Chapter 26
Five years earlier . . .
Sweat beaded down her spine, causing her top to stick to her skin, as the burning Middle East sun scorched her back.
Wiping the back of her arm across her eyes to dislodge the sweat that had gathered there, Jules went back to cleaning her rifle on a wooden table that looked like it belonged in a park more than a desert.
Marc was stretched out on the bench opposite her, his small cap covering his face from the sun.
Jules leaned forward and peered over the table edge, a smile coming to her lips as she watched him sleep and she realised that they would soon be lying next to each other rather than being barracks apart.
“I told you to stop that,” Marc growled at her, his eyes still shut.
Jules sat back immediately and pretended that she had been her gun the entire time, “Did you say something?”
Marc let out a small groan as he straightened himself up and swung his legs over the bench until he was sat facing her.
Jules looked at him from under her lashes as he wiped the fatigue from his eyes, his cap screwed up in his fist.
He looked tired, but more than that he looked fed-up.
Marcus gave a growl of restlessness as his eyes travelled around the base at the soldiers going about their business, “I can’t wait to get back to boring old England.”
Jules wanted to scream in agreement but she stopped herself.
Stopping work on her gun, Jules closed her eyes, her shoulders slumping, as she thought about home, “Greasy food, drinkable tea and . . . rain,” Julia laughed as she opened her eyes, “I miss the rain.”
Turning back to Marc, Jules swallowed as she saw the way he was watching her. It made her shuffle on her seat.
“Is that the only thing you miss?” A wide smile etched its way across his full lips as she felt his boot tap against hers under the table.
Jules kicked him back playfully, but inside she was just as impatient, her thumb trailing the space on her ring finger where her engagement ring should be and not around her neck, “Three more weeks, and then we can do what we please.”
Marc dropped his head against the table, “You’re killing me woman.”
Jules shook her head, “No, that would be the Taliban.”
Marc gave her a look that said he did not appreciate her comment.
But she was saved from answering for it when Carlos came jogging over to them.
Jules looked past him and saw everybody heading for the command tent, her eyes rolling in her head as she knew what it meant.
She had been looking forward to the easy routine patrols before they headed home, but it looked like they were going out on a mission.
“Hey lovebirds, everybody’s wanted in Command.” Carlos relayed the message.
Jules sighed, “You have got to be kidding me.”
Marc rose to his feet like the dutiful soldier.
Jules snapped her gun back together in frustration, “We’re going home soon, why couldn’t they have found another company to do their dirty work this week?”
Carlos laughed, agreeing with her whole heartedly, as she swiped the rifle from the desk and they all headed into the overcrowded tent.
The air was stifling and smelt of sweat, the few fans set up did nothing to ease their discomfort as it simply moved the hot air around the room with more ease.
Finding a space at the back next to Carlos and Twitch, Jules settled in for what would be an hour’s talk whilst Marc made his way to the front with the other leaders.
The conversation was light as everybody waited for the Commander, a pile of A4 sized photographs being passed out across the room in preparation.
Jules took one and handed the stack of reconnaissance photos onto Twitch, her eyes soaking up the image of an Afghan national.
Photographed on the street, the man was wearing a light orange turban and matching clothes, his face was distinguishable though with a slightly crooked nose and sharp illuminating eyes.
“The man you are looking at,” A voice suddenly carried across the entire tent, everybody’s heads snapping up to see their Commander enter the tent, “is Abdul-Azim Farhat, terrorist and an old friend of Osama Bin Laden.”
As the late terrorist’s name was spoken, the air around them became charged with tension.
“Responsible for five organised suicide bombings, that we know of,” The Commander slapped his hand against an enlarged image of Abdul-Azim Farhat that had been stuck to the board, “This man is accountable for a hundred and thirty five lives, Including ten servicemen and nearly fifty children, when he bombed a school in the capital.”
Jules stared back at the man in the photograph with renewed vigour, burning his features into her mind.
“And he has just been spotted. Information is still coming in but I have been tasked with leading the mission. Our objective is to bring him in.”
“Bring him in?” Jules whispered to Carlos in shock.
“If possible,” The commander continued, “However, if you get a positive ID and we are unable bring him in, everyone in this room is granted permission to shoot on sight, we cannot afford to let Farhat loose.”
Jules smiled, that was more like it.
They spent a nearly another hour in the tent, but everybody was willing to stand through the heat as they each worked out their positions, if it meant brining a terrorist and murderer to justice.
Once they got their orders, they were dismissed with ten minutes to prepare themselves.
As their group gathered by the entrance, awaiting their turn to leave, Jules re-checked her ammunition when she looked up and saw Marc approaching.
Dressed in full body armour, a black headset curled around his ear and a scarf wrapped around his neck, Jules found herself praying that these next few weeks went by fast.
She could not wait to get this over with so that she could have him all to herself.
As the helicopter returned, ready to drop them into a warzone, Jules realised how much she loved being a marine.
“Ready?” Marc stood close behind her, his presence easing whatever nerves she had left.
Jules looked forward as she smiled, waiting for the helicopter to touch down, “Just another day at the office.”
* * *
“You’re the bastard that blew me up!” Julia shouted as she remembered her breathing growing heavy with emotion.
“You stole five years of my life!” Julia vented her anger and frustration as she took a step forward, Abdul-Azim appearing unfazed by everything she did except the gun in her hand.
“Jul-” Kazeem coughed from the ground, his hand reaching out towards her, “Julia, no.”
Jules scoffed as Kazeem tried to stop her but that fact that he had been shot by Abdul-Azim Farhat did not help her right then, it only made her want to shoot him more.
“Why not?” Julia’s body began to shake from the amount of rage racing through her body, “Who would care if he died!?”
Kazeem called her name but it was drowned out by the noise of Marcus and Carlos arriving in the trucks.
The screech of brakes filled her ears, sand flying up from where the trucks had been speeding towards them , before Marcus’s voice overruled everything around her.
“Julia!” Marcus ran to her side.
“Twitch! Help Kazeem!” Julia shouted, not taking her eyes off of Abdul-Azim.
“What happened?” Carlos raced forward, his hand on his gun as he tried to discern if there was still a threat, his eyes travelling over Kazeem’s bloodied body.
“He was shot,” Julia growled, her jaw clenched in anger, “By him.”
Marcus looked at Abdul-Azim Farhat and his body froze, his eyes instantly recognising the man that had ruined his life.
“Kazeem? Kazeem, can you hear me?” Twitch knelt by Kazeem, his hands instantly getting to work on his wounds.
Realising that they were alone, Carlos approached Julia and Marcus, “Who the hell is that?”
Julia said his name very carefully, “Abdul-Azim Farhat.”
Carlos looked between the pair of them with shock, “The terrorist!?”
Marcus swallowed as he turned to face Jules, “Julia, you need to put the gun down.”
Jules shook her head, “No, he needs to pay for what he did.”
“And he will,” Marcus stretched out a hand towards her but Jules swiped the gun away, still aiming it at Farhat.
“It was him, Marcus!” Jules needed to make him understand, “He was the one who blew up that building. He was the one that ruined my life- our life!”
“Don’t you think I know that?” Marcus asked, his voice strained, “Don’t you think that I would want to kill him for that as well?”
Julia frowned, her throat beginning to ache as tears stung the back of her eyes. She could hear the pain in Marcus’s voice and it was tearing her apart.
“He hurt you,” Marcus shouted, “And for that alone I wanted him dead. He stole five years of life from the both of us and destroyed the life we could have had together.”
Jules re-affirmed her grip on the gun as she heard Marcus’s words, agreeing with her.
Carlos simply stood and watched the pair of them, uncertain of how to proceed as he heard Marcus’s words, seeming to encourage her.
“But we cannot shoot him.” Marcus told her.
Jules stared at Marcus with rage and anger, “But he-”
“-You are a Marine in the Queen’s Navy,” Marc reminded her with passion, his voice stern and demanding to be obeyed, “And we do not shoot unarmed men, whoever they are.”
Jules could feel her face muscles twisting and contorting as two sides of her battled for supremacy.
One half of her wanted revenge for what he did to her, but the other side agreed with Marcus.
But as she watched Farhat’s expression, a smug grin spreading across his lips, Julia really wanted to shoot him.
“If you shoot him now,” Marcus continued in a softer tone, “You’re just the same as him, a murderer.”
Julia’s lips parted, letting in a rush of air, as Marc’s words cut deep.
“We take him back to base and we hand him over to the government. I assure you,” Carlos pleaded with Julia, “That he will spend the rest of his days rotting away in a cell. And trust me,” Carlos turned and vowed the next part to Farhat, “That is a fate worse than death.”
Farhat lost the smile on his lips as he understood Carlos’s words, fearing the torture that would happen to him at their government’s hands.
“Come on,” Marc held out his hand, “Give me the gun. Do you really want to throw away whatever life we have left together for a man that nobody cares about?”
Julia licked her lips and began to lower the gun, her anger still burning hot but she knew Marcus was right.
She had just begun to get her life back on track, if she shot Farhat now then she would only regress to the beginning.
And as much as she wanted to shoot him, she could not go through all of that again. She feared she would not survive it a second time.
Taking a deep breath, Julia lowered the gun but before Marcus could take it from her hands Farhat spotted his chance.
With the absence of a gun aimed at his face, and their attention occupied with Jules and Kazeem, Farhat turned and ran.
Fast on his feet, Farhat had travelled nearly ten feet before they realised what had happened.
“Farhat! Stop!” Carlos shouted, ordering him to give himself up.
But Farhat kept going.
Without pausing, Julia raised the gun back up and fired a single shot.
A second later Farhat hit the ground.