Blind Reader Wanted

I have always hated close quarter ops, because there isn’t any time to think. The second it takes you to decide what to do, is the second the other guy takes you out.

I worked my way through the back rooms. There were more guards than we expected, there weren’t nearly enough to stop us. Our guns were silent. I listened as the gunfire slowed down, then ceased completely. I quickly surprised and dispatched two more guys as I cleared my way through to the basement.

The basement opened out onto the hill. There was a large landing pad painted green on the hill. It was empty right now, and there was probably no helicopter coming. Not now that our presence had been revealed way before the operation had a chance to really start. So we might not have got the main guys, but we got the shipment.

Oh, yes.

I stared for a moment at the boxes of guns. They formed a wall across the entire basement. It was a lot more than we had anticipated. How many were there? Well over a thousand, at least. Our job would be over when we torched everything and watched the inferno as we flew away.

Roger came into the room, clearing as he went. He saw me and relaxed. His low whistle cut through the silence when he saw the cache of weapons. He pointed to some boxes at one corner.

“Holy Fuck,” he breathed.

I looked. Holy fuck indeed: rocket launchers!

The surprise of it knocked us off our game, just for a split second, but that was all it took.

The shot came from behind Roger. I didn’t see the shooter, only his eyes bugging and the sudden gush of blood from his neck as he clutched it, and fell to the floor. I turned in the direction of the fire, and unloaded what I had left in my sidearm, switching to the rifle as I moved behind some boxes. A man dropped with a grunt, his gun clattering to the floor. Rage surged through me and I didn’t think as I buried seven shots into his prone body. He was gone to wherever he came from.

But Roger was on his way out too.

“Goddamn it! Medic, we need medical here,” I hollered, praying they would get here in time, knowing there was no way they would. I fell to my knees in the blood that was already spreading across the concrete and pulled Roger onto my lap. He looked up at me with those big, brown eyes with their sweep of lush eyelashes. We used to laugh at him. At his girl’s eyes. They were filling up with tears now.

“Motherfucker got me,” he gasped.

I put my hand on his neck to stem the bleeding. It helped a little, but not half enough. There was no way to save him.

“Roger,” I said, “Just hang on.”

He grabbed my arm. “Shut up and fucking listen,” he whispered, his voice already going.

I shook my head. “The medics are on their way.”

“I’m gone, man. I ain’t stupid.” He started to choke on his own blood.

I lifted his head. “Don’t talk,” I ordered.

“Listen to me,” he rasped, his hands grasping at my shirt. “It’s time to get out. We always said we would retire together, remember?”

Roger’s eyes filled with tears. “So we’re going to. We’re going to keep that promise, you fucking hear me, man? I’m leaving the service today. Right now. And when you’re done here, you are going to hang up those boots and that gun and you’re going home to live your life, man. We’re doing this together.”

“You’re not checking out,” I said, holding my hand against his neck, and watching the blood seep out, pooling underneath his head.

He took a breath that rattled in his throat. “It’s the beauty of wet work. One day you become it. Promise you won’t die like me. Like a fucking dog. There’s a reason those fraudulent cocksuckers don’t send their own sons to do this work. Promise me!”

By now the tears were running down my face, too.

It’s my dying wish,” he insisted.

I swallowed the stone in my throat. “Okay, Roger, I promise.”

He smiled and coughed. Fuck, a whole cup of blood. It went all over my arm and clothes.

“You deserve something good and sweet, man. You deserve to have a little something for yourself. Remember … remember when we used to say we wanted to retire to a beach … and drink beer and hit on girls half our age?”

I nodded.

“Today’s the day, my friend. The beer will be so cold it’ll fucking hurt, and the sun will always shine, and the women will always think I’m way sexier than you.”

I took a deep breath and watched his eyes drift closed. “I’ve got a woman,” I whispered.

His eyes opened slowly. “No shit?” he asked faintly.

“She’s beautiful.”

Roger gave me the sweetest smile. “You give her a kiss and drink a beer for me.”

“I will.”

“Tell Marla the truth. She deserves to know why I did what I did.”

“I will,” I promised.

“Yeah, I should have told her. Tell her I love her.”

He closed his eyes.

“You can’t sugarcoat shit, man,” he whispered, his hands letting go of my shirt.

There was no fanfare. There was just one more breath, and then a silence that stretched on too long … far too long. And just like that, my best friend was gone.

Forty-three

Lara

“I’ve always thought you were a bit soft in the head,” Elaine said.

“Thanks,” I replied.

“No, I’m serious.”

“You’re not funny, Elaine.”

“I wasn’t trying to be funny.”

“I’m soft in the head simply because I’ve just changed my mind about Kit?” No, I didn’t tell her about the black ops stuff because, of course, it was a secret and Elaine, bless her heart, was not someone you told your secrets to since it would cause her incredible pain to keep it to herself, and why would I want to do that to her when I loved her?

“Not because you’ve changed your mind, but because the reason you’ve given me for breaking up is just pathetic. Is it shark week?”

I sighed. “No, it’s not that time of the month.”

“Then what?” she pressed.

“What’s so pathetic about a couple who realize that they are apples and oranges? We both want different things,” I said, and hoped she’d be sensitive enough to stop prying anymore. I was already very sad and I wasn’t in the mood for a thorough interrogation session with Elaine.

She didn’t buy my excuse for a second. “You were in love with him a day ago!” she shot back immediately.

“Well, I’ve changed my mind.”

“Well, I don’t believe you.”

“Well, that’s fine by me. Now can we just drop it?”

“No, I’m not dropping it. This is important. You could be making the biggest mistake of your life.”

“It was just a little fling, Elaine. It didn’t mean anything.”

“Bullcaca! That makes about as much sense as tits on a tree! Stop lying. It’s me, Elaine, your best friend from the time we were walking around with diapers full of poo.”

I leaned my head against my hand. Honestly, I was dying to tell her everything and cry on her shoulder, but I couldn’t. I couldn’t betray Kit’s secret.

“Did you argue?” she probed.

“Nope.”

“Really?” Her voice was disbelieving.

“Maybe a small one.”

“What about?”

“He wanted me to do something that I didn’t want to.”

She drew in a sharp breath. “It was sexual?”

“My God, Elaine. Will you give it a break?”

“So it was sexual!”

I shook my head in exasperation. Maybe I should make something up that would satisfy her. Otherwise, I’d never hear the end of this. I tried to conjure up some perverted thing, but my mind was blank and numb.

“You might as well tell me. I am your best friend in the whole world. Besides, a trouble shared is a trouble halved.”

“Stop nagging, Elaine.”