Ramblers In the Wilderness

The Van

Cade

The next morning was an early one. Briefing at 0300 and on a chopper at 0430.

Alejandro had intercepted a cartel courier and had locations of several trafficking houses. Three within a five-mile vicinity. One of the houses belonging to the cartel leader. Raphael.
His was thought to have both drugs and women coming through in large quantities.
The goal of the mission was to make a live arrest on Raphael and evacuate the women. Whatever drugs or dirty money was found was just a bonus.

Alejandro had a team on one house, Gaz and Soap would hit another, and Ghost and I would hit the final house.
The only issue was intelligence was not clear on which house Raphael was currently residing in. All three properties were his and was known to frequent all three often.
Whichever one he was in, it would be heavily guarded.

All three had to be hit at the exact same time to not giveaway the other two teams and arise suspicions. We crossed the border around 1400 and met with Alejandro, and his team at a safe house half an hour from our mission's location. The plan, to infiltrate at nightfall. Around 2200 each team loaded up in their own van. Price and Alejandro stayed at the safe house as base command. Our eyes in the sky.

Ghost and I drove in silence. I mainly stared out the window into the dark, but could catch his reflection glancing over, looking me up and down every once in a while. I sighed and felt his eyes. "What is it?" My tone sounding more annoyed than I meant. "Don't fuck up." His thick accent was low and only seemed slightly gruff. "Wouldn't dream of it Brit." I mutter and the van falls back to silence.

We arrive and park just down the street from our target location. It seems like a normal quiet neighborhood. A little dilapidated, but nothing interesting. Nothing that screamed cartel work around here. We both exit the van and head towards the back to get our equipment ready. Before we're able to open the doors, we catch site of two men walking down the street opposite of us. It was normal for cartel to have roaming guards within the neighborhood. Judging by the slung AK rifles, that's exactly who these two were. My breath hitches and I sense we've been caught. The neighborhood is quiet except for us and for them. No way they wouldn't notice us.

Suddenly, I'm spun around. One of Ghosts gloved hands is next to my face leaned against the van. The other is on my waist pulling me to him. His face so close to mind I could feel his breath on my lips. He's speaking. Fluent Spanish, and it sounds flirtatious, but also as if he is slurring his words. Pretending to be drunk maybe? He even let out a genuine sounding laugh. His eyes soft and a rare glimpse of warmth in them. Big. Round. Ice blue and staring into mine. The edges of his eyes crinkling and I could tell he was smiling under the balaclava. He's looking into my eyes. Deep. But not glaring like I'm so use to. His gaze seems inviting and full of desire. Something about it makes my stomach start to flutter. I'm confused. Frozen in place and unsure what to do. This was a different human than the one I had been around the past.

"Play along and they will move on by." he whispers softly. Realizing what he's doing snapped me out of my trance. Feeding into what he is giving me, I let my fingers caress up his arm, which is on my hip and give my best giggle, while pushing my hips into his. His eyes go serious for a couple seconds, gaze falling to my lips before searching my face. He pushes back pinning my hips between his and the van as he continues his Spanish schmoozing. Being pushed and held against the van by his strong body caused a wave of warmth from my toes to my face, and back down. Heating me between my legs. He took his hand off the van and placed his thumb tenderly on the bottom of my chin. This gave me goosebumps and I wanted to melt into the soft touch. Gently he turned my head towards the street and nuzzles his head into my neck. A real giggle escapes as my neck is ticklish. To this I swear I feel him grin.
"What are they doing?" He whispers.
A shiver runs up and down my spine and my stomach feels alive with butterflies. 'What's wrong with me?' a barely audible groan escapes from my chest. I to sneak a peek at the guards. "Sh...shaking their heads and.... and walking on..." I whisper as I feel heat in my cheeks. My face is bright red, but thankfully for the cover of night, Ghost wouldn't be able to see it. He retracts slightly from my neck and is looks into my eyes. Despite the darkness, his eyes shine out from the mask and search my face. His expression is unreadable, but I sense it is warm. His eyes then shift to the guards who are halfway down the street. Taking us as two drunk love birds, they didn't care.