by Brook Greene
“I have no doubt, but it is the condition you came back in that concerns me.”
His hands hold my face his eyes melt me, ‘it will always be in one piece and breathing I promise you.” His lips gently take mine and for a moment I forget the past hour of conversation and the revelations it contained.
My stomach growling is the only thing breaking us from the passion, ‘let me get you feed.”
We spend the next hour in silence as we both move around the small kitchen fixing the food on the wood stove. The air has started to turn chilly outside so the warmth added to the cabin by the small fire is welcoming. I still glances at Leo as he stoops to place more wood in the cook stove when he catches me looking.
“What is going on in that pretty little head of yours?” He stops and turns to me.
Shaking my head, ‘nothing.”
Standing he walks over to me and turns my shoulders and body to him, ‘tell me, I don’t think anything you have to say short of cussing me out isn’t warranted.”
I study my shoes and then I am distracted by the finger under my chin tilting my head up, ‘Go ahead.”
Pulling my bottom lip through my teeth I stutter over the words, ‘I can't imagine what my life would be like without you now.” My heart is racing and I feel my cheeks flush at the intimate confession.
Pulling me back into his arms, ‘me either baby but I already promised it is something you want ever have to deal with.”
The rest of the afternoon passes with us eating outside on a blanket Leo had laid out by the lake. I lie back and let the sun warm my face as Leo leans on his elbow listening to the sounds of the wildlife surrounding us.
“Are you really a motorcycle mechanic?” I turn on my side to look at him.
“Yeah, that is something else Dad taught us, he said you always need to know how to fix your own vehicle.”
“So do you own the shop?”
“Yes, all of us do.”
I lay back and pounder what my next question should be. I watch as white downy clouds pass over head blocking the sun only for seconds before the bright light burst from of the other side. Closing my eyes I filter back through the conversation, trying to think if he left any holes in his explanation.
Without opening my eyes to gauge his reaction, ‘who is Mavis?”
He clears his throat, ‘open your eyes Avery and look at me,’ I do as I am told, ‘she was Max’s girlfriend and I felt like it would be smart to keep her around-“
“To see what she revealed through pillow talk?” I cut him off with my sarcastic remark feeling the pangs of jealousy with the time he had spent with the vile woman.
He closes his eyes and lowers his head, ‘had to take one for the team and it was at a very low point in my life.” Regret and remorse sweep over his face.
I sit up, ‘you took one for the team?” Being appalled is an understatement, ‘please God tell me you used condoms and then went and got tested like every day?”
“Shit no, I never fucked her,’ he paused and looked very uncomfortable with the topic, ‘she ya know serviced me and believe me if I knew Clorox would not have made my dick fall off I would have bathed in the shit every night.”
I threw myself back onto the blanket, ‘at least I hope you got good information.”
He chuckles, ‘I couldn’t get her to talk about anything other than herself and how we would make a good, real couple.” He small shudder rolls down his body, ‘believe me it was utter hell.”
“Do you do it often?” I asked without looking over at him scared of his answer.
“Do what?” He is going to make me say even though I am sure he knows exactly what I am talking about.
“Take one for the team?” I grumble.
“First and only time.” I feel his hand glide up my body, ‘there will never be another one ever, I promise.”
Satisfied with his answer and explanation I decide we have spent enough of our perfect day on that woman and her sorry ass boyfriend, ‘so what will happen to Zach now?”
He takes a deep breath but never moves his hand from my body, ‘before I answer that will you answer one for me?”
Knowing where this is going I answer before he can ask. Leaning up so he can see my eyes and know I am telling the truth, ‘no Zach and I never even dated much less did anything else, he wanted more but I never reciprocated his advances of affection.”
His smile was warm and spread across his whole face changing the demeanor of his body, ‘good, anyway he will be interrogated for information and if he gives us what we want and it is useful we will cut him a deal,‘ he stops and holds his finger up to my parted lips, ‘with strenuous regulations but he will get jail time.” I can see he wants to say more but I know asking will only get me I can’t tell you the look.
I let a sigh escape my lips, ‘this is nice.” I say changing the very tired subject.
“Yes it is.” He agrees with me thinking I am talking about the day laying back down beside me on the quilt.
“I mean being able to talk to you, and you being able to answer most my questions. I feel more at peace in my heart knowing you, all of you.”
He leans back up onto his elbow, ‘you don’t know how good it fucking feels to be able to talk you about this crap. I don’t want to ever keep things from you again but there will be details I can’t fill you in on, like when we leave tomorrow-“
Jumping up to my feet, ‘tomorrow?!” That is it the detail he omitted from the earlier conversation.
Pushing up to a sitting position and looking up at me through the sun, ‘when I leave, I want be able to contact you very much either, communication is spotty at best.” He drops his head as I look out over the serene water of the lake.
“So I will not know where you are or what you are doing?” I walk to the edge of the water resisting the urge to sling myself in and submerge my body.
“No, but if it is any comfort Piper will be there going through the same thing you are.”
Turning with a distressed look covering my face, ‘comfort, is that what you just said, there is no part of the statement mollifying me in any way Leo.” Redirecting my attention from him and back to the water the thought of not being able to talk to him when I want is distressing.
He stands, ‘Avery, I will understand if you are not here for me when I do come back. It is a hard life for the woman, but it isn’t any easier on the men they love.”
I don’t say anything just keep my eyes trained on the tranquility of the water, thinking ever minute about just submerging my body into in the hopes it would have the same calming effect on me. And then I realize Leo is waiting on a response to the first half of his last statement. Will I be here when he gets back?
Will I be? Do I want to be? These are some very serious questions but I have to make them and stand by my decision. There is no back and forth or wiggle room for this. I am either all in or not and I have to make that choice now seeing how he is leaving tomorrow. My stomach wrenches at the thought of not having him in my life in even in limited quantities. So I guess I have decided when I can have him I want him.
I turn to him reaching for his hands and holding them to my chest, ‘of course I will be here every time.” I promise him with the caress of my eyes and closeness of my body, ‘I love you Leo and that is what lovers do, be there when you think no one else will be. I am all in baby.” He leans his forehead against mine and heaves a slow sigh of relief. Still holding his hand I lead him over to the blanket pulling him down as I sit wanting to make this moment last for as long as I can.
“Can we stay for a little while longer?” I lean into his waiting arms.
“For as long as I can, we will.” He kisses the top of my head. I curse the fact we are on a timeline.
We lay silent for a long time entangled in each other’s arms. Finally breaking free I run my hand over his recently peeled head letting the dark whiskers tickle my palm. Leaning up from his reclined position he nods his head as he does the same with his
hand, ‘took me a good four years to grow the mop out and two seconds for Roman to get rid of it.” He grunts his disgust at his friend’s eagerness and then the hell he caught from them all about it.
Biting my lip to keep from snickering at his forlorn voice, ‘was it a real bet or did you just shave it off?” I take another sweep over his head.
“No, it was a real bet,’ he turns to me, ‘this is how I kept it before we decided on a cover.” Squinting his eyes at me, ‘so if you had your pick how would you like it?”
I take his face in my hands and rotate his head back and forth studying his strong jaw and the kindness ever present in his soft black eyes now. Smiling and getting a warm smile in return, ‘well if I had my pick,’ I pause for dramatic flair dropping his face slowly rolling to my back I let me knees fall open, ‘I would have it tickling the inside of my thighs as much as possible.”
He sweeps me up into his arms swinging me around in the air dropping me all of a sudden to my feet, ‘Damn woman,” he jerks the blanket we had been occupying and takes my hand dragging me toward the little cabin.
Leo
I have been in this fucking country for two months, we had gotten a few leads on the son of a bitch Heratio but nothing had quite panned out for us yet. The heat is oppressive and I sweat all the time. Even when I am taking a shower, when I get to take one. The hut we are hunkered down in doesn’t even have running water and it has been days since I had a real meal. These damn MRE’s are going to kill me.
I pull out the tattered picture of Avery I had snatched from Kent’s during the debriefing right before we shipped out. The edges are pealing and the color is a little faded from being roughed up in my back pocket not to mention we had to swim across two fucking rivers in the past week. She is smiling and it is from a long time ago but it is still my Avery, her dark hair is circling her bare shoulders. Her eyes are dancing with happiness at something going on in the background.
I lay my head back on the tin siding and close my eyes going over again our last night together before I had left for this damned mission. We had made love over and over again, I had made her scream and she had made me the happiest one man on the planet. After we had just laid tangled up in each other not wanting to sleep because we would miss valuable time with each other.
Dalton sits directly across from me and Roman is getting much needed sleep in the far corner. I glance over at him and his peaceful expression and I long to be able to sleep. Unfortunately it has been more of a luxury for me because every time I close my eyes I see her face and hear her sweet voice.
“You hear that?” Dalton whispers as he throws a small rock in Romans direction jarring him from the slumber we have been so deprived of.
I shift sliding the picture back into its place and peer out through the open slats in the siding. My night vision is on the fritz so I squint my eyes to see if there are shadows lurking outside of the ramshackle hut. I point in Romans direction for him to look out his side.
He turns and nods no at me and Dalton and I do the same. Dalton stands and crosses over to the door pulling it back gently surveying the area at the front. Pushing the door closed, ‘it’s nothing thought I heard the shuffle of feet.”
I turn and peer back out and I see it in the distance the leaves of the bush at the edge of the clearing break open to revel several well armed men. I signal for Dalton to shut up and nod in the direction of the movement. Dalton joins me to watch as eight armed men emerge from the jungle.
I take a deep breath and look at both of my men when the first shot rings out through the darkness. It passes through the flimsy material of the hut and barley misses my shoulder. I hear a quick pop and know the outside shooter has hit the ground. I send a silent prayer up for Matthew, who is stationed in the small lean-to on the side.
The door bust open as we train our weapons on the intruder. Holding up his hands, ‘hold up, just me boys.” Mathew closes the door behind him, ‘you got a visual now?”
“Sure do.” I answer as I use the metal to conceal the tip of my weapon I have trained on another one of the men. The two quick shots burst through the wall gets me off balance but I recover quickly and take out the shooter. Dalton and Roman have joined me as we pick the unsuspecting men off one by one, taking heavy fire from their buddies.
Ducking and dodging the random fire the men are spraying the hut with, I move around so I am positioned at the front. The men have surrounded the hut and there were more of them then I had originally counted.
We have had zero radio contact with Kent in the past three days, he is aware of our location but nothing else. We are left to our own devices to get our asses out of this situation. I motion for Dalton and Roman to cover the back corners and Matthew and I are at the front. The rapid fire has us pinned down for the moment as I duck my head down listening to the bullets whistling by my body.
I jerk a grenade from my vest flipping the pin I open the door and heave it out and take out four this time instead of one. I duck and cover as the spray of fire is pelting the thin tin passing through the room and exiting out the other side. Hell if we were lucky enough we could just lay low and let them shot each other.
“Keep your fucking heads down boys.” I order as I am more concerned about them getting shot than myself. I hear several loud pops and wait for the bullets to tear through the hut. But nothing splits the air around us, I look back out the small hole at my line of site and see green lights emerge from the jungle.
Sighing with relief the big man had come through, Avery’s father leading a group of twelve heavily armed agents. I flash my light at him letting him know we are in here. They make quick work of the others, some are arrested and few are shot.
Emerging from our hut I go over to Kent, ‘glad to see you old man.” He is standing watching the other men zip tie the detainee’s hands behind their backs.
“You think any of them will know where he is?” I ask as I scrutinize the men that are laid out before us on their stomachs.
“I am sure they do but getting them to talk is going to be the deal,’ he turns his attention on me, ‘heavy fire?”
Taking off my helmet for the first time in days I rub my hand through my growing hair, ‘no, wasn’t bad, we could have sure used you guys two days ago though.”
He slaps my shoulder, ‘you look like you did just fine.” He laughs.
“So what now?” I ask.
“We go back to the base and await new orders and you guys can take a fucking shower, good lord you stink.” I fake smell my arm pit acting offended but know I am south of cowshit.
We are joined by Dalton, Matthew and Roman as the chopper lands to retrieve the five of us leaving the others to transport the prisoners with the trucks. I have always hated flying but right now they could strap me to the underbelly of the bird and I would gladly go home that way.
****
It takes the better part of the night to get us back to the sparse lights of the base. We land at a small air strip and immediately greeted with a truck convoy escort to a small base on the outskirts of the town. The fence is rolled open as we pass through the heavily guarded compound.
The truck rolls to a stop just as the sun breaks over the horizon and I groan as another scorching day is about to begin. The nights are humid and offer little reprieve from the heat but it is nothing like the harsh sun of the days.
I notice the wires crossing between the hideous green tents and a slight pang of hope hits me, maybe they have working phones and I can call Avery.
Kent hits the ground running, ‘debrief at o eight hundred, go get a shower and something warm to eat,’ he pauses as a slight brunette enters our circle, ‘Sergeant Ambrose here will show you gentlemen to your tent.” He turns and heads off in the direction of what I can only assume is headquarters.
She turns, ‘follow me please. I will get you four set up and on your way to feeling somewhat comfortable,’ she turns to us, ‘we are in the jungle after all.” Isn’t that shit the truth, it sucks he
re, damn I am getting soft in my old age. We reach a tent and we are greeted with an inside shower and four cots, I slump down and start to reach for my boots.
“Need anything else boys?” Sergeant Ambrose asks standing at the foot of the cot I had claimed eyeing me from head to toe. Standing back up not sure if I should salute her or shake her hand, ‘No I think we are great,’ I turn to my team, ‘aren’t we boys?” she is staying a little longer than most and standing too close to me.
They grumble their responses as she turns to leave I step out after her, ‘excuse me Sergeant.”
She abruptly stops and turns on her heels placing a hand on my chest, ‘yes agent?” Her eyes dance with delight at my sudden words.
Stepping back from her touch, I shove my hands into my pockets, ‘I was wondering if there is a working phone around here somewhere?”
Her smile fades a little, ‘you will have to get clearance with you CO, agent.” Turning back around to the direction she was headed and I watch as the no nonsense woman disappears around the corner.
“She wanted your nuts man.” Matthew mumbles as his mouth is full of tooth paste.
Brushing by him, ‘don’t give a shit, my nuts belong to someone else.” I head for the cot and then to take the longest shower in history.
****
Zero eight hundred and I am sitting in an uncomfortable as hell metal chair going back over the details of two months of surveillance. I had downloaded my helmet cam and was pointing to key players in Heratio’s operation. But much to Kent’s disappointment Heratio isn’t in any of them.
He rubs the stubble on his chin, ‘I was afraid of that.”
“You were afraid of what?” I lean in to study the picture he has showed the most interest in.
He points to the grainy image, ‘that is the new leader.” His revelation takes me aback. He is a tall dark haired man, who resembles Zach a little too much for my liking.
