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Two-Face, hearing Victoria's answer, looked at her coldly and asked, "Was it his own initiative?"
"Yes, ma'am." Victoria answered.
"Who is he? Where did he serve?"
"I can't mention his name." she said. "He had three trips to Iraq."
"How did you get to know him?" Two-Face inquired.
"I met him at Arlington National Cemetery, ma'am," Victoria replied. "On the Memorial Day last year."
"What were you doing there, Recruit Reno?"
"My fiancé is buried there." Victoria said.
Bella remembered the photo, which she picked up from the floor, and shivered. So the guy, whose hand Victoria held so tenderly, is dead!
"So, did he just offer to make you a fighter of special forces suddenly?" Two-Face hemmed.
"I simply went to him and asked how a woman can go fight in Afghanistan." Victoria told, quietly looking at drill instructor.
"And he immediately took you as a padawan, of course." Sergeant Young said mockingly, apparently not believing in Victoria's story about her mysterious teacher.
"No, ma'am. He asked me why did I need it."
"What did you told him, Recruit Reno?"
"That I want to kill the talibans." Victoria answered.
Two-Face looked at her, "Do you want to avenge your fiancé?"
"No, ma'am," Victoria replied. "I just want to live the way he did."
Two-Face looked at the silent because of what they heard girls and said,
"Not only you are a great shot, but a good speaker too, Reno. What else did this Navy SEAL teach you?"
"Hand-to-hand and bayonet fighting, survival, camouflage, detonation technology, first aid and other courses, included into the preparation of Navy SEAL", Victoria responded. "At their level."
It became clear to Bella why Victoria performed all exercises with such an ease. She was stronger and sturdier than anyone other at the base with such preparation. Standards of Navy SEAL were considerably stricter than those of ordinary Marines.
"Recruit Reno, now go to the military police and tell them everything that you've told me." Two-Face ordered.
At that moment Bella saw Victoria's eyes flashing with fear for the first time.
"Ma'am, I can't go to the military police!"
"Recruit Reno, I repeat, there isn't any mentioning about this preparation in your record. When a recruit intentionally misleads recruiter, and the whole Corps represented by him, he must realize that he's committing a crime. Drill instructor is not obliged to believe in your explanation of where you got those skills from. You could be a terrorist, a gang member or God knows who." Sergeant Young said coldly. "Only an investigation can establish what kind of bird you are in fact, a white swan or a vulture."
"I'm not a terrorist, ma'am, and not a criminal!" Victoria exclaimed. "I am ready to answer for the fact I hid my fighting skills. But if they begin to learn my personal record I'll have to leave the Marine Corps."
"Why?"
"I haven't finished high school, I dropped out when I ran away from my last foster home" Victoria told with an obvious reluctance.
"You presented a fake diploma to enlist." Sgt. Young grinned, realizing what caused Victoria's concern and unwillingness to communicate with military police. "So many lies at one time, Recruit Reno... Do you really think you have the right to stay here after this?"
"Yes," Victoria eagerly exclaimed. "I have the right to stay here, ma'am. I'm a good marine. I want to fight and I know how to do it. I have no family, no home. I have nothing to lose. Besides, I know Pashto!"
Two-Face, who, apparently, was going to bring her to the military police herself, stopped abruptly and inquired, "Do you really know Pashto?"
"Yes, ma'am." Victoria responded.
Two-Face grinned and suddenly, without any preamble, spoke in a strange language. Pausing, she looked at Victoria in anticipation. Still looking quietly at drill instructor, Victoria answered her, apparently in the same language, because a look of utter surprise appeared on Young's face. She clearly hoped that Victoria lied in the heat of the conversation.
"What the fuck?" Sergeant Young grunted, puzzled. "Where the hell did you learn Pashto, Reno?"
"I found a refugee from Kabul and paid him for lessons." Victoria said. "I need to become a Marine, ma'am. I've been preparing for this for two years. I can't retreat now."
Two-Face's look didn't promise anything good to Victoria, but suddenly Sergeant Rodriguez, who stayed silent before, approached Sergeant Young and said, "Ma'am, Recruit Reno is telling the truth. I can confirm this. I know the man who was preparing her."
"And who is this mysterious Rambo?" Two-Face asked.
Sergeant Rodriguez sighed and said, "He's my ex-boyfriend."
"Is your ex-boyfriend a Navy SEAL?" Sergeant Young looked at second drill instructor with surprise.
"Yes, ma'am." Carmen Rodriguez said, nervously adjusting her beautiful curly hair.
"How did you manage to meet him?" Two-Face sniggered.
"We've known each other since high school. We went to the recruiting station together. He wanted to join the Marine Corps Special Forces, but they told him to join the Navy. He retired two years ago after his last tour in Iraq" Sergeant Rodriguez hesitated, but still continued. "The thing is he's not in the right state of mind, ma'am. No, he's not dangerous for civilians." She assured Two-Face, seeing how tense senior drill instructor's face became. "He simply went to live in the woods alone. He built a house by himself and lives there, hunts, fishes, and doesn't speak to anyone. Only once in a year he travels to Arlington on the Memorial Day. I tried to convince him to take treatment for PTSD, but he flatly refused. Caius tried to talk to him, but he arranged a hunt for him in the woods, drove him into a trap and released only after Caius vowed never to approach his house again."
"Who is Caius?" Two-Face asked.
"His former commander." Carmen Rodriguez answered. "Something happened to them in Iraq and my ex hates all the squad members ever since."
"And why do you think that Recruit Reno was coached by this guy?"
"I visited him six months ago." Rodriguez said. "I saw some woman's belongings in his house. He said that a girl lived with him, whose fiancé was killed by the talibans, and now she wanted to go to war herself. He said he started to train her and that she was very capable..."
Two-Face was deep in thought and began to finger along the scar of her cheek, trying, apparently, to decide what to do next with such a unique recruit.
"Recruit Reno!" All of a sudden she said loudly to Victoria, who awaited her fate. "Tell me the name of your sensei. Only his first name, full name is not required."
"Eleazar." Victoria answered.
"That's him, ma'am." Carmen Rodriguez said.
Two-Face quickly went to Victoria and said, "You'll have to work very hard, Reno. More than all the rest. It is always more difficult to relearn than to learn from the scratch."
"To relearn?" Victoria seemed surprised with drill instructor's strange words. Apparently, she thought that everyone else should learn from her, and not the other way.
"Recruit Reno, Marines are able not to fuck for months and then not to get out of the bed until their bearded partner dies from exhaustion." Two-Face said with irony. "So, Navy SEAL are immediately told who to fuck, so they do it often, but only for five minutes, and when there is nobody to fuck, they get blue balls, therefore, they start harassing everybody who's simply passing by."
Bella didn't understand what Two-Face meant by telling such a colorful metaphor, but she guessed that Sergeant Young strongly disliked the Navy SEALs for some reason.
"I can tolerate the abstinence, ma'am." Victoria said.
"So, you understand the difference between a regular service and a special operation then." Sergeant Young doubtfully said. "You aren't given twenty-four hours to eliminate a target or enemy base. From day to day you patrol surrounding villages and protect convoys, and even make purchases in the market and display a fucking friendliness to the local population, who doesn't need your fucking friendliness as well as yourself. Rodriguez," She turned to the second drill instructor. "Your Eleazar has never been stuck in Iraq for several months, has he?"
"No" Sergeant Rodriguez answered. "They were short trips for particular operations."
"Reno, you said you wanted to kill the talibans. With your brain washed by this commando, you should realize that you may even not meet them for a year, spent in Afghanistan." Two-Face said.
"But you've met them, ma'am." Victoria wasn't dismayed. "Maybe I'll get lucky too."
"Lucky?" Two-Face suddenly laughed. "You're free, Reno".
Victoria looked at her incredulously.
"That's strange. I thought that the deaf were not taken in special forces." Sergeant Young looked at Reno quizzically.
"Thank you, ma'am." Victoria said, and Bella thought that her voice broke for a moment. Or maybe Bella just wanted to believe in it.
"Back in line" Two-Face told Victoria and ordered, "Platoon, continue the shooting!"
Going to shoot, Bella moved as if in a fog after all she heard.
Special Forces, Iraq, talibans, Victoria. Everything was confused in Bella's mind.
"Swan, did you opened your mouth to shove a muzzle in it?" Two-Face asked as always sarcastically. "Down and get ready."
Bella closed her mouth and took the position, but her hands were shaking more than the first time Two-Face taught her to shoot with the M14.
"Fire!" Two-Face ordered, and Bella shot.
But this time, instead of putting the buttstock against shoulder fossa, she put it a little more to the right, and during the shot it hit Bella directly into the bone so that Bella was abruptly thrown out of her fog, and she hissed in pain.
"Swan, is it not enough for you to have torn ligaments?" Sergeant Young screamed at her. "The second attempt!"
Bella gritted her teeth. She needed to forget about Victoria. She's here now.
And she should show the best she can.
"Fire!" Sergeant Young ordered Bella, and she pressed on the trigger, exhaling.
Bullet hit the target, but it bounced off the side and rang somewhere to the right of the target.
"Enough, Swan" Two-Face ordered with satisfaction. "Next."
Rubbing her shoulder, Bella has fallen into line and suddenly caught Victoria's look.
There was astonishment in her eyes.
Seeing that Bella looked at her, Reno immediately turned away and mimed a complete indifference.
But Zafrina, who also saw Victoria's fleeting confusion after Bella's shot, winked at her comrade and whispered with a smile.
"Bells, you hit this target to death ."
