Page 2 of Down and Dirty

“I mean it.”

Muttering with disgust, he walked over and picked up the kid with both hands on his waist. He was skinny and weighed no more than a pillow, which made Zach feel kinda queasy. Walking to the back of the cave, he stood him on his feet and proceeded to tug his pants down. He wasn’t wearing any underwear. That, too, made his stomach roil.

“Hey, untie me. I can’t piss like this.”

“You’ll piss like that or piss your pants. Your call.”

The kid made that growling sound again. “Don’t you know nothin’? A man’s gotta hold his cock when he pisses.”

Aren’t kids supposed to say tinkle or pee? He turned his back on the scamp. Mom would have killed me or Danny if we’d ever said piss in front of her. And cock… man oh man, we would have been tasting Irish Spring for a month if we ever used that word.

He turned around to see the kid glance up over his bony shoulder, an evil glint in his blue eyes, which, fortunately or unfortunately, mirrored his own. “What do you think of it?”

“Of what?”

“My cock.”

Holy shit! Zach yanked the kid’s pants back up, then returned him to the blanket.

“Well?”

“Well what?”

“Is it big enough?”

Oh, boy! “For what?”

“You know.”

God must be punishing me for something. Maybe it was the time I… “Are you kidding? That little worm? You’ve got a few more years to worry about that.”

“How big is yours?”

I do not frickin’ believe this. “Big enough.”

“Well, my cousin Taj says his is as big as a bull’s, but he’s seven, and he lies sometimes. Is yours as big as a bull’s?”

“It’s not good manners to ask someone that.” Pretty Boy Floyd giving etiquette lessons? Hope the sky doesn’t fall down.

“Uncle Masood slapped my face when I asked him.”

Zach went stone still at that news. Was that bruise on the kid’s chin caused by a clip, too? And why was the kid so damn skinny? “I’ll answer any questions you have about anything… but not now.”

Thankfully, Zach’s earpiece staticked before the kid had a chance to argue with the delay.

“Raven to Eagle. Do ya read me, Eagle?” It was his good friend Justin “Cage” LeBlanc on the other end. Military men always used code names when on a live op, over communication lines that could be intercepted. In this case, with Operation Maggot, it seemed apt that they take on names of the worm’s natural enemy… the worm being al-Qaeda, of course.

“Eagle here.”

“Helo on its way. Oh nine hundred. Are y’all ready to boogie?”

Zach set the timer on his watch for fifteen minutes. “Roger.”

“There are tangos all over the place. Be careful.”

“Gotcha.” Zach was already standing and preparing his gear, including the collapsible stock on his M4 carbine, which he slung over his shoulder. It had an M203 grenade launcher underneath, which he hoped he wouldn’t need. He checked to see that he had two magazines left, which amounted to more than fifty rounds of ammunition. He would leave his backpack behind so that he could carry the kid, but he took out a couple extra grenades and his KA-BAR knife. The next inhabitant of this Better Homes & Caves dwelling could have the MREs.

“Pigeon, Tweety, and me will be on the ground, covering your six. Y’all have to make it to the ascender. Quick, quick.”