Back Chapters: At the Beautiful Memoirs site, or at mine: http://rambles.proboards.com/
Note: Hope you enjoy this chapter!  Thanks for the feedback you leave here, I read every one (almost obsessively) and really appreciate it .  I used to check back a gazillion times a day before I finally noticed the feature that I could click to recieve emails when someone replied to the thread (yes, I am a rocket scientist).  I feel bad that I don't reply in this thread but I don't want to unecessarily "bump" the thread so feel free to pm me if you have questions or you can post them in the feedback thread of my site because I answer everyone there. Thanks!



Jason knocked and entered Elizabeth’s room to find her sitting up in bed – covered. Thank God for small favors. From what little he could see of her, he was able to discern that she was wearing a tank top; but for the sake of his sanity, he decided to imagine that she was wearing flannel pants under the covers. He was doing his best to ignore the thought that she was going to sleep so she was most likely braless.

Clearing his throat, he walked over and sat in the chair where he’d spent hours the previous night.

Having watched his hesitant and almost uncomfortable movements, she had to repress a smile. It was comforting to know that he was experiencing the same kind of awkward nervousness she was. She did, however, have the good sense not to point it out.

There was a quiet lull between them as each searched for something appropriate to say. ‘Hi honey, how was your day’ seemed a bit ridiculous, but the alternatives of ‘Have you figured out how to kill Ruiz?’ or ‘If Sumra touches you again, I’ll break both of his hands’ also felt slightly taboo.

Elizabeth was the first to break the silence with the first random, non-mission oriented thing that popped into her head, “I’m afraid of horses.”

Jason quirked a brow.

Laughing, she continued, “Sorry, I was just thinking about our conversation from last night when you told me Stan was afraid of spiders.”

A corner of Jason’s mouth twitched in understanding before he relaxed back into the chair. She wanted to continue on in a similar vein from the night before – which was both good and bad. He wanted to help soothe the obvious fear he had seen in her eyes earlier, and maybe this was the best way to do that. Maybe spending their nights talking about anything but what their days entailed would be better for both of them.

Sensing his acceptance of her benign topic, she continued playfully. “My sister and brother used to tease me about it when we were kids because it wasn’t just horses; I was the same way about any large animal. Don’t laugh,” she pointed a threatening finger at him, “but I seriously freak out around cows.”

He closed his mouth tight, trying not to laugh.

With a giggle even she couldn’t suppress at her asinine but genuine fear, she cried, “Come on, Jason! They are big… and stupid… and they eat their own vomit! They are scary!”

Giving up on trying to fight it, Jason laughed. He responded sarcastically, “Yeah they are, Elizabeth. Cows are truly terrifying creatures.”

While the topic was completely ridiculous, it didn’t stop the breath from catching in Elizabeth’s throat at the sight of Jason’s uncensored smile. She had needed to see it after today. Maybe it was stupid and made no sense, but seeing him smile like that made her believe everything would be okay. She could feel her tense muscles slowly beginning to relax and loosen.

Pushing aside any thoughts about her day, she countered, “And what are you afraid of, Mr. Tough Guy?”

While her smile caused his chest to tighten in response, her question had the same effect for an entirely different and unwelcome reason. The only thing that truly scared him right now was what could happen to her; Sumra taking her, Ruiz hurting her. It was difficult to breathe as the tension that was his constant companion seemed to coil even tighter. He knew he would find no relief from it until she was safely back on U.S soil.

The second her question left her lips, Elizabeth wanted to take it back. She watched as his smile faded into the flat, emotionless mask he normally wore. She quickly decided to take a different tack and waved a dismissive hand. “Never mind, I already know. You’re afraid of being trapped with Brenda in a small space for a prolonged period of time.”

That brought at least a half-hearted smile back to his face as he leaned over to rest his elbows on his knees and study his hands.

She kept talking, not wanting him to retreat too far into that dark place she knew he had gone to. “Anyway, to get back to what I was talking about originally. When I was 10 my parents accepted a position in Zimbabwe and to make a long story short, I finally had a horse there. My father saved the life of a man who insisted that he had to pay him. He gave my father one of his prized possessions… a miniature horse.”

Forcing himself to pay attention to Elizabeth’s story and to quiet his spiraling morose thoughts, Jason raised his amused eyes to Elizabeth. “A what?”

She knew the moment he was back with her in their present conversation and she felt an instant sense of relief. Smiling, she replied, “A miniature horse.”

“A pony?”

Shaking her head and finding humor in his confusion, she explained, “There are certain breeds of horses that never grow bigger than a large dog.”

He stared at her for a few moments, humor flickering in his vibrant, clear blue eyes. With a push of breath that was eerily similar to a mocking laugh, he finally responded. “And you made fun of my ‘scintillating’ conversation?”

In a flash she had grabbed a pillow and hurled it at his head, even as her laughter erupted.

Catching it with ease, Jason’s features took on the appearance of exaggerated fear, “Wow, tossing a pillow at me, that was scary… almost as scary as a fat, lazy, cumbersome cow eating grass in a field.”

“I am going to kick your butt, Jason. Sleep with one eye open.”

He shivered in mock fear.

Elizabeth’s mouth dropped open in mild offense. “I did it before. I had you on your knees and a knife at your throat,” she patted her own shoulder, “I’ll do it again.”

Jason’s grin faltered slightly. While he recalled the moment she was referring to at the end of training, he was now regretting having given her that false sense of security.

She watched his face fall, and just like that she knew their brief moment of levity in the storm of uncertainty and danger swirling around them was over. She waited, instinctively knowing that he wanted to say something but wasn’t sure how.

With his eyes locked on hers, he started simply, “You did well today.”

Confusion was evident in her eyes; she wasn’t sure where this was going. “Thanks… I think.” She paused for a moment and then added, “Do you want me to tell you everything that happened? I know Taggart gave you an overview but maybe I can fill in some blanks.”

He shook his head, looking almost embarrassed as he glanced quickly at the ground and tugged at his ear. “Taggart was sending me updates throughout the day; written, video, and pictures. I saw… more than enough.”

He reluctantly lifted his eyes to hers and saw her mouth part like she was about to say something, so he held up his hand to silence her. He knew she didn’t want Sumra’s or Ruiz’s attention, but he was afraid that if she said it, it would lead to a discussion about who she wanted it from instead. He didn’t want to go there. “You did precisely what you were supposed to do.”

She nodded, staring at her hands. “As much as Sumra turned my stomach, it was Ruiz who… who made my skin crawl. There is something just… evil about him.”

Aside from what was going on between them, the only other thing Jason didn’t want to talk to Elizabeth about was his past with Ruiz. She knew they had one, and she knew he thought the man needed to die – that should be enough. Something told him he needed to tell her more.

He stood and began pacing.

She could feel the air shift in the room. She had felt the same kind of change the day he told them all that he would be coming here to eliminate Ruiz. She instinctively knew to stay quiet and let him talk at his own pace. He was working himself up to tell her something… and it was obvious that it was incredibly important and extraordinarily difficult for him to talk about. Her eyes tracked him as he paced, her breath coming in shallow, quick bursts.

Suddenly he stopped pacing to face her directly, his eyes haunted. “When you told me what happened… to your sister, my first thought was that your family had been taken by Ruiz.”

She said nothing, her brows pulling in confusion.

“I knew you had seen his picture and didn’t recognize him, so I dismissed that thought.” He paused, swallowing something large and very uncomfortable as he finished, “I just want you to know that Ruiz wouldn’t hesitate to do… those same things to you.”

He moved closer to the bed, his voice dropping to a near-whisper, “I need you to be vigilant, Elizabeth. Never, never let your guard down.”

Again she only nodded; he wasn’t saying anything she hadn’t imagined on her own – even if she wished she was wrong. He had told her once before that Ruiz would think nothing of raping her and then eating dinner over her lifeless body. At the time she had hoped it was a scare tactic with a little truth mixed in, but now she knew different. It was there in the gravity of his tone and the hollow darkness of his eyes. He was speaking from firsthand experience; Jason had actually seen Ruiz cut and torture women.

While she was afraid to break the silence, afraid he’d clam up and pull back, she was more afraid not to push for information. What if this was the one brief window she was to be given where Jason was willing to talk about his past?

Hesitantly she started, “Ja–“ She stopped to clear her throat. “Jason, I don’t want to pry, and you can tell me to go to hell, but if you could talk to me about Ruiz, maybe it would help remove some of what you carry from your shoulders,” she switched tactics when she realized that wouldn’t work, “or maybe it would help me if he ever…”

She didn’t finish her sentence, and she didn’t need to. They both knew she meant if Ruiz managed to take her.

The muscles of Jason’s cheek ticked furiously as his jaw clenched. He closed his eyes, trying like hell to calm himself. His body seemed to vibrate as she watched.

After what felt like minutes of watching him fight to control his simmering rage, he was finally able to open his eyes and answer. “He gets off on hurting women. He actually enjoys the sight of blood; it’s a maniacally disturbing obsession of his and it is the only reason I am still alive. He doesn’t… kill the women right away; he only makes them wish they were dead. He takes great pleasure in breaking them, hurting them until they scream and beg for death.”

She closed her eyes as her stomach rolled from the image he painted. It was obvious why he’d rather be “dead” than risk the women of his family falling into this man’s hands. It also made his earlier treatment of her make some sort of warped sense. He had it completely backward, but he probably thought he was helping. “Is that why you were so nasty to me during training? Were you hoping to make me harder, tougher?”

He shrugged.

Her laugh was more of a snort, “Well, that was just stupid.”

He looked at her as if she were crazy.

She couldn’t help but hesitantly smile to soften the name-calling. “I’m serious, Jason. You’re telling me – if I understand you correctly – that the man will do things to make women scream and cry, that he gets off on it.”

He nodded, again looking at her as if she were a bit crazy and missing the point.

Pulling the covers aside and climbing out of bed, she approached him, forgetting that she wore only the shortest of shorts on her bottom – a fact that did not escape Jason’s notice.

For some reason this new information had her worked up, almost excited, as if she had been missing something all along; now the pieces had finally fallen into place and she wanted to brainstorm. “I mean really, Jason, think about it. A woman shouldn’t go all kung-fu on him, she would be better off breaking into hysterics right away, crying, begging for mercy, etc.”

His eyes squinted. He was thinking about what she was saying but not agreeing.

She smacked his shoulder as if he were a silly child who didn’t get what she considered to be perfect logic. She began to pace herself.

“What if he were to get a woman,” she paused as if searching for the right description, “alone.”

Jason noticed two things about that simple sentence: One, she chose to make it sound like Ruiz had cornered a random woman in a dark room rather than specifically discussing the real problem at hand – namely, Ruiz attempting to kidnap and torture her. He knew her slant was most likely for his benefit so he didn’t lose his shit. And two, she was making it sound like she was talking to herself, working out a problem of some kind, instead of asking him a question. He watched her as she paced, trying to keep his eyes on her head and off her legs, her ass; her breasts when she was facing him.

“If a woman became a hysterical, rambling, begging mess right from the beginning rather than fighting him, would he even need to cut her? Would inflicting pain on her be necessary if his mere presence elicited the same kind of reaction?”

He shook his head violently, “Or maybe he’d just kill her more quickly to make her shut up, Elizabeth.” He added, “And that doesn’t address his sick obsession with blood either.”

She stopped short. She hadn’t really thought of that – but she had a feeling she was onto something here.

Jason was finished with this conversation. “You know what? It doesn’t matter anyway. He will not be getting his hands on you, so this isn’t a topic you need to be thinking about right before bed.”

She disagreed; Ruiz’ eyes and his latent evil were never far from her mind at any time. Formulating a plan in case the man ever got his hands on her actually helped to calm her incessantly overworked nerves. She was a skilled actress who knew the value of preparation.

Playing his words over in her head, she realized Jason couldn’t handle this topic right now because it might break his concentration and interfere with his reason for being here. Maybe he couldn’t spend his time thinking up what-if scenarios – but she both could and would.

Swatting aimlessly at the air, she smiled shyly as if she was embarrassed for getting temporarily off-track. “You’re right, forget it.” Walking back to her bed, she climbed in and pulled the covers up.

Jason slowly returned to his chair, not sure whether he bought her seemingly easy acceptance of the conversation’s end. He had a feeling the wheels were still turning in her head, but he had been completely serious; she needed to find a way to stop them. She needed to separate from the mission at night to let her mind and body relax or she’d wear herself out. She had said so herself just last night.

Knowing it was for the best, he sat back down in his chair and decided to force the issue by returning to their light, harmless topic. “So what was the name of your vertically-challenged horse?”

Despite her mind juggling multiple things, she actually chuckled and made herself focus on his question; he needed her to for the sake of his frazzled nerves. With a teasing smile, she asked, “Are you going to make fun of me if I tell you?”

He nodded his head up and down in affirmation even as he said, “No.”

She hurled another pillow at him.

Despite continuing their previous banter, it was different this time; more superficial. Neither of them could completely shake the thought of Ruiz – and they probably never would, not while they were here in Kafiristan, and not while the man was still breathing.

Still, some kind of distraction was necessary if Elizabeth was ever going to sleep, so she answered. “Peace. I named him Peace.”

Her eyes became sad, the light in them waning despite her attempts to appear the opposite. “At ten years old I naïvely thought that world peace was possible, and that if there was peace, my parents would stop doing the kind of work they did and we could come home.”

Both of them shared another silent but emotion-filled moment. No matter how sincere the wish of that ten-year-old girl had been, it just hadn’t been in the cards for Elizabeth. Instead, three years later she was handed a living nightmare that was to haunt her for the rest of her days.

Jason’s soft eyes were locked on hers, and his small smile held not an ounce of teasing. It made her feel warm, comforted. “I think Peace was a great name, Elizabeth, and completely appropriate for a ten-year-old.”

Elizabeth’s eyes rimmed with tears before she glanced away and miraculously found a way to keep them at bay. Snuggling lower under her covers, she rolled to her side and faced him in his chair. “So enough of my scintillating conversation, let’s hear more of yours.”

With that hint of a smile on his lips she was beginning to love, Jason leaned forward to rest his elbows on his legs again and began talking. This time he regaled her with talk of his custom-built motorcycle. He only got about five minutes in before she was asleep. Again, he watched her as he had the night before. In slumber, her face lost all traces of worry, her skin took on a slightly pink hue, and for at least a few hours… she was at peace.


chasindanger1.jpg Dawn's Chasing Danger picture by Gemmie12
Banner made for me by the talented Dawn!