by Luke Young
Thirty minutes later, Brock was airborne piloting his Gulfstream C-37A toward his destination in the Middle East. The nearly 6,000 mile flight was at the very edge of the aircraft's range.
As Brock was in the air, Akbar and Nasir returned to their rented home less than half a mile from the Fullman plant. After pulling the car into the garage, they made their way to the basement where two other men were busy working. Fareed was studying a computer screen while, Kusay was soldering a wire on a bomb seated inside a briefcase.
Nasir asked, "Did it arrive?"
Lifting his eyes, the man working on the bomb replied, "No, Huday sent a message. It will be two weeks."
"Shit!" Nasir stood behind Kusay and shook his head. "What is the hold up?"
"He did not say." Kusay grabbed a pair of scissors and returned to his work.
"How hard is it to get some plutonium?" Nasir said. "I mean, you can order pretty much everything online these days. He calls himself a freaking terrorist. Geez."
Akbar and Nasir made their way to a sofa and sat down. Nasir sighed. "So we will not make the fifth of July now."
Without lifting his head, Kusay replied, "Huday said it does not matter when we do it, just that we do it right."
"Then we could use the other bombs. The chemical ones."
Kusay began, "No, Huday said we—"
"Huday is thousands of miles from here. I'm in charge." He looked pointedly to Kusay. "You doubt that?"
Kusay's eyes widened. "No. No, sir."
Akbar said, "We'll just find another day when the plant will be full of workers."
"No."
"It will be the fifth and we will kill two bats with one stone."
"I think it's birds." Akbar shrugged.
"What?"
"Two birds…" Akbar slumped back against the sofa and closed his eyes.
"Yes, two birds." Nasir's pulse quickened along with his breathing as he gripped the edge of the sofa hard with his anger boiling over. "Cocoa Death!" Nasir announced loudly startling Akbar and the other two men. Jumping up from his seat, he rushed to the corner of the room and pulled a small briefcase out of a box.
He returned to the sofa, sat down and opened the case. After a quick search, he found the picture and studied it closely, seething. "It is him."
Leaning forward, Akbar focused on the unmistakable image of Brock dressed in a military uniform standing next to a general. His jaw fell open. "Shit!"
"You see."
"Are you sure he is the one who killed Ali?"
"I am."
Pausing a moment, Akbar took a deep breath. "Then soon he will get what he deserves with the rest of them."
"No." Narrowing his eyes, Nasir shook his head. "A quick painless death is much too good for him."
"What do you mean?"
"He needs to suffer. Yes, he needs to suffer. I watched as he tortured and killed Ali. I want someone he loves to watch as I slowly torture and kill him."
Akbar widened his eyes. "How can we do it?"
Nasir smiled. "You said the plant would be empty for the holiday weekend. We will do it then. Does he have a wife?"
"No."
"Girlfriend?"
"Yes." Akbar grinned. "She's a nightmare."
"I'm going to enjoy this."
A couple continents away, touching down just after midnight, Brock made his way to the field office.
He opened the door and found Commander Rockway seated on the lone chair in the bleak room; a cache of weapons at his feet.
Rockway snarled. "Lieutenant, where the fuck have you been?"
"Sorry, sir, got a late start."
Leaping up from the chair, Rockway jabbed Brock in the neck with his palm and drove him into the wall. "A late start!"
"Yes, sir." Brock struggled to say.
"You little prick. Never in my fucking life have I heard of a part-time Navy SEAL. You're a disgrace to the uniform. I don't give a fuck if your daddy knows the Secretary of Defense. If this mission fails, you'll be the victim of friendly fire. You got that chocolate boy?"
"Yes, sir." Brock whispered, struggling to breathe.
"There were plenty of other men willing to give their lives to the SEALs. Just know that you've taken another man's spot here— a real man— a more deserving man. You'd better understand that you little shit… You sicken me."
Rockway released his grasp of Brock's neck. Sliding down the wall, Brock slumped over coughing and shaking his head. After taking a few deep breaths, he sat up, rubbing his neck with his hand. He gazed up to Rockway with watery eyes. "I will not let you down, sir."
Seventeen minutes later, Brock singlehandedly ended the lives of six terrorists without breaking a sweat. After collecting the hard drives from all the computers at the compound, he returned to the field office, where that bastard, Rockway, didn't even thank him.
5
With his landing delayed by bad weather, Brock touched down at 12:42. Since he had no time for a shower, he drove to the cemetery, stopping along the way pick up Constance's favorite peach-colored roses. A normal man, who'd just flown 12,000 miles in about under twenty four hours, killed half a dozen terrorists and completed a top secret mission, would be desperately in need of a shower, but not Brock— he still smelled pretty amazing.
When he reached the grave site, he discovered that Stephanie was already there. "Stephanie, sorry I'm late."
Turning to him, she smiled. "No, I just got here." A gust of wind blew her long blonde hair across her face. She secured it behind her ear and looked skyward. "Looks like it might rain."
"I heard the storm's going to hit north of us." He pulled the near pristine roses he'd delivered on his visit only three days earlier from a vase on top of the headstone and replaced them with the fresh flowers.
"They're beautiful," she said.
He sighed. "They were her favorite."
"I remember."
Both stood in silence sharing a few moments of quiet reflection. Suddenly the wind kicked up violently and the quickly approaching clouds looked more ominous.
He shrugged. "I guess I was wrong."
"We'd better head back."
As they walked quickly toward their cars the sky opened up and what started as light rain, quickly grew heavier. When they reached the parking lot, he opened the door to her car and waited while she slipped inside. Ducking his head into her car, he said, "I guess I'll see you at the plant."
"Okay." She smiled brushing her damp hair from her face.
He bolted to his car and started the engine. Glancing over to Stephanie through the rain spattered window, he noticed her grimacing. He rolled down his window and yelled out, "Is everything okay?"
She turned to him and raised her hands up in defeat. After rolling down her window, she yelled out, "I really need a new car."
"What's wrong?"
"Won't start."
"I'll give you a ride and I'll call Jeremy and have him tow it to his garage."
"That would be great." She smiled. After rolling up her window, she climbed out of her car, then hurried to his large SUV.
Dripping wet with her hair a complete mess, she chuckled as she shivered a bit. "Wow, this is a nightmare."
"Are you cold?"
"A little."
He cranked up the heat. Outside the rain pelted the car as the two looked out the windows and shook their heads. "We'd better wait until it lets up a little."
She nodded in agreement then after nearly a minute of silence, she turned to him. "I miss her."
"Yeah, so do I."
She gave him a serious look. "I can't help feeling that it's my fault. That if I hadn't gotten drunk that night in London I would have been with her that morning and she'd still be here."
"No, no. Don't you dare go blaming yourself for this. I should have been with her. I was supposed to go on that trip and if it's anyone's fault, it's mine."
Both took deep breaths and pushed their heads back into the headrest. After a moment, he glanced over
to her and asked, "So are you and David still…"
"Yeah."
"What happened?"
She gave him a hesitant look. "Um, well, you remember right after Constance… right after, you know, it happened, I went through this period when I kinda acted out sexually."
He narrowed his eyes confused, then shrugged. "Not really."
"Well, he found out about it and—"
"That was years ago, how could he break up with you over that?"
"I guess I don't blame him, I mean I didn't tell him about it. He found out from one of his friends who was involved."
"It couldn't be that bad."
"Oh, it's bad." She frowned.
"You never, um… I mean, if you don't mind me asking, what did you do?"
Closing her eyes, she took a moment then began, "You remember Clark, the quarterback senior year?"
"Sure."
"I was over his house one day after school and we were fooling around and you know…" She motioned nervously with her hands.
"Yeah."
Turning away from him, she let out a slow breath. "One of his teammates came over and we, well, you know how they say, watch out for the blindside?" Looking him in the eye, she raised her eyebrows. "I didn't see it coming, literally."
Suddenly angry, Brock said, "They raped you?"
"No. No, I just kinda let it happen." Staring straight ahead, her face morphed into a sexy smile. "That's not true. Once it started I actually really got into it." She licked her lips and sighed seemingly reliving the erotic experience. Brock's jaw dropped open. After ten seconds, she returned her attention to him and shook her head. "Sorry, sometimes I, uh…"
He sat up a little straighter in his seat. "I mean, you were going through a tough time there, so lots of people have experimented with threesomes. It's not all—"
"That's not the whole story." She gave him a hesitant look. "I, actually, um… had Clark call some of the other guys."
"Really?" Wide eyed, he turned to her asking, "How many?"
After thinking a moment, she held her hand up and counted them off with her fingers. "The running back, Joe, two offensive linemen, the tight end, Bradley and... " She grimaced. "…three of the defensive linemen."
"Oh." He glanced to her quickly with a comforting smile. "That's, uh, wow… "He gripped the steering wheel unsure what to say.
"And I almost forgot I did it with the kicker also."
Taken aback, he turned to her. "You slept with Jay?"
She replied sheepishly, "I did."
"God, he was a real jerk."
"I know. I know."
He looked her in the eye. "But you've gotten that all out of your system now, right? I mean, you're not still… ?"
"No. No, God, no. I've been through a string of monogamous relationships since then."
Folding her arms, she shivered once again.
"Wait. Here, I've got, um…" He turned reaching to the backseat and grabbed a jacket.
She leaned forward and he placed it over her shoulders. As he adjusted it around her she turned her head toward him, took a deep breath and sighed. "You smell really good. Connie used to tell me how good you smelled."
With their lips only a few inches apart, they gazed into each other's eyes for what seemed like a long time until he whispered, "Better now?"
"Uh, yeah." She smiled gratefully.
Clearing his throat, he moved back to his seat.
She closed her eyes as he returned to looking out the window. With the rain now slowed, he said, "I guess it's okay to drive now."
Turning back to her, he noticed her shivering. "You're going to catch a cold. My house is so close, do you want to go there and I'll get you something dry to put on?"
"That would probably be best." She nodded happily.
6
Fifteen minutes later, Stephanie walked out of Brock's bathroom into his bedroom towel drying her hair. She was wearing his gym shorts and a T-shirt and looked nothing short of spectacular as the accent of her full breasts and hard nipples shown through the thin cotton fabric.
Sitting at his desk and now dressed in dry sweats himself, he tore his eyes away from her chest. "Do you want something hot to drink?"
"No, thanks." She looked around his large room, impressed, taking in all the military awards and sports trophies. Noticing a picture on the dresser, she walked to it and picked it up. It was a picture of Connie and Brock from prom. She smiled. "That was a fun night."
"It was."
Holding the picture, she moved to the bed and sat down. "Can I ask you something?"
"Sure."
"Connie told me that when you had sex that neither of you would let yourselves, you know, finish… that you were saving it for when you got married. Is that true?"
"Um, well. Yeah, it's true."
Puzzled, she shook her head. "How did you manage that?"
"I would just stop when I felt like I was going to… you know."
"That takes a lot of self-control. Some of the guys I know lose it before they even get your panties off."
They shared a chuckle.
Giving her a hesitant look, he said, "Eventually I had myself so conditioned that I never felt it coming on at all."
She looked at him impressed. "Wow. But then you'd go home and take care of it yourself, right?"
"No, I wouldn’t."
"Seriously?"
He nodded. "I've never…" After taking a deep breath, he looked away shyly and said softly, "I've actually never had an, uh… an orgasm."
"You mean with a girl, right?"
"No, I mean ever."
"No way." She looked at him, shocked. "You do masturbate now don't you?"
"No. I was so used to not, um, you know… that while Connie and I dated, I just never saw the need. I figured once I let myself have one it might open up the flood gates and then I wouldn't be able to stop when I was with her."
"That makes sense…" She raised her eyebrows. "I guess."
"And what about now with Marci… you guys are doing it aren’t you?"
He rolled his eyes. "I guess you could call it that."
"I tried, really, really hard to have one with her, but it just wouldn't happen. I think…" He glanced down to his lap. "I think I've totally screwed up everything down there."
"Wow." After glancing down to where he was looking, she lifted her eyes back to his face. "Does she have orgasms?"
"Constantly, yeah, constantly…" Shaking his head, he gave her wide-eyed look.
"Huh." She moved to the edge of the bed. "And she knows that you don't?"
"She asked me about it once, well, I mean she kinda got mad at me for not having one—so from then on I just started to fake them."
She scoffed. "You fake them?"
"Yeah, she's so wrapped up in her own that I barely even need to grunt or anything."
"Doesn't she notice that there's no mess or anything?"
He shook his head. "We use condoms."
"Hmm." After processing that for a moment, she gave him a comforting nod.
She pulled her legs up on the bed, holding them at her knees. As the shorts tightened up around her shapely hips and female parts, Brock stole a quick, but comprehensive glance right between her legs before averting his eyes. "Wow, it's hot in here. Are you hot?"
She shook her head no. "So, it sounds like you two have some things to work out."
He nodded in agreement and his eyes dipped once again to her lady parts before he stared awkwardly at something on the wall above her head. Squirming uncomfortably in his seat, he said nervously, "And sometimes, it's like I'm not even there."
After following his gaze to where he was looking behind her, she turned back to him confused. Her eyes shot to his lap, where a sizeable bulge appeared. She gasped and her jaw fell open wide. When he finally noticed her expression, he looked down and quickly covered the problem area with both hands.
Her eyes shot up to his face then back to his hand-covered lap. "Oh wow, you'r
e um…"
"Sorry, I guess it's all this sex talk."
"It's okay." Tearing her eyes away from him, she looked across the room as she returned her feet to the floor. "Maybe we should just talk about something else."
"Uh-huh." Nodding, he sat perfectly still, hoping his problem would soon disappear. "Sorry."
She waved her hand at him as if it were no big deal. "So did you and Marci set a date yet?"
"No and I think we actually broke up before I left."
"Oh, I'm sorry. Maybe you'll get back together." Bending over, she placed her elbows on her knees, holding her chin in her hands and giving him a sympathetic look. The collar of her shirt opened up just enough for provide an unobstructed view of her gorgeous cleavage.
"Yeah," he replied, his eyes darting to her chest, away, then back once again. "We've, um, actually been through this before."
"But technically you are not together, right?" Her eyes returned to his lap, where the problem was now much, much worse.
"Shit." Grabbing a book from the desk, he held it to shield her view. "Oh man, I, uh… what did you say?"
"You… you are not together now, right?"
"Right."
With her eyes still locked on his lap and her mouth open wide, she whispered, "I think I can help you with your problem."
"Problem?"
She looked him in the eye and said, "I'm sure I can give you an orgasm."
"Okay, I, uh…" After swallowing hard, his eyes got really big.
"Yeah…" She nodded slowly, transfixed. "I don't think it's good for a guy your age to be holding back like that. I mean, it could probably be dangerous."
He exhaled deeply. "You could be right."
"Maybe I should at least take a look at it. I've got some experience with, uh—"
"Okay," he interrupted not needing to be asked twice and desperate to let the big boy breathe.
Licking her lips, she rose to her feet and headed toward him. She slipped to her knees, placed her hands on his thighs, gazing dreamily into his eyes. "Can I?"
He nodded in agreement.
She pulled the book from his hand and her eyes widened as she drank in his huge sweatpant-covered erection. "Wow, I think this is more serious than I thought."