APRIL 24, 1999

SAN FRANCISCO, CA

The sun shined high over the horizon, illuminating the rooms of everyone's houses. In one of these bedrooms, twenty-five year-old former Marine Jason Murdoch woke up to the sun's golden beams on his face. He smiled and turned to look at his wife's face, illuminated by these golden beams. He laid there and watched her, she began to stir and opened her brown eyes to look up at him, and smiled back.

"Morning," she said sleepily.

"Morning, dear," he said back. "How'd you sleep?"

"Fine," she said, yawning. "What are we doing today?"

"Well, the office gave me the day off, so I was thinking we could take a walk. You know, through the park where we fell in love, some museums, the Golden Gate Bridge…"

"Sounds good," she said. "How come they gave you the day off, love?"

"Earned it," Jason said. "You have no idea how happy I was about it."

"Oh, Jason. Every job you've gotten since the Marines hasn't satisfied that need for adventure. If you want, you could always look to join the police."

"No," he told her flatly. "I'm done with that kind of work. That day in Iraq was all I needed. I mean, I would've died if I it weren't for Captain Rogers. He was there, to heal me after the explosion."

"That's what captains do," she said. "That's what anyone in the military would do. Are you sure about the job, then?"

"I'm positive."

"OK. Just thinking of you, love."

"I know."

They kissed.

"I call shower first," she told him with a grin.

That morning, after breakfast, they were getting ready to leave when a knock sounded at the door. Jason's wife answered it, and called to him.

"Jason? Honey? There's someone at the door looking for you."

Jason walked into the living room where a tall man stood. He was African-American, and had a very sophisticated look on his face like he meant business. Although, he did smile when Jason entered the room.

"Can I help you?"

"Jason Murdoch," the man said simply. "Former marine?"

"Yes," he said. "Who are you?"

"My name's David Nelson," he said. "I'm the head of the PDF."

"The PDF?" Jason asked.

"Pacific Delta Force," Nelson explained. "We are a far less-known organization to handle certain criminal situations along the west coast when local police forces and SWAT teams are being overwhelmed."

"I've never heard of that," said Jason.

"I would imagine not," said Nelson. "We tend to provide safety over-watches most often, though sometimes we have to step in if things go badly. We also do some behind-the-scenes work as well. We are not an underground organization, we just prefer to keep our operations under the criminal radar as much as possible."

"So why are you here?"

"We need a recruit," Nelson said simply. "You're a former Marine. Probably the best person for the job, unless, of course, you're happy with your current work?"

Jason's wife glanced over at him curiously.

"Fine," he said. "Thank you."

Nelson sighed. "Well, I certainly respect that. In case you change your mind, though, here's my card." He pulled out contact information and handed it to Jason. "If you don't change your mind, burn it. Don't leak that number. Let us do the recruiting. If you don't change your mind."

The man walked out the front door, shaking Jason's hand and nodding at his wife before leaving.

"You should at least consider," she told Jason.

"I don't need to."

"At least keep the card for a few days? For me?"

How could he say no to that?

"Very well. You ready?"

"Yes."

They visited the park and the museum like they said they would. Jason was never too fond of walking and looking. He was more of a hands-on kind of guy. His wife, on the other hand, always had to tell him to keep his distance from the fragile things, in case he broke them. Jason always chuckled at that. Afterwards, they visited her father's grave very briefly. Her father had developed cancer a few years ago and died there. It was very emotional for her, but Jason was there to comfort her whenever he could. She told him that when she died, she wanted to be right there with her father. Jason promised that if she died first, that's where she'd go. He would see to it.

They finally made it to the Golden Gate Bridge and began walking down the sidewalk. The sun was shining gloriously and people were everywhere. It was a perfect day. What could go wrong?

They were laughing about something, perhaps one of Jason's Marine friends doing something stupid during off hours, or one of her aunts cracking a joke. When he thought back on it, it didn't matter. Suddenly, there was a crash ahead of them. A car swerved and crashed into the side of an oncoming car. Traffic stopped and horns started blaring. Jason's wife immediately ran up to see what was going on, despite his wishes.

"Wait! Laura!"

But she was already there. The first on the scene. An older woman was crying. She looked up at Laura.

"I'm here to help, ma'am," Laura told her.

"No. Stay back!" the woman said, frightened.

"I'm trying to help!"

"He'll kill you too!"

"Who will?"

"I don't know. The man who climbed into my car! He stole my money and left!"

"Well, he's gone! Here, hold still!"

"No, wait! Under my seat! I think he put a—"

Jason finally got close enough to the car when everything went bright orange and yellow, knocking him back to the ground. Everyone screamed. Jason looked up and, in what felt like slow motion, got up, running to the wreck as quick as he could. He got there in time to see his wife lying face down, with the car completely demolished and on fire. He turned her over and saw her face partially black and red. Her eyes were closed.

"Laura?"

Firefighters were arriving on the scene.

"L-Laura?"

She didn't move a muscle.

"Laura? No, come on. This isn't funny!"

But she remained as still as ever.

After a few minutes of denial, an ambulance arrived on the scene and attempted CPR, but nothing did anything. One of them looked at Jason and said, "She's gone, son."

The next few days were a blur. How long did he stay on that bridge? Did he walk home? Was he driven home? What happened? All he knew was that the most important woman in the world to him was gone because of some car bomb. It wasn't fair! Why her? Why did it even happen in the first place? Why do people have to do this? He wanted an answer. He wanted to know who did it. That's all he could think about during the funeral service, other than making sure she was buried next to her father. It wasn't until he got home and threw his jacket on the floor when it happened. The card from David Nelson fell out. He picked it up and was about to rip it apart in anger when his wife's voice echoed in his head.

"For me. For me."

He stopped. For her. For her. He wanted to do something for her. But what? He couldn't avenge her. The only person who could give a description of the car bomber was the old woman who also died.

"For me."

He closed his eyes and let his mind be flodded with what he knew his wife would want him to do. He glanced at the phone number and picked up the phone.

"For me."

A/N: Hey. So, it's been a while since I've written any fanfiction, although any time I read or watch a good and/or interesting story or movie, I'm sometimes thinking about a side story, sequel, or even prequel that I find would fit nicely into the story. I also don't like unfinished plot points in a story, either. For those of you who are unaware of the story Ransom by Danielle Steel, I recommend reading that story first before this one, seeing as this is a fanfiction of that story. That's all I'll say for now. I want to see how this story is received so far. I hope you're enjoying it!