It finally rained, easing the heat he felt from his body. He lost track track of how much time had passed since he finished his mission, but the important thing here is that it is now done. Once the paperwork was done he can now go to normal society.

He finally did it.

He didn't move even as he heard numerous footsteps came closer. If they were the enemy's reinforcements, he's dead. If not, well...

Truth be told, he was just way too tired to move.

The footsteps slowed as they came closer. As he opened his eyes he saw his fellow soldiers staring at the carnage left behind. He just hoped that they brought some cigarettes with them, and that they weren't stingy with them.

As it was, he was leaning against a tree as the soldiers arrived and began checking the bodies to look for survivors.

He then saw his commanding officer come closer with an aghast look on his face.

"You freaking sonuva... I can't believe you actually did it".

He let out a small chuckle at the disbelief in his C.O.'s voice. "That was the deal, right? We agreed that you will finally let me out if I did this" he replied.

"Yeah, but I meant for you to do it with your team! God damnit, you could've been killed doing what you just did" the C.O. answered, exasperated. "Now how exactly are we supposed to write the report for this, huh? Do you even know how much paperwork I'll have to do in order to deal with this?"

He grinned as a medic arrived to give him a brief check. He accepted the water handed to him and emptied the canteen to quench his thirst. The medic then handed him a pack of menthol cigarettes and a lighter.

"Go on, bud. After all this, you deserve at least that. These rebels took out many of our own and they have been draining the civilians in this area dry." the medic said before he went off to do his duty.

Not that he had that much left to do. He always made sure his targets stayed down.

Permanently.

He lit a cigarette, and after taking a deep puff, answered his C.O.

"I'll do my report as usual, but don't forget our deal. Full scholarship and an allowance for my needs. I can't bring my team into this, was for my own gain. I only gamble with my life. No one else needed to be put in danger".

"I know, but damn boy!"

The senior soldier turned slowly, taking in the carnage left in his man's wake.

"A deal is a deal. I just need to remind you that I can't let you officially retire, at least not yet. You know how sensitive your unit and project is. But at least that way, you can always come back if you need to. You can stay at a camp near the school of your choice, or if you choose to you can get your own place".

'You can always come back' he repeated in his mind. More like they can't let him go. For better or worse, this was his ticket out. He was sick of all the intelligence gathering work he did...

Or more to the point, he was sick of all the killing. He was tired of all the fighting, but it was all he was good at, other than his studies. Which was why he thought of this possible way out.

"Yeah, I'm okay with that. at least I still get free room and board." he finally replied.

The entire time he was sitting, leaning against a big tree. He recovered enough strength to actually move his hand and arm to smoke, but that was all he could muster for now.

His C.O. pulled him up to assist him back to the jeep the soldiers came in on. Still in disbelief, he wasn't going to let his soldier stay there, exhausted, after all that he had done. He barked orders to the others before they left.

The C.O. somehow felt sorry for these rebels, but it was needed to be done. This particular group kidnapped some foreign tourists and held them for ransom, which in itself was bad enough. What made it worse was they killed one foreign national in front of his wife, got it on video, and then sent it.

Even worse, they sent it to the media, which caused even other countries to focus on them. The ransom was paid, but even then they abused and killed some of the other victims, and it was all on video too. The government only managed to get them free last week.

Bad luck for them though, as one of those victims was American. That person was somehow connected to someone high up, which had connections to somebody that had enough clout to get their unit involved.

It was all top-secret, even darker than black ops stuff that they dealt with.

And these bastards was unlucky enough that the key, this soldier he was assisting, was sent.

"So what were you planning on studying? Are you planning to become a teacher, diplomat, or something like that?" the C.O. finally asked in an attempt to get the disgusting sight of dead bodies out of his mind. The answer though, completely caught him unaware.

"I was thinking of becoming a.... lawyer".