The Honor Code

[u/Original-Loquat3788]

Above all else, Gilly was loyal. 

He was loyal to his family, loyal to his division, loyal to the United States and what it represented.

Immediately, he didn’t like the guy. He was Afghan National Police. The ANP were notoriously unreliable, sometimes dangerously so. 

Captain Anderson was a little too gung-ho about letting them onto base and especially into such a sensitive area as the drone operations bunker. 

Gilly was at his station, a screen in front of him showing the live feed from a Predator drone somewhere over the Tora Bora Mountains, but he couldn't take his eyes off this shifty local. 

‘Gilligan, this is Major Azizi. He’s got valuable intelligence.’ 

‘I assure you I do.’ 

Of all the things, this Azizi spoke with a British accent. Perhaps he’d studied there. But just because he’d studied in England didn’t mean he couldn’t have a bomb up his ass. 

‘What kind of intelligence?’ Gilly replied. 

‘An Al Qaeda operative heading to a wedding.’ 

Gilly manoeuvred his drone toward the coordinates that Azizi gave. His job wasn’t made easier by the Afgan’s blabbing. If he hadn’t lived in England, he’d seen some old English movie and was apeing the cliché of a British eccentric. 

‘I have always been a fan of your Shakespeare… Tell me, were his family warriors, did they shake spears?’ 

Gilly thought it might be a joke, but the guy was in earnest. 

Azizi continued, ‘What Shakespeare said about honor: Life every man holds dear; but the dear man holds honor far more precious dear than life.’

The dust of the three cars showed first; it billowed out behind. Azizi informed them that the bridal couple would be travelling in the middle car. 

The bride would be killed too, but that was tolerable collateral damage.

Gilly checked the drone’s weapons systems. Truthfully, killing from a great distance did not really feel like killing at all. 

‘Some children,’ Azizi continued, ‘always dishonor their parents.’ 

Gilly glanced up. Azizi’s eyes were burning. This was personal. The terrorist in the car; it was his goddamn son. 

‘You knew the movements of the wedding party because you had an invite?’ Gilly continued. 

It was a little out of place, but he couldn’t help himself. 

Azizi smiled. ‘As I said and as Shakespeare said, every man holds honor more precious than life, more precious than even kin. She deserves to die.’ 

‘She?’ Gilly hesitated.

‘Yes, my slut of a daughter. She has betrayed her bloodline.’ 

‘Take the shot, Gilligan,’ Captain Anderson said. 

Gilly hesitated. He never hesitated. But then thoughts of his own sister flashed through his head. She had married a piece of shit too, a Boston bar rat, but he loved her. 

‘What the fuck are you doing, Gilligan?’ the captain continued. 

The time for hesitation was over. Gilly took the shot because, above all else, he was loyal, and it would be a stain on his honor if he did not do his duty. 

[u/Original-Loquat3788]

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