asked.
    “Do you really have to ask?”
    “What am I supposed to do? Just sit here?” Monroe asked.
    “You’ve got the afternoon off,” Dione said, looking at Monroe, but meaning Alison and Anna, too. “You’re all free to do whatever you want. Tony, you can—”
    “You’re taking both cars,” Monroe cut her off.
    Dione pasted on her putting-up-with-the-talent smile. “You can rent a car for the day. We’ll pay for it.”
    “So I have to rent my own car now?”
    “I’ll take care of it,” Tony said, jumping in.
    “Whatever,” Monroe said. “I’ll be in my room. Tell me when the car’s here. And not one of those crappy subcompacts.”
    As Monroe walked away, Dione mouthed “Thank you” to Tony.
    “She does know how to drive, right?” Alison asked, keeping her voice low.
    They all silently stared at one another.
    “I, um, assume so,” Dione said.
    “Has anyone actually seen her behind the wheel?” Alison asked.
    Shaking heads all around.
    Tony groaned. “Please tell me I don’t have to drive her around.”
    “Absolutely not,” Dione said. “She can drive herself if she wants to go