CHAPTER 20

Miguel wandered out of the chapel and back onto the street. After being thrown out, he didn't want to get straight back into the car and drive away. He needed to clear his head, so he decided to go for a long walk. After around an hour and a half of slow walking, ignoring his phone's incessant buzz in his pocket, Miguel sat on a nearby bench, looking up at the setting sun and pondering… what would have happened if he had made the call to extract his men at the start of the mission? 12 deaths that could've been prevented. Tyler would still be alive. Sarah wouldn't be a widow. Their son wouldn't be without a dad. So much blood shed and so many lives torn to shreds, and it was all on him.

Twilight turned to dusk and soon, the sun's fierce shine was replaced by that of streetlights twinkled all around the streets. Miguel was about to get up and begin to walk back towards his car, but just as he got up and started to walk back towards his car, two large hooded figures followed him into an alley. Miguel sighed. He knew what was about to happen but he wasn't at all scared.

"Give us your wallet, keys and phone and you don't have to get hurt…"

Ten men and 5 women and a child were armed with guns pointing at them. Miguel took out 3 of the men, 3 of the women and the child. The other men eliminated the others. To their surprise, Bin Asif was not anywhere to be found.

"Where the hell is he? Did he manage to flee?" Eli asked, furious.

Miguel scanned the room. He had always had the ability to see things others couldn't so he searched for any sign of the target. Miguel shook his head and pointed to the back of the room.

"Look at the pattern and handprints. Fake wall." He murmured. He reloaded his gun and quickly strapped a small explosive to the wall. The SEALs stood back and Miguel detonated the charge. It exploded, revealing a secret room.

"Nice find, Hudson," he heard Lieutenant Anderson say in his ear. Miguel couldn't really hear him though. He was too laser-focused. He stepped through the rubble and he locked eyes with the target. For a split second, he couldn't believe what he was about to do. He was staring into the eyes of one of the most dangerous men in the world. He looked into the man's eyes, expecting to see fear, anger, or regret in the man's eyes. Anything that showed that he was still human. But there was nothing. Just cold, unblinking eyes. Suddenly, the terrorist made a sudden motion and Miguel put two bullets in his head and one in the heart. Bin Asif collapsed and Miguel searched him for any weapons. The terrorist did not carry a gun, but had a dagger strapped to his belt. Miguel removed the weapon and carried the limp body out of the room, where the other men were waiting. He laid the corpse down at the center of the room. They were waiting for confirmation from the command center that they had the right man, although they were pretty sure they had him. Sure enough, a minute later, Lieutenant Anderson confirmed that they had completed the mission and they were ready for extraction.

One of the two rookies grabbed the limp corpse and carried him out the room as the group prepared for their escape. They had eliminated every hostile in the house, but they had also lost a large number of their soldiers. Out of the 15 that had entered the building, they were the only 5 still alive. They had lost 10 men. But they couldn't dwell on that right now. They knew very well that the mission is only over when they are back on U.S soil.

The 5 SEALs tiptoed down the stairs of the house and walked towards the entrance, weary of any alive hostiles that could be lurking around. They couldn't see any though. They were halfway to the entrance of the house, still locked in their rigid star formation, when Miguel suddenly saw a flash of movement. He spun around to see a dying enemy using the last of his strength to grab a grenade from his belt, pull the pin, and toss it at the SEALs…

One of the two men took out a switchblade and held it to Miguel's stomach, but Miguel still didn't move an inch. He just stared at the two men. They were both built bigger than him, but Miguel knew that he was a lot stronger, and a better fighter.

When Miguel didn't move for several moments, the men looked at him, slightly confused.

"I don't think you heard me. Your money or your life." The man growled again. Miguel still didn't lose his calm. He looked tired more than scared.

"Look, please just turn around and walk away. For your own sakes. You're pissing off the wrong guy on the wrong day." Miguel murmured.

"Shut the fuck up, loser." The other man snapped, shoving him backwards. Miguel sighed and balled his hands into fists. He then lunged at the two men, kicking the unarmed man and sending that man crashing to the sidewalk before turning to the man with the knife. He expertly dodged and weaved as the man slashed at him, and he quickly grabbed the man's arm in a wristlock, breaking the man's wrist and causing the knife to fall out of his limp hand and onto the ground. The man screamed in pain as his wrist snapped, his cries echoing through the abandoned alley. Miguel wasn't done yet though as the other man had just gotten up, and charged at him. The men were terrified of Miguel at this point so they were hesitant to attack again. All it took was a couple of punches and kicks to take both men to the ground. Miguel was in the process of choking out the only conscious man when suddenly, the street was illuminated with red and blue lights, and the sounds of police sirens sliced through the air like knives. Before Miguel could react, he felt himself being roughly shoved to the ground by the police, and he was instantly terrified and complied. He knew that the police wouldn't be taking too kindly to a brown, Latino man in a random dark alley, beating the crap out of two white guys in the middle of the night. The last thing he wanted was 5 'warning' shots in his back. Miguel was thrown into a police car and was sped away from the alley…

5 seconds. That's how long they had until the grenade exploded, killing them all. They all looked around in a panic. They were too far away from any door or window. There was nothing they could. They were going to die, simple as that. The seconds suddenly felt like hours as Miguel's life flashed before his eyes. He had been in a lot of danger in previous missions, but there had never been a point like this where he knew for certain that he was about to die. It was a common conception that when someone was about to die, their whole life flashed before their eyes. The people who said this were wrong. Only the important parts do. And the important people too. Miguel saw himself move from Ecuador to Riverside with his mom and grandma at age 13. He saw himself meeting Johnny and watching him and his mom fall in love and get married. He saw himself graduate from high school. Enlist in the Navy. Graduate from BUDs and SEAL training and become a SEAL. Being promoted to Chief Petty Officer. Meeting Sam…

Sam. The two of them had been dating for three months and she had already become one of, if not the most important part of his life. He could picture her extremely clearly. Her captivating eyes. Her beautiful laugh. Her infectious smile. He was never going to see her again. She was going to fall in love with another guy. Get married to him. Have kids with him. Grow old with him. Everything Miguel wanted to do with her. But he wasn't going to get that chance. His time on Earth was done in a matter of seconds.

Miguel glanced over at his team and Miguel and Tyler locked eyes, and Tyler took a deep breath.

"Miguel…" Tyler said.

"Y-yeah?" Miguel stammered.

"Tell Sarah I love her." Tyler murmured, before sprinting towards the grenade. Miguel's eyes widened when he realised what Tyler was trying to do and he tried to run after his friend to stop him, but it was too late. Tyler leapt on top of the grenade and almost as soon as his stomach made contact with the grenade, it exploded in a massive BANG, the explosion sending Miguel and the other troops flying backwards into the walls but otherwise unharmed. Tyler, however, wasn't so lucky…

Early the next morning, Miguel was let out of the police station with nothing more than a fine. Thankfully, he had managed to prove the police that he wasn't a drug dealer or a criminal of any sort, and beating up the two guys had been all self-defense.

When Miguel left the police station, he was forced to get into a taxi because his car was still in the car park of the chapel from the night before. He sat in the back of the cab and stared up at the early morning sky. It was an extremely overcast day and it looked like it was about to rain. As a matter of fact, it did start raining moments later, and it was absolutely pouring. Thunder and lightning clapped loudly in the air. It was like the skies had decided to open up.

Miguel got out of the cab when he arrived at the chapel car park, ducking his head down as he didn't have a jacket nor an umbrella as he had spent the night in the police station. He was still wearing his Navy formal uniform, but a combination of the fight, the rain and spending the night in a holding cell had made him look absolutely unrecognisable - he looked like absolute crap.

When Miguel made it over to where his car used to be, he groaned in annoyance when he saw that it was no longer there. What had happened? Was it stolen? No, that was impossible! There was a 24/7 guard who watched over the parking lot. Miguel walked over to him.

"Hey! Where the hell's my car?!" Miguel snapped, seriously annoyed now. It had been such a long day, possibly one of the worst and longest of his life and his patience was running thin now.

"Well aren't you a ray of sunshine?" The security guard remarked sarcastically at Miguel's rude tone. "Look, this is why everyone always says write down your parking spot number. It makes it much easier to find your car afterwards."

"No, dumbass, someone stole my car!" Miguel growled, pissed off. The security guard glared at him, and realisation flashed across his face moments later.

"Oh, let me guess… Black 2019 Jeep Wrangler?" The guard asked. Miguel nodded.

"Yeah, exactly. Where is it?" Miguel demanded.

"Sorry, man. Your car's been towed." The guard replied.

"WHAT?!" Miguel shouted. "Why?!"

"The rule's very clear. No overnight parking. Didn't you read the sign?" The guard asked, pointing to the large sign at the front of the lot.

"Look, I'm well aware of your dumbass rules, but it's not my fault! I was arrested last night…"

"Why am I not surprised?" The guard muttered under his breath. Miguel glared at him and continued.

"So it wasn't like I could drive my car." Miguel snapped.

"Sorry, buddy. Not our fault. We're just following the rules." The guard said, raising his hands innocently.

"Whatever. Where is my car now?" Miguel growled. The guard handed Miguel a slip of paper.

"It's in the NYPD impound lot in Inglewood." The guard replied. Miguel's eyes widened.

"SERIOUSLY?! That's like all the way across the city!" Miguel exclaimed. "How the fuck am I supposed to get there?! My phone's dead."

"Well, I could try and call you an uber but oh wait, my phone just ran out of battery." The security guard lied. His phone wasn't out of battery. It was just Miguel seemed like kind of a dick and he didn't want to call the man an uber. Miguel knew that too.

"Dick." Miguel muttered under his breath, before walking back onto the main road in the pouring rain. He was completely drenched in water at this point, and he practically dove onto the nearest local bus he could find that headed in the direction of the impound lot. As Miguel sat at the back corner of the bus, he closed his eyes and listened to the music playing. Ironically, it was the song Bad Day by Daniel Powter.

'Cause you had a bad day

You're taking one down

You sing a sad song just to turn it around

You say you don't know

You tell me, "don't lie"

You work at a smile, and you go for a ride

You had a bad day

The camera don't lie

You're coming back down, and you really don't mind

You had a bad day

You had a bad day

It wasn't just a bad day for Miguel. It was a god-awful fucking shit day. Definitely one of the worst of his life. Everything that could possibly go wrong did. First he was kicked out of the funeral. Then he was arrested. Then he was forced to spend the night in the police station. Then his car was towed. Then he was forced to run to the bus in the rain. It was a series of unfortunate events that hadn't even yet culminated. There was just one day worse than this one in Miguel's entire life…

With a sickening CRUNCH, all of the shrapnel from the grenade embedded itself inside Tyler, causing him to scream out in pain and causing blood to erupt out of him like a volcano from hell. His left arm had been completely severed above his elbow and he convulsed and shuddered on the ground. Miguel immediately rushed over to him, attempting to slow the bleeding and use his first aid training to help him, but it was useless. Tyler was on death's door, and would probably be overtaken any moment now. That didn't stop Miguel from trying though. He only stopped when he heard Tyler's raspy voice.

"Miguel." Tyler murmured, his voice dripping with pain. Miguel temporarily slowed his desperate healing and looked into his friend's eyes.

"Yeah, buddy?" Miguel asked. Tyler coughed up blood for several moments before he managed to gather the strength to utter his final words.

"Make sure my family is looked after." He whispered. Miguel nodded, tears leaking out of his eyes.

"Yeah, of course. I swear." Miguel replied. With that, Tyler lay back and let death overtake him…

Thankfully, the rest of the afternoon was relatively uneventful, even if it also sucked. Miguel was forced to pay a massive fine to get his car out of the impound lot, and he then drove to the Larusso house. He saw that both Daniel and Amanda's cars were out, but Sam's was thankfully still in the driveway. He rang the bell and moments later, Sam opened the door. Her eyes widened when she saw him. Miguel looked like hell. Not only were his clothes completely wrecked, his eyes were sunken, his knuckles were still inflamed from the fight, and his hair was completely dishevelled.

"Oh, my God! Miguel, are you okay?!" Sam exclaimed.

Sam then noticed Miguel's bloodshot eyes and realised that Miguel had been crying, but the rain had disguised it. She immediately rushed forward and embraced him tightly. She felt him completely break down in her arms, and she pulled him into the house, getting him out of the freezing cold. After taking a hot shower at and putting on a clean, dry set of clothing that he had at Sam's place, Miguel slowly walked out and saw Sam sitting on her bed, waiting for him. She immediately stood up and walked over to him.

"Are you feeling any better?" Sam asked. Miguel nodded.

"Much. Thank you so much for letting me shower here. It's been a long day." Miguel murmured, sitting on the bed next to her.

"Yeah, um… do you want to talk about it?" Sam asked. Miguel shook his head.

"Not particularly." Miguel replied. Sam sighed. Getting Miguel to open up had always been like prying teeth.

"Come on, Miguel. It could help. What happened?" Sam asked. Miguel reluctantly sighed and opened up to her about everything that had happened in the past 24 hours. He didn't tell her the specifics of Tyler's death, but he had just said the same as he had told Johnny the moment before: his friend had died and it was his fault. By the end, Sam was speechless in shock. It clearly had been an awful day for him.

"So yeah, then I got here. Pretty bad day, huh?" Miguel remarked.

"Wow, um, babe… I'm so sorry. That's not just one bad day. That's like a month of bad days crammed into one!" Sam exclaimed. Miguel sighed and shrugged.

"That's life, right?" He murmured. Miguel didn't catch what Sam said next though. He had turned his head to look at Sam's side table and his eyes had locked onto her open laptop. His jaw dropped when he saw the website that was on screen. Sam was looking at one bedroom apartment listings in San Diego.

"Hey, Sam?" Miguel said, extremely confused.

"Yeah?" Sam said.

"Um… why are you looking at apartment listings in San Diego?" Miguel asked. Sam's heart dropped. She was SO busted…