Ashes in the Darkness

Woman

Alejandro led the way to the shipping container that had been converted into an interrogation room. I could see how incredibly angry he was from the way he was walking. Shoulders slumped forward, swaying a little extra with each step. He turned back to the rest of us once we stood outside the unit, "try to keep the conversation to the missiles and Hassan, if you can senora." I could see there was a bit of hurt in his eyes as he spoke to me. Annoyance and aggravation were rippling through his body, but sadness was in his eyes. I wondered what could be bringing such emotion to him, but part of me already knew the answer to that.

"Yes, colonel," I confirmed before I heard the door get ripped open.

Soap and Rudy were already in the room, making sure that Valeria didn't try to escape. The woman was sitting directly under the overhead lamp of the container. The lighting caused the shadows of her face to be illuminated, making her look even more powerful and menacing than she was when she was sitting in the back of the helicopter.

"Ah, the Chica I wanted to see," she said as her eyes landed on me. I cocked my head at her, despite her being held hostage by a tribe of special forces men she was incredibly confident. I couldn't deny that I envied that kind of confidence, that kind of belief in oneself. For some reason my blood pressure rose, and I felt a little flame inside me spark with the intent to try and mimic that confidence in myself.

Looking to Soap, "let me have that chair," I said. He popped up from his seat and handed the back of the chair to me. I dragged it across the floor to sit directly in front of her. She smirked proudly and sat back in her own seat, crossing her hands over her chest. "Here I am, Valeria."

"You're smaller than I thought you were," she said, accent growing richer with each passing word.

I nodded and sat back in my chair and placed my hands folding between my legs, accepting the compliment from her. "Where are the missiles?" I asked, getting straight to the point.

"We will get to that," she said, jutting out her chin to me. "You want to know why I want to talk to you and only you?"

"Not really," I said shortly.

"Because I like to see other women in power," she said, leaning forward slightly. "It's amazing how easily men are swayed by a pretty face."

"I didn't ask," I opened my legs a little more, feeling my masculine energy start to flow in my loins. I was the reason that this woman was stuck inside this shipping container. I had done that, not Soap, not Alejandro, not Ghost. I felt a strange sense of power streaming in my blood, it wasn't the same power that Ghost's darkness gave me, this power was light and hot like a strike of a match on gasoline.

She noticed my legs open my legs wider on the seat, and she mimicked my movement. Straddling her own chair, a bit more with her toned thighs. I heard one of the guys behind me clear his throat as Valeria and I exchanged nearly flirtatious glances. "I heard you ordering these men around," she said with a smile, "you would make a decent cartel sicaria."

"That would never happen," I said immediately.

"Don't knock it till you try it, Chica," she sang with a laugh. I had an inkling to punch her, but I tucked my hands together so I wouldn't.

"I don't like drugs," I stated, "I don't like international terrorists either. Now tell me where the missiles are."

"Why do you hate drugs?"

I paused for a moment thinking about if I wanted to get into this with her and drew my hands up and then down my thighs, then pulled my foot up to my knee. "A sixteen-year-old high on cocaine was going 114 miles per hour on a mountain road and killed my brother, it killed him too." I felt someone move behind me, then the door of the chamber opened and closed.