January 22nd 2017

Abu Dhabi police department

Arabian Peninsula

He felt dirty and wanted to take a shower but there was none….

He felt tired and wanted to sleep but there was no bed….

He was hungry but there was nothing to eat….

But besides all this feelings he felt satisfied. He got his revenge and now the world would be a better place to live without that bastard, who killed his friend.

Friend?

No, that wasn´t the right word. He was more than that. He was his comrade for so long time. He was really more than a friend, he was more like the son he never had. The son who died in front of him, in his own hands and he couldn´t do anything than to let him go and share some tears for him.

He couldn´t understand why he had to die. He was young and had his whole life to live. Not like him, he was older, he had a daughter and a wife. He had something in life worth dying for. Even if he knew that his family thought he died five years ago. That´s why he should have been the one dying in battle, not him.

When you got your revenge and the battles are fought what´s the reason to life on?

This question was in his mind since he killed Makarov. What´s the big plan for him in this world? To end up in jail only ´cause he did the right thing? To be forgotten by everyone he cared of? To be marked as a traitor? A man who betrayed his country?

He wouldn´t have a problem with that if that´s what really happened. At the same time he hoped that someone, anyone would come and take him out of this, take him back home and everything's all right.

Lost in his thoughts he didn´t recognize the sound of an opening door and someone coming in.

A file was thrown on the table in front of him and only now he snapped out of his dreams and looked up into the brown eyes of an Arabian police officer. The man gestured him to open the file and so he did. In it were some pictures. The first one showed him with Soap and Ghost, the second one him and Yuri and the last one was a picture of Makarovs dead body.

"What where you doing in the hotel?" the officer asked and took a seat across from him.

"What do you thing? I was on vacation!" was his angry answer.

"Don´t play games with me. We know everything. You are Captain John Price, Member of Task Force 141 and your destination was to kill Makarov." The officer replied angrily.

"Why do you ask if you know the answer already?" Price asked amused.

The officer didn´t answer and started to ask some more questions.

"Where´s the rest of your Task Force?"

"Dead."

"All of them?"

"I guess so."

"What happened?"

"Why´d you care?"

"Just answer me."

"A lot of us died in battle and the rest was betrayed by our General."

"General Sheperd?"

Price just nodded.

"I heard of him. They found his dead body, he was stabbed in the eye and died immediately. My question is who did this?"

"It was me."

"Really?" the officer got skeptical.

"Of course. Why should I lie?"

"Well then tell me why I have the information that this was Cpt. MacTavish?"

"Who said that?" Price got nervous.

"That´s not important. But from your reaction I can see that this is the truth." The officer snuffled, stood up from his chair and leaned over to Price.

"It´s better for you to tell me the truth or you will spend the rest of your life behind a prison cell." The officer took a seat again and looked expectant.

Price let out a deep breath.

"Yes, it was Soap, he stabbed Sheperd and killed him."

"Ok and what happened to MacTavish or Soap?"

"He died."

"Where?"

"In Prague. We tried to set a trap for Makarov but he knew we were there and Soap got killed."

"Ok and what happened then?"

"Yuri and I were looking for Makarov in an old castle where he had a secret place to hide but he wasn´t there and all we could do was to destroy some of his weapons and kill some of his man. After that we lost the track on Makarov and could find him months later in this hotel."

"You knew the war was already over didn´t you?"

"Of course we knew but I wanted revenge."

"Revenge? For what?"

"For all the soldiers which died in the war. Makarov was the manipulator of the whole war and he had to pay."

"So you did this not for yourself? Didn´t it satisfied you to watch him die?"

"What do you expect from me? Of course I´m satisfied. He deserved to die."

"And you were aware of the consequences of what you were doing? You can handle that a soldier died because of your selfish act?"

"Yuri knew what he was in to."

"That´s your excuse?"

"It´s not an excuse. It´s just the way things are."

"I never met a man who´s as cold-hearted as you."

"Have you ever lost someone you love?"

"Yes I have."

"Then you know how I really feel." Price said seriously.

The officer just stared in his eyes. Maybe this man wasn´t the bad ass bastard he thought he would be. Maybe there was a chance that he only was a victim of confusion. He seemed to tell the truth about what happened. His Informant could be right with his speculation that he just tried to do what´s needed to bring peace to this world again. He had pity with him. In some way this man was a rareness in mankind. If he were in his position maybe he would have done the same. He wanted to say something but he couldn´t find the right words.

He wanted to apologize but he didn´t know for what. He just did his job. Everyone else in his position would do the same. Besides all the good intents the man in front of him had he still had killed a man. Self-revenge was a crime and so the Cpt. was a criminal and criminals needed to be convicted for what they have done.

"Do you have a family?" the policeman asked out of the sudden.

Price looked surprised and just nodded.

"Do you want to call them and tell them what´s going on?"

Price just shook his head. He knew his family thought he died long ago and he wanted to keep it this way. But then he remembered the TV report and that his family might had seen it. Should he call them and tell he was alive? His wife would be really obsessed if she saw him on TV and he didn´t give her a call. But if she hadn´t seen it and he would call she might get a heart attack if she heard his voice. He was caught between the devil and the deep blue sea. He just wanted to answer as he heard a voice over some speakers which told the officer someone was here to talk to him.

The officer shot Price one more glance, got up from his chair and left the room.


Alone again in silence Price started to remember a conversation he had with Soap not long before he died.

"You should give them a call." Soap started out of the sudden as they were on the way to prague.

Price looked up from his journal he had in his hands and looked at his friend.

"Who do you mean?" he asked and shifted himself left in his passenger seat to look at the young man, who was driving the car.

"You´re family. You should tell them what´s happened and that you´re fine." Soap answered not turning his gaze away from the street.

Price smiled, pulled his hat in front of his eyes and closed them.

"I don´t think that´s an good idea." He answered calmly.

"Why not? They have a right to know." Soap didn't understand the stubbornness of his former friend.

"It´s good like it is. Why should I wake sleeping dogs? It wouldn't change anything."

"But…"

"No." Soap was interrupted.

"My wife did know what she was in to when we got married. She knew that someday I won´t come back. It´s better to let her believe I lost my life in battle."

Soap wanted to say something more but he stayed silenced. Price was a grown up man. He knew what was best for him. Soap only thought if he would have a family back home he would call them immediately if anything happens.

"Fine. If you don´t want to tell them I don´t force you to do it." Soap just said and their conversation was over.


Fool!

Price thought to himself. If he could turn back time he would have called his family back then. He would have told them he was fine and he was coming back. Price shook his head. It wasn´t to late to call his wife. Maybe he would do it after all that but at the same time he was pretty sure he was going to spend the rest of his life caged.

He let out a deep breath. It felt like hours since the officer was gone. He wondered to whom he was speaking out there. The man who called him out sounded very nervous. It must be important.

Just a few seconds later he heard the door open and looked at it. The officer came back to the room and Price thought to see a little smile on his face.

"It seems like it´s you´re lucky day Captain. Someone´s here to bring you back home." The officer told him.

"Who is it?" Price asked astonished

The officer stepped aside and a man Price knew very well came in. He shot up from his chair and looked confused at the man.

"I´m glad to see you son. Come on it´s time to go." The man said and Price stood there with his mouth wide open.