ACV's 1 Operation Black Gold by J Murison, Jeannie Michaud Page A

second, thinking, ‘you don’t really know who you’re fucking with here do you?’
    ‘I say.’
     
    ‘Jim dinna, these are serious charges.’  Grizz warned.
    ‘Oh fuck off the lot of ye.’  I turned back to my locker; I was getting sick of the stupidity.
     
    I hadn’t noticed Buff watching the proceedings from the doorway, as soon as I turned my back he moved in placing himself between us.  The first I realised he was there, there was a warning growl.
     
    ‘Leave him be.’
     
    ‘Let them do their dirtiest Buff.  I’m sick to the back teeth of these officious bastards.  They’ve plagued my whole life.  Well no more, they’ll rue the day they messed we me.’
     
    Gigs tried to intercede, ‘hey what’s happening here Jim?’
     
    ‘Piss of Gigs you had a good laugh at me last night as well.’
     
    Buff lost his temper then, ‘You’re nothing but a bunch ó bastards.  I told ye Jim wrote that program they use, I helped him, whit makes it so difficult to believe?’
    The officer interrupted, ‘He can’t have done.  I’ve already checked them all out and none of them have ever been near the army.’
     
    ‘Who’s them?’  I snapped.
    ‘The development team.’
     
    ‘What bloody development team?  I wrote the whole program, and coded it myself.  I even saved it onto master disc.  It went straight from my hands to an army testing team and that was the last I saw of it.’
     
    ‘Rubbish you can’t have.  Cpl give me that folder.’  One of the NCOs pulled a blue folder from a map pocket.  He opened it and flicked through a few pages.  ‘Here we are, show me where your name is on here and I will walk.’
     
    I took the folder and looked it over.  On it was the names of a development team.  At the top of the list were the names of the chief developer and writer.  Instead of mine in both, there were the names of my head of department and my lecturer.  ‘Oh the bastards, the dirty bastards.’  I sat down and read the rest, only the names of the youngest and brightest from my class were on it.  My worst fears were being realised.  All these years of waiting in vain, I wanted to puke. 
     
    ‘What’s the matter?’  Buff asked.
     
    ‘Look.’  I handed him the document.  ‘Nah wonder I couldn’t get a job in the computing industry Buff.  If they could take my name off this one, they could have taken it off the lot.’  I took a deep breath to steady myself.
     
    ‘This is all very interesting, but.’  He got no farther.  The blue folder slapped him full in the face and Buff was right behind it.  Grizz just managed to stop him clocking the startled officer.
     
    ‘Dinna Buff.’  I jumped into the affray, pushing him back gently but firmly.  He looked down and our eyes locked.  Now you can say what you like about telepathy, there seems to be many forms.  Some take a lifetime to achieve others don’t, as in the case with soldiers.  Maybe it’s the way they live through the hardships of military life, but I think it’s probably got more to do with the fact that they spend most of their time fighting one another.  Miss a queer look or a braced shoulder and you’re likely to get a fist in your kisser or a big army boot in your nuts and believe me.  The pair of us had battered each other into a pulp so many times a glance in a tight spot was enough to tell one exactly what the other was going to do.  My look was enough to tell him I was going to skin this cat another way.
    ‘Leave it Buff, they can write fit they like on bits of paper but I’ve got proof they can’t refute.’
     
    ‘Where?’  The officer snapped.
     
    I will give the man his due, he was rubbing the mark on his cheek where the small hard-edged folder struck him, but he wasn’t taking a fit about it as most officers would.  My perception of the man changed slightly.
    ‘I left my name, address and a small note at the bottom of the program.  Unless of course they’ve managed to