“Ana, your path was exactly right,” I whispered to her as we ducked down in the ditch to let a car go by.
“I thought you didn’t like it.”
“It was the right way to go. You thought it through and I’m impressed with your skills.”
Ana seemed to lighten up slightly with my admission that she had the right path, but I could still see a little anger in her eyes. This was just another reason why women didn’t need to be in the field with men; they held onto grudges and made things into a big deal when they didn’t have to be. Any guy I would have been working with wouldn’t have even needed me to apologize. We just kept moving with the right path and no one had to answer to anything.
“What happens when we get to the airport?” Ana asked.
“We will give everyone over to the Red Crescent so they can coordinate their travel with the oil company and you and I will join Baller and Sandbag and head home. We might have to wait a little bit for the clearance to remove Rake’s body, but the Red Crescent will help with that as well.”
“Okay,” Ana replied as we all got back up and continued down the road.
Women were finicky creatures and most I hadn’t ever bothered to try and manage for more than a few days. But I liked Ana and I was determined for us to figure out some sort of middle ground so she was happy and I wasn’t going totally insane worrying about her all the time.
As we got within a mile of the airport, I decided there was no need to continue hiding from oncoming traffic. We stayed together and walked quickly over the last mile until we reached the drive leading up to the airport.
Suddenly, the whole group exploded into applause and cheers. It was an exciting moment and the energy among everyone was insane as we walked the last few feet up to the airport entrance and over to where the Red Crescent was waiting for us.
One of the young men came straight over to Ana and hugged her. It must have been the one who helped her get into the city. My initial idea was to punch him in the face for bringing her into such a dangerous area. But I knew it wasn’t his fault. Ana was a hard woman to resist, and I knew very few men in the world who could have said no to any request she would have made of them.
“I’m so happy you made it,” the Red Crescent guy said as he hugged her.
“It was pretty intense and we lost one of our guys. But we are here. Can you bring these ladies to meet up with the rest of their families?” Ana asked.
It was odd that I was left standing to the side of Ana as she talked with the man. Did they not understand that I was really the one in charge? But since I hated dealing with the diplomatic end of a job, I let Ana continue on talking with the man and getting everyone reunited.
“I’ve got everyone waiting in one of the large rooms down the hall. You should bring them. I think they’d like that,” the man said. “It’s pretty amazing what you did here, Ana. I’m impressed.”
“Thanks so much,” Ana replied.
I stayed out in the main area while Ana brought everyone back to see their families. But as the last person was brought down the hallway, I quickly decided that I too wanted to go and see the reunion. It wasn’t everyday that you got to see the kind of joy that was going to happen between the families and something told me I should soften up a bit and go watch.
When I got there, I stood in the doorway and watched the families as they reunited. The men hugged their wives and picked up their children in excitement. Even the teenage children were hoisted off the ground.
The pure joy that radiated from the room had me smiling as I watched them. It wasn’t at all what I had expected to feel after a mission that had lost me one of my friends. But the people we helped were going to live new lives that they couldn’t have even expected to have before we came in and helped them. Without what we had done, they would have surely been killed.
“Is that a
smile I see on your face?” Ana asked as she stood in front of me.
“No, it’s just a grimace from my old knee injury,” I teased.
“Because if I didn’t know better, I would have thought you actually had a heart, and maybe even a soul.”
“I’ve got a heart. Why do you think I worry so much about you? I know it would devastate me if anything happened to you.”
Ana smiled at my words and I couldn’t help but grab her and pull her close to me. My body lusted for her every second she was near me. Even while we were running through the streets of Damascus, I still wanted to throw her down and fuck her right there in the streets.
As she leaned against me, I had to reach down and adjust my throbbing member so I was in a better position and more comfortable.
“Is that a banana in your pocket or are you just happy to see me?” Ana teased as she subtlety let her hand rub up and down the front of my pants.
“Oh, girl, you better stop that or I’m going to find a place to have my way with you.”
Ana jokingly kept rubbing my cock and teased me. Most likely because she didn’t believe I would have access to a place to be alone with her. But she didn’t know how resourceful I could be when I really wanted to.
“Hey,” I yelled out to the guy that Ana had been talking to. “Do you have a small, private room that we could finish up our paperwork in? We have a few hours before we can get a flight home.”