ICE STATION: CONTINUED
Part 5
He called the team together a few hours later and told them the situation.
"I've contacted James Lowe and he will be joining our team. We will depart at exactly 1300 hours and arrive at roughly 2300 hours, so we can all get acquainted on the ride out there."
"Will we be landing in Santiago, sir?" Zellerman asked, who had been newly appointed "Princeton" for obvious reasons and the fact that Rebound, Mother and Gant had been training late the previous night and had become uncreative in their decisions.
"No, Santiago is too far inland. We will be landing just outside a smaller city near the coast, La Serena. It's roughly 250 miles from Santiago." Schofield shuffled some papers on his desk before continuing. "We have to train extremely hard for three days straight and be prepared for anything."
Gant and Mother sat down on the rowing machines in the exercise room. A sudden whirr broke through the silence as the machines came to life.
"So… tomorrow's the big day, huh?" Gant said after a few tugs on the chain.
"Yup, but you're joining us 24 hours later, right?" Mother glanced at Gant. "I think Scarecrow will have a heart attack if you don't."
Gant said nothing, but slowed her pace on the machine.
"Come on, Fox. It's not that subtle." Mother chuckled to herself.
"What's not subtle?" Gant quickened her pace again, not eager to continue the conversation.
"It's obvious you have feelings for him, Fox. Well, obvious to everyone but him. And maybe the new kids." Mother referred to the new recruits as the "new kids" because of their inexperience in combat situations. She referred to Dave Brown as "Scarface" and he didn't seem to mind.
"Feelings for who?" Gant decided that the best way to go about it was to pretend to be oblivious.
Mother sighed. "I see that way you look at him, Fox. You know what I'm talking about."
Gant wiped the sweat from her forehead and got up from the machine. "No, actually I really don't." She picked up some weights.
Mother walked over to the Stairmaster and set it at the highest level. "Like hell you don't know what I'm talking about. That Curry has been giving you the exact same looks."
Gant looked up sharply. "Curry? How has he been looking at me?"
"Like you've been looking at the Scarecrow. Don't deny it, Fox."
Gant rolled her eyes. "I have no interest in Curry whatsoever. He doesn't even know me! At least with Scarecrow it's about something other than physical attraction."
Mother grinned triumphantly. "So you finally admit it. Too bad you're too spineless to tell Scarecrow face-to-face."
Gant glared at her, then sighed. "Listen, Book caught on the way you did. I told him that if I ever told Scarecrow how I felt, I would be transferred out of the unit, without question. I told him that I would rather be near Scarecrow and not be able to touch him than to be a thousand miles away and still not be able to touch him."
Mother shook her head sadly. "Poor little Dorothy."
Gnat was puzzled, but could not read further into Mother's words because the door to the exercise room burst open and Rebound, Curry, Brown and Schofield walked in.
"Where have you guys been?" Mother raised an eyebrow when she saw that they were all sweating.
"We went for a run. Too bad Curry couldn't keep up!" Rebound laughed. Curry scowled. Schofield grinned.
"We thought it would be a good idea just to relax tonight… maybe we could all go out for a beer or something." He glanced at Mother and Gant and saw them nod. "Great. Now I got to go have a shower." He walked to the shower room and the rest of the guys followed him, wanting to clean themselves up before a night on the town.
"They planted men in my unit! They planted men inside my goddamn unit! Marines, those SEALS who came in here before, they said that they were here to help me…" Schofield sat at the bar, sipping a beer. "And now they're trying to kill me! Fuck! Some of my own men are helping them, for God's sake! They planted men in my own goddamned unit!" It echoed repeatedly in his head, reminding him of the men in his own unit who had turned against him.
"Hey, you okay?" Mother sat down beside him and put a hand on his shoulder.
Schofield looked up. "Just thinking about Wilkes."
Mother sighed. "God, was that a mess. But you have to let this go. It wasn't your fault. Hell, you led us into battle against French elite soldiers, the Navy SEALS and the SAS. And we beat the bastards every time." She turned in her seat to look at the table of Marines. "We have a good solid team now. We can figure out what the fuck happened to those scientists out there."
Schofield turned and looked to the table as well. "You're right, Mother. You always seem to keep your head on straight."
"I learned from the master." She replied before heading back to the table.
"Okay, guys. Let's try not to get totally shit-faced seeing as we have to get up for instructions at 0500 hours." Schofield said after clearing his throat. Everyone groaned.
"0500? That's an ungodly hour!" Rebound complained.
"Oh suck it up, Rob. Ever since we've gotten back you've been a lazy ass." Gant joked.
"What can I say? My bed is comfortable." He replied.
"No, seriously guys. Try not to overdo it with the alcohol tonight. We do have a ten hour flight to work off a hangover, but that's no excuse." Schofield sat down in a chair beside Mother and took a quick glance at Gant, who was sitting across from him. "How's the bullet wound, Fox?"
She glanced up and gave him a slow smile. "Okay, I guess. It still hurts sometimes, but I'll live." She turned to Mother. "So did you ever come up with a callsign for this guy?" She indicated Curry, who was sitting to her left.
"Rebound and I came up with one after you left that training session. We decided on 'Ruger' because someone over at headquarters told us you stole a Ruger off some SEAL and it was your favourite." Mother grinned.
Curry shrugged. "Hey, those shotguns kick some serious ass!" He glanced at Gant to see whether his choice of weapon was impressive. He frowned when he saw that she was joking with Schofield.
"Do you remember that time in Cuba when you were using a Ruger?"
Schofield groaned. "Oh God, don't remind me."
She turned toward the rest of the group and continued. "He'd never used one before and, these Rugers, they're powerful bitches right? So he takes the gun and this Cuban guy pops up out of nowhere, screaming gibberish and waving a gun around. Well, Scarecrow…" She broke into laughter, so Schofield continued for her.
"I took the gun and shot the guy, but the recoil sent me flying backwards. I had no fucking idea that backdraft would be so powerful!"
The rest of the Marines were cracking up. Gant stopped long enough to glance up at Schofield. He caught her eye and grinned.
"Okay guys! Up and at'em! Come on, we have to take off in less than an hour!" Schofield went along the hallway in the hotel, knocking on the various doors. He had rationalized that staying in the airport's hotel was better than having to drive there at 0300 hours. He heard Rebound groan. "Jump in the shower and get dressed 'cause we have to get a move on!"
Half an hour later, the team was at the departing gate, waiting for James Lowe to arrive.
Schofield scanned the waiting area after looking at a recent photo of Lowe.
"Where the hell is this guy?"
"So, sir, what about all our weapons and stuff?" Curry asked.
"They've already been sent down and are waiting for us in La Serena. We don't want a U.S. military plane flying through unfriendly territory."
"Lieutenant Schofield!" A voice hollered from the other side of the waiting room. Schofield turned and saw Andrew Trent.
"What are you doing here, Hawk?" He then noticed Trent's duffel bag. "Are you joining us?" He broke into a wide smile.
"Yeah, I figured you would probably need an on-land guy or radio contact." Trent shook Schofield's hand before being introduced to the rest of the team.
James Lowe hurried through the airport.
"Oh fuck, oh fuck oh fuck." He said repeatedly as he checked his watch. He rounded the corner and raced up to the group of marines. "Sorry I'm late, sir." He saluted Schofield. "I got caught in traffic."
Schofield nodded his head in understanding. "That's perfectly alright. Now then, everyone's here, so let's get on board."
He gave everyone their tickets. "Ruger, Princeton, you're together, Hare, you're alone, Rebound, you're beside the window with Officer Lowe."
"Oh great! Window seat!" Rebound said with fake enthusiasm.
"Mother, you're with me. Hawk, I guess you got your own ticket." Schofield glanced at Trent, who nodded. "I'm just going to make a quick phone call and then we can go." Schofield took out a small cellphone and tapped in a number. He walked a few paces away to have some privacy. "Hi, is Libby there? … Thanks." He looked over at the group, then tapped his foot impatiently. "Oh, hi Fox. It's Scarecrow… I'm good, you? … Great. Listen, we're just about to leave and I wanted to double-check the time of your arrival… okay… great. We have to spend a few days preparing rations and weapons, you know the drill, so we should be all set by the time you arrive… What was that? … Oh, we will, you too… Bye." He hung up and walked back over to the group. "Okay, let's go."
