It Goes On - Book l

The Return of Watcher 3-1

Simon's Point of View:

I sat inside of the cargo plane in a trance, still numb to the fact that I was deployed again. I was expecting my reunion with Price and Kyle to be somewhat bittersweet, but we all shared the same look of worry now that we knew who our possible target was. Price was on his second cigar during the flight, and I could tell he was nervous. I found myself sitting with my elbows against the bend of my knees, twining my fingers together as I looked down at them. I had just put the photo of my family back in my vest, taking a second look after I had told myself I would just look once to remind myself of what I was fighting for, but I looked at it again, and almost pulling it out for a third time to give myself extra motivation if the jumpmaster didn't announce that we had thirty seconds until we got to the DZ.

I couldn't lie and say that I didn't miss this – the bullets, the fighting, my team's progress, but it was different now that I had my own family waiting on me back at home. They all relied on me, and I was still getting used to it. Johnny and I barely exchanged words throughout the flight. I'm sure he was thinking about the same things I was. His lass was about to deliver a baby and they were in the midst of planning their wedding when he was notified of his deployment. Kyle sat close to Price – they had always been close every time I'd see them, which was no different than how Johnny and I were. He was a few years younger than me, and definitely was seen as my annoying little brother, but that still didn't mean I'd throw myself in the line of fire just to save his life. When I was at my lowest, he weaseled his way in through my impatience during our assignments, finding himself being the target of my horrible and dry jokes. I couldn't recall the last time I was that close to a person platonically, so to label him as a 'best friend' was far out the window by this point.

He was my brother.

I wanted to practice my new dad jokes with him, to see how bad they were before I told them to Baler. God, that kid. I miss him. I certainly didn't expect him to pop into my life, but neither did Kiera. We had clashed heads a lot, but we also bonded during those moments. I didn't think saying goodbye to him would be as hard as it was, but I hated to see him cry. When we finish setting this perimeter and take post, I'm going to try to contact him or Kiera just to hear their voices. It had only been a day, but a day without hearing Kiera's soft voice or even when Baler "accidentally" curses in front of his mum with the twins around was enough to have me imagining them talking to me right now. I'd give anything just to hear it.

I stood up alongside Johnny, watching Price put out his cigar before he tucked it into his vest pocket as I ensured that the zipper of my vest pocket was secure. That picture meant more to me than any of my gear, sitting right behind my insignia patch of my home country's flag – the two most important things of my life – what I'm proud of.

The drop hatch of the plane opened, and cold air hit all of us at once. I couldn't help but shiver as I stared down at the black space below. We were going to parachute down to establish a perimeter and take our posts for the night. Price and I were going to take the high ground and set up a sniping position overlooking the prison and all entry points, while Johnny and Kyle would secure and scout our perimeter to keep watch for any threats while we were waiting on our reinforcements.

"Laswell, go for 6." I heard Price say into his comm. She sounded almost frantic when she came through the first time, which was never good.

"John, Makarov is out!"

"Say again, Laswell?"

We all looked at our Captain dumbfounded. What? How would he have gotten out that fast? Was this Konni Group working on the inside? I wasn't surprised to hear what I was hearing as nothing ever went according to fucking plan, but I had no choice but to follow orders.