I wake up at about three in the morning when military sirens kick up, screaming through the city in a way that is probably supposed to be intimidating.

I sit down, staying under the windows, out of sight. Nothing I haven't done a thousand times before.

The muscle I brought along with me is a whole different story. They'd spent the day anxious, pacing and finger-drumming, but the moment the sirens start they go stock-still, and I see fight-or-flight written clear on both of their faces.

Shit.

The bigger guy looks fit to bolt, and you don't survive doing what I do as long as I've been doing it if you don't know how to recognize when someone was about to do something stupid.

"Hey. You. Big guy. You got a name?"

The guy looks over, jumpy as hell. He works his jaw for a little bit, eyes wide and whites showing, and his buddy steps in.

"That there's Marv. I'm Rick." His voice cracks like a damn teenager.

God help me if I didn't get the two most nervous 6-foot-6, 200-pound guys in the whole damn city.

"Alright. Well, if the two of you would sit down under the windows so the military can't see us, that'd be great."

Marv just stands there, huge ham-hands clenching and unclenching.

I've got to remember to improve the training for new Fireflies - freezing up like this anywhere else would be a death sentence.

And all because of some sirens.

I hope the other new Fireflies are doing better then this. I'm sure most of them haven't been through any raids yet. They must be terrified.

"Hey. Marv."

No response.

I clear my throat, bring out the barking-orders voice.

"Soldier."

His head swivels like a fucking owl's, wide eyes locking onto mine.

"Sit the fuck down. And don't make me ask you again."

He sinks against the wall like a sack of meat, slumping beside his buddy.

At eight AM, the sirens cut off abruptly, and both of my useless bodyguards stand up straight away, like the think the raid's over.

I have got to tell someone to train these assholes better.

I motion for them to get down, hissing curses, but they're so jacked-up on adrenaline that it takes a while for my message to get through, and by the time they're sitting back down it's too late.

I can hear soldiers yelling on the streets below, demanding that we turn ourselves in, firing shots up towards the room.

Every single bullet goes way wide- I'm not even sure any of them get to this floor of the hotel, but it's only a matter of time before they try and find a way up.

It figures that after all this time I'd get killed in a routine military sweep.

I get as low as I can and grab my gun and hope to hell they don't care enough to come up here.

I strain to hear any signs of activity, try to stay as quiet as possible.

Even breathing seems loud.

The extremely heavy breathing of the two guys sitting next to me sure isn't helping.

At ten in the morning, the military has apparently had enough, and I hear their truck rattle away.

I stand up and shoot after them once they've gone out of earshot, yelling insults. Gotta look brave for the muscle.

Rick and Marv yell obscenities and give the back of the military the middle finger. I laugh, pent-up adrenaline and draining tension making me feel stupid and invincible.

We wait another couple hours, to make sure they're really gone.

At one PM, I uncoil the rope ladder and make sure the big guys go down first. Just in case.

At two PM, we're back at camp, adrenaline long gone.

I'm smart enough that I know I got damn lucky.

I'm only still breathing because the military got lazy. Letting those big guys get seen should have been a death sentence.

But hell, I survived. And it's always good to have a reminder of what the world's like, once in a while. That's the last time I let anyone else pick my bodyguards for me, that's for certain.

Learn something new every day.

I just hope the other new Fireflies did better then my muscle did.

Or at least got as lucky.