Tenacity

book one

By: Benjamin Queue

When the world goes to hell because of small groups of terrorist cells, true heroes come out to show their spirits. With global terror at an all time high, a group of soldiers fights to hold onto what dreams they have left for themselves and their families. Terrorist societies have taken over several countries and their weaponry, the heads of these organizations are threatening nuclear attacks if they don't receive appraisal. To make matters worse several countries under UN have broken out in Civil war, denying any hope of aid to the people of the countries held by the terrorist organizations. While the world is in chaos, men and women in the UN nations volunteer to fight for what they think is right. In the midst of the surge of troops, several nations under the UN have collaborated a new joint task force known simply as the "Fall guys".

The unit's commanders created the group and are risking everything for the success of the unit, if anything went wrong from the unit that the men in it would be discharged and black listed. So the reality of the situation was that the soldiers had to be perfect, and their enemy knew of the situation through corruption in governments. This is the story of one such soldier, not a major player in the unit by any means, but a survivor, a true testament to tenacity

Beginning of hell

I was looking out the window on a large commercial aircraft, maybe a 747, hell I didn't join the military to know civilian commercial airliners. I passed recruit training for the marines at MCRD San Diego, to some it would be known as camp Pendleton, California. I passed that before the shit hit the fan, and shortly afterward I was sent to infantry training in twenty nine palms. I passed the training, and was deployed in Afghanistan. There I received a request to enter Recon, I accepted thinking that I could be that much more of a bad ass. I was somewhat right, I was shipped back state side and put in training again, then shipped to Fort Benning, Georgia for jump school. Passed and thrown into a unit then shipped to another foreign country that I couldn't pronounce the name of if I tried.

A few months afterward my unit was put into a rotation to go to training for MARSOC certification. Most of the unit passed, and those that didn't were kept in recon, but the ones that passed, myself included, were officially special forces troops. We turned in our standard gear and were issued different gear. I received a letter about a month ago sending my lucky ass to New Mexico.

Now, I'm sitting on a plane sitting with about seventy or more people, most with Army and Navy Multi-cam. I was in my MARPAT fatigues. I saw several CADPAT uniforms, and I thought I saw some girls on the bird, but then again most of the women in spec ops are crazy as shit and not a good idea to talk to especially with the ones in the SEALs. I learned that the hard way in a bar in San Diego, after about eight hundred dollars in damage, and a trip to the infirmary from glass cuts to various areas of my arms and face.

So I was glad that I didn't see any of them to set them off like a fucking land mine. I pulled out a piece of paper that I had for a letter to my fiance in my home town in the southern area of Indiana. I read over what I had written down to figure out the idea I had for writing her. I pulled down the tray on the back of the seat in front of me, pulled out a pencil and started writing down why I couldn't come home for her graduation, what I was aloud to say at least.

One guy walked up along the isle and crouched to eye level with me, and started talking, "Hey, Specialist Micheal Seivers. I'm one of the new tech guys for the unit, just trying to figure out where in New Mexico we are going to." I looked over at him, set my pencil down and looked at him.

"Kid, as far as you need to know, we are going to grandma's. I'm not one of the Tech guys, I'm one of the ground pounders."

Seivers nodded and walked off. I picked the pencil back up and started back up on writing my finance.

I know, I know most of you that are reading would think that I'm a straight up ass, that's not completely wrong, but that question has been floating around since we found ourselves sitting in the same cabin for the Non commission officers, to you civies that don't know what an NCO is, it is any rank where you lead troops and still have an E on the rank. Basically anything sergeant and above for Army and Marines, and Petty officers for the Navy.

I guess it's time where I give you my name since you know the basics of my career and one of my co-workers. I am Sergeant Jeremiah O'Brian. I've been in the Marines for almost three years, put into recon around the middle of my first year, got in MARSOC around the beginning of my second year, and in nearly four months, I will have the date where I graduated boot camp in camp Pendleton.

I finished what I had to write, and signed at the bottom. I folded it up, and slipped it into an envelope. I slid the envelope between tablet screen and scratch protector for the screen, pulled out my five year old mp3 player and put it on one of the bands I grew up listening to from my mom and dad before they split shortly after my sister's birth. I closed my eyes and enveloped myself in the music, and got a view of my fiance's face, and my mind traced off picturing her smile, hearing her laugh, how she looks at up at me when my forehead is against her's, all of the good things that I could remember.

As the plane started to orbit for a landing, I came out of my day dream, and turned off the music player. I sighed, and put my bag in the overhead. I sat back down and pulled the seat belt to a clasp. One of the guys, I think one of the older NCOs said, "Now look y'all ain't got to be worried about a plane crash, none of yah's is important enough to die in a plane wreck." A few laughs were heard, and I'm pretty sure some of the new guys, at least the ones who were never on a plane were about ready to piss themselves.

The plane landed, and we were taxied to a terminal for offloading. Once we were free to offload, I unbuckled and grabbed my things from the overhead and moved to the front with another NCO, and we called out giving the details of what we were going to be doing. Moving from the plane to a bus in the lower terminal, unfortunately our unit received some publicity from a recent op with stopping a Nuke from crossing the Mexican border about a month ago, so there were paparazzi around trying to get pictures. We gave the troops the explicit orders of no speaking to the camera men and women.

We let them off, and did a check for sleepers, none, a good day. We stepped off, and moved to the bus parked out of the main lobby, where the lobby was filled, minus a line held by police officers. We started to the door in columns of twos. I looked over as one of the officers ducked down yelling, then I heard a deafening crack, and a white flash, followed by three vibrations through the ground. As my vision came to, I saw the majority of the men on the ground, bleeding, and crying. I looked over at one of the police officers, bleeding from the neck, with a death stare from his eyes. I staggered, crawling to the officer, and saw men with Kalashnikov rifles and bandanas covering their faces. I continued, and pulled his pistol from the holster, and pocketed his two extra magazines, I looked back at the group moving through the crowds, firing on the living. I sighted the pistol, checked the safety, off. Not the best idea for a police man, but a convenience for me. I sighted on one man, and predicted a line for where another would investigate why his buddy was dead. I fired at the first man, hitting him in the neck, and sighted the second, and fired two rounds into the shoulder of the second guy. I rolled, and sighted another guy, firing another two rounds, one grazing his neck.

I rolled again, and knocked one of them over, I put a round into his lower jaw, and another in his temple. I saw some of the airport security men rush over, and the five or six remaining guys with Kalashnikov rifles started to double back to get out. I stood up and sighted one of them ushering the others out, I fired two rounds, one in the upper thigh, and another at the diaphragm.

As the airport security took off in pursuit of the attackers, I sifted through the bodies, looking for my troops, and anyone alive. As I found the men that were dead, I pulled off the removable tag, and placed it in my shoulder pocket, I mentally kept a list of the guys that died, remembering their deeds that I watched. Of the thirty men that were in that plane, seven were dead from the explosion, gun shots, or blood loss, each one a brother.

"Earlier today there was a terrorist attack against a flight of troops returning home from deployment, forty two dead, one hundred thirty six wounded, so far no one has taken responsibility for the bombing. Of the dead are service men that not two months ago stopped a WMD from crossing our boarder in Mexico last month. Further details will be provided as they come to light"

Returning to base, my CO, a french foreign legion Captain with a no bull shit attitude was stomping down the hall toward us yelling in french obscenities at the men who were escorting us with MP7 sub machine guns. He beckoned me to follow him to his office, I followed and when we got in his office he looked at me and asked with his touch of a french accent, "How did you let this happen? Seven of our men dead, three critically injured. Tell me sergeant, how is it that on all other missions I send you on, you come back with all hands, and no injuries, but I bring you to base and you loose ten of the men for good."

I said firmly, "We had no idea that we would be bombed, sir."

He said, "But you were, you are in the Premiere special forces, you should expect to be attacked when there are so many that you piss off." The Captain sat down and said, "This unit gave you a second chance, no?"

I nodded and said, "My enlistment was going to be terminated if not for this unit, sir."

He said, "Then you understand the importance of the situation, we need to find who bombed the airport, and where the bomb came from."

I said, "We'll get men on it ASAP, sir." He nodded then waved me off, and picked up his phone, I walked to the barracks and saw my two bags, and gun case, I unloaded the duffel bag, and put my cloths in the foot locker, and my electronics on my desk, due to the lack of security with phones, we were prohibited from having phones on base to keep the location of our base a relative secret. I pulled out the government issue tablet that I received on entry to special operations. I got to the video call function, and looked down my list, and selected the icon of my fiancee, and the home computer was off, I left a message saying that I was fine, and that I was sorry that I couldn't make it home.

I closed off my tablet, and set it to lock down, then checked my gear, putting my pistol holster on my thigh, and put the pistol in the holster, loading a magazine in. I stood up, placing my head set on, and switched it to the command frequency in case I received a call for a mission. I saw my team's items on their cots, with my boots, utility trousers, and a black t-shirt on, I walked to the mess hall. Walking down to the mess, I found a couple tech guys for the intelligence group of our unit, I walked past them, and gave them a curt wave when a couple of them waved to me. I went through the line, and got a meal, good old food, even better that we had no idea what the fuck it was.

I sat at the table that my team was usually at, almost half the team was at the table, the others, I don't know. Five guys were laughing, and drinking on various cans of soda and all from 4th platoon. I sat down, and one of our guys, Mason Cash, said, "Mornin sergeant."

I looked at him, and said, "I didn't think this was possible, but Cash got stupider than he was in Mexico" I started to smile and Cash chuckled, flipping me the bird. I said, "Cash, it's one in the afternoon, it's not morning any more you dumb shit"

Damien "Hoot" Iminachio, Crimson's point man, said, "Lighten up on him sergeant, they can't see the sun past them big buildings in Brooklyn." He smiled and Cash shook his head smiling.

I laughed, and said, "Yeah, but on a more serious note, we're going to be put back in the field soon, the bomb that went off in the airport is going to need to be answered for, we have 10 dead brothers, and we will avenge them. No word on how we are going to go through with it, but we will be the reaction force. I'll forward the message when we get an update." I took the fork and scooped up the main course, weird texture, but edible.

James "Bishop" Hooker said, "What about the rest of the guys sergeant? I mean Mako and Steel lost members, wont they want in on it?" Hooker got his name from how he preached to the guys, and back state side he was a religious official.

I looked up from my food and said, "That's the officers choice, but I'd love for Mako and Steel to get their revenge on the shits. Just not my call Bish. Jam, you good for an op in a couple days?"

Benjamin "Jamin Joe" Marcus looked up from cutting at his bandage on his forearm, "Hell yeah sergeant."

I nodded, and took another bite from the tray of food. One of the guys, Ray "Rat" McHenry sat down and started to eat as well, Rat said, "Food here is still shit, at least some things stay the same."

He looked up, and I shook my head, then said, "Never stopped you from eating it Rat"

He smiled, took another bite, and said, "And it never will sergeant."

I shook my head, and a guy walked up and asked, "Sorry to bother you, but I was told to report to Cobalt team."

I put my fork down, and looked at bishop, "I thought you said my parers would be answered Bishop, fucking liar" I added a sarcastic tone and a smile to it, producing a couple laughs from the team, and then looked at the new kid, and looked at the new kid, and said, "I'm sergeant O'Brian, team leader, I'll go through introductions when you get to the room for bunking, you are?"

He said, "Lance corporal Romero Sanchez"

I nodded, looked to Bishop, and said, "If Rat touches my food the wrath of God will seem like a bull shit comedy." I stood up, and motioned for Sanchez to follow me, he rolled his shoulder and followed me, I lead him to the bunk room, and said, "Pick an empty cot, we have two guys that aren't here, but so far you've seen Hoot, Rat, Bishop, Cash, Jam, and my self, the two guys we have out are Sinner and Mick."

He looked at me, quirked an eyebrow, and asked, "How did these guys get their names?"

I said, "Long story, just ask them when you get a chance, under any circumstances apart from combat operations, I am to be called sergeant, on combat ops I am Mule. Our sister team is Crimson, Ensign Mike "Rust" Taylor is the platoon leader and Crimson's commander. You're rifle will come in a couple days to the armory."

He nodded, and dropped his gear on a bunk. I said, "While you get unpacked, I'll be going back to the mess." I walked out before seeing if he said anything, and I trotted back to the mess, wanting to finish my food before we were kicked out of the mess hall. I sat down, and Rat was gone, I sat where I was and finished my meal. Bishop stood up as I finished, and headed off, I took my tray to the wash counter, and placed the tray, plates, and the silverware in the appropriate stacks.

I walked back into the team's quarters, and grabbed my rifle case, checking the rifle inside, my trusted ACR. I had the entire kit in the soft case, but I kept the 7.62 receiver and standard length barrel on it from my last mission, I checked the sights, being sure that they were as they should be. I checked the bolt, making sure it slid as it was supposed to. It did, and the paint wear on the rifle was getting significant, I adjusted the angled fore grip, and the infrared laser on the barrel, then checked the tactical light on the other side. All components functioning as they should, I put the rifle back in the case, and walked down to the armory for some rounds, and then went to the range, and loaded the bullets into the magazines.

I had three magazines, and all fully loaded with twenty rounds. I loaded a magazine into the rifle, and lifted it to my shoulder, pointing it down range at a paper target. I clicked of the safety, and loaded a bullet into the chamber, sighted up the rifle, and fired, hitting the paper two rings up and right. I adjusted, and fired again, hitting half on half off center, and started my succession, firing in a grouping about the size of a half folded dollar bill. I loaded the second magazine into the rifle, and fired more rounds at my target, quickly expending the second magazine, and feeling it in my shoulder from the heavier rounds. As I pulled out the second magazine, my headset gave a high pitch tone telling me I was getting a call. I pressed the accept button, and our intelligence girl came over the set saying, "Sergeant, we've found out who is behind the bombings, and you're not going to like what we have to say."

I clicked to send my reply, "What do you have for me?"

She said, "I have all the paperwork that you conveniently forget to fill out, but then again for the information I have the bomb maker, group who bought it, and group who transported it."

I smiled at the first part, then put on a more somber facial expression, clicking the com-piece, and said, "Who and what ma'am?"

She said, "Both Crimson and Cobalt are required for briefing, you'll find out when everyone else does honey."

I partially cursed her deep south background for the overly compassionate responses. I asked, "When?"

She said, "Five mikes."

I said, "Got it, see you in the briefing."

She chuckled and cut the line. I gave my rifle a quick clean, and put it back in the hard case. I pulled the bullets from the last magazine, and put them in a pouch so that they could be used later. I told the guys that we had to go, Sinner and Mick got in right as I stepped into the room. We walked to the briefing room as a loose formation delta almost, Crimson was already inside. All of us having been serving in the special forces, we forget to salute until we are in uniform. We took our seats at the table, and the intelligence officer walked in, the five six Amanda "Eclipse" Booth. She tapped some files on the desk, walking in in her typical "work cloths" a button up shirt and knee length skirt. She said, "Gentlemen. Glad to see you all here, as you know, several of our men were killed from a blast in the airport as they got off a plane. Now, we have found out from our Ballistic experts that the bomb was of the type that that are common in the middle east from the Taliban. Our sources indicate that the bomb passed through several hands, we know of one who is a large time arms dealer in Columbia, he has heavy ties in the Cartel's that supply drugs, women and guns to who ever pays the right price."

She placed her hands on a laptop computer, typed some commands, and shown a set of pictures, I looked at the common feature of the pictures, a middle age man, probably $800 dollar suit, tan completion, black to gray beard, graying black hair. She said, "This is Huran Corvus. He has a large villa about eight kilometers from Santa Marta," She typed a few more keys, and a satellite surveillance image came up of the villa. She continued, "He spends most of his time at the villa, we need reconnaissance there, but the CIA won't allow us their assets in country, so Cobalt, this is your part for now, you will be watching his comings and goings and mapping out what he does. I want audio and video taps, guard numbers, and ways of entry or escape"

I nodded, and she pulled a stray strand of hair from her face to behind her ear, then continued, "After Cobalt has performed a recon mission on the place, Crimson and Cobalt will infiltrate the compound, capture Corvus alive, and unharmed. Get what intelligence you can there, but that is a secondary objective. Corvus is the whole package, and we need him so that we can get information on the bomb makers. If you miss this then we may as well forget about taking them down."

Ensign Taylor asked, "Mam, with our information as it is, how can we insure the safety of our teams and make sure that our situation wont be compromised?"

She said, "We have permission from the columbian President, and several high up officials to run the op, we have a fighter wing from the Uss Nimitz is on stand by in the area, they are your panic button, so be easy with calling them in. The good thing is that none of the information has trickled down, we will be dropping you in from the Nimitz via one of her radar birds."

I nodded and she dismissed us, by telling us when we ship out, three days from now we are on the ship, and two hours after that, we're in the air.

I walked to the team's quarters, and I pulled out the tablet, tracked to the video messages, put my head phones on, and pressed the play button, it went full screen, showing a still of my fiance sitting holding our daughter, smiling at the monitor. The message started, and I heard her voice, sweet, feminine and at a higher pitch saying, "Hello dear, we just wanted to call and tell you that Carrie said her first word today." she looked to our daughter, Carina, that we nicknamed Carrie for simplicity's sake, and smiled, then looked back at the monitor and said, "While we were eating lunch, she slapped down on the tray from the high chair exclaiming, ' wove!'"

I smiled as I watched, Carrie lifting up her hands and throwing them down on her lap saying, "Wove!"

My fiance, Brianna started giggling, then looked to the screen, and started, "She reminds me more and more of you every day. We can't wait to see you again. Love you, call us soon." she looked down at Carrie and picked up her hand, Carrie's smile widened and she started giggling, and Brianna looked back at the screen and started waving Carrie's hand and said, "Good bye dear."

The video ceased, and it went back to the first image, I backed to the home screen, then shut down the device and put the head phones and tablet back on the stand. I put my palms to my eyes and rubbed my eyes. Bishop walked in and asked, "Long day of disapointment?"

I nodded, and he said, "Happens a lot with our line of work." He patted my shoulder, then went to his cot, sat down and said, "I was two blocks from my house when I got the call, I was going to stop at the flower shop on the corner and surprise my wife, guess I can't now."

I chuckled, and said, "I just got off the airplane, I was hoping to spend a few days with them, had ideas and everything, but duty is a mean bitch."

He chuckled, then said, "Sounds about right sergeant." I heard someone stop at the door, I looked up and saw Gabriel "Sinner" Sinclair standing in the doorway holding his duffel bag over his shoulder.

He smiled and said, "Honey, I'm home!" I smiled and he walked in, looked at Bishop, and then said, "wait, your not my girl, shit, must have taken the wrong flight."

Bishop said, "Nope, sergeant here ordered the strippers for you man, he said you might like them." Sinner smiled, then shoved my arm a couple of times.

I said, "He forgot to say that they were male strippers and that you are paying for them."

Sinner gave me a quick punch and said, "Damn it sarge, you keep busting my balls like this, I'm not going to have any left."

I smiled and said, "We have a mission three days from now, is all your equiptment checked in?"

He nodded and I said, "Good, I need you in top shape, and your gear all together. Plus if you miss a shot, I'll castrate you."

He smiled then said okay, what type of opp?"

I said, "Green then black."

He said, "Got it, I'll grab the EBR and an enhansed power scope."

I said, "Good choice, just be sure that they are in range before you shoot at them. We don't want a repeat of Ukraine."

He said, "Not my fault, the contact kicked me as I was taking the shot."

I nodded and he set his bag down on his cot. Rat stood at the doorway, arms crossed and said, "It's getting to be a genuine family reunion. Sarge, when is the bar supposed to be open?"

I shook my head and said, "Rat, you're staying sober, I don't need you on a damn hangover right now. Bishop, you watch him and make sure the only think he drinks other than water is a fruit flavored pouch"

Bishop smiled and nodded, Rat stood there and opened his arms and said, "The hell sarge?" He started to walk in and continue, "When the hell have I bitched about a headache?"

I looked at him, "Do I need to make a list?"

He sat on his cot, pulled out a cigarette and said, "God damn sarge."

I said, "I could go all parental and say no smoking because it messes up your lungs, no drinking because it messes up your liver, and your ability to concentrate. But I'll save that for when you guys visit my house."

Rat smiled and said, "I'm never going to your house, last time I got kicked out by your little miss lover girl."

Bishop said, "Don't worry, my wife kicked him out too, Sinner even said that he won't go and drink with Rat."

Sinner said, "Last time he got his ass kicked by this little Mexican guy."

Rat looked over at Sinner and said, "He wasn't so little, and he is one of the damn UFC fighters, of course I didn't kick his ass."

I rolled my eyes and watched as Mick and Cash walked in dropping on their cots. Sanchez walked in and Sinner stood up saying, "That's him, that's the guy who kicked your ass"

Rat looked to the door and said, "No, he's too damn tall to be the guy."

I shook my head and said, "This is the new guy, Lance Corporal Sanchez. All we're missing is Joe, where is the son of a gun?"

Joe walked in and said, "I was on the shiter, sorry sarge."

I smiled at his bluntness, he was the Canadian, he loved listening to Bob Marley, so we incorporated it to his nickname. I said, "Look, so we have our new guy, Sanchez over here, is a demolitionist from the Special Air service of England, Joe, he's your wing-man, keep him alive, and we should be good. Sanchez, tell us what you have training for."

Sanchez looked at the group and said, "I was trained with shape and satchel charges, underwater demolition, and EOD. My unit was recognized by the queen for bravery three years ago."

Rat nodded and asked, "Sarge, why the fuck do we need a jack here? I mean I have been able to knock out several explosives without getting us killed."

I looked at him and said, "You almost vaporized fifty square miles of Mexico and Texas last time we let you defuse a bomb."

Rat looked at me and raised his hands in the air for defeat. I smiled and Sinner said, "Yeah, dumb shit try being a hero with a nuke again and I'll shove it up your ass."

Joe started laughing, and I said, "Okay, get everything ready to ship out in three days, gear checked, and everything green."

They all said, "Yes, sergeant" in a broken unison. I allowed them to do what they wanted. I picked up my tablet, and headphones with a built in microphone and walked out to the rec room, it was quiet and empty for now, I opened the case, and powered up the tablet. I got to the video call, and looked for her icon, a simple picture of my little girl shortly after she was born laying in the palm of my hand, her elbow on my thumb. The memory of that picture came to life, I remembered her fingers curl around my index finger and her left leg hooked on my wrist as she slept quietly.

I clicked on the icon, and it expanded, then flipped around and shown a green light saying that the computer was on and that the account was logged on. I put my headphones and microphone in and pressed the contact option. It gave me the option to call, video call, or message. I pressed the option for video call, and it immediately went to connecting a secure line to the home computer we had. It started a dial tone and it rang for five tones before it connected, and the light under my camera for the tablet came on, and her video feed came in.

I said, "Hey there beautiful."

I heard her chuckle, then her image came up and I saw Carrie in her arms, looking tired, a little frown marring her lips and eyebrow, Brianna said, "Someone just woke up. She got up from her nap about three minutes ago. I thought you said you were coming home some time soon." she paused.

I said, "I know, and I was wanting to, I got called to base as I stepped off the plane, I was planning on being with you both."

She sighed, and looked down to Carrie, and said, "Okay, I was worried when I saw the news reports earlier today, I'm glad you're okay."

I said, "Physically, yeah, but I lost ten brothers, seven for good. That's not important now, you girls are, how are you and Carina?"

She said, "We're okay, besides a little grumpy on her part she has been good, she misses you, and I do too."

I said, "I'm sorry, I'll come home the first chance I get."

She looked up to the camera, and I saw a tear glisten off her cheek, then she said, "Okay, we'll be here, waiting for you to come home."

I said, "We've been through this, you know I'll come home."

She said, "You can't promise that. You should know that well. I don't want to argue with you right now, Jerry, I love you and be careful."

I exhaled, knowing that I was defeated. I said, "I love you too. I will, I love you Carrie, daddy will be home soon."

I saw a slight smile on her face, then I focused on my fiance's and she chuckled as well. I said, "I'll be home soon love."

She said, "You better, Carina is going to have a father, and that father is going to be you, and you are going to be there for everything."

I chuckled and said, "Now I'm not sure what I'm more scared of, insurgents or your wrath sweetheart."

She smiled, and said, "I want you to come home, and I want you to be there for us."

I nodded, and said, "I will, in five months I'll have a new contract that I have to fill out, once I do, I'll go into a support role, pressing buttons on a computer."

She nodded, and said, "I just want you to be safe."

Bishop walked up, and said, "Don't worry Brianna, we'll keep him from getting his ass shot off."

She smiled, and said, "Thanks Jimmy."

He nodded, and I said, "As James said, they'll look after me while I'm in trouble areas."

She said, "Okay, just be careful, I already feel like a lone parent because I never get to see you, nor does our child. I know you're doing your job, but we miss you."

I said, "I know, I miss you girls too. I'll be home soon."

She said, "Okay, we love you."

I said, "I love you both too."

She said, "We'll talk again soon."

I nodded and said, "Yes, I'm going to have to go, bye love."

She said, "Bye dear."

I closed the chat, and put the tablet in my pants pocket.