Chapter 1
Cole
For several minutes, all I saw around me was the flash of gunfire. It was dark and the shots looked like fireworks blowing up in the air.
The sound of crying was in the air too. Were those children’s voices? Women’s?
We had our orders and we had to keep on shooting. It came to me naturally, like breathing or eating. I didn’t have to think or plan to know which way to aim and fire, how far to go and where to crouch. We were heading, stealthily, making good progress beyond their armed security and slowly making our way to the inner lair.
The others followed me. There were six of them, they were relying on my better judgment and I was relying on the intelligence that was given to me.
This is where they were hiding. The two men who were plotting another terror attack. We’d been trying to intercept their plans for over seven months and now we finally had them. We knew their exact location.
They needed a crew on the ground and we were the best unit for the job. I considered it an honor and my duty to follow through and that was exactly what we were going to do.
We were not getting out of this place without having obliterated the terrorists. But why was there the sound of children’s cries screeching in the air?
I barked out orders. Someone said there was a kid. I repeated my orders. There were no kids here. Not according to the intelligence that was given to us. This location was supposed to be free of civilian lives. There were going to be no civilian casualties.
Those voices we were hearing were just people screaming; terrorists. Motherfucking terrorists who were going to harm our country. I didn’t look in any direction but straight ahead, running forward in the direction of the sounds.
“Sir! Recon! We should do a recon first, Sir!” I heard voices behind me. These guys didn’t know what they were talking about. If we didn’t hit now and if we didn’t take them by surprise, it would be too late. We would have lost our opportunity to get these motherfuckers.
I kept charging ahead, firing ahead and my men followed me. I trusted the intelligence that was given to us like it was our Holy Bible. Why would they lie? There was no way they could be wrong either.
This was where they were hiding. We were going to get them and then we were going to fulfill our mission—bringing them back to Guantanamo alive.
My men’s voices drowned around me like white noise. I heard nothing when I kicked in that door. Within a split second, I knew exactly what that dark damp room looked like. Three adults, males, one female, one child and I fired.
My men must have appeared around me at some point and they were firing too. Were those men firing back? I couldn’t feel it. I could have been hit too. I didn’t know.
But the one thing I did know was that the kid was hurt. He was on the ground and now I was running through fire to get to him.
***
I woke up in a cold sweat and for a moment I thought I was chained to my bed. I looked down at my hands and they were free. I blinked, trying to get my eyes to adjust to the darkness. I didn’t know where I was.
Was this my home? Where was my home?
I couldn’t remember if I had a home anymore.
I still felt chained though, trapped. When I looked down at my chest I saw there were wires and tubes sticking out of me. I was shirtless. I was thirsty.
“What the fuck…”
I was groggy and lost and I started pulling the tubes. There was some blood spilling out of me, just from the scabs that the tubes had left. I stumbled when I jumped out of bed and something like a metal tray had been stationed beside me which I now knocked over and instruments clattered to the ground.
Someone pulled a curtain and a woman made a sudden appearance. Seemingly out of nowhere in the dark.
“Sir, you cannot get out of bed right now, please lay back down.”
She had a sweet angelic voice and a sweet angelic face.
“Who are you?” I whispered hoarsely. I could barely recognize my own voice.
“I’m here to take care of you, Mr. Simpson,” she replied and before I even realized what was happening, she was tucking me into the bed again.
“Mister…?”
I hadn’t been referred to as a mister in forever. Things were still pretty foggy around me and I stared at her while she tried to poke me with those tubes again.
“Where am I?” I growled, nearly choking on my own voice again.
“You’re in the hospital, Mr. Simpson. Everything is going to be alright. You’re just in shock.”
“I’m not in shock. I’m fucking fine!” I growled and tried to pull the wires out of me again but she kept me pinned to the bed. Somehow, she was way stronger than me. How was that even possible? Where had all my strength gone?
“You need to calm down or we’ll have to restrain you again.”
“Restrain me? Restrain me from what?”
“From hurting yourself, Sir,” she replied in a low whispery voice. I barely heard her she was so soft.
Before she could move away from me, I grabbed her wrist and yanked her to myself.
“Let me go!” She screeched but I wasn’t about to let her go anywhere. Not until I had my answers.
“Where am I and what is happening to me?” I growled through gritted teeth.
“Jesus! Let her go!”
This time it was a man who appeared out of nowhere, then another one and they were holding me back. The woman had slipped away and I felt powerless again. Then there was a sting on my arm and very quickly everything was going dark.