Chapter 2
15 years earlier...
All you could hear was the noises around the room. The machines, the pumps, the monitors. All strange noises but somehow creating musical notes.
Conrad sat down on the chair beside the noise, and held her hand. That was all that was needed at that time.
"Hey you. How are things?"
No response
"Just thought I'd check in on my way to the White House. The President wants to see me, who knows what about" Conrad let out a nervous laugh as he muttered these words to the person in the bed.
Footsteps came from behind, and the person who entered the room shuffled behind Conrad.
"Hey, I brought us some Coffee"
Conrad turned around, to see Henry stood with two cups of weakened hospital coffee in his hands. Conrad took one and thanked Henry. As Henry sat on the chair beside Conrad, he let out a sigh.
"Any news?" Said Conrad
"Not yet, just waiting for the doctor to come around with an update. But we're hopeful" Henry replied letting out a side smile.
"Henry I'm so sorry, I shouldn't have even asked for this to happen."
"Hey hey, she would have done this whether you'd asked her to or not. It's okay, we will be okay, she will be okay."
A few days before...
"Are we saying he's here? In Baghdad? Because if he is, I want him here, in that room so we can find out what's going on!"
Elizabeth had taken the offer of Station Chief in Baghdad, after many conversations and disagreements with Henry. They had managed to agree that 6 months would be suitable for her to go. Enough time for her to get the job done, before the kids got old enough to know where she was or start missing her.
During the first month, she had done a lot of ground work in getting the target they needed into custody. They had a meet scheduled with an asset who had known connections to their target. Her deputy Chief of Station, Brad had been working with the asset for a number of months and they had finally got them to a point of trust.
The asset meeting was taking place at a safe house on the outskirts of Baghdad, just outside the green zone. Elizabeth had decided that she would be at the meeting due to the nature of the target they were facing.
Brad and Elizabeth entered the safe house, guarded by military personnel. They sat at a large oak table, very out of place for a war zone, and waited.
Fifteen minutes after the scheduled meet time, no one had arrived. Brad got out his phone and started to dial the assets number. Elizabeth moved from the table, to the window to see if she could see anything out of the ordinary.
What followed was a series of noise. Screams from the soldiers out the front
"Get down"
"Sniper Spotted"
"RPG!"
"We're being ambushed"
What came next can only be described as the noise that comes when you can't hear anything except ringing in your ears from the loud noises. The safe house had been compromised and all that stood in place of the house was the oak table, smouldering away.
Military trucks swarmed the area, half the soldiers fought back, whilst the rest were able to be covered, to pick survivors out of the rubble. Brad was able to walk, but had injured his arm badly. Elizabeth was pulled from the rubble unconscious. The military medics put her in the back of a truck and drove off, careful to avoid any further altercations.
"We need to get her to the base, and fast" one Medic shouted across to the another.
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Days had passed and Elizabeth had still not woken from the incident. Conrad who was Director at the CIA had been friends with Elizabeth for a long time. He had chosen her to be his 'protégée' and at times throughout both their careers, he had favoured her for certain missions and assignments because he knew she could get the job done with little fuss. Baghdad was always such a trying station, especially with what was happening over there are the time.
Conrad had offered Elizabeth Baghdad Station Chief but was unsure how Henry would take it as they had small children. Conrad shared his concerns with Elizabeth who had assured him it would all be okay and she was ready to go.
And then, that fateful day came when a General phoned the Director of the CIA to tell him his Station Chief, but more importantly - his friend - had been seriously injured and was being helicoptered to Andrews Air Base.
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Henry is sat at his desk, proof reading a thesis on St Francis, his favourite topic. The phone on the other side of the room rings. Assuming it's Elizabeth, he rushes to the phone.
"Hello?"
"Henry, it's Conrad"
Confused, Henry continued;
"Hey, what's up? You heard from Elizabeth? She was supposed to call half an hour ago. I guess she's running around Baghdad like a woman..." Henry didn't get a chance to finish his sentence
"Henry it's Elizabeth"
A silence followed, before Henry was able to clear his throat. He had dreaded this phone call. Every time the phone had rung since Elizabeth left, he was full of dread picking it up to see who it was.
"What's happened. Is she okay?"
"All I can tell you is she's on her way to Andrews from Baghdad. She was involved in an ambush on a safe house. She's due there in 2 hours. From there they'll be taking her to the hospital"
"Text me the address, I'll meet you there"
Henry put the phone down, and the room began to spin. He had spoken to Elizabeth the day before, at the scheduled time. Everything seemed great, she was very content with the work she was doing and felt close to getting the result the whole station had been working hard on. She hadn't missed a day yet. He figured she was busy with station business but deep down somewhere he knew it wasn't right. When the phone rang, he almost knew before he answered.
He picked up his keys and left straight away. Frantic with worry, he raced to the hospital, even knowing she wouldn't have arrived yet. He sat in the hospital car park, and tears began to flow. He'd never show this kind of emotion in front of anyone, except Elizabeth.
Moments passed, and tears turned into silence, a numb feeling set in and stuck with him for a while.
A knock at the window, Henry turned to see who it was, it was Conrad. Henry got out of the car and greeted Conrad with a handshake.
"Henry, I..."
"Please, Conrad, can we do this later?"
"Sure, she's due any minute now"
Seconds later a convoy of vehicles approached the entrance. Out of the last vehicle came a hospital bed, with Elizabeth in it. All that could be seen were the tubes coming from her face. Henry rushes towards the bed as it was being taken inside.
"Elizabeth!" He shouted. "I'm here"