This is the new chapter!
Are you going to go home? You fucking waste of space! Hell, do you not think about how disappointed your mother would be in you? the voice sounded in my head. I felt a tear roll down my cheek, but I couldn't bring myself to wipe it off.
Are you not done? Can you not remember the pain you've caused others? it said.
Tina looked at me, puzzled. "Hello..? Are you o-" she peeped before my head tuned out the rest. She snapped her fingers once or twice and I lapsed out of my dream, blankly staring at her brown eyes. "Ela? Are you okay?" she asked, reaching over and wiping the tear off of my cheek. I laid my hat down onto the table and removed my hair-tie, releasing my long brown hair. Tina got up from her seat in front of me and moved around the table, sitting right next to me. My eyes didn't waver from where they were before. "You're okay," she said, hugging me and resting my head on her shoulder.
I didn't say a word. I didn't feel very bad either, however, I guess my physical condition said otherwise. I wasn't sure if I was okay - a tour in Iraq should have closed the case for me, but I took on Rainbow for reasons unknown to myself? Why would I make a decision to do something I don't want to? Self-fulfillment, I suppose. Tina caressed and parted the hair above my right ear silently. It had been maybe a day or two since one of our French operators, one I hadn't really known all too well, was captured. Even though we were loosely connected, the threats and ransom demands had really put a dent in my conscience.
His name was Julien Nizan if I recall correctly. He spent most of his time talking with the other GIGN members and a few other original Rainbow members but never warmed up to some of the newcomers. Nizan and I had talked a few times on occasion and I had enjoyed talking with him, he was filled with warmth and good intent. Not a humanitarian, but seemed like he wanted to save the world from its evil. "Ela? Are you..." Tina interjected, interrupting my internal discouse.
"Tina, what do you think is to become of Nizan?" I asked. I knew the answer she would give would be filled with fluff.
"I'd like to think that they're treating him well, maybe giving him a good cup of tea or coffee in the morning... all that jazz," she said.
I chortled. "Breakfast in bed, hopefully," I said.
"Right," she said. She released her hand and looked at me with content, and I exchanged the look. Tina was probably one of the most battle-torn beyond Baker, who was in his mid-fifties and probably should have retired years ago, but she still kept a strong sense of humor in times of panic. Elias had that same sense of humor, something you really couldn't knock out of him if you tried. Tina stood up and fixed the collar on her white shirt. "I've got to go, Ela, take care of yourself," she said, smiling.
"No promises," I said, smiling back. Her smile faded slightly and she opened her mouth to say something, but she turned and left without a goodbye. I sat there for a moment recuperating my thoughts.
The room was pitch black and my body was enchanted by the soft mattress under me. One of the only things in Hereford that excited me was sleeping; the beds here weren't like the awfully attended ones in any GROM barrack or anything my previous PMC provided in Iraq. I exited my praise and sat up in my bed, pulling on a pair of black, rugged pair of skinny jeans I had purchased well before I toured in Iraq. I stood up and maneuvered my head around this one god awful low-lying beam that I always ran my head into. I listened for a moment where I heard some soft snoring, which led me to the conclusion that Aria de Luca, or Alibi if my memory's correct, was still sleeping.
When she was first introduced at a debrief when we began a covert operation in Italy, I thought she'd be a good choice to bunk with instead of Zofia. Zofia and I were never really on good terms - we just acknowledged each other's presence and went on with our work, however, there was no way in hell that I would ever voluntarily bunk with her. Dispute aside, she's just not the ideal person for me; I'm quote unquote "rebellious" and she's way too in-line with rules. I guess our, or her, father really nailed his legacy into her. Zofia aside, Aria was definitely not the ideal person to bunk with. She was naggy, annoying, somewhat scandalous, and much, much more.
Though, I'd still take her over Zofia anyday.
I walked over to the dorm room and twisted the handle, careful not to make any noise. I didn't have a readily available alarm clock and my watch had inconvientially died, so I had to go into the hallway to see what time it was. I exited, shutting the door carefully behind me and looked up at the protruding box which read 5:52 A.M. in bright red. I decided to head down to the shooting range as Marius and Elias, two of the GSG-9 operatives, were usually awake at this time and I wasn't feeling going back to bed. I made my way carefully downstairs, clumsily running into the handrail and broozing my hip, where I continued towards industrial light from the range filled the hallway from under the steel door.
Inside Marius was sitting in a fold-up chair loading up a magazine, and Elias was sitting on the counter just next to Marius's can of bullets. Elias had a white t-shirt on and Marius had a GSG-9 windproof jacket on; both were wearing jeans. "Ah, Ela!" Marius said. "Odd to see you awake so early, I heard yesterday Meghan literally had to drag you out of the bed!"
"I'm surprised too," I said. I never wake up this early.
"And you're not tired either? Am I talking to the real Ela Bosak!?" Elias laughed. "Marius and I have been down here talking about the new girl, Ayla or something?"
"Aria," I said.
"Aria, yes. You bunk with her, right?" he asked curiously.
"Yep. Why?" I returned.
"Well, Marius has been keeping an eye out, yeah," he said laughing. I couldn't help but giggle a bit. "I have to admit: Marius has a good eye."
"Share it with the whole world, why don't you?" Marius sneered. A huge smile crept onto my face as the mesmerizing sound of Marius loading the magazine filled the room, click... click... click. "Ela, what do you think about the no-fraternization rule?"
"What, are you really trying to get in her pants that bad? No first date?" I said.
"You are not getting anything either, Ela. When was the last time you've talked to a boy?" he asked. I couldn't recall and stayed silent. "Yes, exactly."
Elias laughed. "Marius hasn't talked to her yet. Ela, maybe you could se-" he said, interrupted. Aria stepped into the room and Elias's face flushed with red. Marius's balaclava was on, however, you could still see the nervous look in his eyes.
"Hi! I'm Aria de Luca," Aria said, holding out her hand to Elias.
"Elias Kotz," Elias said, shaking her hand. "This is Marius," he said gesturing to Marius,who was still looking like a deer in headlights. Marius snapped back into reality and shook her hand.
"Nice to meet you," Marius chimed. They began to chat and I instead left the range with Elias. The lights throughout Hereford were now on and Elias made his way up to the mess hall, now lively and busy. I instead ditched him and went to my dorm.
Julien's eyes shot open as he felt something sharp puncture his arm. He winced and breathed quickly to suppress the pain. "What the... what the fuck?" he said, staring at the needle that had just injected some sort of adrenaline into him. The feeling was familiar to Gustave's, yet it wasn't the same. This wasn't his med-bay.
He was laying down on a sturdy metal table. He glared down at all of the dried blood that definitely wasn't his, and his reflexes drew a single conclusion: he was not in control of this situation. He stared at his wrists which were tightly bound to the cold tabletop. He was not getting out of this so easily.
He sat there for a moment, not knowing what to do. He wasn't always the greatest problem solver; he had never been put into any truly life-threating situation before. The industrial lights made him anxious as the door to his left let out a distinct beep as it promptly creaked open. Julien said nothing as he glared over at the masked individual that entered the room. They wore a black hoodie, black jeans, and an all too familiar white hockey mask.
Julien said nothing as the person covered his entire face with a cloth. Waterboarding?
"Julien Nizan? Alias: Rook. You look quite angsty. You feeling alright?" the individual asked. They had a distinct British accent. Rook said nothing. "Very well... let me just cut to the juicy bits. Look, we already know about Rainbow's presence. You guys are supposedly covert anti-terrorism? Bull-fucking-shit. You guys have been wiping our bases off of the map for how long? Three years. Three. Fucking. Years," he said. "Do you think that we would just let you play games with us for that long with no repercussions? Yeah. You're part of the message we're sending back to Rainbow, pal. Sit tight."
Rook attempted to keep calm and silent. Being chatty wouldn't help him out of the situation, so there was absolutely no need to talk to whoever this was about his organization. Rook wasn't ready to die.
A sharp, slow sharp edge of an object, probably a knife, cut through the skin on his forearm. Rook winced and subtly cried out - the cut was deep; they were really trying to inflict pain. "You're going to answer some questions for me. Answer them and I'll let you leave, not promising that your colleagues at Rainbow will leave untouched. It's not like we intended to make peace." Rook's heart raced. "Question one," the person said as Nizan began to feel cold water drench the cloth, slowly but impactful. "Where is Rainbow operating from? Come on... easy answer."
Rook kept his mouth shut. If he died here, nobody would be able to get the answers out of him. The GIGN always advised him about torture, however, Rainbow took that to a whole new ordeal. He wasn't operating under the jurisdiction of the GIGN anymore. This was extreme.
Water seeped to his throat as he tried to breathe but the air didn't come to him. For seconds that felt like minutes, he tried to beat the system that was kicking the life out of him. "So... you're not going to talk?" the person said. "You're making this harder than it has to be." The water stopped for a second and Rook felt extremely relieved. How long was he going to endure this? Forever?
A knife jabbed at his arm again, except this time the person dragged the knife along his arm. The cut wasn't as deep as the first one but it surely intended to create discomfort, and it did just that. "Okay, Nizan. We'll wait," the person said. Rook heard him walk back and sit down chuckling to himself. A tear formed in Rook's eye. This was going to be a long, painful night.
I sat in my dorm toying around with my hairbrush, removing all the remnants of my previous green hair which were embed and tangled. I had let my hair grow out since I'd arrived at Rainbow because it highlighted my history, which I did not want to come to cross paths with. New place, new people, new beginnings, new Elzbieta. I dug at the last piece of hair, digging it out and plopping it in a small trashcan. The strands clumped together and looked like an animal. A green, dead animal.
Aria walked back into the room and grabbed pieces of her G.I.S. gear, heading out to the front yard for CQB basics with Maxim. I stared at the clock which read 9:34 P.M. and was puzzled. "What are you doing thirty minutes before curfew?" I asked.
"CQB basics," Aria replied. Maxim had trained much of Rainbow due to his outlying experience from the grueling Spetsnaz training, or what much of Rainbow calls "extreme hazing." It seems as if it left a mark on much of the Spetsnaz members, however, it also seems like a lot of them haven't retained the impressive hand-to-hand skills like Maxim. Aria was going to experience Maxim's brutish training for the first time. Fun.
I instead passed on the training. Of course, I probably would have to go and talk to Six later about "authority issues" and other bullshit. In the meantime, I could just relax and have some Ela time. Just as I laid down, Aleksandre busted into my dorm looking for me. "Elzbieta... Six wants you upstairs fast," he said, out of breath.
"Okay, thanks," I said. Aleksandre sat in the doorway and caught his breath, exiting and leaving my door open. Ugh. I got up and made my way upstairs in due time where Six's door was wide open. She sat there at her desk with a straight face glaring directly at me. It was genuinely intimidating. "Six, you needed me?" I asked.
"Right. I'm just going to cut to the chase," she said. Here it comes, I thought to myself.
"You're going after Nizan."
Hi! This is a chapter I just slapped together to give more context and develop both the plot and the characters a bit more. Probably isn't too good, but I guess it'll suffice? Hope you enjoyed.