Driving home from Cory’s house, Adrian’s mood was solemn. His head was clouded with ominous thoughts. The entire evening kept replaying over and over in his mind.
The police murdered my brother, Adrian.
He heard Cory’s voice over and over in his head saying that.
Adrian, this is my brother, Collin.
No, it just couldn’t be possible. Could life once again be this cruel to him?
Adrian couldn’t reach his apartment quickly enough. By the time he did, he was sick to the stomach, cold sweating and all. He rushed into his bathroom and splashed some cold water on his face. That felt better but when he looked at his reflection in the mirror, it was ghostly pale.
• • •
The sound of the alarm woke him at 5:00 A.M. Adrian’s eyes immediately flew open. He had to go to work today. He realized that he had fallen asleep in his dress clothes and that he was crossways on the bed. He must have been more tired than he expected. He had to practically drag himself out of bed. He remembered bits of last night but hoped it was all a bad dream. When he felt the ferocious pangs of a headache coming on, it told him otherwise.
In the kitchen, he turned on the water for his morning coffee. Adrian changed out of his clothes and stepped into the shower. The blasting cold water this morning was exactly what he needed. He felt like crap. Hell, if he didn’t know any better, he would have said he had a hangover. He had one scotch on the rocks last night with Cory’s father earlier on in the evening and only because he didn’t want to insult the man. But this he eventually managed in the end. Just when everything was going so good for him.
He could have done with some more sleep but Adrian knew he had a full day ahead. It was only two days before the start of a summit he and his men were expected to provide protection for, so his hands were full. In fact, all military personnel on the island would be busy. His lack of sleep, this annoying headache, and Lord knows what else he’d have to contend with today made him extremely grumpy.
He headed for the gym, his second usual morning custom. As Adrian was driving out, the sun was rising over the magnificent hills. It was truly a breathtaking sight to behold but not even that could cheer him from his mood. Neither did the coffee, cold shower, or his routine workout.
By the time he did get to work and changed into uniform, the hectic pace immediately set in for the day. Maybe this was a good thing. Maybe it would take his mind off his personal problems for a while. Maybe he would be able to forget about last night at Cory’s house. Her dead brother, her father, her … everything.
His team was part of a big military exercise in the hills again. This time, with a much larger contingent comprising well over two hundred officers from other divisions, soldiers, and tracker dogs. This was no ordinary exercise. This type usually went from house-to-house thoroughly searching for arms and ammunitions, drugs and specific criminal elements that were wanted in connection with several criminal investigations. When they were briefed, it was time to lock and load.
“Let’s roll,” Adrian signaled his team. Vehicle loads of them moved out and converged on the outskirts of the capital and very soon the exercise was underway. Officers were moving from house to house conducting the search and the occupants were not happy. They voiced their visible displeasure every chance they got. The constant whirring of chopper blades hovering low signaled the military’s strong intent of an all out war on crime today.
Everything seemed to be going as planned until a murder suspect was found hiding out in a dilapidated shack. That was when the chaos erupted. When the handcuffed suspect was being taken away into custody, a mob of angry villagers proclaiming his innocence began attacking officers and soldiers.
Stones and bottles began raining down on them as the mob grew larger and angrier by the minute. The roads were blockaded with debris, then set on fire. One police vehicle’s windscreen was smashed and the glass shattered everywhere.
“Not today, man,” Adrian groaned under his breath. The entire atmosphere quickly erupted into a mini-riot and this was one angry crowd, shouting and hurling obscenities at them. Officers were retaliating in return, fending off their attackers the best way they could. Members of the media were quick on the scene filming footage for their breaking news stories. It was ugly.
In the middle of this, Adrian felt his cell phone vibrating. “Not now.” When he checked, it was Cory calling. He definitely couldn’t talk to her now. The phone vibrated again after he ignored it the first time. It was Cory again.
Adrian was having a hard enough time concentrating on this task at hand, he honestly couldn’t deal with Cory. He would have to explain to her what happened when that time came. By the looks of things, he’d have many things to explain to Cory. Adrian switched off his cell just as a flying missile came aiming for his head.