Nova 141

Chapter 6

My hands were immediately bound behind my back by Graves. Alejandro roughly pushed Graves backwards, and begun swearing in Spanish. Graves held up his hands in surrender, but standing his ground in front of the fuming Mexican. " I'm just asking her some questions. You'll get her back, but you need to calm down. She might have intel and I'd like to figure out what's going on before we continue this mission. Shadows, get rid of Hassan."

Two heavily armoured men stepped forward and grabbed Hassan, taking him out of sight as he swore profanities at everyone. Alejandro looked unimpressed as he pleaded with Graves. " Give me a second to talk to her then."

Graves hesitantly nodded, and motioned for Rodolfo, Soap, and Ghost to give us space. Alejandro took a breath, and I lowered my gaze, ready for the backlash. But it never came.

" This is my fault, I should've told them before this. You're smart and I had a bad feeling you were going to find out what was going on sooner rather than later. Just tell him everything he wants to know, he won't hurt you. He's with us."

Alejandro's tone was soft, and his eyes held regret and sadness. I nodded, and motioned my head over at the group. " Tell them too. They deserve to know, and it would probably be better if I wasn't there."

" Are you sure?"

" Yes."

~~~

Graves and I had already been driving for 10 minutes, neither of us speaking a word. The silence was awkward, as neither of us had met before. I had known it wasn't a matter of he didn't know what to ask, it was how he was going to ask it.

I was sitting in the passenger seat gazing out the windshield, playing with my fingers. He had cut my hands free once we were away from everyone else, I'm assuming he had to keep his "bad cop" persona for the group.

" What's your affiliation with Hassan and Ghorbrani?" Graves blurred out suddenly, causing me to jump a little.

I sighed and closed my eyes. " Its a long story."

" We've got time. You're not going back to your base and team until I'm satisfied."

I smirked a little, and decided to try and lighten the mood. " I don't work like that, if that's what you're implying."

" For fuck sakes," Graves replied back, failing miserably at hiding the laughter in his voice.

The truck grew quiet once again, and I turned to face him in my seat. When explaining myself, I always felt it was better to face the person. I believed it made you more truthful at what you said, and I wanted to make sure Graves could trust what I told him.

" Okay," I started, and taking a deep breath, I continued, " Three years ago, I went on trip to Amsterdam with a friend of mine. We were out late after a night of drinking, and ended up down by the ports. We watched what we suspected was a drug deal, as two men had met and they were guarded heavily by armed soldiers. They saw us, and I remember running but then everything went black after that. I woke up to my friend and I in a concrete room, Ghorbrani was there, but I didn't recognize any of the other men, as they all wore masks."

Graves had parked the truck by now, and was staring intently at me as I spoke.

" Ghorbrani took a liking to me, he said how I was to be his wife, and be his little submissive pet. He had told us my friend wasn't useful to him and that's when he shot and killed her, right beside me. I couldn't tell time when I was captured, but I believe I was captive for a year and a half. Any interaction besides Ghorbrani was short and far between. The guards always wore masks. I was fed once a day. Taken to the bathroom in the morning, lunch, and at night. I spent the majority of my time in that concrete room, besides the times Ghorbrani wanted to use me for his own purposes."

" You don't have to go into detail about that."

" And then I met Vero. I'm sure Ghost has already told you I let him go in that village. He was a new recruit, and took pity over me. He'd always remove his mask around me, and give me extra food and water when he'd keep watch over me. I believe firmly he's the reason I'm still alive. He broke me out one night, and I ran. I ran because my fucking life depended on it. Alejandro and I met, some may call it fate, I call it right place right time. He found me bloodied, one arm and leg broken, and weighing under 90 pounds. He rehabbed me, and took me under his wing. I honestly didn't think it would end up causing this many issues in the future, otherwise I would've just offed myself when I had the chance."

" Easy," Graves warned, " No need for that talk. So you don't know anything about the missiles? Or Hassan's plans?"

I shook my head. " No, I didn't really see Hassan that much, but when I did, he was always with Ghorbrani and had his mask on. He never talked, and Ghorbrani never mentioned anything about business around me."

Graves and I sat in silence for a while again, both taking in each others words. I felt a tear slip down my cheek, and quickly wiped it away. The nightmares would be back for sure.

" Well, as you probably know by now, I'm working alongside you all in this fight. And you seem like a trustworthy person I'd be happy to have working with us," Graves murmured, giving me a small smile, " I appreciate you telling me all of that, and I wish you best in recovering from it all. So... Would you like to continue working with us on this mission?"

I nodded eagerly, a large smile plastering itself across my face. Graves started the truck up, and we headed back to my base. " Let's get you briefed up. But, I should add, Ghorbrani isn't back, so you don't need to worry about him."

" What does that mean?" I asked.

" Ask Ghost about that one."