Halo Two - Five Ch. 02

*******

Nothing was going right. The location was off by a kilometer, which meant my own preparations had been a waste of time. It also meant that my own back-up was now seven kilometers away, and not six. A kilometer doesn't sound much, but it is when you're at the wrong fucking end of it. I had the target in sight, and had done for most of the first day: all I needed to do was watch him for two more days.

I know that hindsight is a wonderful thing, and I sure wish I had taken notice of mine. I had watched that damn target all day - ALL fucking day - before realizing he was out in the open for a reason. They knew where I was, but how? I don't know how, but they knew, and took their time coming for me.

"Control! This is Halo Two-Five."

"Send, Halo Two-Five."

He sounded a little confused and very worried. This was a radio silent op, and here I was talking to him. With my back-up so far away it was operational procedure for us to keep silent, and I had just smashed that wide open. Curtis and his team could hear me, of course, but their orders mirrored mine.

'No comms whatsoever,' and now that one kilometer - yes, one thousand lousy meters - really did come into play. We all prided ourselves on the amount of details we sieved through before an operation, and THOSE one thousand meters were now going to cost me my life. My guys are the fittest and leanest I've ever shared a steak with but, even at a full-out run, they could never bail me out of this. Too much hilly ground, and also too many 'what if's' in the way now.

I even paused before I touched my send button for the last time. Perhaps if I said it all in one go they wouldn't hear the sadness in my voice over what I was going to do next. The thought of my girls and Brooke seeing me being held captive, or even beheaded live, was simply an anathema: I just couldn't do that to them. I needed them to remember me as a whole man and father.

"Control. I've been cut off, with no chance of escape. They're coming for me." My mouth dried, and swallowing was difficult, but the last part of this transmission had to get out there. "Take care of my family."

Tony choked, but he was professional to the very end.

"Confirmed, Halo Two-Five. Releasing a drone now; all weapons are hot. Radio silence starts immediately."

I stuck my radio into my pack; I had no use for it any more. Although most of us plan for this moment, none of us ever want it to arrive. The cord felt so familiar in my grasp. The explosive charge in the bottom of my pack was my own design; all I had to do was make sure I was close enough when it went off.

They had spent so much time coming for me it was clear they wanted me alive. It would have been for what I knew initially, but after that? Well, even my own lurid imagination wasn't going down that road. The saddest part of those last few moments of my life was that I couldn't even afford to think about my children. Even Brooke was pushed to the furthest part of my thoughts. My mind spared me just a second to say "sorry" before it slammed that door shut forever.

No, my last thoughts before the end would be here, probably looking into the eyes of some lunatic hell-bent on doing as much damage to me as possible. I held onto that cord until I felt their presence close enough, and then I pulled it. That famous saying from those old "Mission Impossible" shows came to mind, and all I did was add my own little twist to it.

"This backpack will self-destruct in ten seconds!"

I don't know how many I took with me.

*******

There was an irritating beep in my ears, and faint light coming from somewhere, but everything seemed fuzzy when I tried to open my eyes. When I moved it felt like I was testing restraints. A female voice said something, but it was in French. It hardly had time to register before there was some rubbing on my arm, and it suddenly felt warm before I lost consciousness again.

The next time I woke I tried so damned hard not to move, but they had someone watching me. I felt that warmth in my arm and I was out again. I tried to be even more subtle the third time and I actually thought I was getting away with it. Other than more of those damned beeps, I heard nothing stirring in this room or whatever it was.

"You can quit with the faking it shit, Halo." The woman's voice sounded stern, but I was sure that I remembered that scent.

Halo? I was confused for a moment, and then it was like the fog lifting as everything came rushing back. Brooke! I smiled and instinctively tested the restraints.

"Try that again, and I will put you under - AGAIN."

She moved, and I felt her presence close to me. My lips felt something against them, and I opened my mouth.

"Sips only, Halo."

It seemed, when she snatched the straw out of my mouth, that my version of sips was nothing like hers.

"Why don't you fucking LISTEN, you dumb ass."

The vein in my arm throbbed slightly.

"You're all busted up, you knucklehead! We're still operating on you as we sail."

And I was out once again, my time awareness all shot to hell. All I remembered was pulling the first one around. I was still in the process of dealing with him when one of his friends joined in, and him getting in on the act forced me to either take a couple of paces back or lose my footing entirely. It was then I realized I now had two of them between me and my backpack. For a second they were whole, and then I felt like I was lifted off my feet as a very loud bang made my world go dark. But how could I even remember that much? I was still puzzling that one out as I drifted back to sleep.

*******

I could hear my girls and I came oh so close to losing it. Once my mind settled down from its own range of emotions I realized it was a tape of songs they sing and stories they make up in their heads, which usually turn out to be a mixture of just about every story we have ever told them. Even some of what they both got up to at school, and how it was always someone else's fault.

The tape stopped.

"Halo. You may think I'm torturing you but I'm not, honest to God I'm not. But if you try and move again I will put you out." She gulped. "Those are the rules Halo; please don't make me."

When I didn't move, or even attempt to talk, she took that as a good sign and started to talk herself.

"I know what happened, Halo; I've been read-in up to super secret. All this shit is real, and you've been holding way too much back from me."

The temptation to smile brought the threat back to me. Just what the hell was super secret? In her head, I meant: I know my own security clearance, and there is no way she would ever come that close.

"You have great friends, Halo; you owe each and every one of them a steak dinner."

When Curtis heard everything on the radio he was already getting his team stripped down and ready to travel light and damned fast. When Tony acknowledged my last, and said that he was releasing the drone with all weapons armed, he had effectively cut communications with me and Curtis's team.

But Curtis still had a back-up channel as per operational requirements. Curtis told Tony in plain English over the radio that if he heard any drones going over he would send one of his own guys back to camp to put him in hospital before any of the drone's missiles landed.

Our boss ordered Curtis and his team to stand down. Curtis held the channel open so that our boss could hear his team tell him to "fuck off."

I felt Brooke's warm breath on my cheek, and she whispered in my ear. "They were coming for you, stud; they knew they had all just kissed their careers goodbye, but they were ALL, to a man, coming for you."

My boss wasn't idle. He knew he could either step back, as indeed he should, or assist. He ordered Tony to send up a surveillance drone, and make sure it was damned high. He begged, borrowed and lied for the use of four artillery batteries. But cutting through that much red tape so quickly does raise its own flags, and General Shithead heard about it and paid my boss a visit. By the time he got to his HQ, he could only stand back and watch as my boss placed Curtis and his team in a pocket and matched their speed to the shells dropping all around them.

General Macalister watched in awe as a man with nothing but the basics was controlling three artillery batteries on a rolling barrage, with a small group of men in the middle. When the team was faster than the rolling barrage he would adjust the speed of the barrage to them, not the other way around. The numbers in terms of grid references rolling around in that man's head as his concentration was total must have put a small computer to shame.

The General knew my boss didn't have enough firepower, and effectively handed over control of three more batteries to him. Using only a map and the information coming from the drone's feed, the General used one of the batteries to cut off any escape routes so they couldn't steal me away while my boss was taking Curtis and his team right up to my last known position.

"The Blackhawks and Apaches were a present from my uncle, so play nice from now on."

Brooke was going to continue, until she noticed that fatigue was once again creeping in. She leaned across and kissed my cheek before it was the turn of natural exhaustion to put me out this time.

*******

Even with the bandages that still covered my eyes I could hear and smell Brooke. That perfume was her favorite. She was making noises I recognized; Kitten was asleep next to my bed. She must have been sleeping very lightly because, as soon as I realized she was next to me, she woke.

"Welcome back, Halo."

I wasn't sure if the "keep still" order was still in effect, so I stayed on the side of caution and did just that.

"So, where was I? Oh, yes - helicopters and stuff. Well, they ripped up everything in front of Curtis and his boys, and by the time Curtis got to your location I'm told it looked like a lunar surface with a pile of rags in the middle of it."

Kitten leaned over and placed the straw in my mouth again. I was a little daintier with my sips this time. When she was satisfied she sat down again and continued.

"As you can imagine, no one was going to hang around once they got there: something about upsetting the neighbors." The sarcasm amused me and I had to fight against the smile getting out.

"But from what Curtis could figure out, when you got stuck with dealing with two insurgents the blast from the explosives you had in your backpack launched you and both the guys you had in your hands at the time away from your last position. Once the rolling barrage caught up with you, all that did was add three more to the bodies that were already on top of you, thus adding to your very own body wall."

The pause was there and, as her voice found form, her humor poured out.

"Honestly, Halo! What is it with you and body walls?"

Her hand joined mine and she was incredibly warm to the touch. When I felt her lips on my cheek I almost forgot my orders, before a touch of sadness crept back into her voice.

"You're still badly busted up, Halo, and you're going to have to retire now, but I can say with some conviction that all your limbs are still attached - and work. Well, they will when we finish taking a knife to you."

The vein in my arm throbbed slightly as Kitten put me to sleep again.

*******

It seems I turned into a tug-of-war between two countries. General Macalister insisted that I was to be sent back to America, but my boss wasn't too keen on that idea and took it up with the Prime Minister. Within the hour he was told that Walter Reed was expecting him. My boss was told to stand down on this and leave me in the hands of the Americans. Our unit rotated back while I was still in transit so my boss grabbed the first available flight out of England.

His face was the first I saw when I opened my eyes; minus the bandages, that is.

"Good to see you alive, Rick." He looked over his shoulder before leaning his elbows on his legs, so his next words were a whisper. "Do you have any idea how much shit it took just to get me in here? She has you so well-protected I doubt even Curtis and the boys could get you out of this place."

The polite cough from the door stopped him from saying anything else. Brooke walked over and sat on the bed, her hand resting on my fingers before she gently interlocked her fingers with mine. The needles in the top of my hand prevented me from doing anything other than keep my hand straight.

"Curtis was here yesterday. Rick was still under, so I suggested he and his gang chill for a few days, and I would call them as soon as Rick was able to see them."

My boss went to speak, but Brooke beat him to it.

"You can't drone strike Walter Reed."

I celebrated a couple of firsts that day; it was the first time that I had seen my boss at a loss for words, and go red at the same time.

"Brooke." She turned to me and I saw real fight in her eyes, but I continued anyway. "Can you give us a moment, please."

She nodded, and gently squeezed my fingers before standing and leaving the room. I waited until she closed the door and, judging by the speed it closed, I figured she was in two minds about doing that.

"I'll speak to her."

My boss shook his head, "No; don't bother. It would just complicate your life more if she found out the truth."

The honesty with which my boss said that made me pause and then nod my head. He did have a point, although his next words tore straight through my thoughts.

"I've spoken to the doctors. You have a long road to recovery ahead of you. I have a desk job waiting for you if you want it."

He could see that I was thinking about it. Just then a nurse came in, and Brooke took up position leaning against the door frame. My boss noticed, and looked at me before he hid his smile and got up. We nodded to each other and he headed for the door, reminding me that I had his number if I needed anything.

*******

The first month was the hardest. Finding the patience to lie around while my body healed took its toll on both Brooke and me. I had to rely on others all the more when I was so used to doing things myself, and that frustration was only tempered by the time I spent with Brooke, and the look into her life she gave me as we talked.

I learned the name of her pet fish she got when she was five, and what knee she scraped when she fell off her first bike. How at eight years old the first food she learned to cook was scrambled eggs. She sang a solo part with the school choir when she was ten, and kissed her first boy at eleven: she blushed at that one. She broke her arm at thirteen when her horse refused to jump a fence and sent her over his neck and onto the ground the other side. I didn't get all that good a response when I replied that at least she got over the fence.

I got more details out of her about Bernard right about then, and how he became the shadow in her life. I'm surprised her mom didn't get involved at some point: the detail Brooke went into started me wondering if it bordered on stalking. Of course all this wasn't one-way traffic: at times Brooke would just stop and direct her own questions about Abby and me. At first I deflected them as best I could, but being a captive audience meant I had no place to run. Oh, I batted her questions away to begin with, and yet I found myself adding the answers to those questions just minutes later in the conversation.

After six weeks the doctors sat me down to have a chat. The options were easy: with everything knitting nicely, it was time to start physiotherapy. Walter Reed could supply that, but that still meant that certain potential visitors, namely my girls, couldn't come. The questions as to why I was in an army hospital would complicate anything I told them, so we first moved me to a private hospital closer to the ranch in Virginia, and then Brooke invited the family to stay at the ranch during the girls' summer holidays.

The first full-on row had been when I asked her when her leave was up. She went quiet and told me that she had quit the army. The only time things calmed down was when Constance came to visit, and assured me that Brooke was going back to medical school just as soon as I was fit again.

"And all this, Constance?" My head rotated around the hospital room. "There's no way our government is footing the bill for this, are they?"

It was another of those moments when the mother in her came out.

"Stop being stupid, Rick! Of course not. The day you left Walter Reed we took over the bills and, if you give me any crap about being a kept man, then so help me I will slap you."

Constance paused for a moment. As for me, I was still torn between getting up and leaving, and knowing in the back of my mind that if I dared try it she would tackle me to the ground. This woman wasn't afraid to get her hands dirty: that was for sure.

"Look, this isn't about money. Oh yes, I have more than you, but so what? Do you think I can spend it when I'm dead?" This time she paused to take a breath. "Stop being such an idiot, Rick: that girl loves you. It's not infatuation because you saved her. I know my daughter, and she LOVES you. When she's not here with you she's at the ranch, looking after those two sweet children of yours."

It wasn't a glaring match between us. Constance, Brooke and I simply decided that this hospitalization was a blessing in disguise. A painful one, even I will admit, but it would help put to bed any observations my girls had. The scars on my back and legs could be tagged on to the fresh scars I had in this fictitious car accident. I made sure they never saw me with any tubes or wires attached to me, but even then Olivia still held tightly onto her big sister's hand. Both were pretty close to tears when they first came into the room.

If anything, that one moment caused me more pain than thinking I would never see them again. Compartmentalizing my life was my way of dealing with leaving them with my in-laws. It was only when I was sitting in that room, seeing pain and fear on both their faces, that I realized that, in their own small world, they shared my absence with each other, and were so relieved when I walked back into that life once again. Now daddy was in hospital and would be for some time. I just thanked my lucky stars for my support network.

*******

For weeks the routine was always the same: physiotherapy, followed by tests, followed by loads of swimming and whatever other exercises they had dreamed up for that day. Yep: Monday was this torture, Tuesday was that torture, and so on. As the weeks rolled on, the only constant was the pain throughout the day. My fear of becoming addicted to painkillers caused another confrontation between us, until they assured me they were monitoring my intake and I should stop worrying. Easy for them to say.

Although it shouldn't have been, given how much I had already seen of her, I was still a bit surprised to realize in those weeks just how much of a force to be reckoned with Constance was. I liked her, and could tell she was a real partner in her marriage. Eye candy she might be, but a true partner none the less. Although she never fitted into the 'what I say goes' category at all, it was clear to see that, when she spoke, people took the time to listen, because it was always common sense talking. They weren't simply humoring the pretty woman. I'm sure, though, that she had a big stick hidden somewhere for the more intellectually challenged.

Plus, of course, my two girls had her laughing all the time with their antics around her and by the pool. She was instrumental in teaching both my girls how to swim properly and, judging by the slow show of tan being added to them when they visited, it was clear they spent a lot of time both outdoors and by the pool.