Jim's Story Begins with Im

This story serves as a prequel to my "Long over due time away" series. If you have read it you will recognize the characters. It can stand on its own for a quick read, but I think you will get the most out of it reading the series as well.

***

"The office says the new guy is coming in today as soon as he's finished with his medical work up." Ron was in his locker that was really more like a chain link walk-in closet. Everyone on the the team has one. He was organizing his gear, several hand guns, M4 carbines, SBR's some with night vision. A few cages had Barrett 50 cals, spotting scopes, you name if it was useful in this line of work, someone would have it. One thing is for sure this private security company outfits us well.

Looking past the duffel bags and backpacks hanging on fence fabric I asked. "Is this guy an operator or are we babysitting another"...

"Analyst", Jim was walking into the locker room. He was aware that the analysts weren't the most popular guys attached to a unit. Our eyes turned his direction when we unexpectedly heard him answer my hypothetical question. He actually appeared to take the comment he over heard with stride. We were aware he washed out of buds, but didn't know until much later it was because he came down with a pendaxitas. Bad timing he was excelling. He had caught the eyes of the drill instructors. So much so that one of them had contacted Sage when it became apparent he was going to be discharged.

Knowing it wasn't likely Jim would return to buds training. The Navy with all it's bureaucracy would send Jim down the line and he would likely wind up painting ship hulls or some other mundane task. It would have been a terrible waste to have a guy with as much foreign affairs knowlege as he had go that route. They chose to discharge him instead under an ELS since he wasn't there but a couple of months. After his discharge Sage got ahold of him. We were a little skeptical, typically we liked to see a new guy with some experience, a Seal or a Ranger, but the office raved at how much of an asset this guy was going to be. We'll see.

Jim set his duffel on the floor and walked up and offered a handshake. While I shook his hand I was checking his demeanor. I would want to know if this guy was easy to rattle. "I'm Chris and this is Ron. You can put your stuff in the that cage over there."

"Thanks guys. The office says I'm going to need to qualify before going out, when can I do that?" Jim was looking at me when he said it. Every one going out on deployment would be put through their paces, analyst, operator, everyone.

"We are going to want to run you through the 'house', it's a live fire scenario. Even though you aren't an operator we are going to need to know something about you and its where we start. Also we have a briefing this afternoon on our mission in Russia. You are already supposed to know something about that?"

"Only that I have been in and out of the country a few times. I'm sure you'll tell me what I need to know and I'll figure it out."

I was trying to figure out if this this guy's apparent confidence was just that or cockiness. He didn't strike me as the high energy type I was used to seeing.

"You know what, let's do the house now, we have time before the briefing." I looked at Ron. Set it up, I want to be ready in twenty."

"Ok, I'll be ready. Do you want close contact pistol? Or what are you looking for?" Ron was looking over his shoulder on his way to the house.

"He'll go in standard breach. I'll let him choose what he wants to go in with". Then looking at Jim, "Let's get you outfitted, follow me."

We went into the armory and I told Jim to select what he wanted to go in with. I told him to be fair this was going to be primarily a kicking in the door and clearing the house kind of thing. His target was the guy with the blue sports jersey on. He has critical information we needed on a thumb drive at any cost.

Jim chose an sbr with a holographic sight and flip up irons and a Glock 29 with a left handed thigh holster. He took a tactical vest with six, thirty round magazines. And three 9mm mags for the Glock. All these would be pop up paper targets. And this would be a timed drill. We would monitor from the loft.

****************

"Analyst huh?" I was looking at Jim's reaction when I said it. "A single shot at 150 yds with an sbr on a running target? You are either incredibly lucky or you are the damndest analyst I've ever seen."

"You want to set it up again?" Jim didn't look at me when he said it.

"Confidence and cocky I like it." I thought to my self. "You came close to the house record."

"Not your record is it?" This time Jim looked me in the eyes when he said it. And didn't wait for an answer. "It's not like you didn't deserve some of that after that whole babysitting remark."

This time a little smirk crossed his lips. "Listen run me through my paces, I expect nothing less."

"Still risky, with an sbr you hadn't shot before". I cocked my head not discounting luck.

"Hadn't shot before? I was well into my third magazine. It consistently shot high in the house. Just like it had been zeroed at a hundred. Pretty easy adjustment. Right"?

I wanted to see the video play back of this guy in the house. If my hunch was correct we had one hell of a shooter for an analyst. But all that was premature. I still needed to see what was in his brain.

The door opened and someone said "Briefing in ten."

Jim made sure the action on both weapons were open and returned them to the armory.

The briefing was what they usually are, an objective, background and an expected timeline.

In this case it was a little open ended, based on we were going to verify that our target was there. And at this point that was it. We weren't to make contact. Sometimes our op was part of a larger scope that we weren't privy to. This one would build over time. But at this point it was simply verify the guy was there and learn what he was up to, that was it.

That's were Jim came in. Again, he was the analyst. His job was going to be to observe this guy from a distance. Study the data we had on him. Get to know him without him knowing who we were. And if we got a green light find a way to cross paths with him and find a way to get involved with him. Sometimes that would require a woman agent. This time it was determined a man would be the best choice.

I was heading up this op. There were only three of us on this one. I was point, Ron was support and our newbie Jim, observing and learning and guiding us through Russia. He knew the culture, it's a country he had been to before. He's familiar with the regions and the differences and similarities. This was the first of many. Jim "Got to know" our target and gathered the intelligence we needed, and we got out clean.

It seemed like this was a train that never stopped at times. The team just hopped on and off, but it never seemed to stop. In Russia, Syria, Turkey, Yemen, Korea, even the U.K and Canada needed help at times. there were four to six teams that ran out of this office and we were always pushed, it helped to have a distraction some times.

Carla. She was just that for me. It's not like she didn't know who she was banging, she worked in our office. At first she played hard to get, uninterested in us, the operators. Even chastising me for looking at her ample chest once. But boy what a body! Great legs complete with thick thighs , thin waist, and a rack that any man would gladly smother himself in. All wrapped in flawless ebony skin.

She didn't show any interest in me until we were back from an op and putting our gear up. I had been trimmed (what we called getting grazed by a bullet). Nothing internal, just a few stitches and you were on your way. The Doctor had just arrived to check me out. Really just a formality.

Anyway I was naked and headed for the showers when Carla came in to tell me he was here.

Her eyes lingered just long enough below my waist to elicit a "My eyes are up here" comment. I couldn't help myself. And in all honesty she deserved it. After the remark I turned and said "Tell Doc I'll be right out " and I winked at her before turning my back. Now, I'm told women like to get a good look at your ass as much as anything else. So why not? Well it paid off. Dr. gave me some prescriptions and said I shouldn't drive, and wouldn't you know if Carla volunteered to drive me home. It wasn't but a few hours later and she was riding me like a cowgirl on a spirited horse. In the shower, on the couch and in bed until morning. We had quite a night.

**************

Jim and I became better and better friends. He earned the teams respect, he could hold his own on any op. And not just as an analyst. The guy had gotten us out of more than one jam. He could shoot over watch and did more than once when it was needed. Even getting shot him self a few times. I operated on him on an air transport home once to save his life. I was the team medic. He had been shot in the abdomen and wasn't going to make it to a hospital. No anesthesia , only a local. The guy never lost consciousness until I was done. Jim knew me well enough to see I was having a hard time, I was causing him a lot of pain. It had to hurt like hell. He simply put his hand on me. He never clinched a fist, squeezed, nothing. He was dying, and he was trying to calm me.

**************************

He was tough. And needed that more than ever now.

"Is he still in surgery?" Carla joined us in the waiting room.

"For six hours now. He's pretty fucked up. They are having to fuse a couple of vertebrae's, put a pin in his leg and take a bullet out of his shoulder. He's got a couple of through and throughs they need to see what damage they did. The Russians evidently cut him up pretty good trying to get information. They say it will be at least couple more hours."

"What the hell? He's supposed to be an analyst. What are you guys doing with him?" Carla was upset. "Jim was put in a situation that this could happen"? She liked him. They were good friends.

"He was in the Russian embassy recovering the ambassador. Russia decided they were going to hold him in a political strong arm maneuver and it went bad. Real bad. It's a big deal. Both sides are trying to cover it up. The problem is that Jim came off the hood of a car leaving the embassy onto American soil in broad daylight. A cab driver picked him up and took him to the hospital. It's all over the news and no one is answering any questions about what a contractor for the U.S. government was doing there. It was all caught on traffic cams so they can't deny it happened. Everyone is in spin mode. The State Dept. is trying to bury us and management isn't having it. It's a mess. The CIA brings us in on these things to do what they don't have the stomach for and then act like they didn't sanction it. Sage isn't going for it."

"More than anything else Jim's hurt bad. I'm worried. He's going to need our help." Carla sat and seemingly was far away as she looked into space with her hand covering her mouth. She was worried, we all were.

The doctor came through the doors still in his scrubs and into the waiting room we were gathered in. "He is in recovery and in an induced coma and will be for a couple of days. We would like him up after the back surgery but his internal injuries are going to prevent that for a while. He'll be in a room in ICU, someone will let you know where once he's there. Where was he? I mean he has bullet holes, broken bones, a crushed vertebrae, and it looked like someone took a knife to his back. I lost count of the sutures. Your friend is going to be in a lot of pain when he wakes up in a few days." Sage contracts the medical work through private health care systems so this was a little out of the ordinary for them.

With that he turned around and went back to clean up.

Carla stopped him grabbing the door before it closed. "Can I go back to see him?" None of the rest of us raised an eyebrow when she told him she was his fiancée. I understood, we were all worried.

The truth was, Carla if left to her own devices would have bedded Jim long before now. Hell a lot of the rest of us had been with her. It was no secret Carla was enthusiastic when it came to sex, and she liked him.

Jim and I talked about the dynamic between him and Carla; He told me he didn't want to ruin the relationship. They did a lot together, even sleeping at each other's houses. But they didn't sleep together. I would have known, we were good friends by now. Jim said at this point in his life he didn't want to complicate work with a relationship. I understood his point. This job was hard on marriages.

******************

I had told the nurses at the nurse's station that I was Jim's cousin. I'm not sure they bought it and really I'm not sure they cared. They like all of us have a job to do. As long as they asked the question and got a satisfactory answer the box got checked. Besides it's not like Jim had all kinds of family pestering the nurses to let them in to see him. He didn't have any family coming to see him. Both his parents deceased, no siblings. As I mentioned he wasn't serious enough about a woman that one would come to see how he was doing. The team had become his family.

There was a nurse that was seemingly taking Jim's case to heart. I stopped in the doorway the other night and watched as she sat on the edge of the bed holding Jim's hand in her lap. He was a good looking guy after all. Even as beat up as he was it was still quite evident by his muscular body it was in great shape. She obviously had been giving him a quick sponge bath. When I stopped before coming into the room I watched her wipe his brow with the washcloth. There was definitely some emotion attached to it. I didn't linger too long, instead I started walking in like I had just arrived. "Hi Kim." I said looking at the nurse's name tag.

"Hi, your friends pulse is fine." She got up and placed Jim's hand beside him.

"How long are you going to keep him in a coma?" I decided it best to just ask about his condition.

"Dr. says he wants to make sure he can handle the pain when we bring him out of it. We don't like to keep them in for too long, it has risks to it."

"I know, that's why I'm asking. He can take the pain, trust me."

"Everyone always says that, but then they get addicted to pain meds. We want him to be able to handle it." I didn't know if it was just her having a bad day, or something about me she didn't like, but the answer I got definitely had some attitude to it.

"Listen I've operated on him myself with only a local anesthesia for a perforated bowel. I'm telling you this one is tough". Kim cringed when I told her what I had done.

"You are a Doctor then?" There was a little skepticism in her voice and it was evident in her expression.

"No, combat medic."

"You are the one responsible for this then?" She pulled Jim's sheet down just below Jim's bellybutton revealing a scar that had some zig zag to it.

"Yep, that's my handy work." I wasn't going to offer any rational for the scar looking the way it did. You do the best you can at the time. An air transport isn't exactly an ideal place for a surgery.

"I'm sorry, I really shouldn't give you a hard time. Combat medicine is difficult. So you and Jim are good friends?" Her demeanor seemingly was softening some.

"We are".

***************

"There you are." The first thing Jim saw was Kim smiling at him when he woke. He looked confused. He knew where he was. But not why or what country.

"Hi..." Jim was looking around the room for a familiar face. One that would tell him he had not been captured. Then his eyes stopped at me. The relief was evident in his expression. He rested his eyes on Kim. No big surprise. She was about the prettiest nurse in ICU. And also the one with the most attitude. "Boy am I glad to see you." He was still looking at Kim.

His expression said he was glad to see me. But he wouldn't have any luck trying to get a date with me. I laughed, out loud. He looked at me and I said "You're going to be out of here by this time next week. I have some material for you to look at." Jim held his index finger up as if to say "Hold on a minute" and then he curled the same finger repeatedly looking at Kim and she came in close enough for him to whisper something to her.

"Oh sure. No problem." And she reached under the sheets armpit deep. To itch his Knee. While she was there Jim looked up at me and flipped me off. Looking up at him "Better?" Then thinking she may have just been the brunt of a joke she looked back and forth between Jim and I.

"I'm sorry, you will have to excuse me. I needed to distract you so you wouldn't see me flip off my friend here."

Then resting her hand on Jim's thigh said looking right at me "Oh don't worry about me." And with that she got up and started to walk out but stopped before the doorway and turned and looked me right in the eye before saying "He's not going anywhere next week." And flipped me off and left the room.

Jim looked at me and asked "Did I miss something while I was taking a nap?"

"You've got a spicy one there Cuz." I was laughing when I said it as I was pulling a chair up to the side of his bed. "How're you feeling man?" I reached over and grabbed his hand.

"I've been awake for 10 minutes I don't know. Judging from the morphine itches I don't feel very good. I guess that's what this button is for." He tossed it off the edge of the bed. "I hate this shit. You can't sleep with it and you can't sleep with out it. So you tell me, how do I feel"?

"You're going to wish you had that button back." I reached down to pick it up. "As it turns out getting hit by a Mercedes Benz is no walk in the park." I got up and retrieved Jim's chart off the end of the bed. As I looked it over I gave Jim a synopsis. "Fused L3 & L4 vertebrae's, fractured pelvis, broken tibia, aaand, three gun shot wounds. Two through and through, and one the doctor pulled out of your shoulder. Not to mention the road rash and stitched lacerations, apparently those bastards took a knife to your back? So much for a clean get away."

I didn't think it would be productive to tell him all the squabbling the State Dept., CIA and Sage were all having over his escape. He would have deal with that soon enough. There was no reason for it now.

***********

It wasn't long and they had Jim up and walking, at first in the hallways then out into the courtyard outside. From the looks of it He and Kim were getting along better than most patient nurse duo's. She would spend her breaks and sometimes lunch with him.

Jim was discharged in a few weeks and was still on a medical leave from Sage while he recovered. He and his nurse Kim quit pretending there wasn't anything between them and she would stop by after her shift at the hospital and make him dinner and sometimes stay the night. When asked, Jim just shrugged and said it wasn't anything serious.

A few months had passed and I was going over some paperwork in my office when Carla paused in the doorway.

"Hey Chris, I'm going to stop by and see Jim after work.". Carla looked at me as I was closing a briefing. "Do you want to go? I was thinking we'd stop and pick up a couple of six packs and have a few with him."

"Yeah, I'm game. I have a meeting at 4:30 that shouldn't take too long. We'll head out after."

Carla knew I liked her. And that I really liked her body. Being an in shape black woman didn't mean she was skinny. She had that black woman's butt and thick thighs along with her visible abs. And since Jim had been recovering we had been sleeping together a few times a week. Usually at my place, it was only a few miles away from Jim's and we rode together most of the time we went to check in on him. Our relationship was mostly a physical one. Kind of a friends with benni's thing. Carla was reluctant to be too emotionally involved and that was fine with me. Friends with sleep over privileges worked for both of us.