Wolf here.

Seth and his friends got themselves into a bit of a problem a couple of weeks ago, especially my old buddy. They were pursuing their quarry on the soil of a country whose government is not what you’d call friendly to the United States, and Seth got his ass caught by a garrison of dumbasses.

He was held in a stockade for several days and severely mistreated. Apparently, they wanted to know how he and his accomplices got into the country and who helped them. Seth, who is one loyal cuss (which is how he go into the jam to begin with), refused to talk and was, as they say, put through the wringer. Even after over a week of being given a pretty rough time, the most he’d tell them concerned their parentage and suggested interesting ways they might experiment with their own body parts, most of which were impossible.

Some people I once worked with and I went down there and rescued him — I’ve long owed Seth for taking some serious risks on my behalf a long time ago, so this was the least I could do.

He’s now recuperating in what we will call an “undisclosed location” while we figure out a way to get him home without encountering any official complications and while he gets himself back to his old healthy self.

No permanent damage, just a lot of bruising, contusions and other minor effects one encounters when colliding with rifle stocks, truncheons and knuckles, and is half starved for a week or so and kept locked up in a stiflingly hot, muggy cell. He should be back to normal, if we can call what he was previously normal, in a week or so.

All in all, a wonderful time was had by all.

Now, if you’ll excuse me, I need to go rest these tired old bones for a day or so.

Wolf out.

Wolf here.

I apologize for not having been able to be more attentive to Hard Astarboard these last couple weeks or so, but in addition to bequeathing me the task at hand, Seth also gave me the email address and password to one of his business inboxes before he left, asking that I monitor it from time to time in case a client needed his help, so as to let them know that he is unavailable and will get back to them as soon as he is able.

I sent such a response to one client, and the client inquired as to whether I might be a professional associate of Seth’s. When I replied that I am not, we ended up in an exchange wherein I mentioned my military background and the client’s reaction was that I might well be of help, on the assumption that between my not so humble career past and Seth trusting me, as he does, with access to one of his business email accounts, I might be just the ticket in a clinch.

Sooooooo, for the last few weeks I’ve been engaged in doing a Seth type job, although I hardly think I could fill his shoes on a regular basis as I lack the professional terminology and regard for the subtleties required therein. It wasn’t as easy as I always kid my good friend it must be, so I’ve now made myself a nice chunk of change as a reward for my selfless stewardship of the aforementioned email inbox. Heh heh.

But to the meat of this post:

Seth is still out of the country, and I can’t begin to guess (he can’t, so how the hell can anyone expect me to?) when he’ll finally conclude the piece of personal business he’s involved with and get his butt back here.

He called me last night (I can’t say from where) to assure me that he’s still alive and kicking, and said he’s had some exciting and scary times, and to check up on the state of his business email and this blog.

Not that I was worried about his lack of contact, as he’s always been the kind of guy who knows how to take care of himself.

He’s been to some interesting places he calls “nice and not so nice places to visit, but…”

He also assures one and all that he misses all his readers and fellow bloggers, and looks forward to getting back and carrying on.

– Wolf