by David Manoa
Fight for Love
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David Manoa
Copyright 2015 David Manoa
SMASHWORDS Edition
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The author asserts the moral right to be identified as
the author of this work.
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any electronic or mechanical means including photocopying, recording, information storage and retrieval systems, or otherwise, without prior permission in writing from the author, with the exception of a book reviewer, who may quote short excerpts in a review.
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William
“Baby, I’m coming home…” Clutching the faded photo of my beautiful Claudia, I was done fighting the forgotten war. I sat back strapping myself in with the metal clasps. The photo close to chest. I closed my eyes to think of her. The sound of the four turboprop engines whirring and reverberating through my body put me at ease. I looked out window to see the Red deserts of Afghanistan for the last time. Waving goodbye to the blood-drenched dunes and swirling sun blast sand.
I’m coming home to get married.
I hope you say yes.
I love you.
I couldn’t help crack a smile with my head raised to the roof in relief. The tension trickling down to the lower half of my body. I ached inside thinking of her, being away for so long. Everything so pent up. Nine months without her touch and her caressing kisses. I couldn’t wait. I wanted her so badly.
I imagined coming out, of the C-130 Hercules walking down the tail ramp out into the tarmac to see Claudia waiting for me. The Desert petrol vehicles driving out behind me their torrent of dust forming from the fine layer they were coated in. The families all waiting and the soldiers disperse to meet their loved ones. I pictured Claudia wearing her favorite white tunic with her the nice V in the middle. The floral embossed, lace sleeves with the tunic coming down to the middle of her smooth, supple thighs.
Her sun kissed dusty blonde hair, would be shimmering in the light the wind blowing away some of the tendrils of her hair. But her perfume penetrating through would alert me to her presence. She would tiptoe like a ballerina with her cute flat soled shoes, looking for me. Jumping a few times to see over the crowd. I would spot glimpses of her, but I would wait till everyone parted like the red sea. I straightened my uniform, adjusting the sand color beret on my head, I would walk through the middle. Everyone becoming a blur the sound nulled out like the engines on this plane.
And there she is running to me as I walked up to her. She still looks as youthful and stunning the first day I met her. I would drop my bag and sweep her from under her feet and kiss her like there’s no tomorrow. That first kiss would be a combination of breathing her in as our tongues met. Her scent, my god her scent. The fierce need from mine to press against hers, her hands cupped on the sides of my face. She whispers “I missed you…” then she leans in to kiss again.
I pick up my bags and carry her to the car, Claudia is smiling when she sees that look in my eye. A hungry bear that can’t wait to dip her in honey so I can devour her. I kiss her again, then again…
Tasting the sweet. She moans… I groan….
I lick my lips, I kiss again… again… again.
Wake up! Wake up! Wake up corporal!
I flinch, lunging forward feeling this hand slap both my cheeks. I sniffle, choke and swallow. Blinking to get the sleep out of my eyes. I wipe the drawl off the side of my mouth and chin. I turn to see Private Leroy an African American with a very vibrant personality and the tightest fade.
“God damn will! What the hell is wrong wit ya dogg!”
“What the fuck?”
“You damn near having a wet dream. Any longer you would have been jerking your dick off in front of us.”
I smoothed my calloused hands over my face. Peering down to the cold steel floor, I refocused my vision on my boots.i wiped away the film of red dust The disorientation soon seeped away when I looked up at my unit laughing at me.
Assholes…
There were four of us, to my right on the opposite me was Natalya Volodin the first woman SAS soldier to be enlisted. She sat with her masculine pose legs wide open her body hunched forward right hand holding her chin. She had this off look to her, lily white skin. Deep dead brown eyes and light freckles on her face she had the highest confirmed kill count out of all us.
A child soldier who fought as 11-year-old child in the Chechnya war before she escaped with her mother to New Zealand when she was 15. Her mom a mail order Russian bride. I watched as she sat up Spearing one side of her glossy black hair behind her ear. Her crazy haircut all shaved on one side made her look like a freak.
She licked her cracked lips, her tongue larger than her damn lips moistened them. She smiled indulgently “I’d be happy to do it….” I gave her middle finger while the other guys kept cracking up. Then there was the sound of boots clanging to the metal floor as the laughs soon dried up.
My Unit Commander George Patrick or GP as we would call him towered over me holding on the rails above. Built like a tank, six foot four. A weather-beaten man in his late forties, chasing glory in time past gone. He then smoothed his grizzly salt and pepper beard. The scars on his face a reminder of a man born into battle. Each one significant, one down his left eye and one across his nose from the battle in Helmand. The right eye patch hiding the lost eye from ambush at Kabul. He called them tattoos. I called them very lucky to be alive.
“Are you okay son?” he said in weathered voice.
“Yeah, can’t wait to get home.”
“Will. I want to ask you if you would reconsider the offer?”
I paused, clutching the photo his eyes shifted to my hand when he said again. “I know the reasons why you’re leaving but it doesn’t work that way.”
I raised an eyebrow “I’m done GP, I want to marry Claudia.”
“Then what? What are you going to do for a job? How are you going to support your wife?”
“I’ll find something…”
“Something, packing groceries at a supermarket? Door security at bar? Will,.”
I eyed him silently. Only internalizing where everyone else is going.
He said “With the government disestablishing our counter-narcotics unit I’m asking you to join the PMC (Private Military Company) for Cerberus Petroleum its money well compensating for my skills. You think your gonna cash out your superannuation to have enough to finance your wedding and buy a house? ”
“Damn Private security for Cerberus? Protecting Civilian contractors in Afghanistan again, Fuck that.”
“Look the deployments are shorter and more pay! The equipment top of the line none of fucked Auger rifles we were using. An expenses budget even to upgrade our gear.”
“I don’t care, GP I spent over a decade obsessed with this life. I’m done.”
I stood up and took out the photo of her.
“I put this woman through a lot of shit you know. Five years fucking years she cried when I left and cried when I came back from each deployment. God damn it, GP. I put in my time.”
I reached into my pocket and showed her the ring I bought in Dubai. GP stood emotional less. He rubbed his finger.
Natalya blurted “GP you’re wasting your time. I told you he’s a faggot!”
“Will. I understand. Let me stress again more money less time out in the field. I need you son.”
“GP its time, that’s what I want. We witnessed so many soldiers blown to fucking pieces from IED’s crazed insurgents who were locals that were trained that turned on us. GP I’m proud to have served and fought beside you that I will always remember. But it had to end for me sometime.”
I wa
tched as GP looked me in the eye, the image of Claudia in my mind. I was steadfast in the conviction I wasn’t going to be swayed.
He said, “I remember that look son. I had that a long time ago…”
I raised my eyebrow with watery eyes “So you understand?”
GP gave a slight nod.
***
Three hours later or 1700hrs we landed at Whenuapai airbase. To finally hit the ground and be home, I was eager to get off this tin can and into my arms of my woman. Everyone began to unhook while we watched the ramp lower. The wind blew in the air that wasn’t dusty or hot. I was home. Green landscape and no sound of that god damned diesel generators.
We started to come down into the airfield. It was overcast, but the tarmac was rain lashed. I peered into my phone to see a message from Claudia “I’m on my way will see you soon CC” CC stood for Claudia Coe her secret code for me. The transport Vehicles began to disembark from the Plane. The other soldiers from my unit were all reuniting with families. I watched as his daughter cried the moment he saw her.Her sobs made everyone emotional. Even GP and he’s the most hard-hearted motherfucker. Leroy lifted her up in the air her kid crying missing him. She was sobbing into his shoulder while he patted her back. His disheveled figure made me think about the suicide bomber who nearly took him out in Kabul.
A man wearing a suicide vest with ball bearings detonated it at the security gate. Its was like a thick plume of red mist when he went.pulverised flesh scattered all over the place. I pulled him to safety some of the others weren’t so lucky. I had the gruesome task of trying to locate his fingers to identify the insurgent for the HIID BIO METRICS system. I found his hand in the mouth of one of the wild dogs on the fence line. The look on Leroy face when I had to ID him pressing the mangled flesh onto the scanner. Leroy's eyes shifted to me and nodded clutching his family closer with both arms.
I picked up my phone to ring Claudia. It kept ringing and ringing no answer. I went to the carpark to see if her car there was nothing. I dropped my gear when GP shouted out before got into black Ford F-150 pickup truck SUV with Natalya. There was a taller man about six foot six Civilian, who helped load their gear in the back.
A scar down his right eye like GP wearing a black suit.
“Will do you want a ride?” GP said as wound down the tinted window. Right down.
“I’m fine Claudia is running late.”
“Okay… Son take care. If you change your mind let me know.”
“It had to end for me sometime GP. Claudia means everything to me…”
They drove off and I sat on my gear, waiting for another hour before I called the taxi to drop me home.
***
1800hrs I arrived home to see Claudia’s car in the garage. It was dark, the street lights illuminated the rear of the car. The door was retracted, maybe there was car trouble. I dropped my gear in the garage when I peered into the main house which was 200 meters away. I could smell the scent of baking. Cookies. Claudia must have been baking my favorite chocolate chip cookies.
I went to put my duffle bag on my workbench when I there was a crunching sound of glass on the bottom of my boot. I glanced to the driver side of the car to see it smashed the keys in the ignition.
Shit
I peered again at the house to see the door wide open. I opened my gun rack and took out my 9mm and a flashlight. I cautiously snuck up against the door.My shoulders tensed the scent of fresh bread permeated my nostrils. All the lights inside were off. I clicked the safety off as I swept the darkness away with my weapon and flashlight.bleak thoughts battered my brain. Baby please be safe.
***
Darkness and humidity. My mouth was gagged with thick cloth, my ankles and hands bound by thick black plastic cable ties. The vehicle stopped. I widened my eyes to see through pin holes of the dark tinted windows of the van they put me in. I screamed only to hear it muffled by noise of the engine as it sped off again. My breathing quickened as I started to panic I kicked and shook making as much noise as I could.
No one could hear my plight, my mind thought of Will. He must be at home by now he must be looking for me. My ears pricked up to the annoyance of my captors the two men who stormed my home. He pulled across the small slider and watched. Biting his lips. I clenched my jaw remembering his rancid tongue down my cheek when he tied me. His salvia felt like acid his accent intimidating and frightening as he whispered curses into the shell of my ear.
I felt as we traveled the vehicle go from smooth to rough. The sunken terrain and the frequent judders and bumps had we worried. Were they taking me out to a field to rape and kill me? Where are we going? Why me? What the hell is going on?
The vehicle stopped. When I heard another car approach, the engine sounded stronger like a V8 the way its engine note throated. I quieted my breathing, my ears strained to hear the voices. There was the soft sound of gravel crunching over tires. The men speaking in a foreign language the sound of the commotion. They back of the van opened and the masked men pulled me out into a warehouse.
Tasting the air, I screamed the pressure in my head made it feel like it was going to pop, but my surroundings were sparse empty and desolate. Surrounded by collapsed concrete buildings, no one heard my screams I thought of Will, in the hope he will come for me. I sniffled and cried the salted tears ending at my chin when the large heavy metal doors closed to this disembodied world.
***
“Claudia!” Perched against the side of the door. I switched the flashlight and aimed the gun checking both sides of the door. I stepped in the circular shine of the flashlight lit up the hallway. I swallowed taking another step. I listened to the sound of the TV, It sounded like a football game. Claudia hates sports.
The lounge and kitchen were at the end of the hallway with our master bedroom on my left in the middle and then the bathroom across to it. There was water pooling out of the bathroom the water reached my boot two meters from the bathroom. I could hear the taps running as I stepped into the water.
I felt my gut churn as I peered inside. The cone of light shined on the mirror making me flinch seeing my reflection. My face beading with sweat the dark sense of foreboding. I shined the torch slowly the bath filled to the brim with water overflowing like a waterfall to the floor below. No sign of Claudia, I was relieved not to discover her there.
I moved forward again this time I could see the eerie light.The sound of the TV getting louder the cheers from the crowd from someone scoring a touchdown. I stepped forward when the floorboard creaked. Shit! The sound was loud that it ricocheted off the walls then suddenly the TV switched off.
I stopped to listen for any movement. Memorizing my lounge where the attackers might be. There was silence. My eyes shifted side to side as I approached the end of the hallway. All the lights were off. Just the ambient glow of the tv. I swallowed again raising my gun. Visualizing the kitchen table to the left of me the lounge to my right. Where would the attacker hide?
I burst in aiming the gun at the man in a suit sitting kitchen bench he took a long slurp out of my favorite coffee cup laughing at me. He had black curly scraggy hair and a mustache styled like a 70’s pornstar holding the remote. No sign of Claudia, he kicked his feet forward as if he was on a fucking swing.
“Where is she?”
He hissed “Hey buddy, Relax…” I cocked the gun and moved forward “Where is she!”I shouted.
“Safe.” he said holding the smartphone up and a piece of paper in his hand his blasé attitude made me want to shoot the tosser with a savage stream of bullets.
He threw the phone and I caught it. He said. “Wait a Skype call will be coming shortly answer it.”
The phone had robust casing with only one app it was devoid of anything else.It was custom.
“The app lit up and I answered.
“Claudia!”
***
Claudia
Tension and terror. The warehouse had cold, damp feel. The galvanized corrugated roof lingered with rust and hole
s. The light emitting through like spotlights peppered with dust. Rancid breath man with his vice-like grip tied me to an old office chair, its black matted canvas cover wet from the water that seeped in. The discomfort trickled up my spine. There was trash, old cars and piles of metal. There was an acrid smell from the large stack of rubber tyres at the end of the warehouse.
To my left was a large tent there were sounds of women moaning. The second masked man was peering into the tent snickering “Whores… too much bloody heroin eh.” Another masked man tall came with his arms crossed. What the hell is this place? His voice disguised like the others. He took out his phone and tapped a few buttons it went on speakerphone the ringing sound
I screamed as soon as I heard wills voice screaming my name on speakerphone. The tall masked man held the phone in front of me while I spoke with him.
“Baby where are you?”
“I don’t know! They took me –“
The tall masked man snatched the phone back from my face and spoke to will
I watched him pace around me foot relaxed. I could only hear his side of the conversation he said in a string of sentences.
“The Envelope contains instructions for you to follow…
There was a pause. I looked through
“You made a lot of enemies William… You undermined a lot of operations.”
“Once my contact confirms the kill we will let her go.”
“Exactly The phone, I have, has been set up with an encrypted messaging system so you have access to your beloved. We only want you to carry out our instructions and then she goes free. My contact will drop you at the airport.”
“If you contact any authorities Army or police I won’t hesitate to kill her.”
He paused
“If you try to trace this phone I will kill her.”
“Be a good soldier and follow the instructions… no one needs to die.”
He paused for a moment laughing at a comment Will made when he ended the call. His Black leathered gloved hand scraped the side of my cheek. He held my chin. He slipped the phone into my hand. He said.
