Chapter 3

Mike walked through the evening drizzle to Six's office. Recruits walked past and saluted him as he went. He walked past the mess hall and noticed some of his friends eating. He wanted to say hello, but he'd catch up with them later. He entered an old brick building and walked up the stairs to the top floor. He could hear voices down the hallway. Mike found Six's office and knocked.

"Enter."

Mike walked in. Dominic, Meghan, and Jordan sat in chairs in front of Six's desk. Ela was nowhere to found.

"Where's Elizabetha?" Six asked impatiently glancing at her watch.

"I told her to come to your office." Mike said pulling up a chair to her desk.

Ela opened the door to Six's office. Everyone to turn and look at her.

"Take the scenic route?" Six asked as Ela hastily pulled up a chair.

"Sorry I'm late director. Got caught up taking care of a few things."

"Save it for another time. I have some important things to discuss with you 5. CIA has requested operators from our team for an op." Six said taking a pile of packets off her desk and passed them around to her operators. The operators began to leaf through the packet. The packet contained information about their mission. Ela got comfortable in her seat and opened the packet. She a key piece of information that made her freeze.

Location: Iraq.

She felt a chill go throughout her body. She closed the packet and placed it on her lap. She stared at the wall in front of her with a thousand-mile stare. Her hands shook.

"No… no, no, no, no. Not again. I can't…." She muttered to herself in a low voice. She could feel the mental breakdown exploding in her body. She turned to her best friend Meghan. Meghan was laughing to herself as she read the location of their op. She felt a pair of eyes looking at her. She turned to Ela and noticed the look of doom on her face. Meghan's smile melted away to a frown. She could already tell this op was going to take a toll on everyone in the room. The two girls saw a lot of horrible things during Orange Sky. Ela struggled hard with PTSD when they returned to the world. She developed an addiction to pills for some time and constantly had mental breakdowns that could be triggered at any time. It wasn't till joining Rainbow Six and reuniting with Meghan that things started to turn around for Ela. Now she was being forced to go back to the place that made her mentally unstable. Meghan looked at Jordan and Mike who were taking things in to.

"Well fuck me. I never thought I'd have to go back to that hell hole again but looks like I was wrong." Jordan said.

"Same here lad." Mike said still reading the packet.

Dominic, who Mike just saw being loud and obnoxious a few minutes ago in the gym was dead quiet. He didn't need words to figure out how he felt about the mission. The last time Dominic was undercover, it didn't go so well for him.

"I understand that none of you want to go back into the fray, but we can't pick and choose the operations we are sent on. We play with the cards that are dealt to us." Six said firmly looking at each of the operators faces. She could see the pain in their faces. The memories coming back to them. There was a moment of silence. Mike broke the silence.

"So, what's the plan?" he said in a low voice.

"An undercover CIA operative working in Baghdad, callsign Vanguard, has revealed that the White Mask are allying with the Islamic State. The two have been striking military targets across the country as allies. They've killed hundreds of soldiers already and they won't stop until the allied nations are forced out of the country. Since Rainbow has been the one leading the charge in hunting down the White Mask, the CIA has requested we send 5 operatives from Rainbow to takeout the White Mask superior leading in that area and collect any intel on the group that we can get. When you arrive in Baghdad you will meet up with Vanguard and he'll guide you through the rest. Work your way through the country and take out as many White Masks and Islamic State targets as you can while gathering intel about the group. Kill their leader. Maintain a low profile. We can't let the enemy know there's a hunter killer group searching for them. Not even the U.S. military or any other allied nations working in country will know about you. Do not reveal your identities to anyone. Not the military, not the locals, no one. Only to each other and Vanguard. Do whatever means necessary to find and kill the bastards. No one knows of your existence so technically no rules of engagements or rules of war. However, if you are captured, no one will be there to save you. Each of you have experience in country and have experience in undercover operations. You all have one month to prepare. I have no doubt that you will be able to complete this mission."

Dominic didn't need to be reminded about the consequences of being caught breaking the law while undercover. The thoughts of his time in federal prison still haunt him to this day.

"Six, what do we know about Vanguard?" Dominic asked.

"There's not much we do know about him except that he's been undercover in Baghdad for about 4 years. He's been the United States top informant on the Islamic State's activities. The rest is covered in black ink."

"So how are we going to find this guy?"

"He's going to find you. He's already aware of when and where you will be arriving."

"Wow, because that's not shady or anything. How the hell are we supposed to trust his guy?" Dominic complained.

"Mike and I have no experience in undercover operations? I get that we have experience in country, but why are we being sent?" Jordan asked.

"You'll be support and guidance for Dominic, Elizabetha, and Meghan. Help them anyway you can."

"How long will we be in country?" Meghan asked.

"I can't say for sure how long. It depends on how fast you're able to gather intel and take out the leader."

Meghan looked down at her sneakers. She didn't like the sound of this. There was no telling how long they'd be overseas. They could be stuck in Iraq for weeks. Months. Years maybe. What if the White Mask attack in a different country while they were still in Iraq? The questions and answers between Six and the operators went on for another few hours before Ela stood up slowly from her seat and abruptly left the office. Six watched with a quizzical look as she left.

"That's all for now. Try and take this all in. We'll debrief again soon. Dismissed." Six said moments later.

The operators rose from their seats and left the office. Mike, Jordan, and Dominic walked to the mess hall to talk about their mission.

"Meghan, grub?" Mike asked motioning toward the mess hall.

"I'll be there in a few but don't wait for me." She replied not really paying any attention to them. Meghan jogged after Ela, but she was already in her dorm. Meghan knocked on Ela's door and twisted the door knob. It was unlocked.

"Hey its me. I'm coming in." she said opening the door slowly.

Ela was sitting on her bed reading from a small pocket-sized book. A small carboard box laid next to her. There were tears in her eyes. Meghan took her shoes off by the door and sat next to Ela and wrapped her arms around her. She looked at what Ela was reading. There was a map drawn by hand on one page. All the words were in Polish and the picture looked like it was done by an artist. On the right side of the page there was a picture of a face. Meghan took a closer look and realized it was her. The memories of that day came rushing back. During Operation Orange Sky, Meghan and Ela were mapping out an area to launch an ambush and Ela must have gotten bored after finishing the map of the area so she drew the portrait of her. Meghan forgot Ela went lived in Berlin for some time to become an artist. She hasn't drawn anything since Orange Sky ended.

"We can't go back." Ela said softly.

"I know you don't want to go back. I don't either, but it's our job. People are depending on us."

"But all the hardships we faced. The things we saw. The amount of times we almost died. We're going to relieve that again."

"Liz, you're gonna be fine. This time it's going to be different. I have your back just like last time and there will be 3 other operators out with us watching out for us. Trust me. Everything is going to be okay. I'm here for you."
Valkyrie understood her feelings. She wished there were things she could make her eyes unsee when she was deployed. Things that messed her up for a long time and left her in a bad mental state when she returned stateside. Some of those things still haunt her to this day. But those were the burdens of being a soldier. As Stephan Crane once sarcastically wrote, "war is kind." But whether it was supporting each other after breakups with boyfriends to being shot at by terrorists in the Middle East, the two always looked out for one another. They shared an unbreakable bond by simply trying to survive and deliver those from evil.

The two operators sat with each other in silence. They listened to the sound of the rain pelting off Ela's window pane.

Dominic sat in the mess hall by himself spinning a spoon in a cup of tea lost in thought. It was after hours now so the mess hall was empty. The tapping of the rain on the tin roof was soothing to him. The moon's shined behind the cloud layer giving them a light gray appearance. He listened to the darker side of conscious speak to him.

"Undercover?"

"You can't go undercover again! Remember what happened last time you went undercover! You went to federal prison!"

"You joined Rainbow to get out of undercover work!"

"Remember all the people you killed? The drugs? The lies? The innocent people you hurt? The heartbreak?"

"You've never been into a warzone. You don't understand what war is truly like."

"You'll only let your team down. You're a burden."

"The nightmares and bad memories will never go away. They're here to stay. I'm here to stay. You'll never get rid of me. You'll always feel pain. Always. So get used to it."

"Shut up. Just shut up." He begged to himself.

Dominic cradled his head in hands trying to silence the voice. The memories of his time undercover with the Hell's Angels danced in his head. His time in federal prison. He felt a hand on his shoulder that made him jump. It was Ryad, one of Rainbow's Spanish GEO operators. Ryad took a seat across the table from Dominic and took a sip from a cup of tea he had brought with him.

"What are you doing up so late?" Ryad asked with a smile.

"Not tired. Mind has been racing all day." Dominic said depressingly. He looked up at Ryad quizzically.

"Why are you awake?" He asked.

"Insomnia."

"Oh yeah, that's right."

Dominic looked back down at his cup of tea. For as long as Ryad has been in Rainbow he never actually had a one on one conversation with him. All he knew about Ryad was he was Spanish GEO, he had insomnia because of his brother's death, and his gadget was a bitch to fight against in training.

"What's on your mind?" Ryad asked trying to move the conversation along.

"Me along with 5 others are being deployed in a month."

"Where are you being deployed?"

"Iraq."

"Well that's not so bad. We've done ops in worse places."

"Six is forcing me to go back undercover."

Ryad looked down at his cup of tea and stirred it slowly. The news explained why he was so upset. He tried to find words that would make Dominic feel better.

"Dominic, listen, I know your experience in undercover work was really bad but Six chose you because she sees something in you. The other 4 are going to need you out there. You have so much experience in that line of work and you're really good at it."

"I'm just afraid I'll end up in prison or someone else will get captured and sent to prison. I missed out on so much of my life. I did horrible things to other people. I stood and watched people do horrible things to each other. All that time wasted to cover my government's ass."

Unfortunately for Ryad, there was nothing he could really say. He chose to remain silent.

"I've also never been to a war zone before. I know nothing about Iraq or the Middle East."

"Read about it. Ask around. There's plenty of operator here that have been overseas Dominic. No one is going to let you fail Dominic. You're going to be okay. Now why don't you get to bed."

And with that Jackal rose from his seat, gave Dominic a pat on the back and walked away leaving Bandit back to his thoughts. Bandit threw his cup of tea in the garbage and walked back to his dorm.