Page 44 of Dangerous Mission

“Okay…We can start with the bullet wound. Doctor Allison Ross works for Doctors without Borders.”

“Isn’t she part of the Billionaire Ross family out of Ft. Lauderdale?”

“Yes. A couple of her brothers also own a mercenary company. Asher and Antonio are great guys, but Allison didn’t want her family to know what happened. About five years ago, a village Dr. Ross set up camp in was raided. Around ten women were taken, along with her. Allison took most of the beatings to protect the others. One night when the rebels thought she was too weak, they didn’t bother locking her up. I’m not sure how she ran two miles with barely any clothes through the jungle for help. When we arrived to assist, the damn crazy woman wanted to come with. Lucky spent time with her and talked her into staying. We rescued every woman. It wasn’t even the main part of the mission where I got shot. Before we left, I went to stop and talk to the women to see if they needed anything. A young boy was outside and thought I was coming to hurt them, and the ten-year-old shot me.”

“He didn’t get in trouble, did he?”

“No, but I had a long talk with him. A year ago, we were in the same area, and we stopped by the small village. The boy is now a teenager and made it his mission to watch over the women. He even recruited a few more people to help.”

“Where’s Dr. Ross now?”

“She is still there. I’m not sure she will ever leave the area.”

Terri peeled Axel's shirt up and ran her hand over the long scar. Fuck he hoped she wouldn’t push the subject.

“And this?”

“Ten years ago, Cy and I were on a different SEAL team.” Axel took a deep breath and wrapped his fingers with hers. “We were in the Congo Jungle. Another SEAL team went missing, and we were sent to do a rescue mission, but the rebels were waiting for us. The whole thing was fucked up from the beginning. For the first week, we were all beat. Cy and I were always in the same cell. The beatings became an everyday occurrence for two weeks. Then one day, it stopped. Then another day went by. Except our team members were still beat. It felt like a year, but I think it was five days. Cy and I were pulled from our cells. We walked by our team members.” Axel cringed as he remembered seeing his team leader on the floor of his cell with all his fingers missing. Another team member, a few cells down, was tied to the ceiling with blood running down his neck.

A couple of his teammates called out to him, but he was still so weak he couldn’t do anything.

“They ended up marching Cy and me to a hole right outside where they tortured my team. For days we listened to them scream from the bottom of a dirt hole. By the third day, I wanted to die. Cy kept me going. Right when I thought I couldn’t last any longer, Gumby’s team rescued us. Cy and I were the only ones to survive.”

“I’m so sorry that happened to you.”

“A lot of men died,” Axel said. “After Cy and I both recovered, we were put on the same team again. Up until a year ago, we were all part of the same team. Then our team lead retired, and Ginger joined us. He hasn’t adjusted well to the dynamic, but I have faith he will in time.”

Terri ran her fingers along his chest. “You’re worried if you leave the team, they won’t be the same?”

Axel knew his team would be fine without him, but he wasn’t so sure how fine he would be without his team. “Now, I want to hear more about what your plans were with the program you created.”

Terri sighed and tried to sit up, but Axel kept his arms wrapped around her. “So we're done talking about you?”

“I will answer any other questions you have, but I really want to hear what you want in the future. For a second, forget the barriers in your life. What do you want?”

A smile spread across Terri’s face. “I want to have a house outside of city limits. And to work on my causes. I worked my ass off for the funding for the project. What makes me even madder is that I had a whole plan lined out. Dad didn’t even take the time to look at it. He assigned my funds to someone else.”

Axel understood how her project meant a lot to her. He had a few days to decide what he wanted to do, but the more time he spent with Terri, he wasn’t sure he could go back to his old life. President Fugate owed him, and he planned to call in the favor. In the back of his mind, he knew he should talk out his plan with Terri, but he didn’t want to get her hopes up. “I think you did something great. Hex had nothing but good things to say about you. For a skinny nerd, he has the determination to save everyone. Kind of reminds me of you. Now he knows his sister is safe. I think he’s going to try to save Lila.”

“Do you think she’s okay?”

“The Lila I met was a kick-ass woman. I’m not sure what her plan is or why she won’t leave, but I have a feeling it has to do with the Karva Organization. Tex is going to link up with her.”

Director Ernest was pissed when he found out we told Hex about his sister. He struggled with the not looking for her. Instead, he turned his focus to Lila. Hex promised to use all his knowledge to get back to her. The man could barely lift his arm, and he was demanding a computer in the hospital.

“I’m happy his sister is okay.” Terri paused. “I thought over the years about you. No matter how much I never wanted to. This.” She waved her hands in the air. “Never once did I think your life was like all this.”

“What did you think my life was like?”

“I imagined you living in military housing with a wife and four kids.”

Axel smiled. “No wife and no kids…But I want kids. Do you?”

Terri’s hand froze against his chest. “You want to talk kids, when we don’t even know what this is?”

“We’re dating. Don’t most people dating have these types of talks? I think when we were younger, you wanted around eight kids.”

They spent hours mapping out their future. He was going to swim for college and compete in swimming. His one Olympic Gold medal was tucked away in a drawer. Terri wanted to homeschool the kids and be a stay-at-home wife. Life seemed perfect if you erased all the shit around them. The crap he could never escape. Hell, seventeen years later, they still had the same problem.

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