Second installment

When we go to Zagreb we left two of the men with their families and arranged to meet them the following day. We then went to Peter's girlfriends house which made him very happy, we waited there having a cup of coffee until Peter and his girlfriend had finished talking,

"there's this friend of mine that has some things that belong to me, the only problem is that he won't give them to me and he is not answering the phone, we will have to go and see him tonight" said Peter suddenly,

We agreed with him if only to keep him happy, we then planned to go to the man's house later on in the night. When the time arrived we all got in the car and set off, I had no idea where we were going to so I just sat back and waited. We eventually pulled up outside a modest looking house and Peter said that this was the house, he went to knock the door alone while we waited outside. After a couple of minutes he returned and told us that there was no answer,

"what do you want to do now" asked Ernie,

"I don't know but I do want what belongs to me" replied Peter,

"the only alternative is to break in" he continued,

Danny seemed happy when that was mentioned but we were in Zagreb not in Osijek, 

"at least something exciting to do" he said,

so we went around the back of the house to see if there were any open windows, there wasn't any so we kicked the door in and entered. The house was empty so Peter started to look for his bag that was supposed to belong to him, while he was doing that Ernie waited outside, we started to look around and what we found was amazing. This house was a gold mine of weapons and radio equipment, it was decided that we would relieve the owner of everything that could be of use to our unit, as soon as Ernie found out what was happening he came inside like a vulture, he wasn't going to miss out on the fun, I found a pistol that I quickly put in my belt, I was going to have that for myself. There were four rifles, a machine gun, scorpions, a lot of uniforms and everything brand new. There was radio equipment, batteries, handcuffs and various brands of cigarettes, the owner must have been dealing in the black market to have such a large quantity of items in his home. We were acting like police and taking the evidence away but for our own use. We took everything outside and into the boot of the car while Peter continued to search for his bag but without any success so he eventually gave up, we wanted to go back to see if we had missed anything but Ernie was hysterical and all he wanted to do was leave. We went back to Peter's girlfriend's house where we emptied the car and put everything in the house, I was totally astounded by what we had actually acquired, the one thing that caught everyone's eyes was a Stayer sniper rifle which Ernie immediately claimed as his. Everything that he wanted he took and nobody said a word, he probably wanted it to sell or have it to show off that was Ernie a real showoff, he always wanted to be the center of attention and I was beginning to think that he was really a very lonely person and he needed this attention, it was a kind of drug that seemed to keep him sane, at least for the time being. While we had been away Peter's girlfriend had made enough room for us to have some sleep, she had also bought a bottle of "Glenfiddich", she took a few photos of us and eventually we went to sleep. The following morning we went to visit Alan who was still in hospital because of his eye, he was very happy to see us and said that he would be able to leave within a few weeks so Ernie told him to call us when he was ready to come back to Osijek,he had lost the sight in one eye and just had a patch over it, he looked just like a pirate but we could not just abandon him because of that, he was after all our friend, well at least I classed him as my friend as we had been together since Laslovo but I was not so sure about Ernie, he only had friends that were of use to him and Alan might become a burden because of his eye's so I wasn't sure how he would react when he came back to the unit. As I looked at Alan I thought how he must be feeling now that he had lost the sight in one eye, I knew that the only job he had been trained for was how to be a soldier and that now he lost his sight he may acquire an inferiority complex, he was not now as complete as a soldier should be, if it had happened to me I do not know how I would of reacted. We left the hospital to go and meet up with Peter's girlfriend as we were going to have a meal before leaving Zagreb. We arrived at the press center at the "Intercontinental Hotel" to find Peter and his girlfriend waiting, there was another woman working there that morning her name was Paula and Ernie invited her to join us, she agreed and we all left. We went to a restaurant that Peter used when in Zagreb,it was small but comfortable and we all sat around one table and ordered. The conversation was pleasant and funny but for some reason Ernie started to argue with Paula about something,it seemed so trivial that I have completely forgotten what it was all about but during the argument Ernie turned to me and said,

"I don't like her, she's a real bitch, l don't know why I asked her to join us" he said,

I was stunned so said nothing in reply looking across the table at where she was sitting, she may of been a bit outspoken but apart from that she was ok, in fact quite attractive, after we finished we said our goodbyes and left back to normality Osijek.