If it takes all night, or a hundred years | COD Alex/Farah

Chapter 2

Farah's heart leapt but she stayed perfectly still. "Nearby?"

"Mountains. All he would say was mountains. I wanted to tell you as quickly as possible."

She grasped his arm warmly as he opened the door again. "Thank you."

When it shut, the sound felt like a bomb going off. If the soldier referred to him as a prisoner, he could be alive. Her hand went over her heart. She wondered for a brief second if she could even locate it.

Price was already waiting for her. "You're up early."

She didn't speak, she just followed him into the same room from before. The one with the map. He shut the door and stood across from her.

"You with me?" He asked.

"Yes?" She questioned him, frowning.

"You just seem a little disoriented, is all." Her frown deepened. "Out in the open at an ungodly hour, dressed for a fight. Thought you might be sleepwalking."

"No." She stated simply.

She didn't want his questions, and guilt suddenly gripped her as she imagined him waking up later that morning to find her long gone with no idea as to where. She didn't turn as Kyle entered the room. Price had woken him. Farah recognized the sound of his booted feet.

"What's all this?" He asked quietly.

"Word." Price said solemnly. "Of a prisoner."

Kyle shifted beside Farah, crossing his arms. Waiting. Farah knew they'd all been tense over choices made, hoping an opportunity to right them might fall in their lap. It felt like shaky ground, believing that it finally had.

"Prisoner." He stated when Price didn't continue.

The captain took a breath. He looked over the map between them. He looked at Farah who had barely moved. "A Russian soldier caught in the raid last night said there was an American prisoner being held nearby."

"A Russian soldier said...." Kyle trailed off, narrowing his eyes. "The last two camps we've hit were decoys. What good is his word?"

"It's—" Price started.

Kyle raised a hand, cutting him off. Farah glanced at him. "If interrogating these soldiers could have gotten us word of an American prisoner sooner, then what the fuck have we been doing?"

Price closed his mouth and looked at the younger man. Farah hadn't taken her eyes off of him, either. He wasn't wrong, but the answer to his question wasn't going to satisfy him.

"We didn't have a lead, or the resources."

"And we do now?"

"We have the first half, at least." Price pointed to a spot on the map. Both of them leaned forward, looking. "Laswell has intel, the possibility of other bunkers like the one we found before. We know that. But we were assuming they were unmanned, it appeared the one where Alex was taken was the last unemptied one as far as missiles and men."

"And they've been gathering those missiles and moving them." Farah confirmed. Chlorine gas was one thing, but the fear the missiles struck in her, the complete unknown, it hadn't helped her poor sleep habits.

"Yes." Price nodded. "So we have assumed they were empty, but based on the soldier using the word 'nearby', it might not be a bad idea to start checking."

"But we have no resources." Kyle countered.

Cold sarcasm ran a line through his words. They all hurt over their loss, but Kyle harbored a lot of bitterness for how it was handled. Not that he could have handled it himself. Not that he didn't trust Price, and Farah, and Laswell, but because he knew Alex would be out looking for any one of them, damn their lacking resources.