How to Love the Stars | Ghost (Simon Riley)

Chapter 4

As Ghost and Alejandro stepped back into the room, they regarded Althea with suspicious glances.

Soap stood. "Should we let her out of her handcuffs?"

"I have orders from my General. I am to stay here and complete the mission with Task Force 141." Althea blinked, surprising herself with confidence in her words. She decided it would be more efficient to work with Task Force 141 as working alone if they didn't hold her back. As long as they managed the keep Hassan from using the missiles... Althea shivered, not even wanting to think about it.

"I pledge my loyalty to Task Force 141 until the mission is completed." Althea almost gagged as the words left her mouth.

Ghost looked down at her, his gaze cold. Althea squared her shoulders, looking him in the eye.

Ghost turned towards Alejandro. "We keep her in handcuffs until she proves herself trustworthy." He eyed her, clearly distrustful.

Althea scoffed, "I have orders to obey."

"Listen, love," He walked around in front of her. "We haven't gotten anything useful out of you yet, and we haven't gotten anything out of El Sin Nombre yet. If you think that we are just going to let you waltz out of here," He leaned in closer. "You are highly mistaken."

Althea gritted her teeth. "Prick."

Ghost just smirked, standing back up again. Soap turned to him. "Hey, maybe we should let her out for just a-"

"No." Ghost said coldly, turning his back on them. Althea glared at him, spitting at his feet.

"You sure do enjoy spitting at people, don't you."

"Not really. Only jackasses like you."

As tensions simmered in the room, Ghost and Althea's eyes were locked on each other.

Under the mask Ghost's lips curled into a half-smile, his eyes glinting with amusement. "Ah, feisty. I like that. But trust me, sweetheart, you haven't seen shit yet."

Althea's retort was swift. "Oh, I've heard rumors, Ghost. Something about a merciless soldier with a big fat ego." She tilted her head, a smug smile playing on her lips. "Sounds like you're compensating for something else."

Ghost's eyebrows arched, a hint of surprise showing through his mask. He wasn't accustomed to someone talking back to him. He leaned in slightly, his voice low. "You're trying to get under my skin, aren't you?"

Althea matched his intensity, not backing down. "Maybe. But I've dealt with worse than you" She lowered her voice, lips curling into a smile. "I could snap your neck like a twig in a fraction of a second."

He narrowed his eyes. "Not if I kill you first." Althea narrowed her eyes, still smiling. Was he really trying to scare her?

Alejandro cleared his throat, breaking the charged atmosphere. "I hate to interrupt this charming conversation, but we've got a job to do. And that job involves stopping those missiles from ending up in the wrong hands."

Ghost's gaze remained steady on Althea as he spoke, his tone icy. "Look, we don't have time for this shit. Our priority is stopping those missiles, and if you're as skilled as your reputation claims you to be, we can use all the help we can get."

Althea raised an eyebrow, clearly surprised by Ghost's sudden shift in attitude. "So, you're not going to keep me in cuffs?"

Ghost's response was a nonchalant shrug. "We're going to need every available hand on this mission. Besides, Soap and Alejandro will keep an eye on you."

Althea glanced at Soap and Alejandro, who nodded in agreement. She sighed, realizing the gravity of the situation. "Fine, but I'm not doing this for you. I just can't stand the thought of Hassan getting his hands on those missiles."

Ghost's lips quirked in a half-smile. "We're all on the same page then. Let's focus on the mission."

Soap moved to take off the handcuffs, but Althea had already beaten him to it. She sighed, pushing the handcuffs into Alejandro's hands.

"I picked the lock 20 minutes ago," She stretched her arms, walking past Ghost and Alejandro. She winked at Soap, pushing past the three of them and walking out the door.

"Is that so?" Alejandro said.

Their gazes shot to Soap, who had been watching her while Ghost and Alejandro had been looking through her files. Soap looked bewildered. He scratched his head, frowning.

Alejandro groaned, throwing up his hands in exasperation. "Really Soap? You were supposed to be watching her!"

Soap's bewildered expression quickly turned into a sheepish grin as he shrugged, seemingly caught off guard by Althea's resourcefulness. "Hey, I just wanted to give her a chance to show off her skills."

Ghost let out a low chuckle, his mask shifting slightly. "Well, she certainly took the opportunity."

As Althea strode out of the room, Ghost and Alejandro exchanged glances, a mix of curiosity and a hint of amusement in their eyes. There was something undeniably intriguing about the young woman they had been tasked with partnering with.

Alejandro motioned for Soap and Ghost to follow him. "We should go and start help Graves extract info from Sin Nombre."

Ghost nodded, turning on his heel to follow him out.

A/N: Hey I hope you enjoyed this chapter. This is my first story and I don't have much experience so I might go back and edit some chapters in the future.  I might take a week off to review the story and do some more planning, so my next update might be next week. If there's anything you would like to see in the story then make sure to tell me! Thank you so much for reading!