Time seemed to stand still as all eyes were on me and I couldn’t move fast enough to get off that damn truck. Suddenly the soldier grabbed my hand and effortlessly guided me towards him. With him in charge I seemed to float easily and gracefully.
I followed his lead without protest and practically swan dived into his huge chest as he easily wrapped both arms around me. He lowered me down off the truck slowly and steadily. He didn’t let go even after my feet were firmly planted on solid ground.
I instinctively held my breath as I finally got my first good look at him. He had intense blue-grey eyes, like the way I imagine a wolf’s eyes would be, but the rest of his face was rather sweet looking. Especially his lips, they were pale pink and full, almost juicy. His jaw was strong and matched his huge shoulders and broad chest.
Just before he let me go, our faces inches apart, he winked and half-smiled cheekily at me—a wave of warm excitement rushed through my body and I opened my mouth to say something but he was already back to all business. He let me go and walked away.
“I, um, thank you,” I said, basically to myself because the soldier was already tapping the top of the truck’s cab, signaling to the driver to get going.
I stood in the road for a moment, watching my chaperone drive away.
Nine
Axel
Damn that girl was cute, I thought. No, not cute. Something else. She was sexy but not over the top… what’s the word I’m looking for? Authentic-looking and natural, I think. A classic beauty but with an element of mystery. Something wild beneath the surface. Yes, that’s it. Wild.
As though she never belonged to anyone or anything. A true force of nature. Something was pulling me towards her. I wondered why I had never noticed her before. How long had she been here? Her eyes were so green and clear and her lips—aw man her lips were so—what the hell am I saying?
Focus, Axel.
This isn’t the time.
The remaining passengers were all dropped off. I had to report to my contact ASAP to share the intel I’d gained that day as well as receive my next assignment under the cover of Operation: Chaperone. There was no time to be thinking about some chick reporter. I scolded myself and got my head back in the game.
“Axe,” my contact said as we shook hands firmly and nodded to each o
ther.
We always met in the same place: the Green Zone had a small café near the medical facility. It was mostly visited by the military medics and hospital staff who were too tired and over-worked to care about the quality of the coffee. To anyone walking by we were just two soldiers having a chat. No one ever really seemed to noticed us.
“Sir,” I stood at attention until he motioned for me to sit.
He nodded to the chair beside him and I sat down and asked for water from the server. My contact always drank Orange Fanta. He said it was the only thing he trusted in the entire country other than his men and his guns. I respected him immensely. After all, he wasn’t just some middle man I reported to, he was a highly-decorated soldier and a good man. He was my mentor and I owed everything to him. I was still in school when he hand-picked me out of oblivion and groomed me for a role in the Elite Force Protectors.
There were only six of us worldwide at any given time—always working alone except for our on-site contacts—and when the higher ups rolled out Operation: Chaperone, a fake escort mission that would gain me access to The Fear Division’s network of safe houses in The Red Zone—my contact made sure it was me who was chosen. I wanted to update him on the small bit of intel I had gained that day but he stopped me.
“Axe, Operation: Chaperone is on pause.”
I calmly took a sip of my water and nodded but inside I was completely shocked. What!? Why?! His words angered me but I showed no reaction—exactly as I had been trained. How could this be happening? Before I had time to think, my contact leaned in.
“Today I received word from the highest source that…” he looked around ever so slightly to make sure we were truly alone before proceeding in code, “precious cargo at the micro level has been compromised.”
“Fuck,” I let it slip out.
“Fuck indeed, kiddo,” my contact finished his Orange Fanta and patted me firmly on the back as he got up to leave. “You head out in three days. Details TBD. We’ll talk again later.”
Precious cargo…
Micro level…
Compromised…
The entire tonnage of what my contact had just revealed to me in only a few words made me furious. But I couldn’t react. This is what I trained for. This is what I was built for. It was in my blood. I sat at the table for a couple more minutes composing myself and sipping water slowly.
Keep it together, Axe, I thought.
But I couldn’t just keep it together.