THE COLLAPSE: Swantown Road Read Online Free Page A

even better than an old salty expert like Fish, and he relied on her heavily to do the bulk of the work in the office.  He hoped that the write-up wouldn’t negatively affect her morale.  She was only assigned to the squadron temporarily until her limited duty expired, which wasn’t until the end of September.  Even so, he didn’t want her to leave with a derogatory evaluation and a bad taste in her mouth.
    After lunch, Fish drafted up a counseling sheet and called Constantine over to his desk and asked her to sit down.  He could tell that she knew something was up, because she was acting overly professional and courteous.
    Fish reluctantly slid the piece of paper over to her.  “Connie, you know what this is, right?”
    “Yes.”  She said, glancing down at the counseling sheet.  She adjusted her posture to an attentive military position as if she knew she was about to reprimanded.
    “I hate doing this, but you need to read it and sign it.”  Fish told her.
    Before reading it, she began to break down.  “I’m sorry.”  She started, whimpering.  Her voice crackled and her bottom lip quivered with heartache.  “This counseling is because I fell asleep at my desk again today, isn’t it?”  The fuse on her bawling dynamite had been lit and she was about to detonate.  Right there at Fish’s desk.  The other sailors in the office pretended as though they didn’t see or hear anything and kept their heads buried in their computer monitors. 
    Although she was normally a tough cookie, Fish guessed that the frustration from her piece of shit husband leaving her and being stuck with a five month old by herself finally got the best of her.  He anticipated that he was about to be the sounding board for all things wrong in her life, and mentally prepared himself for it.
    Fish nervously looked back at his other sailors as Constantine put her face in her hands and began to cry.  Fish was about to console her with some seemingly motivating but ultimately pathetic words that he learned from a leadership course years ago, but he didn’t need to. 
    Suddenly just then, as if on cue, Chief Worts barreled into the office.
    “What’s going on here?”  He demanded, arms and shoulders raised in a ‘what-the-fuck?’ salute.
    “I’m counseling Constantine on her uniform appearance and for sleeping at her desk today.”  Fish answered, remembering what Chief Worts had said to him earlier regarding the appearance of the counseling, to ensure that it looked like it was coming from him instead of the chief.
    Chief Worts put his hand on Constantine’s shoulder and scolded Fish as if he was totally in the wrong, “No, no, no, no.  You don’t have to do that, Petty Officer Hooker.  I’m pretty sure that you are well aware of her situation, and all the bullshit she is dealing with at home.  I think there is a better way that we can handle this.”
    Constantine looked up at Chief Worts with her gorgeous dark brown eyes, hopeful eyes, as if he was Superman himself, flying into the office to save her in a knick of time from the evil bastard that was about to write her up.
    Fish began talking but the chief flapped a hand in his face to cut him off and shut him up.  Chief Worts gingerly assisted the bawling Constantine to her feet. 
    “Come on, young lady, let’s go sit down in my office and talk about this.”  The chief consoled.  Before they departed, the chief snatched the counseling sheet away from Fish and ripped it up, slowly, in true dramatic fashion, and then flung the shreds of paper onto Fish’s keyboard as he walked away.
    Fish just sat there with his paper shreds and said nothing, pen still in his hand, and thought to himself; holy shit, I just got played! That douchebag totally set me up!  Why would the chief do such an underhanded thing?  Did he want to bang Constantine?  Or was he just a total asshole with mental problems that got off on weird shit like that? 
    Fish stared at the gray,