After years of searching, making connections, using connections and expending a lot of money it came down to this, this instant, this last movement, this final push to retrieve his wife, his soulmate, his partner, his friend.
Years went by and he never faltered, never strayed and was focused only on getting her back from those that took her. Many told him to move on, to give up and that she wouldn't be the same as she was. But he believed that all would be well that he would save her finally, rescue her and hurt those who hurt her, they would pay, have paid, but their debt still needed settling.
"Ready Jerry?" a man in a jumpsuit asked him. This man was a friend, a colleague and has been there for him since that day, four long years ago. Gary Carlisle, a friend from his past, they were both special forces.
Jerome smiled at the name. "As ready as I'll ever be, these bastards will pay." he growled.
They counted and released their supply cache then jumped out of the transport plane. The freedom of the air liberating them for a while as they fell towards the ground below.
* * *
Four years prior Jerome was in command of a squad and tasked with taking down a trafficking ring. Rotten people only in it for the money, not caring about anything but themselves and the job. This was to be his final mission, he was going to retire from the special forces and grab a cushy job with the secret service.
No more muck, risky operations, or constant moving around the world as the job required, which was often. He would settle down with his wife Darlene, make a family, collect a substantial paycheck and just live life as it went. Barbecues, warm afternoons at the lake, fishing for fun and being the family man.
These people were horrible men, stealing and selling people to the highest bidder, selling weapons on the black market and continuing the stream of drugs into his homeland, selling killer drugs to teens and polluting the streets with filth. They were the whole deal.
This was a risky mission, they've spent years tracking these guys, this world renowned criminal organization. The pieces were in place, the counter was ticking and the checkmate was very soon.
"Ready Jerry?" his friend said.
"Let's do this!" another man said.
"Go, go, go!" He responded!
They were falling from dozens of miles above the Earth, their ground assets moving in as they fell. It was like a symphony of perfection, they saw the flashes of gunfire below them through the visor of their high altitude jump gear. "Too soon damn it, too fucking soon, fuck!" he said angrily through the radio.
They were right on target but had to speed up their fall due to whoever tipped them off. The rampart of the ancient refurbished castle clearly in their sights from the lot floor lights lining them thanks to an inside asset, they saw the helicopter on the castles helipad starting up. "Shit!" he said as he pulled his ripcord way past when he was supposed to.
The parachute grabbed the air with a jarring snap of the straps knocking the wind out of him momentarily as he plummeted to the rampart. His training kicked in as his feet made soft contact with the ground, he released the parachute, tucked and rolled onto the floor of the rampart as if he had done this a billion times before. Roll, flip, rifle in hand as he made way back to his knees.
The sound of gunfire echoing all around and then the alert as the parachute he was just wearing fell into the courtyard of the castle. Bullets hitting metal and stone echoed off the rampart walls right by him.
The helipad was on the opposite end of the courtyard built on one of the previous castle turrets. He couldn't get a clear shot at the helicopter due to the men below shooting in his direction. He tossed a grenade over the wall and they yelled grenade and the gunfire stopped momentarily and the grenade exploded.
He popped up looking through his scope and saw a face, a face he clearly recognized with flowing red hair draping over her shoulders, a face full of worry, of fiery anger, the face of his wife, his soulmate, his friend and partner.
"Shoot him!" she yelled. "Kill the bastard!"
There was a gun against her head and he knew if he pulled the trigger so who that man, Darius Pavlovic, would also pull the trigger and his wife would die.
"We got him in our sights, just take him out, forget about the hostage." Gary said to him.
"That fuckers got my wife! How the fuck did he get my wife."
"Your wife?" He looked through his binoculars, "fuck! How the fuck did he get her."
"If I knew I wouldn't be asking. She was supposed to go to her sisters." he said and then spoke into his radio. "Hold fire, do not shoot at the helicopter, hostages on board. I repeat, hostages in helicopter, do not shoot."
A variety of rogers, copy that and ten four was heard through the radio headset.
"So close to finishing this hunt, now we're gonna have another hunt on our hands, but at least we got this place." Jerome said.