by Fiona Price
"So, just the two of you were able to take down all of my men?" He asked. "I'm impressed. But, you've taken hits and must be low on ammo. You know we're not going to give anything up to you."
"We'll see about that." Shane chuckled, knowing they each had plenty of fire power and tactical skills to complete their mission. He thought the take down would be smooth, but things went sour when Alissa was grabbed from behind and dragged into the forest. Her earpiece was smashed on the ground and her line went dark.
Shane still had to continue to fight the three guys and finish what he started, until he was hit with an ultimatum. The gang leader proposed a deal with Shane.
"Commander, if I were you I'd think twice about killing me." The leader spoke, looking down the barrel of Shane's gun.
"And why would I do that?"
"Let's talk, alone. Just you and me." He answered, gesturing to Shane's earpiece. Shane hesitated to take it out and crush it on the ground, but he did it. The gang leader then answered.
"Because if you kill me, your partner dies. My men will know, and you'll be going home alone. Her death rests on my command."
"What do you want?" Shane asked, exasperated.
"I want your chopper so I can fly off this island to a place where you'll never find me. Are you willing to give up your partner's life so you can finish this mission to kill me, or will you save her and let me go?"
Shane thought for a moment what all his options were. He didn't think there was any way around it, he couldn't con the drug lord into giving him Alissa back and arrest him. He couldn't have his cake and eat it too, and his partner's life was the priority. He sighed before communicating his answer.
"You have to tell your men to bring her back here. I need to see her with my own two eyes. We do a face-to-face trade. For all I know, she's dead already. I won't let you go without proof of her life and I won't let you go that easily."
"Good choice, Commander."
A few minutes later, the two men that grabbed Alissa emerged from the jungle into the clearing. She looked even worse than before, and Shane knew they must have beat her down because she fought back against them.
"You owe me a chopper, Commander."
Shane and Alissa hiked back through the jungle with their hands tied behind their back and guns pointed at the back of their heads. Alissa trusted that Shane had a plan for their derailment, because she certainly didn't.
When they reached the beach, they all got in their dinghy and Shane guided them to their helicopter he had landed on the small island and hidden between the trees. His men had then slashed the dingy so Alissa and Shane wouldn't be able to escape the island once the drug lord and his two remaining partners were flown off. Soon enough, they were all alone and still tied up.
"Alissa, are you okay?" Shane asked, very concerned.
"Ooh, Shane, I've been better. You also have to tell me you know how to get us off this goddamn island." She answered.
"I do. Let's get out of these ties, first of all." He answered, sliding the knife from his calf holster out with his other leg. He wriggled down to pick it up from the ground and he cut himself free of the ropes. When his hands were unbound, he cut off the restraints from Alissa and wiped blood and mud from her cheeks.
"Lucky for us, I brought a satellite phone. I'm going to call back to Matt, ask for the Coast Guard for us and the DEA for the drugs."
"Shane, we're out of their jurisdiction."
"We are two military veterans stranded on foreign soil, and you're injured. I'm sure someone will come for us. Matt will swim if he has to, and that man hates water. Don't worry, Lieutenant, we'll be just fine." Shane reassured before pulling the satellite phone from his backpack, extending the antenna and making that fateful call to Matt.
**********
"You look like hell, Lieutenant." Matt spoke to Alissa with a relieved smile the moment she stepped off the helicopter, and he took her in his arms. He held her close to him as tightly as he could without hurting her more. His strong hand rested on her head, her hairline caked with her own blood.
"I'm good too, you know." Shane joked, nudging Matt playfully.
"Come on, man, you know I love you too." Matt spoke, letting Alissa go just enough to ruffle Shane's hair and place a kiss on his cheek.
"I have to ask, did you guys used to date?" Alissa asked.
"Ah, that must be the head trauma talking." Matt answered.
"As a matter of fact-" Shane began, and Matt rolled his eyes.
"We are not doing this now!" He exclaimed.
"Okay, but whenever you guys want to get back together, just let me know. I can back off." Alissa giggled before kissing Matt.
"I'm glad you guys are safe, and so are my therapist and cardiologist. They aren't grateful for the stress you make me endure, but they're glad you're okay because that means now I'm not stressed." Matt joked. "But in all seriousness, I couldn't have been happier when I saw that Coast Guard helicopter come back. When we lost communication from you guys I got really scared."
"Aw, Matty, you know we'll always make it." Shane spoke as they processed together towards the medics awaiting their arrival. Shane got the blood cleaned up from his face and the wound on his browbone closed with butterfly wound closures.
"Shane, just don't ask me to do that ever again. I've exhausted my "near death experience" supply for the year." Alissa requested to Shane.
"I'll do my best not to have an international drug trafficking situation again any time soon." He answered with a smile. Matt pulled Shane to the side as Alissa was being treated by the medical team. They walked a few feet out from the ambulances.
"Hey, Shane, thanks for taking care of Alissa. I know it's like you always do, but thanks again." Matt spoke, out of earshot from Alissa.
"Of course, Matty, I know how much she means to you, so it makes it even more important to me to stick by our team.” Shane reassured. "Let me say, she's one hell of a partner to have out there."
"Good. Now, once she gets all taken care of, you're both riding with me. Dinner at my house, and you both are sleeping over. You've scared the hell out of me, and I deserve to know my friends aren't getting kidnapped or killed. Alissa will be happy to know I have beer in the fridge, too. Lord knows you both deserve it."
Matt stuck to his word and cooked dinner for Alissa and Shane, but Alissa spent most of her time asleep on Matt's couch with an ice pack to her head. After a visit to the doctor, a bunch of stitches and a painkiller prescription for her head trauma later, she was knocked out.
"So, you had to let him to go get Alissa back, huh?" Matt asked Shane as they were sitting out together on his porch underneath the stars with a couple beers.
"Yeah, but of course I didn't think twice about saving her."
"It's a shame we had to let the guy go, though."
"Well, it's only him and two of his men. We'll find them soon enough. I knew there was no way to save her and to take down these guys, so I obviously chose her. She can only die once, but we can find the bad guys again."
"Does she know what you did?"
"No, just the fact that she was dragged into the forest, beaten up and dragged back out to get tied up with rope and marched through the jungle with a gun to her head."
"Yikes, man, that's really rough."
"I don't think I'll tell her she was going to die. She doesn't need that stress." Shane spoke, keeping that information to himself, or so he thought.
Alissa had woken up from a heavy sleep and wasn't sure if she was hearing their conversation right, or if the words were distorted from the pain medication she was on. She wandered through the house trying to find the two until she heard their voices, and found them on the patio. She stopped when she heard them talking about her, but it was too late for Shane's intention of not telling her because she heard it all.
"Am I dreaming, is this the painkillers, or did I just hear you say I almost died?" Alissa asked, her mouth speaking up against the will of her brain. Shane and Matt t
urned around to see Alissa's tired shadow in the door frame behind them.
"Oh, my God, Alissa, I didn't mean for you to hear-" Shane apologized, knowing that she heard their conversation.
"No, lucky for you, I'll forget what you said in the morning. Thanks for trying to spare me." She spoke and they rose from their deck chairs to comfort her and escort her back to bed. It had been a rough day for everyone, and they deserved a day off.
Except Shane refused to take the day off. He had a drug lord to catch.
X
For the first time in a long time, Shane couldn't sleep.
It was something about the case that bothered him. He let the drug lord and two of his men get away. Not just one, but two. Shane knew that he'd get closure and prevent more drugs from being put out on the streets, but he wasn't satisfied with that knowledge. He couldn't sit around waiting for the case to close itself, he had to go out and do it. So, for weeks he quietly tracked down the ones that got away through informants, his connections and by overhearing chatter. As much as he wanted to just run into it head on, he needed to build a case before going out on the mission for the second time.
But, it was taking a toll on him and Vicki. Vicki woke up in the middle of the night, realizing that Shane had never come up to bed and joined her. When she had seen him after dinner, she asked if he was coming upstairs with her, and he said he would, but Vicki knew that was a white lie. Vicki knew that he was investigating still, and it was taking him away from her. Vicki slid out of bed, her feet hitting the cold hardwood floor as she tiptoed down the stairs. She caught a glimpse of the clock, and it was nearly 4:30 in the morning. Shane had never come up to bed, and it soon became known to her why.
Vicki followed the light that streamed from the end of the hallway that led her into the office that overlooked the ocean. The door was open, and she stood in the doorway for a second, looking into the room at the scene before her before she entered. Shane was hunched over at the desk, poring over the papers in front of him. It was just as she had expected, he was still working the case. He couldn’t rest until it was over.
Vicki softly walked towards him, putting her hands on his shoulders, catching his attention. His head turned back towards her, placing his forehead against hers as her chin rested on his shoulder. He didn’t say anything.
“Baby, I know you want to figure this out. I know you will, in time. Please come up to bed with me?” Vicki asked, her voice gravelly from just waking up. Shane took a moment to think before he reached in front of him and switched off his desk lamp and put the papers away into their folders. Vicki reached out for his hand and he took it as they walked back upstairs together and got settled into bed. Shane knew that he was pushing Vicki away, and losing her wasn’t on the table just because he wanted to solve the case.
Vicki settled in his side and Shane draped his arm around Vicki after pulling the blankets up to their shoulders. Vicki was easily able to go back to sleep, but Shane had to wind down. He felt himself getting close to solving the case. He was so close.
He had to convince himself to fall asleep, but when Vicki was next to him, he didn’t need that much convincing. She had a knack for making hard things a lot easier to do.
**********
It was the middle of the night when Shane got the call, and Vicki was fast asleep in his bed. He thought of what it would be like in the morning when she woke up without him, and he didn’t want to imagine how that would make her feel, but this time he had to go. He had been waiting for weeks to get the piece of intel he needed to solidify and make his case, and he finally got it. He had to act fast, or else the opportunity might go away. So, he slid out of bed and as quietly his possible, he got ready to leave the country.
He grabbed his canvas bag that perpetually rested underneath his bed, and it was already packed with all the supplies he would need for his trip. Vicki stirred slightly and he paused, staring at her face in the moonlight. She was peaceful and calm, and he took that moment to appreciate the woman he was going to marry. He had to make it back from the mission to make sure he married her.
He tiptoed across the floorboards over to her side of the bed and placed a kiss on her head before he closed the bedroom door behind him. His unfinished business was about to be resolved.
**********
It was Alissa's day off, and she was spending the warm afternoon laying on a raft in her pool with a margarita. After all the stress she was under since she started her new job, she barely had any time to rest. This was a rare occasion that she got the chance to lay out in the sun and not have to do anything. Her phone was resting on top of her towel on the table by the pool, but she had turned off the ringer so she could be at peace for the afternoon. When she had become too warm, she sat down her margarita on the concrete edge of the pool and went for a swim underwater to cool off and to rinse the beads of sweat that had accumulated on her skin.
When Alissa came to the surface for air, she wiped away the water from her eyes to see Matt standing in his dress clothes from work at the edge of the pool, waiting for her.
"Matt! I didn't expect to see you here." Alissa spoke, startled at the sudden presence before her.
"You would if you'd answer your phone." He spoke, sounding more stressed than usual. Alissa swam over to the steps and got out of the pool, jogging across the hot concrete to get her towel and look at her phone. She, indeed, did have a few messages from Matt waiting for her.
Alissa wrapped the towel around her shoulders and wrung out her hair before grabbing her phone in one hand and her margarita in the other.
"Matt, you know it's my day off."
"I know, but this is urgent. That's why I'm here." He explained, and it seemed inappropriate for Alissa to be downing tequila while Matt was obviously concerned about something serious.
"What's happening?" Alissa asked, pulling out two chairs for them to sit at, inviting Matt to stay.
"Well, Vicki came to me this morning and she was absolutely panicking. Shane was gone when she woke up, and not just "out for a run" gone, but gone. He had taken his go bag and left his cell phone, he was that kind of gone. He didn't tell her where he was going or anything."
"He could be halfway across the world, Matt."
"Yeah, Liss, I know. He could be in trouble, we have to find him."
"Well, if Vicki is calm enough, let's all head down to the office and see if she can get anything off of his computer. That would be my first plan of action. If we've got nothing there, I want to search his desk, his house, his car. We can see if he bought a plane ticket, we can figure it out. We're detectives, the last time I checked, and we'll find him." Alissa spoke, figuring out where they should start.
"I'm going to put clothes on, put the margarita blender in the freezer for when we get back, and you're going to drive us to the office."
Matt then understood what Shane felt when Matt left on a flight during his lunch break to fly to New Jersey. Matt didn't give anyone warning or clue them in on anything, and he understood that stress. Though, this was way more complicated than what he had done, so he was far more stressed. Maybe it was just Alissa's drunk brain talking, but she was keeping calm, a calmness that Matt needed. He needed to know that his best friend was alright.
When they arrived at the office, Alissa was trying to sober up as the sound of her flip flops slapped on the tile floor. She was still wearing her bikini underneath her blouse and jeans, her hair dripping down her back and onto the floor.
"Alissa, it's your day off!" Vicki exclaimed. "What are you doing here?"
"I know, but I was called from the reserves to come in and help. I'm drunk, by the way, so I'm going to start searching his office." Alissa spoke, heading into Shane's office. Vicki was working on his laptop, Scarlet was tracking his phone records and recent financials, and Matt was doing everything in between.
Alissa was looking at Shane's desk calendar, his post-notes on his desk, his recent case files, essentially every piece of paper evidence he left
behind. She had gotten nowhere with his office, and Matt even checked over everything she looked over just to make sure. He was hoping they'd strike better luck with his phone records.
"Hey, Vicki, when did you say he left?" Scarlet called to Vicki.
"He left in the middle of the night, I woke up around seven and he was gone."
"Okay, because I think I have something. He got a call around two that only lasted for a minute or so. His financials show that he took out a chunk of cash just after that, and that's the end of what I've got. I'm still looking at his texts and emails."
"Just don't look at my texts to him, Scarlet, please?" Vicki asked. "Just for everyone's sake, there's nothing there."
With that, they got a chuckle and continued the search.
Meanwhile, Shane's plane landed in Guatemala. He had found a way onto a cargo flight where he'd remain anonymous. He had to assume that he was being tracked and he had to do everything in his power to maintain a low profile.
This time was different for Shane. It wasn't a jungle op, he couldn't walk around in his tactical gear. His target was in the middle of the city in Guatemala, he was in plain clothes and he was going in alone. It hit him that it could possibly be a bad idea for him to not have any of his gear and not even a phone. He was absolutely dark on his op, especially because he wasn't sure if he was really allowed to take down the rest of the empire. He didn't get permission, and he only knew about the opportunity from a confidential informant. He just hoped it would go well, because if he died, nobody would know where he was.
He thought about it in the cab on his way, and he spent some time staking out the place from a café across the street. He got the chance to brush up on his Spanish, and keep his cover. He was staking out a barber shop, and if his intel was good, he knew that it was just a front for the ongoing drug business. Shane knew that was his way in. When he knew that there was no suspicion surrounding his presence and he had a safe in, he went for it.
Shane walked into the barber shop, and the bell rung above the door. The three men there looked at him with daggers.
