Tiger's Claw: A Novel Read Online Free PDF Page A

Basic?”
    “Sir, the Cadet Oath is: I will not lie, cheat, or steal . . .”
    “ Wrong, McLanahan!” Weber interrupted. “Try again!”
    Bradley swallowed hard. “The Cadet Oath is . . .”
    “You had better address me as ‘sir,’ Basic!”
    “Sir, the Cadet Oath is: We will not lie, steal, or cheat, nor tolerate anyone among us who . . .”
    “McLanahan, you are just plain dense this morning,” Weber said. “One more try, McLanahan, and if you screw it up, you go back to the beginning of the Pit to think about it some more. This is the most important phrase in the Academy, Basic, the very basis of who we are, the one thing that every cadet is sworn to uphold and protect. You’ve had three weeks to learn it. Go!”
    Bradley’s arms, still holding the M-16 over his head, were beginning to shake, but he took a deep breath and uttered, “Sir, the Cadet Oath is: We will not lie, steal, or cheat, nor tolerate among us anyone who does.” Bradley saw Weber’s eyes flaring in anger and quickly added, “Sir!”
    “About time,” Weber growled. He stepped closer to Bradley and said in a low voice, “Maybe you McLanahans have difficulties learning about lying and cheating.”
    Bradley suddenly forgot about his aching, rubbery arms. He looked up at Weber, who was about a half head taller than Brad. “Sir?”
    “Are you eyeing me, Basic?” Weber shouted. “Cage your eyes!”
    Brad stared at a spot straight ahead, away from Weber’s angry gaze. “Sir, begging the cadet instructor’s pardon, sir?”
    “What?”
    “Sir . . . sir, did you say something about McLanahans, sir?”
    Weber smiled evilly, then waved at the guy with the fire hose to turn it on someone else. “Looks like I got a rise out of you, didn’t I, Basic McLanahan?” he observed. In a low voice, he said, “Everyone here knows who you are: son of the great General Patrick McLanahan, the hero of the American Holocaust, space hero, the greatest strategic bombing expert since General Curtis LeMay—or so he thinks. You’re the guy who got his Academy appointment from the president of the United States himself, served up on a silver platter, thanks to your daddy.”
    He stepped even closer to Bradley, then added, “But my father told me who your daddy really is: a lying, cheating, thieving loose cannon, who flagrantly disobeys orders and does whatever the hell he feels like doing, and screw the chain of command and the Constitution. Now he thinks he can get his stuck-up son into the Air Force Academy with just a phone call to his pal in the White House, and you’ll just sail right through because of who your daddy is. Let me be the first to tell you, Basic: that’s not the way it’s going to work. My mission, and the mission of most of the second- and first-class, is to see you get booted out soonest. ”
    Weber stepped nose to nose with Bradley. “I worked my butt off for three years to get into the Academy,” he growled in a low, menacing voice. “I broke my ass in stupid sports I didn’t like, volunteered for the most ridiculous positions in the most ridiculous service clubs, took the SATs eleven times, and wrote dozens of letters to congressmen I didn’t even know to get an appointment. After all that, I didn’t get one, and I had to spend a year as a Preppie. And then, here you are. You get to just waltz in here and think you have it made.” He lowered his voice even more. “Well, let me tell you, McLanahan . . .” Weber took three fingers of his right hand and punched them into Bradley’s chest, “ . . . you’re history here. I’ll see to it, personally. ”
    Now Bradley’s entire body began to shake, not just his bone-weary arms. That made Weber smile and nod in satisfaction. “I knew it,” he said. “Your daddy never taught you how to deal with the real world, did he? That’s because he never dealt with it himself. He had his underlings do all the real fighting for him while he just sailed away safe and