Thank you everyone for your comments! I'm sorry for the delay, I'm currently pretty busy with college, errh. But still, here the third chapter! I hope you will enjoy it.

'Wow, you're lucky to have traveled so much! Dad, I wanna travel like you and Sasha when I grow up!' Sam spoke with eyes full of stars and a lot of enthusiasm. Sasha chuckled as she brought the last dirty dishes to Tom.

As soon as they begun to eat the little boy had started to ask Sasha plenty of questions. The conversation was built around her and she ended up recounting her many trips she did during her childhood with her parents which didn't fail to amaze the children, especially Sam.

'Well first you must work well at school, kiddo. It's getting late.' He smiled to his son.

'We should go upstairs brushing our teeth while dad finishes cleaning the kitchen.' Ashley told her brother as she got up from her chair.

'No, I wanna stay here.' He pouted.

'Sam, I said upstairs.' She insisted with a firm tone, and when her sibling got up from his chair too, she turned around before leaving and exchanged a complicit look with her father. She knew all too well that this kind of visit was leading to a serious conversation.

'I see she's taking her role very seriously.' Sasha smiled at Tom, talking about Ashley being the great big sister.

'Yes, since it's been just the three of us she became so responsible especially with her brother.' He paused, and shared a soft smile with Sasha. 'I'm so proud of them.' His eyes drifted away, as he surely thought about memories of the perfect little family they were back then, well before the pandemic stuff. Sasha could sense the nostalgic atmosphere and she started being embarrassed and not feeling at her place, but Tom quickly got a grip on himself and changed the subject.

'So, what's the plan?'

'Mike had to stay in St Louis to discuss about all of this mess with the President.'

'Does the crew know about this?'

'Not everyone, just Green and Wolf. Mike didn't want to announce another bad news, not after the success of our mission. He wanted to give them proper time with their family without the world war in their mind.' She paused, 'before leaving again…'

'But what the hell is it about?' Tom said completely lost, leaning on the counter with both of his hands.

'It happened during an outing mission, I was with the boys and we were supposed to bring a dozen vaccines to an isolated and abandoned population. We expected to find dead bodies but this, this was far worse than we could have imagined. No survivors, bodies strewn on the ground looking as they had tried to escape from the houses.'

'What killed them? The virus?'

'This is what we thought first, but as we got closer we noticed the bodies had been corroded by… what looked like acid.'

'Acid?'

'Tom, we found a case that came from the cargoes of Peng in a warehouse. They were filled with missiles. They've been examined and they have the same composition as those discovered a few months ago, but they got improved.'

'Improved means much more deadly.'

'Exactly.' She paused again. 'They contain ammonia and acid.' Her face was getting darker as she spoke.

'Seeing your face it must have something else.'

'There was no impact on the ground in the village. It wasn't caused by a missile.'

'They would have changed the means of propagation? But how?'

'We have no idea.' She admitted.

They both looked into the void, after several seconds Tom came out of his thoughts.

'Why do you need me?' He asked her. 'Mike is qualified enough to handle it himself.'

'You were there when Peng's been defeated. We don't know what to expect there. Mike, Nathan James' crew.. we all need the best.' Tom looked at her, straight in the eye. She couldn't read on his face as she had done it so well before. The man standing in front of her wasn't the man she used to know; something had changed in him, the gleam in his eyes had been extinguished and that broke her heart. He lowered his face, pinching his lips.

'It's up to you, Tom.' She finally said. She looked at him, waiting for an answer but as before he didn't say anything. 'Thanks for the dinner. It's late I better get back on the road. If you change your m-'

'Wait, you've just driven three hours straight and it's dark outside. You can stay here, I'll take the couch.' Sasha looked at him incredulous and his face softened as he sighed. 'Things will look better in the morning, right?' She slightly smiled and shook her head.

'Okay, but I'll take the couch.' He was about to say something but she cut him off. 'This is non-negotiable.'

'Nhanh lên!' (Hurry up!) One of the guards said, pushing an old man to keep walking.

Several dozen of people was walking in the jungle, their hands tied, barefoot and without much clothes on them. You could guess from their face that they were exhausted, hungry and probably dehydrated.

The old man kept walking several yards, but his legs began to shake more and more and his feet had more and more trouble following the steps of the group. After several minutes, he finally collapsed to the ground, out of strength.

The guard arrived and pointed his gun at his face.

'Dứng dậy!' (Get up!) He yelled at him. The group had stopped walking and the people around looked at the scene, horrified.

'Không ai dừng lại đi bộ, đứng dậy hoặc bạn chết!' (Nobody stop walking, get up or you die!) He kept yelling, loading his gun. He was about to shoot when another guard arrived from behind and pulled him back by the shoulder.

'Đừng giết nó! Các trưởng muốn họ sống!' (Don't kill him! The chief wants them alive!) He shouted at him. He pushed him, saying some insults and approached the two men standing beside him. He took out a knife from his belt and cut their bonds.

'Trợ giúp anh ta đi. Đừng cố gắng chạy trốn!' (Help him walk. Don't try to run away!) He told them showing the old man lying on the ground by a nod. 'Đi nào!' (Let's go!) He yelled loud enough so the whole group heard it.

The alarm clock was showing 1:42 am. The house was silent and plunged into the dark. The hours were passing by, and yet he couldn't sleep as on most of his nights. He was watching the ceiling of his bedroom, recalling the last hours of the day. He was torn between saving the world again and staying with his children. He had drawn a line on the navy, on his career, on the missions and the dead who still haunted him today. He had no desire to go back reliving all of this, his duty now was to watch over his family.

But what about Sasha? She had taken the road to see him, she almost came to beg him to return to St Louis with her; he didn't want to disappoint her again, not after the way he had left her months ago.

What he didn't know was that in his house few people could get to sleep tonight. Sasha was awake downstairs, reflecting on the same problem as he just did. And apparently, his daughter was in the same condition as he heard some footsteps.

'Daddy, are you sleeping?' She whispered, as she passed her head through the opening of the door.

'No, sweetie. What are you up to? We're in the middle of the night!' He whispered back as he lit on the light.

'I couldn't sleep.' She admitted.

'Com' here.' He said, patting the empty side of the bed. She climbed beside him and snuggled in his arms with her favorite teddy bear against her chest.

'Did you have a nightmare?' He asked her, but she said no with her head. 'What's the matter, honey?'

'I heard you and Sasha talking after dinner.' He sighed and was about to speak when she kept on talking. 'You know if you have to go, then go. Mom and grandpa would have liked you to help people, as you always do. That's what I want too.'

'Sweetie, I can't let you and your brother on your own. I have to protect you.'

'Don't worry about us, I'll take care of Sam. He's still young but I know he's old enough to understand. We could live with Rebecca until everything comes in order.' She said raising her head to look at his father. He was completely amazed by so much maturity and moved to see how good his children were.

'I retired from the navy, Ashley. They will have to do this without me.'

'If they need you, you should go and help them. Even if Sam and I need our dad, the world needs a hero.' She paused. 'Mom always said you were her true hero.'

Tom closed his eyes, hiding the tears that began to form at the corner of his eyelids. He put one of his hand on her daughter's head and dropped a tender kiss on her hair.

'I'm so proud of you, Ashley.' He whispered, hugging her tight.

'What are you talking about? You woke me up and it's still dark outside, daddy!' Sam appeared at the door, whimpering and rubbing his eyes.

'Come with us, buddy.' He said throwing away the covers as his kids snuggled to his sides. With each of his kids lying next to him surrounded by his arms, he squeezed them hard and kissed their foreheads. 'It's time to get back to sleep, now. I love you both.'

'Love you daddy.' They both said together, while sleep had already regained possession of their little bodies. Tom kept looking at the ceiling for a few minutes still, with a very different frame of mind. It was time for him to confront his old demons and put an end once and for all to this war.

TBC…