The Past and it's Pain
.
San Francisco Bay Area
17th of November 2016
Day One
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"Sam baby, your phone" Leah groaned, rolling over and snuggling back into her white crisp pillow and sheets, the cool of the drier months leaving a very fresh scent amongst the linen. Hearing the shrill cry of the phone again Leah swung her arm back to slap against Samuel's chest attempting to make him answer the damn phone.
Waking slightly with a groan Sam flung his arm over to the side table, knocking over the lamp and alarm clock like a domino effect, before flipping open his cell and muttering a very groggy 'hello' in the mouth piece.
"Hello?" he repeated before the shrieking sound rang out again to his surprise. "Lee-Lee, it's yours," he growled tossing his phone to the carpet. He rolled over, closed his eyes and snuggled into her side.
Leah cursed under her breath and reached to her night stand flicking on the lamp and snapping her phone open. Her eyes were still closed and burning from the alcohol of the night before and the light being cast around the bedroom annoyed her.
"What?" she mumbled into the tiny annoying piece of technology that was disturbing both her and Sam's early Saturday morning. The need to sleep in today was especially strong after partying well into the night. Friday nights where their nights to enjoy themselves while Morgan was at her mother's small apartment across town.
"Miss Leah Clearwater?" The sound of a deep voice asked through the phone. Leah's curiosity peaked, it wasn't everyday one was awoken to the sound of an unknown man's voice ringing on your private cell. A cell to which no one had the number except her family and very close friends.
"What time is it?" she sighed, pushing Sam's warm arm from her waist and sitting up on the side of the bed.
She pulled a hand through her wild hair which had slipped from the curled style she had been wearing the night before, to a ruffled mess. Sam always loved her hair in curls so when they had gone dancing, she dressed nicely.
"0300 hours."
Ahhh… a solider Leah thought, tugging the silk night dress down over her legs.
"I'm sorry ma'am but I was instructed to call you and I do apologise for the short notice. General Mark Stone has requested your assistance in a high priority and highly classified case."
His voice annoyed Leah to no end, but hearing Mark's name she was intrigued. She glanced down at Sam, pushing his wispy hair away from his forehead before leaving the bedroom and striding into the living areas.
"Give me a second," she yawned, holding a hand to her mouth lazily.
Moving past the furniture and into the kitchen she flicked on the bright light, illuminating the steel sinks, marble bench tops and slate floors.
"Identify yourself, solider," she muttered into the phone, reaching for the coffee pot. Holding the cell between her ear and shoulder, she quickly disposed of the two-day old paper drainer and placed a fresh white piece in.
"Private First-Class Lawrence Carter Jnr, United States Army, 160th Special Operations Aviation Regiment ma'am."
Leah groaned as she reached for the tin of coffee beans and popped the lid, relishing its aromatic smell before reaching in to grasp the small plastic cup.
"Private First Class? Mark sent a rookie to convince me to take a job?"
"No offence ma'am but I have been through-"
"Yeah, yeah. I know. Ten weeks basic training, followed by twenty weeks of Advanced Individualised Training. Then you bust your ass in Collective Training, serve for a few years, you get a break, think you might try your hand in the Special Forces and get side shafted to driving the stick on one of the Hawks."
She paused to angle the plastic cup of beans over the coffee pot and dropped them into the white paper acting as a sieve.
"Did you get cut or did your commanding officer ride your ass into the ground to make you give up?"
She could hear him shuffle around on the other side of the phone, trying to think of some type of response to give her. "Um – ma'am, I don't really think this has anything to do with-"
"Look, Chris, was it?"
"No ma'am, Carter."
"Well for a start Private Carter, enough with the ma'am shit, that's what they call my mother and I don't think I am quite as old as her yet. Secondly, answering my question has everything to do with what General Stone has asked you, to ask me. The son of a bitch knows that I will either fall for your naïve school boy act and come running to save you and him from whatever mess he has created or he has something else stuffed up his sleeves, like magic trick."
Leah huffed before she continued. "Tell Mark - and listen closely because I am not going to repeat myself - to kiss my extremely firm, round, spank-able ass. I am not in the forces anymore."
She growled, slamming the glass pot into the coffee maker and switching it on.
"Ma'am – I mean Ms Clearwater, if you let me just explain- " he whined on the other end of the phone, making Leah assume he was in fact, as she'd suspected, young.
When Leah hesitated and placed the phone back to her ear, he made the most of her silent reply.
"The General has asked that you consider this case. Not as an ex-force Unit Manager, but as a friend."
Leah rolled her eyes at his statement, pushing the double French doors open and walking out on to the small deck. The breeze was cooler in the early morning, and the icy draft crept thorough the extremely plush house.
"Well go on, Private First Class. I would hate to interrupt you now," she said sarcastically, leaning against the dried wooden railings and taking in the calm sway of the ocean as it crashed on to the shore nearby, it's silky blackness swaying gently with the seasonal breeze.
"Ms Clearwater, we have an ex-solider about to be put to death in San Quentin State Prison in fourteen days' time."
Suddenly Leah was all ears, as she had been following the story for a while now watching on as the media hyped up the event calling it the 'Killing of America' with the prisoner being a recipient of the Purple Heart, an order given in the President's name and given only to those wounded or killed in the service of the United States army and fighting against its enemies. Cringing, she thought about the same medal that hung proudly on her mantle, displayed for the whole world to see.
"Yes, I have seen the story on the news," she murmured feeling a slight knot pull in her stomach. "But I don't understand. The prisoner is 'ex-army' not a serving solider. Why would the government be interested in soldiers who are no longer under their command?"
"You're right but- The General asks that information is gained from the solider to the whereabouts of something extremely important to the American Government. Unfortunately, I wasn't given the specifics, classified and all that, but- I do know The General does wish to speak to you once you accept."
"Carter, you're going to have to give me a little more than that," Leah yawned stretching one of her arms high in the air, trying to rid her body of the small ache from sleeping awkwardly.
"The prisoner served with-" she could hear the shuffle of paper and Cater clicked his tongue. "Special Forces Officer, Seth Clearwater, Specialist Hostage Rescue, Counter Terrorism and Unconventional Warfare. Born 3rd of May 1990 to Susan L and one Harold J Clearwater- "
Leah closed her eyes tightly listening to Carters voice over the phone. This had been Mark's fucking magic trick; this was his dove in a black hat routine.
"Served for a total of four years in the 3rd Delta Unit whilst also being posted twice in Iraq as part of Operation Freedom, was killed shortly after during his second stint there after being part of a Special Operations team moving American weapons across the desert, only to be caught in hostile fire."
Leah felt the warm tears trail down her face as she touched her cheek with a trembling hand.
"Special Forces Officer, Seth Clearwater, deceased 12th of July 2014, at age 24, leaving behind a girlfriend, Debra Jennings 23, and a daughter, Morgan Clearwater, four years. 16th of August 2014 the family received the highest honour in the form of one Purple Heart for the bravery and courage shown whilst in the line of battle for saving four men from the infantry, personally received at the White House, ma'am."
The line was quiet as Leah stared out into the cool water of the Pacific Ocean remembering the day her brother's body was lowered into the ground, as her mother sobbed uncontrollably with the country's flag folded tightly in her hands. Leah flinched remembering the firing of the rifles into the air. She didn't need some fucking rookie reading out her brother's file to her. She knew who Seth was, what he'd done. She was reminded of it every day she got ready and placed a kiss to her finger tips and pressed it against Seth's Purple Heart on the mantle. She felt it every day she looked into the bright eyes Morgan had. Brown and clear, just like her baby brothers.
"One of the men, Ms Clearwater - one that he saved - is the solider currently sitting on death row in San Quieten State Prison under Maximum Security."
"What were the charges?" she whispered into the mouth piece, holding a hand of her wildly beating heart. While she'd followed the news story, the details were fuzzy. It had been almost a year since the story had been splashed across every news channel in the country.
"Multiple counts of murder in the first degree, conspiring against the United States Government, assaulting and/or wilfully disobeying a superior commissioned officer and the theft of a Black Hawk helicopter."
"Why isn't this the Army's problem? This guy should have been Court Martialled not dragged through the civilian law courts." she groaned into the phone rubbing her temple, displeased with the shit Mark Stone had thrust upon her.
"It was in the Military's hands until the charges were leaked to the news outlets. It seems with the impending state elections coming up; certain members of congress wish to make the issue a known one. They plan to make an example of this case and they are adamant to follow through, all the way to lethal injection. It's been watched for a while."
"Fucking hell," Leah sighed rubbing her hungry stomach which was growing under the thin silk she wore. "Tell me about him - the prisoner. I have caught things here and there but all of the details seemed a little cross-wired from what I could pick up."
"Right Ms. I'll fax over his file now, it's pretty detailed so you might need a few hours to go through it."
Leah walked back into the house and grabbed the now full glass coffee pot filled with dark magical liquid that would have to sustain her for now, while Carter placed the phone down and sent her the file. Opening the white cabinet door, she snatched down a red coffee mug and poured herself a cup of molten caffeine.
"You there ma'am?" Carter said hurriedly through the phone.
"Yeah I'm here. And what did I say about the ma'am shit?"
"Oh right. Sorry" Leah rolled her eyes hearing the smirk in Carter's voice "It should be with you shortly but I'll give you the run down now."
"Special Forces Officer Jacob Black born 2nd of February 1988, to one Sarah M and William E Black. Specialist in Weapons handling, Counter-terrorism, Special Reconnaissance, Unconventional Warfare and Counter Proliferation but has a special note for his Guerrilla Warfare tactics, Negotiation skills and his ability to navigate all military transport types, notably a UH-60 Black Hawk Helicopter and a F-16 Fighting Falcon jet due to the first years he served in the Airborne Battalion."
"He became the Commanding Officer of the 3rd Delta Unit in March 2012, military service record of seven years in total, five of which were served with the Green Berets until his dismissal in 2014 after returning from Iraq with sustained injuries to the right partial shoulder blade, shrapnel induced from the same hostile persons involved in your brother's death, rendering him inadequate to remain in service. He was relieved from duty just before dropping off the military radar."
"He popped up again last year when the Military Police arrested him in a bar fight involving several Senior commanding officers. One of the MP's recognised him as he also served in Iraq before coming home and transferring to an MP position. After his file was pulled a hit rang out on the computers indicating his immediate arrest and detention due to the charges I mentioned earlier."
Leah sat on the wooden chair, her legs pulled up off the cold tiles and her hands cupping the hot mug. "Where was he during his time 'off the radar'?" she asked raising the mug to her lips to take a short sip.
"Nobody knows" Carter replied in a serious voice.
"What do you mean nobody knows? Has anyone asked him?"
"Multiple people have asked – the problem is - he doesn't answer"
"So – what your telling me is – this solider has been in San Quieten for over a year and he hasn't said anything about the charges laid against him? Not to anyone?" Leah asked highly suspicious at the information Carter was telling her.
"Yes, but it goes beyond that. He hasn't spoken at all. Not to anyone, about anything." The rookie stated on the other end.
"So, what does Mark Stone want me to do about it? If the prisoner doesn't want to talk, he won't. I can't make someone talk. Some people are content in taking their secrets to the grave Carter and by the judging of this guy, he is no exception."
"He is trained by the Government not to talk; he's been through rigorous training in physical, emotional and psychological warfare. I put a hundred dollars down that he could probably pass a fucking lie detector test with his eyes closed. How can Mark expect me to crack someone like that?" Leah snapped, her emotions getting the better of her. She knew the Generals game. Send in pretty little Leah Clearwater to crack the lonely solider, bat the eyelashes show a little cleavage and hope to God he gives in.
Mark had always given Leah shit from the moment she stepped into Fort Bragg, North Carolina's major Military facility. She had graduated from Harvard with a degree in Psychosocial Studies with a major in American and Overseas Warfare and minored in Specialised Tactical Training, a degree only available to officers serving in the United States Army in partnership with the esteemed and very prestigious school.
She'd come to work as part of the 4th Psychological Operations Group once she successfully gained her pretty watermarked piece of paper stating she'd passed with honours, out of the once in a life time program.
Had it not been for Leah's father, she may have never considered a life as a solider. Harry had been an inaugural part of both her and her brother's life until his death. His political aspirations soon became overwhelming and he'd suffered a heart attack in his office, while reading propositions the state congress was considering after being in negotiations with multiple businesses.
Harry had always been a supporter of the United States Army and had groomed both his children, hoping to one day make them, pretty little soldiers.
Leah being the daddy's girl she was, became determined to prove to Harry that she was just as good as any boy. She studied hard, made excellent grades, and trained five days a week to keep fit. When she graduated from High School she enlisted in the Army to become an Airborne Fighter after being denied entry into the front-line Battalions. Women were not allowed to participate in any kind of functions that may include hand to hand combat, no matter the ranking of fitness nor grades, so she did the next best thing.
Flying was unlike anything Leah could have ever imagined. The hum of the engine from the seat in a fighter plane gave you guts. It made you feel invincible as you sped through and cut the across the white puff of the high lying clouds only to drop 3,000 clicks to glide only meters above the low lying flat lands of a green pastured area or across the endless desert of the Middle East.
Starting at Fort Campbell she became one of only two women to serve in the position she held. After working her way from the bottom with long hours of g-force, blood, sweat and even tears Leah eventually was upgraded and landed herself a spot in the 101st Aviation brigade, also known as 'Wings of Destiny', because of her excellent reflex skills and her ability to think quickly under immense pressure, making her tactical skills apparent to the commanding officers around the facility.
She'd been assigned with four other soldiers in her crack team and she treated them all like brother's often rough housing and using physical advantages like being much lighter and quicker on her feet to her advantage. She was part of the 'Headquarters Company' ideally nicknamed, much to her delight, 'Hell Cats'.
It had been Major General Stanton James that had recommended her for the elite program that Harvard was running in conjunction with the US army and after two years of rigorously juggling between duty and study, she completed her degree and was moved to Fort Bragg and stationed with General Mark Stone.
He was the youngest ever general at thirty-two and the most down right gorgeous man she'd ever seen in her life. His grey-blue eyes were so captivating she'd found herself lusting after the son of a bitch, especially when those eyes were coupled with his dirty blonde cropped hair and his amazingly lean and muscled physique. Leah knew it was wrong sleeping with the General but after a long and extremely boozy night of flirting and his under the table groping she couldn't even begin to say no.
It had only lasted a few weeks, consisting of quick fucks and even quicker orgasms. The man was insatiable and could make her back arch to incredible angles. His touch was soft despite his calloused hands and every time his hips thrust against hers she'd held back the incredulous want to swear. It had ended as quick as it started with Mark having been stationed back in D.C, which professionally speaking was the best move she ever seen him make. She knew there was no future with him, so she took it on the chin and wished him well.
Working in the Psychological Operations Group she'd been subjected to the true meaning a small word can make. A wrong translation, an incorrect statement, a politically charged rant were all small things that could begin a war, sending a whole people and country into turmoil. Her specific job for the first year was to assess the state of soldiers in both the post and pre-implications of war, deeming them fit or unfit to continue service within the United States Army. It had been quite a change going from a lethal combat unit to a desk job, and while just as important, it seemed less than what she had signed up for.
But it was the second year where she started to become more at home by being assigned to a secret crack team who often visited high maximum terrorist holding facility's, most notably Guantanamo Bay in Cuba and America's Detention Camp, code named: Eagle Bay, deep in the heart land of the Syrian Desert, its co-ordinates kept even secret from her, as they were dropped by a cargo carrying aircraft on its way to Italy.
Her job was to retrieve information from detainees, by any means necessary which she rarely needed to use. Words where enough to find out about a person, small words, key words, that would tell her hidden things that she needed in order to crack their hard exterior and find out why and how their motives and beliefs had brought them to this point. Literally to the point of no return.
Even body language had become an inaugural part of her job, the slight raise of an eyebrow, and the direction of a person's gaze, how they looked into her eyes with either ease or irritability, the slight twitch of their fingertips, the crease of a frown, the tone of their voice.
It all became relevant.
But nothing she'd ever learned could have prepared her for the news of Seth's death.
She'd been trained to accept death as just another step-in life, for it to not let it affect one's health nor mental stability. She been trained to become immune to the prospect of death and all the things that came with losing someone you worked with, trained with or fought beside.
But all of that flew out the window as well as her whole belief system, everything she held dear became secondary to the pain of losing her only brother. She hadn't seen him in almost eight months, yet something inside her felt like it had been ripped away. She once believed in a system that could fix the world, fix countries, help them escape the oppression of their own governments, help the people. But that all crumbled the moment Mark Stone stood on her doorstep, at 0100 hours, to personally deliver the news of the attack on Seth's regiment and offer his condolences.
That night Leah collapsed into Mark's arms and cried against him until she was all out of tears and extremely dehydrated. He stayed until the morning, holding her in his arms on the bed while she cried for the brother she would never see, talk or laugh with again.
Once Mark left to go back to D.C, she packed her mere belongings up, handed in her instant termination and never looked back. She didn't want anything to do with the Army any longer. Her time had been served and she was done.
"He expects you to do what you do best," Carter announced, snapping Leah out of her thoughts. "Talk to the solider Ms Clearwater. I know I don't have any type of experience in that field but I do know that usually those you don't speak have the most to say"
She smiled at Carter's words; they both surprised and stunned her. "I like you Carter. There may just be hope for you yet," she chuckled placing her mug down on the redwood table and moving to walk down the hall.
"Thank you, Ms," he mumbled into the speaker obviously embarrassed by her words.
Leah flicked the light of the study on and walked to the fax machine, retrieving the vast amount of papers it had spit out. "Geez, how many pages are in his file?"
"All up, fifty-seven pages. It seems like a lot but I have added his entire personnel file and each and every plausible assignment he had been given over the time of his active duty. It is literally everything I could find. That doesn't mean there isn't any more out there. My classification to information only goes so high."
"Yeah, I can see that," Leah mumbled not particularly paying attention to the voice on the line but looking down at the photo of the solider in question.
There were multiple photos both when he'd joined and when he'd been dressed in his full military uniform but it was the one with his unit that caught her eyes.
The whole unit was dressed in the light grey khaki long sleeved and long pant uniform with dusty yellow boots on. They stood around a military cargo moving truck, holding their weapons out in front of them, clutching it tightly against their chests. There were seven men in total. But there was only two she saw.
Jacob Black stood in the middle, and guessing the height difference he seemed as if he was at least 6'4. His hair was cropped short and black as night, which looked amazing with his angular jaw and dimpled chin. He had magical brown eyes peering out under his thick brow and his lips tugged into an incredible smile. His pearly white teeth were straight and perfect showing no signs of ever having damaged them while in the Forces unlike most others. His body was muscled and looked taught even though being conceded under his camouflaged clothes. His russet skin looked smooth and creamy from the small glimpses the shirt didn't cover.
He looked so happy and at home with his unit, making it look more like a band of brothers rather than a crack team of highly trained soldiers.
Leah's eyes flicked to the slightly shorter, less muscular man standing beside him with the goofy grin on his face, his bucket hat just letting his hazel eyes shine out from underneath the material. She laughed looking at the photo noticing another guys hand had come up behind his head and held up his fingers imitating bunny ears, all the while un-noticed by him.
She ran her fingers over Seth's face wishing there had been more time, not only for her but for Morgan as well. Her daddy was never going to threaten boys who came to the front door to take her out on dates, he would never clean his gun in front of her boyfriends while he watched them squirm, he would never walk her down the aisle to give her away to the man she loved most.
"Fine. Tell Mark I'll do it – oh and tell him he is a fucking asshole," she growled out.
Carter chuckled a moment before clearing his throat. "I'll let him know. Our plane arrives at 0800 hours and a car will be stationed at the airport."
"Our?"
"Oh yes Ms. General Mark Stone will be accompanying both you and I on the trip. Though, I am just an officer who will make sure you're both looked after and catered for." The sound of his smile beamed through the phone.
"Well then Private First-Class Lawrence Carter Jnr, United States Army, I'll see you in the morning. Oh, and another thing, don't ever call me this early again" she smirked hanging up the phone before he had time to answer.
Collecting all the papers off the fax and walking over to her knapsack, she clipped them together and stuffed them inside the black bag and left it on the desk. She'd decided she'd read his file on the drive to San Quentin because she'd end up killing someone if she didn't get enough sleep, plus she had to be on her toes. She'd be subjected to Mark Stone for at least an hour in a tiny car and then Jacob Black for the rest of the day and possibly night in a four-by-four cell.
Turning off the lights in the house, she entered the bedroom and lightly closed the door as trying not to wake Sam. Crawling back into the white sheets she sighed, letting her head rest against the pillow and allowing her eyes to close, a small yawn leaving her lips.
Sam's arm tugged around her waist and brought her in close to his chest, his nose automatically burying itself in her hair. "Everything okay Lee-Lee? Who was on the phone?" he whispered in a groggy voice, his breath running along her neck.
"No one, everything's fine. Go back to sleep Sam. I'll speak to you in the morning," she said softly, rolling over and hugging him tightly placing a little kiss on his chest and moulding into him, finding the perfect space in his warmth.
"Okay baby. Love you" he yawned, pulling the small of her back closer and keeping her in his bear embrace.
"Yeah Sam. You too."
Letting the silence of the room take her, she dreamed of Seth and her running amongst the green forest of her father's home.
She dreamed of the first night she'd spent with both Mark Stone and Sam.
But what would haunt her most, when she woke, was when she dreamed of Jacob Black's haunting dark eyes watching her, through each and every sequence of dream.
Thank you to my Beta 'hgmsnoopy'
