Alexander was about to leave without me, so I locked him in a chokehold and held on like my life depended on it. I wrapped myself around him like a squid as he got up from the bed. He barely looked out of breath as he tried to get me off of him while trying to make his way towards the door.
"Angel." Alexander sighed as he reached the door with me on his back, my arms around his neck and legs around his torso.
My wounded leg was burning, but I ignored it while gritting my teeth. "I need to see it. I can help." I grunted as I started to slip.
"Wheelchair."
I frowned in frustration as I grasped desperately at his broad shoulders trying to stay upright. "I can limp perfectly."
He remained silent as he tried to detach me from him. As he took one of my arms off of him, I wrapped it around him again while he was prying off my other arm. Since Alexander was holding back his strength in worry that he may hurt me, the cat and mouse game carried on for a few more seconds and I couldn't help it as a chuckle slipped past my lips when I placed my chin on his shoulder.
Alexander turned his head to look at me and sighed softly in defeat. He put looped his arms around my thighs and supported my full weight so that my own arms didn't have to, then proceeded to carry me out of the room.
There were a few nurses walking around and they all stopped to stare at us with their mouths slightly open, gawking at the sight. I could feel my cheeks starting to heat up. My impulsive mind did not take into consideration the humiliation I would feel to be seen in the public like this.
"W-wait," I growled in embarrassment. "Let me down, Red."
He did eventually set me down, only for it to be on a wheelchair.
"Sit. Stay." Alexander warned with a straight face, looking directly into my eyes and holding each of my wrists against the armrests.
"Red, I am not a dog. In fact, I-" I wasn't able to finish as he quickly leaned forwards and planted a soft kiss on my lips, effectively shutting me up.
I remained sitting on the wheelchair, biting back my grumbles, as Alexander got up and pushed me to where we needed to go. We were going in the direction of our unit room when he suddenly made a left turn and pushed me into a different room. He got us into a room that was equipped with showers and sinks.
"Wait," he ordered as he left the room.
I got up from the chair using my good leg and arms, then proceeded to limp towards the closest sink.
Alexander got back in the room and locked the door behind him. In his arms, he held a towel, extra clothes, and two toothbrushes. He put all the things down on the wheelchair and handed me a toothbrush with some toothpaste squeezed onto it. I took what he offered gratefully, then started the process of brushing my teeth and washing my face. I used the towel to wipe off the excess water and handed it off to Alexander, who also finished brushing his teeth and washing his face. He quickly changed his clothes and helped me get into mine since my body was still stiff and sore from the bruises. What I changed into ended up being a maxi skirt that skimmed my ankles and a thin long sleeve shirt. Most of my body was covered up and I was grateful.
I finally felt somewhat normal with some casual clothing on.
"Who gave you this?" I asked him in confusion since I certainly did not own any clothing like this and he probably didn't have time to go shopping.
"Mom," he answered and I understood.
Alexander changed into a pair of navy slacks and a light blue v-neck t-shirt. The shirt was tight enough that I swore I could see the lines of his abs.
I quickly looked away to avoid being caught ogling.
"Ready?" He asked softly and I hesitated.
Alexander knelt down on one knee right in front of my wheelchair and reached into his pocket to pull out something.
Alexander took my left hand into his and he slipped a ring onto my ring finger. As I looked closer, I realized that it was the wedding band that I left in my car before I had to go met Efren. After he slipped the ring onto my finger, he held both of my hands tightly in his, offering me comfort.
He didn't say anything as he waited patiently for me to mentally prepare myself. When I felt somewhat ready, I gave his hands a squeeze back and a soft smile.
Alexander got up and wheeled me to our unit room, where both Victor and Emmaline were there waiting in anticipation.
As they both Victor and Emmaline saw me, Emmaline nearly burst out into tears as she was glad that I was okay and both tried to give me a hug, which ended up being awkward since I was sitting and they were crouching.
"The USB." Alexander got us back on track and Emmaline quickly went over to her computer and pulled up the opened USB folder onto the large screen near her desk.
There was only one single PDF file on it.
I held my breath as Emmaline opened the file. When it finally loaded, I understood why Efren continuously taunted me that he was going to destroy the people close to me and why it meant so much for him to have this.
On the PDF was a list of nicknames with numbers next them and I knew exactly what it was. My nickname was on there as well as the five-digit number I identified myself as when I was in the specialized unit. Wolf, the entirety of my team and his teams were listed there on the first page as well.
"Scroll down," I asked Emmaline, noticing that there were two pages.
She did as I asked and I saw more names, some I didn't even recognize. As she scrolled to the end of the second page, there were three lines of a series of numbers bunched together in groups. At first, I didn't know what it meant until I thought through all the numbers I had to memorize during my training.
Immediately, I felt all the blood leave my face and I looked back at the screen in shock. "F*ck."
"You know what it means?" Emmaline questioned as she looked at the screen again, still unable to decipher the numbers.
My hands clenched into fists as I realized that this was the information that Estelle Kage lost in the midst of her carelessness.
"Simmons?" Victor asked me cautiously as he furrowed his eyebrows.
I felt Alexander's hand on my shoulder and I calmed myself enough to talk.
"My name is there," I started, my voice hollow and empty. "So is Wolf's. All of my team and his team members are there as well, along with another page of names I don't recognize. Our identification numbers are next to our names and those numbers are the only things that could link us to our real identities."
I paused as I waited for my information to sink into their minds.
"The last three lines are coordinates to weapon facilities exclusively for our specialized unit's use and the passcode to get in is written there as well. We were all made to memorize the coordinates to the facilities. That's not the worst." I hesitated.
"Each facility has one missile with a homing system and its destination will always be aimed at our military base. I only know this because I overheard it near the end of my tour. If someone triggers the specific missile, they can wipe out the entire base in a matter of minutes." I thought back to the conversation I had with Cadence right before our final mission together. It made me question if we were truly just expendable soldiers, only valuable until someone decides we're not worth the trouble anymore.
Emmaline immediately paled and blinked in surprise.
"Are there people on the base now?" Alexander questioned and I swallowed the lump in my throat.
"Yes. Most of Wolf's team and mine. Everyone else should be on the base as well unless they are currently on a mission. They also have training for new recruits on the base this time of the year as well."
Silence overtook the room.
A firm resolve cemented itself inside me and I looked over at Emmaline. "Pass me the USB."
Emmaline didn't question me as she ejected the USB from the computer and handed it over to me. I got up and Alexander quickly reached for my arm to steady me, but I shrugged him off. I limped over to my desk and placed the USB on top of it.
"Pass me your gun, Red," I demanded emotionlessly as I held out my hand.
It seems that Alexander trusted me enough to know I wasn't going to start shooting this place up, so he handed it over to me. I made sure the safety was still on, since I wasn't going to fire it, and then slammed the butt of the gun against the USB. The plastic cracked and when I did it again, it cracked further.
As I was about to do it again, someone abruptly barged into the room. I didn't recognize who it was, but he was clearly distressed.
"Someone named Estelle Kage is here to see you, Agent Blades, with a search warrant in hand."
****
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