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“You figure out the price of your long-served career.”

David closed his eyes. “Fine.”

“I’ll call you on Monday.”

The line clicked off, leaving David to stare at his phone in helpless horror.

CHRISTIAN

Saturdays were not Christian’s favorite day working in the office. It was when reports of whatever the soldiers got up to the night before came rolling in. Christian’s Saturday morning was typically spent on the phone, fielding calls from the nearby town and people on base with complaints and reminders.

Honestly, only so much could be done when a soldier got a little too drunk and feisty. The military police worked hard to keep everything on base peaceful, though some days were harder than others. For those that created trouble in town, it was up to the regular police. Of course, if the soldiers got into trouble with the law, they were in for a whole lot of hell when they came back to base.

Not that it stopped the calls, though, much to Christian’s irritation.

Christian rubbed his brow. “Look, Chief Williams, I understand, truly, I do. I’ll pass the message along to General Winter, and I’m sure he will speak with...Private Jonas’ superior officer.”

The police chief growled. “That’s what you always say, and nothing ever changes.”

Christian rolled his eyes. “Save for locking the men down every weekend and preventing them from leaving the base, which is not policy or law, we cannot do much. We can, however, promise the private in question will be reprimanded once he has been released from your custody.”

“Oh, he’s already out. Drunk tank for the night, but he might be looking at some battery charges and destruction of property.”

Christian grimaced, wonderful. “Well, keep us updated. Either way, Private Jonas will probably wish you’d kept him in jail a little longer after his CO is done with him.”

Who gave the police chief the phone number for General Winter’s office? Christian was going to strangle them.

“Fine. But I’m growing tired of the General avoiding speaking to me directly. This is the fourth time in two weeks.”

“I understand that, but the general has a lot on his plate.”

Not only that, but Christian had noticed a change in the general over the past couple of days. Christian had no idea what had happened, but General Winter’s ordinarily quiet and serious nature had become downright surly and almost mute. Christian had received a grunt that morning when he’d greeted him, which was out of character. General Winter was not a talkative man, but he wasn’t rude.

“Apparently so busy he can’t make time to speak to the chief of police,” Chief Williams grumbled.

“No offense meant, but General Winter has very little time for things that aren’t absolutely pressing.”

“Right, and his men causing trouble inmycity doesn’t warrant his attention.”

Christian narrowed his eyes. “How many drunk and disorderly people do you pick up on a Friday night, Chief Williams? How many people do you arrest for battery?”

“Pardon?”

“How many of them are for domestic assault? Rape? Attempted murder, or even murder?”

“What does that have to do with anything?”

Christian reached out, opening a message as it popped up on his screen. “I want you to take the number of people you arrest on a weekend for all those things and combine them. Then, I want you to pick out the ones done by the soldiers from our base. Can you do that for me?”

“I can’t say I have the exact numbers right in front of me,” Chief Williams said tightly.

“No, probably not, but I’m sure you have a good idea that if we compared the numbers, you’d find a big difference between the number of people arrested from the city or are tourists and those that come off this base. So yes, the general is a little too busy to deal with a statistical minority personally.”

There was a pause before Chief Williams recovered himself. “You little shit.”

Christian shook his head. “I think that marks the end of this conversation. I’ll deliver the message to General Winter. Have a nice day.”

The police chief continued speaking angrily. Still, Christian ended the call without bothering to listen to more. No doubt, the police chief would soon realize he’d been hung up on and would call back.