Edge of Honor Read Online Free PDF

minor ruckus between two boys who don’t know how to settle their differences peacefully. I only have one question. Can you fix it?”
    “I think we can,” McMasters answered.
    “They’re going to walk off at least ten demerits,” Day said. “That’s ten tours in the Box.” The Box was the quadrangle in the center of Hagerman Barracks and a tour was fifty minutes of marching back and forth.
    “Shouldn’t we hear their side of the story?” Sarahasked. She gave Maura a questioning look. “That’s only fair, isn’t it?”
    Maura and Pontowski nodded in agreement and the two miscreants were brought in. Brian Turner was a tall, strapping, good-looking boy who, physically, was going on eighteen. Little Matt was a frail, skinny kid who looked all of eleven. Yet both were within six months in age. Brian had a bruised eye and swollen lip. Little Matt only had a Band-Aid over his right knuckles. The commandant asked each for his side of the story and Brian went to some length justifying his actions and why he had lost the fight. He had slipped on the wet concrete floor and Little Matt had unfairly hit him in the face four or five times before he could regain his balance. Little Matt only said that he did it and the facts were correct.
    “How did you get into the Tunnels?” Day asked.
    “I don’t know, sir,” Little Matt answered. “The door was open.”
    They had a problem. Picking a lock was a serious offense but finding the guilty party would be very hard, and did they really want to pursue it and kick some cadet out of NMMI? “General McMasters,” Pontowski said. “May I suggest you give the cadets some wiggle room on this so they can learn from their mistakes? Issue a blanket warning on how serious it is to pick a lock and fix the door.”
    “I agree,” Maura said.
    “It appears we’re in agreement,” McMasters said. “Colonel Day, it’s in your court.”
    Day fixed the two cadets with a hard look and called in Zeth Trogger. “Mr. Turner, Mr. Pontowski, meet your new squad leader. As of now, you are roommates and are welded hip and thigh. You will do everything as a pair and you will learn to get along. Any questions?”
    “Please, sir,” Brian begged, “not a girl.”
    “Why?” Day asked.
    Brian stammered an answer. “Ah…ah…girls can’t hack it.”
    Colonel Day grew very serious and put weight in his voice. “How long have you been at NMMI, Mr. Turner?”
    “Almost three weeks,” came the answer.
    “Then you have a lot to learn,” Day said. “They’re all yours, Miss Trogger.”
    “Outside,” Zeth ordered. Pontowski smiled. There was iron in her order. The two Rats double-timed out the door with Zeth right behind them.
    McMasters stood and walked to the big windows overlooking the campus. “I think you need to see this,” he said. They all joined him at the windows. Below them, the two cadets were standing at attention while Zeth leaned into them, her face a mask as she spoke. “I imagine,” McMasters said, “that she is explaining a few facts of life to them.”
     
    Zeth’s face was exactly thirty inches away from Brian’s nose. “We seem to have a basic difference of opinion here,” she told them, her voice low-pitched yet hard as nails. “If you’re right and girls can’t hack it, then…”
    Brian interrupted her. “Get out of my face, Trogger. You’ve got to stay thirty inches away,” Then, not so sure of himself, “That’s what the regulations say.”
    Her laugh was not reassuring to either of the boys. She knew she was at the exact distance allowed by the Blue Book . She leaned in another inch, challenging him. “That’s twenty-nine inches.” She pulled back. “This is thirty, dirtbag. If you’ve got a tape measure, use it. Otherwise, stifle yourself or you’ll be walkin’ tours.”
    “You think I’m gonna march any freak’n tours?” Brian retorted. “Look, I’m gettin’ out of here and there’s nothing you can do to me.” He motioned to