You slowly wake up from your sleep. Turning to look at the portable clock you always carried, it read midnight.
[11.30 PM]
It's been so long since you slept without nightmares or heavy thoughts.
You get up from your lying position to sit on your bed. Staring into nothing. Because your room is the farthest one and in the corner, you have a window attached to your wall.
The moonlight is slightly peeking through the window. Adding the atmosphere of night.
Without nothing better to do and knowing all too well you won't get any sleep soon, you get out of your room and walk to the kitchen. Decided to make yourself some food since no one was waking you up for dinner.
Knowing Alejandro and Rodolfo would never wake you up once they saw you really comfortable and didn't seem to have any nightmares. And about Soap, well, poor guy, you imagine him wanting to wake you up, but Alejandro is quick to tell him no.
Don't even start with Ghost. That guy doesn't ever care whether you breathe or not.
The hallway is silent, but some of Alejandro's men can be heard patrolling outside.
As you reach the kitchen, it's empty with just a light on right above the dining table.
Four chairs surround the table, facing each other. While the fridge is pushed against the right corner of the room and the rest beside it is the kitchen counter. There's a mini microwave and bread toaster on it.
You bring yourself to open the fridge and immediately spot a plate full of food.
You smile to yourself as you take it out, stopping your action when you see a sticky note underneath. You hold the plate in one hand while the other takes the note. You smiled to yourself when you saw the writing.
No olvides calentarlo. Lo hice con mucho cariño, así que no dejéis sobras :) - Rudy
(Don't forget to heat it. I made it with a lot of love, so don't leave any leftovers :) - Rudy)
Rudy's handwriting is always one to admire. It's effortlessly beautiful without even trying, especially when he writes in his mother tongue.
You folded the paper and put it in your pants pocket. Closing the fridge as you walk to the microwave. Placing the food inside and pressing the timer, then you sit on one of the chairs, boredly waiting for the time to run out.
Waiting while staring at the microwave, your mind unconsciously goes back to thinking about plans for tomorrow's mission.
You don't know that much about Las Almas. All you remember about this plot in Mexico is when Soap and Ghost meet Alejandro and how they talk about El Sin Nombre, then how suddenly Hassan has been captured. With the help of Graves for air support, of course. And lastly, a little bit of Valeria.
And that's all.
You don't know any details anymore. And that's what concerned you after the meeting in the afternoon.
Yes, you believe in Alejandro's plan and his intelligence, but you can't help but think about how suddenly the mission will go the other way around.
But then again, both your Latino friends will always have their way. So you quickly calm yourself and decide to trust them.
When you are with them, you somehow always manage to calm down quicker than with others. That's why you feel lighter when you meet Alejandro and Rodolfo again.
Even though you don't know much about them, let alone what will happen with them beside Hassan incident and Valeria, all you know is that they will be safe. They will always come back alive and put your mind at ease. Your mind doesn't need to be working 24/7 worrying about what might happen because you don't know anything.
And when you're about to think further, the sound of the timer running out suddenly breaks your thoughts, and you quickly stand up to turn it off. Carefully taking the food out, closing the microwave, and returning to your seat.
In silence, accompanied only by the lights above you, the silence of the night, and the faint sound of patrols outside, you silently ate the delicious food that Rudy had made.
You had already finished half your food when someone's voice suddenly broke the silence. "Ah, sabía que estarías aquí." (Ah, I knew you would be here.)
You look up at the doorway just to see the Colonel stepping inside. You give him a soft smile, which he gladly returns.
He takes a seat across from you while you silently watch his every movement. He wore black cargo pants and a green army long-sleeved shirt.
When you were about to talk, Alejandro had already placed a folder on the table, which made you look at the folder in confusion. "Not long after you returned to your room, one of my men gave this to me and said that it was for you."
He leans back against the chair as he simply shrugged. "When I opened it, everything written inside was in Russian." He continued when he saw you didn't move to take it.
Your eyes immediately snapped to him when he mentioned Russian. It will never be good news for you when Russian is mentioned.
"Russian?" You finally speak, slowly repeating his word.
"Si, your name is written in it, so I guess it's really for you."
You remained quiet after what he said. Your gaze once again falls to the folder on the table.
The last time you get something like this, it's telling you about 141 and Graves. And there's nothing good when you get it right before you're going to Las Almas. Where you have to work with Graves to catch Hassan.
But nothing wrong has happened yet; so far everything is still working as it should.
"I'll eat first, then check the file. Don't want to waste Rudy's lovely food." You look up at him again, then offer him a smile. And he just chuckles at your words.
"I don't know whether you miss him or his food."
You rolled your eyes at his remark as you took another spoonful of food. You took your time to chew and slowly swallowed the food. "Is that making any difference? We all live for Rudy's food, don't we?"
"Si, amor. Somos." (Yes, love. We are.)
Then you two continue to talk about everything that both of you have been through throughout the time you didn't see each other.
Alejandro's company is the best you can have. You really like hearing his voice, especially his accent.
When you knew the game in the first place, he caught your attention with his voice. Not to mention how good he is in person when you meet him and how gentle he really is. Also, you don't know why, but he always called you pet names even before you three became close.
When he sees you have finished eating, he quickly gets up and takes the plate himself, which makes you give him a glare.
He always did that. And you've been trying to talk about it to him to no avail. Like he doesn't even listen in the first place. Then he sits again in front of you after placing a glass of water.
You rolled your eyes as you took the glass and drank the half of it.
Then your eyes finally landed on the file again.
You slowly reach for it, then examine the front first before finally opening it after some seconds. Alejandro is silently watching you as he's waiting for you to tell him about it. Since he doesn't know Russian.
The very first page, and on top of it, there's indeed your name written on it. You narrowed your eyes at the sight but decided to keep reading first.
There are three pages in total.
You can't help but already have a bad feeling about this.
The file, same as the previous one, is full of Russian. No picture, no translation.
As you start reading the first sentence, you could barely stop yourself from breaking the thing you were holding at the moment.
A beautiful and peaceful place if it weren't for the rats in it, Las Almas, Mexico.
What else does this person who sent you this file want from you? You feel like you are being watched. And whoever is watching you always seems to know where you are.
Without reading the rest of the first page, you move to the second page only to be met with Los Vaqueros information.
One thing that immediately catches your attention is when Alejandro and Rodolfo names are mentioned. And how, as you continue reading, it contains information about them.
It's almost the same as how 141's information was in the previous one.
Then you flipped to the last page.
You already guess where this one will lead you, but when you see it yourself, it still surprises you.
El Sin Nombre. Valeria.
You quickly close the file, then place it back on the table. You rest your hands on the table, then rest your head against them. You close your eyes as you take a deep breath while your fingers slowly massaging your temples.
"¿Qué pasó, cariño?" (What happened?) Alejandro's concerned voice is what finally brought you back to the present.
You take another deep breath as you open your eyes again to look at the file. "Estoy asustada." (I'm scared.) You quietly mutter; you're not sure if you have to tell Alejandro or not. Like you did with 141 except Price.
"The file..." You continued before Alejandro could reply. "It contains Las Almas, Los Vaqueros, including you and Rudy, and..." You hesitate to tell him the last one.
"And?" He encouraged.
You let out a soft sigh before closing your eyes again. "El Sin Nombre."
When the words left your mouth, you slowly opened your eyes and looked up to the Colonel. Waiting to see his reaction at the mention of the drug lord.
You see him narrowing his eyes as he leans forward to the table, then slowly taking the file. "Which page?" He asked as his eyes were already trained on the file.
"The last one. Third page."
He immediately ignored the first two pages and went to see the third page. Even though he didn't know what was written on the paper, he still wanted to see it. "What's information?"
You stay silent for a second, trying to choose your words carefully. "It contains the info about what she has done in the past, which I'm sure you already know as these things were quite popular when she committed her crimes."
"She? Does it say here that he is a woman?" It's what piqued his interest.
You shrugged as you finally lean back against your chair. "No, it's me who believed she was a woman."
You feel bad when you see how he shakes his head at your answer.
But when you think that tomorrow all of you are going on a mission to capture Hassan, knowing Alejandro sometimes he can be too emotional, you can't tell him right away about it. Even with the clear evidence he holds in his hands right now, you can't.
You need to capture Hassan first to make sure that the plot is still going like it should be. And nothing else unexpected happened.
"You think you know who sent you this?" Alejandro speaks again after he closes the file and places it back on the table. Now finally looking at you.
"I have some wild guesses, but I'm not sure. There are so many possibilities." You shake your head as you slightly frown at the thought.
If this person or maybe people or a group have bad intentions for you, you are sure you'll be dead by now. Giving how they know your movement and even can sneak such files to you without any suspicion.
"Has this happened before?"
"Si, una vez." (Yes, once.)
"¿Cuando?" (When?)
"Recientemente (recently). When I went on my last mission with 141 before coming here."
"You tell them?"
"No, solo el capitán." (No, just the captain.)
Alejandro shakes his head at your answer. "¿Por qué no?" (Why not?)
"They won't believe me." You simply said as you took the file again. Then you get up. "It's getting late; you need to rest and prepare for tomorrow, jefe." You teased as you smiled at him before walking away.
"Thanks for your company though." You said one last time before fully stepping out of the kitchen, not waiting for his response. Knowing all too well if you did, you can't resist telling him everything.
When you look ahead again, you stop dead in track when you see a figure walking in your direction. You tried to narrow your eyes to adjust to the dark hallway only to see a white mask, which you know well.
"Lieutenant." You softly greet him before you walk past him, not wanting any more interaction at this late at night after your conversation with Alejandro. Let alone this is Ghost, whose you're talking about.
He briefly looks at you before he too, walking past you. You internally sigh in relief when he did. Then you quickly walk to your room.
But what you don't know, the said Lieutenant stops in his tracks when he feels you start walking away. Then he turned around to see you quicken your pace as you held a folder in your hand. Which he assumed to be the file that you've been talking about with Alejandro in the kitchen.
- - -
Word count : 2279.
With love, Seven.
(edited)