CHAPTER 25

Sam stormed into the bar 15 minutes later. She was absolutely fuming with Miguel. She had put up with so much to do with his job before! He was gone on super dangerous missions most of the year, he couldn't talk about his job with her because of classification laws, even when he was home, he was often pulled away at the moment's notice. And yet, despite all of that, Sam stuck around, because that was how much she loved Miguel. But at some point, she had to think… Was their relationship really worth it?

As Sam sat at the bar, she downed two shots and as she started to feel a little bit tipsy, she felt a tap on the shoulder. Sam turned around and when she saw who was standing before her, her jaw dropped. It was someone she hadn't seen in more than 2 years. Someone who she had dumped for cheating on her. It was none other than her ex-boyfriend, Robby Keene…

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"You're okay! You're gonna be okay!" Eli called assurances to the director of the CIA, who was still trapped in his overturned vehicle. He could smell gasoline and with the fire all around them from the rocket, he knew that they didn't have long until the car exploded and certainly killed the director. The director seemed to be alive and unharmed from what Eli and Ben could see through the window, but he looked extremely shaken.

"Crowbar! Someone get me a crowbar!" Ben shouted as his platoon and all of the Marines stood guard around the area, wearily keeping watch for any further signs of attack from the Taliban. They were handed a crowbar shortly after, and they managed to bust through the broken door of the SUV, pulling the director out of the car and onto safe ground. A couple of meters away, the Marine Corps Captain's walkie talkie clicked on as he was connected with Miguel's walkie talkie.

"What's the situation like?" Miguel asked him.

"Convoy was hit by RPG fire. Counted 5 confirmed kills so far." The Captain replied, before seeing a couple of his men pull out another limp corpse from the wrecked SUV at the front of the convoy. "Make that 6."

"Captain, I need your men back with us here at the embassy. We have intel of a possible attack on the embassy." Miguel said, calmly. He knew that despite all of the panicked people around him who were going into lockdown protocol, as one of the only soldiers on site, he needed to stay calm.

"When?" The Captain asked, urgently.

"Now." Miguel stated. "It may well be tied to your being off-site."

"Copy that, on our way." The Captain replied. Miguel nodded.

"Let me know when you're close." Miguel added. As the Captain put down his walkie talkie, he turned to all of the soldiers around him and prepared to bark out orders. However, before he could, he heard the unmistakable whiz of a bullet and moments later, felt a piercing pain as a sniper bullet buried into his neck. The Captain stumbled backwards, dead before he hit the ground, Miguel's urgent instructions now no longer known to any of them. The soldiers, Eli and Ben amongst them, all dived for cover as they surveyed the surroundings. There were five Taliban snipers scattered around an abandoned parking lot above them around 100 meters away. As the two sides exchanged shots, the Americans quickly realised that they were surrounded and they had much less soldiers.

As Ben fired cover fire to slow down the shooters, Eli took out his phone and dialled the number of his contact in the Pakistani Government - a man named Rajesh Khan, a Lieutenant in the Pakistani Intelligence Service.

"Hello?" Khan said.

"THE CONVOY'S HIT!" Eli bellowed into the phone. As someone extremely high up in Pakistani Intelligence, Khan knew about the convoy that was supposed to be travelling through town that day.

"What?" Khan asked.

"We're pinned down by sniper fire!" Eli continued.

"Where are you?" Khan asked, calmly. "Tell me where you are."

"Four blocks north of the Embassy on Nursa Road!" Eli yelled back.

"How many gunmen?"

"Seven, eight at least, and they have high ground on us. We're taking casualties! Hurry!" Eli shouted.

"I'll send a section." Khan nodded.

"Send a platoon!" Eli yelled.

"All right, sit tight, we're on our way." Khan said, before hanging up the phone. When he hung up, he took a deep breath and tossed it aside, not making any effort to call for backup for the Americans. The Pakistani government knew full well about the imminent attack on the embassy at the hands of the Taliban and they secretly supported it. The Americans had insinuated themselves long enough into his country's business. It was time they got a dose of their own medicine…

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Miguel and the Marine Corps Private swiftly walked through the embassy, heading for the secret back entrance/exit. They knew that that was the most likely place for the Taliban to attack them from. As they did so, Miguel peered into the various rooms along the way. He saw everyone complying with Lockdown protocol, throwing all papers into a large bin in the center of the room to be burned, and preparing to crash all hard drives.

Meanwhile, 10 Taliban gunmen had just snuck into the embassy unseen, led by their leader himself, Haissam Haqqani. They managed to break into the main floor where all of the command rooms were, and that's when they were finally noticed by panicked embassy workers. Raising their 10 AK-47s, the Taliban charged through the embassy and shot anyone and everyone who were in their path. However, as they went room by room, rather than just gunning people down and continuing, they ransacked each and every room as if they were searching for something. They were in fact searching for something. They were searching for the list. The list of all of the assets and agents the U.S Government had in the Taliban-controlled regions of Afghanistan and Pakistan. That list was the single most important thing in the embassy. There were no copies of the list in D.C because the CIA didn't know who they could trust, and if the Taliban got a hold of the list, hundreds of people would be blown and would be surely hunted by the Taliban. Luckily, the Taliban couldn't find the list as it was in the bunker with the ambassador herself.

Miguel and the Private crept down to the basement car park, towards the back entrance of the embassy compound. They hadn't heard the gunshots on the main floor so they assumed that the Taliban hadn't yet made it into the embassy. Pistols raised aloft, the two made it to the car park and electric room, and they immediately heard harsh voices speaking Pashto, the native language of Afghanistan. Miguel's heart dropped and his skin crawled. The Taliban were here!

The two Americans ducked down and hid behind a large pillar and Miguel listened intently to the two terrorists talking. He understood what they were saying as he was fluent in Pashto. In fact, Miguel was fluent in Spanish (his first language), English, Arabic, Somali, Urdu, Bangla and Pashto. The reason for this was that he spent so much time in the Middle East and South Asia and being able to understand native languages when in the tribal areas was vital. Whenever he was on base but off-duty in a foreign country, Miguel loved to delve into the culture of whatever country he was in. He listened intently as the men talked, and he peered out from his hiding spot to see three Taliban men patrolling the entrance, AK-47s in their hands.

Suddenly, all of the men heard something on their radio, and they all walked away and into the embassy. The two soldiers tiptoed after them, silently aiming their guns…

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"Robby." Sam murmured, her eyes wide in shock.

"Hey, Sam." Robby smiled at her. He hadn't seen Sam since their breakup just over two years ago. He hadn't dated a single woman since, as he still hadn't gotten over her. He had made the biggest mistake of his life cheating on her while they were in a relationship. Sam had been an absolutely incredible girlfriend - kind, caring, loving - and he had taken advantage of that, ruining everything he had just for one night flings.

As Sam got over her shock, she scowled at him. Robby had been an absolute jackass to her towards the end of their two year relationship, cheating on her more than once. But to be honest, even if he hadn't cheated, Sam probably would've broken up with him at some point anyways. Robby just wasn't what she wanted in a long-term relationship. A college dropout right after his freshman year, Robby worked as a handyman in a dead-end job. He just wasn't what Sam wanted in a relationship. But for some reason now, looking at Robby two years later… he looked different. He looked more cleaned up. He had a spark in his eye that Sam had never seen before. Like his life finally had a purpose. However, this didn't matter as all Sam saw when she looked into his face was the face of the man who cheated on her all those years ago.

"What are you doing here, Robby?" Sam asked.

"I'm here with a friend." Robby replied, pointing to a guy in the corner of the bar who had just stood up and headed towards the exit with a girl. "Who I see is now leaving."

"Yeah, well you should too." Sam snapped. Robby sighed.

"Look, can I buy you a drink, Sam?" Robby asked. Sam raised an eyebrow and couldn't help but laugh in disbelief.

"In what possible world do you actually see me saying yes to that?!" Sam spat, starting to get up to leave. Robby nodded.

"Sam, I was such a jerk to you during our relationship. Sorry doesn't even begin to describe how I feel." Robby said. "I took advantage of your kindness. I'm not trying anything, I swear. Please let me buy you a drink. One drink, and then you can take off if you want. You can spend the time calling me every name in the book."

Sam eventually nodded and sat back down.

"Fine. One drink…"