Catching A Ghost | Simon 'GHOST' Riley

NINE

Despite cartel waiting for you on the extraction route, you were able to successfully evade with the help of Graves, as sickened as it made you to admit. 

You were covered in debris and desert dust by the time you'd hoisted yourself into the helo, once again being manhandled by Ghost to get everyone in as fast as possible. 

Not that you minded being manhandled, by him.

On the journey back to base, Hassan had been placed opposite you, smirking as he looked you up and down. 

Rudy sat next to you, tending to your cut with his first aid kit, and you kept eye contact with the terrorist, twirling your dagger in your fingers repetitively like some kind of warning. 

As soon as Soap noticed, a tarp bag was swiftly shoved over his head.

Landing back at base, no time was spared in getting straight back into a car and driving out to the desert to interrogate Hassan. 

Soap and Alejandro pulled him, shoving him down onto his knees, arms bound behind his back.

"Y'all got a clear picture?" Graves said, setting up the camera.

"Crystal." General Shepherd could be heard, along with Laswell's confirmation.

She'd noticed your blood-covered clothes and red neck immediately, her motherly instincts kicking in. 

Soap eagerly told her how you took out three men alone, for which she gave you a proud nod.

"You speak Arabic?" Hassan said as soon as his cover was off.

"No." Graves answered.

"Farsi?"

"No."

"Course not. Then I'll speak your bastardised medieval English because you are all uneducated street dogs."

"Ah, see...we're getting off to a bad start, Hassan."

You rolled your eyes, already bored of their ridiculous back-and-forth.

"Who'd you get American missiles from?" Soap's voice echoed around the air, bringing your attention back.

"I don't care who they're from, I wanna know where they're going." Shepherd said from the screen.

You stood beside Ghost at the back, in view enough to be seen from the video call, but far enough away that you could talk amongst yourselves. You were both observing, waiting, arms folded across your chest. 

You couldn't be less interested in this dick measuring contest, but that, that had piqued your interest, and not in a good way.

"I don't like that, Ghost." You said, not taking your eyes off the scene in front of you.

"What?"

"I don't trust Shepherd."

"Why?"

"Why wouldn't he want to know where the missiles came from? That seems like pretty damn important information from where I'm standing."

Ghost turned to look at you then, frowning under his mask as your eyes narrowed, teeth chewing the inside of your cheek. 

You had a point.

"We'll keep an eye on it."

"Yeah?"

"Yeah."

The sounds of coyotes howling bounced around the group, and it made you uneasy. 

You instinctively scooted a little closer to Ghost, gasping quietly when he placed a firm hand at the base of your spine, looping his finger into the strap at the bottom of your vest.