Author's Note: Going out on a limb with this chapter; hope it goes down well!
The following morning
Sunday
Southfield
2:00 A.M.
We awoke, we showered, we ate breakfast, and we got ourselves geared up.
Everybody was nervous; even me!
Me nervous? I was a veteran of probably hundreds of assaults; well, it just felt different, I supposed! I checked Josh and Chloe to ensure that both were correctly geared up, especially the body armour. I had been in a bit of a quandary about Josh and Chloe; I didn't want anything to happen to them and had considered leaving them behind while just using Cameron and Natasha. I had to scratch that idea as both Chloe and Josh were highly experienced and Chloe was the best operator in Fusion, after Dave and myself and much more experienced than Josh.
By the time we were ready, it was just after three in the morning, so we headed out, keeping to the speed limits and trusted that we would not be stopped by the Police.
South Glasgow
3:58 A.M.
We arrived without any problems and the team were ready and in their positions.
Dave would assault from the rear of the building, while I would assault from the front. Cameron and Natasha were located at each end of the street, acting as getaway drivers and lookouts with the Mondeos. Josh and Chloe were backups, to Dave and me, respectively. We were all fully blacked out and wearing ski masks.
Dave and I were both ready with the shotguns that were loaded with breaching rounds. Chloe and I were outside of the window for the front bedroom, while Dave and Josh were outside the window for the rear bedroom. There was little to no activity on the street as we all waited to move.
The time ticked over to four o'clock and Dave gave the command.
"Go!"
We both fired the shotguns together, shattering not just the windows, but also the silence of the early morning.
The windows exploded into clouds of glass fragments, Chloe and Josh then threw in a flash-bang grenade each, before we all stood away from the window and covered our eyes and ears, while the grenades detonated with their usual bright flash and booming noise.
Once the flash had faded, Dave and I launched into our respective rooms, with our G36C assault rifles at the ready. Chloe and Josh kept guard outside, with their P90s, as the deafening noise echoed around the building and neighbouring streets.
I shone the flashlight, mounted below the barrel of the G36C, into the faces of two men and checked that they were the correct targets. The two men were completely confused by the rude awakening; so I promptly put them out of their misery, with a three-round burst into each head. The two men were now unidentifiable, at least visually and the beds were now very, very red!
"I'm done!" I reported.
"Me, too!" Dave added.
"Let's get outta here! That cock sucking asshole, with a dick up his arse, should be happy!" I growled.
"Transport is on its way!" Natasha called and I heard a car accelerate and then skid to a halt outside and another car reverse at high speed up the road, before coming to a rapid halt alongside the first.
Dave and Josh dived into Cameron's Mondeo, which was in front, while Chloe and I dived into Natasha's Mondeo.
South Glasgow
4:06 A.M.
Once we were loaded, Cameron put his foot down and we accelerated out of the street and turned right, straight through a set of traffic lights that were currently at red. We accelerated past the Ibrox football stadium, just as a pair of marked Police cars shot past us, on the other side of the road. We had passed seventy, before Cameron stood on the brakes and we made a fast left at the roundabout. Natasha was tailing us, about thirty or so yards back. Ten seconds later, Josh yelled out, from the back seat.
"Police car, behind us!"
A marked Police 5-series BMW had just turned off the roundabout, at speed, between us and Natasha; its blue lights were flashing and the siren was screaming. Cameron accelerated up the road, through another set of traffic lights, this time at green, and went left onto the M8 motorway. He rapidly accelerated to over one hundred miles per hour. The Police BMW was only yards behind, but then suddenly the Police car broke off the chase, shut off its lights and siren and slowed down. I seriously hoped they had run the plates and followed the relevant instructions attached.
Natasha caught up, as we passed over the Kingston Bridge and both cars raced through the centre of the City of Glasgow, completely unmolested by the Police.
Southfield
4:45 A.M.
We made it home safely and parked the Mondeos around the back of the stables.
As soon as we got into the house, we all collapsed onto chairs in the kitchen. That had indeed been an interesting morning! Everyone pulled off their combat gear and went for showers, then Josh, Chloe, Dave and I set to and cleaned our weapons, while Natasha and Cameron started on breakfast.
"Well that could have gone worse!" Josh admitted.
"Well done, all of you!" I said.
"At least we got away; it looked as though Mitchell was right about the cars!" Cameron commented.
"I suppose!" I admitted grudgingly.
After our weapons were cleaned and ready for their next use, we sat down and had a quick breakfast of bacon sandwiches, before we all went to bed for a few hours.
Later that morning
Southfield
I awoke and rolled out of bed.
I pulled on some warm clothes then checked on Dave; he was still asleep. I considered waking him but decided to leave him and went to check on Chloe only to find that her bed was empty! I peered in on Josh and found Chloe cuddled in the bed, with Josh's arms wrapped around her.
"We didn't do anything!" Josh said, quickly, as he opened one eye and smiled up at me.
"I never said a word!" I replied and smirked at him.
"Chloe was feeling lonely and came through a couple of hours ago," Josh explained, as he wormed his way out from Chloe and left her to sleep.
"You okay?" I asked, as Josh pulled on some jeans and a jumper.
"Yeah, the extra sleep helped and the adrenalin has well and truly worn off now!"
We both went downstairs and grabbed a coffee. I put on the TV in the kitchen and caught the mid-morning news, but saw nothing more than a reference to a small gas explosion in Glasgow! That was when the mobile phone rang.
"Good morning!" The smarmy git said in greeting.
"What the fuck do you want?"
"Well done for this morning and my congratulations to your team! But then a boy scout with a BB gun could have pulled that one off!"
"Get on with it!" I growled and tried very hard to resist the urge to shout obscenities at him.
"I'll let you all rest for today. Another courier will be along in the morning with a real job, good day."
I barely resisted the temptation to throw the mobile phone, very hard against the wall!
"Bastard!" I yelled.
"Mitchell?" Dave asked as he sat down at the table, followed by Cameron.
"Yeah. He sends his congratulations!"
"Creepy bastard!" Natasha commented as she joined us, along with a yawning and grumpy looking Chloe.
After breakfast Natasha and I drove into Falkirk; I had some shopping to do!
We stopped off at six different phone shops and I bought six different 'Pay-As-You-Go' cell phones, all on different networks, some of which I had never actually heard of! I hoped this would allow us to communicate between ourselves without Mitchell eavesdropping! The man in the O2 shop fucking laughed at me, when I asked for a cheap 'cell phone', instead of asking for a 'mobile'; asshole!
I enjoyed seeing a bit more of life in Scotland. At one stage I had to ask Natasha what language some of the people were speaking, as I had only understood about four words in ten! The bitch burst out laughing and explained that it was the Scottish accent that I was having difficulty understanding, not to mention some local word and phrase variations!
While in the 'supermarket' or grocery store, I also availed myself of some British candy. Natasha assured me that I'd like British chocolate. I had a bite of a Yorkie, which was kinda sweet, but not bad and Maltesers tasted awesome and as for the Mars bars, I love caramel – I'd never had one before, though I was sure you could get them stateside! Needless to say, I stocked up on some Mars bars and Maltesers!
We got back to Southfield around lunchtime and Natasha and I had brought four enormous buckets of KFC back with us, which everybody enjoyed! Josh was a bit jealous about the candy, as apparently he had really missed what he called 'decent chocolate' and not that 'American crap'! I suggested that Cameron take him into Falkirk to stock up, as he wasn't eating any of mine!
..._...
After lunch I had Chloe make a phone call to her father and pass on a certain request from me.
Thirty minutes later, we received a call back and a meeting was arranged for later that afternoon, in Stirling.
That afternoon
Stirling
Chloe and I sat waiting in a McDonald's, in the City of Stirling, a dozen or so miles north of Falkirk.
At a little after four, two men entered the McDonald's restaurant and sat down across from us. One of the men was Chloe's father and the other was a very tall man, who smiled and seemed very likeable.
"Afternoon, girls!" Commander Bennett said happily. "Please let me introduce Captain Rabb, of the Judge Advocate General's Corps. You're lucky he's up here observing the NATO exercises."
"Captain!" We both said in greeting.
"Captain, this is my daughter Chloe and her friend, Mindy!"
"I first met your father, Chloe, about twelve years ago and he had a lovely little girl on his arm, she must have been about two!" Captain Rabb said.
"That would have been me!" Chloe admitted and blushed slightly.
"A lovely daughter you have, Ryan!"
"Thanks, Captain!"
Now, down to business.
"Captain, I need information on a man who may, or may not, be MI5, he also may or may not, be a full Commander in the Royal Navy. His name appears to be Mitchell, can you help?" I asked tentatively and passed over a photo that Dave had surreptitiously taken the other day.
Captain Rabb looked at Commander Bennett for a moment.
"I may know some people at the embassy, who work for certain agencies that may be able to help," Captain Rabb mused. "This is important?"
"Hell yes, Captain!" I replied seriously. "More than you could ever know!"
"Okay, give me a couple of days and I'll see what I can do - no promises, though!" Captain Rabb advised, after a few moments thought.
"Commander Bennett says you can be quite creative and sometimes unorthodox in your methods!" I said, with a smirk.
"He did, did he? For a charming young lady, like you, I'll pull out all the stops!"
I felt myself blushing madly!
"Thank you, Captain!" I replied and tried to hide my discomfort.
Chloe gave her Dad a hug and both men left.
Southfield
When I got back, I declared war on Dave!
The bastard had eaten two of my Mars bars and a packet of Maltesers! Chloe decided she wanted some of the action too and had stolen my last Mars bar! Josh thought this was very funny, so I pinched some of his candy and almost choked myself eating a Wispa Gold in one; it was almost worth the choking just for the caramel, which was to die for!
"You don't normally choke with something large in your mouth!" Dave quipped and I almost died with embarrassment!
We had 'fish and chips' for our meal that evening with rather a weird surprise afterwards. I called it an instant heart-attack, but Natasha called it a deep-fried Mars bar! I did try one and only got halfway through it before I gave up; I liked my arteries free and clear! For some reason they deep-fried almost anything here!
I could not believe that we had all started fighting over candy! But it was a fun evening and I was grateful that the Tesco store in Falkirk was open twenty-four hours! Damn, I'm gonna feel sick in the morning after all this candy!
..._...
There was also one other incident that I had sworn Natasha to absolute secrecy about. That incident had occurred while we were out getting the phones, earlier on that day.
We were in the centre of Falkirk and well, my mind had been elsewhere – never mind where! I must have stumbled or tripped, because I felt myself flying through the air and then being caught by some strong hands and arms.
I looked up into a ruggedly handsome, smiling face.
"You okay, young lady?" The man asked with a British accent, but there was a faint trace of Scottish mixed in.
I was kinda speechless for a moment, but then I finally got my wits together.
"I'm fine, err, thank you!" I said as the man helped me back to my feet.
"You seem like a girl who is normally quicker on her feet!"
The man looked into my eyes for a moment.
"And if I may say so, you look to be able to handle yourself and there is a darkness to your eyes; you must lead a very violent life! Sorry, didn't mean to intrude; you just remind me of somebody," The man said. "Anyway, take care; we wouldn't want a lovely American girl like you ending up in hospital!"
The man walked off muttering something about 'a good idea for another chapter' and left me standing there, utterly speechless. Natasha finally cleared the air for me.
"You fancied him, didn't you?"
"What! No, of course not!" I blurted out.
"Come on, Mindy! You may have forgotten, but you're a girl and when your brain sees something it likes, your body just reacts and there is sod all you can do about it! You just enjoy, go home, change your knickers and get on with your day!"
"I do not need to change my knickers!" I growled and my face was suddenly feeling very hot.
"I saw your face Mindy, you must have felt something!"
"Not a word to anybody and definitely not Dave!" I hissed.
Author's Note: Updated February 2015.