It had been nearly two months since Luke had stepped foot on American soil. He had been to so many different countries and through so many different time zones, it was making him sick. Every time they got a lead of any kind, they had to follow it. They had to build some kind of case. Luke had chased down many people trying to get to the higher ups, but they weren't giving him anything.
He leaned back in his chair in their temporary headquarters in Bangladesh. He closed his eyes tight. Was it still Bangladesh or had they moved onto the next country already? He had heard mention of Burma, but he thought they had already been there. Or was that Peru? He ran his hand over his eyes with a sigh.
The case was just simply annoying. There wasn't anything that was getting him closer to where he needed to be. All he needed was one little break. One little break to get him closer to where he needed to be.
The security footage that he had picked up from all of the airports were a sham. He was able to see where the victims got off the planes, got through customs and whatever else they needed, whenever he watched them get into random vehicles, he would run the plates, but they were always fake.
Whoever it was that was running the ring knew how to cover their tracks completely. He had watched each clip at least a thousand times and never caught anything that would suggest they were being followed or watched or anything out of the ordinary.
Luke glanced over to his team. Since he had lost his team in Brazil when they were ambushed, DSS had assigned a new team to him. He didn't agree with it in the least since it made him feel like his entire team was expendable, including him. Something that could be replaced without a second thought, without a problem. It had taken him years to bond with his team to the point to where they were more than just a team, they were a family. He and his new team were still trying to get a feel for each other.
He knew they were getting restless. They hadn't seen any kind of action in over a week. It had been a long time since they had been with their families; their girlfriends or wives. He could feel it himself. It started off as jitters. Almost like he had drank one cup too many of coffee. Then he began to grow testy. All it would take was someone to glance his way in a way that he didn't like and he was ready to go off like a nuke.
He had already had to break up multiple fights that were breaking out between his teammates. They were feeling it too. There was too much testosterone floating around and it was getting to the point that it was unbearable. Luke had found himself constantly in the area they had designated their workout station so he could relieve some of the pent up aggression that was building.
Val was constantly on his mind, but that was nothing new to him. Thoughts of her was always sure to keep him warm at night mainly because thoughts of her always drifted into the more naughtier parts of his mind and got him hot and bothered. He missed her more than he would like to admit and hated that the mission was taking so long. He tried to do the math in his head and count backwards to find out roughly what time it was where she was.
She was probably at work saving the life of some poor sap that was simply just in the wrong place at the wrong time. And he knew that the poor sap would be able to pull it through whatever mishap he had thanks all to her.
He could remember the exact moment that he had decided to help Val get her old job back. It was as soon as the pardons had passed through and landed back on his desk so he could deliver them personally, as per request. He had flipped through each file making sure everything was in proper order. He stopped when he came across Val's file and took in the contents. He ran his hand over the wound on his arm that she had patched. It was mostly healed, but he could tell that it was barely going to leave a scar thanks to her expertise. Luke decided quickly right then that someone with that kind of skill needed to share that skill.
He wondered if she was thinking of him just as much as he thought about her. It was a ridiculous thought, he knew, but it had crossed his mind. It amazed him how much she had managed to work herself under his skin so quickly.
"Hey, Luke," he heard Ben, one of his teammates say to get his attention. Ben was the youngest of his crew and because of that, he was the one who caught the most hell from his fellow squadmates. He had bright blonde hair and baby blue eyes with a physique that would make Captain America jealous. He was a good natured backwoods boy from somewhere in Kentucky. He was barely old enough to be in the DSS, but his file had placed him as one of most skilled soldiers in decades. He was quick on his feet and never broke a sweat under pressure. Luke felt a little bad for him. His girlfriend had just given birth to his first son just a week before they had been called out. "What are you going to do when we get back stateside?"
Luke knew it was time to give them a break. At least a week or so. Let them go home and recharge their batteries. Let their loved ones know that they were okay and alive. He went to answer, but Hank jumped in before he could.
Hank was roughly Luke's age and joined DSS much the same way Luke had, though Hank was retired military instead of retired police. Hank was beginning to bald though what was left was the color of milk chocolate. His eyes were a bright hazel color. He had closer to a natural build compared to Luke. He had lived a little bit of everywhere in his life because his father was a military man. He had a wife and two sons and one little girl. His two sons were already well into their teenaged years while his daughter was closer to Samantha's age.
"I know exactly what Luke is going to do," Hank started crossing his arms. "He's going to go shack up with that mystery woman of his." Luke grinned looking back to his computer so he could continue watching the surveillance videos. "This mystery woman that he refuses to tell us anything about." Ben grinned looking to Hank.
"Yeah, why don't you tell us anything about her?" Jamal piped up. He was a black man with bright brown eyes that made them look unnatural. He had long dreads that went down to just below his shoulder blades. He had closer to a swimmer's build. He hailed from Central Florida.
"She must not be a very attractive woman," Ben said glancing to Jamal. Jamal grinned leaning up against the wall and crossed his arms over his chest.
"Watch it now," Luke warned sending the rookie a glare. Hank chuckled.
"Oh, it's worse than I thought," he said watching Luke. "She's fat and ugly." Luke shook his head pausing the video before facing his team.
"I'm missing where my woman is any of your business," Luke said.
"Oh, come off it, man," Jamal said. "We all bitch and moan about our women when we're on missions and you haven't bitched or moaned once." Luke sighed shaking his head.
"For one, Jamal, you don't have a woman. Two, you guys bitch and moan. I, however, am not a woman so I don't gossip." The three men stared at him for a moment.
"Oh yeah, she's totally fat and ugly," Ben spoke up finally.
"Oh for the love of god, here," Luke said turning back to his computer and pulled up her social media account and pulled up her profile pictures. The three men came to him to look over his shoulder.
"Uhm, she is either fat nor ugly," Jamal said.
"Yeah, good job, there man," Ben said patting Luke's shoulder. Luke's phone began to ring. He reached for it and stepped away from his teammates so he could answer the phone.
He spoke to his superior for less than five minutes then ended the call. He turned to the rest of his team who was still pouring over Val's social media account. He rolled his eyes making his way over to them. He closed down the window earning sounds of disappointment from his squad.
"Alright, guys, we got another lead. Time to gear up and head out."
Val had officially lost her mind with worry. Every time she sat down for more than three seconds, she would fill with anxiety and start chewing either on her lip to the point to where it would bleed or would chew on her nails to where it hurt.
She had literally cleaned her entire home from top to bottom by the end of the first month without having Luke around. She had looked through the file he had. It helped for a while knowing the type of bad guy that he was going after, but the longer he went without sending her a gift of any kind or contacting her like he had before, the more she would feel the anxiety.
Any time that she had a day off work, she would go and work at Tej's new garage so she could keep busy. As long as she was keeping her hands busy, she was keeping Luke off her mind.
Sleep was like a lost friend to her. She would lay in bed staring at the side of the bed Luke had claimed as his own. She would always take her pillow and lay it to where it laid adjacent to her then would snuggle into it, but it still wasn't the same.
One morning, she was sitting on her couch drinking a cup of coffee whenever her phone went off. She picked it up seeing her brother's name show up on the screen then answered it. He had informed her that he had bought them a gift. She felt a surge of excitement shoot through her because she always loved when Dom bought them a gift. It was always a project car that they would build from the ground up then sale it.
Sure enough, not even an hour later, she heard the continuous beeping of a large vehicle backing up. She ran out on her front porch to see a flatbed truck backing up her driveway. On the back was what looked like a 1971 Dodge Challenger, but the body was so rusty and dented it was hard to tell.
"You better have gotten this for free," Val said looking to her brother. He grinned watching as the driver began to drop the car in the driveway.
"Just wanted to get something that will keep us occupied for a little while." Val gave him a sad smile then leaned her head against his shoulder. She knew that he was getting the car for both of their sakes. She knew the fact that Letty not being able to remember their life together really bothered him though he never really liked to let it show. They were too much alike for their own good. Anytime they needed to get their minds off anything that was bothering them, they had to do something that would keep their hands busy. Which normally consisted of project cars just like the Challenger currently taking up a lot of space in her driveway.
With a lot of help, they managed to get the car in her garage. Val huffed looking over the car. It was going to need an entire new… well… everything. It was hard to tell what had actually happened to the car in order for it to be dumped like it had. It was a miracle that the entire bottom of the car didn't fall out whenever they managed to get it in the garage. They may have been able to salvage some of the engine parts, but that wouldn't be determined when they started breaking it down.
Val went into her house and grabbed her laptop so she could start putting orders in for parts. While she was doing that, Dom was prepping the floor jack so they could start lifting out the motor so they could assess the damage.
After a lot of curse words and elbow grease, they finally managed to get the motor out of the car. All of the bolts were rusted and damn near impossible to get out, but they had managed.
"How's Letty doing?" Val asked as they worked together to take the motor apart. Dom glanced up at her then back down to the motor.
"She still doesn't remember anything. She's still sleeping in the guest bedroom, though it's getting better between us." Val grinned glad to hear it. She couldn't imagine how hard it was on Dom knowing that his wife had no idea that they were married or had a happy life together for literally most of their lives.
It had to hurt him to know that when his wife looked at him, that she saw a stranger, when in reality, that wasn't the case when he looked to her. He had said that he didn't want anyone to tell her that they were married that he didn't want to overwhelm her with knowledge of her life he wanted her to ease into it. To remember it all on her own.
Val wasn't sure if that was the best idea considering the possibility that telling her about her past may trigger something for her, but then again, it would freak her out and she could run away without remembering a thing. The mind was such a fickle thing.
"What about you and Luke?" Val sighed dropping a few bolts into a pan so they didn't get misplaced.
"I hate that we can't be in contact while he's away. I think that's the most nerve racking part of this whole thing."
"It's for your protection," Dom said. Val nodded knowing the reason.
"It doesn't make it any less difficult not knowing if he's okay or not."
"I'm sure he's okay, Val." Val grinned looking to her older brother.
"Yeah, you're probably right. It's not like he's on a very dangerous mission right now anyways. Right?" Dom nodded giving her a small grin. Dom knew about the mission Luke was on because Val had talked to him about it.
Luke and his team pushed through what was supposed to be an abandoned warehouse and honestly couldn't believe their eyes. There were rows upon rows of sheets, curtains, and blankets clipped to cords that made up small rooms. In each room was a different woman from all around the world and all ages. Some of them fit the descriptions of some of the missing women they had been searching for.
In some of the rooms there were men having sex with the women. The women looked like they weren't all there. Maybe they were high. Maybe they had been beaten into submission. Maybe they had just lost all hope. It haunted Luke seeing that some of the girls were around Samantha's age. He vowed to never let her fly alone anymore. He couldn't remember how many times he had let her fly by herself to see her grandmother for a couple weeks a year during the summer. He wondered how many times she narrowly escaped being in a situation such as the girls they were currently clearing out.
They had managed to capture one of the guards and was ready to interrogate him in hope of him giving up another one of the higher ups. Luke stood behind the two way mirror with his fingers digging into his eyes. The local law enforcement had no idea what they were doing when it came to interrogating. They were speaking in their native tongue, but it didn't take a linguistics major to know that the cop was messing up big time.
Luke had finally had enough of it and decided it was time for him to intervene in the interrogation. He wasn't in the mood to be pushed around by some lousy scumbag that made his living kidnapping then brainwashing girls into prostitution and slavery. He walked into the room and told the officers to leave. The man sitting in cuffs at the table stared at him with a slight form of intimidation in his eyes. Luke smirked as he walked over to the camera that was up in the corner of the room and unplugged it.
"Now," he said as he made his way to the table then started to slide into the chair. "You're going to tell me everything you know."
Nearly two weeks later, Val and Dom had completely stripped the Challenger down to its frame since they had decided that the best course of action was to build it back up from the ground up. They were able to salvage some parts throughout the car, but there wasn't much. Dom was sure that the only time he came over was when Val had time off work knowing that she would get angry with him if he worked on the car without her.
Dom found the car a nice distraction for them both. He knew that it was difficult on his younger sister with Luke gone. Even when she was working away on the car, laughing with him, he could see the small shine of worry behind her eyes.
At first, Dom wasn't sure what to make of whatever it was between her and Luke. Luke had tried to ruin their lives completely, but in the end, he came through and cleared their names.
In Brazil, Dom had watched as Val fidgeted over Luke when they were ambushed. Luke didn't say much as she checked him over searching for any kind of injury. It was then that Dom discovered that somewhere under all that Dom discovered that the man before him was only human. He hadn't expressed much when it came to emotions or anything remotely close to a personality, but when he lost his team in the ambush, there was no hiding it. Losing his team had caused him to lose a part of himself.
The way that Val's face had lit up whenever she had discovered that she could go back to work thanks to Luke, had warmed Dom. Dom knew she missed it. She had lived for her job. Losing her job had changed her in ways that broke Dom's heart for her. She was never really quite the same whenever she lost her job. Luke had brought that part of her back. He had made her happier than she had been in years and for that, Dom felt that he would always be in debt to Luke.
Dom had tried not to be ugly towards his younger sister after she had given Luke her number. If the truth be told, Dom didn't think it was going to go passed a few dates, but here they were, together and Val was more than happy. And that was what really mattered to Dom.
Author's Note: Okay, so, this is where I am supposed to leave this heart felt "I'm sorry for the delay" bull shit, but I'm not going to do that. Because the reason for the delay is so crazy it was worth it. So! Here's the reason.
I went into West Virginia again for my brother's birthday/weekend getaway with a bunch of my family. We rented out this huge ass cabin and were having one hell of a party on the first night that we were there. We danced, we got drunk, we went fishing, hiking, all the grilled food one could dream of... mmm twas awesome, my dear readers.
Anywho, the next night, we came down off the mountain and went to a bar. Well, that night was my brother's birthday, and it is custom in my family to get the one having a birthday gets so drunk that they black out. My brother is also gay or a homosexual, or whatever people are supposed to call them nowadays. I bring this up because this is where it gets really good. My brother finds this rather attractive man and starts talking to him, flirting and whatnot. And POOF! Here comes the dude's wife! By this time, me and my other brother and two sisters are laughing our asses off because because he is getting chewed out! Then SLAP! Bitch went and slapped my brother. Me and my sister run and push her away from my brother cussing her out for hitting my brother. So, my brother, who by this time is so drunk he can barely stand, calls her a thunder cunt. Then in starts husband. Husbad goes to punch my brother in the face then all the sudden, dude is on the ground seeing stars. My other brother knocked the fucker out! Well, next thing I know... bar room brawl.
So, I got arrested and spent a few days in there, saw the judge, let us go on probation as long as we hung around until everything was squared away. So needless to say, we've been floating around West Virginia seeing family and old friends and partying from dawn until dusk, fishing, camping, hiking... It was nice. Anywho, that is why I'm not going to say sorry for the delay. Because I... had... a... blast.
Anyways, I will leave you guys alone! Leave a review so we can get this bitch to 100! We're more than half way there!
Love you guys!
Katie