Stephenie Meyer owns Twilight. I'm borrowing her characters, dressing them up in MARPAT, and giving them some guns. BilliCullen and Scooterstale are making sure they're ready for inspection.
June 27
Rendezvous Point
Somewhere Between Northern Target Compound and Mogadishu, Somalia
"But why?" Bella's gaze skipped from the taut, hard lines of the captain's face to the man on the other side of the screen. "Why would… Major, I don't understand."
"Unfortunately, we do not have all the pieces to that particular puzzle just yet." Making a frustrated noise, El'azar snapped his fingers at one of the dark-haired, twenty-somethings in olive drab manning the workstations behind him. The soldier's back instantly straightened at the terse address, but no more than a second later, a scanned sheet of black and white text replaced the pair of pictures on the second tablet. "But as you can see, we have some very good ideas."
Moving in closer, Bella squinted at the slanted lines of bulleted text. At the bottom of the page was a heavy, red, Classified designation stamped in all-caps. Official-looking marks and notes decorated the margins. The now-familiar eagle, star, and shield seal sat bold and proud in the upper-left corner, and the header bore a simple, understated, Washington, D.C.
Her brows climbed to her hairline. "How did you get that?!"
"Get what?" El'azar shrugged as though hacking into her country's most clandestine agency was just par for the course. "I have no idea what you mean." The man shot her a wicked half-smile and winked, so quickly that Bella almost missed it. Just as quickly, before she could recover with her own smart-ass reply, the feigned innocence and play was gone, however, and he continued on in a hard, no-nonsense tone of voice that made Bella almost feel sorry for the soldiers under him. "Like I said, we do not have the entire puzzle just yet, but we have enough to make some pretty educated guesses."
"Like what?"
"For example, we know that while Dr. Aronović emigrated to the United States during the early stages of the Yugoslav Wars, to this day there are holdings outside of Belgrade still in his family's name."
A marked-up gray-green geopolitical map appeared on the screen. A second later, the display split and made room for what looked like an old family photograph. In it, a woman – dark-haired and dark-eyed – stood at the edge of a dock in a polka dot summer dress, staring directly into the camera and flashing the photographer a row of grinning teeth. On her left with his arm looped around her waist was a serious, smooth-skinned man of no more than twenty-five, wearing a camouflage utility uniform two sizes too big. The photo was hazy and blown out from the sun overhead, but there was no mistaking those features or genes. Despite his closed-lipped smile, the young man's eyes glittered with the same manic hostility as his father's.
"And more importantly, according to various intelligence reports, we know that the good professor lost at least two very close family members there, including his twin sister in '94, and a son named Marko in late '95."
Without conscious direction, Edward glanced down at the quiet woman beside him, catching the light sheen of sweat dotting her forehead. Intense and focused on the photograph in front of them, after a long moment of silence, her mouth moved as if to speak but not a word came out. Instead, for whatever reason, Bella's lower lip tucked behind her teeth, and despite the dry Somali heat, her arms hugged tightly across her chest. Still watching her, just resisting the urge to reach over and do… something, Edward asked the major, "How'd Marko die?"
Before the Israeli could answer, Jacob side-stepped a pile of debris and came around their makeshift table, at the same time adding a low, growled out, "And why the fuck was his kid even over there if they'd emigrated?"
Giving the Delta commander a slight, acknowledging nod, El'azar said, "According to reports, Marko was killed in one of the air strikes by NATO forces." He paused, just long enough to wave at the same twenty-something soldier again. By the time he turned back, another scanned document – this one in French and bearing a different seal – popped up on the screen. "It is believed that he stayed in the Balkans against his father's wishes to fight in the war."
"Which side?"
"Serb. According to more than one account, he did well for himself in the VRS and rose up through the ranks quickly. He was in charge of heavy artillery mostly, but some ground troops as well. In summer of '94, we think he left his post, however. We are not sure precisely why, but the timing coincides with his aunt's death." Yet another page of scanned, bulleted French filled the screen. "After that, he disappeared from the radar for several months – completely, not a sign or trace – and did not resurface again until mid-1995, where there is convincing evidence that he had taken over a unit command position in a certain guerrilla force that was quite active at that time…"
Edward's head swung around. "You're kidding me."
"I wish that I were." With a harsh spit, El'azar's expression turned ruthless. "We are still trying to fill in the blanks, but we are quite sure Dr. Aro's precious little boy led at least one of the Scorpions sub-units at Srebrenica. Apparently, at least based on survivor accounts, he was… a true monster, so much so that if he were alive today, there is no doubt he would have been brought to trial right along with the Medić brothers."
"Fuck. So all this really is related."
The two commanders stared at the each other through the screen before the El'azar finally nodded. "Very likely, yes. Considering the professor's research topic at the time of his supposed death and disappearance, the banners and emblems that are now showing up everywhere, and this?" El'azar spat again. "Captain, you know as well as I do that there are no such things as coincidences in our world. I would wager a year's salary that it is all some kind of fucked up symbolism memorializing his son. Plainly speaking, Aro is out for revenge, and for whatever reason, the U.S. is his focal point."
"It's really not that surprising." As he spoke, Edward's gaze grew distant and his voice took on a kind of gravelly softness that made the hairs on the back of Bella's neck stand at attention. "Who do you think led Deliberate Force? Who do you think ran the recon ops behind the line and flew most of the fighters?"
No one said a word. Filing the eerie subtext in the captain's last statement away for later, as well as the unexpected thousand-yard stare that went with it, Bella blew out a slow breath and broke the silence to quietly ask El'azar, "You're absolutely certain that this is the Dr. Aronović that we're dealing with?"
Before answering, El'azar swiped a rough hand through short-cropped black hair and then he scrubbed his chin. "Yes." He slowly dipped his chin. "Me'ah Achuz."
Bella's nose wrinkled and her fingers curled around the thin, olive drab fabric of her t-shirt. "But how– how did he manage to fake his death? When he died, it was… kind of a big deal. It would have been in the news."
"It is really not that hard, Beautiful." Sporting an easy, indulgent smile, El'azar's shoulders dropped in a lazy, fluid shrug. "Aro likely started planning it from the instant of Marko's death. Considering the time period, location, and the resources of his particular ties… eh, it would not have been difficult at all to fake the accident and arrange for a substitute body. Once out in the desert, he probably slipped through Algeria or Libya and then went from there."
Reaching to his right, El'azar came back with an inch-thick stack of combed-through paperwork. "Since that time, now that we know what to look for, we are seeing rumors and possible sightings from Chad all the way to Malaysia. He moves around a lot, certainly, and flies pretty low, so I will admit that he is good…" The major flashed her another one of those arrogant, got-you grins of his and wagged his shaggy brows. "But not so good as we are." He winked when Bella would have spoken. "You see, it would seem that the good professor likes modern conveniences and communications a little too much to go completely to ground. And as we all know, those pesky things always leave crumbs to follow."
"So what about the others?" Black cut in, crossing his arms over his chest. Like the rest of the Marines and Deltas here, his skin was a canvas of winding black and gray. "Any ideas on who all he's recruited?"
Still wearing that same cocky grin, El'azar eyed the younger man like he might an amusing over-eager puppy. "We are still working on it, but we have managed to put names to two of them so far." He motioned to another one of his soldiers, and when the image on the screen swapped, what came up was a shot they'd all seen before. Only now, the dimly lit cavern of a warehouse and the tight, disciplined rows of Dr. Aronovic's army were crisp and clear, enhanced well beyond their capabilities here in the desert.
"By the way," the major said, gesturing to the stone-faced Delta sergeant first class, who leaned off to the side in a casual slouch that no one mistook for inattention. "Nice camera-work, Sergeant Cameron. You made our job almost too easy." When all he got back was a bored fraction of a nod, El'azar just laughed and shook his head at Edward. "And I thought you Marines were the antisocial ones."
This time, one corner of Jared's mouth twisted up and he offered the man behind the screen a loose, mocking salute.
El'azar shook his head again and glanced over to Bella. "Now I really feel sorry for you, Doctor Swan. You definitely should have stayed with me. I am far more civilized company than these…" He waved at the camera. "Ruffians."
Giving a little snort, Bella rolled her eyes at the man's theatrics. "Yeah, I'll remember that next time." Recalling the way he could turn on a dime to issue out sharp, drilled commands to his subordinates, she added with a ghost of a smile, "Although, frankly, I don't know that you'd be that much better… Lahav."
A burst of laughter came from behind them, and without looking, Bella knew that the captain beside her wore his own hint of a smile. On cue, the Israeli attempted a scowl, but his dark eyes gleamed with appreciation and when he muttered something impolite about tart tongues and knife-work under his breath, there was no question that, at least according to him, it was a compliment.
"You know, I heard that."
"Of course, you did," El'azar said with one last flash of teeth, before abruptly morphing back into the hard, no nonsense commander yet again and in the process proving her point. He barked out a quick series of orders in Hebrew to a pair of soldiers to his left.
At once, circular sectors of the photograph started to blur, moving in and out of focus as they then swept across the image from left to right in a regular, repeating search pattern. After only a handful of seconds, they finally stopped and centered on a pair of gray-black shadows in the far right corner behind Dr. Aro's stage. A few keystrokes adjusted the contrast and negative space, and a few more interpolated and filled in the missing pixels until they were seeing two very familiar figures, one of whose face was framed by a tangle of loose, candy-red curls.
"Holy fuck," Alice muttered. "That's creeptastic."
El'azar made a chuffing sound. "It is also an extremely useful tool for hunting down monsters who prefer to hide in the darkness." With another rapid command from the major, the scene zoomed in, and the woman they simply knew as Vicky or Victoria slid to the side. A square bubble of digitized text appeared beside her. "Ladies and gentlemen, I would like you to meet Victoria Anne Murphy. Born in Belfast, educated at Stanford, and the only daughter of one Brian Murphy, who, if you might recall, was the Director of Engineering of the IRA for more than two decades.
"In other words, our Ms. Murphy grew up with bombs instead of Barbies, as well as a cultivated hatred for any kind of authority. In her teens and early twenties, she was an active participant in her father's army, but since her father's death back around 2001, she has been attached at the hip to…"
The woman's image abruptly shrank and swiped to the bottom-right, replaced by the other shadow. Within seconds, a man's face emerged from the dark – hard, angular, and with a hawk-billed nose and cold, black chips for eyes. The same long, jagged scar they'd seen on the surveillance footage from the villa cut an ugly path down his right cheek. "James Michael Walker, call sign Tracker. Expert marksman, demo specialist, trained in deep recon, interrogation, counter-terrorism, and insurgency, and… you will love this… a former captain of Her Majesty's very Special Air Service."
Edward cursed. "Just how former?"
"Court martialed, dismissed with disgrace, and imprisoned in 2000 for abandoning his post during the NATO intervention in Kosovo and, more importantly, charges related to the murder of a family some miles outside of Račak. His file – which was surprisingly difficult to obtain, by the way – shows additional unsubstantiated charges and investigations related to other covert operations in Central and West Africa, as well. Some are…" El'azar's jaw ticked. "Quite gruesome."
Before she could stop herself, Bella blurted out a confused, "Wait, but you said he was imprisoned."
"He was, until May of 2001." El'azar flipped through the papers until he located one in particular. "According to the file, he escaped during a prison transfer from Colchester to Whitemoor and fled the country. Considering how quickly and completely he disappeared, it is almost certain he had assistance, but then again, perhaps not. After September of that year, as you well know, the world's eyes were too busy searching for others to really pursue one such as him."
In a rare show of impatience, Edward's fingers drummed against the edge of the stone. "What about since then?"
"Mr. Walker… he has been quite the busy man." Reports flashed across the screen, one after another and in half a dozen different languages. "He has since resurfaced, along with Ms. Murphy, in Colombia in 2003, Thailand in '05 and '06, Cambodia in 2007, Russia and a few other former Soviet states in '08, '09, and 2010, and then most recently, Syria in 2011. There are others most certainly, but these are the ones for which we found enough evidence to positively link him." El'azar's voice dropped into a flat, detached monotone. "Each spotting coincided with moderate to large-scale urban terrorist attacks, all seemingly from out of nowhere. They all resulted in significant casualties and injuries, and none of the investigations afterward produced a single suspect. Be aware that Walker is… extremely good at what he does."
Brows slanting, Jacob skimmed over the scientist's dark head to Edward, whose face was now a mask of cold calculation that promised nothing good, and then to El'azar. "Any connection between the attacks?"
"Nothing, other than chaos and dollars." The Israeli shook his head. "He is a hired attack dog with allegiance to no one but himself and the red-head. He will work with anyone, too – ELN, PULO, Chechens, al Qaida, you name it. He carries no guilt or conscience."
"What about after Syria? Where's he been?"
"There has been nothing that we know of. Our assumption is that he joined Dr. Aro's little group sometime between then and now and they have been prepping for this event ever since." Whistling over for yet another stack of papers, the major frowned. "Walker was in Kosovo in 1998 and 1999. As you know, many of the players from Bosnia were there as well, including the Scorpions. We are guessing that is where we will find the connection between him and Aronović."
The cave went quiet, so quiet that the only sounds were those of the tiny desert insects buzzing around and the subtle shifting of weapons and gear. Eventually, the captain's fists fell to his hips in a familiar pose and his chin ducked in a single clipped show of appreciation. "Rav Seren."
El'azar's mouth curved as he returned the acknowledgment. "Seren."
After another few beats of silent communication that Bella couldn't hope to decipher, she watched the Marine issue a lightning fast round of hand signals to Alice and then ask the major, "You able to find anything else?"
"Only this."
The screen flashed yet again, and the photographs and text abruptly melted into a maze of mottled browns and beiges. A bright red flag appeared at the top, pinpointing the location of the enemy compound in the higher plateaus to the north. An emerald green one hovered over their cave and current temporary base in the center, a black X sat on top of the villa in Mogadishu at the bottom, and to the west, deep inland and right on the border of Ethiopia, was a yet another flag, this one new and blinking neon yellow.
"The fuck is that?" Jacob spat.
"After the Marine team's raid at the villa," El'azar said to Black, as bright, matching yellow lines materialized and began winding a long, curving route between the yellow flag and the red flag in the north. "We picked up a lot of activity between this point here… and the northern enemy compound." The satellite imaged zoomed in, focusing on a pair of cream-white Range Rovers. "Familiar, no?"
From back in the cave, Emmett grumbled out an annoyed, "Goddamnit. Can we ever catch a break in this fucking shithole?"
"I fear not, Staff Sergeant." Tipping his head, El'azar went on as the software zoomed in even further, all the way down until they could read the black block lettering on the hood of the lead vehicle. The shot panned left, stopping only to float above the flat white roof of what looked like a small house nestled at the foot of one of the low, sloped mountains. A handful of other sand-colored buildings were scattered nearby, but from where Edward sat, this place was in the middle of nowhere, which could mean either very good or very, very bad things. "This is where Walker and Murphy went last night after word reached them of the attack on the villa."
Quiet up until now, Paul stepped up to the table to study the frame. "How the hell did we miss this?"
"Apparently," Alice chimed in. "We didn't."
Edward whipped around. "Explain."
Grimacing, the lieutenant waved a thin laptop in the air, shoved off her spot against the boulder, and slid between Bella and the Delta commander to join them. "Guess who finally decided to report back? And with the exact same intel…" Her nose crinkled in a sour face as she placed the laptop between the pair of tablets. "Seriously, these people suck sometimes."
Off Alice's left, Rosalie grunted and mumbled something about fucking suits in paper bags and needing a GPS, which earned her a flash of teeth and a big thumbs up from Black's pair of sergeants.
"Anyway, Captain," the pilot continued, as she swiped the touch pad to transmit the data to El'azar. "Seems like the CIA knew about this but didn't think it was a 'credible lead'… that is, until it was pointed out by someone else. Go figure, huh?"
Before Edward could respond, El'azar tsked. "As much as I would like to rub it in, in all honesty, this is the first we have seen of it recently ourselves. One of our junior analysts happened to notice the small convoy, so we followed the thread and then combed back through satellite surveillance from several weeks ago for comparison. There is evidence of prior visits to this location, not many but enough to support a pattern. Coupled with this movement so soon after your breach of their villa base, we feel confident this structure is one of their bolt holes."
Other photos zipped across the screen, moving from the flat white roof to a small building in the rear of the property to a covered carport on the right side of the main structure, and finally to an angled shot of a latticed back patio, where through the leaves of the plants that grew up the walls and overhead, they could see some kind of gray fabric – the same shade as Dr. Aronovic's suit. "We cannot say for absolute certain," El'azar said, as he drew a thick, red digitized circle around that hint of color. "But it is… highly possible that this is where Aro hides when he is not at the compound."
When Bella peeked up, Edward's eyes glinted bright, alive, and eager, and the fists balled at his hips squeezed and flexed. "Is it armed?" he asked, and when he did, his voice held the sharpness of a razor's edge.
Through the connection, the major's expression changed, matching whatever he saw in Edward's, and as he spoke, his words carried the same undercurrent of dark anticipation that was already creeping its way through their cave. "Difficult to ascertain…"
"But?"
"But… unlike the villa, there is little in the way of outward security." Highlighting the empty roof and surrounding pathways, the major smiled a ruthless, bloodthirsty smile that made Bella blink in surprise. She just resisted taking a step backward.
"Son of a bitch." Hands still at his hips, Edward abruptly spun on his heel and paced the width of the cave, eating up the distance in a handful of clipped, efficient strides. "It's too good, too convenient… but if what you're saying is right…"
"He could be right there… like a sitting duck waiting to be plucked."
"Shit." After another fast back and forth circuit, Edward turned to Alice in a sudden rush of purpose and motion. "Tink, you and Trick, I want you to pull everything you can. And I mean everything. I want satellite images, videos, names, dates, reports, whatever you can find and I don't give a fuck about the politics of what agency gets it to us first. Grab Jazz from outside if you need to."
"Yes, sir."
He signaled Rosalie before Alice had even moved, issuing a set of nonverbal commands even as he spoke. "Blondie, you and Em take inventory and start getting the gear ready. Plan for dusk/twilight conditions, survey and potential breach. Report back at…" His eyes dropped to his wrist. "Fifteen hundred. We'll start laying this shit out then."
"You got it, sir." The gunny's ice blue eyes glittered as she reached down, nabbed something off the ground, and then chucked what turned out to be Emmett's cover at his head. "You heard him, Big Man. Get your shit and let's move!"
As Rosalie and Cullen's bear of a staff sergeant grabbed their gear and ducked out of the cave, Jacob thumbed at the screen. "You seriously thinkin' recon only, or something a little more…" For a second, he eyed Cullen's wide-eyed scientist, not quite sure how much the woman could handle. "Adversarial."
Following the direction of the other man's gaze, Edward catalogued all the open signs of stress written across the doctor's too-pretty face – the small crease between her eyes, the dip in her left cheek from chewing the inside, the tight little hammers her fists made when she crossed and uncrossed her arms – and for the hundredth time today, his chest did that aching thing and he had the distinct, irrational urge to leave her right here in this cave where no one could touch her.
"Recon," he said at last, shoving his hand through his hair. "But if we have the chance to take Aro out, we will."
Nodding, Jacob dropped his elbows to the table and studied the satellite photos. He glanced back. "What about the compound?"
"Nothing changes there. You and your team will move to position early and insinuate yourselves here…" Edward pointed to a long, jagged crevice that cut a mile-long path through the rock. "1500 meters off that north wall. We will rendezvous with you after checking out that house at the same appointed time. In the meantime, I want you to continue watching and gathering intel."
"And?"
The hard line of Edward's jaw rolled. "And if the opportunity presents itself, I also want you to begin strategically picking those fuckin' mercs off that wall. Nothing overt, or direct, or anything that'd make them come searching, but…"
Black's responding grin was positively feral, so much so that Bella suddenly understood how he got his call sign. "But," Jacob finished, "When people start disappearing out of nowhere, and with no sign of where they went, it tends to make their friends… edgy. I got you, man." He cracked his knuckles. "Twiddle Dee and Twiddle Dum'll probably want to kiss you. They're just itchin' to pull out the long gun."
Almost smiling, Edward motioned up, through the limestone overhead and outside, to where Black's Tier 1 sniper team currently sat monitoring the surrounding terrain. "What are they hitting nowadays anyway?"
"Best team on current record." Clapping his thigh, Jacob snorted a laugh. "With that big Barrett, I swear Quil-dog could hit a fuckin' dime in outer space if Embry told him how to dial it in." He looked down, lips pulling up at the curious tilt of Bella's head, and waved at nothing. "Means on a good day with good visibility and no wind, they'll hit two thousand yards plus, easy as cake."
A slow blink after the Delta captain's last statement sank in, Bella gaped. "That's more than a mile."
"Yes… and your point?"
"But that's insane," she told him, frowning as she recalled the far shorter distance of El'azar's range in the Negev. "It's just…"
Jake's brows lifted, but then he winked over to Edward, who just watched, half annoyed and half amused, as the woman's features pinched in irritation.
"Nothing," El'azar interjected, instantly drawing their attention back to the video feed. "Just ask Cullen if you do not believe. His corporal can accomplish the same… and with no helper. I have seen it myself." He chuckled at Bella's incredulous reaction. "When you return here, Sweet One, I will show you a sniper team. It seems that neither Ghost, nor the Wolf, have properly introduced you to real military might."
Belting out a laugh loud enough to echo in the cave, Jacob flipped the major off. "You're so full of shit, Dayan, you know that? I'll pit my team against any of yours, any day, any time, any fucking long gun you got."
"Shall we wager, Captain Black?" El'azar asked, as he rubbed his hands together. "I have a crate of brand new AS50s just waiting for a workout."
Rolling his eyes, Edward sliced his hand between the screen and the Delta. "All right. The pissing contest can wait." Just as quickly, all the lingering amusement left his face and he was once again the all-business, spitting nails commander preparing his team to loose violence on the world. "You got anything else, Major?"
"Not so much intel, but…" El'azar answered, waving a single sheet of paper. Even through the screen and held far away from the lens, Edward caught the maroon and white emblem in the header. "Just for your awareness, Captains, I have finally received the necessary approvals to conduct certain… training exercises in Ethiopia." That bloodthirsty smile returned with a vengeance. "Note that I fully anticipate that we will be quite close to the Somali border, perhaps accidentally even beyond it…" The man threw his hands up in the universal sign of innocence, only there was nothing innocent at all about the major's implication or smirk. "You know how these borders can be… so very difficult to determine at times."
"I do know." Edward's brows shot up. "Expected timing?"
"Give me until the day after tomorrow to hit the ground, a day after that to reach you at the rendezvous point north of the compound. My soldiers are preparing for departure even now." Dropping the smirk, El'azar nodded once – a quick, no-room-for-debate motion that the Marine and Delta captains returned without a blink of hesitation. "As allies and haverim, we shall provide back up support in whatever manner you require to bring these terrorist dogs to heel… on a training basis, of course."
"Of course." The two commanders in the cave stared at each other in a brief moment of silent conversation before smiling like a pair of foxes. "Welcome aboard."
June 28
Rendezvous Point
Somewhere Between Northern Target Compound and Mogadishu, Somalia
"She likes you."
Not bothering to answer the lieutenant's quietly spoken statement, Edward stepped out of the mouth of the cave and stared across the flat valley in front of them to where the black-on-black silhouettes of jagged hills and plateaus loomed beyond. Out of habit, he quickly scanned the terrain, searching for any hint of reflection or movement, before tilting his face up toward the empty sky. Far away from artificial light pollution and the haze from the ocean, it was as clear as he'd ever seen it – a dark velvet sprinkled with a thousand twinkling points of light and the pale glow of the crescent moon. So for a second, Edward just took in the deceptively tranquil scene, all the while listening for the whisper of motion up on the higher rocks behind them as Emmett and Paul swapped posts.
Alice bumped Edward's shoulder a little harder than necessary. "You gonna answer me, or what?"
Without looking away from the sparkling sky overhead, he bumped her back, enough that her boots skidded across the gravel. "I didn't hear a question."
"Asshole." Righting herself, she gave him an annoyed scowl. "But seriously, you know she does."
"Sure." Not at all interested in where this was going, his lips mashed together. "Doctor Swan likes everyone."
"You're shitting me, right?" Sighing like he was five – something only a few could get away with doing – Alice ticked off her fingers one by one. "First off, no, she doesn't. Bella's not too keen on Jacob Black, that's for damned sure… Well, but then again, who is?" She made an ugly face. "Although, between you and me, I think he's starting to like her just fine, if you get what I mean…" Peeping over just in time to catch the subtle tick of Edward's jaw, Alice fought back a smile. "Anyway, two, the people she does like she doesn't like in the same way she likes you."
Edward blinked at the jumble of words. "That doesn't even make sense."
That ugly face somehow got uglier. "Shut up, you totally understood what I just said." Giving him a hard thump, she ticked off the third finger. "And three… don't think I missed that little moment you two shared this morning… or yesterday morning, or whatever the fuck day it was. They're all kind of bleeding together at this point anyway."
"I have no idea what you're talking about." Now he was the one making the face.
Alice huffed. "Yes, you do."
Too tired to argue, Edward's shoulders sank and he muttered a reluctant, "Is there a four?"
"Of course…" Alice thumped him again, this time on the side of the neck and stinging enough that he shot her a flat glare. "Four, despite your vast experience and expertise, you're a terrible liar, Edward Cullen, so how about not even trying, okay? Bella likes you. As in she likes you-likes you. Tell me you're aware of this."
Edward looked away, his lips twitching at his pilot's teenage-like enthusiasm for matchmaking, not to mention her constant refusal to be anything but inappropriate. But there was something else there, too, he admitted to himself – the slight, not-at-all unpleasant pang that acknowledged that, despite all better reasoning and timing, she was probably right. He frowned.
When the captain still didn't answer, this time softly and with far more seriousness than her little rant, Alice said, "And you like her, too."
Hesitating, Edward drew in a lungful of cool night air that tasted like dust and the low, dry shrubs that dotted the landscape. To anyone else, he would have denied it – as much good as it would do – but he'd learned long ago that Alice was Alice and she'd keep digging until she got what she wanted. Beyond that, all of those increasingly frequent subtle touches, glances, and conversations over the last couple of weeks were a constant repeating circuit in his head, always there, always floating in the background, no matter what else was going on. Finally, swallowing and shifting in mild discomfort, Edward slowly nodded. "Yeah… I guess I do."
Not surprisingly, Alice beamed. "Good." Digging into her hip pocket, she whipped out an energy bar and split the wrapper with her teeth. "You need someone like her… you know, to keep you in line. And Bella's kind of a bad ass, ya know."
"What?" Edward's forehead wrinkled.
"Pfft!" Mouth full, Alice sprayed the ground with a fan of crunched up granola. "B's a total bad ass. Rose even likes her, which happens all of… um, never." Still surprised by the hard-ass gunny's acceptance of the other woman herself, Alice's eyes bugged out. "Oh, and you should know that I approve, too, by the way."
Half-sighing, half-laughing, Edward peeked down at the diminutive firecracker of a Marine. "I didn't realize that I needed your approval for anything, Lieutenant."
Unfazed, Alice just crammed another too-big bite of granola in her mouth, not bothering to wait to speak. "Well, you do, Captain."
He laughed for real this time. "And why do I keep you around again?"
"Because I'm awesome." She sniffed in indignation, but the playful lift of her lips gave her away. "And… like it or not, you gotta admit I'm the best goddamned helo pilot you've ever seen. Seriously, me and that Viper, we can do things other drivers only dream of doing. We're like this." Alice crossed her fingers and waved them under his nose. "Two peas in a pod… Or I guess, that'd be one pea – me – in a cockpit."
"Are you even human?"
When Alice went to bump his shoulder again, Edward dodged her in smooth, lightning quick move, which netted him yet another scowl. "Hey! Just don't you forget who came begging for who here. I was fine and dandy playing at 40,000 feet."
He coughed to hide another laugh. "How can I forget when you're always here to remind me?" Shaking his head, Edward swung his rifle behind his back to stretch. When his spine let out a series of loud, grating pops! Alice cringed like she always did and made a show of rubbing her lower back.
"Dude, that's so gross. Why do you people do that? It can't be good for you."
Repositioning his rifle, Edward studied the lieutenant's narrow face. Like the rest of them, she was running on fumes, with eyes too dark and cheeks too thin – the result of not only too many days of too little sleep, but of the stress of too many back-to-back operations with no time in between to recover. "Go sleep, Tinkadee. You need it, and I doubt there'll be any tomorrow."
Twisting half way around, Alice shoved in the last bite of her bar and then pulled a bottle of water from her knee pocket. "What about you?" She drained a third of the bottle and wiped her mouth on her sleeve. "You've had even less than me."
He blew out a loud, slow breath. "Do you ever just do what you're told?" Alice didn't say a word, which was its own kind of answer. "Go. Sleep. Don't make me knock you out," the captain said again, gesturing back inside the cave, where the rest of the team, judging by the overlapping chainsaw snores, was already out cold in the way that only warriors in the field can accomplish. "We'll finish up the route plan first thing tomorrow."
Serious for once, Alice peered up at the black, glittering sky and asked her commander, "You really think Aro'll be in that safe house? That this is worth us going to check out?"
Edward shrugged. "Honestly? I don't know… I think we have to find out, one way or another. It's just too good of a lead to pass up." He dry washed his face and dug his thumbs into the corners of his eyes. "Talked to the General a few hours ago. He's suspicious, same way we are, but he agrees that we need to know and that we need to know it quick."
"So…"
"So?" He scrubbed his face again, harder, rubbing in the inescapable dusty grit that blew in with the breeze. "So tomorrow, we hunt a scorpion."
"Damn right, sir."
As the lieutenant turned to go back inside – possibly obeying this time – Edward flicked a pebble at her back and called out, "Night, Mary Alice."
Sneaking a peek over her shoulder, Alice flipped him off with a mischievous grin and sang back in a too-sweet voice, "Night, John Boy."
After Alice disappeared, still too wired to sleep, Edward meandered along the gravel goat trail that ran around the eastern side of the cave. With the smattering of light from the stars and the sliver of the moon above, it was just bright enough that he could make out the path without needing to pull out his NVGs, but it was still dark, such that all the browns and beiges had been leached away, leaving a scene of nothing but blacks, silvers, and muted grays.
Thirty minutes in, after a third solitary lap and checking in with the lookout team above, he stopped at a flat, bench-like boulder. Tucked in between a handful of other head-high rocks, the slab was sheltered well enough that he propped his rifle up, shucked his cover, and sat, slumping back against the sheer wall of limestone that rose up behind him. Directly in front, the stark, shadowy valley extended as far as he could see. Tilting his head back against the rock, for the first time in more than 36 hours, Edward closed his eyes and tried to shove away all the chaos.
At some point, just on the cusp of shallow sleep, gravel crunched.
On instinct, Edward tensed and every cell in his body came to life. Slowly, without making a sound, he reached to his left for his rifle. Pulling the weapon up to his shoulder, he muffled the soft click of the safety with the cup of his hand.
At the next muffled crunch – this one a little louder and at twenty yards to his left – his muscles uncoiled, however, and his rifle fell to his lap. Suddenly beyond exhausted, the captain leaned forward on his elbows and asked, "Why are you awake, Doctor?"
Skidding to a halt, Bella's palm clapped over her mouth and behind it she let out a hoarse scream. A fraction of a second later, without any conscious direction, her other hand popped up, producing the .45 from her thigh. Heart instantly pounding a thousand beats per minute; she automatically leveled the sidearm at the dark spot between the boulders where she could just make out the outline of a head.
"Hey, relax, it's just me."
It took her a moment to even notice she'd pulled the weapon, but when she did and when she realized just who she was aiming it at, Bella let out a shrill curse and waved the thing at the man in a blast of undisguised aggravation. "For God's sake, will you stop that shit! I almost shot you!"
Edward chuckled and slid over, making room on the slab when Bella eventually recovered and took a slow step toward him. "No, you wouldn't have." He watched her holster the sidearm, dropping it in like she'd been doing it for years. "But you're getting much better, by the way. Your reflexes are very good," he mused, half to her and half to himself when she reached him. "And if it makes you feel any better, I didn't even pick you up until you were twenty yards away…. so not bad at all."
"Leave it to you to turn scaring me half to death into an assessment of my sneakiness… Let me guess, though," Bella mumbled, still irritated and breathless but plopping down beside him nonetheless. "You were asleep."
Stealing a glimpse, Edward fought a grin at the indignation written across every one of the woman's too-pretty, too-delicate features. "Only about half-way," he told her, as he reached over to capture one of those silky strands of her hair that never seemed to want to stay in her ponytail. Twisting it between his fingers and then looping it behind her ear, he lingered even when his brain yelled that he shouldn't. "Speaking of, what are you doing out here, Doctor Swan?"
Bella's nose scrunched. "Have you ever listened to those people in there? It's like a freight train." She attempted a small smile, but it vanished as soon as it appeared and he instantly knew why. Her eyes were nervous, flitting from him to the valley, and then back again.
"No, I can't sleep," she said, softly, burrowing deeper in his fleece in a move that made that primitive, protective emotion he'd yet to name rear its ugly head all over again. "I just wasn't expecting that we'd be leaving from here so soon… that the plan would change like that and so fast." Bella shook her head, and in the process that same strand of hair he'd just tamed fell again, catching on her bottom lip. "I wasn't mentally prepared, I guess. And then there's all the stuff you found in the villa. And what Captain Black's team found in the compound. And Dr. Aronović and Victoria and this horrible James guy." She flinched. "It's just…it's a lot." Bella's lips turned down and she fiddled with the zipper of his jacket. "God, does that make any sense at all? Am I going nuts?"
Staring out across the valley, Edward nodded. "Yeah, it does make sense. But you're doing fine, I promise." Softer, he confessed, "I couldn't sleep either."
Without thinking, or maybe just responding to that particular softness and warmth that the captain seemed to reserve only for her, Bella scooted over until there wasn't an inch between them. Her head fell to Edward's shoulder and her hand went unerringly to his. Quietly, barely above a whisper, she asked him, "Is it okay if just I sit out here with you for a while?" She paused, and her next question came even quieter. "Like the other night on the ship?"
Recalling all too well how soft and supple she'd been tucked against his side and how easy and comfortable it'd been to hold her until she'd fallen asleep, instead of answering her request with the same action from that night before, Edward moved until his back hit the hard wall of rock behind them. When Bella stared up in confusion, her eyes wide and bright even in the dark, he motioned for her to come sit between his legs. "Come here. Lean back on me."
Bella hesitated for a heartbeat, but then Edward motioned again, and she carefully climbed over his knee and slid backward into the open spot between his thighs. Heart suddenly slamming against her sternum, she gingerly leaned back into the pocket of Edward's chest, unsure of the level of intimacy he was offering, but then his arms – strong and so secure – circled her waist and pulled her in tighter until she finally let go. Her head dropped back against his shoulder, and her body went limp, trusting that he'd hold her up.
"Better?" he asked when she'd settled in, his voice low, his lips right at her ear.
"Yeah," Bella said back, threading her fingers between his on her stomach. She turned her face in until her cheek rested flat against his chest, where his heart beat like the rest of him – strong and steady and unrelenting. "Doesn't this hurt your back?"
Edward's shoulders rose and fell, and the motion took her along with it. "Nah, I'm used to it."
"Doesn't mean it's comfortable, though."
"I'm fine." His voice sounded like he was smiling, as if amused at some private joke. "Trust me, I've slept in much worse conditions than this."
Her fingers squeezed around his. "Like?"
Edward's lips brushed across her hair, that never mind where they'd been and where they were now, somehow smelled like fresh lemons. "No telling how many muddy foxholes in the middle of Afghanistan and Iraq... At least twice tied in at the top of a tree… Once in a pit in the middle of a blizzard underneath six feet of snow." The smile in his voice waned, and unconsciously, his arms tightened around Bella's middle. "And then there were two months on the floor of a cave in the middle of the White Mountains. Those… those were the worst."
Bella swallowed because she'd put enough pieces together to need no explanation of what had happened in those mountains. "I'm sorry."
Edward shook his head, both to clear it and to negate her. "Don't be. What happened… happened."
Remembering all those iridescent lines crisscrossing his chest and abdomen, and what they now meant in the context of two months, she burrowed in closer. "But aren't you ever afraid that it could happen again?"
"Yeah, sure I am." He paused. "But if you let it, fear takes up a lot of time and energy. You can't let that shit make your decisions."
They were quiet for a long moment after that, both staring at the black sky above. Behind her, Edward's chest expanded and fell in a steady, reassuring motion, and whether he'd realized it or not, at some point, his thumb had slipped underneath both her jacket and the hem of her untucked tee and now rubbed gentle matching circles over the skin at her stomach.
"Head still spinning?" Edward asked when Bella's fingertips began to slide back and forth across his calloused knuckles.
Bella didn't respond at first, and he didn't press. But after a few more seconds of silence, she finally nodded and exhaled a tired, "Yeah."
"What about?"
"Honestly?" she whispered, tilting her face up so she could read his expression. "I know we have a million other things in front of us, but right now – maybe because it's night time again – all I can think about is that little girl in Mogadishu. You know, the one I told you about who hid me in her home." Bella's grip tightened around his fingers.
Reaching up with his free hand, Edward smoothed back strands of Bella's hair caught in the light breeze. "What about her?"
"I just… I couldn't tell her thank you. She saved me and… Edward, the only way I could thank her was to give her a pack of Skittles that I'd crammed down in my pack." Bella flinched, and when Edward saw how her mouth twisted into a poor proximity of a smile, he wasn't sure if she was about to cry or was just in awe – maybe some of both, he decided. "I mean…" She exhaled another tired breath. "I wouldn't be here if it wasn't for her and… She's so little, but what she did was so brave."
"It was brave, and it's okay to think about her," Edward told her quietly, again right at Bella's ear where she could feel the gentle touch of his lips against her skin. "You were in a very dangerous situation. It takes a while for people to process things like that."
"But I wish I could tell her that in a way she'd understand."
Edward's gaze drifted over Bella's head to somewhere off in the distance, but his thumb continued its slow, soothing motion across the soft, flat plane of her stomach. "You can. After this is all over…" He glanced down, damned near mesmerized by the way she stared back up at him. "If you want, I'll take you back there. We'll find her if that's what you want."
Bella's lips parted. "Really? You'd do that?"
"Yeah, of course I would." He waited a moment before finally saying what he'd been thinking every time he'd looked at her since they left that city. "I made a mistake in Mogadishu."
A tiny 'v' appeared between Bella's eyes, only visible this close and with the glow of the moon streaming down. "What are you talking about?"
The captain's expression turned cold and angry, but his arms tugged her even closer. "When you fired off those shots…" Shaking his head, Edward said, "All I could think about was getting you out of that tower and as far away from there as possible. And I fucked up doing it. I shouldn't have sent you out alone. You shouldn't have been in that situation."
A surge of recalled fear shot through Bella's spine and the hand that wasn't entwined with Edward's went to his knee, where her fingers curled around the coarse fabric of his utility pants. "You couldn't have known that that Spetsnaz guy would come after me."
Edward shook his head once more. "No, I should have known it was a possibility and I shouldn't have let you out of Jazz's sight." He sucked in a lungful of lemon-scented air, debating just how much to tell her. But then Alice's sing-song soprano beat his brain like a hammer until he finally just admitted the truth. "I can't seem to make any rational decisions when it comes to you."
Bella's eyes locked with his, and both the fingers around his knee and the ones locked between his squeezed. "Yeah?"
So close, her question came out more like a soft pant than a whisper, and never mind where they were, or why, or what was coming, that bare inch of air between them seemed to spark.
Slowly, giving her all the opportunities in the world to stop him, the rest of his fingers slid underneath the hem of her shirt to join his thumb. Lips almost touching, Edward said, "I wish we weren't here."
"Oh?" Bella's eyes dropped to his mouth. "And where would you rather us be?" Her throat bobbed, but then those soft, pretty lips so close to his spread into a wide, mischievous grin that Edward wanted to kiss right off of her.
Glancing up at the sky to gain some sanity, even as his palm flattened against her stomach, Edward laughed. "Are you seriously going to make me answer that?"
.
.
.
Notes:
Translation (Hebrew):
Me'ah Achuz – For sure. 100% certain.
Lahav – recall this is El'azar's call sign, which means "Blade"
Haverim – friends
Glossary:
AS50 – refers to Accuracy International's AS50, a long-range gas-operated sniper rifle that fires a .50 BMG round. It has an effective range of 1800+ meters. [Effective range is the distance that a weapon can reliably hit a human torso with enough power to kill or seriously wound.]
Balkans – refers widely to countries on the Balkan Peninsula and adjacent area, including: Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Croatia, Greece, Kosovo, Macedonia, Montenegro, Romania, Slovenia, Serbia, and even Turkey.
Barrett – refers to the Barrett Firearms Company M99 "Big Shot" .50 single shot, bolt-action sniper rifle, which, according to many, is one of the best, super long-range sniper rifles ever produced. It can fire .50 BMG or .416 cartridges and has a maximum effective range of 2600 meters. For reference, a common sniper rifle will have an effective range of around 600-800 meters.
Bosnian War – occurred between 1992 and 1995. It was initiated by the break-up of Yugoslavia. I won't go into a lot of detail, because frankly, it was a complicated territorial, religious, and ethnic conflict that would take books to adequately cover. But in short, there were numerous sides and factions from within the multi-ethnic Republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina: Muslim Bosnians, Bosnian Serbs (Orthodox), and Bosnian Croats (Catholic), and without. The countries of Serbia and Croatia supported the Republika Srpska (Serb) and Herzeg-Bosnia (Croat). War Crimes, including ethnic cleansing, rape, and genocide were perpetrated by multiple sides, but predominantly by Bosnian Serb forces against Muslim Bosnians and Bosnian Croats. In the end, after NATO intervention, an agreement was reached that established multiple political territories inside Bosnia and Herzegovina and essentially divided it up according to ethno-religious population. The most recent assessments of casualties put the total around 100,000, although some argue that it was higher.
Colchester – refers to the Military Corrective Training Centre, located in the borough of Colchester in Essex, England, which is the UK's only remaining military prison. Whitemoor refers to one of the UK's supermax (or Category A) civilian prisons, located in Cambridgeshire, England. It houses some of the nation's most violent offenders.
Deliberate Force – or Operation Deliberate Force, a NATO sustained air strike campaign against the VRS carried out in August and September of 1995, in response to the Srebrenica massacre, the second Markale massacre, and the Tuzla massacre.
Eagle, star, and shield seal – refers to the CIA's seal.
ELN – or National Liberation Army, is a rebel group in Colombia.
John Boy – for those of you who don't live in the U.S., or perhaps are on the younger side, this is a reference to a classic and ridiculously wholesome TV show that ran for around 10 years in the 1970s called The Waltons. At the end of every episode, the lights would go out in the family farmhouse and all the members would say good night. John Boy was one of the main characters.
PULO – or Patani United Liberation Organization, is a separatist organization in Thailand.
Scorpions – were a Serb nationalist paramilitary force active during the Bosnian War. They were involved in various war crimes, including the massacres at Srebrenica and later at Podujevo during the Kosovo War (1998-1999). It was led by Slobodan and Aleksandar Medić.
Special Air Service – or SAS, a British special operations force, which is universally recognized as being one of the best in the world.
Srebrenica – refers to the Srebrenica massacre or genocide during the Bosnian War, where approximately 8,000 Muslim Bosnians were killed by the VRS, volunteer forces from Greece, Russia, and various pro-Serb paramilitary forces. It was one of three large-scale massacres which prompted NATO intervention.
VRS – or Vojska Republike Srpske , or the Army of Republika Srpska, was the primary Bosnian Serb army during the Bosnian War.