We Who Serve

Chapter Twenty-Eight

"You hid this," Price spoke in such a way you could tell he was trying to hold back his anger as he stared at Shepherd's face on the laptop. "Why?" 

"We all keep secrets, Captain." Was all Shepherd had to answer. As if that would ever be a good enough answer for Price.

"Why the hell wasn't I informed?" Price spoke with venom in his voice at him. Will stood at Grimes's front sorting out her stitching. She had come around not far from the base in the car. When she did, she didn't move. Grimes relaxed in Ghost's tight hold as his cheek pressed against the side of her head. She could feel the rhythm of his breathing as her body moved up and down slightly. Right now, Ghost was busy checking out the back of her wound to make sure it didn't need attending to either as Soap and Gaz stood watching Price.

"Consider yourself well informed now, John." Grimes wasn't sure if it was the tone of Shepherd's voice or the fact that he called the Captain by his first name that caused a new lease of life to spring out of her. Her jaw clenched, and her fists balled up at her side as she sat on the worktop. She moved her head to crack her neck to relieve some of the tension that was building up.

"Oh, that's really fuckin' helpful, General. Thank you." Price fired back, using his rank because he was a man of respect compared to that sorry excuse. "But you're a day late and a missile short; there's three of 'em. We only found two." 

"Then point yourself in that direction and fix it," Shepherd told him as if this was their mess to begin with and not his fuck up.

"And who fixes you, eh?" Price asked with so much malice behind it.

"I don't need fixing. I'm a patriot protecting my country," 

"You know what, no," Grimes spoke loudly, clearly having enough of the lack of respect this man has. Grimes pushed Will away as he was putting a dressing on the wound. Price had stood up and walked away from the chair when Grimes walked behind it. She placed her elbows on the back and bent down to be in the frame. 

"Remember me?" Grimes asked with a smirk. Shepherd's face took a moment before it dropped slightly. "What's the matter, General? Cat got your tongue?" She asked him bitterly sweet. "Or is it that you've just realised the shit pile you've just landed in?"

"You are supposed to be dead," Shepherd spoke out bluntly.

"Please, that assassin you sent. You'll have to do much more than that to kill me." Grimes smirked at him, "But then again. I would start focusing on your own protection from now on." 

"Is that a threat?" Shepherd asked, causing her to chuckle as Will walked around and stood in the view of the camera in the background. Grimes dropped her head down so that her face could not be seen. But when she lifted it back up, all emotion was gone, leaving nothing but a glare rattling even Ghost's soul. 

"I don't make threats. I state facts." Grimes told him with such a cold and malice tone that the air around them thickened. Will also glared at the camera, not helping with the growing tension. 

"Every time you hear footsteps in a dark hall, it's me. Every time you hear metal clicking, it's me. Every time you go to sleep and hear the wind against your window, it's me. Every time you see a shadow in the corner of you're eye, that's me. I work in the shadows to protect the light. You will never see me coming." Grimes spat at him with such a tone that you could tell she was serious about it all. "I know what you and Graves have been doing. And what Graves did the other night proves everything to me. But not only that, you attacked two assassins, and an attack on an assassin is an attack on the Creed itself. You are now blackwatched, General. You fucked around, and now..." Grimes moved closer to the camera so she could quieten her voice. "You're about to find out," Grimes told him before standing up and walking out of view of the camera, Will following suit. 

"You need to call off your shadow." Price spoke as he moved back to the laptop. 

"Graves?" 

"Yeah," 

"He's a dog with a bone, and I highly recommend you don't try and take it," Shepherd said again, finding his backbone that he lost two seconds ago.

"This is your last chance to change your mind." Price told him in a musical tone as if to play with him. 

"Then what?" 

"Then after I go for him," Price spoke as he moved closer to the camera. "I'm coming for you." He threatened before closing the laptop. Price looked up at the four men before looking at Grimes and Will on the other side of the room. They stood in silence for a moment before Price spoke up.

"What does Blacklisted mean?" He asked.

"Blacklisted is the highest threat," Will started.

"Someone that needs to be taken out right away." Grimes finished off for him.

"It is scarce to get a name on that list. There hasn't been one in over five years." Grimes explained as she looked at Will.

"What kind of things warrant being blacklisted?" Soap asked curiously. 

"Threats to large public numbers. Threats to the planet and anyone who attacks an assassin or the Creed." Will told him as he nodded. 

"The last person that nearly made a list was General Ghorbrani," Grimes told them while looking at Ghost. She saw the realisation flush through his eyes. "Who you took out for us." 

"You had something to do with that?" Ghost asked, wanting answers, but Grimes shook her head.

"Not exactly." Grimes told him, "I gathered the intel needed. The Creed handed it over to the right people, who then handed it to Laswell." 

"We have been tracking the AQ for some time now, but it wasn't until you guys found the first missile that we knew we had to intervene," Will explained.

"Somehow, Graves and Shepherd managed to keep this missile thing so well wrapped that even we didn't know about it." Grimes hissed as she began to get annoyed at herself for missing everything and how it all connected. "But I promise you this. I am going to find them both. And they are going to suffer."