The Dream Is A Nightmare
The flight attendant walked over to Jake and tapped him on the shoulder.
"You will want to get your stuff together, Captain Ballard. We are landing in a few minutes."
"Thank you."
Jake gathered his things and double-checked to make sure every piece of document that could compromise him was shredded.
The plane landed close to midnight and the base was uncharacteristically quiet even though there were soldiers milling about.
"Captain Jacob Ballard?" Jake turned around and walked towards the commanding officer who took him to a briefing room at the front of the base for a final strategy session with the rest of the team. He recognized a few faces he had worked with before and that made him more relaxed.
As soon as the session ended a Staff Sergeant took Jake to his quarters. He had eaten on the plane so he just wanted to get a few hours sleep before his 4AM call. He fell asleep almost immediately.
"Imani, our tour ends in exactly two weeks and we'll be Stateside planning our wedding. Unbelievable, right?"
"Jake, I can't wait. It's all I think about." She said as she slipped into his arm and gave him a long deep kiss.
"I have a bomb job tonight, Jake. I have to go. Love you."
"You're the top bomb expert on this base but be very careful, honey. You are my life and I want you to be safe."
"I will be careful, Captain."
"I love you, Imani." Jake smiled at her and gave her another hug and them she was out the door.
"What! She can't be dead, I just held her in my arms a few minutes ago."
"I'm sorry Captain Ballard, there was a security breach outside the gate. I attended to her personally. We did everything we could but she's gone. They're all gone, all six of them."
"Sit down son," his commanding officer said. "I know you're hurting and what I'm about to tell you will hurt some more but you have to know. Imani was pregnant with your child."
"Give him a sedative. Something very strong…."
Jake woke up flailing and awash in cold sweat. This was his first night back in Armenistan since the tragedy and it was happening.
He had not been haunted by that dream for a very long time. He had done everything he could to lock the memory away in the deep recesses of his subconscious but here it was stalking him again.
Jake took a deep breath and looked at his watch. It was only 2AM but he decided not to go back to bed; instead he opted to do some push-ups and try not to focus on the dream or the past.