Home - COD Simon Ghost Riley X Female OC

Chapter 5

The men had been gone for two days and MJ hadn't expected it to make her nervous, but it had. Partially because she didn't feel as safe on the base without them there, but also because she was in an even worse limbo without them focused on her. God. She sat in a room, actual quarters, with her head in her hands. They had decided that with men in action, they needed to clear her out of the med bay. Leeanne had gathered her a full closet of clothes, mostly small sized sweats and t-shirts, and helped her set up her new room. She had a desk, a bathroom, a shelf where she stacked books she had pulled from the shelf of the library.

These days were particularly long, knowing no one was going to stop by to talk or to walk with her. She was just a sore on the skin of the operation. She had known that since she got here but especially now, she was just leeching off of them. And yet, no one seemed in any hurry to move her. Fine. No one was in any hurry to get her back, either.

She pulled out the notebook she had scribbled all of her notes in and began writing again. She had been journaling everything she could remember. She wanted to make sure she hadn't missed anything, and it helped to get it out on the page. She had less nightmares when she had already written them out.

Ghost had been really ready to get off the base this time, but not to much relief. They weren't any less bored where they sat, watching for cartel movement on the horizon.

"What's the word on the American girl?" Soap said from beside him. They were safely alone.

"Nothing. No one's told me anything."

"What's your word?"

Ghost looked at his partner who kept his eyes nonchalantly forward, on the desert. "They kept her alive for some reason. Just don't know why."

Soap shrugged. "Why should we have to figure that out?"

Ghost sat in silence for a moment. He knew Johnny was asking to play devil's advocate, not because he didn't want to know. "Because there some missing piece here. Maybe that's the key. She's the key."

"A pretty key." Soap mumbled.

"Speak up, John."

"Nothing." He obeyed. "Well how long we gotta do this, then? We could bring Halcon in for kidnapping now. What are we waiting for?"

"Million dollar question." Ghost grunted, changing position.

Soap lit a cigarette. "Nice night."

Ghost didn't answer. It was chilly, like the night he had found Mariana. He chided himself for letting every thought wander back to her somehow. Maybe she was a distraction, sitting there on his base, doing absolutely nothing. For all intents and purposes, she no longer existed. In fact, she could escape them and become whoever she wanted. Start all over.

He had been there once, too. But what had he chosen? To return to what he knew, to what he was good at. To what he knew benefited someone besides himself. He guessed she would, too. But her usefulness would run out soon and he needed to get to the bottom of the plan for her before she did. Because he knew there was one. There had to be. They didn't have room in an operation like this for civilians to hang out long term.

Four days after leaving, the 141 returned to base. Tired, dirty, but intact. They came in just before dinner, just enough to clean up and settle back in as a group. Simon had thought of a hundred new questions to ask Mariana while sitting in silence and his eyes inevitably landed on hers as soon as he entered the dining room. She sat with the medic, but she was watching him. She gave him a small smile, her face full of color, before looking back at her plate. He looked at the table of men where he intended to sit. Fuck. He wanted to see that smile every time he walked in. He felt hot again, but he couldn't put a finger on what he should be angry about. He shook it off.