Blue-Green 38

It was early afternoon when Sue and James made their way to the barracks. Observing the units in a capture the flag battle simulation had been an eye-opener for the blonde analyst. For starters, the silent man had made her change clothes except for her hiking shoes. She was currently in camouflage from top to bottom. It had helped too.

For the surveillance of the maneuvers, James had taken her into the middle of the fray. As far as she knew, neither side had seen them. Sue warmed up to the challenge. It was the first time in a long while that her skills were pressed beyond what she had learned. James was in his element, showing her what he did on a near daily basis. With minimal direction, she quickly could pick out what field signs meant and discern tactical strategy. She and James set out to steal the game.

Each team was playing for keeps with spies and lookouts. She had watched signals being sent from post to post and was able to intercept most of them. Following his lead, they would crack a blue side outpost then a red side. Once they had breached a post, the silent man would shut it down, effectively disrupting a team's ability to communicate. To each side's credit, they rolled with each setback becoming more creative in sending information to their teammates. But it wasn't until he had taken first the red flag and then the blue with her intel that they had shared a high five.

On the way to the barracks, he had her radio Sgt. Hauser to let him know it was over.

"Top?"

James translated so she could answer. 'Hauser.'

"This is—" the silent man made a sign for her to say. "This is Eagle Eye. We have captured both flags."

A pause as James listened and translated. 'He's cursing. Yelling at both captains.'

"Did we get them in trouble?"

'No. They got so focused on each other they forgot about any possible third party. Wait. He said…I'm not going to repeat that.'

Sue flushed red at the thought. She fingered the blue flag that James had tied around her neck. He got her attention and pointed to the radio. 'Tell him it's all on vid feed and I'll debrief him later.' She relayed the messaged and the sergeant signed off. The silent man pocketed his communicator and they continued toward the barracks.

She looked at her companion and smiled. He had tied the red flag around his head like a rolled bandanna. The silent man caught her grin and decided to make a detour to the security room. He took her hand and led her to the bank of computers and monitors were keeping track of the base happenings. Waving to the man on duty, he punched in a code and brought up the long-range monitor.

Sue could see a bunch of men and a few women moving rapidly away from a car. She also saw two men still at the vehicle working frantically to accomplish something. James zoomed in so they could see what was going on. Immediately, she recognized Bobby. He and the other man were shouting at each other in an agitated manner and pointing to various wires on a console in front of them. A tighter zoom revealed a running timer that was headed to zero.

"Is this live fire?" she whispered.

James nodded.

The picture pulled back and they watched the two men argue and come to an understanding. Bobby pointed to a wire and the other man cut it and the clock stopped at 20 seconds. The guys high fived and then took off running to the concrete shield were the others were located. The frame zoomed out again and showed the Aussie with a remote that he pressed with relish. The car exploded quite spectacularly.

The blonde analyst released her breath slowly. "It never gets any easier watching him do that."

'Good. It never gets any easier doing it. But the car went up nicely.'

She punched him in the arm causing a raised eyebrow from the technician. "Let's go see Hector."