"Take a seat Lieutenant." Warlock said as soon as I went into Mav's office and saw Maverick, Cyclone and Warlock and they all looked super serious. I took a seat and as soon as I was sat down next to my father figure, information started coming at me.
"We want you to be on this mission Lieutenant, because you are an amazing pilot." Cyclone said.
"Thank you sir, but why not tell anyone else now." I asked.
"Because we want you on this mission for a specific reason. You are the best dog fighter and an amazing pilot that we have here in the Navy, and it's been clear throughout the whole training these past couple weeks. We want you to go on the mission as the bait, if you want to call it that. We expect some bandits to be in the air, and we want you." Warlock said.
"You want me to go after those bandits sir? Alone, sir?" I asked, panic rising in me, knowing that I can do it.
"Correct Lieutenant." Warlock confirmed.
"We know that this may be a difficult decision for you to make but we do need you." Cyclone said.
"Is there anything that you can give me, I want to make a decision knowing that I know everything possible sir." I said. I was told the plan if I did go and I knew I had to do this, do this for whoever went since everyone on the team is my family, I have to make sure they come back to each other. Me? I don't love my life right now and Nat and the boys can survive without me.
"I'll do it." I said and Maverick looked down and the admirals gave me slight smiles.
"The odds of you coming back home from this mission are low Lieutenant, are you sure about this?" Cyclone asked.
"I need to do this for everyone, I care if they come back and I'm not so worried bout me coming back sirs. I need to do this for my family." I said and they nodded.
"Thank you Lieutenant. You have two days off, along with the rest of the team, take it and use it. After those two days, you have a final day of training then that night we will be going on the carrier." Warlock said and I nodded. We all left and I went home and Amelia was dropped off for her sleepover.
"Hey Amelia, I need to tell you something that you can't tell anyone else." I said.
"What's up?" Amelia asked as we finished eating.
"I'm going on the mission as bait, meaning that if anything happens, like bandits coming, then I'm going to go after them so I need you to promise me something." I said and she had tears in her eyes.
"I can't promise anything because you have to come back to me, and my mom, my sister and your best friend, and your sister and the boys and Maverick. You have to come back to us." Amelia said. I stood up and gave her a hug.
"You have to trust me on this one. Promise me that you'll take care of everyone if I don't come back." I said.
"I can't promise that." Amelia said and I bent down to her.
"Promise me that and I promise you that I'll come back and I'm definitely going to try to come back." I said and she promised me and I promised her. I wiped away her tears and we had some desert and watched TV and around 9pm, the doorbell rang.
"Coming!" I yelled and I opened the door to reveal the boys.
"Can we come in? Thanks." They asked then stormed into the house and I was shocked.
"Who was at the door?" Amelia asked.
"Oooooh, this is gonna be fun. Do you have popcorn?" Amelia asked and I glared at her.
"Go home, Brad can take you home." I said.
"What?" Bradley asked and I glared at him and he put his hands up in the air.
"I wanna stay." Amelia said and I glared at her again.
"Actually let's go Bradshaw." Amelia said as she grabbed her things.
"Yeah, have fun with that." Amelia said as she pointed to the boys.
"Out!" I said and shoved the duo out of the house and turned around to face the boys.
"Jesus, is today gang up on Rachel day? Because all of you won't leave me alone and it's already 9pm." I asked.
"There something you wanna tell us?" Reuben asked.
"Not really." I said.
"Well how about Dylan cheating on you?" Mickey asked. I looked down and went into the kitchen.
"You and Reuben have known each other since you were 13 Rachel. You've known Javy, Jake and I since you were 16. You've always been a little sister to us, so why don't you tell us what the hell is going on? Nat's not here so don't worry about her wanting to kill someone." Mickey said.
"The night of the beach day, I went over to Dyl's house and he was cheating on me with someone so I went to Lia's place and Brad happened to be there so that's how he knows. I don't get sleep anymore because of losing Maia in the crash, I lost her in a flat spin from a bird strike, and her ejection handles weren't working and she was in the plane as it crashed and burned into the mountain, and I haven't spoken to Nate and Ethan since her funeral, um Dylan and I got into a ton of fights and sometimes he would rape me or abuse me and he never cared what I wanted to do, it was always about what he wanted to do. I always forgive him though." I said and the boys were just quiet and they were listening.
"And when Bradley confronted me after Ice's funeral, we ended up kissing and he asked me out on a date and he took me to the diner thats on the outskirts of town." I said and I noticed that Jake and Javy shared a look.
"No, you can't threaten him just because he asked me out. At least you guys know him." I said.
"Relax, we won't threaten him. But does Nat know?" Jake asked.
"No, and none of you are going to tell her. We're spending the day together tomorrow because we haven't had time to spend time with just each other and we don't know what's going to happen during or on the mission." I said. We talked the whole night about everything that's been going on in our lives. We fell asleep in the living room and I woke up and went out with Nat. I told her and she wanted to go kill Dylan but I told her not to deal with him till another time. Then the next day, the whole team, everyone, spent the day together playing games and drinking at the Hard Deck.
"Hey, wanna get out of here?" Bradley asked me and I smiled.
"Yeah, let's go." I said and we took each other's hands and went out to the beach. I stood in his arms for a couple minutes before we ended up sitting down near the water and I sat in between his legs and his arms were wrapped around me.
"Hey, I have something to ask you." Bradley asked.
"Rachel Lilliana Trace, will you be my girlfriend?" Bradley asked and I kissed him and he kissed back and a couple minutes later, we split apart.
"I'll take that as a yes." Bradley said and we went back to his place and had made love to each other. Of course something interrupted us and it was a text from Nat saying that everyone is still at the bar and we're celebrating and dancing and singing and playing games and of course Nat wants to team up with me so we can beat Jake and Javy's ass in pool, and I couldn't give up the opportunity.
"Get dressed, we're going back to the hard deck." I said. Bradley rolled his eyes, got up, gave me a kiss and started getting ready. I grabbed a jacket from his closet and put it on and slid on my boots and went out to my car and waited for Bradley. As soon as we got there, we were already back with our family, Nat and I playing a round of pool against Jake and Javy, Bradley, Mickey and Reuben playing darts, and Bob was talking to Lia and Val. Nat and I won, resulting in Jake and Javy giving us 20 bucks each. Val and I were just sitting at one of the tables drinking some beer and I was spacing out, thinking about my role in the mission.
"You alright?" Val asked.
"Rach." Val called out.
"Hmm?" I whispered.
"I said are you alright?" Val asked.
"I'm fine." I said.
"Hey, talk to me. Whatever you say to me in confidence is between us, you know that right?" Val said.
"I don't have anything to tell you." I said.
"That's bullshit." Val said.
"Earlier today, after training, Mav needed me to come to his office so I did, and then Cyclone and Warlock were in there as well, and they told me that I'll be following as backup but if there's any bandits, I have to go after them on my own and be the distraction so the people who are doing the mission. In other words, I'm the bait." I said and Val's expression was unreadable.
"Val, say something please." I begged.
"So your okay with possibly not coming back and having everyone else come back without you?" Val asked. I nodded and we stared at each other.
"If you go on this mission, you and I aren't friends anymore and I speak for Lia as well." Val said and got up and stormed out.
"Val!" I yelled.
"Val! Don't do this!" I yelled going after her.
"Your risking your life for something that we don't even know it's gonna happen!" Val yelled.
"I'm a fucking fighter pilot! I have to take risks and this is a risk I'm willing to take! I can't lose anyone that is in that room. Those people are my family, I'm not going to let Mav send them out and have the possibly die, knowing I could be out their saving and protecting their asses." I said back. Val went quiet.
"Either way, you go on the mission, I'm not speaking to you again." Val said before getting in her car and driving off.
"Shit." I cursed. I'm doing this to protect my family and in the process, I lose my best friend. I may have known Lia a while, but I actually met Val in junior year of high school, since she transferred over to my high school.
"What was that about?" Lia asked as she came up to me.
"Don't worry about it, just an argument about the mission." I said as I turned around to head inside but Lia's arm grabbed me.
"What about the mission?" Lia asked.
"I'm the decoy/bait for the mission if there's any bandits in the air." I said.
"Your kidding. Tell me your kidding." Lia said as she let go of my grip.
"I'm not kidding." I said.
"What did Val say?" Lia asked.
"If I go on the mission, we aren't friends anymore." I said quietly as I looked away.
"I agree with her." Lia said.
"Lia, come on, don't do this." I begged.
"You do this mission, I'm not going to speak to you again." Lia said before walking away and drove off on her motorcycle. I wiped my tears and walked back in and grabbed a beer from Penny.
"I don't want this Pen." I said.
"What do you want then?" Penny asked as I sat down.
"Shots. Lots of them." I said and noticed that the boys and Nat were all busy surrounding the pool table. You couldn't notice me at the bar because it was crowded but today we had training, and tomorrow early morning we board the carrier.
"No, you have work in the morning." Penny said.
"Pen, I need it. I really need this, for once please." I asked. Penny looked me up and down and sighed. She left and 5 seconds later, she came back with 5 shots of vodka. I downed the first shot, and kept going till the fifth shot.
"More please?" I asked.
"No Rachel, you have work in the morning early. I'm not letting you get drunk." Penny said, putting water in front of me.
"Pen, I've had a really shit day, and there's a possibility I may not come back, give me something."
I said.
"I'm cutting you off Trace." Penny said as she took the shot glasses away and wiped the bar down. I drank some water and I put my head down and just closed my eyes.
"What's wrong?" I heard a voice ask and I knew it wasn't any of the boys or Nat, and Penny was helping other people so I looked up and my eyes met Mav's eyes.
"Val and Lia know about how I'm supposed to be the decoy/bait for the mission and they left me and said that if I go on the mission, they'll never speak to me and they won't be friends with me again." I said as I sat up and put my elbows on the counter, just like Mav did.
"Well, what are the pros of going on the mission?" Mav asked.
"Being able to put all of the training that I did these past couple of weeks to work, I can protect my family and the people I love, and that I'll be able to serve my country even more by destroying the target, doing this for Maia." I said.
"What are the cons of going on the mission?" Mav asked.
"Failing my whole team by not doing my job, spacing out, panicking, possibly not coming back and getting a chance to see my boyfriend, losing two of my closest friends, not getting a chance to see my family ever again, to tell my sister everything that has happened in my life, to have my sister around." I said.
"Who's your boyfriend?" Mav asked.
"Bradley finally asked me out after the funeral and he asked me earlier tonight if I could be his girl." I said and Mav smiled and gave me a hug, before continuing with our conversation with pros and cons.
"What are the pros of not going on the mission?" Mav asked.
"Being able to keep my friends." I said.
"And what are the cons of not going on the mission?" Mav asked.
"Not being able to know that I could've protected my family if one of them doesn't make it back, not being able to prove myself to everyone, not being able to make anyone proud, not being able to serve my country for a mission that I was called back for." I said.
"Then, I think you know what to do. Based on what you just told me, I think you know what to do." Mav said as he grabbed my hand and squeezed it, kissed my forehead and went to go speak with Penny. I thought about my conversation with Mav and I knew what I had to do. I just hope Val and Lia can understand where I'm coming from.