CHAPTER 28

Miguel sat in the corner of the main floor of the embassy. The main floor had kind of turned into a morgue, with the dead bodies of all 40 Americans and 13 Terrorists all left there, wrapped in white body bags. As Miguel looked at the lifeless face of the young Iranian woman, he put his head in his hands. He had failed her. He had failed all of them. They were all counting on the highly trained soldiers to protect them, but the soldiers were powerless to stop the assault.

Suddenly, someone sat down next to him and Miguel's head shot up to see Eli.

"Hey." Miguel murmured.

"Hey." Eli grunted, groaning slightly as he sat down. Although he hadn't been shot during the ambush of the convoy, he had been hit by a piece of debris during an explosion so his left leg was wrapped in a bandage.

The two men sat in silence for several moments, before Eli eventually broke it.

"I know what you're thinking." Eli said. Miguel raised an eyebrow.

"Huh?" Miguel asked, in a quiet, exhausted voice.

"You're thinking that this is your fault, and it's not." Eli stated. Miguel sighed and put his head in his hands.

"Are you sure about that? I watched as Haqqani severed that girl's head right off her shoulders, and I was powerless to stop him."

"Miguel, you and I both know that there isn't a damn thing you could've done! There wasn't a damn thing any of us could've done in your position!" Eli declared. "You saved countless lives today."

Miguel shook his head and sighed. He disagreed.

"Look, why are you here?" Miguel snapped. Eli sighed.

"I, uh… I just got off the phone with Lieutenant Anderson. We're getting out of Pakistan. The president's decided to break off diplomatic relations."

"Can't say I'm surprised." Miguel murmured. "The attack was clearly state-sponsored. They've got blood on their hands."

"Glad you feel that way." A voice came from behind them. Miguel turned around to see Lieutenant Anderson standing before them.

"Lieutenant." Miguel nodded at him. "Can I help you?"

"Yeah, Diaz. I need to talk to you. Both of you." Anderson said.

"Sure, what's up?" Eli asked.

"We're being evacuated in the first wave tomorrow morning and we're going back to Coronado." Lieutenant informed them. "Transport's going to be here at 6:30."

"Got it. Anything else?" Miguel asked. Anderson nodded.

"Yeah. Um… uh… no, you know what? You guys have had a LONG day. It can wait."

"No, it's fine. What's up?" Miguel asked. Anderson took a deep breath.

"Okay, um… the CIA and JSOC are planning a joint task force to go after Haqqani. And Diaz, you're on the shortlist to lead the Navy side of it…"

"I'm in." Miguel said, immediately. He wanted to end that son of a bitch once and for all. Lieutenant Anderson raised a hand to stop him.

"Hold on, Diaz. Before you agree… the task force is being run out of Kabul Station, so you'd be living on base in Afghanistan during that time. You'd be away from your families for the whole time. You get a week or two off now when we get back to America, but after that, you're on the next flight out to Afghanistan."

Miguel winced at the thought. He knew he and Sam were in a really rough patch in their relationship and it would take a lot of work for them to dig themselves out of it, work that couldn't be done if Miguel was a world away again. As he was about to refuse the job, he looked around the room and saw the bodies of all 40 Americans who had died in the past 12 hours. He thought about the fact that they all had their own families who they loved. Families who would never see them again. The casualties all had their own hopes and dreams for the future that had all been wiped out in a matter of hours at the hands of one man: Haqqani. Miguel eventually came to a decision. Sacrificing his happiness and risking a breakup with Sam was the price that he would just have to pay in return for getting justice for all of the innocent lives that had been lost.

He looked up at Anderson and clenched his jaw in determination. He would take out Haqqani

"I'm in…"

Eventually, a couple of long hours later, Miguel finally made it back to his quarters. He spent a whole hour in the shower, washing off all of the blood and grime that was on him. When he was completely clean, he still continued scrubbing himself furiously. He felt in a way… dirty. Like he had disgraced his country. An hour and a half later, Miguel stumbled into his room and picked up his phone. He sighed. Servers were still jammed. He had seen the news and knew that Sam probably had too, but he couldn't call Sam to let her know that he was alive and okay. The servers only went back online two hours later, and Miguel immediately dialled Sam…

HHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH

"He's okay. He's okay. He's okay." Sam whispered under her breath, hoping and praying that Miguel was alright. She hadn't heard anything from him since she saw the Breaking News three hours ago. Miguel hadn't called her, but on the other hand, she hadn't heard anything from the Navy to let her know that Miguel was deceased.

Suddenly, just as she felt like she was about to explode into an inferno of anxiety, stress and fear, her phone rang. Sam practically dived on top of it and answered it.

"Hello?!" She practically shouted into the phone.

"Hey, Sam." Miguel's quiet voice greeted her, and Sam practically passed out in relief. Tears of relief rolled down her cheeks as her whole body finally relaxed for the first time in hours.

"Oh, thank God! Miguel, are you okay? Were you hurt? Were you involved in the situation? Were you…"

"Sam, I'm okay." Miguel murmured, cutting off her spiral. "Very shaken up, but okay."

"Thank God!" Sam whispered. "So, I, um… I was reading on the news that the U.S are pulling out of Pakistan. Does that mean you're…"

"Yeah, I'm coming home for now." Miguel replied. That wasn't totally a lie. He would be coming home for two whole weeks, and then he was leaving for Kabul. "Look, Sam, I'm really sorry but I need to hang up now because I'm getting on a plane in an hour. I just wanted you to know that I… I love you so much. If anything, the shit I went through today reminded me that everything we have could be ripped away so easily. I could be killed at any moment."

"Miguel, don't say that!" Sam snapped. She HATED when Miguel said stuff like that. She hated how dangerous Miguel's job was as it was, and when he said stuff like that, it only increased the stress and fear she would feel while he was away.

"I'm serious. But that's not the point. The point is I love you so much and if I ever took advantage of your kindness, I am so, so sorry."

"I love you too." Sam replied. "Travel safe. I'll be there to pick you up at the airport!"

"See you soon, Sam." Miguel murmured, before hanging up.

Miguel put his head in his hands. He felt like such a jackass saying all of that stuff to Sam right before he was going to lay the bombshell on her that he was going back to Afghanistan. He was apologising for taking advantage of her kindness in the past, and here he was about to do it again for an indeterminately long time. Well, that was if she didn't break up with him first. He never really thought his relationship with Sam was at risk before - he wasn't the jealous type and he fully trusted Sam - but now for the first time, he genuinely knew their relationship was at its last seam.

Little did he know that across the world, Sam was also feeling just as guilty, but in a completely different way. Of course, she was oblivious about his upcoming move to Afghanistan, but she was feeling guilty about having considered dumping Miguel 24 hours ago and not telling him about it. She hadn't told him yet about her meetup with Robby, and she didn't intend to. She wasn't going to call Robby back: she was going to hang onto her relationship with Miguel. Besides, things should get easier with Miguel now that he was stationed locally indefinitely. Maybe they could finally get the life together they deserved. The white picket fence. The quiet town. The kids. She had no idea about the chaos that was about to ensue…

Hey, so for those who are complaining that this story has too much drama… that's literally the whole point of this story. I decided to create an Alternate Universe story because I wanted over-the-top drama. I don't know if any of you have seen spanish telenovelas before (soap operas) but that's the feel I want for this story. If you aren't enjoying it, I understand and I won't take offense if you stop reading. But know that next story is back to the regular Cobra Kai universe and is a bit more realistic so keep watch for that one!