CHAPTER 9:
James stood in the gun range, watching Jen storm off. He almost didn't know what had just happened. They had had a moment; a physical, close together moment. He sensed that that was the trigger that sent Jen off like a bullet. He was surprised at the fact that she didn't shove him off right away. James sensed that maybe, just maybe, she had feelings for him.
James was calmly walking through the halls of the A.N. headquarters looking for Jennifer. She had just run off after he helped her and he was worried that maybe she had left the premises. He looked everywhere inside, including their room. He still couldn't find her. So he took his search outside. He checked the garages, the tents and then finally, he decided to look in the hangars. As he rounded the corner into the main hangar, he saw a figure sitting there on a chair. It was partially dark in the hangar, the shapes of the planes and helicopters leaving huge shadows creeping over the floor. He saw from the shape of the figure that it was a woman. Obviously, it belonged to Jen. He slowly approached her, grabbing another chair and sat down next to her. "What's up?" He asked innocently. She looked up at him, and turned away, shaking her head. James stared off at the Apache Attack Helicopter parked in front of them. He had been in one of those a few times here and there. If she was going to say anything to him, he wouldn't dare interrupt her and so he stayed quiet. He suddenly felt his knee bump into hers and he quickly moved his leg over. He didn't want to make her feel forced or anything, but he knew they had some talking to do. Jen sighed, finally regaining her composure enough to speak.
"Nothing really. Why do you ask?" She replied softly.
"You ran off earlier, and I wondered what if there was something wrong…" James said kindly. "Are you alright?" He gently put his hand on her arm. She to his surprise didn't brush him away.
"Yeah…listen, I…about us…I…never mind, forget it." She stood up, letting James' arm fall back to his side. "If you don't mind, I'm going to turn in for the night."
"Oh well…uh…good night." He anxiously wanted to know what she was going to say, but he let it go. She smiled slightly at him as she walked away. James sat there for about twenty more minutes, alone with his thoughts in the silence of the hangar. He finally decided to go to bed as well. He fully knew why Jen was acting so flustered around him. He remembered back to the moments they had together: when they had first met, she fell on him. Then when he kissed her at Fiona's place, and when he popped her shoulder back into place. He wasn't completely sure, but he had a pretty good feeling that Jen shared the same feelings he felt about her.
Jennifer was sound asleep when James entered the room. He carefully walked to his area that he had made out as his bed and stripped out of his clothes to just his boxers. Jen opened her eyes after hearing him come in. She looked around in the dark until she saw him. She felt herself blush just slightly and felt lucky that it was nearly pitched black in the room except for the glow off of his watch. She smiled to herself. He was very well built. He had a perfect looking chest, with well muscled pectorals, and slight chest hair. His arms flexed as he moved his duffle bag out of the way, showing off their strength. He had that eight-pack that every man wanted. She continued staring at him, looking down at his waist. He had that V-shape of muscles at his hips. Jen bit down on her lip, still slightly red in the face. What a body…
James woke up early the next morning, and saw that Jennifer had already left. He got up and he happened to look over at the bed, and saw a note.
Meet me outside.
-Jennifer.
"Blunt and to the point. Just like her." He put on his army fatigues, and his bullet-proof vest, and then walked outside of the HQ. He saw Jen sitting in the driver's seat of a Humvee, looking at herself in the side mirror. She happened to look to her left and saw James walking over. She smiled slightly and motioned with her hand for him to get in. He got in the passenger's seat, and she drove away.
"What's up?" James asked, buckling in his seatbelt.
"We've bee sent out, looking for Von Schrader's highest aid. He's known as Schmidt, another German, close friend of Von Schrader." She informed him. "If we can find him and his aide around here, then Song is probably nearby."
"Smart hiding right in plain sight. High risks equal high rewards."
"Yeah." She replied, turning left onto another dirt road. "Wait, what the bloody hell is that?" She said, pointing to another A.N. Humvee with an injured soldier lying on the ground beside it. Jen drove up as close as she could to the soldier, and they got out to inspect it. As soon as they got to the downed vehicle, James got a really uneasy feeling in his stomach.
"Wait a minute…" James said as he looked around. He saw a few men watching them on a far away cliff, one of them through a scope of a sniper rifle. James' eyes widened as he realized what the whole thing was. "It's a trap!" James yelled, snapping his head to look at Jen. Before he could react, a blast from a rocket launcher knocked him back out of view, and his head collided with a conveniently placed rock. He felt himself slowly going in and out of consciousness, pain bellowing in his ears and he had one last thought before he blacked out.
Jennifer.
James eventually came to and realized that he was back in the medical wing of the A.N. Headquarters. He calmly sat up dizzily, and saw one of the doctors looking over him. Another doctor went to the door.
"He's up!" The doctor called. After a few seconds Major Garrett came storming in. James could tell by the look on his face that it wasn't going to be good news.
"What's up, Major?" James said quietly, running his hands over his bandaged head.
"Glad to see that you are all right, Sergeant. We have some terrible news. It seems that Song and Von Schrader have taken some of our men, and Ms. Mui. Look, some of those men that were captured hold very, very important information. We need those men back alive."
"I'll do it." James said eagerly, getting out of bed clumsily. "And I'll kill those two in the process."
"I'm usually against stuff like this, but bring them in or kill them. I don't care, but get those men and Ms. Mui back safely. Especially, Ms. Mui…" Garrett really didn't want to lose the famous mercenary in case he ever needed to hire her again.
"Yes, sir." James gave him a salute before he gathered his things and left the medical wing. He was more motivated now than ever to get Jen, now that he thought they could have a chance to be together. He prayed silently to himself that she would still be alive by the time he found her.
