All my stories have some truths in them that are/were, part of my life. This story has nothing to do with anything I did. I did get my inspiration from a real story though. I hope you enjoy it.
Trey was a troubled kid growing up, he was overweight, had parents who didn't give a crap about him and all the kids picked on him. So, he ended up living on the streets, taking drugs and when he turned 18, robbed a store and got caught. The judge sentenced him to 10 years in a newly established reform prison.
"Son, you can serve your time anyway you want, but my best advice to you is to realize that if you go down any further, you will be dead soon. If you decide to wake up and start over, you can still have plenty of time after your sentence to make a name for yourself. My name is Harry Grant and I will be your fairy godfather while you are in prison. I can make your life easy or pure hell, it's your choice.
This will be your new home for 10 years. If you decide to go the hard route, you will be transferred to a state prison with real bad people."
Trey spent the first year just blaming the world for allowing him to be part of it and giving him a shitty hand. But he did what was expected and figured it was better than a real prison. One day he found a book called, The Warrior Within, and it changed his life. He made a decision to turn his world around and make it a place for him to survive. He started taking high school courses, then college courses and learned French, Spanish, and Arabic. He started exercising, weight lifting and took martial arts and even competed in a prison league capturing top the title 4 years in a row.
For his major in his college courses, he took up writing and journalism because he wanted to go into dangerous places and write people's stories. He figured if it killed him, at least he would die doing something he enjoyed. Living on the edge and writing. He had a story published that explained why kids go bad in a local magazine.
This story starts on January 1, 1991.
"Trey, you served 7 years of your prison sentence and made the best of what we could offer, because of this you will be granted an early release. I have a job opening you might be interested in and it is in line with what you said you wanted. Have you ever heard of Reuters News Service?" Harry asked.
"I know they are a news service, that's about all." Trey responded.
"America looks like it is about to invade Kuwait with a joint coalition force and Reuters is wanting people on the ground covering the event as it happens, is this something you would be interested in?"
"Where do I sign and when do I leave?"
"I told them I have just the guy and I told them all about you, they know why you were imprisoned and after looking at some of your writings, well, they want you. Here is the contract and it will explain what they want and how much it pays and the benefits you will receive for service. Good luck son, it's been a real pleasure to see someone make something of themselves. While you were here you received a small salary for the hours you worked, it's not much and instead of a check I got you the cash. Here is six thousand dollars to get started with. make the most of it."
Harry helped Trey find a place to stay until he got set up and showed him how to use the new phone he gave him. He also set up a schedule to stay in touch then left Trey to figure out his life.
Trey read over the contract and was in awe, it was too much to believe. He was getting what he wanted. He took the contract, read it carefully, then called the phone number on the business card Harry had left him.
"Reuters, can I help you?' the person said when he called.
"Yes, I need to speak with Andy Strand please."
"Can I have your name please?" the operator asked.
"Trey Benoit."
"One minute sir, I 'll connect you."
"Hello Trey? This is Andy, I am so glad you decided to think about our offer and accept it, I loved your style of writing and to be honest, nobody wanted this assignment. We are so glad you joined in this venture for Reuters. Harry spoke very highly of you. We have copies of your birth certificate and letters from the US State Department to start getting all your credentials in order."
"Andy?" Trey thought. "I was expecting a guy but she is definitely not a guy."
"Um, excuse me, I was taken back a bit, I was expecting a man named Andy. But I like the name for a lady."
"No problem, that happens a lot, I understand you were released Wednesday and Harry got you a place there to stay for now. I will have a driver pick you up Monday morning at 7am and he will give you everything you need to come to our offices in Phoenix. He has flight tickets, five hundred dollars cash and the address for your hotel stay while here, and our office address. Hope your trip is good and will see you Tuesday morning at 9am."
Trey had to go out and buy new clothes since all he had was what Harry brought him when he was released. The world sure changed in 7 years.
Everything went as planned and Trey arrived at Reuters with time to spare. He called Andy's number to announce his arrival.
"Hey Trey, there will be a lady with a blue dress on to meet you, Sue will escort you to my office and we will go over all the details of your trip and what we are expecting from you."
He followed Sue down the hall and was introduced to Andy. Andy was tall, she had to be 6 feet tall and she had a well-defined body inside her dress suit. Nice short brown hair, green eyes, full lips and breast that stuck out like the Grand Tetons and a firm ass that looked like it could crack walnuts. He could tell she worked out.
Andy took a good look at Trey as he entered the room, handsome, hard looking grey eyes, short blonde hair, very well-built body, at least 6'5" and just had this mystic about him, he looked like a dangerous adventure ready to happen.
"Ah, well okay, I guess enough of staring at each other, hah, let's get down to the business at hand."
They reviewed the contract and Andy answered every question Trey had, so he signed the contract. They agreed to meet again in 10 days after he went through orientation classes and reviewing his role while on assignment. Time flew by quickly.
Trey was given a Government Issued ID from the United Kingdom, since Reuter's is based in the UK, and was given a Military Press documents that gave him permission to stay on base and be part of the first initial wave of troops when they invaded Kuwait. He had a passport and VISA issued to him quickly using Governmental connections. Everything was fast tracked since he had to leave in two weeks.
After all the classes Trey and Andy met again and went over his assignment one more time, then he had to meet with the British Armed Forces and start 10 days of orientation with them in London. He would be leaving from there to meet up with his assigned task force in Saudi Arabia.
Trey was flown in a military transport to London then to Saudi Arabia and was based with the Task Force 1-41.
On 15 February 1991 the coalition force breached the Saudi Arabian border and soon conduced ground combat operations against Iraqi's engaging in direct and indirect fire fights with the enemy.
Trey was shitting in his pants, but made sure to stay where he belonged and kept his head low while documenting every move the coalition force made. It was everything he had hoped for once he got over the initial shock.
March 16, he was on his way back to Phoenix after the US-led coalition restored to power Sheikh Jaber al-Ahmad al-Sabah.
"Damn, Trey, you look like hell," Andy said as she greeted him at the airport.
"And you look, well, very well." he replied back.
"Wow, be careful with complements, they might get you into trouble,"
Trey got quiet and Andy realized what she had just said.
"I'm sorry, that was insensitive of me. I wasn't thinking."
"Well, I think you owe me a dinner as payment and I will think about forgiveness."
Andy took Trey to eat at her favorite Italian place and they sat and talked about his trip. She couldn't take her eyes off him. She knew it would lead to more if she didn't drop him at the hotel and get home.
Andy dropped him off and said, "See you in the morning bright and early to go over your story."
