AN1 Hi everyone. I will keep it short and sweet. I was happy with the review count for Ch9 and Ch10, and I intended to continue this story back in January, but then the idea of the Spy and the Soldier came to me, so I put this story on hold for a few weeks to type out my new concept. However, the review count was meagre for S&S, and I began to contemplate what to do when real life and low spirits to continue publishing live chapters hit me.
Who Dares Wins has had a four-month break because of this, but I have not been inactive in this sandbox, far from it! Because I have taken MANY notes (easily 100,000), and many things have changed to make this story as good as it can possibly be. WDW now has an unbelievable amount of new content that it did not previously have before my break (as many as 100 more chapters of extra content to be precise). And in my opinion, the break when I took it was the best thing that I could ever have done because it has allowed me to make Who Dares Wins so much more than it would have been, had I not taken a break when I did. So without further ado, I will now get to work on posting the first dosage of that content.
Who Dares Wins
Chapter Eleven: Guardian Angels: Part Two
Monday, 29 October, 2007
News Now Media Corporation
Main Office
London
United Kingdom
Jeffrey Barnes and Lester Patel entered inside the main entrance of the main office of their employer, News Now Media Corporation. Jeff and Lester had been working as journalists for News Now for the past five years. Their speciality in journalism was the showbiz and the entertainment industry. If you wanted to know what your favourite celebrity was up to, or what they ate for their breakfast yesterday, or who they had extramarital affairs with, then Jeff and Lester were your go-to reporters to find that information. They were the best in the industry when it came to finding out that specific type of information. Though the methods they had used to obtain that information were mostly illicit, and it had brought a lot of trouble for their employer over the years. However, while they were excellent reporters in their speciality, they each also possessed below-average intelligence, and they had been handed thousands of watchdog complaints over their invasive, insensitive or outright offensive reporting, with numerous police reports and criminal proceedings having had also been filed against them for harassment and intimidation.
That particular intimidation complaint had been filed against the pair when Jeff and Lester were caught on the private grounds of an unnamed celebrity, and they were removed from the property, with a formal complaint quickly being filed against them both. Subsequently, Jeff and Lester had approached the unnamed individual that had snitched on them in the following days, and Lester, along with numerous pieces of colourful language, had called him a rat. While Jeff had told the individual to sleep with one eye open. This quickly led to harassment and threatening charges being filed against them by the same individual, and this was just one of twenty-six incidents where Jeffster had brought their employer into disrepute in some capacity.
Frankly, Jeff and Lester were lucky that they still had jobs at News Now, after how much trouble they had each caused the organization. In addition to their watchdog and police complaints, they were frequently in trouble with News Now for publishing articles without sending it to their editor first, and for editing a story and re-including parts that the editor had removed just to make sure that their original article was published, and they were the worst in the industry for doing so. Jeffster had gained a reputation, and they had been nicknamed a long time ago as the Dumb and Dumber by the rest of the industry.
"Why does Big Mike want to see us, Jeffrey?" Lester asked, glancing at his best friend as they strolled without a care in the world over towards the attractive receptionist sat behind a desk on the ground floor of the building.
"Maybe somebody ate all of his doughnuts, and someone has implicated us as the culprits. Maybe I should order some nunchucks and start a Fight Club for when we find the snitch," Jeff said.
Lester began to get excited at the suggestion from his friend. "A Fight Club! I approve of this magnificent suggestion, Jeffrey! But you did eat the doughnuts last night when we raided the office together after-hours," Lester informed him.
Jeff paused from walking, and Lester stopped along with his best friend. Jeff then proceeded to grab hold of Lester, and Lester shrieked in fear.
"If you snitch, you're dead," he said with a menacing look as he began to stare at his friend without blinking.
Lester found it hard to look at his friend's intimidating stare. "Jeffrey, who do you take me for? I'm not a rat," he said, nervously.
"And make sure it stays that way. I have ammunition of my own. I know who drank his bottle of whiskey last night," Jeff said as he continued his menacing stare.
Lester suddenly broke from looking at his friend, and he began to look all around the reception area while he was still being grabbed hold off by Jeff to make sure nobody had heard his friend's declaration.
"Jeffrey, keep your voice down!" Lester said on glancing at his friend again.
Jeff then let go of his best friend, and they continued strolling until they arrived at the reception. Lester immediately attempted to open the door to the reception office so that he could get closer to the attractive receptionist sat behind the desk. Still, the door was locked, so he returned to the proximity of his friend, and Jeff began to wink at the receptionist. The receptionist became immediately irradiated at their presence, and she began to glance at them with disdain.
"Hello, hot stuff," Jeff said to the receptionist, and Lester snickered approvingly as Jeff began to ogle the young and attractive black haired receptionist. While at the same time, Lester turned a bit shy because he didn't find it easy to communicate with women.
"You're gross," the receptionist said in disgust, and she averted her glance away from Jeff.
Jeff completely ignored the receptionist's remarks, and he continued on, "How about we go in the back room right now, and I'll give you the best night of your life," he said, winking at her, as he raised a hand up to his face and he began to pick away at a boil that was irritating him.
Lester began to laugh approvingly at his best friend's comment before he stopped laughing because he came to a realization. "It's morning, Jeffrey," he said.
Jeff shrugged as he continued his ogling stare at the attractive receptionist. "Morning, night, who cares?" Jeff asked.
Lester took a moment to contemplate his friend's remarks before he nodded his head. "Good point."
Jeff suddenly reached out to grab hold of the receptionist's phone, despite an attempt from her to stop him from doing so, and on taking hold of the telephone, he began to speak into the receiver, "Hello? Hello! Is anybody there!"
The receptionist shook her head, while numerous other people present inside of the reception area all began to look at Jeff to query his loud outburst.
"Will you put that down right now? There is nobody on the telephone!" the receptionist said with contempt.
Jeff glanced at the receptionist. "Damn ear! I thought I heard it ring!" Jeff complained as he began to touch his ear that he was experiencing deafness from.
"I told you that you should get it checked out, Jeffrey," Lester said.
"I don't trust doctors. They are secretly cannibals, and when you exit their room, you come out genetically altered," Jeff declared.
Lester took a long moment to contemplate his friend's declaration. "I think you might be right, Jeffrey!" Lester said with concern.
Jeff nodded, and the two friends began to look at the receptionist once more.
"Will you two please go away!" the receptionist demanded, but the two friends ignored her and Lester continued on.
"So, beautiful lady, are you doing well today?" Lester asked, but he didn't give her the chance to speak, and he continued on when he saw her open her mouth to speak, "Of course you are, because I'm here now!"
"That's it! Security! I need some help here!" the receptionist called as she began to glance over to an area of the reception, and Jeff and Lester followed her glance onto two security officers.
"Five-O, Jeffrey!" Lester said in a panicked tone of voice.
"Oh crap, let's get out of here! I have… things... in my possession!" Jeff declared as the two friends quickly rushed off in a dash towards the elevators.
-O-o-O-o-O-o-O-
Jeff and Lester departed the elevator on arrival on the floor of their office. Strolling casually out of the elevator, they bumped into Fernando, a journalist at News Now.
"Fernando, are you losing weight?" Lester asked, as he began to pay close inspection to the physique of Fernando, while Jeff became occupied as he began to glance over at Anna Wu's desk from a distance.
Fernando was about to reply, but Lester interrupted him before he could speak on completing his inspections of Fernando's persona, "Nah, I didn't think so. But Jeffrey will be arranging a Fight Club pronto. We'll soon help you lose the calories, brother!"
Jeff finally broke his ogling gaze towards Anna Wu, and he noted the presence of Fernando for the first time.
"Hey man, have you seen Fernando?" he asked.
"I am Fernando?" Fernando said in confusion.
A look of puzzlement formed on Jeff's face and Lester began to snicker at his best friend.
"If you're Fernando, then who am I?" Jeff asked.
"Um, you're Jeff?" Fernando said in confusion.
Jeff took a moment to register Fernando's response. "It would appear that I am," he stated, eventually.
Jeff and Lester then continued on through the floor, but they stopped when they arrived in the presence of Skip Johnson, another journalist at News Now.
"Hey Skip," Jeff said.
"Hi Jeff," Skip replied.
Lester became occupied as he began to study and pay close attention to Skip's present hairstyle.
"Skip, my friend, some of us have naturally silky hair, while you, my friend, must have stuck a fork in an electrical outlet!" Lester declared as he laughed at his own joke, and he continued to stare at the hair of Skip Johnson.
Glancing around the room to make sure nobody was looking, Jeff then approached Skip and he moved to whisper into his ear. "Skip… Do you want some of my special coffee? It's a real pick me up!" Jeff asked as he winked at Skip, and he began to shake his thermos flask, and he offered it to Skip.
"Um, no thanks," Skip replied.
"Your loss," Jeff said nonchalantly, and Jeffster continued on until they arrived at the desk of Anna Wu, and the two friends moved to surround her as Lester moved to sit on her desk, while Jeff moved to stand behind her, causing her to turn uncomfortable at the feeling of becoming trapped by the two best friends.
"Good morning Anna, my little dim sum. You're looking particularly hot in a trashy fishnet stockings sorta way," Lester declared, and Jeff began to nod.
"Screw off, Lester!" Anna replied.
Lester smirked as he began to play with Anna's coffee cup, and she moved to swat his hand to get him to leave her coffee mug alone.
"Big Mike wants to see you," Anna Wu said.
"We know," Jeff replied.
"Do you um, happen to know what it's about?" Lester asked nervously, and he attempted to conceal his anxious facial expressions stemmed from Jeffster's activities inside the office the previous night.
"He's probably going to fire you," Anna Wu said.
Lester immediately began to shriek in dread, and he darted his glance onto Jeff.
"He knows about the whiskey, Jeffrey!" Lester said in a panicked state of mind.
"As long as he doesn't find out about the doughnuts, I'm good," Jeff stated.
"I will take you down with me, Jeffrey!" Lester said with determination.
Jeff moved to grab hold of Lester once more from where he was sat on Anna Wu's desk. "Talk, and you're dead, Lester! I'll pay you a visit with my nunchucks and strangle you in your sleep," Jeff stated as he gave Lester another menacing stare and Lester began to shriek once more.
Jeff then let go of Lester, and he turned his attention to Anna Wu as he moved into her proximity, and he proceeded to sniff her hair. "You smell like blueberries, Anna," he stated.
A gross facial expression began to form on Anna's face, and she stated, "And you smell like you haven't showered in twelve years, Jeff."
Lester suddenly burst into strong laughter for a good ten seconds over Anna's witty joke towards his best friend.
"Can you both leave me alone? I have work to do. And I would prefer to stay in my job, which is more than I can say for you two," Anna said.
"We will leave you alone when you go on a date with us," Jeff said, winking at her.
"Good shout, Jeffrey!" Lester said approvingly, and he raised his hand, and Jeff moved to high-five his best friend.
"In your dreams, Jeff, I would sooner go on a date with Skip," Anna declared.
"Did she just say she wants to go on a date with Skip?" Jeff asked.
Lester nodded. "I think she did, Jeffrey!" he paused as he glanced around the office floor in search of Skip. Once he located him, he shouted, "Skip! Anna wants to go on a date with you!"
Anna immediately moved to stand, and she began to hit away at Lester who was cowering in fear until they were interrupted by the sound of Big Mike, "Jeff, Lester, get in my office right now!" he demanded.
Anna began to look smugly at both Jeff and Lester. "Say goodbye to your jobs," she boasted.
Lester winced. "You're not a very nice girl, Anna," he said.
"Not to people I don't like," she said.
"We can easily change that," Jeff said, winking at her once more, and Lester nodded approvingly.
"I said now! You pair of halfwits!" Big Mike shouted.
After the latest reprimand, Jeff and Lester finally began to depart away from Anna Wu, and they quickly headed in the direction of Big Mike's office. Arriving just outside the door, they each began to emit a shushing motion with their fingers to each other, and they entered inside the room...
-O-o-O-o-O-o-O-
"Do you know how much grief you have caused me since you misfits first joined this organization?"
Lester went to speak, but he stopped because Big Mike continued, "For a while, I even lost my love of a subway sandwich for god sake! How can a man lose his love for something as sacred as that? Well no more, I am done! Your latest screw up is the final straw! I have been waiting a long time to do this!" Big Mike paused, and Lester took a gulp of air. "You're fired!"
Jeff took no notice of Big Mike's words, and they didn't even register, while Lester began to gasp.
"God that felt good! I can't believe it took me so long! I feel better already!" Big Mike declared as he began to relax his shoulders as if a huge weight had just been removed from his person.
"That's how I feel every day. It's my special coffee. It never fails to pick me up," Jeff stated as he began to shake his flask once more.
"But Big Mike, you can't fire us! What about all of the stories we've reported on?" Lester protested.
"Stories?!" Big Mike said as he proceeded to slam his fist into the desk and Lester startled as he jumped out of his seat in surprise.
"You mean the twenty-six violations?!" Big Mike raged as he picked up a piece of paper which listed all of the citations that Jeff and Lester had accumulated while at News Now, and Jeff and Lester began to smirk in approval.
Big Mike then began to recite from the piece of paper in his hand, "Join Bang Bros today! It is Jeffster certified, and it is a super awesome way to spend your money! You can even get a coupon, just enter the code Jeffster, and you will receive a discount! What better way to spend your evening than to be in the company of some fine ladies, and some hot studs?"
Lester immediately burst into strong laughter on Big Mike recollecting the pornography advertisement that himself and his best friend had proudly written up more than two years ago.
"We had over six-hundred complaints from readers of our newspaper just from that advertisement alone!" Big Mike raged before he began to read through the rest of the violations in search of the next thing to read out.
"That coupon still works. I used it last week," Jeff declared.
"Anyway, that reporting is small-time," Lester started. "We've been thinking of branching out, expanding our horizons, if you get what I mean."
Big Mike paused from reading to glance at the two halfwits facing him as they both stood up, and they began to pace confidently around his office.
"Why swim in the pond, when you can fish in the ocean?" Jeff asked.
"Exactly, Jeffrey," Lester said in approval.
Big Mike took an extended moment in an attempt to figure out what the hell the two misfits were now rambling on about.
"You really both are the Dumb and Dumber! What on earth are you both rambling on about now?" Big Mike asked.
"Tell him, Jeffrey," Lester said, as he nodded over towards Big Mike.
Jeff glanced over at his friend, who was stood on the opposite side of Big Mike's office as they continued strolling around his office. "I can have the honours?" Jeff asked as he began to fill up with happiness and excitement.
"Hit him with the magic, Jeffrey! This is it, my brother, it's our time to shine!" Lester said with enthusiasm and drive.
It was at that point when Jeff immediately walked up to Big Mike, who was still seated, and he moved his head in close to Big Mike's, which caused Big Mike to startle on having one of the Dumb and Dumber's enter into his proximity.
"We want to do investigative reporting!" Jeff whispered in close to Big Mike as he began to wink at him from both eyes one at a time in a creepy sort of way, and Big Mike immediately burst into laughter, and he began to shake his head. He had had just about enough of Jeffster, and of their lunacy and their idiocy for five long years!
"Now that I would pay to see!" Big Mike declared as he tried to compose himself to stop himself from laughing any further, and he shook his head once more. "I tell you what, if you still want a job at News Now, then I'll give you three days to find me an investigative story, but I won't hold my breath."
"Does that mean we're no longer fired?" Jeff asked.
"Nope. You're still fired! You have three days to show me something if you want to be hired! Now get out of here, because I have far more important things to deal with than to give you two my attention all day," Big Mike stated, as he began to glance at a foot-long chicken-teriyaki sandwich.
"We'll make you proud, Big Mike!" Lester said with confidence.
"I won't count on it," Big Mike stated, as he moved to pick up the sandwich.
Jeff and Lester then departed out of Big Mike's office, and Lester was now worked up in an excited frame of mind over the new kind of reporting that they would now partake in and he jumped up into the air with joy as he raised his arms. Both Jeff and Lester had been planning this for several weeks, and he was very excited that Big Mike had given them a chance to show what they could do.
"I always knew the van would come in useful," Jeff stated.
"This will make us famous, Jeffrey!" Lester boasted with excitement.
"Yeah, just think of all the girls lining up to get our autographs," Jeff said.
"Amen, Jeffrey!" Lester said as he dragged out his words and he closed his eyes in delight.
The best friends then began to depart from the office, and they arrived by Anna Wu's desk, forgetting all about her. Usually, they would stop and annoy her, but they had bigger fish to fry, so she wasn't even on their minds.
"What was that all about?" Anna asked as she stood up and left her cubicle, and she walked up to Jeff and Lester, and they both paused with Anna now stood in front of them.
"Promotion," Lester started, but Jeff quickly admitted, "He fired us."
Lester began to shake his head, and he looked at Jeff with discontent. "Thank you, Jeffrey!" Lester said sarcastically.
Anna began to laugh at them.
"You may laugh now, my little dim sum, but myself and Jeffrey are about to blow up big time, just you wait and see! And then you'll want to join us, and we'll let you, but you'll have to get in our good books first. Come on, Jeffrey, we have some investigating to do!" Lester said as he began to pull on Jeff's arm, and Jeff allowed himself to be pulled while gazing back at Anna Wu and he winked at her.
"See ya, losers!" Anna shouted after them, and Jeff and Lester quickly disappeared from sight, and they promptly departed the News Now office, and they headed to Jeff's surveillance van.
-O-o-O-o-O-o-O-
Monday, 29 October, 2007
Birmingham
United Kingdom
A large SAS convoy containing eight vehicles carrying Mobility troop to their surveillance mission pulled to a stop at their destination, which was the rear of an apartment complex that was overlooking their mission objective, the East Road Mosque. The entire troop were tasked with placing the Mosque under armed surveillance in a bid to thwart and foil the planned terrorist attack aimed at killing a British soldier outside his barracks via a vehicular ramming and subsequent knife attack in the city.
The soldiers all began to depart from the vehicles. Usually after a long drive, they would want to stretch their legs. But for operational security purposes, the entire troop in addition to Morgan and Captain Wallace quickly hurried inside the apartment complex to minimize the risk of the crack special forces team being compromised.
Once inside, they began to ascend on up to the two apartments that had been commandeered for the SAS to use at their disposal for the duration of the mission.
And as the crack special forces team ascended the stairwell, Sarah called out to her CO, Captain Wallace, who was ascending just ahead of her, "Boss?"
"Yes, Trooper?" Captain Wallace asked, glancing at her as they continued to walk.
"If any damage occurs to my vehicle during this mission, then it's covered, right?" she asked, which caused laughter amongst most of the sixteen soldiers, including Chuck, who was ascending the stairwell right behind her.
"Of course, Trooper. The Regiment will even have it repaired for you. You won't even need to lift a finger," the Captain stated reassuringly.
Sarah smiled at her CO. "Thank you."
"Are you worried about damaging your pride and joy?" Chuck teased.
Sarah looked behind herself, and she shot Chuck a disapproving glance. "Chuck, it's ok for you, you didn't come in yours!" she protested as they continued to ascend the stairwell and the troop continued to share laughter.
"You're right, I didn't. But I've had my car used in previous ops. Luckily I'm too good of a driver to have ever had it damaged beyond some minor scratches to the paintwork," Chuck joked as half of the troop burst into approving laughter at their comrade's humour.
"Always the show-off," Chris stated with a smirk as Mobility troop arrived at their objective and the troop split off into two groups as Red Team entered one of the apartments, and Blue Team entered into the other.
Once inside, the team took in their surroundings, and they witnessed several MI5 employees already present inside of the apartment. The MI5 employees had already set up shop with numerous pieces of sophisticated surveillance technology already placed around the apartment that was overlooking the Mosque.
Morgan then began to speak, "During the journey here, I was updated that MI5 now believes with strong confidence that the cell operating out of that Mosque," Morgan paused, as he began to glance out of the window of the apartment, "will carry out the attack at some point this week."
"Have you obtained any more information about who is part of the actual cell yet?" Staff Sergeant MacDonald asked.
"No. We are still in the dark as to the identities of the jihadists," Morgan stated.
Most of the team nodded.
"Right then, let's get started!" Captain Wallace said, and the SAS team began to set up their gear.
-O-o-O-o-O-o-O-
Tuesday, 30 October, 2007
Somewhere in London
Mobile Inside Jeff's Van
"Jeffrey, stop the van! I think I have found something!" Lester said excitedly, with his eyes glued onto a laptop screen in the back of Jeff's van.
Jeff quickly pulled the van to a stop, and he parked up on the sidewalk of the road. He then moved to climb into the rear of the van.
"What have you got?" Jeff asked.
"I was searching through the dark web when I encountered a jihadist website. Some very bad homies that like to blow things up are plotting to attack a soldier in Birmingham. They even gave their place of worship! This is it, Jeffrey! We have been waiting our entire lives for this moment! We are about to become famous!" Lester said excitedly.
"Cool," Jeff said as he began to nod his head in approval.
"Let's fire up our cameras, Jeffrey Barnes, and show the world what Jeffster can do!" Lester cried out his call to arms to his comrade.
"Awesome!" Jeff declared.
"You bet it is, Jeffrey!" Lester said with excitement.
"So, where to?" Jeff asked.
"To the East Road Mosque in Birmingham, my brother!" Lester said.
Jeff nodded, and the two best friends began to move to climb into the front seats of the van.
"Will there be any women?" Jeff asked on them finishing their repositioning.
"The women will come later, Jeffrey. When this footage becomes the most viewed content in the entire world, then everybody will know of the exploits of Jeffster! This is bigger than we could ever have imagined!" Lester said, and Jeff fired up the engine, and they departed for Birmingham.
End of Chapter
AUTHOR'S NOTE: Next Chapter: The surveillance mission plays out in front of our eyes.