Chapter 24

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After dropping off Jason at the infirmary and making sure that he was going to be okay, we headed towards the tent that withheld Sergeant Wood.

"Stop the truck." I told McCarthy.

"Why?" he gave me a confused look. "Isn't Sergeant Wood's tent up here a little ways?" 

"Just stop the truck."

He sighed but pulled over and stopped the truck. I got out and went to the back to grab a pistol and an extra magazine for good measures. The team looked at me with confused expressions but followed my actions. Once they got their weapons, they turned to look at me with questions brewing within their eyes.

"We're going to walk from here. Don't make any noise; just follow my lead." I told them before heading towards the Sergeant's tent.

It was way too quiet. The bombs didn't fall and the bullets didn't fly, I didn't hear any soldiers moving around, just the gravel moving from underneath our feet. 

As we get closer, I start to hear a faint voice yelling in the distance. I held up my hand and stopped; listening carefully before I made any assumptions about anything.

The voice rose again and I immediately knew where it was coming from. I quickly and quietly followed the voices but stopped short when we were close to the Sergeants tent.

"Lieutenant, put the gun down." I heard the Sergeant's wary voice say.

"Stay here. If I need anything, I'll yell." I whispered to my team. They nodded and I slowly moved to the entrance of the tent. Slowly and quietly, I moved the flap and peered inside only to see Sergeant Wood with his right hand up, trying to calm Jones down, while his left hand was on the table, making sure Jones doesn't  see him as a threat.

"Now why would I want to do that?" Jones asked. His voice was eerily calm, making the hairs on the back of my neck stand up. 

His back was facing me, so I couldn't see face and read his emotions.

"Because you're a good soldier and it's who you are." the Sergeant's eyes flickered towards me for a split second before going back to Jones. I mentally thanked him for not blowing my cover.

Jones burst out laughing before he suddenly turned serious.

"That's who I am?" he questioned. "No. That's who you are and who your pets are!" he screamed as I quietly slipped into the tent.

The Sergeant froze. 

"What are you talking about, Lieutenant?" he face was filled with bewilderment.

"Like you don't already know." Jones scoffed, but the Sergeant shook his head in confusion.

Jones must've known that the Sergeant had no idea what he was talking about because he started to speak.

"You guys are pathetic." he sneered. ?I'll give you a hint, his last name's Wolfe." 

I froze and so did the Sergeant. Everything inside me was screaming why? 

"What does Lieutenant Wolfe have to do with anything?" Sergeant Wood asked, completely baffled. 

"Well for starters, why doesn't Wolfe come around from his hiding spot from behind me and I'll tell you why." he said with menace.

I froze and held my breath.

How does he know I was behind him? 

"Time is ticking, Wolfe. If you don't move next to the Sergeant, I will blow the hospital to ashes." 

With reluctance, I slowly moved next to the Sergeant, making sure that Jones could see my hands.

"Put the gun down."

I sighed and tossed the gun towards him on the table, the metal scraping against the wooden tabletop sounded through the room. I set my palms flat on top of the table and looked at him.

"What do I have to do with anything? Why am I suddenly in this?" i asked, getting to the point. I never liked how he always dragged things out.

"You were in this the moment you signed up for this unit." he replied.

"Why?'

"Because you had all the attention!" he yelled, making both the Sergeant and I jump. "Ever since you were recruited you had the Sergeants attention. You ranked up quicker than any of us and you were favored." he said quieter.

"Before you, I had the attention, they loved me, Mariah and I were going to be together."

My blood boiled at the statement, Mariah never liked him. She told me that herself. The Sergeant beside me hadn't said a word; everything the Lieutenant is telling us now is still trying to process in his mind. 

"What does this have to do with Mariah, if you said that this was about me?" I asked. Even if Mariah liked him, she would still be with him.

"Are you really that dumb?" he scoffed. "When you came here she started to grow distant with me, every time I tried to talk to her, she would find an excuse to go somewhere else. When we got sent to that desert they call Afghanistan, I thought that we would grow close again. Until I heard that you and your crew were coming." he told me, looking at me dead in the eye.

"But I haven't even met her before Afghanistan. That was the first time I saw her." i tried telling him, but he shook his head.

"No. You've met her before, and you took her away." he pulled out a small remote with a button on it. "Now I'm going to take away someone you love."

My eyes widen in realization of what he was about to do. 

"What is that, Lieutenant?" Sergeant Wood asked, seeming to be snapped out of his daze.

I turned to look at him.

Is he serious? Did he just ask what that detonator is for? 

He gave me a side glance telling me that he knew what it was, he was just trying to buy us some time to come up with a plan to get the device away from him.

Jones, being naive, took the bait.

"This is a little remote with a big button on it. If you push it, this place goes up ion flames." he said sarcastically.

The Sergeant rolled his eyes. I on the other hand was too focused on getting that detonator before he does anything. 

"On a serious note." he said more seriously, looking at both of us. "I have bombs set up all around the hospital. With one push of a button, that place turns to ashes." he looks at me. "And your friend dies."

I glared at him.

"So what do you want us to do, Lieutenant?" Sergeant Wood asked, bringing Jones' attention back to him.

I zoned out of their conversation, my eyes focused solely on him as I slowly made my way towards him, stopping every time his eyes landed on me.

I stopped when I was three quarters away from him. 

Movement caught my eye from outside of the tent. I took my eyes off of Jones for a split second only to see Chris at the tent's flap, peeking through the little gap he made.

I moved my eyes from him, to Jones, and back to him, hoping that he got the message. 

He nodded and quickly but quietly slipped in the tent.

I moved my eyes back to Jones who was still too focused on Sergeant Wood to notice the quick change of light in the room. I watched Chris from my peripheral vision as I watched Jones, making sure that he hadn't noticed anyone else in the room.

"....... but I guess you guys wouldn't do that." I heard Jones say.

Chris was right behind Jones when he suddenly turned around.



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