CHAPTERONE
*Four Years Ago ~ Afghanistan*
Jenniffer ‘Phoenix’ Lopez walked along the desert road watching her K-9 Axel as he looked for explosives along their route. They were clearing the pathway for the delegation they were escorting from one base to the other. It was at least a day drive by car, but for some reason these groups of delegates didn’t want to fly from one base to the other like other delegates have in the past.
Senator Jackson and Senator Delmond were both trying to make a name for themselves back in the US as tough senators but then neither man ever served in the military and defended criminals before they became senators like their family before them. Jenniffer thought they were all assholes and needed a foot up their asses.
They didn’t think anyone overheard their comments about being good little foot soldiers doing what their betters tell them to do since they were nothing but grunts who couldn’t get a real job. What she considered hilarious was the fact that these morons needed the protection of those they considered morons since they obviously couldn’t protect themselves.
Shaking her head, she held her fist up to let the men behind her it was time to give Axel a quick break to use the potty, have some water and give him a little bit of running time. They were already six hours into a twenty-four-hour journey. It’s going to be interesting to see these two uppity numbnuts handle sleeping either in the Humvee’s or the tent that will be set up for them.
“Hey beautiful!”
Jenniffer turned around to look at the male voice who came up to her and Axel laughing. “Hey yourself!”
“How are you holding up future Mrs. Jefferson?”
Jenniffer laughed, winking at her fiancé as he wiggled his eyes at her. “You’re such a dork! I’m still jealous you’re going home before me.”
“Ah, but I’ll be missing you the whole time. I still say we should go to Vegas and elope!”
“I already told you I would be good with that, Jeff. A week in Vegas, room service, the pool, sun, round the clock dick…it all works for me!”
Jeff walked over towards Jenniffer and gave her a quick kiss on the lips, causing Axel to jump and bark at her, making them both laugh. Jeff and Jenniffer took turns throwing the ball for Axel, giving him a chance to relax.
Jenniffer loved Jeff. He was funny, sarcastic, treated her like a woman despite her being in the Marine Corps alongside him. They had great conversations about everything under the sun. He loved the fact she didn’t give him a hard time about boy’s night out with his friends and she loved that he didn’t give her a hard time if she wanted a girl’s night with her friends. They even had a blast when they got their friends together for a joint night out.
Jenniffer couldn’t wait until she was stateside again in three months so they could go ahead and get married as they were planning, start their future together. They were still a hit or miss when it came to kids. She didn’t want anything right away, at least until they got out of the military, so that the kids didn’t have to go through the issues of constantly moving, making new friends and having to deal with one or both parents being deployed and staying with a single parent or even Jeff’s parents, whom he didn’t seem to get along with very well. Jenniffer’s parents were deceased. Jeff wanted to get started on them having kids yesterday.
Jenniffer looked over at Jeff, even in uniform, he was hot. He stood at six feet even with brown eyes, light brown hair and a swimmers build. She loved being able to do runs with Jeff. He didn’t do much for workouts other than running, play basketball with some of the guys their unit, or riding his bike on the trails when they are home. Jenniffer preferred to run, play her sports, ride bikes with Jeff and work out in the gym. She didn’t do it for the muscles, but she loved to stay in great shape.
“I’m going to go head back to the guys. Looks like Axel’s ready to start hunting again. Love you babe.”
Jeff kissed Jenniffer really quick after he leaned down to pet Axel. Jenniffer watched as he ran back to the rest of his team. While Jeff was Recon, she was EOD. They sometimes wound up working together on assignments. Currently his team was stuck watching the big wigs while she and her team were out doing the dirty work with Axel. She sometimes felt bad for him and his team being stuck watching the senators, but when they started running their mouths, she was glad they were the ones clearing the way instead.
They were nearing the last hour of their first day of the trip when Axel alerted Jenniffer to something suspicious. Alerting the rest of the group, she spoke with Axel like she was talking to another teammate. She didn’t believe in talking to her partner as if he was a child. She followed Axel with her eyes watching his movements, feeling Jeff and two of his teammates coming up to her, watching Axel work.
Out of the blue, Jenniffer saw a woman and a child nearby in the desert terrain watching them, slowly advancing. Axel started going nuts, barking and growling as the two came closer.
“Shit, Baxter, get the bigwigs out of here, start hauling ass backwards, they are strapped. I don’t know if they have just regular bombs or if they have shrapnel included in the bomb. Get them back as far as you can safely.” Jenniffer yelled at her partner, as she kept trying to get Axel to return to her.
“Jen, get Axel back here. They are strapped good. From the looks of it, the bombs have shrapnel with it. Anyone near it will be wiped out.” Jeff yelled out at Jenniffer.
“No shit, Sherlock. I think I already figured that out since I’m right here! Help Baxter get the Senators back while I get Axel back here.”
Jenniffer kept yelling for Axel to come back to her. He would inch back, continue to bark at the woman and child, who was crying trying to get away from his mother. As much as she wanted to take the mother out and take the child to safety, she couldn’t because the mother had strapped the kid with his own vest, more bang for the buck so to speak.
Jeff came running towards Jenniffer and Axel along with another member of their platoon. Jeff got to Jennifer just as the woman screamed out in Arabic and detonated her vest, sending everything dark and silent.
CHAPTERTWO
*Present Day*
Jenniffer woke up with a start. The nightmares were more vivid tonight than they had been in a while. It was the anniversary of the death of Jeff, Trevors and Axel. She should be six feet under with them, but Axel and Jeff, both saved her at the expense of their lives being taken.
Jenniffer looked at the photo by her bed of her and Axel after rubbing her face in an attempt to scrub the nightmare off her mind. She got out of bed and headed to the bathroom to get ready for the day. After a quick shower, washing the dregs of the nightmare from her skin, Jenniffer got dressed. She had dogs to train, reports to go over and new pet owners to work with.
After Jenniffer’s official medical discharge from the Marine Corps, she chose to continue to work with dogs. She created Axel in honor of her K-9 killed in Afghanistan. She worked with police departments here in California, military contracts, vets and other private owners who need service animals. It was her therapy. It always brought back happy memories of working with Axel when she dealt with the personalities of the different dogs she worked with. In her mind, dogs were better than humans.
