The Chronicles of Benjamin Jamison: Call Sign Reaper by Thomas Wright Page B

until she rolled his head over and saw the hole in the back of his head. His eyes were open so she closed them and laid his head back down.
    Ben walked through the house to where the two bedrooms were on the main floor. He heard sobbing now from the bedroom down the hall. He dropped down and crawled to the door, which was wide open. He could hear Harold telling Ma that everything was going to be ok.
    The captain snarled at Harold. “Do you really think so?” he hissed. “I’m pointing a laser pistol right at you.”
    Ben had to see where the captain was standing in order to make his plan work.
    “My boy will save us and you will be dead, mister,” Harold retorted.
    Ben took a quick look right then because he knew the captain would be looking at the old man, ready to threaten him again. Ben pulled his head back and smiled. He turned to go retrieve his katana but came face to face with some beautiful ice blue eyes. He held a finger across his lips and motioned Andrea to move back. She followed him into the other bedroom and handed him his katana. He took it and walked over to the wall and lunged forward from two feet away. Andrea’s eyes went wide as she watched the blade and Ben’s hands go through the wall at an upward angle. He held his position and Andrea heard two gasps from the next room.
    He told her to get in the room and disarm the captain. Andrea walked into the bedroom and saw the captain had a meter of sword coming out of his chest. His arms hung limp to his side. He was still alive, but barely. Andrea took the laser pistol from his hand and saw Harold and Janet staring at her.
    “Dawn, dear, what are you doing here, and dressed like that?” Ma asked.
    She smiled, motioning them to climb across the bed where they were hiding and leave the room. She walked up to the captain and looked him in the eyes. “I told you so,” she said with no compassion. She slapped the wall a couple of times; the blade withdrew from the captain and he fell to the floor. Before he closed his eyes he saw a pair of boots and a bloody sword pointed at the floor with blood dripping off it. They stopped in front of him. A moment later he exhaled for the last time.
    Andrea put her arms around him as he looked down at the dead captain.
    “Harold is calling the sheriff,” she said. “What do we do with the woman I have secured in the barn? Do you want me to turn her over?”
    He thought for a moment. “No,” he answered. “Do you have your com? I need to make a call.”
    She pulled a pocket sized vid-com from her back pocket. He gave her the number to contact. She looked at him inquiringly and he held up a finger as it was trying to connect.
    “Hello...” The woman’s eyes got wider when she saw Ben. “Benjamin, why are you calling so late?”
    “Hey Val,” Ben answered, “is Nick awake?”
    “I am now.” Val held the vid in Nick’s direction.
    “I need a favor, Nick,” Ben said. He turned to the major.
    “Andrea, what dock is their ship in?” Andrea held up four fingers, not talking and just staring at him.
    “Nick, can you go to Dock 4 tomorrow and inspect the ship there then file a salvage or abandonment claim against it?” Ben asked.
    “Ben, what makes you think it’s either one of those situations?” Nick answered, pulling the vid towards himself with a puzzled look on his face.
    “Well Nick, I know the crew isn’t coming back from hell to fly that ship anywhere,” Ben said wryly.
    Nick’s eyes got wide as he looked at Ben in the vid and squinted. “Ben, is that blood on your face?”
    “Nick, will you do this for me or not?” Ben said. “You can put the claim in both our names.”
    “Yes I will do it for you,” Nick answered, “but under one condition.”
    “What is that?”
    “You tell me on Monday all about what’s going on and who the hell Major Andrea Andersen is. I see you are using her com.” Before she could object, Ben turned the com towards Andrea.
    “Does that answer the