Midnight Lips | Ghost

𝐂𝐇. 76

𝐕𝐀𝐋𝐄𝐍𝐓𝐈𝐍𝐀 𝐇𝐄𝐑𝐑𝐄𝐑𝐀
༻❁༺

Chicago, United States

     My feet hit the rooftop pavement of a very high building in downtown Chicago as I jumped off the helicopter, followed closely by Max Morris. Ghost was ahead, already settling his weapon on the edge. I approached him but kept my fair distance, while Morris walked toward the entrance of the rooftop to keep it secure, to make sure no one dares to come up here. I watched the way Ghost bent down to one knee, and memories slammed against the cage I temporarily trapped them in.

But I was on autopilot. Someone or something had taken over my body and was guiding me, I could only watch through a screen like watching a TV. I gave Ghost my back and gripped my AK tightly to my body. In my ear, I heard his voice telling the rest of the team that he was in position. "Flashing now."

Soap's voice came through, "Copy visual, LT. What've we got?"

Chicago was cold compared to Las Almas. My breath was visible, but it vanished fast into the air. The sky was turning from orange to pink and purple to a dark blue, it looked beautiful every time I glanced at the spot where the sun was setting. Stars were peeking above me, but my gaze was solely on the "ground," determined to keep the man behind me safe. But the more I looked around the rooftop, the more I wondered where the danger could come from. It almost seemed absurd that someone might want to take Ghost down as if we weren't on the 45th floor.

I glanced at the buildings surrounding us. Could someone be possibly hiding in one and was watching us right now? It was impossible to tell since not only there were lots of buildings with lots of floors and windows, but the day was falling into night making it harder to scan.

I knew one thing though, Ghost wasn't as in danger as he was in Las Almas. Last time, it was Valeria's men trying to kidnap Ghost and me. Here, in Chicago, seemed too far away for her to attempt that. I only wondered why she'd want us, or more likely, want Ghost as her captive. As far as I knew, Ghost hadn't done anything to make her angry enough to try to kidnap him. It sounded suspicious, but I wasn't doing any good in wondering about things in the past.

A task was a task, and I was getting it done.

The following half of the mission was a flash. One part of me was focused on the exchange of commands and statements in my earbud, the other was focused on the area around the rooftop. I brought my weapon up when the place suddenly shook, so unexpectedly I was confused for a moment, if it wasn't because this massive missile was launching right in front of us.

Kate's voice came through my earbud right about at the same time, she sounded desperate as she said, "All stations, missile is hot! I say again, the missile is launching!"

The big white missile pointed to the sky, then turned and looked right at the building where we were, only it was a few floors above us so I doubted it was aiming at us. With a loud bang, the missile fired, and as a reaction to the sound, I flinched and bent down, watching it fly over us and off into the distance.

Fuck, that was bad news. Very bad news.

I straightened and glanced at Ghost, who was still crouching down by the edge looking unaffected, just to make sure he was okay and still there. What now? I was about to ask, but Price's voice came through and interrupted me, "Watcher, where's the target?"