Eighth installment

Why didn't I go to the head of the command in Osijek and tell him about what had really happened and also about my suspicious concerning Ernies orders and behavior, thinking about it I suppose it wasn't only my inability to speak the language but my training that taught me that there is a chain of command and one thing you never do is never to go straight to the top especially as I didn't want to set a bad example for the men under our command,therefore all the orders that Ernie had given us and his abnormal behavior went unnoticed, undetected and untold. People always say that the truth comes out sooner or later and in this case perhaps it never will. Over the last few days I had caught a cold because I was kept away from all the training and I was just sitting in the war, I was used to being in the open air and not stuck indoors in the same temperature and the dreaded common cold had taken its chance, both the cold and the departure of half the unit made me feel totally miserable and down in the dumps, I was not even thinking straight and was forgetting little things. During the next few days we were trying to get new men but we ended up with rabble, the people that were not wanted anywhere,it seemed that word had got around about what had happened and no one wanted to join us, Ernie deserved everything that was now happening to him. In a way I was happy that things were not running as smoothly as before, perhaps Ernie had learnt his lesson from everything that had happened but somehow I doubted it. Two days later we got ready to go to Zagreb to pick James up, as usual we got ready as if we were going to battle as Ernie still believed in the terrorist threat and because of this we took everything from explosives to anti tank rockets, I told Ernie that I was feeling under the weather and that I was not really capable of traveling but he insisted, perhaps he needed a friend that would talk to him and maybe he still classed me as that. Apart from ourselves three more would go, we took two cars and with the necasery paperwork we headed for Zagreb and I was feeling as though I was out on my feet. We stopped outside a large building where James was supposed to be waiting in one of the flats, we locked the cars and went towards the building, as normal we kept our weapons loaded with the safety catches off just incase of trouble. We entered and tried the lights which didn't work, so we went up the stairs and I was not really capable of it. When we arrived at the flat Ernie knocked, it was like something out of a film with all of us prepared for anything that might happen. The door opened and we were invited in, there were quite a few people there including Paula who I noticed straight away, Ernie shook everybody's hand and we all said our hello's then sat down wherever there was room, I lay back completely shattered, I remember looking over towards Paula and noticing what lovely legs she had. My mind was drifting and all of a sudden I put my finger on the trigger of my scorpion which I was sitting on, automatically in a split second three rounds left the chamber. When I had got over the initial shock I stood up,

"I think somebody had better get an ambulance, I think I have shot myself" I said.