Desert Roses Have Thorns.
Chapter 2.
Eight months later- Somewhere in AlaskaUSA
"Hmmm…what time is it?" Meryl murmured sleepily, opening her eyes and closed them again against the dull morning light. Summer had been and gone in Alaska and as winter came the days became shorter and much, much colder. She pulled the duvet tighter around herself before waking up again.
"Oh no!" she thought and looked over a sleeping Dave at the alarm clock perched alongside the little table lamp and his packet of cigarettes. Her eyes widened when the time flashed up on the red display. 5:59. She quickly sat up and leaned over to switch it off, usually it went off on its daily beeping frenzy at six. Meryl just managed to turn the beeping thing off before it woke up Dave.
"Sssh!" Meryl hissed at the clock before flopping back onto her side, facing him, still sleeping, softly breathing. It was reassuring for Meryl to see him looking so calm. If there was something not quite right he was usually the first one to know and although he often would never admit that something was bothering him it eventually found some way out. It wasn't just that. Meryl found it comforting to know that whenever she was woken by anything from the odd noises that seem to come out of ordinary, everyday objects after dark to the bad dreams she still got every once in a while about Shadow Moses, Dave was there. Of course, he was also useful when it was really cold and was great to snuggle up to and never noticed when Meryl took his half of the duvet for herself!
Meryl jumped when David suddenly started to move about.
"Oh no… don't wake up. Don't' wake up yet!" She thought to herself and moved out of his way.
"…mmm…" He mumbled a smile spread over his face. "…Meryl…" Dave cooed drowsily and snored quietly. Meryl giggled to herself, a hand over her mouth to stifle them and decided that while she could never describe David as 'cute' this was a definite 'aww' moment.
Rewind back eight months however and it would have been a different scenario. After returning from Shadow Moses, they stayed at Twin Lakes for a week to allow Snake to get better before they started to move stuff out. It was made all the more difficult with the trouble Dave had. Every night was full of nightmares for him.
Meryl didn't have much of an idea of what he saw in them, but she guessed from what he said in his sleep it was about what had gone on Shadow Moses Island from the names he would shout out, always sounding frightened or angry. Some evenings Dave rolled and rumbled about restlessly, forcing Meryl to sleep on the sofa. She would creep back to bed before he woke up so he wouldn't know. Some mornings she woke up to find him sitting awake keeping a watch over her, an empty packet of cigarettes often not too far away and a thick haze of smoke in the air. It came to a head when Snake decided to take a walk in the forest at two in the morning and reappeared later on that day, Meryl absolutely frantic thinking that he'd left her. After Twin Lakes was left behind, things slowly got better and with a couple of months Dave was starting to behave more like a normal person. Thing is they both knew there wouldn't be any sort of regular normality, there was no way of reversing some of the damage done, just minimising it.
Meryl smiled at Dave again although he wouldn't see it, rolled over onto her other side, and pulled open a drawer in the cabinet next to her. She rummaged around for a few seconds for a small box. She eventually found it and opened it a little to see the silver curb chain inside. Facing Snake again, she carefully slipped it around his neck, closing the clasp securely with a soft laugh. She wondered what he would say, or if he would notice at all.
She was still tired after staying up late the night before to catch a movie with him on television and snuggled down again to sleep a while.
Meryl didn't know how long she had dozed but awoke some time later. She felt a hand resting against her shoulder. She peeked up to see Dave there in front her awake on his side leaning on his other arm. His bluey-gray eyes creased up as he smiled at her.
"You turned the alarm off didn't you?" He laughed a little.
"Ummm…yeah. Look what's wrong with a long lie once in while?" Meryl asserted. "And…" She stopped and watched him peer down at his chest.
"Oh…" Dave exclaimed. "Meryl what's this for?" He lifted the chain up a little.
"You've forgotten?" Meryl laughed. "It's yours. A present from me." She said moving closer towards him and slipped her arms round his waist under the covers.
"My birthday…" Snake muttered to himself, and twisted round to look as date flashed up on the clock.
"It is…" he half-laughed, half-groaned turning back to her.
"Happy birthday, Dave." Meryl whispered in his ear and kissed his cheek.
It wasn't just his birthday but it was also eight months that he and Meryl had been together. It wasn't an important number, but for Snake it held some significance. He'd had no doubts about having Meryl live with him and looking back he was glad that he'd chosen to let her stay. He had once imagined that if he did meet somebody, it would have all ended within a few weeks. It was quite a feat for him after living six years on his own, with nobody to care for but himself and fifty huskies. Even then, in the wake of Zanzibar there had been times where he didn't care about what happened to him.
"So…" Meryl started again. "…how old are you? You never told me on Shadow Moses and you still haven't told me.
"Yeah…I think I said 'Old enough to know what death looks like' or something grim like that." Snake recalled.
"Well… go on. Tell me!" Meryl persuaded and hugged him a little more.
"Ugh." He groaned. "Oh okay… thirty-one." Dave replied grudgingly and waited to see her reaction. He was relieved to see that she didn't respond in any unusual way. She didn't stare at him with round eyes and an open mouth, she didn't scream or run away, and Dave allowed himself an inward sigh.
Meryl had turned nineteen about three months ago, Dave remembered sketchily. They celebrated with him taking Meryl out for dinner, he'd bought some gifts for her, and it was the first time he saw her in a dress.
"I wasn't sure what to get you." Meryl piped up and distracted Snake out of his daydream about her birthday. "It's tricky trying to think of ideas for what to get for anybody, but you…you're tough Dave. I thought I should give you something you could have with you all the time. Y'know, to remind you of me."
Snake could sense that Meryl was still a little afraid that something would happen to come between them, and although he recognised it, he ignored it for the time being. It would be silly to think about it on a day like this.
Meryl played with the chain hanging around his neck.
"Thank you. I'm not really a fan of jewellery but I like this a lot." Dave said gently to her.
"Liquid wore a chain didn't he?" Snake asked himself in his head. "Gold dog tags on a gold chain…It would have been his birthday too if he were alive to see it but…" He looked down at Meryl still occupying herself with the chain "…Meryl and I would probably be dead."
"David!" Meryl waved her hand in front of his face.
"Thank you." Snake said quickly and put his arms around her once more.
"It looks good on you." Meryl whispered to him.
"I'll always wear it." Dave told her. Meryl seemed to brighten a bit more.
"Really?"
"Of course." He answered, leaning in closer to give her a gentle kiss.
Meryl drew back a little from him a couple of minutes later.
"I've got to get ready. I've still got things to do today in town and I'm so hungry!" getting up and pulled on a dressing gown to make her way downstairs while Dave busied himself with finding fresh underwear and jeans.
He hopped next door to the bathroom still pulling on his jeans, taking a moment to have a look at his reflection in the mirror, admiring Meryl's gift, and then started to search around for his razor. He was halfway through shaving when the smell of coffee and toast invited him to hurry up. He managed to finish without cutting himself, and popped next door grabbing the first shirt that came to hand, buttoning it up while he went downstairs to meet Meryl.
She was sitting at the table, munching on a slice of toast and jam. More stood up in the little toast rack, a jar of jam and butter sat beside it along with a pot of coffee and milk. While Dave would have had something a little more substantial normally, he knew that the huskies would begin to get restless for their morning feed. There would be time later to get more food.
"So, what are you going into town for?" Dave asked as he sat down taking some toast for himself and slid the keys to his pick-up to Meryl across the table.
"None of your business!" She grinned. "I've still got one or two things to pick up for you and I'm arranging something too. In other words…you can't come."
"You don't have to go to so much trouble…" Dave said to her quietly as he spooned on a blob of the jam and spread it around a knife. "Honestly, it's brilliant that you even bothered."
Meryl looked at him with raised eyebrows.
"You mean nobody cared when you were little?" She asked.
Dave shook his head. Nobody had cared while he was passed around from one foster family to another and when he first signed himself into the forces; it was something you told no one about to save you having to deal with the consequences of the stupid pranks that were pulled from the other soldiers. Why did he have to worry about times that were now so long ago in the past? Here he was with a life of his own and sharing it with somebody he cared about, somebody who loved him back.
"Oh come on Dave, you deserve it. You put in all that thought for my birthday, what's to stop me from doing the same for you?" Meryl looked up from sweeping breadcrumbs into a small heap, another broad smile on her face.
"Or do you have other plans tonight?"
Snake laughed quietly.
"Maybe, maybe…" he smiled as Meryl tapped his shin with her bare foot.
Meryl got out of her chair and pushed it back in, piled up her dishes on the table and began to head back upstairs to wash and change.
"I'm still taking you out. I don't care what you say!" She called from the top of the stairs.
"Okay…" Dave put his hands in the air and carried on polishing off what was left of breakfast.
He had to confess life was a lot better after moving away from Twin Lakes. It had seen too many sad days and it had become too dangerous to stay there. Snake didn't feel like hiding anymore, but he was still cautious about being in public for fear of somebody recognising him. Their home was closer to Anchorage, a little bit out of anybody's' way, in the peace and quiet, comfortably tucked away out of sight.
Dave climbed the stairs to retrieve his boots, first stopping in by the bathroom to brush his teeth.
Meryl was just within his sight as he stood in front of the wall cabinet mirror, getting dressed pulling on a jumper on top of a shirt.
"Isn't that a little big for her?" Dave wondered to himself and peeked into the bedroom through the adjoining door.
"Oh, hey!" He called through a mouthful of minty foam. "That's my…" He picked up a glass of water and rinsed his mouth out.
"Your jumper?" Meryl smiled at him with a cheeky glint in her eyes, poking her tongue out at him, provoking Snake to start chasing after her.
"Look it's great for when it's cold like today…" Meryl giggled as she jumped out Dave's way.
"You mean you've stolen it before?" Dave accused light-heartedly.
"NO! I only borrowed it…" Meryl laughed. "…and you're not needing it today right? I'm doing lots of walking up and down streets just for you and you'll be…"
"I was going to get it when I was finished…" David growled chasing after her. "I'm feeding the huskies and I don't know what else I'll be doing today either."
"You're still not getting it!" Meryl squealed pulling the jumper on tighter and skipped out of reach as Dave made another jump after her.
"Missed…" She taunted. Snake made another leap and caught hold of her, wrapping his arms around her.
"Gotcha!" He laughed, struggling to keep her still.
"NOO! Snake, let go!" Meryl cried wriggling around.
"You can keep it, just for today." He finally sighed. Meryl smiled, happy with her victory and gave him a hug.
"I've got to go." Meryl said stepping back still with her hands around his waist.
Snake opened his mouth to say something to her but closed it before reconsidering. What he had to say could wait, now was not the right time.
"I'll see you later, Dave!" Meryl smiled at him, pulling on her coat as she ran down the stairs. Moments later the door slammed after her.
Dave sat down to lace up his boots before peeping out the window as Meryl drove away out of sight.
The huskies began to howl from inside their shelter. Dave looked at his watch; he was late for their food and they were telling him to get a move on and let them out. He wandered down the stairs paying a visit to the gun closet to pick up his USP and a couple of spare magazines. It paid to keep a gun handy. There were grizzly bears in the area and although David didn't think that any would decide to investigate, he didn't want to chance it.
The gun went into a holster that sat on his left hip so it could be hidden under his coat and be drawn without obstruction.
"I'll be there in a minute!" Dave thought to himself as the howls continued and he locked the closet, slipping the keys in his pocket, heading into the kitchen and to the back porch collecting his coat, zipping it right up. He took a step back and opened the store to heave out the bag of dog food, slinging it over one shoulder, stepped outside to walk towards the enclosure for the dogs.
The bowls for their food were still sitting out, sprinkled in a little frost. Dave set the bag down with a sigh once he had entered the enclosure and filled up each bowl with cupfuls of food. The barking got louder and more impatient, filling the air. The sound deafened Snake when he walked to the door and unlatched it. A flood of fur poured out heading right for the food, all fifty of them except for two. Bob and Aero sat in front of David waiting for him.
"What?" He smiled. "Look if I were you I'd get over there before those greedy guys leave you with nothing."
Aero lifted up one paw with a small whine.
"Oh I get it." Dave said out loud and lit up a cigarette. "You're wondering where she is, huh? Meryl's just gone out for a little while."
Bob cocked his head and his ears pricked at the sound of Meryl's name, making the little husky look even more wolf-like. He gave Snake a canine grin and trotted off with Aero in tow.
It would have been a good day to take a small team out for a run, it was a half-decent day and not too cold, but Dave wanted to be around when Meryl came back.
He turned to shut one of the doors on the dog shelter, leaving one open just in case they wanted to shelter and headed back to where he had left the bag of food by the fence. He pushed open the gate to leave the pen and fastened the padlock back in place. While he busied himself with tying the bag shut, Dave heard footsteps coming up behind him.
"I bet it's Meryl and she forgot something." He smiled, pausing to take a drag on his cigarette.
"Right…" He began aloud. "…what did you forget this time?" and turned around.
He took one look at the person, his hand diving under his coat to draw his handgun.
"You're not Meryl…who the Hell are you!" He exclaimed, the woman started to lift up the rifle she was carrying. Snake snatched her wrist and flipped her over onto the ground on her back.
"Whoever this visitor is she isn't friendly." Dave muttered to himself as he sprinted off away, looking back over his shoulder.
The woman was up on her feet and chasing after him. She quickly caught up with him, only a few steps behind. He caught a glimpse of her face, her long black hair flicked in front of her face partially hiding it, but it was nobody that he had ever met before.
To Dave's surprise she sprang towards him, her arms outstretched. Dave just managed to bring his right arm up and fired one shot, grazing the woman's arm. She shouted out furiously but it was nothing that Snake understood. The bullet failed to deter her and she wrapped her arms around his legs tightly, bringing him down into the snow with a soft crunch.
"Huh? Damn!" Dave hissed to himself.
His gun had been thrown a few feet out of his reach and he struggled to crawl forwards, the woman still had a tight grip around his legs. He crept forward a little dragging her along with him only to be hauled back again. He felt her hand grasp hold of the waistband on his jeans and reached back to prise her hands off again.
"Let GO!" Snake shouted at her as he tried to fight her off. He shook his legs and tried to free just one so that he would be able to kick her arms. However, her grip would not surrender and Dave found his legs trapped underneath as she sat down on them, and punched him in the back. There was a metallic rattling as the woman picked up her rifle. Dave twisted around to see her, and began to struggle even more.
"Damn it!" He muttered as he raised his arms over his head. The woman lifted the weapon up, bringing it down onto his skull with a loud smack.
Dave was stunned at first, but his movements slowed down and eventually stopped altogether. He still battled to keep conscious. It was no use; his head tipped forwards and lay face down in the snow with a grunt.
Ebony still sat pinning Snake's legs down making absolutely certain that he was out cold.
"I hope I didn't over do it." She whispered to herself. She'd hit him harder than she really wanted to but desperation had necessitated it.
Ebony got up and crouched down next to him, pulling back the collar of his coat and pressed two fingers against his neck, feeling for a pulse. It was there. Slow but strong and steady. She tipped his head to one side and listened closely. He was still breathing, just faintly, a strong smell of tobacco on his breath.
"Well that was a little easier than expected." She said out loud and stood up. "Out of practise Snake?"
She smiled at him, moving her shot arm a little. It was fine, only a little graze, and nothing to worry about. Ebony rolled Snake over onto his back and hooked her arms under his, dragging him slowly along. She had to pause a couple of times to take a breather, dropping him down again each time and finally made it into the trees and back where she had left her snowmobile.
Ebony dumped Snake down on the forest floor. She touched the gold tag looped on her chain with a few silent words and began rearranging the load she had strapped on the rear rack. Then she fought with Snake's inanimate body a while, heaving him up to sit on the saddle behind her so that he wouldn't fall off. She turned the key, revving the engine up. It was just a short trip to the rendezvous point and she would be out of here, back on the way home and out of the chill.
Step one was complete.
»»»»»»
The table reservations had been made, the last couple of gifts picked up, and some extra bits and pieces bought. There was really nothing to it at all; the only problem for Meryl would be hiding all the stuff from Dave. He had a knack of finding stuff, likely a consequence of him having to acquire items in missions from wherever he could find them. Meryl was wondering how on Earth she was going to manage come Christmas time. She smiled at the thought of having to bury her gifts outside in the ground.
She parked the pick up back inside the garage and peeked in a couple of windows just to make sure he wasn't lying in wait for her at the door.
She had made sure the place she'd reserved a table at was okay. The last time they went out on her birthday for dinner, Dave had looked a little uncomfortable the whole evening and anytime Meryl had quizzed him about the problem, he just muttered something about it being a little more crowded than he expected. That had been the only spoiler. This time however, Meryl made sure it would go all right. A table for two in a nice quiet, cosy more private part of the restaurant. Meryl giggled to herself remembering the glares that Dave had given some of the more nosy diners taking a little too much interest in them. At least there'd be no repeat of that.
Meryl pushed open the door with her back, placed the bags down to one side, and let the door close quietly.
"Odd…" She thought to herself hanging up her coat with the others. "…I would have expected him to be having lunch or watching T.V."
Feeding the huskies did not take all that long even when they were on their worst behaviour. Meryl had a look in the gun closet thinking he'd be cleaning some of his guns, then upstairs and checked all the rooms there.
"Maybe he went out on the sled for a run?" Meryl paused where she was at the top of the stairs and walked back to the bedroom window to look outside.
From there she could get a view of where Dave usually headed off on his training runs. No tracks at all. Moreover, it hadn't snowed yet so if there had been any they would have been visible.
"I'll just call him in case. Maybe he went a different way." Meryl thought and went back into the living room and sat in the chair next to the telephone. Both of them a had a cell phone of their own just in case they got stuck in bad weather or were out and about. Meryl looked up the number and dialled it in, waiting.
"Come on…answer it." Meryl rolled her eyes. Dave usually answered the phone quite quickly and although it sometimes took a little while for him to answer, he'd never left it so long before. Meryl sighed and put the phone down with a clash.
"If this is his idea of a joke…" She fumed. "David, come on this isn't funny anymore!" Meryl called out loud. She waited listening for any sound.
"Okay… maybe he went for a walk…" Meryl began striding towards the backdoor, out to where the huskies' pen was. She searched round for footprints. Meryl found them next to where the bag of dog food had been abandoned and tipped over. He always took it in when they were finished, something else that wasn't right. Meryl followed them around a little.
"Hey…" Her eye was caught by another set of prints, smaller than Snake's and they led all the way up behind his. There was a mess in the snow where it had been kicked up, a few handprints had pressed into the snow. From there the footprints were spaced further apart… as if Snake and the other person had been running.
Meryl ran as she followed them further away and found they ended in more unclear impressions in the snow. Further back Meryl spotted a tiny brassy object, a single bullet case from Dave's USP. It was frozen and there was no way of telling how long ago it had been fired. There was a squashed up cigarette pressed into the snow, which was the brand that Dave smoked. Then there were rough tracks trailing away into the woods. Meryl didn't need to follow them; she knew what had happened.
Meryl stood still holding the bullet case in her hand staring into nowhere. Her mind was a blank and she stumbled back inside, her brain on autopilot and led her back to the living room into the sofa.
She didn't do anything for a moment, it was impossible to imagine that he'd been snatched away. Meryl buried her head into her folded arms. She couldn't think of anybody who would want to capture Dave either. They were dead according to the government, her father had made sure of it, and so it couldn't have been them.
"He could be anywhere in the world…thousands of miles away… Dave where are you?" She mumbled into her arms, the sleeves on his jumper got wet with tears.
She sat curled up in a little ball crying for a few more minutes, the shock slowly changing itself into something else. A little shadow of anger danced around inside of her replacing the sadness. Meryl sat up and wiped her eyes.
"I can't sit here and do nothing!" She said firmly to herself. She looked at the telephone. Her Dad had done so much to help them out; surely, he would want to help her now?
"Thing is if I call he'll have to tell the truth that we're alive…but I can't think of anybody else."
Meryl sat herself down next to the phone, flicked through the pages of her address book for her father's number, grabbed the receiver, and dialled.
It began to ring. Meryl almost put it down, but forced herself to keep it off the hook.
"Hello?" The voice said to her at the other end of the line. "Campbell residence, who's speaking?"
"Hi…Dad." Meryl smiled a little.
"Meryl! Haha, Meryl! This is unexpected…" Her Dad laughed. "How are you?" He asked. Of course how could he possibly know what had happened.
"I…" She stuttered a little. "Not too…good…" She murmured nervously. There was silence and she interpreted it as meaning that he was listening. Meryl swallowed the knot in her throat down hard.
"Dad…" It felt so strange to be calling the man she'd known as 'uncle' all her life, Dad.
"…Dave's gone… I mean he hasn't left…he just disappeared. Somebody had come after him today while I was in Anchorage…" She sucked in a lungful of air. "It's his birthday today and I was making reservations for dinner tonight… I don't know who… where he is…" Her voice trembled a little and Meryl managed to keep the tears back.
"Meryl…" Roy Campbell said softly to her.
"I have to find him…" Meryl's voice took on a much harder edge. "…I have to get him back!"
"Meryl, I know what you're asking me for." Roy answered. "I will contact the military. See what they can do. I can't promise you that they will do anything at all, you are both officially dead remember and I'll have a bit of explaining to do myself…" He paused for a second. "Hal Emmerich was on his way to Anchorage today wasn't he?"
"Hmmm?" Meryl asked. "Yeah I invited him over for today for Dave's birthday. It's been a while since we all saw each other."
"Good. I recommend you two meet up then. I'll contact him and tell him to wait for you in the airport. Any developments in the situation will be relayed to him, but from there on I don't know if I can do much more. I'm sorry." The old Colonel replied calmly.
"Okay…" Meryl sighed. "I guess I've got nothing to loose."
"Don't worry, alright? Goodbye for now."
"Bye and thanks." Meryl sighed and hung up the phone.
Meryl sat still for a moment and dashed off upstairs, stuffing a holdall with some clothes, a few bits, and pieces. She'd probably find that if anything did happen, she'd have to leave so it only made sense to pack some things together.
Something lying on the dressing table caught Meryl's attention. Snake's bandanna was lying out, creased, and a little frayed at the ends. She picked it up, folded it carefully, and kept it in her pocket before charging downstairs. She stopped to pull on a coat, opened up the garage and threw her bag into the passenger seat of the pickup. The poor thing gurgled into life when Meryl started the engine, pulling away quickly and down the trail onto the nearest road.
»»»»»»
A groan came from out of the darkness. It sounded detached somehow from Snake when he heard it but the feeling in his throat said that it was his own voice. His mind was away somewhere else when he tried to lift one hand to feel the lump on the back of his head.
"How did I get that?" He wondered and discovered that his arms were tied behind his back. His legs were also bound together but Dave couldn't work out which way he was; one second the blood rushed up into his head like he was dangling upside down, the next he felt as if he was being swayed about like a ship at sea. It took a while for his senses to return fully and stopped playing around. They told him he was lying on his side with cold smooth concrete underneath.
David peered up; holding his head up at an angle and the darkness gave up the faint figures it was hiding from him. Just shadows with no faces, talking and sniggering to one another.
"Where…am I?" Snake asked dumbly. He couldn't think of anything else to ask. A voice out of the gloom spoke up but there were no words that he recognised, but it sounded very similar to what the woman had screamed at him.
"Is it…Arabic? Yeah…" He had heard it somewhere before when he was younger, years ago when he was in the Gulf war.
His concentration was snapped by a twinge of pain in the back of his head and the loud laughs that erupted from the other people around him. The man who'd just spoke, rushed up to Snake and kicked his foot into his gut. It didn't take long for the rest to swarm round and join in. Snake just curled himself up into a ball hoping that they would get bored and leave him be.
Over the commotion a door flung open and a new arrival strode in, waving their arms about firing out what Snake imagined were Arabic swear words and curses, storming round the room and chased the men out.
"Who the…a woman?" Snake murmured to himself tilting his head again at the shape in the door. It vanished as the door was shut and soon reappeared as lights flickered on.
Snake blinked a few times.
"Solid Snake?" The woman asked softly in English.
"Wha..?" Snake was cut short with a swift kick in his stomach as strong as any that the men had given to him. She kneeled down in front of him.
"Same woman who took me down…" Snake thought to himself. She reached out a hand and tilted his head so she could get a good look at him.
"I got it right… you are, aren't you?" She smiled at him.
It was definitely the same woman he encountered in Alaska; long shiny black hair, very dark brown eyes with dark skin… an Arab for sure like most of the men that had left a few seconds ago although he had noticed that there were one or two who came from other countries.
"I can't lie, you got it right." Snake spluttered. There was no point in lying, it would get him nowhere except for maybe more trouble. "Who are you? What…" The woman cut him off.
"Ebony, Snake. My name is Ebony and from now on it is going to be a very important name. Not just for you but every last person on this world will soon know it. Meryl too…" She flashed a smile at him again.
"What do you know about Meryl? Leave her out of this!" Snake shouted. He stopped realising his mistake.
"Quiet!" Ebony hissed and got up quickly to let him feel the steel toecap pound his stomach again. "There will be plenty of time for questions later, just hold your tongue and be patient. This is my base and my rules. I do what I please here and I'm not going to tell you anymore yet." She snapped at him again and stepped away softly, flicking the lights off to leave Snake in the black again.
"Ooooooooh… I have to exercise more!" Snake smiled to himself curling up again, trying to lighten the mood.
"Where am I anyway?" He asked himself. It was hot and dry even though he was wearing his jeans and boots. He shook his head.
"What am I? Arabic speaking guerrillas, a woman with Arabic looks… you're in the Middle East Dave!" He laughed quietly.
He lay still on the floor for a few minutes; his head still went round and round going nowhere in particular before he asked himself another question.
"I can understand how she knows who I am, practically every mercenary knows me as Solid Snake, but how the Hell did she find out about Meryl? Or where we live? We're supposed to be officially dead." Dave remembered Roy Campbell telling them how he'd got on with covering up for them, and even let them see the death certificates. It had been chilling to see his own name on a death certificate but it had at least helped put his mind at rest that things were safer. However, they could never be safe, not until he died.
This incident had proved that.
Snake shut his eyes for forty winks. He knew that Ebony wasn't going to make his life easy and he'd need all his strength to survive.
»»»»»»
A windowless and airless room deep inside the base's main barracks was where Ebony had chosen her private quarters to be. She felt vulnerable whenever she was asleep. She had the small fear lurking in her mind that she could be picked off by an assassin in her sleep, taking a shot at her through a window. It was difficult to explain why she felt like that but Ebony imagined that it was seeing her father die that had brought it on.
She was very restless and kept on changing where she would rest. Finally, she settled down, lying on her back on her bed.
"He looks so much like Liquid…" She breathed out loud. She had finally met Solid Snake herself and it had allowed her to understand Liquid a little more.
"I was so close to letting him go and apologising when I saw him." She laughed and quietened down.
The likeness was uncanny; Ebony had almost let herself believe that it was just Liquid who'd disguised himself by cutting his hair and dying it brown. But all it had taken to remind her that it wasn't Liquid was the image of his dead body she had burned into her memory. That was the only spark she needed to set the fury she'd been keeping locked inside of her, free.
She took out a photograph from a drawer. It was the only one she had left of Liquid and it had been taken not long before he left to join FOX-HOUND. Before things began to get on top of him and put their partnership under strain.
It had been the last time she remembered seeing him smile and while it had been something he didn't do very often, every time he did it always gave Ebony enough reason to smile too. Liquid was holding a sub-machine gun in his hands, a sniper rifle slung over his shoulder pulling the desert camouflage shirt he had on over to one side revealing a patch of tanned skin and the dog tags he always wore. The wind was blowing his hair all over the place and his face was streaked with dust and dirt. Ebony laughed to herself.
"And his excuse for not washing his face on missions was that it saved him from having to put on camo grease paint!" She wiped her eyes and put it down, picture side up.
It had been difficult for her to say goodbye. She could never understand why Liquid had given up the freedom he'd had when they worked together as mercenaries and traded it to work for the American government. Ebony had learned however that when Liquid made choices he stuck by them and would never budge. He always had plenty of reasons to support his actions to counter any argument.
"A great fighter and a wonderful debater…" Ebony thought to herself. "To think that had been our last goodbye…"
She had done as she had promised and brought Liquid's body back to base. His grave was now in the mountains a few miles away from the base. They had been a favourite place of his to practise shooting or for when he needed a quiet spot away from anybody else. It was also the place where their paths had split apart.
Ebony couldn't say that she had ever believed in life after death. Death was something she fought to avoid and had never thought much further on the idea. To her, death meant she would no longer be able to fight anymore, but it sometimes troubled her that she was doing all this, then one day it would stop and would all be for nothing. She hoped that if she saw Liquid again he would be happy once more. Happy knowing that there was somebody who cared, took revenge and finished what he had left behind. It was the only thing that kept her from destroying the base to end her deal with Ocelot.
"Somewhere I'll find a use for his plans, I've just got to bide my time and wait for the opportunity when it comes." Ebony sighed.
"If it ever comes…" Something inside her said. "You could go on like this for years and never get what you want!"
"Shut up!" Ebony told herself.
So far, both she and Ocelot had kept their half of the deal. Ebony had given Ocelot the use of her own base, handed over command of her soldiers to him, all to help him sell the technical data of Metal Gear REX to raise enough funds for himself to design and construct his own Metal Gear. Her own money had been put into it but she had been prudent enough to divert some of the cash flow so that it would not all end up being spent on Ocelot's project. If it the plans went awry then she would have some money to bring things back together.
Of course, the specs that Ocelot had sold had been rewritten. The end result was an inferior copy of the REX design so that Ocelot could keep ahead of the others. It would be no use if suddenly one of his clients decided to turn on him and they had a Gear that was of equal strength to his version. This had been courtesy of the engineers and technicians, the people who built the nuclear warheads to go with the new Metal Gear. All of them were Russian, out of work and desperate for anything to apply their skills and imagination to. Victims of the Cold War ending and the several treaties devised to reduce the stockpiles of nuclear weapons. That had allowed some of them to be paid quite cheaply as they had been out of work for so long and in dire need of some kind of paid work. It meant that more of the money could be spent on hiring far more workers to hasten the production of this Metal Gear and allow more to be lavished on making it as advanced as possible.
Ebony hadn't seen the final result of what they had conjured up, but had been following the production closely, impressed at what they were building.
Snake had also been brought to the base in one piece. For how long Ebony would tolerate his presence she did not yet know. All that they had to do was see what America's reaction would be when they announced their possession of a Metal Gear and the capture of their hero.
"I'm sure if I feel generous I'll let Ocelot use that oversized chunk of metal on Snake for his own amusement." Ebony smiled. "Why did I let him bring it with him?" She sighed recalling the trouble they had transporting the machine Ocelot lifted up from Shadow Moses.
"It'll be a nice way to get Snake started and it will have to do. I'll think of something else to use when I get warmed up. I have my ways of getting what I want." Ebony thought with a smile and unclipped her radio to summon two soldiers. Time to have a friendly discussion with Snake.
Continued in chapter 3 coming soon…!