No time to die // Simon (GHOST) Riley/ HAITUS

Chapter 16

Parked out in the middle of nowhere, that was our choice of destination. A perfect place to interrogate a terrorist.

Alejandro and Soap led Hassan where they wanted him, I hadn't noticed they had thrown a bag over his head, or the zipties that held his wrists together behind his back. "On your knees." They forced him down and Alejandro pulled the dirty rag off of him, he remained behind him.

A few feet away, Graves was hooking up the line with General Shepard and Laswell. "Ya'll got a clear picture?"

"Crystal." A more closer look, the view was somewhat pixilated. Sarcasm at it's finest. "All set."

Graves stood up and walked towards Hassan, his hands clutching his vest. "Alright, we are love, folks."

I stood behind Graves, on his right.  Off to my side, Ghost stood by the vehicle, watching the scene unfold.

"Do you speak Arabic?" He asked Graves, slightly looking up at the man. I knew Arabic, like I said. It's required. But he wasn't asking me.

Graves stopped in front of him, "No."

"Farsi?" He looked straight up at Graves, who shifted around before answering. "No."

"Course not." He scoffed, "Then I'll speak your bastardized medieval English because you are all uneducated street dogs."

Graves looked down at his feet, "Ahh, see... we're getting off to a bad start here, Hassan."

"You are talking to a Quds Force Officer." He seemed unfazed and didn't seem concerned at all. It's annoying when they do that. It's a tactic used to get into your head.

"You're the commander of a foreign terror organization."

"I can say the same to you."

"What's your target. "Major"?"

"What was your target when they sent missiles to my land?"

Graves looked towards the laptop that General Shepard was watching through, "Oh well, wild guess..." He looked back at Hassan, "To nail your ass."

He chuckled, "So insolent and foul-mouthed. You will learn to respect me when your nation sees fire."

Graves slowly stepped closer to him, "You are in bed with the cartel, Hassan. If you disappeared, no one would know where to look for the fuckin' stain."

He only ever laughs at the threats that are made towards him. It's unsettling. "I have no doubt you'll take pleasure in torturing me."

Soap had enough of this, "Who'd you get American missiles from?"

Shepards voice quickly overruled the question. "I don't care who they're from, I wanna know where they're going."

What? Everyone wants to know who Hassan had gotten the missiles from. But General Shepard?

The enemy could've infiltrated our bases and sent out the missiles, wrapped up to be gifted to Hassan. But he doesn't care? Did he know about this already?

Graves stepped away from Hassan and the sounds of animals filled the silence between us. "Take a look around Hassan." He walked back over to the helpless man on the ground, "Now you can either become part of the food chain," He lowered his head near Hassans, "or you can start talking."

"I'm a hostage here. This is illegal."

Alejandro leaned over Hassan's shoulder, "You are a prisoner of war." Hassan scrunched up his nose and turned his head, "Iran is not at war with Mexico. I've broken no laws. These men," He motioned to the others standing around, "and their commanders," He looked over at Ghost, "are the law breakers."

"You and your beloved General Ghorbrani broke every-"

"DO NOT SPEAK HIS NAME." Hassan struggled in Alejandros grip. Looks like we hit a vein. "You executed him and you will pay for your crimes..." He yelled out in Arabic at Soap. Soaps confused face looked around for translation, then he looked back at Graves.

"I want this bastard in permanent custody or looking up at the goddamn grass."

"General, killing Hassan is an act of war, keeping him is illegal. Right now, he is too hot to hold."

"Tell me you're getting something actionable, Laswell."

"Working on it. Stand by."

Graves walked towards the laptop, and hoisted it up onto the hood of the vehicle. "Actual, let me finish this."

"There is nothing I would like more." He look a deep breath, "But Laswell's right. Without proof we need to turn him loose." Soap walks towards Graves, "See where he leads us."

"He's right here. You can't be serious."

"I'm afraid I am, son."

I could tell Hassan overheard the conversation, he looked my way and lightly chuckled. With the look he was giving me, I could tell he was begging for a beating.

"Did we get anything from his phone?" I looked back over at my allies. Ghost had pulled Hassan's phone out of his pocket and held it in his hands. "Affirmative, we got a hit."

"Good. Now take him back and let him go."

"God. It was all for nothing."

Alejandro threw the bag back over his head. I sure do hope it at least stunk or something. He pulled Hassan up by force as Ghost made his way towards them. "Arriba. Vamos."

There was something to Ghosts walk as he passed by Hassan and slipped his phone into his side pocket. It was almost as if he was swaying his hips slightly. As everyone started packing up, Ghost stepped beside me. "Why is it whenever my eyes find you, you're staring at me? You've got a staring problem?"

My eyes snap back up to meet his own, "I could ask you the same."

A couple seconds passed of holding eye contact, "You know I've been meaning to ask yo-" I wince as a sudden pain filled my arm and I tilted my head slightly to the side and bit my lip. "What was that?" I turned back to Ghost, "What was what?"

"What do you mean, 'what was what'? I saw that wince. Where are you hit?" I contemplate showing him the maybe minor-major wound or not. "You know. It's actually kind of embarrassing. It's in the same arm that got shot a few days ago."

He sighed, "This was during the previous fight. Yes?" I nodded. "Fuck. (L/n). Did you think you could just walk around with a gaping wound? As if you wouldn't bleed out? As soon as we get back to base we're fixing you up."

He starts walking towards the vehicle, and a stupid idea pops up in my head, "Aw- The Ghost cares about me?"

"Negative. Your team requires you to be in shape. You're no good to them if you're dead."

Oh yeah. He totally cares about me.