12 Seconds (#1 in Military series)

Epilogue

Epilogue

 

One year later . . .

 

The sun was delightfully hot.

Lying on her stomach, Jules stretched out beneath the sun allowing it to warm her back, her eyes closing briefly in relaxation.

The sand was hard beneath her stomach but she didn't mind.

The wind was cool against her skin, everything was silent around her and she allowed her eyes to close for a few brief minutes as she relaxed.

After a few seconds, which could have been minutes, her break was interrupted by the gritty sound of a northern Irishman, Angus Brennan.

"Hey, Jules?" Angus called through the headset from his position a few hundred metres away, safely out of the blasting range.

Jules sighed as she leaned up on an elbow and glared at Angus in the distance, "What is it, Angus?"

"Are you going to be long?" Angus shouted, "Only they're having hot dogs back at base tonight."

Jules's stomach rumbled as she heard the word food and she really wanted to tell him to shut up, "Alright, bring them down. I'm nearly finished."

"Yes!" Angus exclaimed. Jules shook her head, chuckling to herself as she placed the last component on the dummy IED and sat back on her haunches, waiting for the newest Afghan recruits to arrive.

Dusting the sand off her front, Julia caught sight of the gold band around her finger and a smile came to her lips.

Jumping to her feet, Julia waved the men forward in eagerness. She wanted to get back to base as soon as possible.  

It wasn't her turn to be out here today. She had been expecting a light patrol in the morning followed by an entire day of relaxation and rest with Marc but it seemed her plans had, once again, been thrown of the window when the resident bomb expert had gone out sick.

Julia was just giving the new recruits a crash course in how not to get blown up.

Jules did realise the irony of the situation.

As the small group of four Afghan boys arrived, each in their early twenties, Julia directed them to the bomb and told them each to take it in turns to try and disable it whilst she stood back and watched.

Angus had been joined to their unit a few months back. He was a handsome kid with ginger hair, a light beard, and an excitable nature.

Jules got the sense that he was always high on caffeine by the way he couldn't keep still.

Julia looked around them, keeping an eye out. This region was clear of Taliban and they weren't very far from base but she could never let her guard down.

Angus yawned beside her, "Is it always this boring?"

Julia thought about all the times she had been blown up, the bullets that had whizzed past her head and she thought about Abdul-Azim Farhat and Safia.

"Pretty much," Julia nodded when she spotted one of the new kids press something he shouldn't.

"BOOM!" Julia suddenly exclaimed, causing them all to jump.

The kid on the ground stared at her as if she was insane.

Julia simply smiled, "Boom, you're dead."

He glared at her.

"You cut the wrong wire. Next!"

This went on for the next three rounds until Julia had had enough. It was her anniversary and she wasn't going to spend it out here trying to diffuse a fake bomb.