Always Faithful

Prologue

Dedicated to mand0jedi

     Lyla Lane entered her private quarters, worn from a particularly grueling day of training, and cursed when she realized she was already fifteen minutes late to an important event. Dreading the long drive ahead of her, Lyla quickly changed out of her uniform and snatched her purse off the table, knowing her ever-reliable fiancé would have everything taken care of by the time she arrived.

     Unfortunately, just as she closed the door behind her, an angry voice called out, "Lyla, you can't do this!"

     As Carter Mitchell stormed towards her, Lyla turned to face him and calmly replied, "Carter, we've had this conversation before, and I don't have time to go through the motions with you right now."

     When Lyla tried to walk away, Carter grabbed her arm and pulled her backwards, nearly knocking her off her feet.

     "Have you forgotten that we were once going to marry each other?" Carter snarled as Lyla twisted her arm out of his grasp.

     "Oh, I remember," she countered. "And I also remember leaving when I finally realized what a self-centered ass you were."

     Lyla flinched when Carter looked as though he would strike her, though Mitchell quickly lowered his hand when Anna Roberts – who was finishing her last patrol of the night – seemed to materialize from the shadows.

     "Is there a problem here, Sergeant?" she asked, glaring at Carter, who sighed and shook his head.

     "No, Roberts, we're fine," he snapped, sighing once more and running a hand through his hair when Anna arched an eyebrow. "Forgive me, Officer, it's just—It's been a long day. Everything's fine. We were just talking."

     Anna looked as though she wanted to say more but was unable to voice her thoughts before the flashbang of a stun grenade interrupted her, quickly followed by the panicked shouts of the men and women in Lyla's care. When Lyla saw the smoke seeping from the windows of the nearest barrack, she sprinted across the grounds with Anna and Carter following close on her heels. Pulling her shirt over her nose to filter the acrid fumes, Lyla rushed into the building and was beginning to usher her recruits out of their lodgings when a second grenade rolled towards her, clinking across the concrete floor.

     When Anna saw the grenade and realized its purpose was not to stun but to kill, she raced towards Lyla with the intention of moving her out of harm's way, seeing as she was the only one wearing a bulletproof vest. Unfortunately, Staff Sergeant Lane came to the same conclusion a moment later, logic giving way to pure instinct as she shoved the nearest cadets aside and fell on top of the grenade, using her body to shield those around her from the blast.

...

     A muffled explosion. A silent scream. Trying to move, to think, to breathe. Ears ringing. Voices fading. Darkness reigning.

...

     Brian Anderson glanced at his phone, then turned back to the multi-colored sunset Southern California was famous for, his gaze eventually drawn to the ticking hand of his watch as it continued to count the seconds away. Because he had been a captain in the United States Marine Corps – Semper Fi – before trading his military uniform for the suit and tie of a detective in the San Diego Police Department, Brian was known for his patience, as well as his ability to remain clear-minded in the presence of fear. Though impatience did not plague him now, a gnawing anxiety subdued his appetite and caused sweat to bead his brow.

     His fiancée and bride-to-be – he smiled at the thought of calling Lyla his wife – was nearly half-an-hour late to their rehearsal dinner, a fact that would be annoying to most but was worrisome to him. Though her delayed arrival was, most likely, nothing to worry about, Brian's intuition told him otherwise.

     As he began to dial Lyla's number, his phone rang, and Brian heard the barely-concealed concern in his voice as he asked, "Carter, wh—"

     "Brian, there's been an accident," Sergeant Carter Mitchell interjected, his voice shaking.

...

     Anna groaned in pain, her ears continuing to ring as she was placed on a stretcher and wheeled towards the nearest ambulance, the paramedic at her side urging her to remain still. A dull pain at the base of her skull was far outweighed by the burning sensation in her chest, and Anna soon found herself drifting into oblivion.

...

     While in service of the United States Marine Corps, Lyla had seen her fair share of war, had spent many sleepless nights wishing she could forget the images that tormented her mind. Be that as it may, she had cultivated a sense of humor that most civilians would find repulsive and all service members would find necessary to survival. This being the case, when Lyla opened her eyes and looked down upon her mangled body – which was currently displayed on a metal table specifically used to aid in the draining of bodily fluids during an autopsy – she laughed bitterly in spite of herself.

     Then, when she realized the shell that had formerly housed her soul was missing its heart, Staff Sergeant Lyla Lane said, "Well, that's problematic, now isn't it?"

...

     A muffled explosion. A silent scream. Trying to move, to think, to breathe. Ears ringing. Voices fading. Darkness reigning.

...

     Anna woke with a start, and though the heart she had received a week prior pounded frantically against her breastbone, she was unable to identify the source of her fear. She tried to recall the contents of her dream but stopped when the effort caused her head to ache, one of the many lasting effects of the explosion that had rattled her brain and destroyed her heart. Anna slowly sat up and carefully reached for the waterglass on her nightstand, only to wince and lean against the thin pillows behind her when a stab of pain shot through her chest. Following the trail of intravenous lines that disappeared beneath her skin and the nose cannula that pumped oxygen into her lungs, Anna eventually found the call button hanging from the bedrail.

     As she reached for the cord, Anna hesitated, common sense insisting that she call for assistance while her pride scoffed at the notion of asking for help. Deciding to listen to common sense, Officer Anna Roberts reached for the cord, this time interrupted when Detective Brian Anderson quietly knocked on the doorframe of her hospital room.