Die for You

Chapter 75

Z-Hour – 1 Day

The next day dawned with a watery sun, lost in a cloudy haze that obscured the view despite the evening's rain shower having ended sometime after I dozed off. It wasn't the kind of weather you'd want for a holiday, but I really didn't care; I was actually hoping that the weather would be shitty for the next couple of days. Shitty weather is great cover for the combat soldier, and cover is exactly what we were going to need if we were going to pull this off without any hitches.

I lay on the thin cotton sheets, staring up at the electric fan that was fixed to the ceiling; trying to enjoy the cooling breeze that was passing over my sweating body. This was it, the planning was over, and there was nothing to do now but head off to the border and hope that the bribes that Jenna and Richie had made to Becky's contacts in the Government had got the boys, and our equipment, there unmolested.

For me this was the critical part of the mission; without the equipment, this mission was a non-starter. I would fight my way into the compound with nothing but my teeth if I needed to, but I also knew that we needed more than that to get Becky out alive without casualties of our own.This was the part that I could do absolutely nothing about and I fucking hated it. I had absolutely no control over what might have happened in the last few hours and that didn't sit easily, or help me sleep. One snotty official, one overzealous soldier, and we were scuppered; if the equipment the guys were carrying was discovered it was all over, and Becky was as good as dead...

...and that wasn't something I was prepared to accept.

Wop, wop, wop, wop, wop.

I lay staring at the fan, listening to the rhythmic beat and thinking my way through the mission one more time; it was complex for sure, but I had a good team with me and I knew it would succeed. All we had to do was get there.

Realizing that my mind was just running around in circles, I dragged my protesting body from the bed and into the bathroom, heading straight for the shower. A twist of the faucet and the steam started to build as I allowed the water to flow over my body; soaking away the sweat and the tension and everything that was in my head, pouring it down the drain like the waste it was. With a twist of a handle, I turned the water to as hot as I could stand it and scrubbed away; cleansing myself as best I could from the dirty feeling of last nights nightmare before twisting the handle the opposite way, and standing under the freezing cold water until my lips were blue.

I emerged from my shower rejuvenated and feeling ready to face the day, it was a good feeling, one that I had experienced many times before; that mixture of nerves and adrenaline that told me I was ready, my head was now clear...game on.

There was a knock at the door as I dressed and I pulled my t-shirt over my head quickly and peered through the security lens before opening the door wide.

"Morning, Freen, dear..."

Jenna stepped into my room, her face sombre; the joy I'd seen in it when we first met destroyed by the events of the last few days. I could see it clearly now, how every message that arrived, every barrier that appeared to confound us had taken away another piece of her, added another line to her face. Even now with the end in sight she looked jaded, exhausted, damn near broken.

"Have you slept at all, Jenna?" I asked as I closed the door behind her, looking at the dark circles that had appeared under her baggy, tired looking eyes.

"Not really," she admitted, "too many things to worry about Freen, dear, far too many things. I don't think I've had much more than three or four hours sleep last night, the worry of it all is getting to me I'm afraid. Richie terrified last night and it was really had to stay strong for them."