Hey there readers, I'm Spitfire and this is a story called Loose Ends, but you already knew that. Just like in my story ARC Survivor, this is how I'll be doing my author's notes! The majority if not all of this story will be through Ghost's point of view and just like with many of my stories we get right to the action, because I love action. So, on to the real business, I like to give proper synopsis of all my stories (minus ARC Survivor mainly because I couldn't think of one) so I'll get to that and then you can get to the actual story!

Thanks for Reading, Fly High Aim Higher,

~Spitfire out

Synopsis:

To General Shepherd there's only one way to tie up a loose end, death. Lt. Simon "Ghost" Riley and Sgt. Gary "Roach" Sanderson end up as loose ends to Shepherd and he intends to deal with it. He doesn't want the truth to get out but the Task Force 141 is too good to go down like that. Or are they? This couldn't possibly be the end, could it? Surely the one shot wasn't enough to take Ghost down. A simple mistake, a mistake Shepherd made, he underestimated the Task Force; he didn't look when he aimed, he didn't tie the loose end tightly enough and it frayed. Now, the world may know the truth it deserves.

The Op

This was supposed to be simple. Get in, find and kill Makarov, if he's not there, find some intel to help us out, get out. Resistance was expected but nothing like what they came at us with. Instead of a few squads of high-class guards we found an army waiting for us. That made things near impossible when we were protecting the DCM while the files on Makarov's computer were loaded onto it. Makarov having escaped us, there was no sign of him other than the army. Scarecrow and Ozone died in the fight to protect it. I hoped whatever we found on the DCM was good, really good. Roach and I were the only ones left when the transfer finished. Well, excluding Archer and Toad who were covering us from a cliff overlooking the property using their sniper kits.

Archer was the Task Force's elite sniper. Toad had medical training but he was also a pretty good shot so he doubled as a sniper. They were good guys, Scarecrow and Ozone were too but they were the pranksters that always got into trouble, still, they were friendly and did what they did to get laughs out of the guys.

I ordered Roach to grab the DCM and he did, tucking it away into his bag as we ran, the army advancing on us. Roach ran and I covered him. Roach was still pretty new but he had grown on me, he was like a brother. I made sure to cover his six and he covered mine. I stopped for a few seconds to get a shot on a couple snipers, Archer and Toad helped me take care of the five of the guile suited Russians. I couldn't help letting my thoughts wander as I ran to catch up to Roach. It was pretty hot out and the uniform fire proof jacket that we were all forced to wear wasn't helping. I saw Roach shoot down a guy with an RPG. Then things went downhill. A mine blew up about five feet from Roach. He flew about ten feet to the side and he didn't get up, I could tell he was out cold.

I hurried over to him as he was waking up, trying to get back to his feet. I went to his back and grabbed him by the vest and started dragging him to the LZ while he covered my six. I could hear him firing the AK-47 in short bursts, it sounded like he was taking one shot at a time. I counted off the shots in my head until the magazine he had loaded ran out. He didn't reload; he was starting to pass out again. I heaved him up and got one arm around my shoulders and held him up.

"Come on, get up! We're almost to the LZ!" I called to him as I did so.

I helped him forward as the CH-47 landed, the ramp already down and Gen. Shepherd stepped out, "Do you have the DCM?" he asked as we neared him.

"We've got it, sir!" I answered quickly.

"Good, that's one less loose end," Shepherd said, supporting Roach's other side and pulling his pistol out, putting it against Roach's gut, and pulling the trigger.

"No!" I called as Roach fell from my grasp.

I started to pull my rifle out to take Shepherd out, he was a traitor. The pistol was now pointed at me but Shepherd was still staring at Roach. The trigger was pulled and I blacked out with a searing pain engulfing my body.