Searching for love

21

I ran my hand through my hair nervously as I lay on the couch watching the telecommericial channel. I could literally sit here for hours watching this lady sell some blender but right now I just couldn't still. Dad had texted me that he and Eren could get back late but that they would be home tonight. I had even put on some mascara and lipgloss and kinda straightened my hair and wore some cute leggings and an oversized sweater in anticipation of Eren visiting. In other words I was a little dressed up. I quickly set up the dinner plates and I had just finished when Dad barged in with Eren by his side. "Lay! Congratulations and wow! That smells really good", my dad said loudly. I smiled in response and said, "Thanks dad! Come on let's eat! I'm starving". My dad laughed and quickly sat down and served himself. Eren too took a seat and said, "Congratulations Layla". I smiled in response and thanked Eren. He helped himself to the food and we once again had an enjoyable dinner together. I basked in the feeling of love and happiness. Having people you could depend on was truly the best thing ever.

"Hey dad, what's the story with Eren?", I asked my dad as we sat in the living room watching the news. He turned to face me, his eyes serious and hard with a hint of sadness, "Eren has had a rough life, really tragic. I knew his dad. He was a good man who had a lot of problems but still a good man. He had his own investigation business. Eren's mom on the other hand was a model and well she had a lot of issues. Overall the conflicts between his mom and dad greatly affected him. Eren did not have a good childhood. I stepped in and took care of him and treated him as my own. If only that had been the worst of it. He lost someone important to him and could never get past it. Now he's closed off and well...things are rough for him. I don't want to tell you too much, it's his own story to tell", I listened to my father's words closely and processed them. I headed to bed wondering more about him. He had obviously been emotionally and maybe even physically abused by his parents when he was younger. From the sound of it he had been neglected by his parents. But when my father said he lost someone...did that maybe have something with the promise ring he wore? Maybe his girlfriend died? With troubled thoughts I drifted to sleep.

I finally entered the main office of the DOD after a three hour long procedure. I was scanned, prodded and undergone a psychological test as well. I was escorted to Hunter's office and entered the room, my stomach full of knots. To my surprise Hunter was not alone. A beautiful redhead who was wearing a long white lab coat was seated in one of the chairs. "Ah! Layla, you're here! Sorry, I forgot to tell you about the tests you would have to complete today. I was actually gonna get them done another day but might as well get it over with", he said loudly and with a smile. I smiled and said, "Not a problem, just another part of the job, right". He motioned for me to sit down next to the redhead which I did sending her a quick smile. "This Is Elizabeth Ross. She works as a researcher and you are assigned for her protection. You will not need to guard her at all times as you have a team of three members who you will get to meet shortly. You can assign your members rotations as to who will be guarding her and her research. Ms. Elizabeth's research is top secret and onridentaily and is very critical to the DOD. It is crucial that she must be protected at all times. Her research must be protected as well and not leaked at any costs. If a scenario arises where the research and Ms.Elizabeth are in danger of being leaked you must destroy all evidence which includes killing her. I sincerely hope it doesn't come to that". To say I was shocked would be an understatement. Kill her? Wasn't that a bit extreme? I took inthe serious face of Hunter and took a second to observe Elizabeth. Her face was set and determined. She was young, way too young...probably even younger than me what was she doing here? What kind of research was she doing exactly?

I breathed in deeply and said directly to Hunter, "I will put my all and make sure that Elizabeth and the research are safe. You can trust me". He smiled and said, "Good. That's what I wanted to hear. Now how about we head to the lab and meet your team and learn more about the research work". I followed Hunter and Elizabeth quietly taking in the office and surroundings. One the way their Hunter introduced me to various people. Some I even recognized due to my work at the NSA. "It seems that you know a lot of people here?"Hunter asked me. I shrugged and said, "I teamed up with the DOD office and CIA multiple times for field work". He nodded and said, "You might recognize one of your teammates then...". A feeling of dread filled me that it couldn't be Axel? I mean not that I hated him but it was too soon and early to be working with him again especially as his commanding officer.

I let out a small sigh of relief when I noticed that Axel wasn't one of my team members. My team members consisted of Reed Knox, a tall african American man with a stern and firm personality, Javier Esposito, a young and built man with big muscles and a heavy build and Kate Jackson a petite and delicate but fierce looking woman. It turned out that Elizabeth was working on a kind of weapon that could grant great speed and increased endurance for a short period of time. This would be developed to easier use for American soldiers and increase their productivity. It was still in the beginning stages though and was the first experiment of its kind. I wasn't given more details than that but I knew it was more than that but I guess it was a need to know basis. To be honest the whole thing sounded like something straight out of the Captain America movie and I was kind of nervous about working on such a project. "Needless to say, this is very cinfiedentail and shouldn't be discussed with anybody outside of this room. I'll leave the rest to you Layla", with those words the security head departed.

I smiled and said to the people around me, "Okay so, I guess we'll start by getting to know each other a little bit. I'm Layla Knight and I'm your commanding officer. I previously worked at the NSA as a field agent and am originally from New York''. My team members went after and got to know them a little more. They seemed like a reliable and efficient bunch. "Ms.Moss why don't you go next. It'll be nice to know a little more about the person we have to protect at all costs''. She smiled nervously and said, "Hi...um I'm Elizabeth but I go by Ellie. I graduated from MIT with a phd in chemistry and biology. I have worked at the DOD since college and have been working on this project as an assistant since then. I've been brought up and raised here". After that I went over the folders of my teammates and decided on a schedule. I would be with her from 9 a.m. to 9 p.m and assigned Kate the shift from 9pm to 9 a.m.. From 12 p.m. Javier and Reed would alternately take turns watching her alongside Kate. On the alternate days they would assist me in watching him during the day and work on reports and analyze her calls and other communications and schedules and make notes and track Elle's movements. Happy with the schedule I relayed the schedule to the team who seemed pretty happy with it. Ellie informed me that she usually came into work at 7 a.m. and left at around 7 p.m. However, since she required 24 hr protection and surveillance we would be with her at all times. FOr the weekends we decided to alternate the weeks. One week Javier, the other kate, and so forth. It seemed like the only fair option. I would only stand in for weekends and be supervising her instead, like tracking her phone usage and wifi and such to make sure the research and her weren;t being tracked or hacked. This was one of the perks of being a commanding officer, I thought to myself. Being on watch all the time seemed way too much.

I felt bad for Ellie, why would she choose a job like this? Was it worth it for her?