Chapter 5

Thank you again to everyone for your support and kind words. I've been watching some past episodes and being reminded of some great Mandy/Jason scenes. I've also been re-watching a lot of Amazon's show Jack Ryan (I highly recommend watching), which has kind of lead me to be inspired to possibly write more about the spy side of Mandy lol. So here we go continuing on with the story and let's see where the hell I end up lol.

Bravo had recently gone out on some missions but hadn't had too much success in getting any more information on the new terror group. It had been twenty four hours since the last bust and Jason was restless once again. Jason found himself running laps around base again. A few moments later someone came up running beside him.

Jason slowed down and took out his head phones, "Hey, what are you doing?"

"Thought maybe a run would help clear my mind and energize me," Mandy replied standing in front of him.

"That bad, huh," Jason said while stretching one of his legs.

Mandy watched him as he stretched, especially the hip he had recently had surgery on. She knew he was fine but it never hurt to get a read on him to make sure.

"You could say that," Mandy groaned as she tried to also stretch out some of her frustrations. "What's your excuse?"

"You know me, just keeping myself prime and ready," Jason chuckled.

"Uh-huh," Mandy eyed him skeptically. "Right, it has nothing to do with the fact that we're going after the son of a terrorist you previously killed? I got to say, you've been acting a little on edge recently."

"Are you reading me now?" Jason asked a little frustrated.

Mandy took a second to look at Jason before replying, "You know what, never mind." Mandy then proceeded to start jogging off to finish up her work out.

Jason opened and closed his mouth before groaning to himself. Mandy and him had this relationship of knowing when to and when not to push each other for the most part. They also had this connection of being able to read each other quite well and maybe he shouldn't have gone at her with his comment.

Jason started running to catch up with Mandy, "Mandy! Wait… listen…"

Mandy cut him off by saying, "It's okay if you don't want to talk. I get it but don't cut off my head for asking."

Jason pulled her by the elbow gently and stood in front of her to stop her from running. "I'm sorry," he said to Mandy.

"I know. What's going on Jason? Something is up. I've seen you going after targets before and this one seems to be hitting close to home for you."

Jason looked at Mandy and once again was struck by how she just always knew with him. Even when they were seeing other people it never stopped amazing him how much she truly observed everything going on around him and everyone. Sure she was smart or brainy as Mandy called herself, but there was something about her self-awareness that made her some damn good at her job.

"When we went after the father and I killed him, the son was there in the room hiding," Jason said. "I never mentioned it to anyone before. I just remember shooting him then walking into the room to confirm the kill. All of a sudden I hear someone breathing nearby and I go to check and it's this young kid. He was scared out his mind and I just took one of my glow sticks and left it with him so he wasn't left in the dark."

Jason took a deep breath looking away from Mandy. Mandy couldn't see his eyes directly because he was wearing sunglasses but she knew the sorrow and guilt was there.

"You think you're the reason the son is what he is today," Mandy stated.

"Aren't I? He watched as I killed his father and then I just left him there," Jason replied.

Mandy looked around and then proceeded to drag Jason around the corner of a building.

"You are not the reason he's a terrorist today. He chose that path himself," Mandy said sternly to Jason as she reached for his hand. "That kid had a choice at some point in his life and now he'll have to deal with it. Had we not gone after his father what's to say he wouldn't have followed in his father's footsteps still? It's a cost of war and nothing is going to come free."

Jason squeezed Mandy's hand as he remembered saying the same words to Mandy that night over the fire. He knew she was right but it didn't help relieve all the guilt he felt. Mandy stepped forward and hugged Jason tightly.

"You're a good man Jason. You're loyal, caring, and the fact that you feel what you feel means something," Mandy said as Jason rested his head on her shoulder and hugged her back.

"I'm really glad I have you in my corner," Jason said.

"Always," Mandy replied. "Now let's see who the slow poke around the base is," Mandy said as she jumped away and started running off.

Jason laughed and started off after her thinking about how he needed to do something special for Mandy in return.