by Dahlia Rose
She nodded, gave a watery laugh, and wiped the tears from her eyes with a finger. “Yes, you just try and stop me.”
“She said yes!” Wes yelled and slipped the ring on her finger.
He pulled her into his arms and kissed her passionately while everyone cheered. The airmen moved away and she heard the call for them to fall in. It was time for him to go.
“Hey.” He lifted her chin with his finger as she tried to hold back tears. “It will be okay, I’m coming back to you, I promise.”
“I know.” Christine hugged him to her. “I love you.”
Wes pulled away and grinned. “First time you said it out loud.”
“I was waiting for the right moment,” she said.
“I love you too, darling,” Wes said. “Under the tree at my house there’s a special gift for you. Open it on Christmas morning.”
“Yours is in your duffle, open it at midnight the exact same time,” she said firmly.
Wes nodded. “I will. See you soon, darling. I love you.”
“I love you too,” she called as he picked up his pack and walked away.
She craned her neck to see him and pick him out of the men and women who were filing toward the buses to leave. Her final glimpse of him was in the front of the bus, sitting in the seat by the window. Wes mouthed the words “I love you,” and raised his hand to her in goodbye. She did the same as her heart ached with happiness, sadness, joy, and sorrow. She wouldn’t see him until September of the New Year, and it already felt too long.
At midnight she sat under the tree and played with the tinsel paper of a medium sized box that was her gift from Wes. It was three days since he was gone, and she was at his house with the decorations they put up catching the light of the tree.
Wes had made it safely to the FOB, or Forward Operations Base, that would be his home for most of the New Year. They wouldn’t be able to talk by video chat for a few weeks until the transition was complete and he had his quarters. But hearing his voice on the phone was just as sweet. She gingerly opened the tape, not wanting to tear the paper. She would save it just because it was from him. Inside was a bear wearing an Air Force uniform and around its neck it wore a necklace with an infinity sign pendant. Christine gasped and took it off the stuffed animal and read the note attached.
Sergeant Bearington (Don’t judge, his name suits him). He’s going to watch over you while I’m gone. The infinity pendant is because no matter where life takes me, where I’m deployed, or how many missions I fly, I will always find my way back home to you. This love will never be broken. I love you, Wes.
She read the words again and again before clasping the necklace around her neck. Christine went to bed with her bear protector in her arms while his note lay on the bedside table. She ran her finger along the pendant until she was lulled to sleep knowing their love would never be broken.
* * * *
New Years day came and went, and Christine found herself in a routine that wasn’t great but it worked for her. She’d split her time between her apartment and Wes’s house. Gary checked in on occasion, and she saw less of her father’s men in the black sedan. She thought that maybe finally he’d given up and she was finally out from under his thumb. But that thought gave her pause. In her entire life she’d seen him bully her mother and everyone around him. Stood to reason that Leonard Chapel hadn’t given up but was planning a new strategic attack. At that point he was the least of her worries. Her cycle was supposed to make an appearance the second of the month, and it was now the seventh. She was never late. Christine finally bought a pregnancy test to confirm her suspicions and was proven right. She was pregnant, and as she sat her kitchen counter in shock looking at the test, a smile crossed her face.
Is this a happy thing or a sad thing? she wondered. Would Wes be thrilled or be terrified like she was? “Holy shit, I’m pregnant.”
She didn’t get much time to ponder the implications or even how she’d tell him when they spoke later that night via video chat. A knock on her door broke her thoughts, and she walked to the door with the test in her hand. She was still trying to come to terms with her news when she opened the door. Her heart froze in her chest when she saw her father standing there, looking smug. She thought of the devil, and there he was, in the flesh, at her door.
“Hello, sweetheart.” He walked in without an invitation and one of his men followed him in while one stood at the door. “I didn’t see you for Christmas or New Years, so I came to check in on you. You missed our customary family dinner.”
“I plan to miss them all,” Christine said. Behind her back she shoved the pregnancy test in the waist of her jeans and pulled her shirt over it.
Her father laughed. “You’ve become mouthy, even now that the Air Force man is gone.”
“His name is Wes, and he’ll be back.” She held up her hand and showed him the ring. “We’re engaged, Leonard. You’re not invited to the wedding.”
Her father grabbed her hand cruelly, and she winced in pain. “That will be impossible. You’re marrying my friend Walter LeRoux, and your marriage will seal a deal I’ve been working on.”
“Are you insane?” Christine said, “Arranged marriages don’t exist anymore.”
“I don’t care what you think. Who will stop me?” Her father laughed. “Oh, that lawyer that you see every few days? He’ll be indisposed for a while.”
“What did you do?” Horror made her cold as she thought about Gary.
“Me?” he asked innocently. “I was in my office working, how could a car accident be my fault?”
“You son of a bitch,” she whispered in horror.
“Call me what you want, but I own you,” he said in a deadly voice. “Your little tin soldier can’t leave to come save you, and no one will. Be ready to leave tomorrow, because you’re moving back into the family home until the wedding. Say anything to anyone, including that soldier boy, and I’ll make sure Gary is it. He won’t fare so well.”
With those words her father walked out, and she sank to the sofa, shaking. If he knew she was pregnant, he’d find a way to make her lose the baby, Wes’s child, and that wasn’t an option. She had to run, but Gary would be in danger and couldn’t fend for himself. What hospital could he be in? She was going to call each one until she found him when her cell rang.
“Hello?” Christine heard the shakiness in her own voice.
“Christine, its Gary.” His voice was weak.
“Oh Gary, I’m so sorry!” she gasped and started to speak quickly. “My father said you had an accident, I know he had something to do with it. He wants me to marry some man called Walter LeRoux and threatened your life if I said anything…”
“My brakes were cut,” Gary told her. “Listen, I broke my leg, and don’t worry about me. I called a few people from the DEA. I can get us protection from him.”
“Gary, you’re hurt, and Leonard has his reach everywhere.” She hesitated before she spoke again. “I’m pregnant, I can’t let him or anyone know. He’ll hurt me and Wes’s baby.”
“Shit, congratulations, and Wes will be over the moon, but shit.” She could hear the pain in his voice. “Is there anywhere you can go, anyone you can trust?”
“Yes.” Christine recalled the one person who never feared Leonard Chapel and would be last person he’d think of. “I do, but I’ll have to leave everything. He’d hire someone to track my cell phone or my computer trail…”
Gary sighed. “Wes will freak out if he doesn’t hear from you. Take all his information, and I’ll tell him myself via email or when he calls what’s going on and that you’ll be contacting him soon. Take what you need, lock up your apartment and go. Don’t stop until you’re safe.”
“What about you, Gary? He threatened your life,” Christine asked. She was scared for him. Even though they hadn’t known each other long he’d become a friend. It wasn’t easy to have friends with a person like her adopted father in the mix.
“I’ll be fine, the next calls I make
will assure that,” Gary said. “It won’t be an easy thing, but we’re going to take him down. Brakes don’t cut themselves, and I’ll be damned if someone tries to kill me and I don’t go after them. He didn’t scare me, he just made me more determined to see him in jail. He’s my mission now, and he’ll be Wes’s too. All I need is you to be safe. Call me from a secure place and I’ll update Wes you’ll be using a different phone and computer.”
“Gary, I’m scared,” she whispered into the phone.
“Nothing is going to happen to you,” he said firmly. “Don’t take your car, get Wes’s Land Rover and head out of New Mexico. The next time you see your father he’ll be in jail.”
“Okay. Be careful, Gary, please, and tell Wes I love him and I’ll talk to him soon,” Christine said.
“I will,” Gary answered.
After she hung up Christine packed a quick bag. She gathered up her laptop and her hard drive and stuffed them into the bag. She’d leave those locked at Wes’s home, since there would be no way they could break into his house. She wished she could stay there, but at some point she’d have to leave or they could probably draw her out of the safety of military property. She put nothing above what Leonard Chapel would do if he knew she was close by. Christine knew she’d have to go to doctor’s appointments and make sure to get things for the baby. She wouldn’t be able to do that with her father around. He’d be vicious and try to hurt them both. Right now the baby was her biggest concern, and she’d do anything to protect their unborn child.
While they watched the front of her building, Christine snuck out the back. She cut through her small, gated backyard to the road behind the complex. She’d called a cab and it was waiting at the corner. She slipped into the back seat and gave the older woman the address to Wes’s house. While the cab lady kept trying to keep the conversation friendly, Christine was quiet. There was no way she would give anyone the chance to find information to track her. From there, she took the possessions she was planning to leave in his bedroom and took her bear along with her. Less than an hour later she was on the road in his Land Rover, and she kept looking behind her at every set of headlights she saw. It was only when she left New Mexico did she breathe a small sigh of relief. Utah was her destination, and her father wouldn’t think to look there. Even if he did, he wouldn’t dare try to go there. If there was one person who hated him more than she did, it was her mother’s sister.
Chapter Five
Wes focused on the jagged terrain of Afghanistan as he maneuvered the Black Hawk to their destination. Five hurt in a bombing, three soldiers and two civilians and another chopper had already picked up three of the wounded. They were scrambled early in the morning, and while others were asleep he wasn’t. He’d been frantically trying to reach Christine and Gary, and neither of them were answering their phones. Something was very wrong, and it was driving him crazy. Still, when duty called, they had to answer. As he flew the massive chopper retrofitted out to take care of the wounded he focused on any sign of enemy fire. A gunner was at the ready on either side of the black hawk and the muzzles of the M249 machine guns trained on the ground. The belts of bullets lay in the green box, and if there was any enemy fire in their direction, those guns could spew out a hundred rounds in thirty seconds.
“Reaper thirteen twenty-two, three minutes out,” Wes said into his headpiece.
“Roger that. Three minutes out.”
He heard the reply from base command in his headpiece and looked back at his crew. Two gunners and three medics trained to stabilize the victims for any injuries sat in the back. They held on to the handrails as he swung around to land. It would be quick, they pick up and go, working on patients in the sky. They couldn’t stay on the ground for long, it left them open to attack. Even under such extreme pressure they managed to save more than they lost. Wes made sure that the turmoil inside him couldn’t be seen on his face or in his work. If Christine’s father had hurt her in any way he didn’t think he could stay in Afghanistan for eight more months. He’d want vengeance, and it had to be immediate and swift. Please be okay, darling, he thought worriedly.
“Reaper thirteen twenty-two on the ground,” Wes said. He focused on the task at hand.
“Copy.”
He got the response and scanned the entire scene from his position in the pilot’s seat while the medics went to work. They got the two soldiers loaded up quickly, and he saw a woman and a small child being pushed away. He frowned as one of the medics bent to see to the woman. Even between the flurry of sand from the rotating blades, he could see her distress, her fear.
“Briggs, what’s going on out there,” Wes said into his headpiece.
“They want to get on board, Sarg. We can’t take ‘em,” the medic responded.
“Get them on,” Wes said firmly.
“They’re not wounded, Sarg…”
“Briggs, look around. They are a small woman and a baby in between a group of men,” Wes snarled into the headset. “The two civilians wounded had to be family. We leave her here, she’s gonna get hurt or worse.”
“But…”
“Did I tell you I wanted an excuse, or did I say put them on the fucking chopper?” Wes asked. “Search them, make sure they’re not carrying anything, and follow orders.”
“Yes sir,” Briggs said.
Wes could usually get his point across without yelling, but today he was not in the mood. He knew the rules, and he also knew he wouldn’t leave two vulnerable people out in the middle of a war zone. Women and children were not treated well in a place like this, and he wasn’t about to leave them to an unknown fate. Wes watched as both were patted down. Insurgents had no problem using people as mules to carry explosive devices. When they were deemed safe, they were helped aboard and Wes took the Black Hawk to the skies.
He kept quiet listening to the conversation back and forth between base and his medics assessing the wounded. Unless they were fired on while in the skies, he had no reason to talk. He kept his gaze sharp and his eyes on the horizon. His body was tense for more reasons than the mission. On the ground at the FOB, he secured the Black Hawk while the medics got the wounded to the hospital. There they’d be treated and stabilized before being put on a medical transport to Germany. He saw Briggs glance at him and look away quickly. Wes sighed. He was new to the team and didn’t understand that sometimes protocol couldn’t dictate life in those situations.
“Briggs, come ‘ere,” Wes said as he walked around the chopper.
The young man came up and saluted. “Sir?”
Wes put a hand on his shoulder. “Listen, today you did really good.”
“I was only trying to follow the rules, sir,” Briggs explained. “They drilled it into us, don’t trust anyone, they showed us a video of a boy blowing himself up.”
“First deployment?” Wes asked, and Briggs nodded. “Protocol is also guided by instinct. If they had been rigged with explosives, they’d of tried more to get on our bird. But when you spoke to her she nodded and stepped back, even though she was scared shitless. I’ve seen the aggressiveness in both men and women. She wasn’t. She would’ve stayed there and possibly been raped and her child killed. Look into their eyes and trust your gut sometimes, okay?”
Briggs nodded. “Yes sir, thank you sir.”
Wes went on to file his report and put in his flight manifest. After that he went back down to his room and threw his pack on ground. Before he even took his boots off he checked his phone. He’d loaded seven pre-paid minutes cards on the thing, and he saw a voicemail icon blinking on the top. He pressed it eagerly, and while he was relieved to hear Gary’s voice his disappointment that it wasn’t Christine made his heart ache.
“Hey guy, it’s me, give me a call when you can. Christine’s father had one of his goons cut the brakes in my car. I was in the hospital, but now I’m out and I’m on a mission to destroy that asshole.” Gary hesitated. “He wanted Christine to marry some guy called Walter LeRoux. She had to run… Too much to tel
l you right now, call me please, as soon as you get this.”
“That fucker!” Wes roared and punched the very thin wall of his room.
“Hey!”
Someone yelled from the other side of the wall, and he didn’t care. He wanted to be in New Mexico so he would strangle Leonard Chapel with his bare hands. He didn’t even think. He picked up his phone and found the number to the arrogant bastard and dialed the number. It was the number to his house and Leonard answered the phone after a few rings.
“Where is Christine?” Wes said his voice was deadly.
“Well hello, Sergeant, my daughter is not here at the moment,” Leonard said then added in a serious tone. “But she will be when I find her. You should cut your losses now, son.”
“You are to never call me son,” Wes snarled. “Trust me, I’m coming home, and I’m going to be at your door.”
“Then what?” Leonard Chapel laughed. “You’ll kill me? I’ve got security and you sure as hell are reined in by the government.”
“Am I, old man?” Wes asked. “You know what else the government trained me to do? I won’t be seen, and while your men are outside smoking a cigarette or jerking each other off I’ll be in your room. Mr. Chapel, you made her run, and now your life is a living hell.”
He hung up and tried to control his breathing and not punch the wall again. It was sheetrock over a shipping container. He was sure he could get his hand to the metal if he used enough force. Next call he made was to Gary, and his friend answered on the first ring.
“Tell me something, Gary?” Wes said briskly.
“Hey, Wes, I haven’t heard from her yet,” Gary said. “I’m back at home, and I’m working with the DEA about Leonard Chapel. He’s got a file as big as a phone book.”
“Glad you’re okay. I don’t care about a case, I care about Christine, she’s my concern.” He made an angry sound of frustration in his throat. “Damnit, I should have put him in the hospital long before I left.”
“Then you’d be in jail, and he’d be still wreaking havoc on Christine’s life,” Gary said. “She has news, important enough that she knew staying in Los Alamos wasn’t safe.”
