BROKEN ROAD - One Man's Journey

CHAPTER SEVEN - Bound By Honor

    He peered out of the trees in a small cleft of its branches. Nothing moved. He sat back on his haunches completely concealed by the thick foliage of the region. How long had he been there? Twelve? Fifteen hours? It could be another half day before his team reached him. Every part of his body ached. His legs were cramping but he did not adjust or move about. He had gone on ahead. A solo reconnaissance effort to obtain any Intel that would lead to the capture of their latest mark who had evaded them for weeks. Each time they would think he was in their sights he would weasel away through a new series of underground tunnels making his way to a different hide out miles ahead of them. He had given the order that resulted in the slaughter of over a hundred innocents. Bullshit with this casualties of war stuff. They weren't at war. They were stuck in the middle of regimes who had no sanctity for life. The government wanted him alive to stand before a Tribunal where he ultimately would be convicted and sentenced to imprisonment for the remainder of his sadistic sorry life. They did not want a martyr whose death would be glorified. However, Ben knew his team, one wrong move, one perceived ill step and he would never see the inside of a courtroom. He saw them about three quarters of a mile out stealthily forging towards his position. He was glad to see them. Noiselessly he appeared on the jungle floor in front of them. He was proud to serve beside these men who had covered his ass more than once over the years and he would willingly die with or for them. They were the elite. The best of the best and today would be no different. Ben spat on the ground and gave the order. "Let's roll."

It had been four months. A season. Back home fall had given way to winter and it would have most of the country in its icy clutches. On the plane home Ben could finally bring his life out into the open unafraid of reprisal. Unafraid of not being able to separate his heart from his honor bound alter. Unafraid to broach what he could not do out there...consider all he may have already lost in answering his call to duty. Had some other man found her in his absence discovering and understanding what he had? Had she moved on without him? Why wouldn't she? Four months is a long time to hold on to the memory of what might have been especially when he had left her without warning. Did she hate him now or did she cry out his name in the dark like she had her ex-husbands? That day at the beach had been a turning point for them. She stopped debating the age thing though he knew it still bothered her. She stopped making light of his advances. It had not widely known except to Te-Ana and Celia, of course, who was coming around to the idea that he was going to be a part of her mother's life for as long as she would let him be but they were together. She held on to her reservations but she did not give either of them a hard time about it.

Her oldest daughter was in Germany with her husband who was stationed there in the Air Force. He had yet to meet her but that, too would come in time, if she were not already gone. As for his own family...that too would work itself out. Wouldn't it? Would it even matter if it did now? She may be with someone new. She may have written him off after what he had done to her. If someone had disappeared without a trace from his life they would never get the chance to do it again. The seven hour debriefing, the thirteen hour flight home gave him plenty of time to torment himself with the unknown which he was taking full advantage of. He laid his head back. He was tired. So tired. He wanted to be near her now, to take away what he was feeling. To know she was still there against all odds.

He had left her bed that evening after making love to her for the first time. He had intended, wanted it to be sweet, intensely sweet and ever so slow and it was at first. His mouth seeking hers, tasting, exploring trailing down her stomach to her thighs. His hands searching finding hers, fingers locked together but as her body under his masterful touch yielded to him he could stand no more. He took her hard almost to the point of savage abandon absorbing every part of her into himself until he cried out at height of his ecstasy. Heart pounding, breathless surrender to the woman he would die for.