Gracie’s Touch

Chapter 2-3

The next hour was a blur as the teams worked together to get everything in place. All those who could be evacuated were in areas outside of the attack zone. Gracie reviewed the instrument panel of the supply ship and hooked up her laptop to the control panel. The software program she developed quickly uploaded. She designed a type of dump upload, so the program uploaded immediately, then unpackaged. This made it easier to get all the files on the system as fast as possible.

Gracie nodded to the men from Team Two as they began filing out of the supply ship. Crocker looked at Gracie for a long moment before saying anything. Gracie waited patiently for him to say what he had to say.

“You know, if you succeed you’ll be a hero. If your program does what it is supposed to do, you’ll have saved the Earth and millions of lives,” Crocker said gruffly.

Gracie smiled at the big man with the gruff voice. “I don’t want to be known as a hero. Just as another human who refused to give up or give in. I couldn’t have done this alone. It took everyone…” Gracie’s voice faltered as her throat thickened with tears at the thought of all the senseless deaths, “… everyone who has lived and died over the past five years to get to this point. I just hope it works. I’m tired of being afraid,” Gracie ended softly.

Crocker leaned down and brushed a kiss across Gracie’s forehead. “It is Gracie’s Touch that has given all of us the hope of seeing that day. Take care, little girl, and come back home.”

Gracie nodded as she watched the big, gruff man walked off the ship. She turned all the way around and watched as the four guys who she considered her closest family walked onto the ship. Adam was first, followed by Adrian and Mark, with Chance coming up in the rear.

“You stick with the plan. If you have any problems, if you get even the weirdest feeling, you abort and get your ass back planet side, do you understand?” Adam said sternly.

Gracie smiled as she watched his Adam’s apple move up and down. It was the only way to tell when Adam was upset about anything. “I understand. I will, I promise.”

Adam hugged Gracie tightly to him and kissed the top of her head. The thought of never seeing her again and being the one to give the order for her to complete this mission was killing him inside. His arms tightened for just a moment before he released her and walked out without a backward glance.

Adrian cleared his throat. He was the quietest one of the group and held his emotions close to his heart, never letting on he felt anything. He stared down at her for a moment before saying anything.

“Come back,” he ground out before brushing a kiss across her cheek and turning to follow his brother.

Mark looked down into Gracie’s eyes and smiled. “Come home to us, little britches,” Mark said gently as he pulled Gracie into his arms and rocked her gently back and forth for a moment before kissing her on the lips. “Come home for Chance.”

Gracie’s eyes filled with tears as she felt Chance’s arms come around her and pull her away from Mark. She turned and buried her face in his strong chest. She wanted to remember what he felt like, what he smelled like, everything about him. She wanted… needed… this memory to give her the strength to turn away from him and leave. Gracie bit back a sob that threatened to escape. It wasn’t fair! She should be looking forward to having a future with Chance, not leaving him. She loved him so much.

“Gracie…” Chance choked out. “I… Don’t do this. Stay. We can find another way to defeat them.” Gracie was about to respond when the ground shook from an explosion several miles away. The attack had begun. She forced herself to pull away from Chance and looked up into his eyes one last time.

“I have to do this. Go on, go, while I still can. Go, Chance, please,” Gracie begged.

“Chance…” Adam called out from the platform. “Let her go. We need to move now.”

Chance growled out his frustration as he crushed his lips to Gracie’s in a brief, hard, passionate kiss filled with love, anger, and pain. “Come back to me, Gracie. You f*****g come back to me,” Chance bit out harshly before he turned and walked down the platform.

Gracie pushed the control to close the platform door, watching as Chance slowly disappeared from her sight. She blew one last kiss to all the guys and smiled before the door closed, sealing her fate forever.