The End is Near

Chapter 2

June 1, 2045 - Sierra Leone

Major Athena Lawson ignored the heat and humidity and allowed her mind to drift back to a more pleasant memory. She found herself thinking of movie nights with her parents, back when she still lived at home and they were still alive. It was always a double feature and they always rotated who chose. Her lips quirked slightly in a smile as she remembered the way her mother would always choose a horror and her father would gamely watch it even if it kept him awake for most of the night.

She missed them. Missed her childhood and its simplicity. Missed that feeling of unconditional love. Even after she had joined the army, and they had never really understood that, she would always find that love and simplicity waiting for her when she returned.

A night-bird's raucous cry sounded through the air and she returned to the present.

"It's always been a mystery to me," she murmured.

"What has?" James asked, just as softly.

"This. The endless struggle... The fight for a peace that maybe just does not exist...."

"Having doubts major?"

"Doesn't really matter, does it Sergeant? We obey orders. We're not paid to have doubts."

"Okay. Move it out," the harshly voiced command broke through the stillness of yet another sweltering night in the jungles.

The battle was about to begin. It was just another one of many such battles that would apparently never escalate into a definable war with a clear victor.

Two hours later at the temporary encampment, Major Athena Lawson tried to express the thought that kept nagging at the back of her mind.

"For almost five decades the violence has raged with a fury that threatens to destroy a continent...yet never really does. There's something inbuilt in Africa's psyche that allows this anger and hostility to flourish without ever really touching a core of hope. I keep wondering where it's all going to end."

Sergeant James Duvall studied her in silence and the question of what a slender raven-haired beauty was doing in the jungle fighting this battle was in his eyes. He'd stopped short of ever asking the question, fearful that it might have come across as some lousy and clichéd, "What's a nice girl like you doing in a place like this..." pick-up line. She knew she was generally a nice girl, no doubt about it. But she knew the question was there, both because she knew him better than most and because she had heard variations of it ever since she had joined. No one had thought she would make it this far.

She had no demons to fight, no scars from a mysterious past. She was the epitome of balanced and the typical girl next door. She had no answers for anyone, save that something in her blood called for her to stand in the front lines of danger. She was a natural and had proved herself over and over again, on the practice floors and in battle. She was deadly in combat and her speed was legendary. Like liquid mercury she flowed so fast it was hard to keep track of her, moves deft and sure. Her enemy never saw her coming. She had earned her place on every team she'd been on.

Eyes so dark they were almost black lifted to look into his blue ones when he didn't immediately respond.

"What's bugging you Lawson?" he asked.

"What do you mean?" she asked, avoiding the question she knew he was asking.

"It's not like you to be this unsettled. We get in. We do the job. We clear out. What's the problem this time?" he paused suddenly as though a new thought struck him.

"Do you know what this reminds me of?" he continued without waiting for a response. "The Counter Terrorism Unit you were assigned to, two years ago."