The shapely blonde wrapped her arms around Flack's neck and leaned into him; the firm outline of her breast pressed against his bicep as her lips traced a path up his neck. Reaching his ear she whispered in a husky voice, the lust evident in her tone and words. "Don, I want you now. I want to feel you in me." Her fingers gripped tightly in his hair as she hungrily devoured his lips. Pulling away she looked deeply into his eyes, "Come on Flack."

Donald Flack Jr. groaned deeply as the buxom blonde rubbed against him. He could feel his dick hardening as she writhed.

"Goddamn it Flack." The woman's voice deepened.

Flack shifted his position, trying to give himself more room; the weight of the blonde was becoming uncomfortable.

"Flack, if you don't get your ass off of me, so help me I'll shoot you myself."

He blinked, looking up and felt the coolness of the water as it struck his face. He shook his head, the image of the blonde fading from his vision. He became acutely aware of the hard on pressing against his leg, trapped by his pants. Shifting and readjusting himself into a more comfortable position, he groaned.

"Flack, I don't want to be a party to your wet dreams. Damn it, it's bad enough I've got to be this close to you, but I don't want you rubbing up against me like a two dollar hooker." The gravely voice next to him replied.

"Don't worry Messer. If I was going to want to swing the other way, you ain't my type."

"Shit, it's been long enough for you that anything with a hole is your type!"

"You got me, every time you bend over I get warm all over looking at your pimply white ass. Now shut up and let me get back to my dream."

Both men quieted down as they tried to grab some shut-eye. It had been several minutes when Danny's voice sounded again. "Ever wonder about where you'd be if you weren't here?"

"That's fucking profound Messer. Did you spend much time on that deep thought?" Don's tone was sarcastic. He hadn't been back to sleep yet, but he had hoped to drop back into the arms of his dream.

"No, really. If I hadn't got pissed off and dropped out of college when I got cut from the baseball team, I wouldn't be here right now. I'd be clean and dry, enjoying everything New York has to offer. Plus, I'd be sleeping with Jeannie Scalero. I had her so close to giving it up to me before I left." Danny paused and took a deep breath, "I'd get my degree and find a respectable job somewhere. Life would be fine."

"Get over it. With your luck you would have knocked her up, her Daddy would have made you an offer you couldn't refuse and it would have been a wedding Mass at St. Pius. You would have gone into the family business and be renting a third floor walk-up. Do you want me to continue?"

"Hell, you don't know that Flack. I'm just saying that my life would have been different." He reached for an insect bite and scratched it, the itching only intensifying. "I hate these damn bugs. Where would you be?"

Flack sighed, Danny was in a talkative mood and that meant sleep wouldn't be returning soon. He could understand, he had felt the same way once too. That by talking about life it would make it seem more real and this would be a bad dream. "I'd still be here." His voice held no sarcasm, for what he said was the truth. "I'm third generation. God willing someday I'll have a son and he'll be the fourth. Once I'm home my old man wants me to go to the academy and be third generation there too."

"Hey imagine, if I go into my Dad's business and you go into your Dad's we would see each other."

"I don't know if arresting you would be the way I would want to stay in touch."

Danny pushed his glasses up higher on his noise. "Besides, I'd be so smooth you would never have any evidence on me." He reflected for a moment. "I wouldn't really work with my Pop. A lot of what he does is on the up and up, but there's some stuff that he does for Sassone that I don't want any part of." Danny shifted again, "Besides, he has Louie to help him. He seems to enjoy it."

Both men quieted again and Flack was sure that Danny had drifted off to sleep. It seemed that he had just closed his eyes when all hell seemed to break loose. The rapid sound of gunfire brought both men instantly awake. Together they took up a defensive position and tried to locate where the enemy fire was coming from.

All around them the sounds of battle raged, gunfire and men yelling. Flack scanned quickly for targets as he squeezed the trigger of his M-16, short burst raking at the foliage. He could feel Danny at his back, firing in the other direction.

There was a slight change in the sound of the fight. Lowering his rifle, Flack yelled loudly trying to make himself heard over the remaining gunfire. "Cease fire!" A few weapons still were being fired, "Cease fire, God-damn it!"

With a last explosive pop, the guns fell silent. Both Flack and Danny climbed from the foxhole and warily looked around. Several others were up and moving, checking for wounded.

Flack barked orders at several men and watched as they moved into the under brush looking for any enemy bodies. He turned and glanced around the small clearing. Danny was helping another man with a wounded soldier. Moving to them, Flack questioned Danny. "How bad?"

"Looks like you better call for a dust off. He's got a round trapped in his upper thigh." Danny wiped blood from his hands onto his pants. "It doesn't look like it's hit anything major, but he can't make the trip back on foot."

"I'll radio it in." Flack glanced down at his watch. "We've got two hours until sunrise. Can he make it until then? I'd rather not bring a chopper in if Charlie is still close."

"Yeah, he can make it. Did you know you're bleeding?"

Looking at where Danny was pointing, Flack examined his arm. A slash of red was visible along his bicep. "Looks like I caught it on something. It's a long way from my heart." He walked over to check on several other men with wounds.

Several hours passed and just as the dawn was breaking, Flack and his men neared the field that would be their pick-up zone. Soon the sounds of rotors could be heard and within minutes the Huey's broke over the tree line coming in low for a landing.

The men on the ground provided support as others assisted the wounded. It didn't take long to load the helicopters and they climbed back into the air.

One of the men on the door guns yelled over the noise to Don. "I'm getting tired of hauling your ass out of the fire Flack." A smile on his broad Texan face belied the words spoken.

"Screw you Stokes." Flack shouted back. The good-natured ribbing was a part of the price to pay for a pick-up. Don settled in and glanced around at the weary faces of his men. He hated to think of anyone getting wounded, but flying was a hell of a lot better than humping it back in from the boonies.

They would drop the injured at the hospital in Da Nang and then be transported back to their firebase. Flack's squad had been out for long enough that it would be good to get back. "Hell, we might be up for a little R & R." he thought to himself. Maybe then he could do something to get rid of those dreams he had been having. There was plenty of little mama-sans who would be happy to see a fresh supply of jugheads with money to spare. A smile crossed his face and soon he was deep in a dream.