Iris (Mike Bravo Ops 1)

“Exactly. It’s why the couple of relationships I have tried, I’ve inevitably been too absent. Too secretive. Even when I’m around.”

“I’m glad I’ve never tried to have a relationship, then.”

“You haven’t? Not even after you came out of your steel trap closet?”

“Oh, I made up for lost time after that happened, but I had nothing serious.”

“Fair enough. It’s what I would’ve done too.”

“Do …” I look down at my food. “I mean, do you like being in a relationship? I kind of pictured you as the eternal bachelor type if I’m honest.”

“There’s a lot you probably assumed about me that isn’t correct. I love my job. I love everyone at Mike Bravo. But coming home to an empty house sucks. I can’t even get a puppy because I might have to leave at the drop of a hat, and I’d have no one to look after it while I’m gone. I want someone to come home to, but finding someone who understands what I do and why I do it, it seems impossible.”

I’ve always been about the job, so I can’t really relate to Iris’s situation, but I can relate to being lonely. Almost dying and finding out the only ones who cared are a group of complete strangers … it made me realize how truly isolated I’ve been for a long time. I think the government secretly likes all us military guys to be that way. The fewer connections we have, the more expendable we are.

It’s the same reason the CIA likes to recruit people with no families.

Connections get messy when fighting a war, and it’s preferable to not have to choose between honoring your country and choosing your family.

Or maybe that’s my bitter, discarded ass thinking that way. There are plenty of soldiers with large families who make it work.

“Trav told me to tell you to take the time to get your bearings to your new place. There’s a gym in the basement, not much food in the house, but there’s a store back down the hill. Maybe you can work on building your strength up by running up and down it.”

“I’ll be back to kicking your ass by the time you get home if I did that, and I don’t think you’ve had enough time to gloat yet about being better than me. I will take one for the team and only go for the essentials.”

Iris smiles and stands. “On that note, I need to go. I’ll see you in a few days.”

I guess this is really happening. I live here now.

With Iris.

Why did I think this was a good idea?

While Iris is away, I work out really quickly that there’s not much to do around here. He’s been gone for almost a week, and I’ve already checked out the rest of the land, walked up the ridge of his property to where solar panels are on top of the hill, tried to help him out by tending to his vegetable garden, but it’s on a self-sufficient cycle of automatic timers for water and a spray system of chemicals to keep bugs off the food.

Today, I opt to spend my time in the home gym. I’ve been down here a couple of times over the last seven days, but only put in enough effort to get a little sweaty. Today, I’m going to go all out. I’m that bored.

But I’ve barely started on the rowing machine when I notice one of the panels in the wall in front of me has a fault—a chip and a slightly raised edge.

Being the Good Samaritan that I am, I decide to fix it for him. It’ll give me something to do, and having to ditch my workout is a bonus.

I make my way into the next room, which I thought was the garage—not the one built into the hill, the one that came with the house—and that’s where I find Iris’s stash. Everything from wall-mounted automatic rifles down to the lightweight and compact pistols and everything in between. Grenades, knives, armor, ammo. It’s like a big kid’s toy room.

I’ve done my best not to go snooping through Iris’s house, and I think I deserve a medal for taking this long to start, but there’s not going to be any spackle in here to fix the wall.

Now, if I were Iris, where would I hide my house supplies? I back out slowly and search the laundry, but there’s nothing.

Then I hit the kitchen. All week, I’ve walked past the second pantry that has a padlock on it and thought it must’ve been his locked safe for his weapons.

Clearly, that’s not the case.

I don’t think the supplies I’m looking for will be in there, but I have to try.

I lift the basic combination lock and try his birthday, but that doesn’t work. Other possible combinations could be endless, but this is Iris we’re talking about, so I try 69-69.