Boom! That was it. Everything seemed to slow down in Adam’s head, as it started pounding with blood. Around him are the immobile bodies of his colleagues. He calls to Mike, but Mike doesn’t move. Tears shed from his eyes and leak onto his shirt. He runs to Mike, and collapses on top of him. Everything went blank from there

Only two weeks ago, Adam was saying goodbye to his wife and his two kids. He remembers Kate embracing him as long as she could, since she did not know how long Adam was going to be gone for. He went over to kiss Sammy and Jordan, before he got onto the truck with Mike. It was only going to be a few months, and the war would end. Wouldn’t it?

They drove off to the airport and took off to Afghanistan. Seven hours later the soldiers parachute into a desert and they all let out several gunshots. He remembers the hot air hitting his face, as he looked over an entire country before he landed. He hits the ground and runs for cover. “Lets Go! Now…now…now,” Adam yelled.

They run into a safe house located 2 miles from where the troops landed. The safe house seemed to overlook a small low class Muslim community. From the tinted window, Adam could see the discomfort in the faces of the women wearing head coverings. “What was going through their heads,” he thought. Each soldier took a shift to spy for any mysterious activity. The house seemed to have a clear view of a young family’s apartment, consisting of one little boy around the age of 4 along with a 30 year old mother and her husband. Whenever the husband was gone, the wife seemed to be more relaxed, as she’d care for her son with all her affection.

Daily, someone would come and meet the man and his wife always seemed to be uncomfortable. After several days of spying, Adam decided to pay a visit to the wife while the man was out of the house. One day, he snuck out of the back entrance and meshed himself into the environment. Mike kept a look out as Adam walked up the apartment building and knocked on the woman’s door. She opened up and had a stunned look on her face. Her jaw dropped for a moment, but she immediately straightened up, trying to make herself seem unbreakable. “Excuse me miss,” he says. “May I ask why you seem so worried?”

“Who are you!?” “What do you want with my family,” she asked with a shaky voice.

“I am not here to hurt you. I am here to help you and your son,” Adam told her with a serene tone.

“Vat is your name!?” The women held a straight and angry face as she stared at Adam.

“My name is Adam, and you and I both know I cannot disclose anything about what I am doing.”

She said that her husband has been meeting with several men daily. “I overheard one of them speak one day and they said that there are American soldiers in that building across the street. They’re planning an attack.”

“When,” Adam demanded.

She responded saying, “I donno . But when eet happen, I think he will kill me afta.” “If I help you find out, can you take me to Amereeka,” the woman asked.

“Yes, but I need to take you to safety within the next couple of days.”

A few days passed. The third day after Adam’s visit, Mike spots the woman crossing the street with her son. Adam is not on shift. Instead, he’s sleeping in one of the rooms. Mike calls his troops to prepare for attack and to get their gear together.
There’s a sudden bang on the door. Mike goes to open it and the woman says, “Hurry! He’s planning to attack today!”
“Who Mam?” Mike yells hesitantly
“My husband,” she said short of breathe.
Mike went to the window and spotted the woman’s husband returning to his apartment with the several men he’d met with in the past.
“Come in! Come in! We will only be here shortly.”
Mike runs into the room to wake Adam. “Am I dreaming? Or is this really happening,” he said. Everything all of a sudden seemed real. His training, his work in the field. Adam didn’t know what to do.
“Adam, man? Get up!” Mike starts tearing a little with anxiety.
Adam runs out of the room, gets his gear, and yells, “Everyone take out your sniper and aim across!”
The troops turned their switches from safety to automatic.

“Ready! Aim!” Adam paused for a moment. The woman and her son were watching from the back exit as the men prepared to shoot. “Fire!”
The bullets broke through the windows and entered the building across the street. The terrorists were down. The woman started crying.
“Abu,” She yelled. “my husband!” she ran across with her son back to her apartment.
“No!” Adam yelled. Adam and Mike both ran after her.
“S***, S*** s***… F***!” Adam said. “We’ve been spotted.
Adam and Mike ran in. Adam pulled the woman away from her dead husband and Mike took her son.
They went back into the safe house, informed all the soldiers and ran back out to where they landed.
They ran about a mile out, until a loud bang hit the floor. Boom! That was it. A bomb had been thrown. The woman lay on top of mike with blood gushing out of her head, creating a huge red puddle surrounding Mike’s body. Adam used the last of his energy to run to Mike. All the soldiers seemed dead. Adam and Mike were running behind the rest because they were carrying two people with them. He continued to carry the boy in his hands and leaned over to touch Mike’s chest. His heart still seemed to be pounding, but after a few seconds, it stopped. Adam let go of the boy and fell on top of mike and the blood of the woman.
The boy just watches and starts crying at the sight of his dead mother. He spott an emergency radio in Adam’s pocket. Thinking it was merely a toy, the boy goes over to click it. A helicopter came over to pick up both Adam and the boy, and bring them back.
Adam wakes up three hours into the flight and started shedding tears of anger. He would get to see his family again and he saved a little boy’s life. But at what cost? He had failed his troops. He lost his best friend and companion. What would he tell Mike’s wife and children? What would he tell America.
A CIA agent on the copter comes up to Adam and says, “good job Commander Nathals. You killed the commander of Al’ caida. You come home with honor.”
Adam just stares at the man with a disgusted look on his face. “Are you kidding me!?” he asks.
“I understand you lost several people, but you must understand they sacrificed their lives for this country.”
He spots a gun on the agent’s vest. He quickly grabs it and shot himself in the head. Boom!

The Helicopter lands and a cart covering Adam with a blanket is taken to the hospital. Adam is buried later that day. The president honored the veteran with the highest distinction a commander can receive.