Jason was putting away the freshly bought groceries when his phone beeped.
He looked at it and closed the fridge.
He put away the rest and headed upstairs to see Emma.
"Hey, I'm called in, you think you can pick your brother up at hockey practice later on this afternoon"?
"Sure. You think you'll need to head out"?
"I don't know yet, but I'll keep you posted. You know the drill".
"Yes, if you are not back after two days, I call grandma in to keep an eye on us. In the interim if we need help, we contact Aunt Neema".
"Exactly", replied Jason as he planted a kiss on Emma's forehead, before exiting her room and scurrying down the stairs.
He put his cap on, grabbed his car keys, and left the house.
When he arrived in the locker room, Trent, Brock, and Sonny were already changing.
"Good morning".
"Morning Jason", they replied in turn.
Ray and Clay joined them and when Jason was ready, he headed to the meeting room with Sonny.
Once everyone had joined, Eric started.
"Good morning, thanks for coming in. I'll get right to what the situation is".
"Where not waiting for Mandy"? asked Jason.
"No, she's currently out of state, but she'll join us when she can".
"So, we're flying out", said Clay.
"Yes", replied Blackburn. "The situation in Abidjan is getting more and more heated as the days go by. We've been called in to assist our men and women already on site for the past two weeks".
"Do we have a lot of American citizens in the Ivory Coast"? asked Jason.
"There are more or less 4000 American citizens. A lot of them are in parts of the Ivory Coast that is quite calm for the moment, but we still have approximately 500 in Abidjan, at this time not quite sure if that number has dropped. We should get a better idea when we're there".
"We're basically going there to assist the extraction of these Americans along with those in the Embassy", said Ray.
"We don't know yet what the nature of our mission will be, we'll know more when we get to Abidjan. We're flying out in three hours, so if you need to handle personal things, now is the time to do it. Don't pack too light, I don't know how long we'll be there".
"I don't understand why you called grandma", said Emma standing in the middle of the living room with her arms folded in front of her chest.
"Because I don't know how long we're going to be away, and I need to know that you and your brother are fine while I'm not here".
"You don't trust me, is that it"?
He moved in towards her. "This has got nothing to do with trust. We're not talking about two days Emma. It's others I don't trust and even if you are almost an adult, taking care of your brother and a house is a lot and I don't want you to have to do it, while studying and attending classes".
He took her in for a hug. "I trust you, otherwise, I wouldn't even leave you two days alone to care for your brother".
He took a step back and planted a kiss on her forehead. He then headed to Michael's room.
"I want to hear all about the big game so I'm counting on you to call me. Listen to your sister and grandma".
He checked with his dad. "Yes, sir".
The plane lifted from the tarmac and Jason and the others placed they hammocks to settle in for 11 hours.
Ray looked at Jason as he settled in his and looked at his cellphone smiling.
"Everything alright at home"?
"Yeah, my mother should be there tomorrow, so all good".
Ray frowned, something was different with Jason for a while now and no matter how he tried to get the reason behind it, Jason often found something to respond.
"You seem happy for the moment. I'm assuming it has nothing to do with your mom arriving and us being deployed to Africa".
"What? I can't be in a good mood"? asked Jason jokingly.
"Yeah, but I haven't seen you in such a good mood for a long time, and being your best friend, I'd just like to know what or who I have to thank".
Jason frowned. "Why does it have to be a who"?
"I don't know. You just seem to elude the subject every time I bring it up, so I figure it's got to be a who".
Jason laughed. "Look, if it becomes a who, you'll be the first to know". With that he pulled his cap over his eyes and closed them.
They walked down the plane that had landed at the French base at Port-Bouet. As Blackburn had explained, the US had no base in the area and the French had agreed to lend part of their base to the US operations.
"Maybe I can find myself a nice French soldier, while I'm here", said Sonny as he placed his cap on his head.
"Commander Blackburn"? asked a man.
"Yes", said Eric.
"Lieutenant Joseph Campbell".
The men shook hands.
"Welcome to Port-Bouet".
"Thank you, Lieutenant".
"You and your team have had a long flight. I'll show you to your barracks and let you settle in. The General and Captain apologize but they are currently at the Embassy, they would have liked to be here upon your arrival, but they were slightly detained".
"That's understandable".