After a few short hours with Kris, it was as if we had never been apart. We had always been in sync, ever since we met in sixth grade. I can still remember back then. How after weeks of her begging me to practice drill with her I finally caved. Shortly after we became inseparable, even though I hadn't been looking to make friends. We spent the better part of a decade together, growing in our military careers. Until we got stationed at different forts.

We toured the fort all morning as we got caught up. The morning air was refreshing and the trees in the park had all begun to turn colors. Kris and I both shared a love for the fall season. October was just around the corner, and soon after the holidays would come.

Kris had become a Second Lieutenant last year. We kept in touch as much as we could with our hectic schedules, but it wasn't the same as being together in the same place. I had hoped to attend her promotion ceremony, but unfortunately I was deployed at the time. As a fellow military brat she was completely understanding of my absence, but I still felt bad for not being able to be there for her. After all she was the one who threw me an after party when I became Captain.

"So what brings you out here anyway?" I asked as we ended our tour near the food court.

"What takes us anywhere but a mission of course." She smiled wide at me as she took a seat on a wooden bench. The bench was positioned under a tree. There were many others positioned similarly along the stretch of green that cut through the center of the food court.

I joined her on the bench. There was nothing more to ask. Mission information was restricted so there was no point in asking more questions, though I was curious as to why she was being deploy from Fort Bragg rather than from her home base.

We both received alerts on our phones at the same time. As if we were the same person we both pulled our phones out of our pants pockets and checked the alerts.

Meet at location A in 10 minutes for a briefing

It was a message from my ranking officer, Major Daniels. Damn, it was terrible timing. I finally got to see Kris after three years and now I'd be leaving for a top secret mission.

Kris and I stood from the bench at the same time. "I got to go," we said in unison. We smiled and I let out a laugh. Kris pulled me in for one last hug.

To my surprise we both headed in the same direction. At first I thought it was just a coincidence, but the closer we got to Location A the more suspicious I became. Were we reporting for the same briefing? But I was certain Kris was not delta force.

Location A was a small conference room located on the south end of the command center. It was used regularly for business meetings, but I only ever went there for briefings. Major Daniels had picked the location. Since meetings happened there all the time, no one would think twice about our team meeting there.

I stopped at the entrance to the command center when Kris walked up to the doors. Not wanting to reveal location A to her, I waited until she disappeared from sight before I entered. The halls were mostly empty as it was Sunday.

When I got to the conference room my eyes widened. Kris was seated at the wooden table that stretched the length of the rectangular room. An unopened file sat on the table in front of her. There was one positioned in front of every seat of the nearly full table. I recognized a few of my squad mates, but there were others I had never seen before.

Keeping my composure I entered the room. It was a plain room with tan colored walls and a white board for presentations at its front. Major Daniels greeted me with a salute and I returned the greeting. His green eyes invited me to take a seat at the table.

Questions filled my mind, but I said nothing. I took a seat at the table across from Kris, next to my squad mates. Even though I tried not to I couldn't help but stare at Kris. Her slight smile told me she knew the answers to my questions. Did she already know what the briefing was about?

The door to the room was closed and the shades on the windows were drawn. Major Daniel's took his place at the front of the room. With none of us in uniform we looked like a bunch of civilians getting ready for a long boring lecture. But we were all highly trained soldiers and the lecture we were about to sit in on would be far from boring.

"Listen up," Major Daniels began. "Your assignments are listed out in your folders. Memorize every detail of the mission and put in your equipment requests by the end of the day today. We ship out in two days."

Last minute missions went with the territory. I had been a member of the delta force team for three years. It was the reason I was transferred to Fort Bragg, not that I could tell anyone. If anyone knew the identities of the people on our elite special ops team, we would be targeted.

It had been hard to keep the secret from Kris, so a part of me was relieved that she was in on the mission. She had apparently become a member of the nightstalkers team. Her night flight skills were the best on her team. Major Daniels explained how he had handpicked her and a few others in her unit to assist us in our mission.

As Major Daniels continued to fill us in on our mission, I couldn't help but think about Kris. We would finally be working together again.