Back to Ranger's POV

Talking to my Babe gave me a new energy to get this job done. I headed back to the briefing room to see if anything new had been discovered. I needed to get home. I knew this was my last mission for the government. My contract was up at the end of this job and if I made it home, I was not going renew, no matter what they threw at me as an incentive. I only started doing these jobs to get enough money to get RangeMan started and now that it was a very profitable company, with office in multiple cities, I didn't need to do this anymore. I was too old for this shit. There were enough younger soldiers that were just like I was at their age, and they were more than capable of taking over these types of jobs.

The new intel was encouraging and I met up with my team after to come up with some plans of action. I always like to have at two, if not three, plans. You never knew when things would get fucked up along the way. We worked for a few hours and then got some food and went to bed. We would be leaving about midnight for our next drop. I pulled out my journal and started writing. I explained that things didn't go smoothly the first time and we were working on the attempt two. I told Steph how glad I was that she was at the office when I was able to call and how much I loved her. I told her how much she meant to me and how glad I was that I got to spend that night with her before I left. I reminded her that I would stay safe and that I would try to contact her again, if I had the chance. One more sniff of the shower gel and I fell asleep. I dreamed of her, but I did that almost every time I got some sleep.

Midnight rolled around and we were flying out again, ready to drop into a dangerous area, with nothing more than what we could carry on ourselves. Once on the ground we met up with the scout team who had a visual confirmation of our target. He was in an out-building on a deserted farm. My guess is at one time, this was a prospering farm, but as so often happens in this part of the world, it was taken over by the opposition and turned into a training camp. They were able to get a few photographs of the target and I was able to confirm that this was the correct person. There were six guards around the farm, and after digging in and watching for about a week, we were able to figure out the guard schedule and rotation. Two members of the scout team stayed with my group and that gave us thirteen guys to handle this job.

It seemed like a simple mission at this point. Thinking back to the first briefing I'd had about it, the brass weren't concerned about the number of men we'd have to get through to get to the target, they were more concerned about the fallout of the death of this man. We needed to be quick to get the target eliminated, send them confirmation of the kill and get our asses out of the area as fast as possible. The extraction was going to be the hardest part. Once the death was known, anything or anyone that didn't look like they belonged would be eliminated. This included our extraction helicopter.

I laid out the plan of action to the guys and we broke off into pairs to take out the guards and when it was clear, they would join me to get the target. We waited until they were close to the end of a shift, as we noticed they all seemed a bit antsy by that point and after moving my men into position all over the area, on my count the guards were taken out at the same time. All were down and it seemed quiet, that none of them were able to get off any sort of radio call before going down.

We carefully approached the out-building and I had two of my men check for any triggers that would set off explosions. Nothing was found so on my count, we went in through the front door and the back windows. The only sounds in the building were coming from my men. The target was passed out on the floor, with an empty bottle of booze lying next to him. We all stood in disbelief for a moment and then moved into action. The target was photographed and it was sent back to command. I asked to take the target hostage instead of killing. It was confirmed that this would be acceptable. Maybe this way, our government would get information out of him and then they could deal with his eventual outcome. We secured him with zip ties and one of the men hauled him over his shoulder and we slowly made our way out of the building and after a quick scan of the area, determined it was time to go. We double timed it the extraction point and made the call for the copter. It was only three minutes out and even though that doesn't seem like a long time, when you're in the this type of situation, it could feel like hours.

We heard the sound of the helicopter and headed for the clearing. Once it was down, we hustled into it, all thirteen of us and the target, now hostage. It took off and we were soon flying back to the base. There were a few moments of gunfire at the copter, but we returned fire immediately and the pilot flew higher to get out of gunfire range. I knew that briefings would take a few days, maybe up to a week and then I'd be on my way home to my babe. I had a ring already bought and was in my safe. All I had to do was get home and set the scene for my proposal. I had never felt like this about anyone before and I knew I wanted to spend the rest of my life with her.

Landing at the base almost seemed like I was home. I helped get the hostage into a secured location on base and went to shower. I took the bottle of shower gel with me, just to smell. I couldn't go back to my men smelling like a strawberry, but I needed to smell Steph for a few minutes. I got dressed, grabbed something to eat and sat down on my bunk and wrote for a few minutes in my journal. I told her I was done with the hard part of the mission, how it went easier this time and now just the debriefing and then I'd be coming home to her. I told her I loved her and couldn't wait to see her and hold her and kiss her.

The debriefing went surprisingly quick. It seemed the brass were happy that we brought the target back alive and they would be transporting him to a more secure facility in the states and hoping to get a lot of information out of him. They asked if I would be able to help with the transport home and I agreed, as it meant I'd get to leave sooner than expected. I went back and packed my few belongings and headed for the transport truck. The truck had the driver and one other soldier up front and in the back was the hostage, who was securely fastened to the truck, two guards and myself. We took off and headed for the airstrip. It wasn't far from the base and we arrived within ten minutes. We pulled directly up to the plane and the guards waited for the driver to open the back of the truck and once they did, the hostage was taken out of the truck and herded into the plane, where he was secured to the seat. The two guards sat on either side of him and I followed onto the plane carrying just my bag. The plane took off and we headed towards home.

I pulled out my journal and wrote for about an hour. I poured out every emotion I had for Stephanie into my writing. I wrote of my plans for the proposal, right down to the words I wanted to say to her. I talked about redecorating my apartment at RangeMan and that if she wanted, I wanted to have a couple of children with her. I wrote of what I thought our children would be like. A boy who was just like me, but with Stephanie's eyes. He would have a strong name and would eventually want to take over RangeMan so I could retire and spend the rest of my days with Steph. I wrote about a sweet little girl that would be my princess. She would have Stephanie's wild, curly hair and everyone would dote on her, just like the princess she would be. She would have a beautiful name and would grow up to be whatever she wanted to be, who would tell my princess that she couldn't do something?

The plane landed and we got off. There was a transport set up for the hostage and the two guards and I had a car waiting for me for the long drive home. I threw my bag into the seat next to me and once the transport left, I took off, heading towards Trenton. I stopped a few times for gas and food, but otherwise, I would not stop for the night until I get home to my babe. I didn't want to call her, I wanted to surprise her that I was home. I was about two hours away from Trenton and had just filled the car up with gas again. I finished the fueling and was headed into the store to get something to eat when out of nowhere a car came barreling into the parking lot and before I could react, it slammed into me and I felt my body go flying through the air. The last thing I remember was hitting the ground, hard, and then it all went black.