AUTHOR'S NOTE: I do apologize for the frequent swearing that has taken place so far in the story (and will continue to occur). Nevertheless, it's just how I envisage the cast behaving in this particular environment, plus I deem it to be harmless swearing. I have used it as a tool purely for the soldiers involved to release their tension, and it's also intended in a humorous way. Personally, that's how I view all swearing anyway, as amusing, unless it's done in an aggressive manner towards someone, which hasn't really happened in Who Dares Wins so far.
Who Dares Wins
Chapter Twenty-Two: Bugs
Saturday, 3 November, 2007
Sarah placed the bottle of largely unconsumed vodka into her fridge. Shutting the door to the refrigerator, she turned to face Chuck.
"Well, Sarah, I guess that's us on ice for a while, exactly like that bottle," Chuck lamented.
Nodding, Sarah said, "Yeah. But not for a second more than what's required because I'm not a fan of our well-earned free time being interrupted," as she puffed out a sigh in sexual frustration because the only thing she wanted to be doing right now was forgetting who she was, and enjoying her weekend in Chuck's company. But alas, she had now been called to a red alert status on her base...
"So the abrupt disturbance hasn't suddenly filled you with any regrets about us hooking up again then?" he asked.
"No, Chuck, there's only one thing that I want to be doing right now, and it's not giving up my weekend that we all earned. I'm now feeling very pissed off about that, as I'm sure you are, and everyone else will be too," Sarah said, puffing out a sigh in frustration.
Chuck nodded as they departed their position in the dining area, and they promptly left her apartment to head outside to wait for Jamie's arrival.
"Chuck, Cole is your best friend, so why didn't he ring you about the alert?" Sarah asked, attempting to get her head in the game as they descended the stairwell of the apartment block.
Turning to glance up at her as they continued to move, Chuck said, "He probably has. I left my phone at home."
"Oh," Sarah said in surprise because she was unaware that Chuck had left his phone back at his place.
Chuck nodded as they arrived on the ground floor. "I did it because I wanted to enjoy your company and to give you my full attention, rather than glance at it every five minutes if the lads were texting me or for any other reason," he declared.
"In that case, I feel bad now that I didn't leave mine either," she said.
"I didn't see you on your phone anyway, so it doesn't matter..." he said in despondence as he stopped to sigh over the abrupt ending to their evening, which was shaping up to be an excellent one. "A perfect night disturbed, and not for the first time tonight either."
Sarah nodded. "Maybe it wasn't meant to be tonight," she suggested.
"Sarah, it was meant to be. We had a great time. It's just bad luck and the nature of our careers," he stressed as they departed the block of apartments, and they entered the open air, "But I think maybe it's for the best that we agreed not to have a relationship. We didn't consider how busy we'd be and that there would be little time to have one anyway."
Sarah nodded. "But I thought we had time off, Chuck? It's not like we didn't earn it," she complained, shaking her head in frustration once more, and she scoffed before finishing her display of frustration by rolling her eyes. Sarah, Chuck, and the rest of the team had worked their socks off against the clock for most of the week in Birmingham as they raced to thwart the attack on the British soldier, Matt, who they successfully saved the life of and neutralized three Islamist terrorists in the process. They had earned their time off work, but it had now been taken away from them.
"We did, and we do. Sarah, you know our protocols. They were instilled into you during your selection. Being called in during our time off for a red alert while not stood to can only mean one thing: that there's an active threat against us personally and that an enemy attack against us is believed to be imminent. That's why we've been called to base, and it's what we will be briefed on, I'm sure," he said with conviction.
Sarah processed his words, which caused her to fill up with more significant concern. "Has it happened before?"
"Uh, I believe just once since I have been in the Regiment," he informed her. "A decade or two ago, though, I believe it was quite common when PIRA was at their peak during The Troubles."
Sarah nodded. "I'm sure."
Sarah and Chuck started walking once more, and they proceeded out into the open street, where they paused in wait for their teammate to pick them up.
"I should have quickly changed into something casual. The last thing that I want to have to do right now is to field one-hundred questions about what we have been doing together," Sarah said as she puffed out another immediate sigh.
"Sarah, there's no time to worry about how we're dressed right now if this threat is real. We need to link up with Jamie, get to base, and find out what's going on. If anyone inquires about what you're wearing, or what we may have done, then just tell them to mind their own business, to get their heads in the game, and let that be the end of it," Chuck asserted in an attempt to ease her concerns.
However, his attempts were unsuccessful, as Sarah could not shake those thoughts from her mind. Though he was right about the threat, and she entered a much more alert state as she trained her gaze around their immediate vicinity in search of a threat to them, and Chuck did the same.
Sarah and Chuck caught sight of Jamie's car entering the street two minutes later, and they paused in wait until Jamie came to a stop at their position.
With Jamie's car now stationary, Chuck quickly hurried around to the other side of the vehicle, and he entered inside.
Sarah repeated Chuck's actions from the opposite side of the vehicle.
Closing the doors to Jamie's car after them, Jamie turned to face Chuck and Sarah, and the three teammates nodded at each other.
Jamie turned to the front once, and he promptly hit his foot on the gas as they began their short journey to the base.
"So, what's it all about then, mate?" Chuck asked Jamie in search of a sitrep.
Jamie afforded Chuck a glance via the rearview mirror as he drove his vehicle. "There's a tracker on Cole's car, mate. He found it earlier when he was cleaning it," Jamie said with concern.
Chuck raised his hands to his cheeks, and he shook his head in shock. "Fucking hell!" he said, grimacing, as he continued to shake his head over the immediate implications of the situation. They were being watched.
Jamie nodded.
"Where's Cole now?" Sarah asked with concern to her teammate's safety, and adrenalin continued to build inside of her, and she entered into an operational mindset.
Chuck and Jamie, being more seasoned operators, were already in that heightened state of alert.
"He's on the base, Sarah. Cole told Chris that as soon as he clocked the tracker, he left for Chuck's to warn him, but he couldn't get an answer," Jamie declared.
"I've been out for most of the afternoon. Jill was over earlier collecting the last of her things, so I felt a sudden urge to drink myself silly afterwards," Chuck laughed, deflecting the topic to the furthest point away from the truth.
Jamie and Sarah joined in the laughter.
"Say no more, mate," Jamie said, shaking his head in amusement. "If Jill was the partner to any other poor bastard on the base except you, they'd have cracked a long time ago, mate."
The teammates shared laughter once more.
"She wasn't so bad. It's not easy to date a soldier. In some ways, I did understand her frustrations, but her behaviour was not great," Chuck said.
Jamie nodded in concession. "Fair point, mate."
"I don't think I can agree with you, Chuck. I do agree that it's not easy to date a soldier. But from all of my experiences of her, it's my opinion that she was nothing but bad, and the way she treated you was appalling," Sarah argued, entering herself into the discussion.
Jamie nodded with every word said. "I couldn't agree more, Sarah, mate. The lads all felt the same way too. Even before you came along, we had all been pissed off with the way she'd treated him," he said.
Sarah nodded in immense agreement. "So have I."
"The lads have been trying to ring Chuck, but they got no answer from him, which is why I asked if he was with you because they were about to send a search party out looking for him," Jamie informed Sarah, changing the topic, as he glanced at her via the rearview mirror.
Sarah nodded.
"I left my phone at home because I didn't feel like talking to any of you bastards after you ditched Sarah and me and got pissed without us on Thursday night and into Friday morning," Chuck joked.
Sarah snorted.
Jamie paused for a few seconds, and he turned awkward before he glanced at Chuck through his mirror and said, "I don't know what you're talking about, mate."
Chuck and Sarah instantly shook their heads and scoffed sharply.
"You can't pull the wool over our eyes, mate! If it was just yourself pissed, I might have bought it. But after texting you, I also found out that Cole was just as pissed as you and that he didn't return home until mid-afternoon on Friday!" Chuck shouted, shaking his head in amusement.
Jamie fought hard to hold in his laughter as he tried to drive and glance at his teammates in the rear of his car at the same time.
"It's not good to lie to a teammate, never mind two of us, Jamie," Sarah continued the discussion.
"I couldn't agree more, Sarah!" Chuck quickly said. "And there's a thing: why didn't you reply to my texts anymore after I asked what you were up to, you bastard?"
"My battery died, mate," Jamie said with an attempted straight face, but he failed.
"Yeah, and I'm Santa Claus. I can tell by your face that you're lying, you bastard!" Chuck shouted at him.
The laughter finally escaped Jamie. "I'm not lying! I swear it! I don't know how or where Cole got pissed, but I got pissed with John!" he declared as he continued chuckling.
Sarah scoffed sharply. "If that's the truth, Jamie, then I'm Snow White," she declared.
Chuck laughed intensely while pointing at Sarah in appreciation for her supportive comments to his own remarks.
"Snow White and Santa Claus? That's not a very good match," Jamie said as he shared the laughter.
"Piss off!" Sarah shouted at Jamie with a fully developed smile.
"So, what have you both been up to tonight then?" Jamie asked, glancing at them both via the rearview mirror.
"Playing bingo," Chuck said, pointing at Jamie with a stern look which was an expression that told Jamie not to inquire about it any further.
Jamie turned in his seat briefly to glance at Chuck. He nodded at him, and he turned around to focus on driving once more because he had no intentions to query the remarks further anyway. What Jamie's mates got up to in their own time was between themselves and nobody else, provided they didn't bring it to work.
O-x-O-x-O-x-O
Jamie pulled his car to a stop outside the barracks housing G Squadron.
Chuck, Sarah, and Jamie promptly exited the vehicle to link up with their teammates, who were hunched idle close together outside the barracks.
Cole Barker, Bryce, Chris, John Murray and Big Dan turned to face the trio, and all of them except for Bryce didn't look in the best of moods right now.
Approaching their vicinity, the teammates all put their frustration aside for the moment at least, and they shared an endearing glance towards each other.
"Alright?" Chuck said, glancing around his five teammate's that he'd not been in the presence of yet today.
John Murray, Bryce and Chris nodded towards Chuck.
"Yeah, fella, we were about to send a search party out looking for you," Big Dan informed Chuck as he shared a warm glance with him.
"I was about to contact your sister too to see if she knew where you were because you're not usually off the radar from us," Cole declared.
"Thanks for the concern, mate," Chuck said with a grin as he moved to pat his best friend on his shoulder. "As I told Jamie, I left my phone at home and went out on the piss 'cause Jill came over to collect the last of her things."
Intense approving laughter broke out amongst the tight-knitted team.
"Went out alone, did you?" Big Dan queried, lifting his head back inquisitively as he shifted his glance between Chuck, and Sarah, as Sarah broke eye contact with Dan, and her gaze hit the floor in shame over her intimate activities with Chuck.
"He must have done, mate, 'cause Sarah looks lovely while he's dressed like that," Jamie Hughes added in as he nodded over towards Chuck.
"Good point, Jamie," Cole quickly agreed, while the rest of the team proceeded to survey the attire of both Chuck and Sarah before they promptly began to nod in agreement while they shared laughter over Jamie's remarks.
"Cheeky bastards!" Chuck retorted, grinning, as he pointed in contempt at Jamie and Cole, but mainly at Jamie because he made the first comment.
Chuck's comments furthered the laughter amongst the team.
Once the laughter died down, Big Dan said, "Right then, fellas, so from which tree are we going to hang that pillock from then?" and he pointed at John Murray to support his question.
Red Team, minus John Murray, snorted at Big Dan's question.
"What did I do, ya tosser?" John Murray asked, laughing.
"You jinxed our time off work when we were at the fucking pub the other night, fella!" Big Dan said, pointing multiple times at the Scot in contempt.
"He's right! The bastard said we'd be paged in when we first arrived at the pub!" Chris said, glaring at his fellow Scotsman.
The rest of Red Team promptly shot John Murray glares of their own as they each reached their own conclusions as to whether he had jinxed their time off work or not.
"On that point, I think, as Big Dan said, we need to have a serious conversation amongst ourselves as to which tree it's going to be 'cause our R&R was cut short by a day and a half thanks to the bastard!" Chuck complained.
"You fellas are right. I did jinx it. Shit!" John Murray said as he put his head in his hands.
"Yeah, you did, mate!" Jamie Hughes shouted, pointing at him while grinning.
"We should have left the country," Chris bemoaned.
"That's not a bad shout, fella," Big Dan said, pointing at his team leader in approval. "I wonder if it's too late for us all to piss off without anyone noticing and get on the M4 and make for Dover?"
"We could always shoot our way out if necessary, mate," Jamie suggested, gesturing with his thumb towards the main gate while fighting back laughter.
"I'm up for that. Who Dares Wins, ey?" Bryce said as he burst with laughter.
Red Team instantly snorted before their attempts to fight off their laughter were unsuccessful, and the team transcended into full-blown laughter over Big Dan, Jamie, and Bryce's remarks.
Shaking his head as he tried to stop laughing a short while later, Cole said to Chuck, "Bang goes our Sunday together, Chuck."
Having stopped laughing himself, Chuck puffed out a long sigh as he nodded at his best friend. "Yeah… I'm devastated, Cole, because I can't tell you how much I was looking forward to it, mate," he admitted in despondence, and the glance he was giving his best friend now showed just how deflated Chuck was about it. In the three years that Chuck had known his best friend, they had built up an incredible rapport with each other. Chuck and Cole idolized each other, and for both of them, neither of them had ever had a more powerful friendship, nor would they for as long as they lived. Of that, they had never been more sure.
"Me too, Chuck," Cole said in the same tone as the best friends shared a sorrowed smile in despondence and frustration.
"Yeah. Bang goes my weekend too," Bryce complained suddenly in agreement, shaking his head.
The unit all turned to face Bryce to query his complaint. Everybody on the team understood why Chuck and Cole had reason to complain due to their extremely close friendship. But Bryce was the only member of the unit living on base, so the abrupt situation they now found themselves in had not impacted Bryce to the same level as the seven other members of Red Team.
Shaking his head, Big Dan said, "You're living on the fucking base already, fella. Just what else could you be doing? My missus is furious with me right now! I almost had her slippers thrown at my fucking head! I had to bail out of the house quick!"
Intense laughter erupted amongst the whole team over Big Dan's remarks.
Shaking his head to attempt to subside his laughter once more, Cole said, "I didn't have slippers thrown at me like Dan, but Sophie isn't best pleased with me right now either."
"She wasn't best pleased with you on Friday either, you bastard, and I'll have words with you in a minute about that," Chuck said, grinning at his best friend.
"Don't even talk about Friday," Chris commanded, shaking his head.
The team glanced at their team leader to query his comments, and most of them smirked at him.
"Problems at home again, Chris?" Sarah asked.
The Staff Sergeant shook his head, wincing. "She almost killed me on Friday," he declared.
"It sounds like Chris had slippers thrown at his fucking head too!" Big Dan declared, pointing sideways at his team leader standing next to him.
Red Team snorted in an attempt to hold in their latest round of laughter, but once more, they were unsuccessful.
"I'm never drinking again because I enjoy living, and she really will kill me the next time," the Staff Sergeant declared.
Loud scoffs erupted throughout the team.
"I'll believe that when I see it," Sarah said in amusement.
"You and me both, mate," Jamie said, agreeing wholeheartedly with Sarah's comments.
Meanwhile, Chuck had now abandoned the position he had taken when he had arrived. Moving into his best friend's proximity, he grabbed hold of Cole, and he proceeded to get his best friend into a headlock, despite playful resistance from Cole as he said, "Right then, it's time you and I had some words. An early night with Sophie, ey?"
"Talk, and you're dead, Cole, fella!" Big Dan shouted, laughing.
"Don't talk, and you're also dead, Cole!" Chuck shot back as Cole started to put up resistance.
Red Team, minus Cole and Chuck, who were occupied, shared laughter together.
Chuck continued the playful exchange with his best mate for a brief second more before he released his grip on him, and he pushed him back, laughing.
Chuck followed on his actions by glancing at Jamie. "I need words with you too, you bastard!" he shouted as he chased in the direction of Jamie, who ran away.
"I told you, mate, my battery was dead!" Jamie shouted, laughing as he ran away from Chuck.
The team erupted with laughter once more, and Chuck quickly gave up his chase of Jamie, and they returned to the team.
Chuck shook his head, laughing at all of the team as he shook a fist towards all of them before Cole quickly moved into Chuck's proximity, and the two best friends proceeded to throw fake punches towards each other, with none of them connecting.
With the actions completed, the best friends put their arms around each other as the team finally made their way in the direction of the briefing room.
With the friendly spirits over the exchange between Chuck and Cole now at an end, Sarah turned nervous because her intimate events with Chuck remained at the forefront of her mind. "If I ask you a serious question, will any of you give me an honest answer?" she asked, glancing among her teammates as they walked.
"If it's bothering you so much, then yeah, mate, we will," Jamie said.
The team nodded.
"Why did you set us up together?" Sarah asked as the eight comrades strolled towards their objective together.
Pointing at Chuck and Sarah, Big Dan said, "Because you're our mates, and we wanted you to have a good time with each other 'cause it's what you both want."
Red Team minus Chuck, Sarah and Bryce nodded.
"Nothing even happened between us," Sarah protested with an unconvincing face.
Red Team instantly either snorted or voiced loud groans of complaint about what they had heard.
"That's not what I heard," Bryce said.
Sarah glared towards Bryce. "Piss off, Bryce!" she snapped through gritted teeth.
Cole, Dan, John and Chris erupted with laughter over Sarah's hostility towards Bryce.
"Sarah, mate, as I told you at Jim's on Thursday night, you don't need to place barriers between each other. Everyone here knows what happened between you both. Don't take us for fools, and don't make yourself look stupid in front of all of us by arguing otherwise. It's fine what happened between you both, mate," Jamie said, nodding at Sarah as the team continued their journey.
"He's right about both things, Sarah. We don't give a fuck, so stop making yourself look silly right now," Big Dan said.
Jamie, Cole, John and Chris nodded.
Chuck remained silent and didn't enter himself into this discussion because he didn't care if the team knew about him and Sarah, but he respected that Sarah did, so he allowed this discussion to take place between Sarah and the rest of the unit.
"You really don't care?" Sarah asked as she adjusted herself to glance at her teammates one by one.
Cole, Jamie, Chris, John, and Dan all shook their heads without a care in the world.
Sarah then met the gaze of Bryce. Unlike the rest of the team, he could not shake his head, and when the teammates made eye contact, it was visible to Sarah that Bryce did care.
"Ok, maybe Speedy Gonzales cares, but the rest of us don't, provided you don't bring it to work, and fair play to you both, mate," Jamie interrupted on seeing the glance that Sarah shared with Bryce.
Laughter flared up among the team over Jamie's comments.
"Fuck off you prick!" Bryce strongly protested, glaring at Jamie.
"He's right, though, fella. You clearly do care," Big Dan argued back, unconcerned by the frustration of Bryce.
The whole team, minus Bryce, nodded.
"Give us a break, fellas!" Bryce protested as he turned awkward and didn't know where to look.
"We will when you start behaving how you're supposed to behave, and how we all expect you to behave, towards your mates," Cole said.
The team nodded.
"So now that we've cleared that up, you lot best not leave us out of any more piss-ups 'cause I don't like being ditched," Chuck said, changing the topic.
"That was a one time only thing, fella. I assured you of that when we left you, and now you know why," John Murray laughed.
The entire team shared the laughter with their brother in arms as they entered the briefing room and took their seats together.
O-x-O-x-O-x-O
"We can see many unhappy faces in this room right now, so we'll be brief," Colonel Wood, the Commanding Officer of 22 Regiment, said as he started his briefing to Mobility troop.
The Colonel was stood at the front of the briefing room with Captain Wallace and Morgan Grimes, the MI5 representative for Mobility troop.
"Earlier today, Sergeant Barker uncovered a GPS tracking device on his vehicle, which we now have in our possession," Colonel Wood continued, as he raised his hand to show the tracking device in question. "We do not know as yet as to who is responsible for planting the tracker onto the Sergeant's vehicle, but what we do know is that some gentleman, or gentlemen, have taken a keen interest in following the Sergeant's movements."
Colonel Wood paused briefly, glancing around the room, as every soldier present paid full attention to the CO. "Which means until we know more, we're in lockdown."
Immediate loud groans in complaint erupted amongst all of Mobility troop, and many heads started to shake as the elite unit entered pissed off state of minds because that meant that every soldier of Mobility troop was now confined to live on base until the incident was resolved.
Colonel Wood continued above the loud noise in a more audible tone, "Sidearms are to be carried at all times! If you must leave the base, then it's to be in pairs!"
"It's probably Sophie pissed off with him, so she's tracking his movements!" Blue Team member Joe Lewis shouted in complaint as he shook his head in frustration over the abrupt ending to his time off work.
Joe Lewis was met with a loud burst of voicings in agreement which turned the briefing room very loud, as the soldiers all turned to glance at each other, and they strongly voiced their consensuses.
"Or the IRA," Captain Wallace soon stated after a few seconds as he held a formed glance towards his frustrated soldiers.
The briefing room instantly turned quiet as Mobility troop stopped talking, and they turned to face their OC once more because of the implications of his remarks.
With the full attention of Mobility troop now back at the front of the room, Morgan proceeded to show out his hand, which contained a second GPS tracking device that was identical to the same one found on Cole's car.
"This particular device, identical to the one on the Sergeant's vehicle, was found on a PSNI (Police Service Northern Ireland) service vehicle some time ago. Not your average tracker and it's a rather sophisticated piece of equipment, I must say. We traced it back to dissident republicans," Morgan informed Mobility troop.
No further chatter or groans of frustration were emitted by the soldiers as they now paid full attention to the briefing.
"So there's an IRA threat to either nab (capture) or kill us?" Chuck asked, glancing at the two officers and Morgan, the Box 500 employee.
"Until we know more, that's the assumption," Captain Wallace said.
"What about the rest of the squadron, boss?" Staff Sergeant MacDonald asked.
"Until further notice, G Squadron is in lockdown," Colonel Wood apprised the troop.
The room quickly filled up with groans in complaint once more.
"What about our families?" Sarah asked above the noise, which soon stopped.
"If it's IRA-natured, they should be safe. But any strange gentlemen calling at any of your homes, have them, or your friends, phone it in right away," Colonel Wood commanded.
"And if it's Al-Qaeda?" Cole asked as the troop glanced in the direction of Cole briefly before they looked to their front to receive an answer to Cole's question.
"Then, gentlemen, we have a real fight on our hands if that is the case," Colonel Wood said.
"So will they when my missus gets hold of them!" Big Dan shouted back.
Laughter erupted among the entire gathering, and the sixteen soldiers, the two officers, and Morgan took a short period to calm themselves over the trademark comment from Big Dan. If one person would always calm tension down during a briefing by shouting a remark, then it was Dan, and everybody in the room knew it.
"All personal vehicles, and actually, every bloody vehicle on base to be swept for bugs, so we know how widescale the threat is that we're dealing with. We'll leave you to attend to your own vehicles, and we'll work on the rest," Colonel Wood said.
Mobility troop nodded.
"That concludes the briefing," Colonel Wood said, and he was about to dismiss the troop, but he paused when he remembered something else. "Oh, one final thing: Trooper Thomas?"
"Boss?" Big Dan asked, glancing at the CO.
"Your promotion is confirmed. Congratulations, Corporal," Colonel Wood said, nodding towards the soldier.
Big Dan shook his head, grinning at the news, as the briefing room turned loud with cheers of approval.
"God help us," John Murray declared, seated two seats away from Big Dan.
"We'll never hear the end of it now," Chuck added in, seated close by.
Laughter erupted inside the briefing room over the Scot and Chuck's remarks.
"I heard that, fellas!" Big Dan retorted, pointing at John Murray, and Chuck, and the three of them shared a warm glance.
"Right, that's all. On your way, dismissed," Colonel Wood finished.
Chatter inside the briefing room instantly picked up as Colonel Wood, Captain Wallace, and Morgan departed.
Meanwhile, most of the soldiers remained behind to offer Big Dan congratulations one by one until Blue Team departed, leaving Red Team in their own company once more.
"Well, I've only just got my independence from being stuck on base, and now I'm back confined to base once more," Sarah said in despondence, glancing around her teammates before she moped her head.
"I'm sorry, mate," Jamie said, and Sarah raised her gaze to Jamie, who smiled consolingly at her.
She nodded at him.
"Chin up, Sarah, you can talk to any of us if you need to," Cole added in, which was met by prompt voicings of agreement from the team.
Sarah sported Cole a weak smile for his words before changing her focus towards Chuck. He was holding a warm gaze towards her.
Sarah held his glance for an extended moment before they were disturbed by Big Dan.
"Right then, let's head out for a curry. I'm starving," Big Dan said.
"You and me both, fella," John Murray said.
"Same here. I was just about to head out with Sophie when I clocked the tracker, so I'm starving myself," Cole declared.
Chuck, Bryce, Chris, and Jamie all nodded.
"Right, let's go back to the barracks and draw our sidearms, and then we'll be on our way. Concealed carry only!" Chris cautioned.
"Yeah, we don't want the Old Bill on our back again, but armed ones this time, like the other night," Bryce joked.
The team, minus Chuck and Sarah, erupted with laughter.
"The Old Bill, huh?" Chuck asked inquisitively as he lifted his head up to query the remarks.
"You pillock!" Big Dan said towards Bryce.
"What?" Bryce laughed. "They already know that we all went back to Jim's because you lot all told them."
"Not in so many words we didn't, fella," Big Dan replied.
Cole, Jamie, and John Murray nodded.
"Right!" Chuck started, pointing at Cole, Big Dan, Jamie, Bryce, John and Chris. "I want to know all about what you lot got up to on Thursday night and what Sarah and I missed out on, starting right now..."
O-x-O-x-O-x-O
Red Team pulled up outside an Indian takeaway in Jamie and Bryce's cars. Bryce's car was deemed one of the safest cars to be in because it had mostly been parked up on the base.
Exiting the two cars, the team made their way towards the takeaway restaurant in an alert but non-panicked state of mind, as elite soldiers never panicked.
Each member of the team was armed with a concealed carry of their personal sidearms.
Arriving at the entrance to the takeaway, the team paused because Chuck started to talk, "I'll catch you all inside in a minute. I just want to talk to Sarah for a moment, ok?"
The team all nodded.
"Ok, fella, shall we order you both the same as us?" Big Dan asked, glancing at Sarah and Chuck.
Sarah and Chuck nodded.
"Yeah. Thanks, mate," Chuck said.
Big Dan nodded as he raised his thumb up to his close friend, and the team promptly entered the takeaway.
Once the team had disappeared from earshot, Chuck turned to face Sarah.
He smiled at her, which she returned, and he collected his thoughts.
"Sarah, I'm sorry that you're now confined to base. I know that you only just found your own place, and I know that the nightmares have been troubling you, so I'm sure this won't be a welcome return to your first weeks in the Reg," he said, holding his affectionate gaze.
Sarah held her friendly smile. "You're right. It's not, but it's not just about me, Chuck. You are all in the same position as me, and Dan, Cole, and Chris have already told us that their partners are upset, so I will just have to deal with it like all of you."
Chuck nodded. "Sarah, we are all in this together. You can talk to me any time you want, and if you don't want to talk to me, then you can talk to any of the other lads in there," he said, nodding into the restaurant.
Sarah nodded as her smile towards him developed further. "Yeah, we are all in this together," she agreed.
"And what did I tell you? I said none of them would care about us," he said.
"But what about Bryce?" she asked, breaking her gaze from Chuck briefly, and she glanced into the restaurant at their teammates.
"Sarah, Bryce is Bryce," he declared, glancing into the restaurant just like her. "There's only one reason he's jealous, and every one of us knows why that is."
Sarah returned her glance to Chuck. Nodding, she said, "Yeah."
The teammates, close friends, and lovers paused in silence as they held their gaze until Chuck broke it as he glanced back inside the restaurant briefly before he returned his gaze to Sarah.
With his actions completed, he extended his hand out, and he connected his hand with Sarah's.
Sarah darted her gaze towards their hands to query his action. With her immediate acknowledgement of what Chuck had just done completed, she glanced back up at him in shock before she gazed towards a distant object as her mind entered contemplation as to whether she felt his actions were appropriate or not.
With her conclusion reached, she returned her gaze to look at him before she tightly squeezed her hand against his own, and she began to gently brush her thumb over his hand.
They stayed like this for a few seconds until Chuck said, "We should go inside."
"Yeah," Sarah agreed, as they reluctantly let go of each other's hand, and they entered the takeaway restaurant to link back up with their teammates and close friends…
AUTHOR'S NOTE: Leave a review? Your thoughts on the progression of the story are essential to me. Without them, I wouldn't continue.