Page 27 of Fighter's Enemy

"Why won't you feel unwell, you had too many unhealthy foods yesterday," I teased, and everyone laughed.

"I am being serious, why would they send just five of us to a gray site? He complained again, and I gazed at him, he was not one to complain; he was a pretty optimistic person. Pessimism was my thing.

"I just think because it is and easy task, why deploy the whole troop. We are meant to just scavenge the area for black mine and capture the one or two people responsible for the illegal drilling, that is what the commander said," I tried to explain to him, but I could still see his doubt visible as they were before.

"Do you believe that just two people would be involved in drilling an illegal mine?" he asked. He made a fair point.

"Well, I am sure the commander did his due diligence, and this was the findings he got, don't worry buddy. It will be fine," I said to him and placed my hands on his shoulders. As we got down the chopper and began to scavenge around the site, we discovered green plants all through the site, instead of the black mine we were informed to be.

"Why does this look more like a drug warehouse than a black mine site? I think we should go back and report our findings," Chris said, nervousness all over his face.

"I am sure this is just an attempt to distract people from what is truly going on. More like a trojan horse," I muttered silently as we opened a door to the east side of the house.

"Oh my fucking God, this is no trojan house this is the cocaine distribution pipeline, let us get out of here," We began to run but it was too late, we got ambushed from different corners of the warehouse. We tried to run but they were everywhere.

Then a man came from behind and was about to shoot me. Then Chris used his body as a cover, shoving me to the other side of the mine and receiving the bullet, directly in his left chest.

I ran back and held his chest to put pressure to the bullet wound.

"Chris, stay with me please,"

"I don't want to die," he pleaded as blood began to spit out from his mouth. I held him to my chest, his blood spilling all over my body, in rage I began to shoot sporadically, killing everyone and when we made it to the chopper, I told the pilot to go.

"No, the other guys,” Chris muttered silently.

"But you will die Chris,"

"I…am…already…dead," he coughs out another heap of blood, "Anita," Those were his last words, that day Chris saved me and three others but lost his life on the process.

I grieved for so long, and kept on enlisting every year, in a bid to find out who was responsible for the drug operation and digging deep even when my superior asked me to let it go. But I kept digging till I discovered one of the biggest drug cases and human trafficking organization, this led to me being set up, then arrested and dismissed.

"She will be fine," Anita whispered to my ears and I broke down into more tears. All this felt like some sort of Deja vu to me. All these is my fault, if I had listened to Chris back then and also to my superior who said they should let things go, this wouldn't have happened to Kayla.

I was so sure it was the guys from night of my fight.

"Where is he?" I heard a loud yell coming from down the hallway. And then I saw Mark approaching with all the rage in the world on his face. "Where is she? you son of a bitch," I knew he was scheduled to come back today, I left a message for him on our way to the hospital.

As soon as he approached me, his fist clenched and flung to my face, punching me. Before I could recover from that one, he threw another punch in the air. Anita held him.

"Stop sir, stop," she yelled out at him.

"I am going to kill that son of a bitch," I was on the floor, I could see the droplets of blood from my mouth. I deserve all this, I deserve death. This was the consequences I had to face for all the bad decisions I had made in my life, for all the wrong I had done.

"I hate you Logan, I wish I never fucking met you."

As Mark's angry words lashed out at me, I could feel the weight of his blame crashing down upon my shoulders. I desperately wanted to make him understand that I never intended for any of this to happen, that I truly cared for Kayla and only wanted the best for her. But his anger burned brightly, obscuring his ability to see reason. This wasn't my best friend talking, this a man about to lose the only person who he considered his family.

"Mark, I'm sorry," I pleaded, my voice laden with regret. "I never meant for any of this to happen. I never wanted Kayla to get hurt. I've always had good intentions, even if things didn't turn out the way we hoped."

Mark's eyes narrowed, his frustration boiling over. "Good intentions? That's what you call it? Every time you're around, something bad happens. How can I trust you with Kayla's safety? You're a bad influence, Logan. A fucking ticking time bomb. I told you to stay away from her, but you couldn’t even keep your dick in your pants for a day."

I swallowed hard, my heart pounding. The weight of Mark's accusation hung heavy in the air, and I knew that the consequences of that night would forever change our lives. But I couldn't allow him to cast all the blame on me without defending myself.

"I understand your anger, Mark," I replied, my voice steady but tinged with sadness. "But I want you to know that I would never intentionally harm Kayla. I care about her deeply. I've made mistakes, yes, but I've learned from them. And I'm willing to do whatever it takes to make things right."

I wasn't going to leave Kayla, I wasn't going to let her die like Chris did. I am not going to lose hope now.

Just as the tension between us reached its peak, the doctor emerged from the emergency room, his face a mask of urgency. The gravity of his words hung in the air like a storm cloud, threatening to shatter our already fragile bond.

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