Don't fear the reaper - Captain John Price

XXV

The sky was pressing onto the ground, as the tops of the buildings were hiding in the fog. Another day full of grayness passed, with the noticeable puddles on the ground from the rain in the afternoon. The nature was quiet, just as it always was before the storm. Even the birds were hiding somewhere far away from the speedy cold wind. Rare yellow leaves were still laying on the ground, as the winter days were the warmest people in town could remember. But, with each passing hour, the cold was closer to falling onto the ground. Finally, the abnormally warm days were over, and the winter was taking its power back.

The first days of training are always hard. The woman's body and mind were not used to the things she was going through in the training facility. But, it is always better to be ready for hell beforehand and face it with bravery, than die frightened. Muscles of her body were sore, while the mind tried to get used to the liters of blood all around. It was hard, but life was never meant to be easy. The gaze of the brown eyes was pointing into the book on the book of strategy that was sitting on the table in front of her as the warmth of the common area was keeping the room from the cold wind that was knocking on rare windows of the building. A cup of tea was sitting on the table in front of MacTavish, as the man seemed to be preoccupied with the thoughts in his head.

"Have you ever let Alex go in your head?" Johnny broke down the silence that was flying around in the room. Long years passed since the incident, but not even a single conversation about the man happened between them. Not even a word, but suddenly, an interest appeared in his mind.

"I had to, even before he died," A brunette closed the book, understanding that the endless pages would get her attention elsewhere, but not at that moment in the presence of MacTavish.

"Never heard you talking about it, bet that was hard," He took another sip of the tea, maintaining eye contact between them for a moment. Johnny knew Amelia for way too long not to notice when lies would come out of her mouth.

"Army was even harder," She looked away, as the memories of the days a woman would rather forget were running through her head. Amelia knew that this conversation would come up one day. Price was the first man she let inside of her mind and heart years after, and only time will show if it was a mistake or not. "But I had to learn to let go of people in my life because it feels like the past is constantly choking you while you try your best to be happy."

Johnny felt a pair of brown eyes on his face, as his gaze was running around the room. They were doing a hard job, but maybe a normal life would be harder than the military. Soap had the days when he enjoyed the civilian life in between the missions, but his heart belonged to the battleground. His hands were used to holding a weapon, and not a hand of a person he cares about. It always surprised him how in the case with Knight it was different. When a person who never belonged to war, ran away from peace just to fight. A smile was sitting on the edge of his lips, as the man remembered the good old days of no worry in his childhood before the voice from the other side of the table made him come back into the room.

"Priya is dead," Amelia was looking at the white wall in front of her as the words were escaping out of her mind into the room. Back in London, in the quiet mornings a brunette opened a letter from her mother, with the piece of news that made her forget about all the plans for the warm day. Her childhood friend was dead. Now not only in her head, but in reality too.

"Your little traitor friend?" Soap never had a good opinion about Priya. Too many actions of the woman made him jump to his conclusions, while Amelia was making her own mistakes. Until one day the voice of a brunette on the other side of the phone was telling him a story of betrayal as the loud tears could be heard even through the phone call. 

"It's not my fault that my ability to choose good friends ended when I met you," Time heals. And even after years since the incident, Amelia could finally talk about her without the feeling of emptiness inside, as if a part of her was missing, but rather emotionless.

"You didn't mention her for years," Johnny was surprised to hear ever again about the people who were one in his friend's life and left their significant mark. But, the man knew that if Knight decided to open this chapter of her life to him wider, the most important thing he could do, was to listen.

"One day she just moved to the States. Told me about it over the phone one week before her flight, and never came back. We were talking from time to time, but it was never the same since she became a financial advisor in some private military company," A woman shook her shoulders, letting out the years of pain, disappointment, and misunderstanding of the other person out of her mind. Army made her tougher, finally removing the softest version of a brunette out of her mind. But, something was still aching from time to time inside of her chest.

"American PMC? Lia, you better give me the name," MacTavish felt as if someone had thrown a cup of cold water onto his face. His jaw was visibly clenching, as the feeling of tension took the man over.

"Something with shadows. Goddamn it, I can't remember the full name," Amelia closed her eyes, as her fingertips were tapping on the wooden surface of the table. A brunette felt as if the name of the company was sitting at the top of her head, but just as it always happens at the most important moment it disappeared far away from her.

"Shadow company?" A whisper came from the man's side. He knew someone could always listen, even the walls can have ears. Soap could swear that he felt his shoulder aching in the memory of the night in Las Almas when Graves betrayed them and jumped to the other side. The information was good for him to ignore it.

"Yes, she never gave me the details on what the hell exactly she was advising on," Amelia felt as if she won the biggest prize of her life when Johnny named the company. It was the exact name that rarely slipped through the long conversations with Priya.

"Congratulations Knight, your friend's company tried to kill me and my team in Las Almas," Johnny looked tense. His whole body was reacting just to the mention of the company, as the events of the night were still taking him over. Blue eyes rose up just to meet eye contact with the confused look of the browns opposite him.

A woman felt paralyzed for a moment, as she was looking back at Soap and running his words through her head in disbelief. Her face was pale, as if it was a Halloween night and a brunette was a ghost. The air felt too heavy, as Amelia was looking around the room and the doors that were moving occasionally letting anyone inside and outside of the room. Suddenly, a woman wished for the captain to walk inside of the room, just to bring calmness back to her. But the reality was harder, and Knight had to face her demons for another battle.

And maybe, some side of her was glad her friend was dead.