The moment he is done speaking, the soldiers scatter. Liz still isn’t sure what she is supposed to be doing, but she promised to follow orders, so that’s what she does. Grateful for all the long daysof forced training, Liz runs through everything in her mind as she goes from shack to shack in the abandoned town. She moves slowly, keeping her rifle in a low, ready position, making it easier to navigate. Meticulously, she clears every room in two buildings, on her way to the third, something behind it catches her eye.
A bulkhead door, nearly covered in grass and debris, is tucked against the back of the house. It’s too perfect, like someone was trying to hide it without making it look hidden. She creeps over, checking the coordinates on her MGRS. Moving closer, she radios to the team and informs them she is going in to check it out. Nothing but static comes back over. The heavy metal door groans, dirt sprinkling onto the crumbling stairs as Liz pulls it open. She flicks on the light attached to her gun and slowly descends the stairs, ignoring the crackling voices coming over the radio.
Doubt and anxiety flood her body—she is not ready for this. Refusing to admit to being a failure, she pushes on until she reaches an open door leading to a room at the bottom of the steps.
The overwhelming smell of must hits her before the scene. Maps and charts cover the crude cinder block walls, photos of Riley and other familiar faces dotted amongst them. An old computer sits atop a small desk on the far side of the room, while a makeshift table filled with papers sits in the middle. Metal clinks gently with each step she takes, bullets scattered all over the dirt floor. She tries to radio the team just like she practiced in her head to no avail, her radio still not working. The hairs on the back of her neck stand up seconds before she hears the slow, careful footsteps. Alex had said the area was clear, but she won’t take chances.
Liz positions herself in a darker area, clicks her light off and raises her gun, waiting for the owner of the footsteps to show themself. She takes a deep breath, finger resting next to the trigger, when Matt steps into view, shining his own light in her face.
“I found the honey badger. I’m with her now,” he announcesinto the radio on his shoulder, adding, “You may want to come see this, commander.”
Trying her best to ignore the awful name, she prays the rest of the squad didn’t hear. They silently look around, Matt taking pictures of the mounted maps while Liz grabs whatever folders she can, shoving them into her pack. Footsteps approach from the door, Alex strides in, followed by a very angry looking Mikey.
“Why the hell did you take off?” he seethes. “You were supposed to stay with me.”
“You guys told everyone to look for anything we can use. Literally, everyone else took off. I assumed I was supposed to do the same,” she shoots back, unsure of if she actually did something wrong or not. “If I wasn’t, maybe you should have said something.” Papers crinkle behind her as Alex loads up the rest of what is spread across the table into his bag.
“Has anyone else found anything?” she asks, terrified to hear the answer. She watches as Alex claps Matt on the shoulder, nodding his head toward the stairs. Her heart sinks. Neither one speaks until the sounds of the receding footsteps go silent.
Then, and only then, does Mikey dare speak. “I’m so sorry, darlin. I don’t think he was ever here.”
She blinks away the tears threatening to form, breathing deeply through her nose, and letting it out slowly through her mouth. She can’t react, can’t break no matter how much that tiny bit of information is crushing her soul. The moment Alex announced their intel was wrong, she should have known they would not find him, but she so desperately wanted to believe she would. Not only did they not find Riley, but they dedicated a week to this mission for nothing, a week that could have been spent traveling anywhere else he may be.
Liz knows it’s stupid to think like that. She knows he could have been here, and there is no guarantee they would have foundhim if they had gone somewhere else, but she cannot stop herself from thinking it was all a waste.
“We should probably get back.” There is no emotion in her voice, completely numb to her world falling to pieces around her. She turns on her heels and climbs the crumbling dirt stairs, marching right back to the group gathered together and waiting to start the long trek to their evac point.
The hours blur together, aimlessly following her leaders across miles of terrain to an old airstrip where the plane waits to bring them home empty handed. Liz holds it together, blocking out anyone who tries to speak to her. She runs through the motions until she is back home, and she can throw herself into bed and let out everything she is holding in.
CHAPTER 6
It has been eight days since returning without Riley in tow. Thirty-one days and a countless amount of tears since he was taken. Still, Liz attends every meeting the general will allow, absorbing as much information as possible. The only thing keeping her from a full-blown mental breakdown is all the hours of extra training she has convinced them to give her.
Mornings are spent in the gym, sparring ring, and gun range, training with Mikey. Alex takes over with more advanced training. Small unit tactics, combat-casualty care, and every other day Liz goes to the base and trains on airborne operations so she can eventually jump alone. When she is not with either of them, she is with Tyler, trying to understand land navigation and how all their special equipment works.
Her hand cramps with the amount of notes she has taken, scribbling down every detail she is allowed so she can go back and study it in the minuscule amount of down time she is left with. Mission plans are still left for Alex to coordinate, working with all the new information the general is somehow getting. She keeps trying to make the team understand how suspicious it is. Scott maybe their leader, but something about the information seems wrong. It is far more detailed than anything she has seen Riley receive. Granted, she has not been around anything like this before. Her concerns always fall on deaf ears. Liz knows she would have better luck talking to her guys if Matt would leave them alone, her concerns falling on deaf ears.
Since the moment the general introduced Matt to the team, he is always popping up wherever they go.
Despite his apology, Liz still can’t stand the man. Constantly sliding himself into their training regimen, trying to give tips on how to improve. Matt has perfected the art of simultaneously overstepping professional and personal boundaries, offering to take over certain training aspects and take her to dinner after.
Liz begs Alex to drive her to base today, hoping the switch will throw Matt off, allowing her and Mikey to train in peace. She sits at the island, head resting on the cool marble, arms sprawled out in front of her, waiting for Mikey to finish whatever it is he is doing when Alex comes down the hall.
“Alright, let’s go. I wanted to talk to you anyway,” he says, tossing a large backpack over his shoulder, walking to the elevator without looking back.
Nervous energy fills her as she hops from her chair and follows him into the elevator and outside to his waiting truck. “So, this is weird, right?” she playfully asks buckling into the passenger seat. “I don’t think we have ever been alone outside of you going all drill sergeant mode when you train me.” The tension eases when he lets out a deep chuckle.
“Yeah, it is. That is why I wanted to talk to you.” The truck roars to life and speeds off down the wooded area leading to the road.
“Alright, so that was ominous,” she says, peeking at him from the corner of her eye.
“Sorry. Not great at this. I owe you an apology,” he says. Liz doesn’t miss the genuine sympathy in his tone. Of all the things he could have said, offering an apology was not what she expected to hear.
“I haven’t treated you the best, and for that I’m sorry. Riley and I have a… complicated relationship,” he starts, taking a big breath before continuing.
“We’re both so stubborn and pig headed that it causes problems. I didn’t want him going after you the day you got taken, and we had a big falling out over it. Even after he proved you weren’t involved, I tried to get him to get rid of you. He got too attached, and I didn’t want him to end up getting hurt or being thrown out of the military for some woman who could never feel the same way. Clearly, I was wrong. His demons don’t scare you, and now you are fighting just as hard as any of us.” The way his knuckles turn white from his death grip on the steering wheel says everything she needs to know. This is hard for him.
“Thank you. I appreciate it, and I appreciate how you have stepped into the leader role and kept pushing everyone to find him. You are doing so much, and it hasn’t gone unnoticed.” She lets out a breath of relief, happy to have the animosity being put behind them. “I do need to ask, though, when you say ‘complicated relationship’, do you mean you guys were like, a thing? Not that it would bother me, but it would explain a lot.”
