• “God that sucked.” I whined. I threw down my mask onto the seat next to me. Elliot was sitting in front of me, his mask in his hands. He looked tired and that he was about to fall asleep. “Are you okay?”

    “Just fine, how are you?” laughed Dylan. Frustrated, I clicked off the transmitter and Dylan’s annoying voice.

    “Just tired.” Elliot replied. He smiled at me. “Did you get hurt?”

    I smiled back, shaking my head. “Nope. You?”

    He shook his head. “You were careful. Most of the time. Maybe you shouldn’t use grenades anymore.”

    I laughed, recalling how I almost blew us both up with the grenade. Elliot shook his head. I knew that he was glad that we were only an hour away from TWO.


    ONE HOUR LATER. . .

    Elliot easily fell asleep on the couch in the front lobby of TWO. However, a minute before that, he dragged me down with him. So there I was, lying under Elliot’s arm while he slept. I managed to roll over under his arm so that I was facing him. I put my head against his chest, hearing his heartbeat. I started to drift off into sleep when I heard the phone ringing. “Elliot, get off.” I pushed at his arm, but it was tightly woven around my waist. “Elliot!” I tugged hard to get him off and realized that I wasn’t on the couch anymore. I fell off with a thud. Elliot rolled over on the couch to where his back was against me, but by his shaking, I knew that he was laughing. I slapped his arm. “Jerk,” I muttered. I marched into Alice’s office. “Dylan? You here?”

    Something clicked behind me, making me automatically go to my pistol that was in my side holster. I whipped around, glaring at Dylan who was behind me, clicking a pen. I chuckled, holstering the weapon.

    “Kind of skittish, aren’t you?” he laughed, letting the machine pick up the phone. It was Dylan’s girlfriend, Amber Becket. He went to answer it, but did not. They had gotten into a fight last night before me and Elliot left.

    “Ever since I was shoved out a window,” I forced out a laugh.

    Dylan raised an eyebrow but then growled, “Was it . . . him?”

    I looked to where he was looking at. Elliot. “No it wasn’t him. Give him some credit, Dylan. He’s sweeter than you think.”

    “So I’ve heard.” he muttered. “How long have you two been dating?”

    “At least five months.” I told him. “Does the name-Philip Clyde-mean anything to you?”

    Dylan turned away from me to get himself a cup of coffee. He handed me a cup of it, and I thanked him. He sat back down and I began to wonder if he was going to answer my question or not. “Wasn’t he an ex-SSC operative that Rios and Salem caught giving the enemies all US troop positions?”

    “Yeah. How’d you guess?”

    Dylan turned the computer screen and opened a large file of Clyde’s. “Lucky guess.” he chuckled.

    “Smartass,” said a voice behind me. It was Alice! “Get off my computer and get that file off.” Alice then smiled down at me. “Hey, kiddo. Have fun with Elliot today?”

    “Yeah, besides him dropping my off the couch…” I muttered. “So how’s the baby?”

    “Babies,” she corrected me. “They’re twins.”

    “Seriously?” I smiled wide. I couldn’t wait to be an aunt. “Are they boys or girls, or both?”

    “I don’t know yet. They’re supposed to be giving us a call anytime soon for gender specifications.”

    “That’s good you’re having twins, Alice. That means you name one, and Tyson names one.” Dylan pointed out.

    “Decided on any names yet?” I asked.

    Alice nodded. “We discussed some names. If they were both girls, Isabella and Emma. If they were boys, Nathan and Dominic.”

    “Cute names,” Dylan commented, moving out of the chair so Alice could sit down. “So that means if one was named Isabella, her nickname would be Bella, right?”

    I froze. Her name was Bella Master. I met her before I was put into the Rangers. You know, just a fun experience. But then it got a little serious . . . he seriously hated my guts for dating his little sister. One day, she kissed me at that party. He sort of . . . Snapped.

    I shook my head and stood up. I set down the cup of coffee. “I’ll see you later, got to get Elliot to bed. We got a mission tomorrow.”


    Four AM The Next Day…

    The alarm clock went off in my room. I ignored it, but he didn’t. Elliot hit the button then kissed my cheek. “Get up, Rose.” he said, stretching and putting on a shirt. I got up and went into the bathroom, taking a hot shower. I looked around for my shampoo and couldn’t find it. I grabbed my body wash that was ocean scented and washed my hair with it.

    I finished taking my shower, dried off, and got dress into my white lingerie, my white t-shirt and my blue jeans. I got out of the bathroom and Elliot was already dressed, lying back on the bed. I wondered if he was either sleeping or just thinking. But his eyes were closed, so he was asleep. I wondered back when I first met him if he ever slept. Obviously he does…a lot.

    I put on my black boots and brushed my hair. My black bangs fell to the side once I pulled my blonde hair into a ponytail. I smiled at my reflection in the mirror, but then I frowned. I ran my fingers against the three red scars on my left cheek. I sighed, realizing that I had left my old life behind and was already making a new one. One with Elliot.

    “Get up, Elliot.” I called, pulling on his arm. He opened his eyes but closed them again. “Elliot! Come on!”

    Elliot refused, but then he finally got up. He smiled at me and stood up. “What would I do without you, Rosie?”

    I thought about it. “Probably sleep your life away?” I asked a rhetorical question.

    He grinned widely and wrapped his arms around me. His lips touched mine and we held it. He pushed me away and laughed. “We better go.”

    “Somalia isn’t going anywhere.” I whined, wanting to stay here in his arms.

    “But our target is,” he pointed out. I sighed and he took my hand, dragging me into the elevator across the hall. We went up three floors and went into the armor room. Elliot pushed open the doors and there was four sets of armor. One I have never seen before.

    “Who’s is this?” I asked. It looked familiar. The three lines on each side were green. That was . . . Duncan’s . . .

    “It’s mine.”

    I whipped around, letting go of Elliot’s hand. “Zoë!” I screamed. It was like I just saw a ghost. “You were dead! I remember!” I thought about it and then punched her. “You betrayed me!”

    “I had to!” she yelled. “There was a sniper and your transmitter was going haywire. I had to . . .”

    “Rose,” Elliot whispered. “I can’t go with you, that’s why she’s here. Tyson and I got a call yesterday about a target in Iraq. Fifty Gs.”

    I couldn’t argue. I turned back to Zoë. “If you ******** shoot me again, I’ll rip your head off and feed it to rabid raccoons!”

    “Guess I deserve that.” Zoë replied. “I changed my name to Duncan. It’s not Zoë anymore.”



    I rode in the helicopter with Duncan, my arms were crossed and my mask was flipped down. It had flames on it like Elliot’s, but they were blue. Duncan looked over at me.

    “So . . . Was that your boyfriend?”

    “I’m not speaking to you.”

    “I said I was sorry.”

    “You almost killed me.”

    “You did meet Elliot because of me, and found your brother.” she replied. “That sniper could have killed you.”

    I sighed. “Yes. Elliot is my boyfriend.” I looked over to her. “You broke Dylan’s heart.”

    That caught her off guard. “What?”

    “Dylan liked you. More than friends. He has a girlfriend now though.”

    Duncan looked sad. “Damn,”

    “Yeah,” I sighed.

    “Hey, Rosalie. Does this girl look familiar to you?”

    Duncan handed me a picture. It was a girl that looked familiar, but her hair was half pink, half brown. One eye had a brown color, and the other green. “Looks like a weird-o to me.” I replied. “And call me Rose.”

    “Well, Rose, this was the sniper that tried to kill you. I think her name is Bella Salem or something.”

    “I hate that name. Bella.” I chuckled.

    The helicopter landed and we jumped out. “So how did you know that I was working at TWO, anyway?”

    “I didn’t.” she replied. I turned around and the helicopter was on fire. “What the-” Just then, she stabbed me in the neck with a needle, injecting something in me. I collapsed to the ground.

    “Man down, Dylan! s**t! They’re everywhere! We may not make it.” Duncan said dramatically to Dylan, she then snapped off her transmitter and broke mine. “Your done for.”


    I found myself chained to a wall by handcuffs. I tugged on them, but it was useless. I wasn’t like the Hulk and rip them out of the wall.

    That weird girl that was in the picture that Duncan showed me was in the corner, glaring at me. Bella Salem? No . . . Master.

    “Hello, Missy Rios.” she sneered at me. God she looked bat s**t crazy. Brown and pink hair, brown and pink eyes. Then I realized.

    “You’re obsessed with Elliot,” I said, narrowing my eyes.

    “Who?” she asked, playfully. She was toying with me. “Oh! You mean my husband. Of course I
    am. We are in love.”

    “Oh yeah!” I said sarcastically. “Your that bat s**t insane girl in the photo he showed me before he
    ripped it to shreds.”

    Bella Master slapped me. “You shut your mouth!”

    I laughed and she punched me in the mouth. Blood poured from my lips, but I kept laughing.