Disclaimer: Not mine. Not making any money. Although if I had the money I would buy Ranger *fans self*
Edited and reuploaded for your viewing pleasures
Thanks for reading!
The Generals Request
Generals POV:
I glanced at the passenger's seat in the car. My daughter was staring a hole into the side of my head. Her arms were crossed around her body, with handcuffs restraining her hands behind her back, and her eyes were narrowed into little pin points. It was hard to keep my face straight when all I wanted to do was laugh. My eyes focused back on the road and my mind wandered to why she was glaring at me.
Being in the Army has many advantages and even more disadvantages. Making enemies is easy. Dealing with them after you get your life together is another thing. People that you thought were taken care of always have a bad habit of coming back into your life madder – and crazier – than ever.
Juan Mejia was kneeling in a pool of his own blood, staring at me with nothing short of a death wish. His breath was labored, making the gashes running across his naked torso spill blood with every breath. Tattered socks were the only clothing he had on. Cuts, bruises and burns were all you could see on him.
"I will come for you," he said with a heavy Spanish accent. "I will come for you and your family when you forget about me. I will follow you like a shadow. You won't escape. I will do to you what you have done to me. Everyone you love will die one way or the other. I will have my vengeance. This I swear on my last breath. You and all your men feel my pain-"
I stood calming watching him as his speech continued on. Corporal Miller apparently had enough of him and kicked him in the face, knocking him to the ground. His breath even out as he slipped into unconsciousness.
I sent a look to Miller that had him straightening his back. "Sorry Sir. I just didn't want to hear him anymore Sir."
"Make sure he is put into the right hands Miller."
"Sir, yes, sir! He will be taken care of."
With a half nod I walked out of the warehouse in Peru, into the helicopter waiting for me to take me to a private jet that would take me back. Juan Mejia was no longer my problem. Mejia was the biggest gun runner and dope provider south of the equator. Why we had to wait so long to take him out is still beyond me. But that doesn't matter now. We got him, and destroyed his entire empire. Unfortunately his family was caught in the cross fires. His wife Ellis was happily in denial about everything. She and her 17 year old daughter were blown to pieces when we blasted our way into the compound. Their 25 year old son, Juan Jr., was shot multiple times in front of his father's eyes when he tried to gun down my men.
"General, sir?" I was brought out of my musings when the pilot spoke through the headset. "We're about 5 minutes from your drop off sir. The plane is fueled and ready to take you back to Washington, sir."
Again I nodded and sightlessly turned to look out the window. I would get debriefed in D.C. then I would be able to go home. I finally get to go back to my pregnant wife and our five year old daughter.
I would be able to stay with them now. No more traveling back and forth. No more missions. No more seeing my wife cry when I told her I would have to leave again. No more of my baby girl asking me why I had to go bye-bye all the time. We're going to find a nice house in the suburbs to settle down in to raise our family right. That house will become our home.
We did create a home together. For over twenty years we lived a peaceful life. Then a couple weeks ago, everything changed.
My wife and oldest daughter died in a car bomb on their way to grocery store to get some things for a special dinner. Our younger daughter's birthday was that day. I was out trying to find a special present for her when she called me in hysterics when the police showed up at the house. I raced home to find two cop cars parked in front of the house. Numbly I listened as they told me what happened to my wife and oldest daughter as my youngest buried her face in my chest and cried. It was a professional bomb. Who ever built it knew what they were doing. When they asked me if my wife or I knew anyone with grudges against us, my immediate answer was no. We built a great life here. We made friends with everyone. I was at a complete loss at who would do something so cruel and evil.
After they left, my daughter cried herself to sleep in my arms so I put her in her old bed. When I went to my room I found a neatly folded piece of paper on my bed. My hands shook as I picked it up. A smilie face was drawn on the front. It wasn't from my wife or older daughter's hand.
Time slowed as a picture of my wife and daughters floated onto my bed as I opened the letter and read the contents.
You will feel my pain.
That was all that the letter said. Those five words brought everything back to me. "You son of a bitch," I whispered, choking back tears.
I picked up the picture and examined it closer. The three of them were at the mall. It was taken a couple days ago. My wife and oldest daughter had red x's obscuring their faces.
My breath caught in my throat and tears spilled down my face unchecked.
After making a few calls the next day, I found out through my government contacts that Juan Mejia had been "taken care of" all those years back. Bull. Fucking. Shit. I should have put a bullet through his head when I had the chance.
At least I found out one useful piece of information through all those calls. Every one, every single person I talked to, said the best in security – and more – was a company called Rangeman LLC. I would be meeting with the owner in a little over a week. That gave me enough time to decide what to do, how to find the son of a bitch, and plan how I was going to kill him.
That was how I came to be driving to Rangeman Trenton offices with my daughter in the passenger's seat glaring at me.
I saw her mouth open in the corner of my eye. Her voice was low and steady, surprising me. "This is kidnapping you know."
"I just want you safe. I can't lose you too."
She sighed softly. "Dad I can take care of myself."
"I know you can but I need to know that you are completely safe. What he's going to try to do to you or me I don't know. All I know is that I can't be worrying about if he has you. I need to focus my attention of finding him."
Her patience snapped again. "This isn't fair!" she yelled. "I'm a grown woman! I have a job and an apartment I need to get back to! I don't need some people that don't know me watching me like a rat in a cage! I won't have my every move questioned!" I didn't say anything. She sighed again, louder this time. Her voice lowered, barely speaking loud enough for me to hear. "You're not the only one who lost people, Dad. I lost my mom and sister too. You said you don't want to worry about me being safe, but when you leave all I'll be able to do is worry. Why do you have to be the one to find him? Why do you have to risk everything by yourself? Don't I deserve to have you in my life? What if something happens to you? I can't lose everyone, Dad. I can't lose you when you're all I have now."
I kept quiet. She wouldn't understand. It had to be me. I had to find him. I had to be the one to end this. Never have someone do something that you're supposed to. I learned that lesson now. I can't leave this for someone else to finish. I need to see him dead. Since things would just get worse between me and my daughter if I tried to explain it, I kept quiet. Besides I pulled up to the front of the office building.
A simple, non-descript, seven floored, grey office building. Not bad. Won't attract unwanted attention.
I got out and walked over to the other side to open her door. "Do I have to carry you or are you going to walk by yourself?"
If looks could kill….. Ok that was a bad joke.
"I can walk myself," she said venomously. I help her out and when I turned to close the door. Out of the corner of my eye I saw her glance longingly down the street. She was weighing her chances of out running me. My head shook sadly. My daughter: the fighter. She got no more than ten feet ahead of me before I picked her up and tossed her over my shoulder. She screamed in shocked.
"What are you doing? I can walk!"
"I can't trust you not to run and hurt yourself."
She snorted, whether in disgust or because I caught on to her plan I don't know.
I walked into the building, with her wiggling over my shoulder. "Let me down! I'm not going to run!" My daughter tried a new tactic and pleaded with the man for help. "Please! Get me off from him! I can walk by myself! Help me dammit!"
The man turned red and averted his eyes – which only made her madder- and told me Ranger, the man I was meeting with, was waiting for me in his office. He took us up the elevator to what I would call the central room. There was a large bank of monitors with two men watching for anything wrong in front of us. Cubicles were to the left. And a couple doors were on the right. As soon we stepped out of the elevator every face turned towards us.
"Would someone please tell him to put me down?!"
No one moved a muscle. No one looked away. Then I felt my daughter still in my arms as one surprised chuckle turned into a sea of laughter.
"Back to work!" a voice barked out. Immediately everyone went back to what they were doing.
I turned towards the voice, while knowing my daughter glaring at everyone in the room, and there was the man I was here to meet.
Dark hair. Dark clothes. Dark eyes. Everything about him was dark. I thanked God he was a good guy. Even I wouldn't want to meet him in a dark alley.
"Ranger," I said and nodded in his direction.
"General, please follow me," he said and walked towards one of the office doors.
As soon as he shut the door behind us, I placed my surprisingly still quiet daughter on the leather couch in his office. Ranger and I both scrutinized each other as we stood facing each other. I watched when his eyes flickered toward his couch. His eyes stayed a little too long for my liking.
When he turned back to me, his face was void of any emotion. There was no way of knowing what he was thinking. "General, please have a seat." We both sat: him behind his desk and me in one of the chairs in front of it. "How can I help you, sir?"
"Everyone I know told me you were the best at what you do." His face stayed blank. "If you're not the best then tell me now so we don't waste our time."
His lips twitched slightly before returning back to a straight line. "I am the best General."
I nodded when he didn't say anything more. "Can the General shit. I'm retired. Call me Frank." I glanced back towards the couch and got straight to the point. "I need you to protect my daughter Stephanie."
A/N: Hmmmm so the General is actually Frank. . . . ;)
