The Oval Office ✓ (Book One)

Chapter Nineteen

                                  Aileen's P.O.V

  Everything seems to move in slow motion. Half a second feels like an hour as I watch the look on commander Cyrus's face fall, and the others watch in horror as their reaction time isn't anywhere near fast enough. I can almost hear Kyle's voice telling me to duck, even though this is the exact type of situation I was trained for. If this was any other country, they would go to war with us over the killing of a top government official. Ordaia, while they can defend their own borders, knows that they don't have the funding for a war as they are a completely self-sustaining country. Everything, no matter who comes out of this alive, will be settled today.

So as the machine guns fire off with nearly perfect aim, I drop to the ground within the next second, watching as blood splatters all over the ground and helicopter. Everybody assigned to the mission with me, along with everybody on the opposite side. The only other one still safe is the guy assigned to stay inside of the helicopter no matter what. "Don't think about it." I say to myself. It's been a while since I've watched somebody die, and regardless of what people will say, you never get used to it. Most agents just live with ptsd that they've learned to control, just like they learn to push their thoughts aside and not see a dead body as a human being in situations where you don't have time to think about it.

So I give myself three seconds, ignoring Kyle's voice in my earpiece.

One. I hadn't noticed until now, but there's a tiny bit of blood splatter on my hand.

Two. Commander Cyrus's evil fucking eyes are staring at me as he takes his last breath. I can't say I feel sorry for that fucker.

Three. I push myself up off the ground, grab my gun out of my jacket, and tune myself back in to the voices that are almost yelling at me now. "Aileen? Aileen are you-"

"I'm fine, Kyle." I interrupt him.

"Damnit, you're going to get yourself killed-"

"No, Mr.President, I am going to get the children and get the fuck out." I reply. I can almost feel Kylie, who is technically my supervisor, giving me the "watch it, you're still talking to the president" look. Not that it matters though, I've been working with them for three years, and in that time, I've thought of him as more of a friend than the president of the United States.

  "Aileen."

  "Kyle." I mimic his tone of voice. "You're not going to talk me out of this. I work for the country, not you."I turn my headpiece off but they immediately turn it back on again.

  "Get to the son first if you can. With commander Cyrus dead and prince Ahmad here, he's first in command right now."

  "I know-" I say. "That was the plan." I don't hear anything else he says as I focus on getting out of the open. The maid's door that I find myself at almost always has a guard in front of it, so I cautiously raise my gun as I push it open. "Move- I don't want to fucking shoot anybody I don't have to."

He turns around, completely unphased. "That won't be neccesary, Aileen. Prince Joseph has ordered us to stand down. I am going to need you to come with me, though."

I stare at him with a blank face for a second, confused. After what just happened, it can't be that easy. Regardless of how liberal Prince Ahmad's son is in comparison to him, and how liberal prince Ahmad is in comparison to his father, we just killed eight of their citizens.

  "Aileen, do NOT follow  him-" I rip my earpiece out, shoving it in my pocket to mute Kyle. They'll still be able to listen through my body cam, but now I won't have to listen to them try to instruct me what to do every two seconds. The guard places a hand on my arm, and I yank it away.