“Iwas in a mansion, tied to a chair, when someone came in to bring me food.Iflirted with them and convinced them to ‘adjust’ my bindings.Oncethey left, it was easy to slip out.”
“Impressive.IwishIcould’ve witnessed that one.”
Wecontinue to swap stories, withZoeoccasionally updating me about the situation above from what she hears on her earpiece.Afew times, she turns her mic back on and responds to a question or two.Butmostly, we just sit there, holding each other, andIsoak in every bit of bliss.
Eventually,Zoehears that they have cleared the main floor and will be sending people down.Amoment later, we hear voices and footsteps on the winding staircase, and then three guys from the extraction team come into view.Theytake a look at the two guys still unconscious on the floor, then the two of us in the cell.
Oneof the guys,Oscar, points between the two of us, his brows drawn together. “Ithought it was just one of you in the cell.”
Zoelifts a shoulder in a shrug. “Itgot boring on the other side of the cell, soIjoinedLedger.”
Theguy doesn’t look any less confused, but he pulls out a lock pick set while the other two lift one of the unconscious men and carry him up the stairs.
“Howdid it go up there?”Iask him.
“Betterthan expected, actually.Agood number of theirguys were drawn out by the distraction team’s very effective distraction.Ithelped that we did it in the middle of the night—Ithink it kept them from making good tactical decisions on that front.Sowe got all those guys captured before heading inside.Ittook us a bit longer on the inside because that secret passage those two guys came out of when they grabbed you actually wove throughout the fortress.”
Oscarglances up from the lock for a second. “Zoe, you took down one of theBarnoBrothersin the tactical planning room, right?”Zoenods. “Whenwe cleared out the main floor and the towers and got all those guys out with the others, the otherBarnoBrotherwas stillMIA.Butwe eventually found him weaseling through the secret passages.”
Asmile spreads across my face. “Sowe got them both.”
Anaudible click sounds, andOscarsmiles as he pulls the lever and swings open the cell door. “Wedid.Betweenus, we accomplished all of the mission objectives.Wealso got a lot more information onAragundiand theBarnoBrothers’ contacts than we ever thought we’d get.”
IgiveZoea high five, then high-fiveOscar.ZoeandIboth walk out of the cell, andIshake the man’s hand and say, “Heythanks for letting us out.”
“Inever miss a chance to pick a lock.”Heglances at the two of us. “Ihope you weren’t in here too long.Theysaid to get everything wrapped upstairs first— that you two wouldn’t mind waiting.”
Ilook over atZoeand smile.
“Wedidn’t mind waiting,” she says, and smiles back at me.
Eventhough my muscles are still protesting,OscarandIpick up the second guard and haul him up the stairs.Igot to hang out and kissZoewhile all the action was going on— it’s the leastIcould do.
Whenwe make it back outside, the sun is coming up, lighting the mist rising from the forest, and it’s one of the most beautiful thingsI’veever seen.Thenmy eyes fall onZoe, andIthink,Butit doesn’t even come close to comparing with her. “Well, we made history,”Isay. “Shouldwe head home?”
Shegrins and nods. “Yep.Let’sgo home.”
EPILOGUE 1
METAPHOR IN REAL LIFE
ZOE
Ijust got back from a six-day mission inMoroccoandLedgerjust got back from five days inFinland.Neitherwere comms blackout missions, so we were able to talk every night.Still, though, we’ve been dying to see each other.Andit’s my turn to pick the date, so right now, we are on the top of a cliff overlooking a valley.
“Okay,”Isay as we both drop our bags of paragliding equipment on the ground. “Fortoday’s challenge, we have to get our equipment set up and strapped on.”Ipoint out across the valley toward a small lake in the distance. “Seethat outcropping of rocks just before the lake?”
Ledgersteps up behind me, and he nuzzles my neck before saying, “Theones with the tall grasses by it?”
Inod, leaning my head into his. “Yep.That’sour target destination.”
Ledgerputs the tip of his finger in his mouth, then holds it up in the air. “Windis going the right direction.”
“Itis.”Iknow, becauseIchecked wind maps whenIchose this location and again an hour ago.
LedgerandIhave had just as many of our individual missions cross over and found ourselves at the same place at the same time just as much over the past six months as we did in the year and a half before our joint mission.We’veeven gone on a second joint mission with both our agencies.
Ledger’stally board at theCSAhas changed, though.Insteadof listing which one of us “wins” each mission, it has morphed into a list of which one of us wins our “date night challenges.”
