Don't fear the reaper - Captain John Price

XLIX

The rare clouds were floating over the peaceful sky. Bright rays of the sunset were playing with the fluffy clouds, coloring them pink. Nature was creating its own colors while using the evening sky as a canvas of the highest quality it could find. Despite anything people on the ground could go through, from sorrow to happiness, nature never failed to perform its art every single day.

Another sleepless night passed for the captain, as his gaze was sitting on the bright screen of the laptop. The dark uniform hugged his body, giving the last bits of warmth to the man during the chilly winter evening. The wrinkles on John's forehead seemed to get deeper for a moment, as he concentrated on the picture that appeared in front of him. 

"Where is it?" Price tried to explore the unknown to him surrounding. On the picture, gathered by Laswell was Knight, surrounded by Shadows and dragged out of the helicopter that the man could recognize from the night at Graves's base. It was a proof of life, right there in front of his tired eyes.

"Up the north from the base," Kate's voice was cold, as she watched over the facial expression of the man on the other side of the video call. For a while, there was nothing but silence between them in the distance of thousands of kilometers.

"You hid this. Why?" John looked at the date stamp on the camera footage. The image was three days old, and there was no proof that Amelia was still at the same place, or at least alive. The blood in the veins of the man was rushing to the boiling point, as anger took him over but Price's face was still unemotional as his words seemed to be sharper than the blade of Simon's knives.

"We had no confirmation of this inter," The click of the lighter echoed in the captain's office, even though the cigarette touched Kate's dry lips.

"And now one of my best medics is in his fucking hands, Kate!" The chair next to the hard wooden desk was no longer getting the warmth of Price's body, as he got up from it. The look of his deep blue eyes escaped out of the small window on the bricked wall. John let himself be outside for a split moment, away from everything, and bring the peace back to his thoughts not letting even a single emotion take him under its power.

"We still don't have the authority in the area, John," Kate was exhaling the thick white smoke into the air of her office. Throughout the years of work together the two rarely had moments of disagreement, but that day was the exception.

"There is no more time to wait, Laswel," The captain's hand moved the chair away from the desk with one sharp movement, as he lowered in front of the screen as if looking into Kate's eyes through the camera and long distance. "Graves tricked us again. Even if you don't get me the authority, I'll hang him with my bare hands."

The loud knock on the wooden door into Price's office ended the call between the two. John let his anger spill out of his mind for a split moment, as he closed the laptop shut almost breaking the piece of technology sitting on his desk. His eyes full of calmness looked up at the silhouettes of the two men standing in the doorframe of the office. There was nothing John needed more at that moment than his team. The plan of action was appearing in his mind, as the determination began the fight with emotions of anger in his head.

"What is it, boss?" Gaz pointed out the picture on the screen in front of him, trying to understand what exactly he was looking at.

"Proof of life. For now,' The captain took his time to enlarge the picture so the officer could be clearly seen in the crowd of the dark-uniformed men. Graves had his own little army, but even the army wouldn't stop them this time. Every single person in the room had enough of this story and wanted to put the final dot in it.

"Why Graves didn't kill her right away?" Kyle was thinking out loud, trying to bring sense to his own thoughts. Graves was not learning from his mistakes, leaving his enemies alive.

"Because the dead body can't speak," Simon crossed the arms on his chest, as his calm voice traveled from one corner of the office to another in the silence of the evening.

"We are taking Lia back, and we are killing Commander Graves," The hands of the captain met with the hard surface of the desk, as he leaned against it while his eyes were looking at his teammates on the other side of the room.

"I can take care of Graves," Ghost leaned forward as if finally finding the conversation interesting. Deep inside, the lieutenant still couldn't believe that they missed him again. However, it added only more determination to the team to bring the end to Graves once and for all.

"Good to see you again, Simon," The smile stayed on John's face for a little longer than it usually did, as he nodded to Riley. There was nothing but readiness for the actions in the nearest hours in the air flying around the office of the captain.

"So, when do we move?' Garrick let his cap sit on the top of the table. It seemed as if the UK flag was watching the men in the room, reminding the three to take actions that would not bring danger to their own country.

"Now," John looked at the men, as his voice echoed in the room. There was no more time to wait, as his hair was graying. Time was one of the few things that was always playing against them.

The moon was knocking on the window of the office as if trying to become a part of the discussion at least for a moment. But instead, it caught the eyes of the captain as he was thinking over the whole mission. John Price was old enough to deal with the consequences of his actions. And only time could tell if he was making the right decision or another mistake in his life.