Hidden Spark

Chapter 9-I found you

Somwhere in Qatar(The Middle East)

The soldiers sat in a helicopter having a casual chat. "Oh, God, five months of this. I can't wait to get a little taste of home. A plate of mama's alligators étouffée...Mmm." One named Figureoa said. Another called Epps replied, "you've been talking about barbecued 'gators and crickets for the last two weeks. I'm never going to your mama's house, Fig. I promise..."
"But Bobby,Bobby-" Figueroa started, being cut short again by Epps. "I'm never going to your mama's house," he repeated.
"Bobby 'gators are known to have the most succulent meat," Figueroa finally finished.
"I understand." Was all Epps replied. Then Fig started speaking Spanish. "English, please. English." Epps smirked mimicking the Spanish. Lennox decided to cut in, "I don't- I mean, how many times have we- we don't speak Spanish. I told you that." A bummed Figueroa replied "Why you got to ruin it for me, man? That's my heritage." Before starting to speak Spanish again. Lennox just gave in "Fine. Go with the Spanish. Whatever." Another guy called Donnelly spoke up. "Hey, you guys remember weekends? Huh? The Sox at Fenway. Cold hotdog and a flat beer."
"Perfect day." Epps said. Figueroa turned to Lennox. "What about you, Captain? You got a perfect day?"
"Nah, I just can't wait to hold my baby girl for the first time." He replied. All the Soldiers awed. "He's adorable." Donnelly laughed. "That's too-" Epps was about to speak but got cut off by Lennox, "shut up." Epps spoke up as the helicopter landed "Hey, I'm ready to do this. Hey, any of y'all grow some balls, come see me on the court, man." A young boy named Mahfouz ran up to the captain,"Lennox!" The soldier looked up "Hey, how you doing?" He asked. "Water?" Mahfouz asked holding out a small bottle of water. "Oh, thank you. Are you gonna help me with the gear?" Lennox asked, taking a drink.

Meanwhile in the radar office
A Radar officer shouted "Colonel Sharp, we have an inbound unidentified infiltrator, 10 miles out." Sharp turned on his comms. "Unidentified aircraft, you are in restricted US military airspace, proceed east out of the area. Raptors one and two, snap to heading two-five-zero to intercept. Bogie is in the weeds ten miles out, not squawking. Unidentified aircraft, we will escort you to US SOCCENT airbase. If you do not comply, we will use deadly force." An F22 Pilot reported "Copy the bogie. Tail forty-five hundred X-ray." An officer held out a picture to colonel sharp "Sir, says here 4500 X was shot down three months ago. Afghanistan."
"That's got to be a mistake. Check again, then recheck." Sharp ordered.
"I did, sir. A friend of mine was on that chopper." The officer replied. Another officer spoke to the chopper through comms "Unidentified aircraft, we will escort you to US SOCCENT airbase."
Sharp then asked, "Radar, where's the inbound?"
"Bogie's five miles out, sir." Came the reply.

In a tent

Lennox walked up to the small laptop "My wife on?" He asked a fellow soldier. He nodded. Then Lennox's wife appeared on the screen. Lennox smiled as he saw his wife and his daughter "Ahahaha! My ladies!" Sarah pointed to the screen saying to the baby girl, "Look." She just started to make baby noises.
"Oh, my goodness. Look at her. She's getting so big. Look at those cheeks. I just wanna chew on them. Baby, we made a good-looking kid. I know that people say that all the time, but... Wow, we made one good-looking kid. Nice work." Lennox said as he admired their daughter. "She has your laugh." Sarah told him."She laughed?" He asked, smiling.
"Her first one, yeah." Sarah replied.
"You la- you sure she didn't just fart?" Lennox joked.
"No, she's a lady." Sarah said back, but then their daughter started crying. Sarah started to rock her "She doesn't know you yet, but she will."

Back in the radar office
Sharp pondered to himself, "Forty-five hundred X. Something's not right." An officer broke him from his thoughts "Bogie's on the deck." He said. Suddenly the radar officer shouted "Whoa. Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa. Radar's jammed. It's coming from the chopper."