Home - COD Simon Ghost Riley X Female OC

Chapter 31

There was no waiting room there, just a hall with a few chairs. Simon had been sitting long enough that the buzzing of the fluorescent lights was making his head ache. He put his elbows on his knees and held his hands over his ears.

He called and called on Ghost to come and spare him this feeling of helplessness. Even long after he realized Simon would never leave him, he still had the ability to protect him from things like this. But that was Simon's girl on the other side of that big, windowless door, not Ghost's, and so he wasn't going anywhere. He would stay at the surface and feel all of it. And he would handle it just fine, because everything Simon had ever truly cared about had already been taken from him. This would be no different.

He figured after a half hour when no one had come out, then that must be a good sign. They must still feel they had a chance to save her. He kept his hands over his ears, replaying all the times he should have known she wasn't okay, but he still heard the footsteps coming down the hall. Price.

"Here." He sat down next to Simon and handed him a mask.

It was one of his that he kept clean and on hand. Someone would have moved his things for him. He was relieved they had, to his surprise. He was glad he didn't have to think about it now.

Simon slipped it over his head, even though he desperately needed a shower and a shave and felt himself relax slightly. He had been completely exposed and it offered him a reprieve.

"Anything?" Price nodded toward the door they had taken Mariana through.

"Not yet."

He inspected his own hands for a moment. Bloody, killing machines. Cold, deft, good for nothing but combat. Too callused and jaded to hold something safely. Especially a heart. He had been ready to fall for her, and instead the entire cliff fell out from beneath both of them. He had no choice but to pull himself back up again and face the damage on his own. Fix what he could fix. Move on.

"What's next?" Simon turned to his captain, hoping to hear what they had planned with their new colleagues and what angles they could pull now that the family was without both sisters and their general.

"For us? We get what we can out of the sister, and we find where they've moved the weapons operation. All that was left on that base was narcos." Simon nodded. "And for you," Price met his eyes, "we get all the information we can from your time there and then you sit. Take a break."

Simon put his hands on his thighs like he might stand. "I'm fine, I don't need a break."

The captain took it in stride. "You do, you took a bullet and we don't know what kind of shape that leg is in. You just spent multiple days imprisoned. You're dehydrated at the least and need antibiotics. You're not field ready."

Simon did stand then and paced a few steps, ignoring the sting in the leg he knew Price was right about. It needed to be looked at and cleaned up. "I promised she wouldn't be a distraction."

Price leaned back and crossed his arms. "I never even mentioned her. It doesn't have anything to do with her. My mind's made up."

Simon stopped, exhaustion and adrenaline making him feel uncharacteristically desperate. "Don't take this away from me."

Price stood then, too. "I'm not taking anything away. I need you, I can't do it without you. It wouldn't be smart of me not to think about your needs now though, would it?"

"I need this job. I need to work."

Price stepped closer to him, blocking him from walking any further. "Who am I talking to?"

Price hadn't had to ask that in a long time, but they both needed to hear him say it. Simon didn't have the heart to tell him Ghost was long gone. Ghost had abandoned him. He clenched his teeth to keep from balling his hands into fists.