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Dear Honor, no pressure because I know it’s only been three days but do you love me? I’d like this to be my last mission because we should be together but we can’t so long as I’m in the Elite Force Protectors because The Fear Division will kidnap and kill you and your entire family and oh yeah, you have to leave California so we can use my hundred million dollar trust fund to get back my family’s ranch and if you’re not too busy, let’s have some babies.
I can’t say that! She would run in the opposite direction. Change of plans. I decided our talk could wait until after my mission. It shouldn’t take long anyway, I’d be back in a couple days. Yes. That’s a better plan. I would explain everything to Honor next week, the week after at the latest. This mission would not last long. It was a simple in and out extraction. My talk with Honor could wait. There was one thing, however, that she needed to know.
“Hey, Walker,” Honor cooed sweetly as we lay in bed together. I must have drifted off into a maze of thought. “What did you want to talk about?”
“Honor Adams,” I said as we slowly began to kiss again. Everything I had to say could wait, there was only one thing she needed to know before I left on my mission, “I love you.”
We made love slowly and silently, as though it was for the last time.
The next day I left.
I don’t even want to say where I went. It made the Red Zone look like a five-star paradise. Blood stained streets, people dying and calling out in despair on every corner. I couldn’t even look at anyone. Not just for obvious reasons but because it was such a sad place. I almost felt sorry for these people. But…
I was there on a mission. And now I could finally say it out loud, at least to myself. My contact wasn’t wrong. It truly was the most precious, the most micro level, and clearly, the most compromised. I was there to extract the five year old grand daughter of the US Vice President.
Her name was Hannah and she had been kidnapped last week on a Global Nations World Peacekeeping tour. How they had managed to keep it out of the press was amazing. It was obviously the work of The Fear Division and they weren’t interested in making a scene, they weren’t politically motivated, they just wanted money. They also knew that the US doesn’t negotiate with terrorists, they will however, pay a substantial ransom for important personnel. And Hannah was a very important person.
The Vice President had become a very rich man before he entered politics and The Fear Division clearly knew this. They had been planning this kidnapping for a long time—from the way it was executed, with perfect precision—that much was clear.
Hannah had been taken from her bedroom in the middle of the night from a five-star hotel despite exceptional security. Clearly there were several hotel employees “in” on the job. But none of that mattered, it was my job to get Hannah back and deliver her safely to The Green Zone.
I thought about how proud Honor would be of me to see both Hannah and I walk through those gates. Getting back to Honor and starting our life together was what kept me going.
This mission would take no longer than a week, I thought, eight days tops. After that I was on my way back to the Green Zone, back to the woman I loved, and ready to start a new life.
But of course that didn’t happen.
Out of nowhere deafening noise—like a series of crashes and explosions all at once—surrounded me. I ducked for cover.
After that, everything went black.
All I could think about was Honor.
Twenty-Two
Honor
One Week Later
I couldn’t help but pace the cold floor of my tiny studio apartment.
I was in my bare feet, just out of the shower.
I brushed my hair slowly as I walked up and down the room, from one side to the other, which admittedly was about ten to twelve steps each way.
Axe had been gone exactly seven days and seven nights and I was starting to get anxious. Surely he must be on his way back—from where I had no idea—but he must be on his way back soon. I already knew, because he had told me to be prepared, that he wasn’t going to be able to contact me. So that was okay, I guess. Still, he was always on my mind.
We’d had such an unbelievable three days together and I was head over heels in love with him. I couldn’t believe it had actually only been three days. We connected so deeply and in between amazing love making we talked endlessly about everything and nothing. I had no doubt that Axel Walker was the love of my life.
But now I was starting to get nervous. How long did these missions typically last? Was there anyone I could talk to in order to find out? It frustrated me that there was no one to talk to. I didn’t know who his contact was so I couldn’t very well go ask him.
I tried to focus on work. A group of us managed to head back to the surrounding area of The Red Zone for a day trip. I took some terrific shots and interviewed some locals as well as the Doctors Without Borders chief of staff. It kept me busy. Kept my mind off things.
But at night time, I couldn’t help it. Where was Axe? How come I hadn’t heard from him? There’s no way this mission would possibly last another week, would it? Could it?
A thought struck me as I lay awake one night, on the eighth night after Axe left, what if I didn’t see him before my time in The Green Zone was up?
No.
