The Soldier Next Door

As I step out from my tent I nearly fall over my feet as I bump into Johnson, now immediately my thought goes racing that he must have been the one that I heard behind my tent, but just then I see Lewis come from the other direction. Now can it be Lewis that has been behind my tent? Well, all I know is that someone was behind my tent and I am going to go all out here and say that it is one of these boys.

Now, will my heart be shattered if it was one of them? I will be fucking pissed. Lewis reminds me so much of Matty and well, Johnson is a real damn good shot. I hate the thought that one of these boys that I serve with has gone as far as going to the other side. For what, I am yet to find out.

So I am making my embarrassed ass over the Emma again, this time I will refrain from going into her tent, not only will it keep the entire camp talking, but I fear what will happen in there. But as I get there, I hear her talk to whom I am assuming is the Chief. Well, I think I am about to find out what the problem is the minute she steps outside.

“Lieutenant, Sir, are you here to seduce me again?”

“Who says I am not going to do it out here?”

“About twenty-eight other Marines that are staring at us.”

“Well, consider this as your lucky day. Now, do you want to take a walk with me? I think I might have a clue.”

“Yes, I have some word from the Chief as well.”

With not paying much attention to the chatter that is getting completely out of control and let us not forget Gibbs that feels the need to whistle, we make our way through camp to a far quieter side.

As we take a seat under the shade of a nearby tree, I look at her with a cheeky smile on my face, “You go first.”

“Go first with what.”

“Take your clothes off.”

“What?”

I nearly topple over from laughter as her face turns whiter than all fifty shades of white, “I am shitting with you, but god, your face, that was classic. But seriously go first, what did the Chief say?”

“Well, we are set to go out on a big operation today, in fact in about half an hour you will have Lopez calling you. We are looking at sending four squads out, but they will have no idea we are coming. Now that is what we hope.”

“Okay, I had an encounter with two of the boys. Someone was listening to my conversation with Ana and when I stepped outside, I only saw Lewis and Johnson. So can we safely assume it might be one of them?”

“Then let’s do.”

“I have the perfect plan.”

“And I guess you are not going to tell me?”

“Does a woman tell her secrets?”

“No.”

“So a man neither.”

She watches me intently for what seems like a few uncomfortable minutes too long, then just as I am about to look away, she speaks, “Why not a Raider?”

“Never given it much thought. Guess the dream was always just to be a Marine. Never aspired higher I guess.”

“You should. You are fucking good and I can tell you now, you will make the cut. The boys at top speak highly of you.”

“Well, now you are just going to give me a big ego.”

“Yes, and what a big ego you have.”

Ya, somehow I don’t think we are talking about the same thing. But what she says does make such a good point, maybe I have come far in my career to aim higher, become part of the elite. I think, and perhaps I can say that I even know that she has sparked an interest.

“Thanks for that.”

“For what?”

“You know for a beautiful woman as yourself you are a bit slow.”

“You are such an ass. It was a pleasure, but really now you must consider it. Now I think we need to get back to the camp cause somehow you don’t look like a five-minute man.”

I only but chuckle at her as I look at my watch, ya, we have been away for five minutes. So we head back and go our separate ways, where I find myself in the ops tent where Lopez and Gibbs are heavy in their conversation about Miss Peachy Ass.

“You two are never going to get over this are you?”

“Hey,” Gibbs waves over to me, “I did not take you for a five-minute man.”

“You such an idiot, why don’t you go chat up your nurse while the big boys do some work.”

And just then as Emma said the call comes in for instruction on our next mission, well, it does let me feel more assured that the girl can be trusted. The problem now is, which one of my men cannot be trusted. So orders become now clear.

Before I speak to Lopez I make sure to clear the area of any wandering ears, “Nobody shall know where we are headed today. We will only inform two Marines in my squad where we will be headed.”

“You sound very determined about this, I hope you know what you are doing.”

“Well, I sort of have the final say here, so yes, I know what I am doing. Now brief everyone so that we can get ready to head out. I will sort the rest out.”

“Sure Lieutenant, Sir.”

Ya, maybe it should not let the squad leaders, and those that are fairly close to me to treat me any differently for as with now, sometimes they truly do not know their place. But pushing that aside, my first point of contact shall be Lewis. So I scan for him around camp before the briefing takes place and find him as usual sitting amongst the squad telling his lame-ass jokes which I have come to love. It will crush me if the boy is the mole, Johnson, I can live with, but not Lewis.

So, I drag him by the arm, “Come let’s have a walk.”Content rights by NôvelDr//ama.Org.

“Lieutenant, Sir, you sound like Ray now.”

“If I was Ray, I would not be slapping you right now.”

And just as I am about to slap him against the head, he jumps away, just missing his ass from falling on the floor. But then he turns to me again, “So what is up, you seem very serious?”

Now it is time to lie, “Gibbs might be moving out into ops, I need someone to step into his place, now I know you are just a rookie, but I think you the man to take over.”

“But, Lieutenant, Sir.”

“No buts, we are headed out to…” I look around and whisper in his ear, I see he raises his eyebrows and just nods, then I continue, “There is a flair of resistance that has broken out. My eyes are going to be on you, you need to show me that you have what it takes. But do not tell anyone I have told you this. We have completed the transfer yet.”

“Yes, Lieutenant, Sir.”

With that we make our way back to the camp, I am sure he will understand that if it is not him that we had to tell him such an awful lie. But next is Johnson, who lucky is sitting at the same place, so I gesture for him to follow me too.

“Let’s take a walk, and if you want to spare yourself from a slap then do not refer to me as Ray.”

He only but laughs at me but starts to seem to become quite nervous. Though I let him stew in it a bit and I have the desire to confront him right here, I pull him aside and tell him the very same story, but, a different location. He too raises his brows and nods at me.

“So keep it to yourself, I will be informing a few other Marines, but obviously you are my first choice.”

“Yes, Lieutenant, Sir.”

And with that my plan is set in motion, now all we have to do is wait. It is a big gamble to take as we are playing here with a man that does not care about the lives of the other Marines that he has vowed to protect. A man that vowed under honor to protect his country has looked the other way and paid the biggest betrayal of all.

So after an hour, four squads pile into four Strykers and five Humvees and we make the slow drive to our location. The boys are amped and they are ready to go, but they do not know the location except for four people. Slow as the minutes crawl slowly in anticipation, I feel like I can nearly fucking die. If there is anything that I will ever be remembered for then it will be this, so I have to get this right, there is no time for a do-over. This is my one and only shot.

And as we come up to our destination, there they are. The resistance is waiting for us.

I know who the mole is.