Desert Phoenix

•∆• Another Mission •∆•

"What did you just say?" The Colonel asked in a broken voice.

"I-I met this man an hour ago. In an alleyway​. I don't know the name of the area​ where it was. I guess it's a fifteen minute drive from here." She said, hastily.

"Can you take me there?" He asked desperately.

"Colonel...why?" She asked looking at him with a sympathetic look.

"Can you take me there or not?" He asked him with a sterness in his voice.

"Not until you tell me what's going on. This man almost tried to kill me for no reason. I want to make sure you're not seeking association with the wrong people because that generally involves me too​. So I have the right to know." She demanded, shutting the laptop and looking up at him.

The Colonel looked at her with a certain anger and guilt as if he couldn't tell her. But he knew that it was the only chance he had of finding this man.

"This man. He's my- he's my best friend. My only family. The only person I know to be more than anything else for me. He's my war buddy." The Colonel said with a certain smile that spread on his always stiff face.

Alèv's face dropped. She never knew anybody from Colonel's family. She always thought that he had a brawl or something with them. But this man, who looked almost homeless, was his best friend? She found it hard to digest.

"Wha-What happened?

"It was some five years ago that we separated out on a mission in Iran. We were on the same team. We had to attack a barricade and it was a hill like thing. We had to land on it using a rope. And that was the moment I regret not looking back. He slipped. I realised it when I was on the train and there was no James behind me.

"After the mission, I spent almost a month looking for him but to no use. And I gave up after a year or two. I don't know what happened to him, what happened to his body. I just don't know here did James went." He said, his eyes numb. Alèv opened her mouth to say something but the Colonel spoke first.

"And then strange happenings were reported in the middle East Asia two years back about a man that resembled the looks of James. There were reports of someone taking down enemy bases and bomb blasts and planned assassinations. And all the footages that we received indicated towards him. In many off the evidences, his face wasn't clear but the appearance​ and the killing criteria and the combat style resembled him.

"A year ago, his trail went cold. No strange events and no more footage. And I had no idea where to look at. You see, my position in the Pentagon doesn't allow me to use all the available technologies for myself. They would know. So I had no choice except giving up. And now what you told me, if it's the same man, I might have him back." The Colonel finished.

Alèv was gobsmacked. She had no words to utter.

"I'll take you there." She said.

Colonel's face shot up from his drooping position.

"But are you sure about it? I mean he tried to suffocate me even when he doesn't know me.There might be something wrong. You might want to reconsider." She told him, getting up.

"He's my friend, Alèv. There isn't any reconsideration about it." He shouted.

"Okay." She backed in her defence.

The Colonel disappeared in a room. Alèv gazed out of the front glass to the garage in the far left of the house's backyard. That's where she lived. That's where she would reside after a brief encounters with her estranged family almost everyday. The Colonel was kind enough to give her a place to live.