Ghost Sight

[TelephotoMarigold]

Chapter 40

 

Ella waited patiently to hear from someone in the camp with Roman. She knew they’d caught Mark but with William, a self-trained sniper, still out there she was worried about her husband.  That’s right she was worried about her husband, even though her children and grandchild were there, in addition to their friends. All of them were stuck in the middle of the bush with a sniper on the loose but it was Roman she was thinking about.

He’d been shot by William once before and that had meant a year away from his children. William had also shot her.  If he got it into his head that he had the perfect opportunity for revenge, then what might he do, she asked herself before groaning.

Roman was better than that, she believed in the good in him which was why she’d let herself be persuaded to stay near his parents, out the way of the action.  If Roman could solve this for himself without his normal self-sacrificing bit then what was the point of them, it would mean he hadn’t changed at all, that he hadn’t learned anything.  But no, she believed in him, she trusted and loved him but that didn’t seem to stop her worrying about him, though.

Moving ahead of the kids into the restaurant owned by Roman’s parents she settled them down on the big table double-checking that she hadn’t missed any in the shuffle.

“Mama,” Lily began before lapsing into silence.

Ella looked at her precious daughter and sighed. She knew what her daughter wanted to ask of course but she didn’t have any answers for her, she had no information on her father or brothers.

“What do we want to order from Grandpa today?” She asked the group watching as Sophie reluctantly picked up a menu and began to look at it.  Meggy moved closer to her sister and peered at the list of food.

“His pasta is so-oooo good,” Meggy said unaware that she was pouting and had licked her lips.

“Can we get starters?”

Sammy’s question had her shaking her head despite her suddenly craving the baked camembert and cranberry jam she knew Marco kept on the menu just for her. Without school to keep them active and this abundance of excellent food her children were beginning to pack on some weight.

“Mama we’s want juice.”  Liam announced.

“Can I get some manners please,” she said automatically even as she helped August and Fleur get closer to the table.

Liam looked downwards and sniffed, obviously picking that up from his sister when Lily wanted to get away with something.  “I is sorry Mama,” he said with another sniff.

She nodded at him before turning as the waiter pitched up and she began the order selecting the pasta in a cheese sauce for herself, and then going round the table letting the others order.  It took a few minutes to get everyone sorted with food and drinks before the waiter left to head to the kitchen to present the order.

“Mum, can we ring Georgie later?”

She wasn’t surprised at the lonely note in Sophie’s voice, knowing her princess daughter was missing her twin. 

“I think we can do that,” she said slowly and grinned as Lily opened her mouth to say something before closing it again.  “I know Squeals; you want to speak to Mikey.”

“Not Dada?” Meggy questioned her sister before laughing as Lily shook her head before realising what she was saying ‘no’ to. 

“Not funnys,” she cried out.

“Shush Lils,” Ella said softly leaning over towards her.  Maybe she could head this tantrum off at the pass she thought giving Meggy a glare.

Sammy looked round everyone before he spoke. “Have we heard from them?”

“No Sammy,” she muttered rubbing a spot between her eyes. “And we won’t until..” trailing off she tried to ease the sudden crick in her neck stretching and rubbing at the tense before feeling her stomach somersaulting. Pins and needles flicked down her left arm and she felt a tightness in her chest that she hadn’t experienced before.

“Mum?”

“I’m fine…” she whispered blinking at the rush of nausea going through her.

“Mum,” Sophie cried out in panic as Ella collapsed, her unconscious body slipping off the chair and onto the floor of the restaurant. 

Sammy reached her side first checking her pulse and nodded at Meggy as she saw to the twins and the younger children.  Sophie sprinted up and ran towards the back of the restaurant collecting Marco.

All the while Ella sank further down into the darkness, falling into the black recesses of the faint.

“Mum… mum… mum…”

 

 

Roman felt the tickle of unease on the back of his neck; he was watching William through the scope of his rifle. Seeing the man move just slightly as he readjusted his position.  Across the valley, the sun was beginning to light up the darkened sky and he knew that was the moment when snipers were at their most vulnerable when movement could be detected when the sun could reflect off something or catch the sniper unawares. The magnified glare of sharp light through the scope left you half blind and as you blinked to clear your vision you stopped paying attention.

“Hardcore, you got us,” Jacko’s whispered voice came through his earpiece.

“What took you so long?” he muttered back. “Pete, head to your left.”

“Sounds almost like he knows what he’s doing,” Pete whispered to Jacko.

Roman grunted at that and head muted laughter coming from the two men as they eased through the bush to where William was positioned.  He continued to watch their progress with the aid of his scope when he paused and peered through it.

“Hold up, William on the move,” he hissed out seeing the two men immediately pause.

A sudden flash of brightness as the sun caught the glass of William’s scope alerted him to the guns movement along with the man and he reacted before he could stop and think about it. The trigger felt immovable in his finger as he fired the shot to take out the other man, not a kill shot but wounding he told himself even as the bullet left his gun and travelled towards the other man. 

He briefly closed his eyes as he called out in an urgent voice, “he was going to take a shot,” he muttered defending himself he thought with a groan.

His hands were shaking even as he held his rifle in place, his gaze peering through the scope and over to William and the scene unfolding before him. Pete and Jacko were now moving rapidly towards the injured man through the bush no longer needing to be stealthy. Then removing his weapon and securing him.

“We got him Hardcore, come home,” Jacko’s voice called out.

“Shoulder shot,” Pete added as though knowing that he’d need that information.

An inch further down and it could have been fatal. He remembered suddenly the shot that paralysed his own arm and couldn’t stop the thought that he hoped his own had done similar damage, however petty that thought was.

Standing slowly he eased out his stiff muscles before collecting his gear and heading slowly back to camp.  He found that tiredness hindered his progress and although he no longer had to hide his progress through the bush it still seemed to take him an age as he reached the main portacabin.

“Hardcore,” Jacko called out when he finally got there.

“What the hell were you thinking Dad?” Georgie spat out at seeing him.

Roman gave his son a grin, “I’m pretty sure you got that from your mother,” he said out the side of his mouth before giving Jacko his rifle and other equipment to stow. “We got them?”

“Both of ‘em Hardcore,” Jacko confirmed.

Casting a tired gaze around the camp he stepped forward and felt himself sway.  He wasn’t twenty-six anymore, he thought with a groan as exhaustion overtook him. He cast his mind back to remember the last time he’d stayed up all night and couldn’t, although this hadn’t just been all night according to his watch and the mental sums he did inside his head.  Nearly thirty hours without sleep.  He discounted the fifteen minute nap that he’d had whilst waiting for William to show himself.

Jacko took pity on him and put his free arm around him guiding him to a seat inside the porta cabin and he sank down gratefully on it before facing Georgie. 

“I couldn’t let anything happen to any of you,” he said noting the tired sounding tone of his own voice. “William hurt your mother once….”

“And he killed you!” Georgie spat out.

“I wasn’t seeking revenge Georgie, I had to make sure that you were okay,” he tried again with his explanation.

Georgie suddenly looked like a little boy playing dress up in an army uniform as his shoulders sank and he bowed his head down. He heard a sniff and then saw Georgie rub at his eyes.

“Son, please,” he begged huskily, “I was in touch with Jacko the whole time. I wouldn’t take chances ….”

“You did Dad, you went out on your own when you hadn’t slept and.. and..”

Roman lifted his arm feeling every single muscle aching, and placed his hand on Georgie’s shoulder. “Son, I was safe. I was careful. And,” he paused wondering what to tell his son before sucking in a breath, “I am a trained sniper.” He noted immediately that used present tense just then and knew that Jacko would have picked up on that. “I did a risk assessment and tactical review….”

Georgie looked at him then before scrubbing at the last of his tears. “Tactical review?  That’s going to keep you warm at night when Mother makes you sleep on the sofa for the next ten years!” he scoffed before slamming his way out of the porta cabin.

“All these years I thought the boy took after you’s Hardcore, but now I definitely see a touch of his mother in him!”

“Was it when he told me off or slammed the door?”

“Bit o’both!”

He joined in with Jacko’s laughter before blinking tiredly.  He must have nodded off for a few minutes because the next time he opened his eyes his father-in-law was standing in front of him next to James and Pete.

“Roman,” George began.

“If your next words are that you had to let them go I think I might punch you again,” Roman cautioned.

“They are in custody. No, it’s Ella.”

“What about my wife?”

Even as tired as he was he shot up from the chair and glared at George silently urging him to speak as he did so.

“She’s in hospital. She was taking the kids to lunch and she collapsed.”

Roman swayed once more and found that he was only held upright by George moving to his side and holding him. 

“Get me to her,” he gasped out.

“I have a helicopter waiting to take us.” He was informed.

As he went with George he realised that he was still wearing his army uniform and boots.

[TelephotoMarigold]

Chapter 41

 

Roman paced up and down the hospital corridor. Inside the room were a bunch of doctors attending to his wife and none of them had answers for him. Ella was unconscious, lying prone on a hospital bed.  He swore for the hundredth time and then frowned. If only he could see her he’d feel slightly better about the situation he told himself.  Already he’d interrogated all the children about what happened, and about what they had been doing the past few days, nothing seemed out of the ordinary. Ella had been taking care of the kids and keeping them occupied.
He looked up as the door opened the white coated doctors stepped out of the room. One of them approached him seeming cautious and Roman couldn’t blame him having verbally ripped their heads off earlier.

“Yes,” he prompted knowing the kids and George were peering at them intently also waiting for news.

“We’ve taken further bloods, along with the other routine tests, …”

“And?” he muttered as the doctor paled and stuttered his response.

“We are at this unable to diagnose your wife. We’re hoping that we’ll get further results from the tests we’ve…” the doctor stopped talking when George sprang up and walked over to them.

Although the other man wasn’t wearing a uniform like he was, George still cut an imposing figure.

“So we wait,” George muttered. “That’s the best you can offer us?”

“Unfortunately yes,” the doctor squeaked out.

Roman peered at him watching as a slow tide of red suffused the young man’s face. “Go,” he barked out.  The doctor didn’t even pause as he spun around and disappeared from view.

“That almost made me laugh, surprising what that outfit does for you.”

Roman groaned at George’s comment looking down at himself. “Better get used to it I didn’t bring any clothes with me,” he said quietly before removing his shirt and dropping it over a chair.  Watching the corridor for a moment he waited until it was clear before easing quietly inside Ella’s room.

His wife was lying immobile in a hospital bed, various tubes and wires attached to her.  He glanced at the monitor seeing the moving lines indicating her heartbeat and other functions.  How many times had he seen her like this? How many times had he prayed to some deity to protect and heal her?

Moving to the side of the bed he took hold of her hand and held it carefully within his own. Her skin was cold to the touch and that surprised and shocked him. Of course he knew how serious this was but somehow he’d expected Ella to wake up and give him grief about what he’d been doing the moment he took hold of her hand.

“El, sweetheart,” he said quietly hiding a smile at the sweetheart bit. Obviously had she been awake she would have poked him in the ribs at the endearment. Something they didn’t do to each other. Dear, honey, sweetheart, or any form of, would have had her asking him what he’d done wrong now, with the emphasis on the now part because he was always managing to screw things up with them. 

“I don’t know what to say to you to get you to wake up. I didn’t kill either of them El, they are in custody and the authorities will deal with them. I kept our kids safe. Mike, Georgie, Toby, Aden, Brett, all of them, I promise.”

His voice choked and he glanced anxiously at the monitors hoping that her stats had changed now she knew but the beeping line kept the same rhythm and he could only console himself that it was steady and strong.

“I’m going to let in the other kids now so they can say goodnight to you. I’m taking them home so they can get some rest and we’ll see you in the morning. I know how much you hate hospitals so you’re going to have to wake up so I can get you out of here,” he muttered glancing again at the monitors. Nothing. No change.  Leaning forward he pressed a kiss to her lips and then another one,  and hating that he was leaving her there he reluctantly let go of her hand and slipped out of the room walking over to the kids.

“Hey guys,” he said quietly, “Going to let you go in and say goodnight to her and then we’re off to get some food and rest.”

“Dad…” Sophie groaned before she shot up from the hospital chair she was in and looked down the corridor.

His gaze followed and he saw Mike, Toby, and Georgie walking towards them. 

“Guys,” he greeted.

“We brought you some clothes dad,” Mike said quietly before accepting a hug from his sister Lily as she ran over to him.

“You are so not her favourite brother anymore Liam,” Sammy murmured smirking as Liam pouted at him.

“What about..” Roman began to ask.

“Scene is secure, James and Pete are dealing with everything.  Jacko had to go to the airport to pick his son up.”

Roman nodded at the update before moving to Georgie’s side and placing his hand on his son’s shoulder.

“Just telling everyone that they can go in and say goodnight to her, you better go in first,” he said to him in a soft voice, “Then Toby and Mike.”

“Yeah Dad, nice try she’s still going to kill you.” Mike chuckled.

Roman watched as his kids eased into the room and then out again with seeming matching expressions on their faces and he could have told them that even out of it as she was, Ella would know they’d been in to see her.  Last to go in were the twins, August and Fleur, with their granddad George taking them in, and he heard them start to cry when Ella wouldn’t wake up.  A little bit broke inside of him whenever he heard his kids cry and he couldn’t fix things for them.  This was no exception and he bit the inside of his mouth so he didn’t say something stupid.

“Dad,” Toby called to him bringing his attention back and he peered at the two army personnel who had gotten off the lift and were walking purposely towards them.

“I see it,” Roman said walking briskly over to the uniformed men. He could feel all eyes on him and knew that he hadn’t just walked but had ‘marched’ over to them. Never had he been so aware that he was clothed in a uniform, the stiff cotton of the camouflage trousers clinging to the muscles of his legs, the black boots on his feet, laces tied so tightly that it felt like they were somehow imprisoning each foot and ankle.

He was handed a large white envelope and he opened it before scanning the contents.

“You have to be joking,” he exclaimed loudly. He put his hands in his pockets searching for his phone before remembering he’d left it behind and swore under his breath. Taking a step forward he peered intently at the men in front of him.  “Give me your phone, Private,” he barked out.

“Sir…” the man stuttered out.

Roman naturally assumed the ‘at ease’ position, feet planted shoulder width apart and hands clasped loosely behind his back before he glared at the man.

“I said give me your phone, and if this piece of paper is to be believed I apparently outrank you so give me your goddamn phone now,” he ordered using a tone of voice that he hadn’t adopted since being in the army. 

The army Private hastily took his phone out of his pocket and handed it over, his fingers fumbling in nervous handling.  Roman gave him a long look before he swiped across the screen and began dialling the number from the letter he’d been handed.  He was placed on hold before the man he needed to speak too came on the other end of the call.

“Now I’ve received your charming invitation to resume my army career whilst you exonerate me for the shooting of Mark Gillian and I hereby decline. In other words, Colonel Saunderson, you can take your orders and shove them,” Roman bit out.  He heard the man muttering in his ear and glared at the phone like it was responsible for this particular happening before speaking again. “No you listen, you’ll find I can talk to you anyway I please as I’m a Civilian and if you intend for these two soldiers to persuade me to accompany them then you should have sent more men. Just how many pieces would you like me to send them back in…” Roman ended the call by tossing the phone back to the Private before spinning on his heal and striding back to where his family were waiting. He didn’t even bother looking to see if the men were still there.

“And this is why I’ve decided not to start dating,” Meggy murmured with a pout.

That was enough to have the assembled kids and George laughing, the tension of the situation breaking up and he was immensely grateful to his daughter, stuck again by how much like her mother she was.  Ella would have said something similar to dispel the children’s fears and get them to focus on something else.

Roman grimaced before joining in with the laughter, reaching down he grabbed his shirt, giving it a look of distaste as he dragged it on.  “Come on everybody, let’s get sorted. We need to get the little ones fed and in bed before sorting out where everyone is staying ..”

“We’ve got a car outside,” Mike murmured. 

“Better give that letter to me,” George commented.

Roman groaned and presented the crumpled page to his father-in-law and leaning down he picked up the twins cradling his youngest daughters in his arms. Turning he led a procession out of the hospital reluctantly leaving Ella behind. 

[TelephotoMarigold]

Apologies for the lack of updates to this story and a thank you for continuing to read it! 

Chapter 42

Ella’s eyes slowly worked open and she blinked as her brain began to function enough to work out where she was.  Drowsily she moved her head to one side and saw the machine that was monitoring her vital signs, heartbeat, blood pressure, breathing, and so on.  There was a needle stuck in her arm that was connected to a drip at the other side of her.  Looking up at the bag she saw the single drip drip drip of fluid working its way down the tube and into her body.   Her mouth felt like it was full of cotton wool, a dry fuzzy taste that no amount of swallowing could get rid of.

Everything seemed to be in working order she catalogued, moving her arms slowly and then her legs. Pulling herself achingly slowly into a sitting position she reached for the buzzer that would alert a nurse that she was awake and pressed it, not once but several times.  The fear she felt at being in a hospital was making her nauseated not to mention she wanted to see her kids and make sure they were okay.

Clutching at the metal railing at the side of the bed she waited for the door to open, only to be surprised when it did.  Not just a nurse and several other medical staff but there was a uniformed police officer.

“Wha…” she croaked out.

“Ella Harris,” a doctor murmured, his kindly face smiling at her.

She was eased back into the bed as the people around her milled about.  Tests were done and then finally a cup of water was held to her lips and she gulped it down greedily.

Some time passed and then she was left with the uniformed officer and she could only surmise a plain clothes detective.

“What’s going on?” she croaked out.

“I’m Detective Claire Macfall,” the detective introduced herself before doing the same with the other police officer.  Neither introduction put Ella at ease despite seeing their credentials proving they were from the police.

“What is this about?” she asked after she managed to find some voice.

“When you collapsed your father-in-law advised us that your family had been under threat.  The hospital did a complete tox screening and some anomalies were detected.”

“What anomalies?” Ella asked quickly giving the woman a glare. She had no idea where her kids were and then there was Roman, and here was this woman taking forever to get to the point.

“Mrs Harris, you were a victim of a drugging. A combination of barbiturates and opiates were administered to you resulting in a coma, a higher dose could have been fatal.”

“Okay, so what now?”

Ella noticed that the detective blinked at her question. She could have mentioned that with the number of times that people had tried to kill them that they were almost bored when someone wasn’t out to get them and grimaced at the truth in her sarcastic thoughts.

“We need you to remain in hospital….”

“No chance…” Ella shot out. “You’re lucky I’m still here listening to you!”

“Mrs Harris, whoever did this is still out there. We believe that they will try again..”

Ella found herself laughing. “Of course, they always do. I need to see my kids. I need to find out…” she bit her lip to stop herself blurting out about Roman and his borderline legal method he was employing to get Mark and William.

“The doctors need to ensure that all drugs have left your system, Mrs Harris,” the detective continued.

Ella sneered, “I’m awake, isn’t that an indication?” The detective continued as though she hadn’t spoken and between that and the lingering headache she began to feel herself wearing down. “I’ll do it,” she muttered after a good ten minutes of listening to all the reasons why she should go with the detective's plan.

Finally left alone, Ella eased back on the pillows, hating the antiseptic smell and the feeling of being alone just as much as the fact that her kids thought she was ill in hospital. Although after taking care of them single handed for the most part over the past few months she had been missing her afternoon naps she thought with a yawn.  Maybe she could just have a little catch-up and then call the kids.

 

 

Roman eased into the bed and pulled up the covers.  Not his and Ella’s bed.  This one had a softer mattress that was offering no support to his back although it was forcing his aching muscles to relax.  He caught a scent of Ella’s perfume from the pillow next to him and sighed as he thought about his wife.  The phone call he’d had with the hospital just before getting into bed hadn’t given him any new information regarding her condition. His Dad, Marco, had told him what he knew, which was little.

Ella had brought the children to the restaurant every other day, inbetween museums and other days out. There was nothing out of the ordinary to her visit and yet she collapsed. He wasn’t asking the right questions because he had no answers. 
He expelled his breath in another sigh just as the bedroom door opened and he saw Lily tiptoeing into the room.  Lifting the covers for his daughter he smiled as she snuggled up to him.

“Why’s Mama no wakes up?” she sniffed.

“I don’t know. But you know Mama, she likes her naps,” he said quickly seeing a sad smile cross Lily’s face before she sniffed again.

“She no has nap now,” Lily said gravely lifting her head and looking at him. “Gust and Flower no no sleep.”

“Is that right?”

Lily nodded at him.  “She no happy ‘cause you no here Dada.”

He smiled briefly at that before sighing again.  “Well, you are having a nice holiday aren’t you?”

“Sophie’s sad no Georgie.”

“Just as you would be sad with no Liam, eh?”

“Dada, me tells you secret, Liams wants go camping with Dada.”

“Like his brothers?”

Lily nodded solemnly, her finger pressed against her lip in the shush gesture.

“I think that I can do that.  Does Lily want to come?”

Lily immediately shook her head, “No no no’s.” she muttered frowning at him.

“Don’t like bugs, eh?”

“Me no likes spiders,” she said with a shudder and an expression like he’d suggested the most horrifying thing in the world.

“That’s okay Squeals,” he murmured trying not to laugh at her. “Why don’t you get some sleep now? Be nice and rested for visiting Mama in the morning.”

He waited until his daughter fell asleep before closing his eyes and finally getting some rest himself although it wasn’t long before he came instantly awake.  He tensed for a second before carefully easing out of the bed and leaving Lily under the covers.  Pulling on clothes hurriedly he stepped out of the room and over to where Mike was crashing on the sofa and shook him awake.

“Dad…wah…?” he asked sleeping blinking up at him.

“Where are the car keys?”

“On the kitchen top. Dad… is it Mum, has someone called you…”

Roman shook his head.  “No, nothing like that. I just need to go for a drive and clear my head.  Lily is in the bedroom. I shouldn’t be long.” He murmured at his son. 

Grabbing the keys he headed out of the apartment and down to the underground parking structure where it took him a long time to even find the rental car.  Even longer to adjust to it before he set off.  

A number of wrong turns later and then finally, he was parking up the car outside the hospital wondering if punching a sat nav would get him jail time.  The thing had directed him on to the motorway heading out of the city and then added in a few more diversions before he had sworn at it and then managed to head the right way.   The last time he’d lived in his city there were fewer roads and considerably less roundabouts, he grumbled silently in his head. 

The elevator took him to the floor Ella was on and he paced quietly to her room.  The hum of machinery accompanied him as he walked along the tiled corridor past the nurses station and finally into her room.  He didn’t bother seeking the light switch as he stepped over the threshold and stood for the merest nanosecond before grabbing the woman holding a syringe up to Ella’s IV.

“What the hell do you think you are doing?” he snarled out looking at Catherine, Mark’s wife.  She was dressed in a nurse’s uniform so she could blend in with hospital staff.  The light snapped on and he looked down at Ella as she smiled up at him.  As he pulled Catherine away from her there was a brief struggle before he managed to subdue her. The syringe slipped to the floor and Catherine tried to kick it away.

“Roman…” Ella began.

“It’s okay,” he murmured.  “Press the call button, there’s a good girl,” he added grinning as Ella first pouted at him and then glared at the ‘good girl’ bit. She did as he requested though and soon the room flooded with people, from medical staff checking on Ella, to the police detective Ella told him had been there earlier.  After Catherine was given over to police custody, the syringe she’d tried to use on Ella was reclaimed from the floor and placed into evidence and forensic testing. Only then did he manage to go over to greet his wife. “So, you woke up then,” he said redundantly.

She blinked at him before pouting again.  “Couldn’t you find something else to wear?”

Roman found himself looking down realising that in the dark he’d pulled on his uniform again and tried not to take that as a sign of anything.

“Ella Harris,” he groaned before finally kissing her.

They were interrupted again by the detective walking into the room giving them both a look. “Just how did you know your wife was awake, Mr Harris?”

He found his cheeks growing warm as Ella looked at him a certain way.  “Just knew it,” he said feeling defensive.

“You didn’t call him after we spoke?” The question was directed at Ella.

“Not using conventional means,” Ella answered smirking at confused look on the detective’s face.

“We’ve been together a long time, Detective MacFall, we sometimes just know things.” The explanation was far from the truth but would suffice.  How could he say that he woke from the first decent sleep he’d had for days because he knew that Ella needed him. That he’d managed to get to her despite getting lost around the city just at the right moment.  How could he know that Ella was awake without going into detail of all the other times they’d sensed each other.

He found Ella looking at him and he grinned at her.

“Curious sense of timing,” the detective continued.

“My husband has impeccable timing,” Ella shot out.

“El,” Roman murmured placing his hand on hers before he looked at the police detective. “If you feel the need to investigate go look at the GPS in the car I was using. For some reason it was sending me all over the place.  If it wasn’t for that I would have been here before Catherine even showed up.”

His eyes met with Ella’s sapphire blue gaze and they both grinned again. Fate had a weird sense of humour.

“Can I go home now and see my kids?” Ella changed the direction of the questions. “What did Catherine hope to get out of attacking me anyway?”

“We’re uncertain of her motives. Is it possible she was working in collusion with her husband?”

“No,” Roman answered bluntly. “The two haven’t been in contact.”  He didn’t let on how he knew that, suspecting that their surveillance on Mark would be in the questionable legal territory zone.

“So you are aware of what exactly Mark Gillen has been putting us through?” Ella snapped out. 

Roman hid his grin at his wife’s question because she’d used that prissy tone of hers indicating how angry she was, luckily not with him at the moment, “How exactly did Catherine know where Ella was?”

“Catherine has requested a solicitor so we’re unable to question her at the moment.” The detective prevaricated.

Ella glared at her as she swung her legs over the side of the bed and sat all the way up. “She doesn’t live in the city does she?”

Roman shook his head, “Jason goes to Uni here but Catherine lives in Canberra.”

He was forced to stand there and watch as Ella pressed her lips together at the mention of his biological child and he felt himself flinching because he knew she was still hurt by that revelation.

“Where are the boys?”

Roman gave Ella a searching look at her question, “Jacko is here, James and Pete are back home.”

“Your children?” The detective asked looking confused.  She pushed a hand through her short black hair as she peered at them before taking out her notebook and pen.

“No,” he and Ella said at the same time. “My former colleagues and family friends.” He supplied.

“And by colleagues you mean from the army?” she questioned gesturing at his uniform.

“Detective MacFall is it? My current occupation for your records is chef and I am also a small business owner.” He bit out feeling defensive especially being questioned in front of Ella.

“Are you nearly finished detective, only I have kids who are worried about me and I really dislike hospitals?”

“I need contact details for you and I presume you will be staying in the city for a while?”

“We’ll be heading home as soon as possible actually. We need to get our life back on track.  If you need anything from us then you can contact Charlie Buckton at Yabbie Creek police station.” Roman instructed her before guiding the detective out of the room and walking over to the nurses station.  His eyes were flicking around checking who was where, feeling over anxious but considering someone had just tried to kill Ella he supposed that were natural.  After the detective left, looking frustrated at not being able to get any more information from them he was forced to wait as the doctor checked Ella over prior to her release and then finally he was escorting his wife out of the building and over to the car.  

“So,” he began as she buckled herself into the passenger seat. “You woke up earlier?”

“Yes,” she said seeming distracted.

“And you didn’t think of calling us to let us …” She blinked as she looked over at him and bit her lip. “Know you were okay?”  He continued.

“Well,” she was still biting on her lip.

“Missing out on naps according to Lily…” he murmured as he started the car.

“The twins no longer go down in the afternoons,” she said in a quiet voice. “How come you got lost?” she added trying to change the subject.

“Thought you’d catch up on sleep did you?”

“Roman!” she protested sounding guilty.

He chuckled at her especially at the tide of red colour that flooded her cheeks and reaching out he caught hold of her hand placing it on his knee, putting his own on top of hers.

“You called to me,” he said in a quiet voice referring to being woken from a deep sleep and knowing he needed to get to her.

“I may have done,” she glanced at him. “Not sure that the detective can understand that.”

“Not even sure I understand it,” he said with a light laugh. 

As the sun rose in the sky he drove them to their temporary home knowing that she needed to see the kids and at some point, they would find a moment to be together and take stock.

[TelephotoMarigold]

Okay, so... I'm not really writing much at the moment but I have managed to come up with another chapter.... incidentally, the word count for this story has just notched over the 100,000 mark. - Tele

 

Chapter 43

 Ella looked over at her father. He was standing with his back to her and looking out of the window. It was evident from his body language that he was furious and she knew that his anger was directed at Roman.  She couldn’t blame him she was a little mad at Roman herself.

“Have you spoken to her about being recalled yet?” George muttered.

“No,” Roman bit out folding his arms across his chest.

She could tell from the expression on her husband’s face that he didn’t care about covering up his body language at that point he was too angry.

“Recalled?” she snapped out getting mad herself.

“Apparently the army want me to appear before a board.”

She shot her father a look before glancing back at Roman, “Have you called the lawyers?”

“Not yet. I was a bit busy earlier.” He shrugged.

“Daddy you’re going to get that stopped, right?”

Her father sighed, “There isn’t a lot I can do, I’m retired remember?”

“I’m sure,” she pinned him with her gaze for a moment before looking back at Roman. “Maybe,” she began before biting on her bottom lip. “You need to do this to get clear of it?”

“Maybe,” Roman said quietly. “But that is something to sort out later, first we need to get you and the kids home.  We need to get back to …”

“Normal?” Ella muttered sarcastically.

“Yes, back to school and work. We can’t let Mark keep messing up our lives.”

She shot him a fierce long look before standing and stretching out the muscles in her back.  Moving around the small kitchen she poured out another coffee for herself and took a long drink. “In that case you need to get out of that uniform,” she said quietly.

Roman shrugged before he too stood and with a nod at his father-in-law he left them to it and moved into the bedroom.

“Princess…”

“You’re angry at him Dad and yet, you can’t hold him responsible for what others choose to do.”

“Ella I know that. But he could have sorted this out years ago. And the Army stuff is hard for you to deal with.”

“Exactly, but it didn’t stop you being in the Army until you made Colonel did it?”

“Point taken. I just feel that Roman makes…”

Ella slammed her cup on the top and glared again at her father. “Makes what Dad? Bad choices? Errors? Doesn’t think things through?”

“Something like that,” George faced her anger.

“We all do that.” She dismissed with a wave of her hand. “If Roman wasn’t so concerned about his family then he would have taken Mark out the first time he popped up. We both know what he is capable of, what he is trained to do.”

Her father looked at her as he took a step towards her. “It sounds Princess, that maybe there are a few things you shouldn’t own up to knowing.”

“Maybe there are. This is my family Dad, Roman is part of that and you need to back off.”

“You’re my family and Roman …”

He trailed off as Sophie walked into the kitchen. She blinked once, twice before squealing and running into her mother’s arms.

“Mum!” she cried out.

“Alright Sophie,” Ella murmured after a minute. “I’m okay, Doctors sorted out what was wrong,” she added trying to forestall what she knew would be a million questions.

“Where’s Dad? What’s going on now? Are we going home soon?”

“He’s getting dressed. We’re not entirely sure. Probably.” Ella said laughing at the expression on her daughter’s face at the answers.  “Did you come here to cook? Because I’d love some toast.”

“Some toast or cheese on toast?”

“Let me think about it..” Ella smiled as Sophie laughed before moving over to the fridge and taking out the fixings for breakfast.  “Come on Dad let’s leave her to it. I suspect the other kids will be up soon.”

She reclaimed her cup and moved out of the kitchen and through the lounge and over to the dining table at the end of the room.  Mike was still napping on one of the long beige sofas and she grinned briefly as seeing her son asleep.  He was an adult in many ways, holding down a good job, caring for his own family along with his brothers and sisters but he’d always be her baby and she had to resist stroking the hair back from his eyes and pulling up the cover over him as she saw him there.

Sinking down onto a chair she faced her father once more their conversation far from over but suddenly she was feeling so very tired.  Tired of the drama in their lives and tired of everything. The shock of someone actually wanting to kill her set in and her hands started shaking.

“Ella?”

“I’m okay,” she said before gasping as a sob tore through her. “Why did Catherine do it?”

“El?” Roman moved to her side silently, having showered and changed clothes.  He must have heard her crying she supposed as he reached out to her.

“Why Roman? What motive did she have?”

He knelt down next to her and carefully reaching out, he put one arm around her back and the other on top of her shaking hands to still their frantic movement.

“She felt you were a threat,” he told her quietly. “You took one look at her and saw through everything. Without the money she was getting from the army she’d be broke.”

“She would have come for you?”

Roman nodded at the question. “She would have blackmailed me again over Jason.”

Ella began to sob leaning her head on the top of his.

“Mum?” Mike had woken and was coming over to them.

“She’s okay,” George said quickly, stopping further chatter as he guided his grandson away.

After some time Ella eased up and wiped away her tears.

“Do you want your food in here?” Sophie said quickly looking at them in distress.

“I think we could do with some food,” Roman answered for her and she blinked up at him before finally nodding. Only then did Sophie bring out a tray of breakfast foods she’d prepared including the cheese on toast she’d requested.

It was moments later that people milled about and started to join them at the table. She was grateful that Roman and her father were guiding discussion and keeping the focus away from what she’d been through but it wasn’t long before Lily, Liam and her younger twins were vying for her attention.  Glancing at Roman she caught him looking at her with a blazing look of anger on his face and she shuddered in response knowing that if Catherine had succeeded in taking her away from them he would have killed the other woman with his bare hands.  She swallowed back the words she wanted to utter and felt completely lost for the first time in this whole debacle.

 

 

Roman sat on the wooden bench outside a Colonel’s office; he wasn’t sure what this one was called because he’d seen so many army officers in the last few days that their names had begun to blur.  Looking down at the black trousers he was wearing he picked at an imaginary piece of lint before lifting his hand to the collar of the white shirt he had on and nervously placed a finger inside it as though he could stretch it out in some way. 

At first being recalled into the army was some kind of joke, especially as civilian charges were laid against Mark Gillen but now weeks later as he was stuck at an army base in Perth whilst his family were back home he wasn’t seeing the humour in the situation.

Looking up as the door of the office opened he resisted the instinctive urge to shoot up and stand at attention, instead opting for sitting back and resting against the wall behind him as he folded his arms against his chest.

“Lt Harris, to your feet.” A deep voice intoned.

“That’s Mister Harris,” Roman shot back. “I’m a civilian.”

He saw movement from the corner of his eye turning his head to catch sight of George, his father-in-law marching towards them with his lawyer in tow.  From the expression on their faces, this wasn’t going to be good. 

There were mumbled words to the left of him as his attention was on his father-in-law, the man wearing a uniform despite being retired for a number of years. Whatever was going on was not going to be good and he slowly eased to his feet almost absentmindedly assuming an ‘at ease’ stance.

“Roman,” George greeted him.

“So…” Roman murmured seeing everyone look at everyone else and not him.  This was not going to be good news.

“You lied on your confession,” The lawyer began.

“I what?” Roman bit out.

“That is what is being alleged. That you knew Mark Gillen was alive when you made your plea deal with the army and that you covered for him.”

“That son of a bitch just tried to kill me and come after my family; does it sound like I was covering for him?” Roman bit out, “Wait, they aren’t dropping charges against him are they?”

“The charges against Mark Gillen are at the moment a matter for civilian courts, you, however, Lt. Harris are going to have to face a military tribunal.” The other ‘Colonel’ was saying.

Roman flinched and only just stopped himself from reacting to what was being said. Somehow punching another Colonel wasn’t going to get him anywhere.

Looking in appeal at his lawyer he bit back a groan at the other man’s expression. “So…” he prompted not sure what else to say right now.

“You’ll be taken to temporary quarters tonight and in the morning you will report for duty, in uniform and we will proceed from there,” the Colonel intoned.
Before he could muster up any kind of response he found himself being accompanied by two MP’s to a barracks at the far edge of camp where he was expected to stay. Inside the drab grey building the rows of empty beds indicated that he would be there on his own and for a moment he was grateful because he managed to mutter every curse word he knew, including some Ella had taught him over the years before finally calming himself down just as the door opened to admit George and his lawyer. Looking at their glum faces he knew he should have called Morag Bellingham out of retirement to come and help him because they seemed to think he was screwed.
“George, I don’t even know where to start,” Roman muttered pulling up a chair. At the last minute, he spun it around and straddled the seat before sitting on it and folding his arms over the backrest. “You need to go break this development to Ella,” he said feeling something breaking inside of him at the mention of his wife.  All these years and it was still hard for her to accept the Army being part of their lives. 

“If they make formal charges, taking it to court martial you will need an Army lawyer to represent you,” George said slowly his eyes flicking to the man standing next to him.

“Your father-in-law is correct. I’ll start lining up some names for you to choose from.”

“Thank you,” Roman inclined his head.

“Aside from that, I’ll make inroads into gathering any relevant material connected with Mark Gillen.” His lawyer murmured before leaving him and George to it.

“They honestly think I had something to do with covering up Mark’s dereliction or is it something else?”

George hesitated before he answered, the man flinching as Roman continued to look at him.

“It’s..” he began and then trailed off.

Roman shot up from his seat, the chair flying out from under him and skidding across the floor.

“Go tell Ella I’m going to be a little late for dinner George,” he said scathingly seeing his father-in-law pale at his words before the older man stood and moved out of the barracks.

When there were too many coincidences you knew that someone somewhere had it in for you.  George wearing his uniform and walking around the base like he’d never left, not being able to get straight answers when he’d asked why he was being recalled.  Whatever it was he suspected it involved him being shipped somewhere to resume his career as a sniper.

And he had no idea how Ella was going to cope with this.

Righting the chair he’d knocked over earlier he moved to the door and stuck his head out seeing the two MP’s guarding him and over in the distance his father-in-law was talking heatedly to another ranking officer.  He narrowed his eyes but they were too far away for him to lip read, a skill he still practiced even now.

“Lt Harris,” one of the MP’s spoke.

“Tell me is this prisoner allowed food and drink or am I expected to go without?”

“A meal ration will be sent to you at the allotted time,” the other MP muttered without glancing at him.

Roman shot them both a look and then retreated back inside slamming the door shut behind him.

So he was expected to fall in line, was he? Moving around the room he scouted for any information that would be useful and managed to find the fire orders for the barracks attached to the far wall. It gave him a map of the camp and told him exactly where he was. A glance at his phone told him that he had just enough signal to send a text message and he typed it out quickly as he moved to the end of the room and then sent it.
With any luck Jacko would arrange for beer and pizza to be delivered to him, just to prove that he wasn’t going to be controlled and also let his colleagues know something was up and to watch out before they were bunking down in neighbouring beds. Heading back over to the table and chairs he sat down and waited.

[TelephotoMarigold]

If anyone is still reading this, here is the latest update.

 

 

Chapter 44

 

Roman paced.

Never a man to be able to sit and wait he found himself walking back and forth in his own footsteps in the barracks where he’d been confined for the past few days.  He’d only managed to speak to Ella a few times and the children along with sessions with his legal team, now comprised of a civilian solicitor and his army representative, a Major with several years’ experience in the past few days and it was bugging him that he wasn’t getting the whole story.  Even then he knew that there was more going on than just a military tribunal to investigate what he knew about Mark being alive.

Jacko, Pete, and James had been subpoenaed as witnesses and as such he wasn’t allowed to talk to them officially.  But then when had they ever let doing things through official channels stop them, Roman thought as his gaze wandered to where an untraceable burner phone had been stashed for him to use if he needed to get a message to them. 

He turned his head as the door opened and George stepped into the barracks. He felt a growing anger at his father-in-law, especially as it seemed he hadn’t really left the army.   The Colonel back in uniform, he thought and knew that a sneer had appeared on his face again.

“Roman,” George began.

“Shouldn’t you be refereeing to me as Lieutenant?” Roman muttered putting his hands deliberately in his pockets knowing that was a mark of disrespect. He was rewarded when he saw the other man seem to flinch.

“If you insist, maybe you can start by saluting me?” George raised an eyebrow in query standing still just in front of him.

“Not a chance in hell Colonel,” Roman muttered angrily.

George in a deliberate show of nonchalance pulled up a chair at the table nearby and sat down, placing a folder in front of him.

“How are your scores?”

Roman pretended not to understand what his father-in-law meant by scores, the reference to his prowess on the gun range. He assumed a blank expression on his face and waited.

It wasn’t long before he heard the other man give out a breathy sigh and the scrape of the chair on the concrete floor of the barracks as he stood up.

“Lieutenant Harris, you will answer the question as addressed to you by a superior officer!” George barked out.

“I thought you were my father-in-law. Can’t be both.” Roman sneered at him as he spun around and faced the man.

“Then consider this notice. Lieutenant Harris I am your commanding officer and you will treat me as such.”

Roman took a step back and threw his hand up in salute before dropping it back to his side before the salute had been returned. He knew that his lapse in discipline would be seen as annoying as he intended.

“Perhaps you’d just like to tell me what the mission is and we can get this whole charade out of the way.”

George gave him a look before nodding. He collected his belongings and led the way out of the barracks and over to the briefing room.  Roman followed him slowly wondering what the hell he had to do to be allowed to go home to his wife.

 

 

 

 

Ella found that they had returned to a normal routine quicker than expected, especially with Roman away.  Sophie was back working in the diner, Lily back at her ballet lessons.  Mia and Callie were doing okay after the upheaval of being away, the baby learning to crawl and pull herself up.  She’d soon be walking and even though Ella knew she certainly didn’t want any more children she found herself feeling broody watching, what was in effect, her adoptive granddaughter.

Mike and Danni had a rough patch for a while. She could understand both sides, Danni didn’t like any references to the Army and Mike refused to let her dictate to him about what he could and couldn’t do.  He’d returned back to teaching with minimal fuss, slotting back into his lessons and picking up where he’d left off.  Miles had confided in her that Mike was one of the best loved teachers at the school managing to encourage even the laziest of students to actually contribute and do homework.  Her pride in her son swelled and she’d had to resist squishing him with an embarrassing hug in front of his siblings when she saw him.

“Mum!”

Turning her head at Sammy’s call she took a last swig of her coffee and moved into the kitchen from the back veranda. It was morning and they were due at school, Sammy’s cry meant he was missing a book or his sports kit, and as she thought earlier, they were back to normal.

“Yes?”

“I can’t find my kit, we’ve got running today. Did you…”

Sophie sniggered at her brother before laughing outright as he glared at her.

“It will be in your room Sammy. I suggest that you use the next ten minutes to go find it before Mike turns up to take you to school. And Sophie, stop teasing your brother,” Ella murmured looking longingly at the coffee pot before reluctantly placing her cup to one side.

“When will Dad be back?” Meggy looked up from her maths homework she was hastily doing to ask.

“Soon,” Ella replied opening the fridge and taking out the lunches for the younger children. She added fruit and drinks to each of the four bags and then grimaced as she realised she’d forgotten to do Marcus’s lunch again.

“Yeah, but soon when?”

Ella sucked in a breath before looking over at Meggy. Always a Daddy’s girl, she’d go to Roman first for everything. It was obvious she was missing him but then they all were to some extent.  She hadn’t even got used to this new kitchen and the dining table that could actually seat them all, even with the addition of Callie and Mia.

The furniture in the living room had been set up just how she wanted it and sitting in there at night after the kids had gone to bed made her feel incredibly lonely.  Like when Roman had been in Witness Protection, lonely. He still had to see what the extension was like and help finish their new bedroom.

Hastily putting together a lunch for Marcus she ignored Meggy’s question knowing that if she’d turned around she’d see identical looks of puzzlement and upset on all her kid’s faces.

“If you’ve finished can you clear the table please,” she murmured hoping her voice wasn’t giving away how hard she was finding this.

“Are the kids ready?” Mike called out as he walked into the kitchen from the back. He was dressed in shirt, trousers, and tie.  Almost like another uniform, she thought with a smile crossing her lips. Mike drove the older kids to Summer Bay High leaving her free to drop off the younger kids before she went to her studio in Yabbi Creek. 

“All except Samson who is off finding his sports kit,” she answered as she moved over to give her younger children their lunches.

“Again? Why not just buy him five lots of kit and let him keep one in his bag,” Mike suggested pushing a hand through his hair.

Ella stopped before she turned and looked at her elder son, “Because then we’d be looking for five lots of sports kit instead of just one!”

Meggy snorted before giggling hysterically just as Sammy moved back into the dining room.

“Huh, what did I miss?” he grouched.

“Find your sports kit?” Georgie asked his brother before she could.

She’d have to have a word with him at some point and point out that he didn’t need to step into the man of the house role, Roman was going to come home soon.  Well unless there was a spider then Georgie could do what he liked if he got rid of it for her.

Ella found she was smiling as the kids finished getting ready and moved out to the assorted cars.

“Ready kids?” She asked the younger ones as they piled in and claimed their seats. Roman had better be back soon, she thought because she wanted a lie in.  She set off for school. This was Marcus’s last year with Lily and Liam, which luckily her daughter didn’t realise yet otherwise she’d be dealing with epic tantrums. The twins were at the beginning of their schooling and the thought of 12 more years of school runs was suddenly very depressing.

Pulling up outside the school she watched as the kids shot out and ran off to find their friends, Lily making a beeline for Mira and Millie.  She lifted her hand in greeting to Leona, and also Geoff, acknowledging their responses before getting back in the car and heading to her studio.  Time for some distracting and letting her work to take her mind off Roman’s continued absence.

 

 

 

Roman looked down at the dossier in front of him. Afghanistan.  He could almost taste the dust in his mouth just looking at the map on the spread out pages. They had intell on a Taliban warlord they believed responsible for car bombings in Kabul.  At least 90 dead and hundreds wounded.  If this was correct then of course he couldn’t refuse this mission. But why him?

And why call him back now?

The questions swirled around inside his head and he knew he’d never get answers from George.  The man was keeping more secrets than anyone could ever guess.  Damn, he needed a beer. Or several.

“I need my squad,” he shot out thinking aloud.

“Not possible.”

Roman leaned back in his seat and glanced around the grey painted barrack building before putting all the pages back in the folder and pushing it across the table towards his father-in-law.

“Same answer. You thinking of sending me in alone? Who’s idea is that? Are you that pissed at me George?”

George paled and for a man that didn’t seem to have any tells he appeared disconcerted for a few moments before regaining his composure.

“Not yet I’m not,” George shot out with. He stood up and collected his paperwork tucking it under one arm as he turned and walked out of the barracks. Roman waited for a few moments and then reached for the burner phone, using the search option he checked out the news reports of the bomb blast online.

[TelephotoMarigold]

Thanks for reading and commenting!  

 

Chapter 45

 

The helicopter touched down at Camp Baker, located in the Kandahar province in southern Afghanistan. This particular ISAF installation housed deployments from the Australian army and although Roman had met up with a few people who’d been stationed here back in his day, he and his squad had been based at Camp Bastion, working alongside British and American troops.  He knew now that Camp Bastion had been renamed Camp Shorabak when control of the base was handed over to the Afghani army from having been brought up to date with the various deployments now based in Afghanistan.

Waiting for the helicopter blades to stop rotating before they got off he found himself looking into the faces of the men beside him. There were a couple that looked even younger than his son, Georgie, and he found himself inwardly flinching as he imagined his son in their place.  Maybe Ella wasn’t the only one who was dreading Georgie’s choice of an Army career.

Finally climbing off the chopper he and the others were directed to barracks where they could stow their gear and rest up before the mission started proper.  Roman could feel aches in places he didn’t know he had.  An army assault course at his age wasn’t a good idea; let alone the 5k runs he’d started up to rack up a fitness level that would cope with what he had to do.  He wondered how he could sneak a couple of anti-inflammatory tablets without being seen as he put away his gear.

“Well Hardcore, what the bloody hell have you volunteered us for now?” Jacko muttered as he collapsed onto a bunk.

“You moan more than my wife Sargent!” Roman murmured, hearing Pete and James sniggering from the adjacent bunks they’d chosen and where they had also collapsed tiredly.

“I’ll just tell Ella that you said that she moans a lot, shall I?” Jacko shot back and flushed as everyone laughed at him.

Wiping tears from his eyes as he stopped laughing, Roman looked around the room at his friends before speaking, “Yeah, maybe you want to rephrase that Sargent before she kills all of us…”

“I didn’t mean that she moans…” Jacko began making them all laugh again, “Oh … “ there was some more muttering that sounded like it would rhyme with ‘duck’s wake’ before Jacko finally sniggered.

The laughter continued even as the door opened and General Bailey himself walked in. In the two seconds Roman took to recognise the man, he’d shot off his bunk and started heading towards him. Both Pete and James shot up too and rushed to his side, probably to try and stop him doing something stupid. He wasn’t sure though that even they’d manage to somehow prevent him from launching himself at the ranking officer.

“So you’re behind this are you?” Roman snarled out.

“Last time I checked you saluted superior officers,” General Edward Ashley Bailey the third muttered giving them all a look.

“He’s not worth it…” James said quietly in his ear.

Roman turned his head and looked at him and swore violently; probably using some swear words Ella had taught him throughout the years before he stood to attention and saluted the other man. He was forced to stand there at attention before the General deigned to respond in kind.

That made Roman thankful that Pete, James, and Jacko were there as contractors because there was no way in hell that he would ever have submitted them to be the General’s puppets.

“I’ll expect you to report to my office at 07:00 hours in the morning Lieutenant,” the General muttered. “I know it’s been a long time since you were on a base, a few years at least, how is your son?”

Roman’s hands clenched into fists and he glared at the other man.

“Which one do you mean? Because Georgie is definitely following in the old mans’ footsteps, although he’s a lot like his mother too. Probably need to retire before he joins up.” Jacko drawled from his bunk.

Roman felt a grudging smile come to his lips before he too joined in, “Nah mate, it’s when Lily joins up he needs to worry!”

Jacko laughed raucously, “Now that would be the thing to ‘end all wars’! She’s definitely like her mother.”

“I’m pretty sure that she wouldn’t sign up without your Liam,” Pete murmured giving Roman an encouraging grin.

Roman nodded feeling that sense of camaraderie that was so special about these guys. Knowing they had his back, and in turn, he’d do whatever for them.  Anytime one of them asked, and sometimes when they didn’t.

“Liam took on some of Alexi’s men when he was just four,” Roman murmured folding his arms across his chest.

Pete nodded, “Wasn’t that about the time Lily beat up one of Alexi’s guards?”

“I think the guy has still got the scars to prove it!” Jacko said laughing. “She still trying to talk you and the Mrs into giving her karate lessons?”

Roman nodded before he turned to face the General, “In answer to your question General, my family is fine, thank you.” he bit out refusing to be kowtowed or goaded by the other man despite wanting to rip his arrogant smug head off and use it as a bowling ball in a minefield. He grinned suddenly at the mental image and the fact that his thoughts were quite imaginative, for once.

General Bailey must have realised that his visit wasn’t going to get the response he’d wanted because he turned on his heel and stormed out of the barracks, the door slamming shut behind him.

“So Bailey,” Jacko drawled.  “Y’know Hardcore, when you drop us in it, you drop us all the way!”

Roman half flinched. “Bastard knows I was here going after Mike that time.”

“I got that from his comment about your son. We should definitely get Mike out here.”

All three men turned and looked at Jacko waiting to see if there was a punchline. When there wasn’t Roman gave him a scathing look.  “Really? I’m not sure if you’re trying to **** me off or have Ella come here and kill you!”

“Jus’ don’t recall the boy saying thanks for you getting him out of that cave. If you need to pay some kind of forfeit for it so should he.”

Roman’s lips twitched, “He also didn’t say thanks for when you about got him killed by Elliot.”

“That boy is downright ungrateful,” Jacko said tucking a hand behind his head and picking up his magazine to read.

James laughed and patted Roman on his back, “Come on mate, we need to find food, beer, and some weapons.”

“In that order?”

“Probably,” James murmured.

Pete moved over to where he was bunked and got his stuff together. “So that’s probably why George was dragged back in.”

“Medical records,” James said quietly.

“I got a shoulder wound when I rescued Mike,” Roman admitted.

“They would have treated you and had to record it.”

“Dammit!” Roman swore.

“That’s mild compared to what you were saying earlier, and I don’t even speak half them languages,” Jacko said before he tossed his magazine to one side and standing up. “I think I’m going to go stretch my legs guys, catch you in the bar later.”

“We’re going to get some food and then I’m going to do a little digging,” James announced with a nod at Pete. Together they lured him out and over to the mess and even though the food was nothing like he’d serve in the diner, Roman found himself eating it hungrily realising that it was a couple of days since he last ate properly.  He caught Pete and James casting looks in his direction and he sighed.

“I’m sorry,” he murmured.

“Nothing to be sorry about,” Pete shrugged. “Charlie might have a few words to say when she realises that this isn’t the buck’s week away I said it was.”

“Oh god, Pete I forgot about your wedding!” Roman groaned at the enormity of what he’d done in dragging his men away from their families.

“As long as one of us remembers we’re all good!”

James chuckled at the joke and placed his hand on Roman’s shoulder in sympathy. “Like we wouldn’t have done something stupid for Pete’s bucks do. Probably wouldn’t have come as far as Afghanistan though.”

“Yeah, Bosnia, now that was doable. James could have practised his German, Jacko could have tried to persuade Raisma to elope with him and I could have cracked on to that waitress now that you’ve finally convinced her you’re married.”

Roman threw his head back and laughed remembering the last time they’d gone overseas. “I think Georgie dated that waitress when he was out there.”

Pete snorted, “What do you know; the boy does take after you!”

“Hey!”

“Pretty sure that before we gave Ella your address in Summer Bay we found a string of your ex’s scattered across Australia,” Pete murmured.

“There may have been one or two girlfriends in my past,” Roman said slowly.

“Dozen or hundred?” James shot out.

“Hey, I wasn’t that bad!” Roman defended himself.

“Come off it Hardcore, your record is worse than Jacko’s!”

“And he’s had to take the last twenty years just trying to catch up with you!” Pete shot out.

“You know next time I’m blackmailed back into the army I’m certainly going to leave you lot back in Australia! You’re bad for my morale!” Roman rolled his eyes as they laughed at him before he grinned.  Collecting up his tray and silverware he moved over to the racks and put it away followed by the others. From there they made their way to the makeshift bar finding Jacko ensconced inside.  He lifted his glass in salute and they moved to sit with him.

“What you found out?”

“I’ve found out that I probably should have eaten something first,” Jacko told them slurring his words.

“Great,” Roman groaned. He stood up and walked over to the bar, flashing his brand new army ID to get them a round of drinks, including a bottle of water for Jacko.  Returning to the table he pulled his chair out and sat down.

“Whoever the General wants you to get rid of for him it isn’t the Kabul bomber Hardcore,” Jacko muttered sounding believable despite the slurring of his words.

“Figures,” Roman said taking a long drink from his beer bottle. “If this was on the up and up bastard would never have recruited me to do the job.  Jeez, I’ve been out of the game longer than I was in it!”

“You took out William with a shot, Hardcore, don’t forget that.” Pete was saying.

“I was aiming for his head,” Roman deadpanned seeing identical looks of shock on their faces before he let them out of their misery and laughed to show he was joking.

“We’re close to Quetta,” Pete said slowly and Roman could feel the man looking at him as he heard the name of the Pakistani city mentioned.  It was the place that General Bailey had sent him a lifetime ago to take care of a problem for him.  He wasn’t a General back then, just a Lieutenant Colonel, a big enough of a problem even then.

“That’s what this is about in some way isn’t it?”

“Has to be.  I’m going to go do some…. Research,” James said draining his beer and standing up.  He reached over and lugged Jacko to his feet, grabbing the bottle of water in his other hand and leading him out with him back to the barracks.

“Pete…”

“What?”

“I can’t do it,” Roman said quietly.

“Ella?” Pete questioned.

“Yeah, if it were a case of a simple shot to get back to her I’d…… in a heartbeat you know. But how can I drag this baggage back to her? I let Mark pull me away once.”

Pete nodded slowly draining his drink. He gestured to the bottle in front of Roman and he found himself drinking it down barely feeling the effects of the beer.  He watched as Pete moved over to the bar returning moments later with a bottle of whiskey and two glasses.

“Time was you wouldn’t have let us help you, Roman.  You would have tackled Mark and William by yourself.  You’re not responsible what happened back then, not Mark not Gardy’s dealing and especially not Michael’s death. You carried everything on your shoulders. You covered for us, time and again. Maybe things would have been different if we come clean but then again…”

Roman drank the whiskey Pete had poured out whilst he was talking feeling the rough alcohol burn all the way down his neck as he swallowed.

“I’d do anything to have saved Michael,” Roman admitted, “But I look at Gabby and Toby and know they wouldn’t be here if I had.  I see the way our Mike is with Ella.  She loves him so much.” He trailed off feeling the emotion choking him. “Mike could get into trouble if it comes out I was here with him.”

“I’m pretty sure James is off taking care of that,” Pete said quietly topping up the glasses. “What say we take this party back to the barracks and you get some sleep?”

Roman yawned suddenly at the mention of sleep. He downed the second glassful feeling the booze hit him and nodded.

Pete stood up grabbing the bottle and leading him away. Once back inside the barracks, he fell face forward onto his bunk and within seconds was fast asleep.

[TelephotoMarigold]

Chapter 46

 

Technically Roman Harris wasn’t hungover when he reported to General Bailey’s office only by way of still being drunk.  At some stage, during the night James had broken out another bottle of whiskey and between Jacko’s snores and the stories, Pete was telling them it had been a good night.  Quite like old times, complete with him pitching up to receive orders still drunk. 

He stood feeling the full effect of the hot sun on his face and the way each breath felt like it was setting his lungs on fire. This was a different heat to back home, a different air.  He remembered the first time he’d been here, so long ago.  How old they all looked now as compared to then.  How young Mike was, what a waste of human life that was and just how carefree Ella had been, with her camera and her sass and that amazingly long hair that was almost blonde, bleached by the hot sun.  He kept turning his head and checking that she wasn’t on base so haunted was he by her.

As distasteful as it was to be at the General’s mercy he was going to do whatever it was to get back to her.  Even then he knew that it wouldn’t be a case of slotting back in with the family.  No, he and Ella had work to do to get back to their relationship. He had to sort out the Jason mess and testify against William and Mark, finally closing that chapter of their lives before he could start a new one.

He was looking forward to settling back home with the kids and then searching for premises for his restaurant.  For once he was just simply looking forward to the next chapter of their lives and where it would take them even though he was surrounded by so many reminders of his past to torment him.

“Lieutenant Harris.”

He looked up as his name was called and walked into the office standing to attention, although not without a little wobble.

“Sir,” he bit out although calling this man ‘Sir’ almost made him throw up.

“We have reason to believe,” the general began.

“Cut the BS,” Roman found himself saying.  “It’s to do with Quetta and what happened there.”

He could tell from the way the General reeled back that his point had hit the target or some other metaphor that meant he’d struck gold or something.  Did he mention that technically he was still drunk? 

Ella would have been laughing at him and teasing him about something. Or if she needed him sober she would have made that awful high-pitched whistle of hers and then slapped him or got him mad about something. That always worked no matter how much he’d been drinking.  Maybe he could have done with that before seeking out the General?

“How astute of you Lieutenant,” the General almost seemed to be sneering at him.

Roman muttered, “I won’t do it, whatever it is.”

“I’m afraid that you don’t have a choice.  It seems that the son of the man you killed has put a price on your head. If you don’t take him out, well there is no telling what could happen.”

“The man I killed? You mean the target you assigned. And I’m betting that he isn’t after me at all, is he? This mythical son, somehow it’s someone you want taken out. How stupid do you think I am General?”

Roman put his loose tongue down to the whisky he’d drunk. Of course, he’d never back talk a General if he wasn’t still as drunk as the proverbial. He grinned suddenly as he thought about what Ella would say to him in this situation, somehow it would involve a few select swear words.

“Maybe you should take a look in the mirror Lieutenant, you appear to be wearing a uniform and that means you obey orders.”

Roman scoffed.  “The only orders I obey are those from my wife.”

He could see that the General was rattled by his disobedience and he could have laughed at that but this was too serious. There was no way in hell he was going to take on this mission and despite everything, he was short of options but then what could this man do? Court martial him?

“Maybe you need a little persuasion? Perhaps if your son was out here too?”

Roman felt the anger heating his blood but on the outside, he focused on appearing unmoved by anything the other man was saying. 

“We’d have to narrow down which son first and I have so many that we could be a while,” Roman scoffed although he knew the reference was to Mike, the only one that the General would have any leeway over. Although he’d like to see Lily’s face if Liam was the one being threatened. Yeah, he’d pay money to see that, especially as she took after her mother.

“I’ll expect you’ll want to get some practice in on the firing range,” the General continued like he hadn’t even spoken.

“Yeah, because letting me loose with guns right now would be an excellent career move for you,” Roman muttered folding his arms across his chest and letting his glare speak for him.

“Dismissed,” General Bailey murmured after a long pause.

Roman gave a single nod and spun on his heal heading back to the barracks they’d been assigned. He found himself banging doors and stomping, both actions not relieving his frustration.

“Would it help if we gave you a gun to shoot?” Jacko called from his bunk.

Roman all but growled his response back, “Giving me access to weapons right now is not a good idea!”

“Perhaps it’s not a good idea to tell you Ella has been on,” James added into the conversation standing up from his bunk and stretching.

“Great, just flipping great…” Roman added several swear words before he stomped over to his bunk and grabbed his bottle of water from earlier. He downed most of it and took a very long deep breath.  “What did Ella say?”

“She just said that kids were okay, she was taking Charlie out for a pamper session, and that if you don’t get Pete home for the wedding she was going to kill you.”

Pete grunted from his bunk where he was sleeping off the remains of their late night whisky session.  “Sounds about right,” he muttered into his pillow. “What’s going on?”

“The General wants me to go play with a gun…”

Jacko interrupted, “And not in a fun way?”

“Reckons he’s going to recall Mike,” Roman continued.

“Good luck with that one,” Pete mumbled, “Especially when your Ella hears about it,” he added with a chuckle.

“You know with all these references to how bad my wife is I’m tempted to bring her over here.”

Jacko shot him a look as he sprang up from his bunk. “Now why would you want to spoil a perfectly good mission by doing that? You know she’d never let us get away with half the stuff we’ve got planned.”

“Assuming we have any plans gentlemen, but I’m completely stuck here. Either I do this mission that the General has in store for me or…”

The door opened behind him and he turned his head to look at the new arrival, George, his father-in-law and the man who seemingly was responsible for his being here. His hands clenched into fists as he glared at him.

“Don’t let me interrupt you,” George said as he closed the door behind him.

“I’d finished,” Roman muttered moving over and sitting on his bunk. 

His eyes strayed around the room; piles of clothes were dotted about on spare bunks. James had rigged up a desk where he had his laptop set up. A number of empty bottles littered almost every other surface, from whisky to beer to water.  A dozen years ago and he would have ripped strips of the others for letting their barracks get in this state.  He felt his shoulders creeping up feeling defensive in the presence of his father-in-law and superior officer even though he’d spent more time out of the Army than he’d been in it.

Jacko must have had similar feelings because within a minute he’d dragged on trousers and began cleaning away the empties.  James remained focused on his laptop whilst Pete stayed in his bunk, his head half covered by a pillow.

“What can you tell me about Bailey? Why is he so interested in you?”

“Why do you want to know?” Roman plumped up the pillow then tucked it behind his head as he sat back. 

“Because it could be key to getting you out of here,” George muttered.

“Maybe you shouldn’t have let things get this far in the first place,” Roman found himself saying.

“Maybe you should have come clean about Mark,” George shot back.

“Hardcore,” Jacko said warningly.

Roman looked over at his former Sargent and with a shrug, he told them all about General Bailey and his little mission over the border in Pakistan.  He remembered the way the air smelt, the buzz of insects flying about, the sun baking him as he lay on the rooftop of a house. A family lived in that house, small children running around, and playing even, with two American soldiers milling about, and him. He’d watched the target for days and then came the order.  He should have questioned it, not pulled the trigger but back then he wasn’t the kind of guy who didn’t obey a direct order.

“This is going to get us nowhere. I had no choice about…”

“About?” Roman prompted when George went quiet.

“About any of this,” George muttered. “I’ll see you later,” he added suddenly and began to move towards the door.

“Just so you know George, even if it means I don’t get to go home to Ella I’m not going to do what Bailey wants.”

George turned and looked at him. “And you think Ella would understand that? Especially after you disappearing into witness protection?”

“I know Ella would understand,”  Roman said and watched the older man give a half nod before leaving.

“She’d understand? You sure about that?” Jacko muttered as he strode over to where the bin was and dumped the pile of rubbish he’d collected into it.

“She’d eventually understand,” Roman shot out with shooting them a half grin.

“You’d hope…” Pete’s voice was muffled by the pillow before he climbed out of the bunk and eased up.  “And this is still the lousiest bucks week ever…”

“We should hit the showers and then find something to get into trouble over,” James suggested.

Roman gave them a look, “You mean you should, apparently I have to report to the rifle range and play with guns.”

“Well that sounds like fun,” Jacko murmured, “You go do that and we’ll catch you up.”

Roman muttered something under his breath before he got up and after clamping his beret on his head he strode out of the barracks and across the camp to where the rifle range was set up.

 

 

Jacko watched until Roman was out of sight before he looked over at James.  “What you found out?”

“Well, the good news is that William shot Roman.”

“Er…” Pete lifted his hand to his face and rubbed at it as though to clear his muddied thoughts. “Good news?”

“When William shot him he managed to hit the same shoulder where Roman was shot previously when rescuing Mike. The resulting operation would explain any scars there.”

Pete pulled on his trousers slowly, as though his balance was still compromised. As he searched for his boots under his bunk he knocked up against an empty whisky bottle which skidded across the floor. “So okay?”

“The medic that treated Mike and Roman is out of the service. Working in a hospital in Cairns.”

“So…”

“I’ve emailed him asking if he remembered any details. He’s come back and said no. Unless he had the patient’s notes in front of him he doubted he’d remember anything.”

“That’s a plus right?”

“It’s got to be up to Hardcore how he wants to play this,” Jacko muttered as he began folding his clothes and squaring them away.

“Despite everything he says we all know what that is. He wants to get home to his family.  Hopefully, before Ella has to explain to Charlie exactly where I am!” Pete took his cue from Jacko and piled up his clothes and then made his bed. He bent down and retrieved the empty whisky bottle and added that on to the overflowing pile of empties in the bin. “Guess we had a session last night.” He commented.

“We did and next time you and Hardcore want to go carol singing can we suggest that you at least sing the same carol?”

“What?” Pete paled looking even more hungover.

Jacko nodded at James who pulled up the footage on his laptop. There in technicolour was Roman and Pete singing a melody of Christmas carols. Roman was wearing a red t-shirt that seemed several sizes too small, and lord knows where it came from but also a red lace bra that was stuffed with rolled up socks.

“We’re not going to send that to Ella are we?” Jacko smirked as he watched it back.

“Oh, absolutely not,” James laughed.

“Why, what, I just…”

“Pete, mate, you were complaining about not having a stripper on your stag do, so Roman shot out and came back twenty minutes later in that get up.”

“Where the hell could he get that? Maybe Ella is here and we don’t know?”

“Nah, that bra isn’t big enough to be Ella’s…” Jacko flushed as the other two men looked at him. “Er… you aren’t going to believe that there is an innocent explanation for me knowing Ella’s bra size, are you?”

“Nope,” James said shutting down his laptop.

“Not a chance in hell,” Pete added gathering his wash kit and heading out. James followed on leaving Jacko hopping from one foot to the other before he followed suit. He caught up with them just near the shower block and all three laughed.

 

 

[TelephotoMarigold]

Chapter 47

 

Ella watched as the smaller children were placed in the car with Daniella. Gabby was taking them to school for her and with Mike taking the older kids it meant that she could crack on with whatever the hell she was supposed to do with having extra time.  Lifting a hand and waving the kids off she slowly closed the door and moved up the stairs into what would be her and Roman’s new bedroom. 

She’d waited for Roman to give his input on how they decorated this room for as long as possible before deciding that she should just go ahead, well at least a couple of days before she went ahead and did just what she wanted! The bed was king size, just big enough to fit Roman’s six-foot-four length, and it dominated the room.  She’d opted for a custom design headboard instead of the commercial one, a large central rose design on pale blue painted wood panels, in a slightly darker shade than on the painted walls.

The other end of the room held a small two seater sofa opposite a unit that housed the TV and DVD player. Roman wanted them to have an escape from the kids but she couldn’t see them ever being able to escape long enough to watch a movie. Really, had he not met their kids, especially Lily!

To the left of the bed was the ensuite and dressing room.  The ensuite composed of modern fittings including a large bathtub and power shower with adjustable shower heads. It wasn’t to her taste but she had to let Roman win on one thing.

As for the dressing room she had opted to use a wall paper in there, selecting a floral and bird cage design on a duck egg background, the colour complimenting the shade used in the bedroom. To give it the feeling of opulence she’d added the fluffiest cream carpet she could find loving the feel of it squishing between her toes when she’d walked on it barefoot. Some of her clothes and storage boxes had been transferred to the new wardrobes, filling up the empty spaces too quickly for her peace of mind. Really having an entire room for her clothes and things and she still needed more space. It was good that Roman didn’t have a lot of clothes.

Moving things around she looked through the hangers internally debating which clothes to donate or pass on. There were her long gowns she never really had a chance to wear. Maybe Gabby would like the blue velvet one and she’d hint to Jacob to take his wife out more.  Nic she knew would happily take anything designer and just wear them as everyday where, yeah, she could see Nic in the floor length red vintage Valentino number down at the diner getting a coffee.  Re-zipping the dress bags she pressed them back into the wardrobe and reorganised her clothes on the racks from formal or occasion wear to her everyday outfits. Now it almost looked like she didn’t have too many clothes. 

Heading back to the bed she opened up the new bedding she’d bought and slowly made the bed, smoothing out the covers before adding the new quilt on top. That and the decorative pillows made the bed look opulent although she had to resist testing it out by taking a sneaky nap.

Taking the rubbish with her she headed out of the room and down the stairs. Coffee was calling her and after that she’d find something else to occupy her time with.

Within moments of filling her cup her phone rang and she looked in puzzlement at the unknown number before she answered the call.  As the voice on the other end began explaining the situation she found herself moving shakily behind her desk in the study and collapsing in her chair as she took the call.

 

 

 

Roman was lying prone in the sand with his gun in front of him and a clear blue sky above him. In the far off distance he could see the shadow of hills against the backdrop of the horizon. Tufts of grass fought their way up through the desert terrain providing vivid splashes of colour against the sand.
He’d fired off more shots than he could count and even though his eyesight wasn’t as good as it used to be, and his reactions dulled by age he would still make the list of the top snipers.  He put that down to muscle memory more than anything else, learning how to shoot and the repetitive actions of loading, aiming, and taking the shot had been drilled into his core. 

Two more days and they had to head back to Australia or miss Pete’s wedding and he still didn’t know what he was going to do.  Bailey was still on his back about some bulldust mission and he was running out of time and excuses. Taking his frustration out on the target he took a small amount of enjoyment imagining that it was Bailey he was shooting.

With all his ammunition used up he slowly got to his feet and collected up his weapon.  He policed his trash and after stowing his weapon he headed back to the barracks. He couldn’t wait until things were back to normal and he was back in civilian clothes.

“Hardcore,” Jacko called out on seeing him enter the barracks.

“Where is everyone?”

“Pete and James are off getting some food. George was here looking for you.”

Roman felt his expression change into a frown as he removed his beret and sat down on his bunk.

“Did he say what he wanted?”

“Now why would he bother speaking to us when you’re the one he’s so pissed with?” Jacko actually smirked at him and Roman groaned rubbing a hand over his face.

“I actually …” Roman trailed off and looked over at the door as it opened. Pete and James walked in, both of them looking sheepish.  “What’s going on?” he asked before stopping and shooting to his feet.

“Hello Roman,” Ella murmured following the others into the barracks. She dropped her bag and backpack just shy of the door and faced him.

“What are you doing here?” He found himself snarling out.

“I came for the atmosphere,” she said with that annoying penchant for not answering a straight question she had.

“Maybe we should leave you to talk…” James suggested giving Pete a half shove.

“Not on my account gentlemen,” Ella said her gaze still meeting his.  “It’s not like you lot don’t know everything anyway.” She added shooting them all a look before glancing back at him.

Roman folded his arms and with a look round at all of them he took in Jacko’s smirk, James trying not to make eye contact and Pete looking shifty.  Ella had that innocent look on her face and he had to try really hard not to lose his temper with the lot of them.

“Talk,” he barked out.

“We figured out an alibi for you,” Pete began taking a half step towards him. “George arranged her flight out here.”

“And what is my alibi?”

“You were with your wife when she gave birth,” Ella said softly.

Roman’s gaze shot heavenwards. “You’d lie for me?”

“I sent you to get Mike. This is on me.” She said to him.

He shook his head, “No, I could have waited, I could have…”

Ella walked towards him and placed her hand on his arm. “If you’d done anything different I would have lost my son. You saved him and now it’s my turn to save you. Please Roman, let me do this.”

He pulled her into his arms and held her for precious moments nodding at James who led out the others from the barracks leaving them alone.

“I can’t…” he told her sinking down on his bunk.  Ella sat next to him and entwined her fingers with his, holding his hand. He looked down at their joined hands, seeing her wedding band glinting on her finger.

“You know I’d die for you,” she whispered. “You, us, our family. We’d sacrifice everything to make sure the other one is okay. Let me do this Roman, let me save us.”

“You’d have the lie on your conscience. Forever.”

“I’ll live with it,” she murmured.

“Another lie. El? Because we both know you that you couldn’t live with a lie on your conscience. It would eat you up inside and I can’t be responsible for that.”

She bit her lip and his reaction was immediate. With barely the time it took for a single heartbeat he leaned down and kissed her, feeling himself shudder with reaction. It had been too long without her. Too long since he’d felt her lips against his, her hands touching him, the press of her body against his. She was his woman, his wife, his soulmate and she was here back in Afghanistan for him.

“Look, it may not come down to a lie. I mean you were in the hospital when I was in labour with Liam.”

“I left you there,” he knew he still sounded guilty over walking out on her when she was in labour. “I walked away whilst you needed me.”

“I needed you to make sure my son was safe just as much as I needed you with me in the delivery room,” she said slowly.

Her sapphire gaze was imploring him to let her help him, and he wanted to, all she had to do was go to Bailey and say he was with her when she was in hospital whilst she was having William but he knew his wife. A lie this big, and if it made it as far as to appear on official paperwork, would haunt her for years to come. There was no way it wouldn’t eventually drive a wedge between them.

“I love you for the suggestion but no, I’ll do what Bailey wants and then we’ll be clear.” He murmured.

She nodded finally after a few moments and wiped tears from her face.  “Is there a spare bunk in here? I’m pretty tired.”

“Here,” he patted the bunk they were sitting on, his own and after a few minutes he left her lying securing in it whilst he went in search of the others.  It didn’t take him long to track them down in the bar, George was sitting there with them and he grimaced at seeing his father-in-law again. Moving over to where they were sitting he pulled out a chair for himself and turning it around he straddled it and placed his folded arms on the chair back.

“So who wants to go first?”

“Ella wanted to help,” Pete began.

“By lying? You’d really encourage my wife to perjure herself?”

George gave him a look he interpreted as hostile, “My daughter would do anything for you, including… besides it isn’t just you she’d be protecting. Do you think Mike is not going to be next?”

“Or maybe you just want her here to protect yourself George, after all if Bailey is blackmailing me, he’s got to be blackmailing you too considering I couldn’t have got here to rescue Mike without your help.”

Without turning his head to look he knew that there would be expressions of shock on the other men’s faces. With the exception of Jacko, they probably didn’t know the history of his relationship with Ella’s father. From being recalled to be part of the operation to take Gardy’s smuggling network down to the year he’d spent living in George’s house whilst Ella was recovering after Sammy’s kidnap. He knew there were times that George hated him and sometimes that feeling was mutual even though he tried hard for Ella’s sake.

“That’s exactly why I’m here. Wearing a uniform. In Afghanistan.” George shot out, a sneer on his face. “Because I helped you to find Mike. Because I went against protocol. Because I rerouted flights and equipment. Because I owed my daughter for not being there for her.”

Roman hastily bit back a comment about Ella’s mother and how she used to treat his wife. He recognised immediately that his anger towards the other man would get them nowhere. 

James took a drink from his beer, “So what are you going to do? We’re running out of time.”

“I’ll do what Bailey wants,” Roman announced standing up from his seat. “Can’t let you keep getting dragged into my mess. I knew what I was doing coming to get Mike.”

Jacko, James, and Pete immediately began talking over each other trying to get him to change his mind but he was adamant.

[TelephotoMarigold]

 

Chapter 48

Ella waited until she was sure that Roman was gone before she eased up from his bunk. Heading over to her backpack she pulled out the sheaf of documents that she needed and then hung the ID badge around her neck that contained her press pass.  Calling in a favour from a couple of old contacts from her photojournalist days had ensured she was listed as on ‘staff’ with one of the major newspapers in order to give her the cover she needed to get out here. In return she said she’d shoot them some pictures and had already taken a load on her journey out here when she hadn’t been trying to grab a bit of sleep. There was only five hours-time difference between the two countries but between sorting out the details, getting paperwork arranged and organising the kids she’d barely slept.
Grabbing her camera and other equipment that included a voice activated recorder, which she put in her pocket, she made her way to the camp commandant’s office.

The minutes ticked by before she was allowed in to see General Bailey and she could tell from the look on his face that he recognised her.

“Good afternoon,” he murmured smoothly, “and what can I do for Mrs Roman Harris?”

She lifted her press pass and flashed it at him. “Ella Addison is my professional name, General.”

“Am I to believe that you are merely here in an official capacity?”

“Well I did have to pull in a few favours to get here,” she murmured in response. “But no, I don’t expect you to really believe anything unless the evidence is presented to you.” With that she pulled out William’s birth certificate and laid it on the desk in front of him. “Our son William although he does prefer to be called Liam, as christened by his sister Lily.  I’m sure the date on that will be familiar to you.”

She watched as the other man looked at the official document she’d laid out in front of him and took the opportunity to surreptitiously snap a couple of pictures of him.

“Am I expected to draw a conclusion from this?”

“I’m wondering how a person is expected to be in two places at once? When I went into labour my husband was with me.”

So far she’d told the truth. The day William was born had been the day Roman had proposed to her and they were in the midst of a celebratory bbq. She’d been so happy at having her family back together especially after the Elliot business. Her father had appeared and suddenly a weight of dread had descended on to her, the darkness pressing down on her heart. Instantly she’d known that it was about Mike, and then the first labour pains had ripped through her side with a ferocity that stole her breath and made her want to scream with the pain that was tearing through her body. She’d made Aden be the one to rush her into the hospital because for a moment she’d hated anything to do with the army and as unfair as that was it had also included Roman.

In the hospital Rachel had struggled to find a foetal heartbeat and delivered the news that they thought she’d lost the baby. A decision to perform a caesarean and deliver the baby was made but before she was wheeled into theatre she’d had Rachel rig it up so that Roman would hear a healthy heartbeat coming from a foetal monitor. He’d looked at her as she lied to him; she’d told him their baby was fine and she’d be in hospital for a while. She’d asked him then to risk his life and head out to Afghanistan to find Mike. 

Convincing him that she was okay and that the baby was also okay was one of the hardest things she’d ever done, and the guilt of it had combined with post-natal depression leaving her like a zombie for days after the birth.  

As soon as Roman left she’d been taken into theatre and the baby delivered and it was only by some miracle, her Liam, her little prince, had survived the very difficult and traumatic birth and after two weeks in neo-natal intensive care she’d been able to bring him home, and all during that time Roman had been trudging through the Afghanistan desert searching for traces of Mike.

“Mrs Harris, I don’t know what you’ve heard or think you can prove with this little stunt,” General Bailey began waving his hand at the documentation she’d placed in front of him with a dismissive gesture.

“Stunt? You’ve blackmailed my husband into being here with some story about his sneaking into the country to rescue our son Mike.”  She glared at him. “We’ve put up with your BS long enough. I want my husband discharged from the army and home where he belongs.”

“And you think what? This little hysterical display is going to somehow change my mind?”

“You use people and treat them as disposable. Whatever Roman did for you in the past he did because you were his ranking officer. You need to take responsibility for it.”

“Mrs Harris, perhaps you don’t understand the nature of the Army.  Following orders is not a defence against illegal actions,” he sneered at her.

“Illegal?” She asked trying to instil a fearful note in her voice. She was familiar with Roman’s army file so she knew exactly what he’d done in the past for the most part. Some things were still classified though.

“I’d call going over the border into Pakistan an illegal operation.”

“What.. wha..” she stuttered feeling proud of her acting abilities. “You ordered Roman to do that?”

“Your husband didn’t even flinch when I told him his mission. He was more than happy to do his duty and now he’ll do it again. You think this,” he gestured dismissively to the paperwork she’d placed on his desk, “is going to somehow stop what needs to happen? I have a duty to every man on this base and if taking out some third rate ratty little peasant in Pakistan is going to do that then I don’t care if your husband gets killed doing it. He is nothing to me.”

Ella found herself taking a step back as though afraid of the man, whilst in reality she had to stop herself from at the very least hitting him until that smug look was removed from his face.   Reaching forward and grabbing back Liam’s birth certificate she made out she was stifling a sob as she spun around and ran out of his office. 

The first person she saw as she strode into the bar was Jacko. She could tell from the shock on his face that he wasn’t expecting to see her and she shot him a puzzled look before looking at Pete and James. Her father wasn’t around, nor was Roman and she frowned as she walked over to them.

“Did you do it?” James was the first to speak to her.

“I hope so.”

Taking out the recorder from her pocket she handed it over to him and watched with relief as he began to play back the conversation she’d just had with the General. He reached into his own pocket and took out earphones plugging them into the device so he could listen to it without alerting anyone to the contents.

“Girlie…” Jacko murmured giving her a look.

“Where is Roman?” She asked looking around.

“He’s with your father.” Pete supplied his gaze shooting to James as the other man laughed aloud.

Jacko sighed, “James? Are you planning to share with us?”

“Let’s go back to our barracks and someone get hold of Roman before he gets on a chopper and decides to do something foolish.” James announced with a nod at Ella.

She nodded in response before reaching across and snagging the glass in front of Jacko and drinking it down in one. The whisky hit the back of her throat and then burned all the way down to her stomach but it had the desired effect and stopped her bursting into tears, plus the look on Jacko’s face was priceless.

The four of them stood at that and together they walked quickly back to the barracks. They looked at each other as they heard the shouting coming from inside, George and Roman still arguing. 

Pulling open the door wide she let it bang loudly against the outside wall before it flew back to shut behind them all with another loud bang finally quieting the two men in front of her.

“Really?” Ella muttered giving them both a look, “I’m pretty much done with the whole Alpha male macho bulldust guys. When are you going to give it a rest?”

“She needs to drink whisky more often,” Jacko said with a snigger looking at the others. James and Pete nudged each other before James coughed and moved over to his laptop. He connected the recorder to his laptop and pressed play.  Ella’s voice came through the speakers as she requested the audience with the General.

“Ella?” Roman folded his arms and glared at her.

“Listen,” James said as he pressed keys on his laptop.  Suddenly the room was filled with the General’s voice describing how he’d sent Roman on an illegal mission.

Roman continued to glare at them, his arms still folded across his chest, “What does that prove?”

“It proves that he knew about the legality of the mission beforehand. That puts you in the clear Hardcore, plus his blackmail of you? Consider that gone. We’ve just told him you were with Ella when she went into labour and he’s dismissed it out of hand. You owe him nothing.”

“And what are you planning to do with this?”

“Well for one, I’ve just emailed a file of it to your solicitor. If they come after you we’ve got you covered,” James muttered looking at his laptop.

“And second, please can we just go home now before Charlie figures out where I am?”

They turned and looked at Pete who was standing looking at his phone as though he’d just received a message.

“I’ll go arrange for us to get flights out of here,” George announced quickly walking out of the barracks the door slamming behind him.

“I’ll …er….stuff….”Jacko muttered and gestured to Pete and James. The three men walking out the way George had gone leaving her with a still furious Roman. He shot her a look before he began packing his things away.

“Are you mad at me …” she began.

“No I’m bloody furious. Just steamroller your way in and sort everything out in true Ella fashion,” he snarled at her.

“So what were you going to do? In the meantime there are kids who need their Dad home. And please tell me you wouldn’t have done something if our situations were reversed.”

He spun around and strode over to her placing his hands on her upper arms.

“St Ella…. To the rescue!” he muttered giving her a shake. “You shouldn’t be out here.” As soon as he uttered the words he dragged her into his arms and held her against him. “Not here. Not ever again.”

“Roman,” she murmured before sighing loudly.

Suddenly she knew that his objection to her being there was not that he was resenting her help it was that he didn’t want her to be upset. She clung to him for a long moment before looking up at him.

“I’m fine,” she said quietly. “But we need to go home and help Pete get married. So…”

Roman nodded even as he leaned down and kissed her.

 

 

Their flights home to Australia were both long and painful, starting with a chopper ride to the main base and then a C17 back home.  Banter had morphed into more arguments until it seemed that no one was talking to anyone.  Her father was going to head home to Summer Bay after sorting things out at the Army base. Ella had arranged for the rest of them to get transport from there to the city and to her studio where they stayed long enough to freshen up before she organised another car that would take the four men around the city for tuxedo fittings, barber appointments, and other shopping.

For her part, Ella collected her bridesmaid dress from the wedding shop wondering just how she’d been roped into being a part of the wedding and then to the beauticians. The haircut had been overdue as was the manicure and pedicure. The fiery red colour suited her mood considering having to put up with a still sullen Roman and his friends.  Her father was a different matter; she had no idea why he’d been dragged into this mess. Leaving a note for Roman at the studio she let him know she was heading home to the Bay.

[TelephotoMarigold]

Chapter 49

 

 

Roman, Jacko, James, and finally Pete climbed out of the limo outside the small church in Summer Bay.  Jacko was wearing dark sunglasses over his eyes, a tuxedo and strangely one brown and one black shoe. James had his left arm in a sling and was sporting a very bruised black eye.  When Pete stood up straight his face turned a shade of green and he wobbled alarmingly.  Roman couldn’t help but support his friend, helping him to stand straight because for some reason he and Pete were handcuffed together and were hoping to find a key or something to pick the locks with soon so they could get changed. The bucks night had gone something like this.

Roman walked ahead of the men into the studio expecting to see Ella there, although they weren’t really on speaking terms after the last couple of arguments. Instead he saw the note she’d left for him on the top and strode over to read her latest missive.  She’d booked a limo to pick them up in the morning and take them to the church whilst she had headed home to see the kids and give Charlie a hand with last minute wedding preparation.

“From the Mrs?” Jacko had asked cautiously as he placed his suit bag containing his tuxedo on the table.

“She’s gone home. We’re…”

“Not drinking!” Pete exclaimed before anybody said anything.

James smirked at him, “Not even one?” he’d asked opening the fridge and taking out some beers. He handed them round and they watched as Pete placed his unopened bottle back on the top.

“I promised Charlie I wouldn’t drink before the wedding.” He stated forcibly.

Roman and James shared a look as they took a drink. “Fair enough,” he said.

“So just a quiet night then,” Jacko asked sounding disappointed.

“Maybe head down to Papa Joes, that’s almost like a tradition for us when we’re at the studio,” Roman explained.

Pete had taken several steps back away from them at this point and had folded his arms across his chest.

“No. no. and as for you, hell no,” He muttered pointing to each of them in turn, James, Roman and then Jacko.

“Drink the beer, I’ll order pizza,” Roman murmured sounding disappointed.

Pete glared at him.

“One beer. One. No whisky.” He stopped and looked over at Jacko. “And no shots,” he added frowning at his former comrade.

Jacko held his hands up in surrender. “Fine by me, mate,” he called out.

Pete moved over to the breakfast bar and took a seat there, opening his beer and taking a drink.

Roman hung up the phone and moved over to sit next to Pete.

“Ella’s got some non-alcoholic stuff around here somewhere,” he murmured. “I can’t believe that you won’t let us drink,” he added clapping his hand on Pete’s back.

“What do you mean? You guys can drink but not me…”

“You had orders,” Jacko sniggered.

Pete straightened up in his seat and glared at them, “No, you aren’t going to use that reverse BS on me. Charlie and I make a good team. Took me long enough to get Ruby to like me. I’m not mucking things up like I did last time.”

He gave them another scathing look and stalked off to the bathroom. Roman watched him go before he moved over to the cupboard where Ella kept the alcohol. He scanned the labels of the bottles before taking out one of the ones that Ella kept for when Irene came to the studio, the non-alcoholic stuff and with a glance at the bathroom door he poured most of it down the sick before topping up the bottle with some of Ella’s vodka.

“Your Mrs ain’t going to like that,” Jacko muttered. “You taking her vodka, I mean.”

“She’s already going to kill me, what’s the worst that can happen. Isn’t like I’m the one who dragged her out to Afghanistan.”

James gulped before draining his beer and reaching for the vodka. He took a sniff from the bottle before grabbing glasses and pouring them out a shot with the exception of Pete who was walking out of the bathroom towards them.

“What’s this?”

“We’re drinking,” Roman announced. “You’re not!” He added with a half-smirk on his lips as he placed an empty glass and the non-alcoholic bottle in front of Pete letting him see the label.

Pete looked at him suspiciously before pouring out a glass for himself. He took a cautious sniff and then a long drink.

“Are you sure this is non-alcoholic?” He asked them.

“Ella gets it in for Irene,” Roman murmured with a shrug.

Pete gave him another look as he took a second drink. “Well okay,” he muttered still eyeing the label on the bottle suspiciously.

“So, this isn’t a very good bucks night,” Jacko grumbled. “Certainly can’t top the one that your Geoff had.”

Roman let out a belly laugh, “Not sure anything can ever top that one!”

“Except,” James shot a look at Jacko, “That we’ve never actually heard what went on.”

“That’s because we swore a pact never to tell anyone the details.”

“We’re cleared for top secret,” Jacko muttered pouring out more shots.

Roman drained his glass before shaking his head. “Sorry, no, still won’t talk about it aside from it involved strippers and whisky.”

James laughed, “Pity we ended up in Afghanistan instead of Bosnia. I’m sure that waitress would have obliged.”

“With your language skills James, someone would have woken up the next morning married to her!”

“Hey!”

üPete giggled suddenly as tough finding every comment hilarious before looking at the bottle again. “Alright,” he slurred his words ever so slightly, “which one of you spiked this bottle?”

“That may have been me,” Roman confessed before lurching up to answer the door. He returned moments later with the pizzas and dished out the food as Jacko poured out more drinks.

“Papa Joe’s?” Pete asked after they’d finished eating.

The four men headed out making their way downtown to their favourite bar making sure they stopped a few times in places to keep drinking eventually walking inside their favourite drinking spot.

“Well, well, well,” Joe drawled from his place behind the bar. “I had a feeling you might end up in here.”

Roman shared a look with his friends, “Ella been in?”

“Stopped in this afternoon as a matter of fact. Reserved a booth for you.” Joe pointed to a seating area at the back of the bar and the four men lurched over to it.  Jacko sunk into a seat and clutched at the table.

“Okay sargent?” Roman murmured an evil grin appearing on his face.

“Jus’ about.” Jacko slurred.

Before he could order one of the casual bartenders Joe employed appeared as if by magic and placed a round of drinks on the table before handing Roman an envelope with Ella’s writing on the front.

“What is that?” James asked him curiously.

Pete shook his head, “Whatever she says I’m not doing it!”

Roman slid is finger under the flap at the back and opened it up. He read the brief lines before throwing his head back and laughing.

“She’s given us a list of things to take back to Summer Bay tomorrow.”

“A treasure hunt? Not sure Jacko could take it,” James muttered.

Jacko lifted his head off the table and looked at them with one eye closed, “S’up?”

“Well there is option two,”

“We’ll do that!” Pete sprang up from his seat and looked at them.

“Truth or dare!”

“No freaking way!” Jacko shot out with.

“Problem sargent?”

“Yes there is a big problem, someone is going to ask the wrong question and we’s going to end up in a fight…”

Roman let out a belly laugh as he shook his head in denial, but later he would learn that when a very drunk James asked some very personal questions and would explains the black eye and the arm in a sling.

“We’ll be fine,” he murmured as he gestured to Joe to bring over more drinks. “Right as it’s Pete’s big night he should go first! Truth or dare?”

Pete gave them all a look before he drained his glass and muttered a hoarse sounding, “Truth!”

Jacko sniggered, “If you and Charlie could have a threesome with anybody who would you choose?”

Roman groaned and reaching out he slapped Jacko round the back of his head.

“For god’s sake!” James muttered.

“I’ve changed my mind I think I want to go with dare…”

“Too late!”

Pete grabbed the tequila bottle that Joe had brought over to them and poured out a large sot for himself before downing that too.

“If we’re talking about people I know involved in this then it has to be Ella doesn’t it?” Jacko belly laughed as Roman growled at Pete’s answer. “Your turn LT,” Pete said slowly.

“Seriously? Fine!” He held his hands up in surrender, “Truth!”

James gave the others a look before leaning forward. “Have you ever cheated?”

Roman snorted, “On Ella? Are you serious? I’m still alive aren’t I?”

“That’s your question? Seriously? James, come on..” Jacko muttered rolling his eyes, “Ask him something else!”

“No, James your turn!”

“Truth of course, I think we’re limited on the dares!”

Roman leaned forward ready to ask a question when Jacko muttered. “You were alone with Ella for a long time in that beach hut. Are we to believe nothing happened?”

“For the love of god will you leave my wife out of this!” Roman shouted out.

Pete, James, and Jacko looked at one another before they all laughed.

“Got ya LT!” Jacko sniggered.

“Not funny…” Roman stood and paced over to the toilets slamming the door shut behind him.

Returning to the table he poured out shots for them and the game continued until Joe called a halt when the chair got busted during the fight between James and Jacko.

In fact that was when Joe kicked them out and put them in a taxi back to the studio.

“Did we eat all the pizza?” James asked as soon as they walked in the door. He moved over to the kitchen counter and prodded the boxes before grabbing a slice from the last one. “Anyone want to tell me how we ended up with a vegetarian pizza?”

Pete lurched to his feet and pulled uselessly at his wrist his face turning a shade of green.

“Not feeling that well…” he muttered.

Roman swore as he vaulted laboriously up and guided the man over to the bathroom. He had to support Pete as he was sick and then he turned on the shower and pushed him under the water holding his friend up as he swayed back and forth.

“You’re more of a lightweight than you let on Private,” Roman muttered as he helped him back out and handed him a towel.

Pete lifted his hand up and shook it, also lifting up Roman’s hand at the same time. “How are you going to get us out of these?”

“Not sure I can, maybe need to speak to Charlie.”

With a glare at Roman, he looked down at his other hand and looked at the time. “Well we’ll be seeing her in a couple of hours.” He muttered before drying off his watch with a towel and lifting it to his ear and checking it was still ticking.

“We should get some rest,” Roman muttered.

Pete shot him a look and then rattled the arm he was handcuffed with. “Just how do you plan on doing that…”

Roman grabbed towels off the rail and threw them in Pete’s direction before yanking him out of the shower and back to the long sofas in the living room. He pushed Pete over to one before arranging himself on the other pulling a throw over himself, leaving Pete no choice except to settle down and grab some sleep himself.