Sniper

*Head Quarters*

 Commander James Falken was on a mission, a very real one this time.

He clutched the office phone to his ear, all the while checking the IT simulator for any kind of bugs that might be recording and following his every move…he knew that their offices was getting de-bugged each and every day to avoid just that from happening. You could never be sure in this line of business.

His face was red and as angry as it has been in a fucking long time, as he blasted his voice over the device as loud as his authority regarded…

“Now you listen to me…and this is a direct order! I had one of my best men sent out on a job in the Karoo area of South Africa over two weeks ago to complete the easiest of missions and that’s where his entire trail ends! I still haven’t heard anything from him or know what has happened to him…and meanwhile, the target that he was supposed to eliminate, is walking around SCOTT FREE! Smiling at cameras for every single God damn newspaper in existence, as if he isn’t one of the most corrupt members that society has ever seen AND beats his wife towards the edge of her total sanity!”

Commander Falken took a breather, before he calmed down…checked the simulator once more, before carried on.

“I swear to God, I will send the rest of my entire arsenal to the Karoo and they will assassinate everyone that gets in my way! Find out what happened to Agent 2512 and DO IT NOW!”

Commander Falken literally slammed the office phone down in his sheer fit of anger, not caring that if it would have smashed into a million fucking pieces one little bit, before he walked over towards the window of said office, and peered outside into the pouring rain.

This wasn’t like Agent 2512…this wasn’t like him at all. This was supposed to be an easy job…just another corrupt bastard whose wife had had more than enough and had decided to take a hit out on her husband as a desperate last resort.

This was supposed to be peanuts for his best Sniper…in fact, he felt guilty for sending him to the Karoo in the first place for such an easy assignment, however, he had majority of his team after some mafia boss in Johannesburg, so he had no other choice.

He swore underneath his breath…taking out an easy and open target was jelly tots for Agent 2512, knowing what his man was actually capable of doing and the masses that he had eliminated in his lifetime before. Killing off such a pathetic excuse for a human being was virtually nothing compared to what he had ordered Agent 2512 to do before.

Fucking hell.

He ran his fingers through his rapidly thinning hair, before covering his face momentarily with both his hands when he was done.

He had trained this man himself, for years and years, to turn him into the killing machine that he was today.

A sickening feeling grew inside the pit of his stomach…and it totally wasn’t a symptom of his growing ulcer.

Where the hell could he be?

A person simply does not just VANISH into thin air!?

Do they?

 

*Starke Family Ranch*

 Tanner smiled as he loaded the last of the cooked breakfast that he and Shawn had made into a plate for their guest, before he winked at Shawn to run ahead and open the door for him while he did so.

Shawn’s eyes ran wateringly over the eggs, lashings of bacon, mushrooms and toast that was literally just being BEGGED to be eaten, but he had his own Corn Flakes already an hour ago. Bless him, he was a growing boy.

Tanner’s eyes flickered over towards his cell phone, where he had been expecting a message from his wife Carly, who was at the hospital doing her job as a nurse to the best of her ability, already having to put in a double shift, only having been back there after her vacation had ended three days before. It had taken a little while for her to get back within the swing of things, but like they said…once a nurse, always a nurse.

He nodded at Shawn to slowly open the door of their spare room where their guest was, with his own hands full, and after knocking, hearing the okay from said guest to come in, father and son did just that.

“Morning! Thought I’d bring you some of the blatant farm hospitality that the Karoo is so well known for!” Tanner said as he saw their guest turn around and actually face both of them.

He still, after all this time, and no matter how hard he tried… he couldn’t remember who he was, or where he was from, what his own name was…and it was already nearly two weeks since he and Shawn had first rescued him from the wreckage of the female passenger’s car colliding with the man’s motorbike down the road, just outside of the town.

The woman didn’t make it…and he didn’t wanna think what might have happened to this…this extremely attractive young stranger if himself and Shawn didn’t happen to drive past there just MINUTES after it must have happened.

They had brought him here, and had him recover to the best of their combined ability…and he was already looking stacks better, if truth be told.

At first, the severe, intense scrapes and cuts on his arms and legs looked like he had literally been sliced up by barbed wire. They were still reddish and still had not completely healed but they certainly didn’t bleed out every five seconds like they had done when he had first gotten here.

He could walk on his own, his speech had improved massively. Except for the still blue/black marks on his face and what would probably be a permanent scar on his forehead, you would never say this…very handsome young man had been a deaths door a mere few weeks ago.

As it always were the case when someone’s name was unknown, they would tend to call him John Doe, if it was a male patient, and therefore both Tanner and Carly had started calling him just that, with his permission. John, or whoever he really was, smiled gratefully and his eyes seemingly LIT UP the moment that he saw Tanner and Shawn, as well as the break taking aroma of the breakfast and freshly brewed filter coffee.

“WOW! What the heck did I do to deserve all of this? Morning, Tanner…and morning to you too, my dude!” he said outright, before taking the plate in both of his hands and placing it on the bedside table, before giving Shawn a quick fist bump, followed by a high five.

Those two had gotten extremely close in the days since John had arrived here, it was actually amazing to see how quickly they had bonded. Nevertheless, John couldn’t have been THAT much older than Shawn, he figured him in his early twenties at least, so perhaps they tended to connect on much the same level.

Jesus, if Carly knew he had allowed John to eat fatty and greasy foods in the guest bedroom, there would be literal murder to deal with.

“You okay?” Tanner asked as he sat down on the bed, joined by John as he crossed his legs and sat out the plate of food in front of him. Shawn eventually got his way, as he snatched a piece of toast from the plate, before bolting the hell out of there, after a playful swipe towards him from John.

The latter then grabbed a piece of bacon and took a huge bite, before his eyes rolled over in their sockets, as a sure sign that he was enjoying the fuck out of what he was actually eating.

“Yeah, I guess…man, I gotta tell you, I could eat bacon all damn day…but seriously though, I really don’t know what to actually do now…or where to go from here. I can’t stay here forever. I just wish my damn memory would come back…it’s been two whole weeks, and I really thought…never mind.”

Tanner, much like his son before him, sneakily grabbed a piece of bacon from John’s plate, earning himself a playful shove from the latter, before he too, stuffed a piece of the porky goodness into his mouth. His eyes couldn’t stay or turn away from John, even if he had tried.

Ever since Carly had been back at work, it had just been the two of them here, in the hours that Shawn was back at school. Tanner swallowed his food, before he looked down and sighed quietly. You had to be blind not to see how beautiful John really was.

He was insanely handsome…Jesus Christ no…he was bloody beautiful, the kind that actually made your eyes hurt to look at him. His buzz cut that he had to have had done before the accident was starting to grow back out, in short pitch-black strands, making him look ever more rugged and sexier than before.

His arms were toned, muscled and smothered with dark black hairs. He had the greenest, most soul full eyes that you could possibly have imagined. The colour aquamarine, came to mind. His chest was ripped beyond belief, and his legs were strong and busty. The cherry on top of the already loaded sugary cake, was that stunning six pack abdominals that he wore with such pride, every time that that he changed his clothes.

Whatever, or whoever this man really was, beyond the black curtain of his amnesia, he had to have been super fit for it. It really showed.

The very moment that he had seen John that day where he had Shawn had driven by the accident…the sheer moment that they had locked eyes when he had first woken up from his concussion…there was a spark at least from his side that he wasn’t sure at all if he wanted to contain.

He had been gay all his life…he had been gay when he and Carly had gotten drunk in his high school and had conceived Shawn…he had been gay when he stood with her before a priest all those years ago and said “I do”.

All because of peer pressure from his family…that annoying tension and belief that he HAD to produce a male heir to continue the family dynasty.

Fucking hell.

“Penny for your thoughts?”

Tanner smiled wry fully as he looked back up into the eyes of the stranger who had so suddenly and so inexplicably come into their lives, and he nodded, while patting John on his shoulder.

“Yeah, of course I am! Geez, look at the time I gotta go, my workers out there must be waiting for me already and I gotta get Shawn to school. We’re taking the horses out for their runs and they’re getting their shots today as well. Say John…have you ever ridden a horse before?”

John took a sip of his coffee, before he blinked his eyes twice, and shook his head.

“Not that I can think of right now…but then again, I wouldn’t exactly know. Why do you ask?”

Tanner smiled. His eyes were full of mischief and excitement.

“Eat the rest of that up. Every single fucking piece, you got that? Because today, I’m gonna teach you to gallop like you never have before!”

**

 “Dude…are you sure about this? Think of my poor broken bones and my injured little body…”

Tanner smirked and once more patted John on his shoulder.

“You scared, brother? Big strong, young man like you?”

John shot Tanner an evil, amused glance, but within seconds a wicked smile cracked across the entirety of his face. He smirked as he checked Tanner out from top to bottom.

“So, you think I’m big and strong then, huh?”

Tanner froze for just a second, before he realized that John was surely just joking…it was just normal, everyday banter between two men who were fast on their way to becoming firm friends. There was really nothing to worry about. He hoped.

Tanner instructed his workers to saddle up the gentlest of horses that they had possessed on the ranch and to bring him over, as well as Prancer, his usual horse that he rode every day. He could sense the hesitation, the sudden change inside John’s entire demeanor as the horse was brought closer, and he softly, without even as much as thinking about it, he took John’s arm and dragged him a little back where they couldn’t be overheard.

“Hey…I know I challenged you to do this, but if you don’t want to, I get it, okay? I know how scared I fucking felt the first time I got on to one of these animals. Just say the word, and we’ll stop all of this. The last thing I wanna do is pressure you.”

John took a deep breath and for a mere moment, he seemed to look upwards at the skies above…it was one of THOSE days again where there wasn’t a wind or as much as single cloud in the clear blue, blue sky. The sun was shining down on them, all in all, it was a perfect fucking day.

“You’ve…you guys have done so much for me. Geez, you’re still fucking doing it! I just…I just don’t wanna seem ungrateful…”

Tanner reached out towards John like the speed of lightening and gripped the younger man’s shoulder, granted, a little tighter that he had anticipated at first.

He saw John’s eyes widen just a tad, before the latter’s eyes flickered over towards his own. For just a few moments the two men seemed to just…stare at each other without any words being needed.

Tanner swallowed…slowly…his Adam’s apple floating upwards and downwards with the motion.

You’re beautiful…you’re fucking gorgeous…

Before he knew what was happening, John had broken the eye contact and had solemnly proceeded to place the helmet which one of the ranch hands had given him for riding the horse, straight up on top of his head. At first, he struggled with getting the clasp done the right way at the back of said helmet, and a smiling Tanner was quickly beside him to help.

“Hi ho, Silver, right?” John murmured softly so that only he could hear him, electing a giggle of laughter from Tanner himself.

Several of the ranch hands helped John upwards into the seat on top of the horse that they had especially picked out for him, and before he knew what was really happening, Tanner’s mouth opened as wide as the Kalahari Desert…

…what the hell?

John hadn’t been up there for fucking five minutes, before it literally seemed that some or other born-within instinct that he had clearly forgotten about had to have kicked in, because in no time, John was flying across the riding area on his horse.

Tanner smiled and shook his head. What was it about this guy…this seemingly perfect guy that he just couldn’t get enough of him? He looked majestic…if that was the exact word to describe him…as he flew and flew about on his horse across the slopes and counties across the ranch. It was literally as if he had been doing this all his life!

Eventually, John pulled his horse to a stop, complete with a huge smile streaked across his face, his cheeks puffy and red from the sheer excitement and energy that had must have used to ride, before the ranch hands were quickly at his side to help him down.

“THAT WAS BRILLIANT!” John shouted once his feet was once more on solid ground and he quickly came running over towards Tanner, who he surprised by grabbing him in a giant bear hug.

Tanner of course, was momentarily caught off-guard, before he too, reached out with both his arms and hugged John back, just as enthusiastically as he did him.

Together both men stood in unison, John’s chest heaving up and down from his horse ride, his warm breath directly on the back of Tanner’s neck. Goosebumps and big and as clear as the day were long, broke out on Tanner’s skin the very moment when he felt John’s breath cascading on his body.

He smelled so good. Jesus. It was manly, it was rough…it was everything that he had ever hoped to experience when he would have a man inside the warmth of his embrace.

John was the first to draw back, and grabbed Tanner’s shoulder, before giving it a gentle squeeze.

“MAN! I honestly felt like I could do that all fucking day! I swear I had to be a racing car driver or something before all of this, because the thrill of speed…the excitement of being on that horse and just chasing after something…man, that was better than sex!”

Tanner giggled once more, before he shook his head once more. He looked down at his watch…it was nearly time for him to go and fetch Shawn from school, and with having shown John the ropes all morning, he didn’t get to complete more than half of the duties that he would normally have gotten done by this time.

But just seeing…just witnessing the smile and the sheer amount of happiness on John’s face after clearly everything that he has been through over the last few weeks…made all of that worry and sombre mood, simply disappear.

Tanner was happy. He was fucking happier than he had been ever in his life.

And that…that scared the living shit out of him.

**

It was nearly ten in the evening when his cell phone rang.

Carly still wasn’t home, and she hadn’t answered any of his phone calls since mid-morning. Her WhatsApp account also showed that she hadn’t been online since a little before twelve in the morning as well.

That wasn’t like her, at fucking all.

Granted, nurses tended to work long hours, that he knew…but still, no contact since mid-morning?

Something was wrong…and he knew it before his phone even started to ring in the first place.

“Hello?”

“Tanner…look here, listen and listen quick, I haven’t got much time to talk, things are all over the show here…” Carly started to say, before she got interrupted by her already stressing husband…

“CARLY! Are you okay? Where the hell have you been all day? Brendan is refusing to go to bed before he’s said good night to you!” he said out loud, noticing that both Brendan as well as John had entered the living room as they heard his voice rise just that tad.

“Is that Mom? Dad, lemme talk to her!” Shawn demanded, before Carly rushed at him from the other side…

“Tanner, I don’t have time for this, put me on speaker, and do it NOW!”

Tanner frowned, but he withdrew the phone from his ear and did as he was told. He saw that John was sitting on the opposite flank of the living room, on one of the couches, clearly wanting to give himself and Shawn some level of privacy, and his face too, was wreaked with slight worry.

Tanner placed the phone on top of the coffee table, before he placed his arm around his son and squeezed his shoulder.

“We’re all here, you can talk, babe…” he replied, his voice hovering as he did so.

Carly sounded as if she was clearing her throat, which was followed by a slight cough and wheeze, before she started speaking.

“I haven’t got much time; they are putting us onto rooms here to wait things out. Babe…they had us tested for COVID today, you know how it is, we do them every few days or so just to make sure and today…well…I guess you know what I’m gonna say…”

Jesus.

Jesus Christ.

Tanner pulled Shawn closer towards him and he noticed that his son’s entire young body had started to visibly shake with what could only be described as terror once THAT word had been said by his wife.

In the three years that this…this sickening virus had wreaked havoc and disaster throughout this world, neither of them, not one of them, and with Carly being a nurse, that was already some sheer fucking miracle, had managed to contract the illness.

Things were a lot better though, and although South Africans in general lived as if it was pre-COVID with no more masks and social distancing…

…there would always be an off chance that you could have caught it, somehow.

Tanner cleared his own throat, before he leaned forward towards his cell phone.

“Babe, how are you feeling? You have any symptoms?”

Another cough from Carly before she spoke.

“Yeah, I guess so, you can hear how weirded out I sound. Tanner…I don’t think you or Shawn has anything to worry about, neither of you has any symptoms, or do you?”

Tanner turned his attentions towards Shawn, who simply shook his head, before he laid back down on the sofa, the tears streaming across his cheeks. Fucking hell…he was worried about his mother and so was Tanner.

People didn’t tend to…actually die as much from COVID anymore, but you just NEVER knew. And to the mind of a fourteen-year-old boy, that hearing that word even now, must have sounded like a damn death sentence.

“Tanner…is John around there too?”

John suddenly stood up, and smiled slightly, as he made his way over to where father and son were sitting down.

“Hey Carly, I’m here. Do you need me to take care of anything?”

Carly coughed once more, and Tanner actually flinched when both men could clearly hear the insane amount of phlegm that had built up inside her throat and lungs.

“Yeah, I guess…look, I can’t come home. I have to self-isolate, we all here do. You guys should be fine, as long as you stay on the ranch, a farm estate with all that open, fresh air, is the safest place to be right now. Tanner, tell the workers they shouldn’t come on for at least a week, just to be sure.”

Tanner looked upwards at John, and then back at the phone.

“You’re gonna be gone a whole fucking week?”

“TANNER! LANGUAGE!”

John snickered against his will, and when Tanner, with a massive guilty look on his face, turned to his son, he too smiled as he saw a streak of a grin across his unblemished teenage face.

“John…until I get back there, please take care of those two for me! Believe me…they can be a handful!”

John reached out and placed a warm hand on top of Tanner’s shoulder, the latter nearly hissing in complete contempt as he felt the electricity and sheer vivid voltage of the man’s tough RIP through him like tin foil.

“You and Tanner saved my life, Carly. I’m doing this with pleasure,” John said, before he once more, nodded towards Tanner, as if to say…everything was going to be fine.

Later than night, Tanner was sitting in Shawn’s room and watched him sleep for a while, just in case the boy needed him. It had taken a while for him to actually calm down enough to fall into Dreamland, and he was forced to give the kid a glass of warm milk with an added splash of brandy sneaked inside.

Shawn was so out of it and so worried about his mother, that Tanner didn’t think he even realized what he had drank. Without fifteen or so minutes, Shawn was asleep, but he didn’t wanna tempt fate, at any cost.

If his boy was going to need him, he sure as hell was going to make sure that he was there for him.

A soft knock on the door startled him out of his thought process, and he slowly saw that John’s face was slowly appearing around said door, where his eyes were flickering in the darkness, with only the moonlight for support, until he found that of Tanner.

“Hey you…come on, I made us some coffee. Just what you need to feel a little better, yeah?” he said, as softly and as gently as he possibly could.

Tanner sighed and carefully stood up…come to think of it, coffee sounded pretty damn good right now. He carefully stretched out both arms before he leaned down and placed a soft kiss on top of Shawn’s forehead, before he left the room as quietly as he could.

The smell of freshly brewed coffee this late in the evening could be smelled from miles away and Tanner groaned appreciatively as he saw John had gone through the trouble of actually making a bunch stacked of grilled cheese sandwiches for the two of them.

That aroma, combined with the deliciousness of the coffee, made for anyone who was hungry to sit up and take notice.

John smiled at Tanner as the latter sat down and placed a solid plate of grilled goodness in front of him.

“Eat up, my friend. You’re gonna need that for the next week or so. I promised Carly I’d look after the two of you and I’m sure as hell gonna keep my promise.”

A warmth as big as John’s heart, rapidly started to spread through Tanner’s entire body as he heard the latter’s words.

Geez.

Jesus Christ.

It’s not like he WANTED to feel this way! It’s not like he went searching for John in the first place! It’s not like WANTED to feel that he was busy cheating on his sick wife, because it wasn’t like that!

It’s just…FUCK!

He dared to look up at him. The way he motionlessly moved around their kitchen. The way he smiled whenever he knew that Tanner was looking at him. The way he would actually take notice and LISTEN to whatever Tanner had to say. The way he was with Shawn when they would play Nintendo Switch for hours and hours on end when John was recovering.

Did he have to be so God damn…so God damn perfect?

He felt a hand on his shoulder, for what felt like the umpteenth time so far that evening. Clearly, John must have mistaken what he saw on Tanner’s face as nothing more but serene worry for his wife, because he leaned in and gave his friend a slight hug for a few seconds, before he released him.

“Hey…from what you’ve told me about this illness, not a lot of people actually die of it anymore…you gotta be hopeful. She’s at hospital, right? If anything should happen or if her symptoms get any worse, she’s totally at the right place.”

Tanner’s eyes burned with pent up tears and emotion. What WAS it with him these days? He was never, EVER this emotional before John had turned up in his life! For God’s sake!

The two men ate their food and drank their coffee in silence, before Tanner noticed that his phone was ringing, and jumped up to answer it before the ringtone could wake Shawn up.

“Hello” he said, in his haste, not even looking at the screen to see who was calling.

“Tanner, my boy! I just heard on the neighbourhood-watch WhatsApp group that the hospital has been placed under isolation because of a COVID outbreak…does that mean Carly is there too?”

“It’s my dad…” Tanner whispered to John, who simply nodded and carried the dishes to the dishwasher, before he carried on with his father…

“Yeah Dad, afraid so. She’s been tested positive so now she has to self-isolate and she can’t come home. Shawn is really worried, as am I, but we hope and pray that things doesn’t get any worse and that she can come home soon.”

“Oh, I see. Man…this God-awful illness just refuses to go away! Anyhow, your Mom says hi as well and she sends her love. She can’t speak right now, she’s already fast asleep. Tell me, is that house guest of yours still there? Otherwise, I can always come and stay with you for a couple of days?”

“Dad, there’s really no need. John and I will be fine here looking after Shawn. I’ll ring you up if I need anything.”

Tanner ended the phone call, before he slouched himself down on one of the couches in the living room and stared up at the ceiling for a couple of seconds, before he felt the weight of another person sitting down beside him.

“I take it your parents are worried about you?” John asked, taking another sip of his coffee.

Tanner nodded.

“Yeah, and God knows, I love my folks, but I couldn’t cope with having my father here day and night. He’s a good man and all, don’t get me wrong, but let’s just say he has a bit of a temper when it comes to things not going his way.”

“Yeah? Like how?”

Tanner sighed. Closing his eyes, he thought back to all the times that he had heard his mom and dad argue. Those were times where the ranch was going under extreme financial difficulties, and he knew that his father was under severe strain back then.

There were times…that he could swore his father would actually…hit both him and his mother…but thank God he never did. The situation on the ranch improved with time, especially once Tanner himself had gotten his agricultural degree and started to implement his own ideas on the farm.

“Never mind. I don’t wanna talk about that now. Any way…if Gordon Starke knew I was talking to some stranger about my childhood he’d fucking flip on me.”

Suddenly John sat up straight. In a vicious, quick move that surprised even Tanner himself.

“Did you say…is your dad’s name Gordon Starke?”

Tanner nodded…before he wanting to say more, but John got in there first.

“Gordon Starke…he’s running for mayor of the Karoo in just a few weeks…right?”

Tanner’s eyes widened and suddenly it was like he was seeing a whole new side of John…one that he wasn’t all too sure that he actually liked.

Gone was the kindness, gone was the newfound friend that he had gotten to know and respect so much…and in his place was a face which shouted and expressed cold, darkness…anger and everything that was vicious in this world.

“Yeah…I guess that’s him. Why? Do you know him?”

Suddenly…as quickly and as unexpectantly as it came, John’s eyes narrowed…and immediately softened as he heard Tanner’s voice. He swallowed a fair few times, before he turned his entire body towards Tanner.

“Dude…I’m…Jesus man, I’m so sorry if I scared you…when I heard you say “Gordon Starke” it was like something inside my brain seemed to snap. I don’t…I mean, I don’t even know anything about my own self and…yet I know that the man is running for mayor of a town that I have never even been in…”

John took another sip of coffee, before he slowly, confusing etched across his handsome face, ran the palm of his hand over his rapidly growing hair.

“Seriously dude…I swear! I have no idea why I would even begin know that?!”