A THORNED ROSE

A/N: This was ORIGINALLY WRITTEN BY LILMICKEY2008! I asked if I could re-write it, and he willingly agreed. So, here it is. The first in the series!

CHAPTER 1:

James Holt was a brand new member with Executive Operations. He was fresh out of the United States Marines at twenty-five years of age, and he was looking for new employment. He wanted to do something more with his career, something that was more…satisfactory. Of course, he got paid for his previous work, but now he wanted to take it further, to build up a name for himself. Of course, his experience and actions in the army had made him a perfect candidate for being a mercenary with ExOps. Of course, they told him that he had been set up with a partner to show him the ropes of how it was done. He really had no absolute idea as to what he was in for. Oh, to be naive.

James heard his field operative cackle to life in his earpiece. He listened as Fiona Taylor's strong Australian accent came through the line.

"James Holt, are you there?"

"Yes, Ms. Taylor?"

"You should be coming up on the Allied Nations Headquarters. And call me Fiona, please." She told him.

"I hope this partner of mine is as good as you say she is."

"She most definitely is." She replied contentedly. She was good all right, Fiona thought, the very best of the best. "She captured Choi Song, remember?"

"Yeah, I remember hearing that." James replied, nodding along to what Fiona was telling him.

"Look, I will be helping both of you out, so keep your cool and everything will be fine. And give her a chance. She may not seem like it but she is really great."

"Yes mom." James joked with a smile. He arrived at the A.N. headquarters soon after his little chat with Fiona ended. He got out of the light green military-grade Humvee and walked towards the grey bricked square building.. He pulled open the door and stepped inside. It was a nice place for what it was. He sat down at the table in the conference room. There was a man standing in front of a screen with his back turned towards James.

"Well, Sergeant Holt, glad to see you made it here in one piece." The commander said, turning around to greet this new mercenary. "I'm Major Garrett." He was an older man, greying curly hair standing out against his dark skin. He held out his hand.

"Sir." James said, taking the man's hand and shaking it. "I suppose my partner isn't here yet." James looked around keenly. It was only him, the Major, and one guard at the door.

"Oh she's here all right. Bring her in." The guard at the front walked over to the other side of the conference room and opened the back door. A woman came into the room. She had short, straight black hair with dark brown mysterious eyes. Her curvy hips moved back and forth as she walked over to the table. She was all woman. She had the curves, the breasts, and the face. James was surprised that she was a mercenary of all things. The whole time, he could not peel his eyes off of her. She was beautiful and she knew it.

"James Holt, this is Ms. Jennifer Mui. Ms. Mui this is James Holt." Major Garrett said, introducing the pair.

"Hi." James said kindly, making eye contact with her, grinning politely. He hoped that she would return his greeting. She didn't. She stared at him, scrutinizing him for a second before she turned and looked at Major Garrett.

"This is my partner?" She said in a less-than-impressed voice, pointing down at him.

"Hey, what's wrong with me?" James retorted getting angrier the longer she held the arrogant look on her face.

"You gave me a boy to work with?" She asked, rather dumbfounded. "After all I did? All the work I had done for you? And all you can do in return is give me a boy to work with? Really?" James had had enough. He got out of his seat, and stepped right up in Jennifer's personal space.

"Maybe you just have a problem with men, Ms. Mui." James shot back irately. "Men who are more skilled at this kind of work than you are."

"Watch who you're talking to, boy." Jen hissed, staring him down eye to eye. His blue ones were locked on with her brown ones, not wanting to give up the quarrel.

"If you don't like me, maybe you should just…"

"Hey!" Major Garrett took a step forward ready to intervene if necessary. Jen glared back at James. She reached forward, grabbing him by the collar of his army fatigues, shoving him up against the wooden wall with a loud smack.

"Until you've been in the Paratroopers, the SA-Freaking'-S and MI6, THEN you can suggest that you have more skills than I do! Until then, shut the bloody hell up, you baby-faced bastard!"

"Break it up you two! That's an order!" Major Garrett interrupted them. Jen dropped James off the wall. He felt the sides of his neck where her sharp nails had dug into his skin. Major Garrett didn't want these new partners to fight among themselves before the real battle even began. Jen gave James another glare before turning to Major Garrett.

"So…what's the mission?" She asked, completely ignoring the man she had almost strangled a moment ago. Garrett simply let it go, figuring that Mui wouldn't help out again if he chastised her about it.

"Well…the North Koreans don't like our existence here."

"No kidding." Jennifer replied sarcastically, folding her arms.

"It seems Song still has a very strong presence here and the North Korean troops won't stop attacking us."

"Right…so…what am I here for again? Oh I remember; doing the work that you lazy ass Americans can't be bothered to do."

"Mui…" Major Garrett warned her to stop.

"Oh don't "Mui" me. You know it's true; otherwise, I'd be drinking tea in England right about now. You people hire mercenaries to do jobs that a) you are too lazy to do yourselves and b) that you can't handle. I expect this time around, it has to big, in order for you to have called ExOps who called me and assigned me some deadweight."

"I am not deadweight!" James called out from across the room. He had seen just how shrewd this woman was. It astonished him. Jen ignored him completely.

"Ms. Mui…we have situation on our hands, yes. The damn North Koreans are still loyal to Song, and although we thought we got rid of all his artillery and everything, we obviously haven't."

"A failure on your part." Jen pointed out. The Major sighed at his army's ineffectiveness

"Yes…it was. But that's what we got you to help us for."

"To destroy artillery? Really? Why don't you use the deadweight for that?" James heard her say it again. He walked back over to the two of them.

"If you call me 'deadweight' one more time, I swear I will…"

"Oh shut up!" Jennifer replied, giving him a shove out of the way. James stepped back a few feet. He was using all his might to keep from throwing a punch to her face.

"Would you two stop it? The real fight is out there! Now…as I was saying, I know Song still probably has his 'friends' out there. I want you to kill them." Garrett explained. Jen thought that that idea was much better, and it exercised her sniping skills.

"All right. So I guess that's what you're paying me the twenty million for?"

"Er….yes…" Garrett looked back at James. James was in shock about how much Mui was worth for something that he could do fairly easily. Jen saw Garrett staring behind her and she too turned round.

"There's a reason I'm known as the World's Most Expensive Mercenary." Jennifer told James, walking right up to his face. "Now…I'm leaving. If you want to learn the ropes, then get off your lazy American ass and come with me." Mui muttered, pulling a Barrett sniper rifle out of a gun cabinet as well as a M9 pistol. She pulled out a silencer out of her jacket pocket and screwed it on to the pistol. She holstered both guns; the pistol on her leg, the sniper rifle over her back. James stood there, almost in a shell shock of anger. Not only was she already calling him a 'deadweight', she was also insulting his home country. He wanted to harm her. But he knew he couldn't, and for the fact that she would probably end up killing him when he least expected it.

"Go on son. You better get going before you're walking on your own. And yes, she's always like this. Get used to it soldier." Major Garrett reassured James as he handed him an M4A1 with an M203 rifle and a Remington 1100 semi-automatic shotgun. James grabbed his guns, jogging out of the building. He saw Mui just opening the door of an A.N. Humvee. He sprinted and jumped into the passenger seat just as the engine roared to life.