Dane raised his hand. “30-second board.”
Coop took a deep breath and when the gate dropped, he was off like a flash. He’d walked the track and done a sight lap, so he knew the few changes that had happened on the track. He felt comfortable. He kicked it up a notch through the straightaway and turned the corners, over the few jumps. He wished it were inside and more like an arena, but for their purposes, hesupposed it would do. And after lunch, he’d get to actually race someone. For now, he went all out.
The first lap was smooth, and Coop was in the zone, flowing, feeling the track. Maybe he would have to get Rick out here to ride with him sometime. It would be fun. Then. Fuck.
He missed the jump. They’d added one, and he forgot. He landed on the face of the second, misjudging completely. He hit his front tire first, and the bike flipped over his head. Coop slammed into the dirt face-first. The pain screamed through his body like a fucking branding iron. “Fuck!” He might have blacked out because he was on his side, the bike still between his legs.
The next moment, Dane and Kevin were next to him. “Don’t move, don’t move,” Dane blurted out. “Where does it hurt?” Notifit hurt; there was no way that crash didn’t hurt.
Kevin echoed Coach. “Don’t move. I’m calling the medics out.”
“I don’t think it’s my neck. Shoulder.” I shifted a little. “Back.”
“I said, don’t move.” Dane and Kevin worked together to slide the bike out of the way. “What the fuck were you thinking?”
“I wasn’t…ugh…” Everything hurt. His leg. His hand. But his shoulder was the worst. “I don’t think it’s my neck.”Helmet and pads were a real thing.They did their job.
“God damn, kid. Stop moving. That bike landed on top of you. Backwards, like you scorpion’ed hard.”
Fuck. Legs over head backward, with a bike slamming into me. No wonder everything hurt. Fuck my life.
The medics arrived and placed him on a board. Rick was going to fucking kill him.
Chapter Thirteen - Rick
It took all Rick had in him to hold his tongue and not flatten Penston into dust. What the actual fuck had Penston been thinking? Oh, wait, he hadn’t been. They were running mock assaults, taking turns planning out the different elements. The cadre had split them up into four different sections. Each had been responsible for a scenario. Each section had two men with high scores and two with not-so-high. Probably hoping it would help those struggling. Maybe that had worked in the past but Rick damn well knew that Penston wasn’t going to learn a damn thing.
Penston’s scenario was to execute a simple recon of one of the mock buildings in the training area. They were supposed to do a bit of surveillance and then report back the number of persons in the location and what they’d done. Easy enough, unless you were Roger Penston. He’d gotten it into his brain that they needed to breach the inside and neutralize the occupants. Totally not in the orders they’d been given. Rick had tried to politely question Penston’s OPORD. Suggested that maybe Penston had overestimated what could and should be accomplished within the guidance they’d been given. Penston had told Rick to shut it. That he didn’t know what he was talking about. After that? Rick decided he’d just kick back and let the cadre handle Penston. Oh, he would do his part; follow whatever bullshit order that Penston issued, but he knew that there was an ass whooping coming.
“Do you believe this shit?” Nelson whispered from next to Rick, where they were crouched against the cement foundation. Guess he wasn’t the only one questioning Penston’s plan. They’d been waiting in position for several hours. Rick discreetly checked his watch. Fricking 2130. They were supposed to returnto the command tent with their report by 2000. Looks like there was no way that was happening. He was honestly shocked that none of the cadre had come to find them when they didn’t report on time. They all had radios on them, but Rick hadn’t heard anything over the radio for hours.
Rick moved to peek over the edge of the stairs leading into the building. He couldn’t see any of the others. “Where the fuck are Penston and Marsh?” Rick asked.
“Did they get lost?” Nelson sounded about to lose his shit. “We are so not going to hit our objective. We don’t get marked down for this, do we? I need to do good on this so I have some kind of choice where to be stationed. You’ll be wherever you want.”
Rick wasn’t going to tell Nelson that he’d already been told he’d get his first choice. He just had to make his decision. Hopefully, Coop could get a chance to FaceTime over the weekend. Rick really wanted an airborne slot but…could he give it up if Coop couldn’t handle himknees in the breeze? Before Rick got too caught up in his thoughts, a bright spotlight lit up the area.
“Stanton! Nelson! Report back to the command tent. Your part in this fiasco is over,” Captain Lewis said from behind the light. As Rick and Nelson stood, the captain held out a hand for them to stop. “Do either of you know or have any idea where Penston or Marsh are?”
Rick looked at Nelson, who stepped back slightly behind Rick. Great. Now he was on the spot. Falling back on his ROTC training, Rick snapped into attention position. Hands at his side, eyes looking past the captain’s shoulder, chin slightly up.
“We were instructed to approach the structure and maintain a position next to the front entrance, Captain. The movement of the others was not shared with us.” Rick kept it short andconcise. He wasn’t going to volunteer his opinion. Unless he was commanded, he was keeping his mouth shut.
“That didn’t answer my question, Lieutenant Stanton. Where is your section commander?” Lewis demanded.
Well, fuck him sideways. Rick took a deep breath and met the man’s eyes. “Sir, I have no idea where my section commander is.” There, he answered the question.
“Do either of you have a copy of the OPORD from Lieutenant Penston?” The captain wasn’t letting them off the hook, apparently. “Lieutenant Nelson, you’ve been suspiciously quiet while Stanton spoke up.”
Rick couldn’t see Nelson as he was still somewhat in the shadow and outside of Rick’s line of sight. He heard Nelson shifting on the gravel.
“Sir, we weren’t given a written copy of Penston’s orders.” Nelson’s voice squeaked, like he was going through puberty again.
“He only issued verbal orders?” Rick thought he heard a growl from the captain, but it could have just been the vehicle pulling up next to him. The captain didn’t acknowledge the soldier who climbed out of the vehicle. “What were the orders as you understood the objective, lieutenants?”
Rick looked over his shoulder at Nelson who just shrugged. Oh Lord, help him. Guess Rick was in the hot seat. “Sir, it was our understanding that we were to do some recon on the two-story structure. Report on the number and movement of the occupants.”
“And what were the orders you were given by Lieutenant Penston?” Captain Lewis didn’t seem upset with Rick’s answer so his shoulders dropped somewhat. He didn’t move into an at-ease position but he did relax a tiny bit.
