by J. L. Drake
I pushed off the rail and headed inside, but not before I heard him mutter, “Once again, I’ll try to clean up your mess.”
I whirled on him, furious. “I only started lying when you wouldn’t let me live my life my own way. I moved to North Dakota for Kenny. Who, in case you didn’t know, passed away. I even missed his funeral because I came here. I’ve never measured up enough in your eyes, Dad, so please,” I wiped my face free of tears, “let me clean up my own messes.” With that, I headed inside.
I raced up the stairs and heard shouting. Shit. I slipped into Mark’s room and tossed my bags on the bed. I hadn’t been here long enough to completely unpack, so it didn’t take long.
“Why didn’t you tell me?” Mark asked from the doorway. He looked as though he was drunk. Wow, this wasn’t the Mark I knew.
“Tell you I’m the boss’s daughter? Because you wouldn’t have been yourself with me.” I zipped my last bag.
“It really explains so much.” He almost chuckled. Yes, he was defiantly tipsy. How long was I talking to my father? “You did say you came from a military family.”
“I didn’t mean to keep it from you, Mark. I wanted to tell you so many times, but I didn’t know how.”
“Please, save me the ‘I wanted to’ speech. It’s a cop-out.”
“Maybe it is.” I picked up my bags and stood in front of him. “Frank isn’t the easiest man to like, and I just wanted you to know me before you knew the rest.”
“Do I know you?”
Ouch.
I knew better than to answer that one, so instead I waited for him to move. He did but only a little.
“So you’re leaving?”
“You want me to stay?” A glimmer of hope showed itself.
“No…I don’t know.” He madly rubbed his head as he sank into a chair against the wall. “You really hurt me, Mia.”
I bit my tongue. I didn’t want to cry. It wasn’t my right to. “I know.”
“I shared more with you than anyone. You were my person.”
Wow. I swallowed back the sob that wanted to erupt from my heart.
“You broke my trust, Mia, and that’s unforgiveable.”
I started to take a step forward, but he lowered his head, rooting me in place. I stood there for a few moments, not sure whether to go to him or not. I went with my gut.
Three shaking steps forward, and I gently rested my hands on his slumped shoulders. He didn’t look up, but he didn’t flinch either. I tried to moisten my dry mouth before I found the courage to speak.
“I’m so sorry, Mark. You do know me. I’m your little icicle, the one who,” a heavy breath passed my lips, “loves you so very much. I think we just need to step back and—”
“You need to leave.” He leaned back and removed my hands from his shoulders. He stood and towered over me. He wouldn’t make eye contact, but I saw a tear slip before he wiped it away. “You need to leave, Mia.”
I nearly crumbled at his words. I dug my teeth into my bottom lip to stop the cry, but it wasn’t working. I was about to break.
He opened the door and waited. As I gathered my bags, he moved out into the hallway, back against the wall. I walked past the only man I’d ever fallen in love with.
“Goodbye, Mark.”
He gave me a quick nod while his eyes stayed glued to the floor.
I turned slowly and walked down the stairs. I jumped when I saw Abigail in the hallway with tears in her eyes. She unexpectedly held her arms open. I didn’t think; I just walked right in, wishing it was my mother.
“I’m so sorry, Abby,” I sobbed into her shoulder. “I never meant to hurt anyone.”
“I know, honey.” She stroked my hair with one hand. “I know. Marcus has never let anyone in like he has with you, and he’s hurting. He’ll be better tomorrow morning. Come, let’s get you into a spare bedroom.”
“No,” my dad hissed behind us, “I’m taking my daughter home. Seems we have a few things to discuss.”
“Frank,” Abigail pleaded, “at least let her and Mark mend their fences before you take her.”
“Seems your boy asked her to leave. She’s not wanted here.”
As much as I wanted to remind everyone we were grown adults, for the first time in my life I felt a hint of warmth coming from my father.
He marched over and took my bags. “Let’s go.”
“Call me.” Abigail kissed my cheek. “Keep in contact, please, honey.”
I nodded and followed him down the stairs. I looked over my shoulder one last time before I left. Savannah caught my eye and blew me a quick kiss before Cole called her to his side. I was thankful he didn’t see me. I was at my worst, so the fewer around, the better.
Once inside the dreaded chopper, I held on for dear life. As we rose, my heart sank. I was too tired to fight it, so I welcomed my punishment and let the pain and the fear hit me like an avalanche.
Dad instructed the pilot to take us to the North Dakota airport. We were going to his home. I didn’t even care if the damn machine crashed on the way.
***
Mark
Location: Mexico
Coordinates: Classified
The steady sound of the chopper blades made my mind wander back to a week ago when I lay curled around Mia. I had never felt more complete than that moment when I told her the painful truth of my past. Instead of running, she made love to me. It was the first time in my life I had ever let go of the past and could actually see myself with a future. Where had it all gone?
This was take two of this trip. The first mission was aborted halfway there. I almost drove myself crazy. I was so badly in need of some distraction. I hadn’t been able to get Mia off my mind, and it didn’t help that Savannah and Abigail were always right there to remind me of her. I missed her so much, but I was still confused and hurt over her lie, and I couldn’t get past it. I knew I’d lost trust in her, and I questioned my inability to come to terms with it. I simply couldn’t get my head around her pretense.
My mind came back to the mission. Thankfully, we were finally able to get confirmation on the location of their rendezvous spot. We were able to mark their traffic and find a pattern, allowing us to pinpoint it. I was itching for relief. I needed action.
Keith bumped my foot and tossed me a Red Bull, giving me a long look before he went back to watching out the window. Keith and I had never been as close as Cole and I, but I had a lot of respect for him. He was a great soldier, a true friend, and had my back with no questions asked. Though, lately, he seemed to be struggling with something personal. He wouldn’t share, and I thought he even told Cole only as much as he needed to know.
Cole caught my attention and gave me a signal, asking if my head was there. I nodded and looked away.
Around it went in my head again…How could she not have told me? With everything I shared with her, she failed to mention her father was my boss. I’d never had a problem with Frank, but I wouldn’t go out of my way to spend time with the man. Clearly, he kept his personal life private. So much, in fact, we never even knew his daughter’s name, only that he had one.
I leaned forward and rubbed my face. This was so screwed up. Savannah gave me shit the next morning. She had heard what I said to Mia and was surprised at how cold I was to her. Yes, the happy Mark did have a breaking point, and Mia had found it. I wasn’t ready to internally rehash that conversation.
First, I needed to get through this mission. Cole had worked his contacts and found out the group that originally took out the house full of illegals was killed by a small branch of the cartels called the Reyes Mortales. In English, they were called Dark Pride. They were relatively new, which made this mission a bit more intense, since we didn’t know much about them. Our intel said they were little more than savages, even more so than the rest of the cartels, and that was saying something.
“ETA ten minutes, men,” Cole croaked over the radio.
John added extra ammo to his vest, while Paul checked his rifle cl
ip. Cole pulled out a photo of Savannah and gave it a kiss before tucking it inside the pocket in the chopper. It killed him not to take her picture, but after last time, he learned his lesson. Keith, on the other hand, sat perfectly still, staring at the wall. He would be our sniper this mission. He had the best aim and was the most patient. I pretended not to notice Cole wanted me in the action this time around. He knew I needed it.
With two fingers, I pulled a piece of cherry Hubba Bubba free and popped it in my mouth. The flavor ran along my taste buds and shot through me with a wave of excitement.
We’d barely hit the ground before we jumped to our feet inside a dust cloud. Moving swiftly toward our cover, we spread out and would check in with each other after the sun went down.
Forty minutes of straight running, and thirty to make our shelter, went down well with me, but the four hours of watching made me antsy.
The sun finally went down, which was nice, since my head was pounding. I never got headaches, but I had a real bitch of one.
“Here.” Cole handed me a packet.
Crushed Excedrin with a light dusting of Benadryl. Cole swore by it. Ripping the plastic, I emptied it in my mouth and let it dissolve under my tongue.
“Take twenty,” he ordered, shifting so I could rest against the tree trunk. Surprisingly, my eyes felt heavy, and I was out.
***
“Mark,” Manuel whispered from somewhere. My PJs were twisted around me. I must have had another nightmare.
“Manuel?” I called out, unable to see him.
“I saw what you did to Mom. I know you killed her.”
“I-I don’t remember doing it,” I cried as the pain ripped through my chest. “I don’t remember.”
I heard his footsteps move toward me. “You killed her, and I’m the only one who knows. Now you have to do what I say, or I’ll tell.”
“You would tell?”
I moved the sheet off and the coldness of my room surrounded me.
“You were a bad little boy, Mark. I want you to kill her.”
“Who?”
“The girl you love. Mia.”
***
Zip! Zip! Zip!
“Lopez!” Cole’s sharp voice cut through my dream. I scrambled to catch up, and he tossed me night goggles that I slipped on quickly to see the lines of green from the bullets.
Without hesitation, I lifted my gun and opened fire. Twenty-one bullets later, and the assholes were down.
“Let’s just hope they didn’t call it in,” Cole huffed as he opened a protein bar. He offered me one, but I shook my head. “Really?” His mouth hung open.
“Your powder concoction took my hunger away.”
He still looked shocked. “Head better?”
“Much, thanks.” I settled into the dugout, opened my canteen, and downed more than half of it.
I watched as he munched away. Just before he finished it, I snatched the last bite and popped it in my mouth.
I grinned while he flipped me off. Who was I kidding? My belly could never be denied.
What I liked about Cole was he knew when to push me and when not to. So we sat in silence until the morning, when we woke to the sound of gunfire echoing off the mountains.
“Confirm!” Cole barked into the radio.
Immediately, the team checked in that it wasn’t us.
“Raven One, this is Eagle Eye.” Keith’s voice was quiet but steady. “We have company.”
“I need confirmation it’s our target.”
“Copy that, Raven One. Stand by for confirmation.”
We quickly gathered our things and erased our tracks from our hideout. On our way down the mountain, we stopped to camouflage our faces. The more we blended, the better. Besides, I might have had a Hispanic last name, but I was only a quarter. My near-white skin was a dead giveaway, and we didn’t need to stand out any more than we already did.
“There.” Cole pointed to the tree line, where we ducked down and scanned the area.
My radio wasn’t sitting right on my neck. I thought the mix of sweat and paint was messing with the Velcro. I clicked it a few times and got it to settle back in place.
“Eagle Eye has confirmation that targets are in sight. I repeat, targets are in sight. Fifty-six due east.”
With my eye to the scope, I followed his directions and got sight of the targets.
“Copy that, Eagle Eye,” Cole answered. “Move in on my command.”
“Copy that, move on command,” John whispered from a distance away. I watched as he and Paul inched closer to the clearing. They blended perfectly, but because I knew where they were, I could see them.
“Heads up.” I squinted at a man about take a piss just off to the right of them. “You have company at your three o’clock.”
“Copy that,” John answered just as Paul stepped from the bushes, stabbed the man in the neck, lowered him to the ground, then pulled him back into the shrubs as if he hadn’t even been there at all.
Cole gave me the signal, and we booked it to the side of the house. Inching our way toward the front, we stopped when we heard the screen door shut. Cole removed his mirror and tilted it around the corner. Two fingers went up and then gave a silent count down. On one, we both jumped the men, covered their mouths, and snapped their necks—a silent kill. Rolling their bodies under the house, we glanced through the screen door and saw six more men drinking and smoking, too busy to pay much attention to what was happening outside. I nodded at the crate full of AK-47s. Ammunition was spread out everywhere.
As I stepped forward, I kicked something soft with my boot. I swooped down and came eye to nose with a small orange kitten. It had the audacity to hiss and strike at my nose with its tiny paw. After a quick rub of apology on the top of its head, I swiped the fluffy little body under the edge of the foundation. This was no place for an animal.
Shouting came from inside, and we jumped to the ground and out of sight. The door opened, and two muddy boots stood in front of us. The kitten wound itself around one of the guy’s feet, only to be kicked to the side, tumbling over the ground with a squeak. I started to move, but Cole stopped me.
He gave me the sign to focus on our task. With a nod, I got my head back in the game. He was right, of course; it was just reflex.
The boots turned and went back inside.
“Raven One, you may have company in ten.” Keith sounded like he was on the move.
“10-4.” Cole nodded and gave the orders to the other men to move in.
Just as I was about to head inside, I caught sight of the kitten again taking advantage of the opportunity to get inside. I scooped it up and tucked it into one of my big flapped pockets.
With my gun drawn, my eye to the scope, we moved in, shooting anything that moved. We cleared the kitchen, two bedrooms, a bathroom, and the living room before we stopped at the bottom of the stairs. Six bodies were laid out, and blood covered the floors. I was immune to this type of bloodshed after years of chasing shits like this who killed the innocent for their own entertainment and profit. I found the one I was looking for, the guy who had kicked the cat. I wanted to pop another in his head, but he wheezed, so I left him to drown painfully in his own blood. Hatred burned through me.
Cole whistled at me to follow upstairs.
I hated stairs. No matter if you were coming or going, there were always blind spots and no way to shield yourself from oncoming fire.
Cole went ahead of me, and I gripped my gun tighter with each step. My finger was snug around the trigger, and I kept turning my body to watch ahead as well as our rear as we went up. Sweat dripped down my spine and soaked the waistband of my pants.
As soon as Cole flinched, I locked onto what he saw, and we fired. Two men fell heavily, and one came tumbling down on us. Cole managed to move, but I was firing when he hit me and knocked the gun out of my hands. He got tangled in my strap and landed on top of it.
“Fuck,” I cursed and ran back down the stairs after it. John was in the other ro
om, watching from the corner. He needed to keep an eye out for any unexpected company.
Paul raced up to join Cole as I tried to free my gun.
Two tugs later the strap finally released from the man’s leg. A sound made me look up in time to see the guy with the muddy boots run out the back door.
“Oh, hell, no!” I jumped over the dead body, through the kitchen, and out the screen door.
With my fingers to my neck, I pushed the button. “Subject on the move.” I waited, but got nothing. The trees were thicker as I pushed further into the woods. “Eagle Eye, do you copy?” Nothing. I jiggled the wires, but it only made a strange clicking noise. “Fuck!”
I ripped it off my neck and let it dangle over my shoulder. I was gaining ground on him, and he was slowing, so it was only a matter of time.
The ground dropped, and the man disappeared momentarily. I raced forward, feet pounding, while my heartbeat matched their pace.
Stop, my gut screamed at me. All my training told me to stop. I couldn’t see what was coming; I could be running full speed into a bullet.
My heels dug in and I came to a halt. Dropping to my knees, I inched up over a rock to get a peek and saw the coast was clear.
I heard gunshots back at the house and looked over my shoulder. I closed my eyes and relied on my hearing to find him. Filtering out all the natural noises, I honed in on the sound of snapping wood. I jumped to my feet and raced off to my left. It didn’t take me long to get a good visual on him. His dark red shirt stood out against the muted tones of the forest. Picking up speed, I gained some distance. He darted right, and then it dawned on me what we were coming up to. I branched off and hoped to cut him off. My feet were light as I swiftly jumped and dodged boulders and pits. Just another two feet before…
I jolted to a stop and raised my gun at the man who had one pointed at me.
His mouth was moving, muttering something. Wait…
“Amen,” he whispered in English before he stuck the gun in his mouth and fired. His eyes popped open before he tilted backward and fell.
