The Soldier Next Door

Yesterday was probably one of the worst days in my life as a Marine. I had to slam cuffs on a man that was not only a friend but yet also a man that I believed betrayed not only his squad but his country.

Today before he goes, I want to know why.

So I am walking with a somewhat heavy heart to where Emma has kept him locked up for the night and much to her annoyance, yet she knows it is determination, she finds me in front of the tent again.

“Mmm, see you don’t like to listen Lieutenant.”

“I call it selective hearing, I just choose not to listen to you telling me that I cannot be here.”

“I see you are stubborn as well.”

“Well, would you not want a man any other way?”

“I am reserving my comments on that one. Now, seriously, you cannot be here.”

“Give me five minutes, that is all I ask. Just five minutes.”

She looks at me, and yes, the woman still has those damn seductive eyelashes, but as she looks at me from underneath them, she much to my surprise smiles.

“You have five minutes.”

“Thank you, Emma,” but my words are not even yet cold and she turns to me while she walks away, “Please don’t kill him.”

I only but chuckle at her and step inside of the tent where I find a somewhat defeated Lopez sitting in the corner at the far backside. Pain and agony are spilling over his face as he looks up at me. I know he knows what is coming, but he also knows that it is rather pointless in protesting with me.

So I give him the best compassionate smile that I can and take a seat next to him.

“Hey, I am sorry about this Lopez.”

“Don’t be, I agreed to do this, but fuck man, can you at least give me some goddamn water.”

I step outside the tent where Emma hands me the bottle that he has just fetch from the mess hall and hand it to him, once I find him settled again, he lowers his voice and softly whispers to me.

“Do you think he bought it?”

“Well, the man is walking around the camp thinking that he has claimed some victory, so ya I think he did.”

“When are you taking him in because man being stuck in here is shit?”

“Just give me twenty-four hours, I promise then I have you out of here.”

With that, I give him a reassuring pat on his back hoping that he believes me as much as I believe in myself, which at some points I still questioning my judgment in making such a bold decision. See I just could not play the obvious, I gave some false information and put a slight kick in the works. I think it was pretty clear that I suspected him in the first place, hence his nervousness but I could not now clearly make my suspicion known. So I used a decoy, kindly provided by Lopez to get the pressure off of him. Now the man is proudly walking with his head high thinking nothing of his deceit.

A deceit that has been made known to the Chief back at home, who has requested my presence for a call tonight in the ops tent while most of the camp should be out resting, well apart from Emma as well. So I find myself with two important conversations to make today, unfortunately, the one to Ana will have to wait for today. I have not spoken to the girl in two days and I am dying to know how the doctor’s appointment went.

But I need to take care of this first, so I find Emma that has now wandered back off to her tent, and call her to come to sit with me in the mess hall. Once we both have grabbed some much-needed strong coffee, we take a seat on the back where there won’t be any spying ears. So as I nervously start to fidged with the spoon in my cup, she rests her hand on top of mine and whispers softly.

“What is wrong, you seem a bit edgy.”

“I wanted to ask you a question.”

“God, please, I am not taking my clothes off again.”

“If I wanted them off then they would be off already.”

“Lieutenant, are you seducing me again?”

I nearly choke on my coffee as the words so casually come from her mouth, she not fully knowing what those very words can do to a man, well the very thing that she has done to almost every man that has been around her for the past couple of days. She clearly has made an impact on my life and the way I see myself here as a Marine and where I would like to be. Motivation and determination, those are the things that she has reminded me to have and keep on having, especially when turning the way they do now. We are fighting a war in a war here, and it takes a breath of fresh air to remind us what our purpose is. And this I admire in this woman, let us put aside all other things

So with this determination, I know that this might be too much to ask, and who am I to even ask for a Raider, now that is a dream. But perhaps too much of a dream for me, though, maybe one day, for now, I believe I am where I want to be. And with saying that,

“I want you to stay.”

“You want me to what?”

“I want you to stay here, at camp. I don’t want you to go back. I need someone like you.”

“You or the squad?”

“Me, I mean me as Lieutenant, I want you to stay. I know that it really is a big deal to ask, but you are fucking good and I need someone like you on my side. Yes the Raiders is a big deal, but you are still just another Raider, I want you to help me lead this boys.”

She looks at me somewhat confused and not really quite how to read and perhaps, even maybe, I do not know how to understand myself as either, but sometimes you just know when you are making that call and it seems right at the moment. Who knows when tomorrow comes and it is time for her to leave then I shall have a completely different feel about it all.

But for now, “I just want you to think about it, it is ultimately not my call, but it would be something that I want.”

With that my very nervous and anxious ass makes its way outside and heads over to the ops tent to take the call from the Chief that will come in at in about ten minutes’ time. So as I find myself sitting in the corner waiting for the call, I quickly take my send a message off to Ana so the girl is not in the complete dark.

“Boo, sorry, I can call but there is so much happening here. I will tell you all about it, and you can tell me all about the baby appointment.”NôvelDrama.Org content.

I need not wait long and she replies, “Sure soldier.”

Satisfied that I can almost say I have everything under control, I now wait in patience as the Chief to call. And just as I think I am about to die of anticipation, the screen of my phone lights up with a number that I do not recognize.

It is from Pendleton.

So as calmly, not trying to sound too excited for a grown-ass man, I swipe up to answer, “Chief Blanket, Sir, thank you for the call.”

“Hunter, thanks for taking the few minutes. I am sure you have your hands full at the moment there.”

“Chief, just the same old shit, I mean, the same, I mean, everything is the same.”

I hear him chuckle at me as I try to cover up my clear stupidity once again, “Son, relax, it is shit down there, but a good type of shit.”

“Indeed, that I agree with, just not the part of the traitor in our midst.”

“Yes, about that, they will fly in tomorrow to come to fetch him and Emma. Now, this is not my reason for the call. I am impressed with the way that you have handled things down there, I wanted to thank you personally for the service you have given.”

“Thank you, Chief, but Emma helped a great deal on this one too.”

“I know son, I am talking about everything else, especially for you that think that you are half a Marine, you are by far so wrong about that.”

But just as I am about to reply and thank him for his kind words, I have Gibbs come storming into the ops tent, “Lieutenant, we are under attack.”