THE COLLAPSE: Swantown Road Read Online Free

squadron needed supplies to get their jobs done. 
    When the chief stayed late to review the requisitions and make his signatures, Fish and his staff also had to remain in the office until the chief made the appropriate approvals or changes.  Once that was completed, he would give the enormous stack to Fish, who would then distribute them to his staff for processing.  Then, the chief would usually leave for the day and order Fish to keep the rest of the office working late until everything was finished.  On several occasions, Fish would just let his weary people go home for the day and he would stay to complete everything by himself.  Doing that would always upset the chief, if he found out about it.  He would scold Fish for ‘not being a good leader’ by choosing to do the work himself instead of delegating it to his junior personnel.
    On that particular morning, Chief Worts had made three or four of his ritual drive-bys, each time commenting to Fish and the rest of the office about how quickly the snow was disappearing, which meant he had been going outside.  Most likely to take one of the zillion smoke breaks that he normally disappeared for throughout the day. 
    Right before lunch, the chief asked Fish to step outside the office.  Fish had sighed, because stepping outside the office was never a good thing.
    “Hooker, I need you to write up Constantine.  Her uniform looks like a total bag of shit and twice today I caught her with her eyes closed at her desk.”  Chief Worts said. 
    Fish shook his head with disagreement and countered with, “Chief, you know she has been a single mother for over two months now, her husband left her and took off back to Texas.  She’s just having a rough time right now.  She’s still one of my best sailors.  I can just talk to her about it, we don’t need to put it on paper.”
    “Are you hung over again or just fucking deaf?”  The chief shouted.
    “Actually, chief, it’s neither.  I rolled my car last night, but thanks for asking.”  Fish said.  Chief Worts rolled his eyes at him.
    “Oh, boo-hoo-hoo…you look just fine to me.  You better not have been drunk.”
    “I wasn’t.”  Fish said, disgusted with Chief Worts’ lack of compassion.
    The chief stuck his finger in Fish’s face and hissed, “You listen to me, Hooker. I can’t have all these other chiefs coming into my office and seeing one of my people like that.  What do you think that would do to my reputation?”  The chief questioned him with cigarette breath, and waited for Fish’s response.
    “If they knew her circumstances, they would probably –“ Fish had started, but was cut off by a stiff finger to the chest.  Ouch.
    “Don’t you play this game with me, Hooker.  I really don’t give a damn about how she manages her off-duty time! She needs to square herself away, and that’s the bottom line.  Did Uncle Sam issue her that baby?”
    “No, chief.” 
    “That’s right, he didn’t.  Maybe I should write you up instead, for being such a shitty leader?  You obviously can’t control your own people.” 
    “No, chief, that’s not necessary.  I’ll take care of it after lunch.”  Fish sighed.  He truly didn’t want to, though.
    “That’s what I thought.”  The chief huffed.  “And don’t you fucking dare tell her that I made you do it, either.  You make it look like the counseling is coming from you, Hooker.  You are only undermining your own authority if you say it came from me, understand?”  Chief Worts put his hands on his hips and waited for Fish’s response.  Truth was, he wanted Fish to look like the bad guy, not him.
    “Yes, chief.” Fish replied, utterly defeated.  He couldn’t risk his retirement over an argument or confrontation with his dickhead chief.  Fish hated him for what he was ordered to do.  Constantine was a good sailor that was simply going through a temporary rough time.  She was a wizard at streamlining difficult processes,