I had spent the better part of the night going over every question and I answer I could think off preparing for this interview. Any question they could use to trip me up I now had an answer to, both work and news related. Damn, I even googled facts about America in case they wanted to ask me something stupid like “Can you name all fifty states?”

Not needing to take interviews again for the rest of my live was one of the perks of joining the army.

In many ways I don’t regret not picking a normal profession. I look down at my full uniformed regalia and while I liked my grey skirt and green coat, I hated how stuck up I looked in this uniform. I know I should love it, but skirts weren’t my thing. Give me pants any day of the week over a skirt. I don’t know how other English women walked around in thick snow in shorts and skirts, but my legs got cold damn it.

The men’s uniform on the other hand made my mouth water. What can I say? I was a sucker for a man in uniform.

I pull at my collar and cough feeling the panic crawl up my spine. I have killed people before speaking to a few Americans shouldn’t be this nerve-wracking.

“Are you ready?” I hear a familiar voice say from behind me. I turn and see Richie standing at the door of the women’s quarters. I smile and walk closer to him giving him a brief hug.

“Take care of yourself Richie.”

“You too, Headshot.” I groan and he smiles giving me a light tap on the shoulder. I had earned that nickname in the first year as a snipper. And even after all of that every shot I have taken has been a headshot.

“I definitely won’t miss that nickname.”

“But we will miss you.” He says again and I give him another hug.

“If by chance you see me on one of your missions you better not shoot me.” I joke.

“It depends on what team you’re on.” He responds swiftly.

“Good man.” I say.

Our goodbye was cut off when I heard a car pull up outside. That must be Coronel Gerald.

I step around Richie to get a good look and was surprised at the fact there where three armoured vehicles and the one at the back was the oddest. It was a sealed metal truck. Fuck, hopefully whoever was in there wasn’t roasting themselves alive. The other two car doors opened up and four armed soldiers got out and created a perimeter around the other car and truck.

“Who the fuck is in there? The President?” Richie questioned.

Something was off. I didn’t know what it was, but my eyes wouldn’t move off that truck. I sense something dangerous in there. All I wanted to do was run to my bunk and grab my gun. I was trained to always be aware of my gut instinct and right now it was screaming “Ainsley, shoot through the truck!” What the hell was in there? It looked like it should have cartoonish dark ominous clouds floating around it.

The first car opened up and a man dressed in a US military uniform jumped out. I couldn’t see many of his features from here, but he had a typical soldier’s silhouette, large and tall. The man was clearly a Colonel from his patches and I think he had dark hair, but it was hard to tell from under his hat.

Another man got out from the driver’s side whiles checking a semi-automatic gun in his hand and placed it in his holster beneath a striking dark suit and black sunglasses. This man wasn’t a soldier like the rest of them, no he was a bodyguard.

Why did he have his own bodyguard when he already being accompanied by soldiers?

During my perusal the Colonel jerked his head to the truck and the man in black next to him walked towards it. He instructed the soldiers to point their guns at the truck. “Wait, there not here to protect them?” I ask out loud.

On command all the soldiers point their guns at the truck and arm them.

“Fuck, what’s in there an animal?” Richie asks with shacking laugh.

The man walks to the back and flings the doors open. He doesn’t reach for his own gun, but does put his hands up.

“Put your hands down, boy!” I hear a deep angry voice. It was frightening and yet entrancing. Even all the way where we were I heard him. The man in the suit steps back and he seems very visibly shaken. That is one crap bodyguard.

The truck shakes slightly and I see a pair of booted feet hit the ground making the man in black jump back. He moves back further and I force my own body not to shiver in fear, because what walks into my line of sight is damn right odd. It’s just a single man.

His footsteps seemed to send pulses into the ground and they were travelling up my legs. Judging by the way he moved, flexing his arms and cracking his neck he didn’t seem to mind six guns pointed at him, in fact he was acting as if they were completely insignificant to him.

He was also dressed head to toe in black, but he wasn’t donning a suit. His face was partly covered by a thin black hoody. His hoody was covering another thin black vest which surprised me. Normally foreigners dressed like they were walking in the North Pole when they stepped foot in England. On the contrary he was dressed like he was taking a casual walk on a cool spring day. He was also wearing a pair of extremely baggy jeans that were shoved into a pair of knee length leather boots. His style seemed very gothic, even going as far as wearing thick leather gloves. He was really taking his look very seriously.

The threatening vibes he was giving off weren’t just affecting me. The entire camp seemed to be on alert. Although, the argument could be made that it was the heavily armed to the teeth soldiers that were eliciting that reaction and not one man whose only weapon seemed to be a sour expression.

I don’t like this feeling, a feeling of being cornered, of feeling like I was so…so defenceless. A chill went up my spine like someone had walked over my grave. Actually no, that analogy didn’t seem right. I felt like someone had a blade to my throat.

“Why are they pointing guns at him?” Richie asks.

“I don’t know. The way he dresses kind of makes me want to kill him.” I say with a very unconvincing snicker, but actually I was trying reabsorb the piss back into my body.

Once the words left my mouth, he turned my way. Instinctively, like I had just stepped in the path of an angry lion, I took a step back. My body wanted to run as if this man was a predator. I wasn’t sure, but I think he just snarled at me. What the fuck? Is he actually an animal?

“Do you think he is that dangerous?” Richie wonders next to me.

“It feels like it.” I admit. The man watches both of us smiled. Why is he smiling at us? This entire situation is odd.

“Unless he’s packing a bomb under all that black.” I doubt that’s the case, but I can’t rule it out completely. I have seen a few strange and unexplained things through the years.

“I hope not. I don’t want my tomb stone to read “killed by nail bomb”, but I guess they’re worse ways to die.”

“Care to state one?” Richie asks humouring me.

“Unloading an entire clip into my head.”

“Do you have to be so depressing?”

“I never said it was suicidal. I could be protecting intel.” I state and Richie snorts.

“Quick, you don’t have a gun. What do you use?”

“Am I tied up?”

“Yeah, why not.”

“I’d bash my head against the wall if I am lucky I’ll crack my skull open and bleed out.”

“Not bad really slow though. I’d bite my tongue off and choke myself with it if I have to.”

“Gross.” I say shivering, both from his description and from the fact this man had not once looked away from us. I had enough of looking at him and turned my attention from Richie.

“Those ways are really messy. I can think of cleaner ways to kill you.” I jolt in fear. A smooth deep dark male voice reached my ears. I reached up to cover them because I felt like a puff of air had been blown into it.

The voice hadn’t sounded threatening, but it with an odd sensual promise. And if I wasn’t mistaken that accent was American. I turn to the hooded man and the asshole was smirking at with an expression that said he was very well aware that I was rattled.

The most outrageous thought went through my mind. I must be going crazy, because that thought seemed very plausible right now. That dark rumbling voice somehow belonged to the man that was standing way out into the court yard.

How the hell did that even happen? Did the wind carry his voice all the way here?

The soldiers began to direct the men towards the building and I squinted my eyes on the bastard’s lips, because I think he was mouthing something.

“See you soon.”