Got Your Six

Chapter 4

Calvin

It takes nearly ten minutes before Cameron comes back out of the captain's office. I hadn't noticed at first because I was just making small talk with a few of the other officers. I would've just left, but I'm not supposed to leave a visitor unattended for security purposes.
"What took you so long?" I ask when he walks up to me, holding a small white business card.
"He just wanted to make sure I was cool with this whole operation," Cameron says rather hesitantly.
I find it a bit odd that he was in there for so long with such a simple explanation but decide not to press on. I lead us out of the building and we go our separate ways. I hop in my truck and turn the music volume all the way down as I drive home.
"What's wrong?" Kayla asks me when I walk into the house.
She must've seen the distress on my face because I haven't even said a word yet.
"Just this whole thing with Cameron, it makes me uneasy. The captain wants him to help out with taking down a drug dealer but the thought of having him help just makes me nervous," I kick off my shoes and plop down on the couch beside her as she clicks off the TV. "Something about it just doesn't seem right. Almost like the captain isn't telling me everything. I mean, he offered Cameron a job when the bust is over with, and he didn't even warn me before he just went and offered it to him."
"I'm sure you're just worried about nothing. Cameron can take care of himself. And as for the bust, there will be plenty of other officers there I'm sure. So, nothing bad will happen to him," Kayla assures me.
"We can never predict what might happen. Especially in a situation like that, things could go sideways in the blink of an eye," I shift around on the couch, unable to find a comfy position. The whole situation is just making me worry so much.
"If it makes you that nervous, why don't you just talk to Cameron and ask him to decline the captain's offer?" Kayla asks as if it's just that simple.
"I don't want him to feel like I don't think he can handle it. It's just that I worry about him because I'm his big brother. I'm sure you're right, he can take care of himself. It still just makes me uneasy for some reason," I rub my temples, feeling a headache coming on.
"Okay, well, I'm sure everything will work out how it's supposed to. Just try to relax. I've got some work to do, why don't you go wind down?" Kayla suggests before giving me a quick kiss and heading off to her home office.
I'm left sitting on the couch with my thoughts for the next few minutes until I finally force myself to get up and head down to the basement. We haven't finished furnishing the basement yet. There's a big space for an entertainment area, that just has a single couch so far, and a separate room I designated for streaming in my free time. That's what I've been focusing my attention on lately. I head straight to my streaming room and click on the xbox before sitting down in my cozy chair.
I'm not in the mood to stream my gameplay right now so I leave my headset on the desk beside my keyboard and load up Call of Duty. After what feels like just a few rounds, I notice my headache has subsided and my nerves have finally calmed down. I glance at the time and find that nearly two hours have gone by. Just as I'm about to shut it down and go grab something to eat from the kitchen, I see, "OREOO0 is Online," pop up at the bottom of my screen.
'OREOO0' is Cameron's gamertag he came up with when he was in high school. Back then, Oreos were his favorite food to snack on. Thinking about it now, that probably hasn't changed.
I grab my headset and slip it over my head, waiting for the inevitable chat invite to come from Cameron. As if on cue, the invite appears on my screen in a matter of seconds.
"How's it going?" He asks once I join the chat.
"Good, you had a chance to think on captain Bennett's offer?" I ask him, somewhat nervous of what his reply might be.
"It's a lot to think about," Cameron says, not really answering my question.
"Yeah, I know. You don't gotta feel pressured to go through with it though," I tell him, trying to hint at him to decline the offer.
"I think I wanna do it. It's been a while since I've had some action in my life. That's one thing I miss about the Military," Cameron admits.
Just like that, Cameron sets my nerves to an all-time high. Putting myself in dangerous situations for my work is one thing, but now having to protect my brother during a high stake situation just makes it almost too much to handle.
"Ya know, you've got the whole weekend to think it over," I remind him. At this point, I'm prepared to say anything that I think might get him to reconsider.
"I know, you say that like you don't want me working along side you," Cameron says with a joking manner.
"I just don't want anything to happen to you," I admit, my voice barely louder than a whisper.
"Don't worry, I can handle myself," he assures me.
That's exactly what Kayla had said about him, that he could handle himself. I don't doubt that he can handle himself but I don't think he understands the severity of the situation. Sure he's worked with the guy we're going after, but he doesn't really know what the guy is capable of. None of us do for that matter. The last thing I need is for something to happen to Cameron during this mission, I'd never be able to forgive myself. I can't help feeling somewhat responsible for pulling him into this, even if it was the captain's idea to have him tag along.
I finally realize I've been staring at the home screen this whole time and decide to ask him if he wants to play a few rounds. At least that way we can finally change the subject and I can forget about putting my brother in harms way. He agrees and we finally drop the subject and focus our attention toward killing our virtual enemies.
"You going to eat something?" Kayla asks, standing in the doorway with a hand on her hip.
"Sorry, what?" I say, pulling my headset down around my neck. It's nearly impossible to hear anything outside of my headphones when I've got the sounds of the game filling my ears.
"I said, are you going to eat anything?" She repeats.
"What time is it?" I ask, glancing down at my watch.
"It's one o'clock," Kayla tells me at the same time I read it on my watch.
"Oh, oops, okay. I'll be up in a minute," I tell her and then she walks away towards the stairs.
"Hey, I'm gonna go eat lunch. I'll talk to ya later," I say into my headset.
"Oh, all right. See ya," Cameron says and then I click off my xbox and head upstairs.