The Soldier Next Door

I have come to the final conclusion that Ray is messed up.

I have grown beyond scared of him in the past hour. Yet his attempts to get information out of Matthews has been futile. The irritation and anger is only but growing with every minute that Matthews is lying to him about where they are keeping Ana. Although I am very convinced that he is telling the truth, Ray is not about to give up on his torture just yet.

So I am standing here, listening to Gibbs as he phones a friend that can help him track this asshole’s phone. Now I do not have patience, and it is wearing very thin as I wait for him to drop the call.

Once he is done, I look at him while he is only standing motionless, “Anything?”

He looks at me and shakes his head, “Sorry, Ethan, but his phone is off; the card might even not be in it anymore.”

Okay, that is one setback; he better has a good answer for number two, “And the tracking device in his car?”

I watch as he bites down on his bottom lip, and I know what he is about to say, “Sorry, they must have ripped the thing out.”

“Fuck.” I drop my face and pinch hard on the bridge of my nose; I am so goddamn frustrated. But yet, “What else is there?”

Then I turn my attention to Matthews, who is still very much sitting tied to a chair. The poor man is bleeding out, but he is still alive to be useful yet.

So I walk on over him with Gibbs short on my tail. I watch as an eager Ray joins, for he is ready to make him lose some limbs. Well, this is now my show; Ray has outlived his usefulness.

“Okay,” I pull a chair closer in front of Matthews and rest my gun on my leg. I can see how he starts to tremble. This man knows what I will do; I will fucking pump so many holes in him that he will drain dead. So with a rather a shit scary-ass grin on my face, I start…

“Matthews,” I try to keep my voice calm, for the man has lost his damn tongue, not really his tongue; he just does not want to speak.  So, “I want to know how you keep in touch with your so-called boss?”

He only but shakes his head.

Well…

I lift my gun slowly from where I was holding it firmly on my leg. I pull the clip out and check if it is fully loaded. Now, by now, this man must be shitting himself. So just to make him sweat a little bit longer, I slip one bullet out and shine it on my pants. I can hear his breathing starting to become strained.

Then, once again. “How do you keep in touch with him?” Yes, perhaps this would be an easy answer if we found a phone on this man, yet, we did not.

Still stubborn, no answer.

I slam the clip back into the gun, just for some scary effect. Then, I cock is and watch Matthews’s face as I center my finger over the trigger. I watch as he swallows hard but yet…no answer.

Then with a rather wicked smirk on my face, I look at him again, “And?”

One…two…three…

I pump a bullet into his shin.

I nearly fall off the chair, and I burst out in fucking laughter. “Now, are you going to tell me how do you keep in contact with him?”Content from NôvelDr(a)ma.Org.

He looks at me with horror on his face, but ya, the man has grown some balls for he is nodding, “It is in that drawer.”

It is with a very nervous, and terrified Matthews, that I find the very thing that will lead us to Ana.

So as Matthews checks in to confirm that we have not been here, well, a very firm barrel in his face assured me of that. His so-called boss is now under the impression that none of us has become aware of Ana’s disappearance. Well, the man must be fucking stupid for believing that, in fact, the man is just plain fucking stupid as it is.

Now while Matthews is trying to keep the asshole long enough on the walkie-talkie, Gibbs gets the location.

They are thirty-eight miles from here. So with Matthews in hand, for we still need him to be useful, we get in the SUVs into that direction.

It is with absolute haste that we are speeding through the city. The only ray of hope now is that we know that they have not moved Ana. As for our plan of action yet, well as far as Ray is concerned he is just going to storm in there and get all of us fucking killed.

So it will take us about forty-five minutes to arrive there. We have Matthews with his walkie-talkie. Gibbs will keep on tracking the location as long as Matthews keeps up a conversation.

This is a fucking mess.

How do we get in there without being seen?

Think…Ethan…Think.

Walk straight into the front door? I seem to think that he will have more men on hand than I do. As for firepower, well Ray came pretty well equipped with that.

We can…ya, let us rethink. But what if we just fucking blow ourselves in there.

Not a chance…I am not putting Ana’s life in danger.

Perhaps, ya, I am leaning to, perhaps we should not attack in the darkness.

“Gibbs.”

“Yes, Ethan?”

“What do you think we lay low and only attack when the sun rises?”

“Good idea, but also risky. He would have a better idea that we have discovered his location. I suggest we still do it under darkness.” Then he but goes silent for a few seconds. “It is if that fucking Ray does not get us discovered in the first place.”

“Hey, the man has gone fucking crazy.” Gibbs only but laughs at me before I continue…

But it is Matthews that is the next to speak, “You know that you will never see Ana again.”

…Ana POV…

Yes, my clever, at first, but now my ass has no idea where she is. I have just gotten safely out of the house, and am going deep into what is an endless and endless amount of trees. I think I am safe to say that I am off into the woods.

Fuck, I did not even know that there are woods around the city.

This is a goddamn nightmare.

I could not even grab my phone as I was making my escape for the asshole had it trashed, but I know he had that damn walkie-talkie that was standing on the table. Perhaps I should have taken that. By now Ethan must know that I am gone.

He must be fucking boiling.

So, what do I do now?

Wait…first I must… It has started to rain, making it absolutely useless to see where I am going. I have no damn shoes on and only this t-shirt that clearly smells like this fucking asshole.

And it is not like it is drizzling, the raindrops are beating hard against my skin, even with the cover from the trees on top, it is still coming down hard. And if the fact that I am getting soaked is not enough, I have my toes digging down in the mud. But let us not forget the damn mud that is stuck to my ass and my arms.

This is absolutely perfect.

How is Ethan going to find me now?

I just have to push on through and see where I come out. But just as I think that I am heading onto the right path, I get sadly mistaken…

…Ethan POV…

We are but five minutes away from our location.

Matthews has radioed in and we have established that they have not moved.

Now we have decided that both groups would be making our way in from the back of the woods. Ray has promised that he won’t just storm in there. I have asked Williams to be ready to tackle him to the ground if he does.

As for Matthews, the man is coming with. Hey, if I don’t kill him then his boss definitely would. Though Matthews, I have known the man for long, I am not quite sure what his fate for betraying me is going to be.

So, as we start leaving the city limits, we see the dense woods coming up on our left. Now, I personally do not know what to expect here, but Gibbs assures me that there is a number of rundown houses in this section close to the woods.

I am not splitting up.

We need the numbers so it is going to be a guessing game. All I hope is that there are not men manning the empty houses, for they will be letting the fucking jerk know of our presence.

After what seems like five minutes too long debating this, we decide to head to head out. The weather has turned for the shit and our visibility has gone down to almost zero. But this is what Marines are trained for, even for all the goddamn mud.

With the weather against us, we start treading through the woods trying for our feet not to give us away. With each step, you can hear as it squashes into the ground.

As we find our way, well as I am guessing a quarter of the way inside, in the far-off distance I can see the glimmer of light. I immediately show for all to halt.

From under the whisper, I draw them closer to me in a circle, “Ray, no fucking running in there or I am shooting you myself.” Ya, that was bold and at least he is not shooting me now, but wait, he might just do it later.

Then I slowly continue, “They might not be in this house. The minute you spot someone, take them out. Do not fucking shoot anybody if you do not see him or Ana. If they aren’t here then we need to continue as softly as possible. Do not fucking shoot.”

Once again I look at Ray, “Shoot and I fucking shoot you.”

He only but nod his head, ya, I am dead after this.

So as we crawl, not really in the mud, but with hunched back and guns firmly gripped and pointing ahead, we break the perimeter of the house.

We split up into two groups, heading both left and right.

Slowly against the side of the house, we pace ourselves up against the wall. There seem to be curtains in front of the windows, no way for us to see inside.

Then, we turn the corner…