She's My Bodyguard

Introduction

"Firehawk, if we make it out of here... I swear to god, I'm marrying your ass as soon as we get on base." My former fiancé, Sean Jordan, Callsign Hades, told me, as he sat across from me, face just as bruised as mine. We were all tossed in a cell, bound by thick rope, and unable to fight back. Seven men were on us five at all times.

"It's my fault, Hades. I'm sorry." I said, closing my swollen eyes, feeling a tear drip down my cut cheek, stinging the open wound. "I should have just quit and been a fucking EOD."

"Never say that." He almost growled at me. "Never fucking say that!"

"So sweet... but nobody will save you." One man came out from behind the crowd of men, speaking in Arabic. "Who should we start with first, men?"

"Rape the girl in front of her fiancé, and make him beg for her life?" My blood ran cold, but if one of them put their hands on me, all bets were off. I'd do ANYTHING to get myself killed before any one of them touched me.

"Or we kill him first and watch her suffer, and kill her last?"

They got a call, and the US was demanding our release. The terrorists wanted all of us out, weapons and all left, and they would "turn us over" but that didn't happen.

Four hours before that was supposed to happen, they killed Zeus, Themis, and Eros.

But they took a bullet to the head... ending their suffering, and fast.

I had a knife in my pocket they failed to take out and they were stupid to leave us alone together.

"Hades... There's a knife in my pocket." I told him, telling him very quietly in German, knowing they didn't speak it. It was small and concealable. "Get it and cut me loose." He did exactly that, and I cut him loose as well. I got him loose and quickly gathered our fallen brother's dog tags.

"Semper Fi, brother." I almost sobbed, taking each of them in my hand, while Hades took the ones from their boots.

"Come on, Firehawk. Let's go." He found us two rifles and two handguns, with a couple extra magazines for each, and we made it out of the room.

Then we took fire... and we answered back.

But Hades took six to arms and legs... and one to his side.

"Get out of here!" He begging me, holding his biggest bleeder.

"I'm not fucking leaving you!" I shouted back, counting the fire. There was only one left. "YOU'RE OUTFIRED, STAND DOWN!" I yelled in Arabic back at him. He shouted back that Allah would have my head and he'd surrender when he was dead.

So I shot him when he was out of ammo. No mercy.

I took his shirt off and wadded it, holding it against the wound. It was through and through. "Hang on, Hades, please..." I choked out. I slung his arm around my shoulder, helping him move. I found a landline phone and I dialed the embassy. I knew the number because if we were EVER in shit, we had to have it memorized.

"United States Embassy-"

"This is MARSOC Firehawk, can you trace my location?" There was shouting on their end all of a sudden.

"Yes! We're sending reinforcements to your location-"

"Send medical! Three dead... Hades is hit."

"Hang in there, stay on the line. Med Evac is on the way." I laid him flat with the shirt pressed to the exit wound and pressed my hands to his entry wound. He was paling, and in horrible pain.

"How far are they out? He needs help, now!"

"7 minutes."

"I don't have that..." His arms and legs weren't fatal hits, but his side was bleeding pretty bad. Even with pressure. I pressed harder, even though it made him gasp in pain. "Fuck, that hurts..."

"You stay with me, you bastard! You don't get to fucking die on me, too!" I screamed at him.

"Three minutes."

"Just let me go, Firehawk..." Those words were my breaking point.

"No! I'm not letting you go!" I sobbed, "I can't let you go..." I couldn't tell him the reason why while the embassy was on the phone. I wasn't even supposed to be on this mission...

"Incoming."

They got him packed... they got the bodies out... they got us to Israel...

But Hades didn't make it. He became septic due to conditions, and I didn't get a chance to tell him he was going to be a father.

I ended up miscarrying 2 weeks later.

I tried to commit suicide three weeks after that.

"Officer Romera?" My psychiatrist pulled me back to reality. I looked up from the ground, in a stiff position with my elbows on my knees. "Have the nightmares been better, the same, or the worse since changing the sleeping medication?" I licked my lips.

"The same."

"How many hours of sleep are you getting?"

"Eight on a good night, five on a bad." She wrote some stuff down.

"Did the incident with the Senator bring you back to Iraq?" She knows damn well it did. Instead, I took the bullet and wished for death, but death didn't take me.

"Yes, it did. But I acted responsibly and pushed it aside." Another lie.

"Well, I'll clear you to return full time. I want you to see me again every three weeks. There's a new sleeping medication I want you to try. It's still experimental, but so far, nightmares are not a side effect. You're starting to get circles under your eyes." She wrote me a clearance letter, which was pointless because I was resigning with the company tomorrow. My VA was enough to live on. I had plenty of savings, and I could find work anywhere. I could even open up my own company, since Level 4 clearance with security allowed people to operate a company.

"Thank you." She sent it with a nurse to the pharmacy.

"It'll be ready for pick up in about thirty minutes. Have you considered a service dog, Leysa?" I shook my head. "What about at least volunteering at a shelter?"

"I don't have the time, Doc." Work came first. It was the only thing that kept my mind off of my late fiancé. Being focused on my client and surroundings was the only thing that didn't allow me to think of him. When we weren't on a mission, he was with our Malinois that were on base for bomb sniffing.

"It would be wise to consider a Service Dog... Wounded Warriors would bump you-"

"No. There are people who need them a lot more than I do on that list. I will not take them from those who need one." She sighed, standing up. I gathered my tac bag, and got up.

"You need to do something, Leysa. It's not healthy."

"I'll find a way, Doc. I always do." I told her, and headed out the door. First stop, pharmacy, second stop, resignation, third stop, bar, and fourth stop... a new start.