Page 97 of What I Should Have Done

His eyes lifted, meeting mine.

Not an ounce of fear swirled in the pools I longed to get lost in. Nothing but gentle desire and tenderness stared back. A silent message, a whisper across the threads that intertwined us came my way, telling me that he cared about me in a way no man had before.

That he loved me.

“I’m surprised with how easy this was since I thought Americans don’t negotiate with terrorists,” Karim answered.

“We don’t,” Dom snarled, raised his gun, and squeezed the trigger.

A small smile of relief lifted on Mikey’s lips; his eyes never left mine as the bullet slammed against his chest.

Wait, what?

Chaos erupted around me. Ford dragged me behind the burnt sand rail for cover. The team ducked out of the way of return fire. Cracks of gunshots deafened the quarry we were in.

Duncan began peppering the six men behind us with a rain of bullets. Bernie turned around and threw hand grenades at the buggies, explosions rippling throughout the canyon. Debris rumbled, and a crack ran up the side of the ravine.

Karim roared in frustration as Dom aimed and fired a second shot at him.

Dom’s bullet ripped through Karim’s right-hand man’s head. He fell backwards into Karim.

Second shot.

The reality of what had just happened blazed through me as jolting as the bullet that took Mikey. My ears heard nothing. No longer did I register the whizz of gunfire through the air or the danger that surrounded me.

Sand flew into the air as I lunged forward. “No!” I screamed, my throat hoarse as uncontrollable tears rushed hotly down my cheeks. Calling into the afterlife to return Mikey to me.

I had to tell him. I needed to apologize.

“You promised!” I cried out. “You promised!” We were never going to have that conversation. And I wanted to tell him that he was worth risking my career for.

Ford scratched for my arm but missed me as I sprinted forward.

There he lay.

There his body lay, slowly disappearing in the mix of sand flying up behind the tires of the three armored trucks quickly fading away. The insurgents were headed to the Black Box now that they had the location, but I didn’t give a damn.

Red stained the front of his shirt as I tripped, crashing to my knees still a few yards away. Just in time, too, as a couple bullets whizzed past my head. “Mikey!” I screamed, my heart shredded. “I’m sorry! I didn’t mean it! Please!” I begged, crawling forward, trying to reach him.

It was all over.

Everything was done.

He was gone.

By Dom of all people.

“You promised me!” I begged again, my vision hazy as the ground rumbled, vibrating violently. The sand clouded my vision, so dense that I could barely make out the outline of Mikey’s body ahead of me.

“Mikey, please. Please. I need you,” I whispered, my voice choking. Hands clamped down on my arms.

I dug my fingernails into the dirt, but it was useless as Ford dragged me away. “We’ll come back for him, okay?” he said. He kept repeating it over and over as Mikey faded in the distance even though I knew it was a lie. We couldn’t. We were technically never here.

“Scottie, we have to go,” Ford said.

“No! I won’t leave him!” I thrashed about, ignoring the pounding in the back of my head. My body collapsed to the ground again as a new face appeared above me.

“Scottie, let’s go. That’s an order,” Dom stated.

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