by S. K. Lessly
The type we had in the field was both injections and soluble bags. I fiddled with Shane’s pack on his back, mine was somewhere in this house, and wrenched it off him.
“Oh fuck, oh fuck, oh fuck…” Josh chanted behind me.
Pesky tears filled my eyes and I wiped them feverishly, holding back the sob that wanted to rip through me. I opened a side pocket and pulled his kit out. I ripped through it until I found what I needed and pushed two bags of Celox into his wound. I then stripped my vest off then shirt and t-shirt, balled them up, and pushed them into his wound.
He growled in pain as I worked, but I was on autopilot. I wasn’t thinking, I was just reacting.
“Shit! What happened?” Curtis finally arriving in the room.
I looked up and found Ivan, Stan, Curtis, Jesse, and two men both from Echo team.
I spoke fast. “Someone help Josh and be careful. I think he has some broken ribs.”
“Yeah, Patterson is working on him now.” Curtis told me.
I looked behind me and found Curtis was right. Patterson, a blonde hair, blue eyes hotshot medic from Charlie team, was kneeling over Josh, but Josh was pushing Patterson away saying, “No, help Shane. I’m okay. Stan, help me sit up.”
“What happened to Shane, Misty?”
I looked up at Curtis and tears started welling in my eyes. Shane groaned and I looked down at him. He looked even more pale than before.
“He…ummm… Perhencko shot him. I tried to stop him but he got a shot off. The bullet went through his vest. I’m trying to stop the bleeding but…” I trailed off when my eyes fell to my shirt. It was soaked with blood. Shit why wasn’t the stupid agent not working.
“Hold on, Shane, please just hold on.” I begged through watered eyes. “Patterson!”
“I’m here, Misty. Move. Let me see.” Reluctantly I shifted, making room for Patterson to work.
“Alpha team, Echo… anyone copy?” There was abrupt chatter on our comms. Gordon, the leader from Fox team.
“Yeah, go for Alpha team,” Curtis returned.
“There’s a chopper out back about five hundred yards from the house on a helipad. It looks to be preparing to take off. Did we find Hulk, over?”
“That’s affirmative. We have Hulk but Cap is down. I repeat the captain is down.”
“Fuck!” Gordon whispered back, the anger in his voice evident.
“What?... Hold one… Okay we have the devil in our sights. Perchenko just came out of a side door next to the helipad and hauling ass for the chopper. What do you want us to do?”
“Can you shoot it down?” Curtis asked.
“We’re too far away. We don’t have the gun for it. Kyle isn’t with us and by the time—”
“Get close enough and tag it. We’ll follow it to its destination. Call the choppers back. We need a quick evac.” Curtis instructed.
“Chatter is coming in about our little field trip and rescue. The Brazilian government is sending men here. We need to get out of here before they get here,” Rivera, who was the lead for Charlie team, cut in.
I felt someone squeeze my hand and I looked down to see Shane looking up at me. I saw him mouth the word “Go!” and I shook my head.
“No, I’m not leaving you.”
He tightened his blue lips and started to get agitated.
“Cap, be still,” Patterson instructed, treating his wound. It was still fucking bleeding.
“Go. Now!” Shane managed to grit out with every ounce of energy he could muster. He then coughed, retched and started to shake.
“Misty, make a decision. You have to go or move out of the way. He won’t stay still and I can’t stop the bleeding until he does.”
I started shaking my head again, a protest on the tip of my tongue when Josh spoke.
“Go, Misty.”
I looked over at his pain-filled face. Stan had wrapped his torso and had an I.V. of fluids running in his veins. I couldn’t see Josh’s eyes but I felt their intensity.
“We got him.” he rasped out, his breaths and words coming out choppy and short. “We need our best to get that son of a bitch. This is our only shot and you know it. Shane will be fine. We have him. Go!”
I swallowed the scream that wanted to charge out of me. I wasn’t just staying for Shane. I was staying for him too. We were partners. We had each other’s back. I never left him in the field.
When I didn’t move, Josh spoke again, this time his voice was softer. “It’s okay Marine, you’ve done your job. We’re safe. Now you need to get payback for us. You hear me? I got Shane, Curtis has me. You need to go before it’s too late.”
Fuck, I knew he was right. I looked up at Curtis and he nodded at me, his mouth in a tight line, determination etched in his handsome face.
“We got it from here, Black Widow. Go do your worst.”
Hearing my call sign snapped me back to reality. Josh was right. I needed to go. I looked down at Shane and I could see the resolve in his face right along with the pain and fight. He sent a nod my way and I did something I never thought I’d do. I leaned in and kissed his lips, taking a few seconds to taste him. I didn’t care who was around. I lingered long enough to inhale his scent.
“I love you,” came on a whisper against his lips. When I pulled back to look in his eyes they were closed. At first, I thought he passed out and didn’t hear me. A second later his eyelids lifted revealing more emotion than I had ever seen in him and I knew he heard every word. The look in his eyes penetrated my soul and gave me the strength I needed to do what I was born to do.
I didn’t need to hear him say it back. I felt it. Saw it in his eyes. The deep seeded love he had for me, the unconditional devotion and I hope he saw the same in me.
I separated from the love of my existence and slowly rose to my feet. The distance created caused my heart to beat out of control. My chest ached at the idea of being away from him but I needed to go.
Shane, as if sensing the turmoil coursing through me sent a nod my way, giving me permission if you will, telling me it was okay.
God, I was so torn.
I glanced at Josh who also nodded, his mouth in a hard line.
It was his way of telling me they would be okay.
I breathed out a sigh, nodded back at him. My heart began to slow and I felt the coldness of darkness hovering in the distance. Waiting.
I would make Perchenko pay for all he has done. No one fucks with my family. No one.
I sent another glance over my shoulder to Shane, who met my stare and held it. It took a lot but I smiled at him then left my team.
I headed in the direction Shane and I came in a full run. I hit the side door that I had blown through before and ran full speed to the front of the house where the nearest Black Hawk sat waiting, its rotors whipping through the air.
I jumped inside and told the pilot to go.
“Follow that helicopter that got away.”
The pilot didn’t reply. He merely did what I asked and in seconds we were up in the air flying north, toward Rio. He handed me a set of headphones and an iPad. The tablet showed a 2D map of the area with a red blip and a blue blip. The red blip was positioned in front of the blue dot. I assumed the red dot was Perchenko, and we were blue.
“We’re clocking the bird about forty miles ahead,” the pilot told me. “Its destination is still unknown, but we should catch up quickly. Unfortunately, the window we have to shoot him down is small.”
“Don’t worry about that,” I returned. “Just follow him. Don’t lose him.”
“Roger that.”
I settled in my seat and stared out into the now dawning sky. I started to think about what I had left behind, namely Shane. I tapped the earpiece for the team channel to ask about him and immediately wished I didn’t.
Four words were spoken that unequivocally changed me. The darkness that was just on the surface suddenly consumed my entire being. Misty no longer existed. The world no longer existed. My soul no longer existed.
Evil swam in my veins with a vengeance so powerful I was surprised I hadn’t exploded. It was so foreign to me and yet it felt like home. I closed my eyes and allowed it to take over completely.
Four words that ended my life.
Four words that birthed a rage upon which I never felt before.
Four words…
“Fuck, he’s not breathing!”
24
Josh
I sat next to Shane on the plane. We had lost him once and fuck if I was going to lose him again.
Watching Patterson beat on his chest was the scariest shit I had ever witnessed. It was right up there with finding Sweets’ body underneath a pile of rubble not moving. Only when he announced he felt a pulse did I breathe again.
Everyone moved quick to get the fuck out of that house and country. Stan and Ivan helped me to the chopper while someone came in with a stretcher for Shane. Patterson had finally slowed the bleeding down and stabilized him enough for transport. We called ahead to have a surgeon ready at one of the largest hospitals in Rio.
The bullet nicked his spleen before it exited his body. They decided not to do surgery. They gave him blood, taken from me of course, and stabilized him for the trip home. Right now, he was heavily sedated. Fluids flowed through his body, replenishing his organs and thankfully he was breathing on his own.
I leaned back and closed my eyes. I was barely holding my shit together. From watching my house disintegrate, thinking I lost my family, to losing Jacks, to Malcolm holding on for dear life, Shane shot and now Misty MIA, I was surprised I was keeping it together.
“Landing in fifteen minutes,” announced the pilot of the Gulfstream of the speakers on the plane.
I gently ran my hand down my face and blew out a breath. The doctors looked me over, told me I’d live. I had a few broken ribs, two black eyes, and a broken nose they had to set. I also had a concussion, but I refused to stay in the hospital. Patterson has been watching me like a hawk, giving me fluids and making sure I didn’t have an aneurysm or something.
My head hurt like a son of bitch, my ribs were on fire, but other than that I was fine. My main concern was to land in D.C. and get my brother to the hospital. We then had to locate and find Misty. She was off the grid. The pilots from the helo that followed behind Perchenko landed in Rio. She told them she’d be back but never returned. Her phone wasn’t on and we had no idea how to track her.
I was worried. The way she left, the fear and murderous rage that camped out in her eyes made me on edge. When she got like that, when her alter ego surfaced, shit got bloody. The problem I had was the lack of support at her back. If anything happened to her I would never forgive myself. It would destroy my wife, my family and hers, but most of all it would destroy the man lying next to me.
I didn’t miss the love exchanged between the two of them before she left. I had never seen Misty that way. She didn’t care who was around, she kissed my brother as if she was pouring her entire being into him. The kiss wasn’t deep or long, but no one could miss the meaning behind it, the depth of the love she had for my brother. It hit me hard. It made me realize just how wrong I had been. I just hoped I had the opportunity to make it better.
We landed without fanfare. The Gulfstream taxied to a far away hanger and the engines shut down. The team grabbed my brother’s stretcher and slowly carried him down the steps. An ambulance was sitting idle, paramedic waiting next to the gurney ready to receive Shane. Stan put his arm around me and helped me down the steps. I looked up in time to see Misty’s dad climb out of the ambulance and stroll purposefully toward my brother.
Tears started to fill my eyes at seeing the man. Fuck the shit he does for my family, being there without hesitation no matter what, it filled my heart.
“Josh!”
I turned my face to my wife’s anguished voice. I saw her practically running toward me. Once my foot hit the last step, I moved away from Stan toward my wife. I jogged her way, ignoring the pain racking my body. I didn’t care. I needed her. I needed to feel her in my arms and the second she was close enough I lost my shit.
“Fuck, baby. God.” My voice trembled right along with my body.
I wrapped her in my arms and held her as tight as I could.
Her hands were everywhere, touching my face, running through my hair. She kissed me gently on my face and neck.
“I love you, Josh. I love you so much. I’m so sorry. Please forgive me. Please… I’ll never do that again. I promise you, please.” She was frantic with her words, tears streaming down her face, her breath hitching as she spoke.
“No, baby,” I pulled back and trapped her face in between my hands. “It’s me that’s sorry. I should have never spoken to you that way. I should have been home with you, protecting you. I love you so fucking much.”
I kissed her, delving my tongue between trembling lips. I didn’t care about the cut on my lip or that it bled. I needed to taste her, to have her.
My parents came up to me the moment I released Sweets and we embraced in tear-filled hugs, thankful to be home but worried for our family.
“Come on, son,” my father ordered gently, his arm was wrapped around my shoulder, holding me up. “Let’s get you to the hospital and checked out.”
“Malcolm?” I managed to ask over the tightness in my throat.
“Critical but stable. Let’s get you to see him.”
“Sounds good.” I rasped quietly.
Before I followed my family to their waiting cars, I caught sight of Junior standing off to the side, his eyes on us. I signaled to my family that I needed a minute and slowly made my way over to him.
Junior pushed off the wall and started walking my direction. We did the bro-hug quickly then stepped back from each other.
“You okay?” Junior asked and I didn’t miss the emotion in his voice.
“Yeah. Banged up but I’ll live. Listen, Misty is still out there. I need you to find her immediately. I don’t care how you do it or what it takes, you got me? Find her.”
Junior’s lips thinned to a tight line and gave me a determined nod. He squeezed my shoulder and left the hanger.
I had no doubt Junior would find her. It may have been hard to find Perchenko but finding our own would be a cinch. All he had to do was find a pile of bodies and she would be standing over them.
Misty
For the third time in my life, fear flowed through my veins.
I stared at the house through my windshield and shivered. On the outside, the house didn’t seem intimidating. It was festive, bright, beautiful.
The red and white Christmas lights around the roof, columns, and shrubs in front of the house brightened the night. There were lighted three-feet plastic candied-canes lined up along the walkway and a fat inflatable Santa that sat on the front lawn blowing in the cold wind. All that was needed to make this house a Hallmark card was snow.
I wiped my sweaty palms down the front of my thighs, feeling the thick material of my dress. It looked like a packed house. A few vehicles were crammed in the driveway, my parent’s car among them. I saw both Josh’s and Shane’s trucks among them. He was here, just on the other side of the door. I ran my hand through my short curly hair and gripped the back of my neck. I leaned my seat back and continued to watch the house. The fear that coursed through me spoke softly to me.
You’re not ready to see him, it said. Go back home and try again another time.
I snorted and rolled my eyes.
That voice has been saying that for two weeks now. I’ve allowed it to run my life long enough. It was high time I faced the music. High time I faced him.
I breathed out a long sigh, readying myself to open my car door, but I didn’t move.
A lot has happened between Shane and I and I wasn’t sure how to fix what I had broken or what to say to him.
Would you like an update? Here it goes…
First, I got him.
Yes, that’s right, I killed Perchenko.
I didn’t sni
pe him, although I thought about it. More than likely, if Misty was in charge of my actions, I would have found a nice faraway place a thousand yards out, maybe a parked barge in the ocean facing his hideaway. I would have brought his head in my line of sight and popped it like a balloon.
However, because I was feeling mean and vindictive and angry and murderous, I took him out up close and personal. I wanted him to know it was me that took his life. I wanted to see the surprise in his eyes, the incredulity on his face that I had the audacity to best him. Then I wanted to watch the life drain from his eyes.
I took my time with planning his demise. I wanted him comfortable. I wanted him to let his guard down and it took about a month for it to happen. Yup that’s right, I laid in wait for a month just to kill this fucker.
It was worth it though, believe me.
I had to exercise the art of patience. I walked around in the shadows of Brazil in disguise, waiting, planning. I cut my hair, changed its color altered my features and wore baggy clothes to add the illusion of weight on my frame. I didn’t have to worry about my eye color. I blended right in here and I knew the language enough to pass if I had to communicate, but I didn’t. I was there for a job and I aimed to complete it by any means necessary.
For weeks I watched his every move, learned when he ate, slept, bathed, took a shit. For a while, he surrounded himself with more security than was the norm for a scumbag like him. It was as if he felt my presence, felt me hunting him. But after a while, as with all arrogant pricks, he dropped the extra security. I wasn’t sure what was running through his mind. He had to know I was still out there watching and waiting.
Maybe he didn’t care. As I said he was an arrogant fucker. Maybe he figured he didn’t need a bunch of security to handle little ole me. The thing of it was, he had said that Emily had told him about me. If that were true, he would have been more prepared. He should have known just how deadly I could become when provoked. Nevertheless, his actions didn’t line with logic, with common sense.