The Senator's Vote

"I'll set up the computer now," Jeff said pulling the computer out from under the seat and booting it up.

"As for the compound, it's in a forested area, there's a barbed wire fence around it, one guard at the gate. There are three small buildings along a path that lead to the main building. Infrared satellite shows one man in the second small building. In the main building there are two men in the first room and five men in the second. We suspect Henderson to be among them."

I handed the phone to Jeff who sent Amy the computer's info and the satellite real time images of the compound popped up along with the photo of Henderson. He was an older man with thin salt and pepper hair and green eyes.

"We need to take them by surprise, so we'll park away from the compound in this group of trees and make our way to the gate," Keith said leaning forward as he pointed out the area on the screen.

Pete glanced at the images. "Sounds good, and SWAT can set up a closed perimeter once we're in."

"I'll get on that now," Amy said.

"Amy, keep sending us real time images of the compound," I said.

"You got it." Jeff hung up the phone and handed it back to me. He and Pete began talking about baseball.

"So, you'll be running point. Jeff, Pete and I will sneak in and hopefully get Henderson without a fight."

I pulled away from him. "Wait, I'm coming with you. I know I got hurt earlier but I'm fine. I don't need to be protected, I can handle it."

"I know that. I just figured you wouldn't be able to use a gun with your hand the way it is," he said obviously hurt.

What was I thinking? I looked down and sighed at my mistake. "You're right. I'm sorry; I don't know why I said that."

He looked at me and I could see the hurt now reflected in his eyes. "You wouldn't have said it if you didn't mean it. I get it. I'm too protective, okay; I'll let you have your space. I'm sorry if the thought of losing is something I can't even force myself to think of because it's too painful. You chose if you want to go in or not, I won't stand in your way," he whispered as he moved away from me, so there was space between us. That hurt. What had I done? Now we were arguing on our wedding day and it was my fault. I reached for him and then put my hand back down. "No, you're not too protective. It's just...before you, Keith, there was no one. I had no one to lean on or to be there for me. I had to be so strong and independent even when I wasn't, but now I don't have to be. I…I just need to be reminded of that sometimes. I need you, like earlier I couldn't have handled that situation by myself. Please, don't be mad. I'm sorry, so sorry," I said tears silently streaming down my face.