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Lambert said. "Gets odd looks at lunchtime and he never joins in for pizza or barbecue."
"I saw him eat a hard-boiled egg," Valentine put in.
"But you don't mind being called on for an opinion?" Seng asked.
"Not at all, sir."
"Go on to your next meeting," Seng said to Lambert. "I'll catch up in a minute."
Lambert glanced at Valentine. "It's going to be a busy ten days. We'll talk again."
"I'll look forward to that, Colonel," Valentine said.
She left and Seng shifted his chair so it faced Valentine directly.
"You were headed for staff training when they arrested you."
The shock and hurt had long since healed over. That was a different young man. "Yes."
"Sorry to hear that. I went through it, you know. I think we would have done it about the same time, right after Dallas."
"How was it?"
"Tough. Felt like I was being rotated through every unit in the command. I've got most of a footlocker filled with my texts and workbooks. I'd like to loan it to you. There's a lot of good training materials in there. I expect if Highbeam gets off the ground, it might be useful to you.
Lambert wasn't kidding about that regiment. We're going to have to rely on the locals to supply most of our manpower. They'll need training from our best people."
Valentine fought down a stammer. "Thank you. I'd like that."
Seng wasn't a smiler, but his mouth relaxed. "You haven't had to decipher my handwriting yet. I know we've just met, but I'm glad you're with us on this trip. When I went over the list of names our sharp young colonel drew up and I saw yours, I remembered when we heard you'd blown up the Little Rock depot. You don't know what that meant to us, boxed up in those mountains."
Again, military formalities saved him embarrassment. "Thank you, sir."
Valentine spent the next ten days on double duty, working with the planners in his group and acting as a second opinion to Brother Mark, though he couldn't answer the questions about the guerrillas in the triangle, of course. He attended working meetings, helped write plans and orders, but mostly thought about the company he was to build. Some days he had little to do but listen and be grateful for the quiet time to get himself organized and draw up his own plans.
The officers bonded in meetings, at meals, and especially on the baseball diamond. Colonel Gage, in charge of the regulars, blew hot and cold, alternately charming and cutting. Gage's chief of staff was the rather pugnacious and compact Major Cleveland Bloom-an odd name for a woman, Valentine thought. She captained Valentine's team and went by the name Cleo on the baseball diamond, where she once pitched a shutout-not the easiest thing to do with softball. When her team was at bat she slapped each of them, man and woman, on the butt and ordered them to "get a hit." She didn't care about stolen bases, doubles, or walks-she wanted hits and more hits.
She had a similar reputation in the field as a fighter.
The Bear lieutenant, a scarred figure named Gamecock, only stayed a week and was the first to leave. "One of my team is in hospital," he said as they said good-bye at dinner. 'I've got two places to fill, and there's few enough Bears about these days. I'm going to try to talk a couple out of retirement."
Valentine heartily wished him luck, thinking of his own plans after the departure date.
Gamecock hadn't been much involved in the meetings in any case. Bears didn't give a damn about planning. You put them up close to the enemy and turned them loose.
The civilians rotated in and out of the meetings unpredictably. Usually one or two were away, but never all three. Valentine began to think of them as a single organism that morphed, for they dressed and spoke remarkably alike.
One day a courier arrived bearing a package. Valentine unwrapped it in his Spartan quarters and found a basket containing a set of paper-wrapped soaps inside.
Glad things worked out for the best.
Please except this peace offering.
Best of fortune and rewards of honor in the coming year-
-S
Valentine unwrapped one of the soaps and took a cautious sniff. Sandalwood. They even had elegant little labels written in French.
