Mercy: Second Chance Military Romance (20 page)

“You refused my water and did not trust me in Ghazni.”

“How did you get my number?”

“My nephew is on the internet book of faces, and he found your name. The rest, he said, was easy-peasy.”

That’s scary.

“Why are you calling me?”

“I saw your article, and I have information you might want.”

“Yeah?”

“The hesitation again!”

“Look, this is awfully strange. I’m being careful.”

“You didn’t trust me before and look what happened. Will you trust me now?”

“Sure…”

I wasn’t sure what else to say.

“Good. Your friend, Tyler, gave you wrong information.”

“What do you mean?”

I glanced over at his naked body on the bed.

“Some of the names he gave were wrong, and I can prove it.”

“Prove it? How?”

“It’s not safe to discuss on the phone, as you know. You must come to Afghanistan.”

“I’m not sure…”

“Trust me,” he interrupted. “You can find me in Ghazni. You know where.”

The call ended. I stared at the phone a moment, still stunned. After waking up the laptop, I checked my email and saw thirty-two new messages – all about my story. And it had only been up for two hours.

Thanks to the internet, the story had spread far and wide. I turned and looked at Tyler on the bed.
Should I wake him? Let him know about Afghanistan right away?

THIRTY-EIGHT

Mercy

As I watched him sleep, Tyler opened his eyes. When he saw me watching him, he smiled and patted the mattress next to him.

“Come and rest,” he said.

I walked over to the bed and laid down next to him in my pajamas.

“You have way too many clothes for this,” he teased, putting his hand on my stomach.

“We need to talk,” I said seriously.

He rolled over, propping himself up with his elbow.

“What’s wrong?”

“That man you were talking about earlier?”

“Yeah, what about him?”

“He called me just now.”

“Really? That’s crazy.”

“Tell me about it. He saw my article online after I posted it an hour or so ago.”

“Yeah, it would be afternoon over there right now, early evening maybe.”

“He said you were wrong on the names and that he can get the feds off your back by proving my innocence.”

“But I’m not innocent. I already told you I was involved.”

“Yeah, but he said he could help us. We have to go see him.”

“Whoa, hold on a minute. That’s even more crazy. We don’t know this guy or even what supposed information he has for us. Sounds like a trap to me.”

“I didn’t trust him before, and I got burned. I don’t want to make the same mistake again, Ty.”

He sat up all the way. I placed my hand on his back, wanting him so bad in that moment.

“Let’s do this. I can pay for us to fly there in the next few days. It’s not going to be easy.”

I sat up, my arm draped around his back.

“Believe me, I remember my last trip to Afghanistan. This might be our only chance to clear your name.”

“If your story keeps spreading today and over the week, I’ll have to do something.”

“We’ll figure it out,” I said in a consoling tone.

He stood up and walked over to my laptop.

“Buying tickets to Afghanistan while naked. That has to be something new,” he said.

I laughed and got out of bed. Exhaustion still racked my body, but something felt unfinished. My story would tarnish his reputation and have people looking at him, but he had still agreed to let me use his name. To me, that said love, more than words alone could describe.

“There,” he said, spinning around. “We have two coach tickets leaving tonight at six p.m.”

“Shit,” I muttered.

“Exactly.”

“Should I stay up and sleep on the long flight or crash now?”

“It’s your call.”

He walked over, putting his hands on my shoulders.

“You really love being naked all the time, don’t you?”

“Oh, do you mind?”

I grinned.

“Not at all.”

He moved his hands to my waist, holding tight as his lips pressed against mine. I pulled back.

“You need to brush your teeth.”

“How about a shower together?”

“That might work to keep me up. I guess I’ll sleep on the flight.”

“Flights are boring.”

“Mile-high club,” I countered.

“Good point. Honestly, I could sleep more. We were up so late.”

I took his hand in mine and led him back to the bed.

We were soon laying side by side, still holding hands. Sleep overtook both of us.

My dreams were filled with mountain ranges and strange people speaking an unknown Afghan dialect.

No matter what happened on our crazy, last minute adventure, I would stay by his side.

We had each other, and sometimes, at the end of the day, that was all that mattered.

THIRTY-NINE

Tyler

Mercy and I landed at the Kandahar airport in one piece. I had sent word to a few contacts I still had in the country. A Land Rover waited outside, ready to take us all the way to Ghazni.

A man riding shotgun – literally – smelled of goats and sour cheese, but he looked tough enough to protect us. I had spent a lot of money setting up our impromptu trip.

I glanced over at Mercy as she sat beside me in the back of the Range Rover. She was looking out the window at the landscape as the sun rose in the distance.

Arabic music flowed from the speakers as the driver and his security guard in the passenger seat yapped back and forth about the best way to dig a well.

“We have to be ready for anything,” I said. “You shouldn’t have come.”

She turned to face me. Her eyes were red, with bags under them.

“I want to be here. You couldn’t have stopped me.”

“This will all be over soon. We can put it all behind us and get on with our lives.”

As I watched her smile weakly, I realized how much I loved her. It was if the entire universe all of a sudden connected in a way that made sense. We were made for each other. True love.

“I can’t think of a better plan,” she said, still staring into my eyes.

“We should arrive early enough to scope the place out before it gets too packed. Are you sure you remember where he was set up in the market?”

“I mean, it was a year ago in a strange place and I was stressed out of my mind, but I think so.”

“Good.” I turned to the passenger up front. “I need the gun.”

He twisted around, eyeing me suspiciously.

“Do it, do it, he’s been vetted,” the driver said in English.

The other man reached into the glove box and pulled out a revolver old enough to be in a museum.

“Wait a minute,” I said. “This isn’t what we agreed I would be getting. I’ll need more firepower than this if this turns out to be a trap.”

“That what you pay, that what you get,” the driver said.

Meanwhile, the passenger continued to stare at me menacingly.

“It’s okay,” Mercy said. “We’ll be fine.”

I wanted to call her out for being so naïve, but I held my tongue in front of the strangers. Every decision I made concerned her. I had to keep that in mind.

The two in front returned to arguing amongst themselves as we bounced around in the backseat. Outside, the unforgiving Afghanistan landscape stretched to the horizon.

Coming back to the war torn country was stupid in so many ways, but if we wanted any chance of a future together, it was necessary. Mercy turned to look out the window with me.

* * *

At the outskirts of Ghazni, the so-called escort specialists dropped us off and zoomed away, a cloud of dust rising in their wake.

“Fucking assholes,” Mercy said, wiping off her baggy white blouse and jeans.

“I had to hire them on short notice. We’re here now. Let’s find out what this old man says he knows.”

“Thanks for believing me on this,” she said.

“Why wouldn’t I believe you?”

“I don’t know. It’s just a hunch that this old guy is the real deal.”

“Hunches count for a lot on the battlefield.”

“I’d kiss you, but my lips are full of sand and dirt.”

I smiled, squeezing her arm briefly.

“Let’s do this.”

We walked side by side into the city which had only begun to awaken. Everyone who saw us stared. I gripped Mercy’s hand tightly, increasing our pace.

At the center of the city, we arrived at the market, already bustling with vendors setting up shop and locals arriving for early bird specials and to get the freshest produce.

“It’s this way,” she said, leading me toward the left side of the plaza.

She stopped a few stalls down. We both peered inside, seeing nothing.

“Where is he?” she asked.

I had already turned to glance around the plaza.

“What the hell?” she asked.

“I told you it was a trap,” I said, scanning the crowd still increasing in size. “There…”

Her gaze followed my finger as I pointed across the market.

“Isn’t that Roger?”

“Yeah. I should’ve known he was behind this.”

“What are we going to do?” she asked, holding onto my arm.

“Don’t worry. I’ll get us out of this mess.”

“I’m sorry, Tyler…”

“It’s not your fault,” I said, trying to reassure her. “You need to keep it together now, okay?”

She nodded.

“Let’s go this way,” I said, taking her hand.

We only made it a few steps before two Afghan men with AF-47’s stepped out from an alley and pointed their weapons at us. I pushed Mercy to the side, sliding in front of her in case they shot.

I stared into their eyes, knowing they were hardened mercenaries and did not give a fuck about anything, let alone Mercy or myself.
Think fast
, I told myself, weighing all the risks.

The only way out would be to overpower them, but if I tried, they would likely shoot Mercy. She had no training and would be a liability if we tried to run. Our only other choice was to hope.

“You come with us,” one man barked, moving his assault weapon erratically.

“Do what he says,” I whispered to Mercy. “Stay calm. We’ll get through this…”

She said nothing as the men led us to a waiting van around the corner. They put hoods over our heads.
Why the hell did I agree to come back and put both of us in danger?

I had no answers to my simple questions, let alone the more difficult ones.

* * *

As soon as the hood came off, I realized they had taken Mercy somewhere else.

“Where is she?” I yelled.

Unseen hands pushed my back, sending me forward, almost falling to the dirt floor.

Are we in a fucking cave? This is not good.

“Settle down, Tyler,” Roger said as he emerged from the darkness.

A half-dozen other men, all heavily armed, formed a circle around me.

Maybe I can get them to shoot each other? No. Mercy.

My only thoughts were to make sure she stayed safe.

I had lived my entire life giving others no mercy, but I wasn’t able to fathom no Mercy in my life anymore. She had impacted me in ways I still struggled to understand.

“What? You’ve got nothing to say?”

Roger laughed. I glared at him.

“Where’s Mercy?”

“The bitch is fine.”

I lunged toward him. He pulled out a stun-gun and hit me with at least fifty-thousand volts, sending me to the ground. As I writhed in pain, he laughed, followed by the other men.

“Where’s Mercy?” I yelled as I slowly got to my feet.

“You don’t need to worry about that bitch,” Roger said, staring into my eyes.

His were devoid of life or any soul – pure evil.

“Why are you doing this?” I asked.

“Why not?” he said with a chuckle. “You could have been on the winning side in this, but you had to be a punk-ass pussy and drop out. We were going to let you go until that bitch published her story.”