Brand
New Day is a step in a slightly different direction for me. It's a
story about young love, heartbreak and loss. Believe it or not, it
does have a happy ending, but it takes awhile. It follows the journey
of Janet and Diego, who fall in love as teenagers, but life takes
them very different directions – not the least of which is the
nature of Diego's job, covert ops for the military. He's just come back
into Janet's life after being gone for almost a decade.
Unfortunately, their reunion is short lived.
Slinging
back the door, Diego got even angrier. Three people he hoped he'd
never see again, stood on the porch. Diego was frowzy and disheveled
from their love making. The three men knew they'd disturbed
something, but they politely said nothing. The leader, a man who
looked like he could break a tree in half with his pinky, walked past
Diego and into the living room.
"Don't
mind me, Colonel," Diego growled. "But you're trespassing
in the lady's home."
"Wanna
press charges, kid? Go right ahead and call," the man said
calmly, smiling.
Diego
refused to be dragged into a conflict. "What do you want,
Colonel? I left the game. I'm done."
"You
were, until now. Your country needs you."
"You
played that card all ready!" Diego yelled. "I gave you
seven years, and almost gave my life. It kept me from the woman I
love. Now, I've got her back. We're building a life...."
"Those
men who held you had friends," the colonel said with a menacing
glower. "Friends who will track you down and kill you and your
happy life. They're in this country looking for you. We came to give
you the means to even the score."
Janet
came out of the bedroom and stood beside Diego. He took her hand,
drawing her close, slightly behind him as if to protect her from the
large, angry man.
"Revenge?
You came at me with revenge? "That's pathetic, Coffey. Even for
you."
Colonel
Lane Coffey eyed him grimly. "They want you dead. Only they
won't just kill you. They'll kill your pretty, little woman, after
they do unspeakable things to her body—while you're forced to
watch. If you're lucky, it ends there. But you've got family next
door. A beautiful sister, three darling little kids, a crippled
father, an aging mother...."
"Enough!"
Diego roared. "You've made your point, Lane. You want me back.
You want me to track these guys down and bring them in."
Colonel
Coffey said nothing, shifting from foot to foot uneasily.
"I
see. It's like that, huh?"
Janet
stepped closer, her arms circling his waist. "What's going on?
What does he mean?"
"He
wants me to hunt down some people and kill them," he replied
coldly.
"And
no one's better at that than you, Diego," Colonel Coffey said
with a nasty grin.
Diego's
dark eyes flashed and Janet got the impression that the man he most
wanted to kill was his superior.
"If
I find out this is a ploy to get me back, there won't be a safe hole
to shit in." Diego took a step closer to the colonel, slipping
out of Janet's embrace. He leaned in so his face was mere inches from
Coffey's. "You said yourself, no one's as good as me."
"You're
threatening me in front of witnesses, Hernandez."
"They
don't hear a thing," Diego flung the statement into the room.
The
other men paled. Janet got the impression the threat extended to
them.
Colonel
Coffey shook himself, squaring shoulders. "Get your things,
Hernandez. We need to go."
"I'll
go when I'm ready, Coffey. You're dragging me back in the game,
you'll give me the time to say goodbye. I'll see you here tomorrow
morning at nine o'clock. Not a second before."
Coffey
tried to protest, but decided against it. He and his men left without
another word.
Janet
flew into Diego's arms. "You can't leave me again!"
"I
have to find these guys, babe. If what Coffey says is true, none of
us are safe."
"And
if he's lying? They may not be here—they may never find you!"
"If
they weren't a real threat, Coffey would never have come."
"He
hates you!"
"No....
If those men take me again...."
"You
can handle it."
"I
almost broke," he told her in an agonized voice. "They did
things to me no man should have to endure. And I lived. I don't know
how, but I did. I can't let them do that again."
"What
about me?"
"I'll
be back," he promised. "You can't get rid of me."
©
2017 Dellani Oakes
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