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Chapter Twenty-Five

Bust

A losing hand (totaling more than 21) in Blackjack.

*

The Major ignored the Earl's obvious ill temper when he returned to the hotel from the desert. How could the idiot not see he was trying to save his life? He left his men in Lebanon with the devices with orders to wait for further instructions.

After hearing what had happened at the terrorist base, Eroica did not even want to know what the next step might be. He also found himself reassessing his opinion of the Major's sanity as he joined the man aboard his jet and headed back to Bali.

The long flight was remarkably quiet.

* * *

Gloria Estate, Bali
October 12, 2002

Eroica tried to ignore the pandemonium in his own home as the Major gave all sorts of orders. For some reason, the officer had been incredibly agitated since their return from Lebanon, but would say nothing as to why. Suddenly the Earl felt like the outsider again, and found himself irritated. After too many days of this, Eroica could take no more. Here it is, close to midnight, and the man is still hard at it, keeping everyone in the house awake. He stormed to the computer room, determined to have it out with the man.

"Major, will you please tell me what you're looking for?" he demanded. "I've already proved myself, haven't I? You never would've found those devices without my contacts."

Klaus's growling reply was interrupted when Bonham came dashing to the doorway. "Major, you need to see this! They've bombed Kuta!"

There was a stunned silence. Kuta was only a scant thirty kilometres away. Klaus gave Eroica a steady look. "That is what I'm looking for," he said coldly before going into the room where Bonham had the television tuned to the news station.

Everyone crowded around, watching in a horrified silence for several minutes. Then Eroica seemed to come to his senses. "Dear God, Harlun's clinic. It'll be overrun," he breathed.

Klaus turned sharply to him, seeing the faraway look in his eyes. Then he suddenly was barking orders, having anything and everything on hand that could be used at the clinic collected for transport. He turned to the thunderstruck Earl. "I couldn't stop it," he said coldly, "but I can do what I can to help."

Eroica nodded, calling to his men and asking for any volunteers to help with the casualties. Many did not have any medical training, but they could...procure the much needed supplies if need be.

Cooke called several others together and started preparing sandwiches and the like to pass out to the victims who would very likely be waiting at the clinic. He told the Earl and the Major that he would catch up as soon as the food was prepared.

Again, Klaus found himself impressed at the way the thieves pulled together for their leader. Just as Bonham had said all those weeks ago, they would do anything for the Earl.

* * *

Dr. Harlun Al Rabeeah's heart sank when he saw the small convoy of cars approaching his small clinic. Many of the people who were there already had been waiting much too long for any kind of attention. Then he saw the familiar curly blond head getting out of one of the cars, and he felt like dancing. Instead, he simply offered up a prayer of thanks and waited for his friend to enter the building.

"My dearest Lord Gloria!" the doctor said happily. "I have never been more pleased to see you."

Eroica returned the greeting and then took in the injured. He threw a glance in Klaus's direction, their eyes meeting briefly before he returned his attention to the physician. "We came as soon as we saw the news," he explained. As he spoke, the Major's men entered carrying boxes of supplies. They were led by Agent B, who seemed to have been put in charge of supply duty.

"The Major's men all have medical training," Eroica continued. "It's military field training, but I don't think you'll be choosy, will you?"

"No! By all means, I can use all the help I can get," Al Rabeeah replied.

"As I thought. We've brought what we could in the way of bandages and things," Eroica continued. "Now, not everyone in my group is medically trained, but we can hold someone's hand as well as the next person."

By this time, the doctor seemed on the point of tears. Eroica was afraid he would completely lose it if he told him that food would be coming shortly, so he left that as a surprise for later.

Then everyone was lost in the pandemonium as victims continued to arrive. The Major implemented a plan of revolving shifts, thus allowing the clinic to continue in its work without everyone dropping of exhaustion all at once.

People came and went, supplies were "mysteriously" replenished. Food continued non-stop.

Finally, after what seemed like a week, but was probably only two days, things began returning to normal. The local hospital, which had been overwhelmed by the number of burn victims, had been able to have those patients airlifted to the relatively close proximity of Darwin and Perth, Australia for treatment.

When the group finally returned to the compound, everyone was bone tired. The whole time, the Major had been blaming himself. He should have been able to stop it. Should have been able to get enough information together to know it was going to happen right there under his nose.

"For pity's sake, Major," Eroica snapped as he got out of the car in the large garage at the compound. He was finally at the end of his patience. "You're not omniscient! You're just a man. Iron Klaus is just a man!"

Klaus's eyes narrowed dangerously and his men instinctively shrank away. The Eroica gang shrank back along with them.

"How the hell could you possibly know that would happen, huh?" Eroica went on. "You're lucky you got as much as you did. You got three pocket nukes out of the hands of terrorists. You got all that...stuff out of Virginia, right under the CIA's noses. Aren't you even the least bit proud of all that?"

Klaus folded his arms and continued to glare.

Eroica folded his own arms and glared back. "I'm not afraid of you, Major," he said coldly. "I'm mad as hell."

Klaus rolled his eyes. "You're still pissed about the knock out gas?"

"Damn right! And I'm pissed that you went off looking for the real Earl and didn't tell me."

Klaus cocked his head to one side. "You know about that?" It sounded more like a statement than a question.

"Yes. Just what else haven't you told me? That you're working for someone else?" Eroica demanded. He heard the Alphabet collectively catch their breath and turned to look at them. "Well?" The only reply was the Alphabet shaking their heads. "Don't just stand there, tell me! It's not like he can send you to Alaska now, is it?"

After a long silence, Klaus said, "Yes, it is." He waited until Eroica turned back to look at him before saying, "I've been working under orders from NATO since day one."

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