I took a deep breath and opened my eyes. The heat of the Iraqi desert had been beaming down all day. The sweat had been rolling down into my eyes all day, as well. I hate the heat. I had been more than relieved when I heard that my previous deployment had ended ahead of schedule. The only reason I signed up for a second tour in the fiery hell of Iraq was my fiancé, Oliver. He wanted to stay for another tour for some reason that was lost to me. I did not understand it, but I love him, so I she signed up too. This day was just as the others in the two weeks we'd been here.

"Keep your eyes open, soldiers!" John Diggle, my commanding officer called over the roar of the Humvee. Between Digg's voice and the noise of the vehicle they were in, I felt as if all of it would shatter my eardrums. I glanced up towards the roof of the Humvee, instinctually worrying about Oliver who was working the .50 cal. on top of the Humvee. I turned my attention back to my post. I'm the lookout for this mission; the job was to find a secure a strip of land large enough for one of the birds to land and bring aid to civilians that were unable to flee from the insurgents in Mosul. I pulled out my night vision goggles and scanned the horizon for any movements. My heart dropped to her knees when I saw there were people lying in wait just up the road.
"Enemy bodies ahead." I called out to the my unit.
"How far away?" John Diggle, their commanding officer, inquired.
"1.7 clicks northwest, sir." I replied.
"What are their packing?"
"Unknown. They have transport, anything could be in that vehicle. Abort mission?"
"If we do that thousands of people will starve to death. How many are there?"
"I'm counting at least eight, sir, but I can't see into the car very well." I explained, hoping that he would turn back. It's not that I doesn't want to fight or that I think we can't handle ourselves, but I just can't shake the feeling that this was not something we were all going to walk away from.
"The four of us against eight. We've made it through worse," Diggle joked with a laugh, "Isn't that right, Rene?!"

"Damn right." He replied with a quiet laugh.
"Oliver!" Diggle exclaimed.
"Yeah, boss!" I couldn't help but smile at the sound of my fiancés voice. His voice is unlike any I'd ever heard before. Somehow when he talked I felt at home, safe; even when what I felt was certain death lay ahead of us.

"Do you see those pricks ahead of us!"
"Please tell me I get to shoot 'em!" I rolled her eyes. Boys and their guns. Nearly every mission we'd been on we'd heard Oliver complain because he never got to shoot the .50 Cal.
"On my cue, light 'em up!"
"Yes, sir!" Oliver replied the joy he felt was pouring off every word.
"Felicity, do one last check to see if you can see any more now. There is no way they don't see us coming at this point maybe they'll show their hand a bit." Rene stated from his place behind the wheel.
"Good idea." Diggle commended from behind us.
"On it." I replied while once again lifting the goggles to my eyes. After a moment of adjustment, the sight I saw made me freeze with terror. There standing on the roof of the car just ahead of us stood a man; on his shoulder was a grenade launcher aimed at us.
"Oh, shit."
"What is it?" Diggle asked.
"Now, Oliver! Fire now!" I screamed.