Keep in mind that this is FICTION! Meaning that I may have gotten something wrong, and I'm TRULY SORRY, but PLEASE bear with me. It won't be forever.
I own nothing. SM owns all, I'm just playing around with her toys.
As soon as I stepped off the plane on the base in Afghanistan, and made my way to the command center, I knew things were going to be different. Not that I really expected a Starbucks around every corner, English to be the only language spoken, and listening to people talk about the latest fashion trends on their cell phones, but I don't think I was entirely prepared for the alienness of the world around me. I was used to the arid climate because I had lived in Phoenix, so that was nothing new and I could get used to it fairly quickly, but this place was in the middle of a war zone and extremely obvious about it.
As I kept walking, I noticed there seemed to be no actual brick and mortar buildings. It was all tents. Granted, they were fairly decent sized tents, nothing that you would take on a camping trip, but tents none the less. It looked like I was going to be living in a gigantic tent-city for the foreseeable future, which was interesting, but that wasn't the extent of what I was seeing. There were soldiers walking around in full battle gear with loaded guns, you could hear machinegun fire in the distance, orders being called from tent to tent, and bored soldiers just looking for their next adrenaline rush by doing daredevil stunts and playing limb/life-threatening games. Even though I had trained for battle, I was still extremely green when it came to actually accepting that this is how things were here.
I walked into the command center to let my commanding officers know I had arrived, I was greeted with the usual abrupt "What have we got, here?" from the resident Colonel on site.
"Sergeant Isabella Swan, reporting for duty, sir!" I reply automatically, taking the orders I had been given back in the States and handing them over to the Colonel. Once I step back, I take the stance of a soldier at attention and I wait until my orders are reviewed.
"Sniper, eh?" He asks gruffly.
"Yes, sir!" I reply.
"Good. We've needed another sniper since our last one left. Although, I'm glad to be rid of her. Couldn't handle the pressure. I suppose you'll want easy targets?" He asks.
"No, sir!" I reply honestly. "I'm here for any and all targets you're willing to give me, sir! No matter how difficult they are."
"Well, we'll see about that, won't we, Sergeant? I'm going to have you meet up with Second Lieutenant Kristov at the Sniper range so we can see how good you really are. Be there in one hour, Sergeant. You are dismissed."
As I leave the command center, I get my bunk assignment, directions to the mess hall and showers, and various other bits of information I'm going to need while I'm here. I don't hesitate too long once I leave the command center before I head off to find my bunk and meet Charlotte before I head off to the range. It doesn't take me too long to find where I need to be, thanks in part to the various signs all over the camp, but I still feel relieved once I finally make it to my bunk.
There's not much to this tent if I'm being honest. Cots and trunks line the floor on both sides making an aisle in the center just big enough for one person to walk down. I'm glad to be the only one in here at the moment because it will give me the chance to orient myself without ruckus and distractions. I don't have to wait long before a short, cute, blonde woman makes her way into the bunk and interrupts my serenity.
"You must be Isabella!" she states enthusiastically. "I'm Charlotte!"
"It's a pleasure to meet you." I state reaching my hand out for her to shake it. She startles me by dragging me into a hug, but before I can react, she releases me and starts walking down the aisle.
"This is my bunk." She states, pointing to one about a third of the way into the tent. "And this one," she continues, pointing to one across the aisle, "is yours."
"Thanks." I reply honestly. "I wasn't sure which ones were taken and I didn't just want to leave my stuff on the floor." I walk over to where she's standing and begin to put my things into the trunk at the foot of the cot.
"No. You certainly do not want to leave anything on the floor." She replies. "There are things that live in the sand here that you do not want to be unpleasantly surprised to find in your unmentionables. Trust me."
"Oh, I believe you." I reply.
"So, I heard you made quite the impression on the Colonel when you got here." She states mysteriously.
"Oh? I didn't think I made that good of an impression." I reply baffled.
"Well, not everyone who meets him gets the chance to prove their worth within their first hour." Charlotte states.
"I just told him that I didn't want the 'easy' targets he seemed ready to give me. I'm better than that." I state a bit hotly. "If I have to prove it to him, then I'm damn well ready to."
"Oh, I'm gonna like working with you." Charlotte states grinning. "Come on, we need to make our way to the range. I wanna see what you've got!"
I can't help but chuckle a little at her enthusiasm. It seems that Charlotte and I are going to get along just fine. She adds an element of fun to my sometimes overwhelming seriousness. I need someone to balance me out a bit and she seems like the person who can do it.
We talk a bit more on our way to the range and I find out she's from Austin, Texas and has two older brothers, one is a Marine and the other is a Navy Seal. Her father is a retired Air Force Captain who flies commercial airliners to keep him from driving her mother, a retired Army Nurse, to an early grave.
"So this military way of life is in your blood, huh?" I ask.
She lets out a very unladylike guffaw and replies, "You could say that. I always knew the military life would be for me. I don't see myself doing anything else."
"I actually didn't realize this life would be as good for me as it has been." I state. "Circumstances beyond my control left me in a very unhealthy state at the beginning of my senior year of High School and my dad ended up sending me to a military academy to get my act together. I enjoyed it more than anyone thought I would and things just kind of…spiraled from there."
"When did you know you wanted to be a Sniper?" She asks.
"I didn't." I reply honestly. "My plan was to become an MP and then become a cop when I left the military life. However, one of my training officers noticed how good I was with a Sniper Rifle and tested me for my accuracy with one. I surpassed his expectations by 700 yards and he thought I'd be of better use as a Sniper."
"Damn! 700 yards! That's impressive!" Charlotte replies, shocked.
"Well, I'm just hoping that I can manage to impress the Colonel as well. I don't want to be seen as someone who can only take the 'easy' missions. I'm here for a reason, and I'll be damned if I'm not going to make the most of it." I manage to say before we get to the range.
I see the Colonel and several other officers standing at the entrance to the range and begin to feel a twinge of nervousness.
"We'll discuss more later." Charlotte whispers as we pass by everyone and walk toward an equipment table that has the standard M24 Sniper rifle and Charlotte's various spotter equipment on it. "Time to go to work."
The shooting range is exactly what I would expect to see from an Army camp. Dozens of targets set at various distances from the platform we're standing on.
"Alright, Sergeant," the Colonel says authoritatively from behind the platform, "show us what you're made of."
Charlotte and I take up our positions in an available bay and begin to set our equipment up properly. Once Charlotte and I get situated, Second Lieutenant Kristov begins giving me instructions on which target to hit. I take that information and relay it to my spotter and begin asking her questions about the distance to the targets, wind speed and direction and begin to take aim at my assigned targets. We start from the closest target, which is about 100 yards out, and it's a headshot without any problem or hesitation. We move on to the next target, 250 yards out, and it's the same result.
We keep this up for every target and it turns out we have quite the rhythm going together. That nice rhythm is stays with us until we get to the target that's at a mile out. I take an extra breath before pulling the trigger. Just long enough to make sure my crosshairs are where I need them to be. The other officers are beginning to doubt my ability, just based on that one extra breath, but I still manage a headshot even from that distance.
"Alright, enough!" Lieutenant Kristov demands. "Stand and place your equipment back on the table, Sergeant, then meet us back in the command center."
Charlotte and I don't hesitate to obey orders. We quickly disassemble our equipment, place it on the table where we got it, and make our way back to command. I'm not sure if what we managed to do today is good or bad, but whatever the case may be, we'll get through it together as we're supposed to. Hopefully I haven't embarrassed Charlotte with the way I was shooting. Although it doesn't seem like I have from the way she's walking with me to the command center.
"That was some truly impressive work, Swan." Charlotte tells me.
"Really?" I ask concerned, "I'm not sure the Colonel would agree."
"Oh, he's a hard ass, sure. No sense denying it, but I would consider it insulting if he gave you easy targets from now on. You blew him away! Don't be so hard on yourself. You know you did well."
"I certainly hope you're right."
The Colonel doesn't say a word to us as we stand at attention in front of him. He looks over file after file after file on his desk before even remembering that we're there. Using the silence as an intimidation tactic, I'm sure. Then, what seems like hours later and without warning, he stands, holds out a file to me, and says, "72 hours, Seargeant. That's when you both leave for this mission. You have all the information you'll need in there. You'll have 12 hours to get this mission accomplished and by hour 13, your extraction team will leave you behind. Once the mission is complete, I want a full report on my desk the next day. Dismissed."
Charlotte and I head back over to our bunk to look over the new mission file. It seems pretty basic from the information that's been gathered. The target was a high priority arms dealer arming up the opposing forces with near the same military weaponry that our side had. Granted there's was a few years out of "prime" date, but they could still do damage when push came to shove – or when gunfire came to…gunfire? Hmm. I'd have to work on that.
Our target was supposed to be discussing an arms sale with a few of his right-hand men at a compound just outside the city of Kandahar. Our job was to find a position that we could see the most of the compound from, make sure we couldn't be seen by the enemy, make sure our target showed up, and take him out before the rest of his men got there. They weren't on our list yet, so we leave them alone…for now.
It seemed like this was a pretty basic take down. From the information gathered, this guy was extremely predictable in his movements, who he talked to, and what he did on a day-to-day basis.
"Seems like you can pretty much set your watch by this guy's habits." Charlotte states.
"I'm getting that, too. Although I don't want to be too reliant on what he usually does. For all we know, on the day this is set to go down, things could spiral out of control before we even get there. Do we have aerial or satellite footage of the area surrounding the compound?"
"Yep. Here it is. Taken less than 36 hours ago." Charlotte hands me a colored aerial photo of the compound and I notice right away a good spot to watch from. I can only hope that it's as clear as it seems in the photo.
"Ok, I'm seeing a good vantage point right here on this building." I state confidently, pointing to a building about 600 yards away from the compound. "If we set up here as soon as possible, I'm thinking that we'll have a perfect view of everything that goes on in that compound."
We spend the next several hours hashing the details of our plan including our drop-off and pick-up points as well as any contingency plans that we may need in case we need to CYA (Cover Your Ass). Once our plan for action is thoroughly ironed out and every possible plan put in place, then we call it a night.
It seems that in our little world of planning, Charlotte and I hadn't even noticed that our bunk was getting rather full of other female soldiers that had been out and about that day. Honestly, I couldn't find it in myself to care that I missed out on meeting other people. Oh well, it's not like I don't have the next two days to meet everyone. For now, it's time to crash out. I don't even think I took my boots off before falling right onto my cot and passing out.
Over the next two days, I get my bearings a bit more around the base, I make several new acquaintances, and I beat everyone in our bunk at sharpshooting. I'm not sure, but I think several of my challengers may have bruised their egos a bit when they thought they could out shoot me. Although, I do have to give Charlotte some credit, she did warn them. However, I'm not so sure if after I've won would count as a 'warning' or not. I'm a bit unclear. Call it a gray area if you will.
Before I know it, Charlotte and I are packed, briefed, geared up, and loaded on a helicopter for our first mission. I'll admit that I'm not exactly sure if Charlotte paid attention to anything in our briefing at 0800 this morning because someone – me – wouldn't allow her to detour to get coffee before our briefing. It's not my fault Ms. Come-On-Swan-Live-A-Little stayed up late singing Karaoke last night. Although I will admit that the stink eye she was giving during that briefing was well worth missing out on the fun though.
It doesn't take us long before we're at our drop off point. Charlotte and I immediately make for cover as soon as we disembark the helicopter. It takes us about twenty minutes or so to get to the building I felt would make a good vantage point for us to set up and we try to stay hidden as much as possible on the way. I had thought that the roof would give us what we needed, but Charlotte pointed out that the floor right below the roof would work better to keep us more hidden from enemy snipers that may be out here. I completely agreed with her assessment and within an hour after we landed, we were set up to watch the compound for our target.
Now, it was just a waiting game.
We waited.
And waited.
And…waited.
Charlotte and I talked about everything while we stayed in our positions; past lovers, hobbies, favorite movies, and various other topics just to pass the time. She was shocked to say the least at my lack of past lovers, although she had a very impressive RAP sheet herself and tended not to stick to one specific gender. If she liked someone, she went after them. I was a bit awestruck by her brazen attitude when it came to something so intimate, but I wasn't one to judge considering that I had hoped to be a lover to a vampire earlier in my life. No need to tell her that, though.
We did have some common interests in movies, most of which I'd either seen with, or heard about, from Jake. I did tend to read a lot more than Charlotte did, but she seemed to have enough fun for the two of us with her outgoing personality. She had apparently "never met a stranger" and with an attitude like that, it was only a matter of time before I either loved her or hated her. I wasn't sure this early into our partnership which one would be the best case scenario.
Our target arrived at the compound roughly six hours into our mission and I was just waiting for the opportunity to strike. Charlotte had noticed him too and was keeping me updated on any changes that I may have needed to make with the settings on my rifle. The glorious opportunity to take out this target came before I knew it and I was getting a little nervous and a lot excited at the chance to do this. As Charlotte made the call to get the "OK" for me to shoot, I kept my target in my crosshairs. He wasn't doing very much except wandering about the compound gesturing wildly. It looked like he was on the phone with someone and part of my brain couldn't help but note that the conversation didn't seem to be going his way.
It wasn't too long before he was off the phone and it was a now-or-never moment. I got the "OK" from the higher-ups to take the shot and the butterflies in my stomach exploded. I shook the feeling off and took a deep breath.
Inhale.
Exhale.
Then I pulled the trigger.