AN1 More Who Dares Wins. Events pick up in the immediate aftermath of the previous chapter. Oh, and happy 4th of July weekend to my friends from America :)
AN2 I understand that most Chuck readers are not interested in this fiction. It's a military story, written in the Queen's English, set in the United Kingdom, and most Chuck readers are from the United States. With all of that said, I know I won't pull outstanding numbers for this fiction. That's why it's important for those who do like the story to remain vocal about it with me.
Who Dares Wins
Chapter Thirty-Four: Lockdown: Part Thirteen: AWOL: Part One
Iraq
2003
Running late for an arranged rendezvous with his friends, Corporal Chuck Bartowski of the 1st Battalion, the Grenadier Guards, hastily departed a tent on his base of operations with a bottle of water in hand.
Entering the open air, he quickly paced to a small gathering of soldiers playing football nearby.
Arriving at the party of soldiers, the group paused their activities and turned to face Chuck.
"You took your time!" Lance Corporal Andy Wilson said, pointing at Chuck while grinning, "We thought you'd forgotten about us."
Chuck shook his head, unamused by his friend's comments, but a smile threatened to erupt as he shifted his glance between his four friends, Andy Wilson, Sean Miller, Ben Roberts, and James Prescott.
"Yeah, if your timekeeping remains that slow, you won't make it very far in 22 Reg, mate," Guardsman Sean Miller joked, smiling at Chuck.
"You cheeky bastard!" Chuck called out, grinning, as he lunged to grab Sean's hold.
The two friends spent a few seconds scuffle play-fighting until they let go of each other.
The close group of friends then proceeded to enjoy immensely the next few minutes of playing football together.
With their fun physical activity completed ten minutes later, the five friends returned to their water bottles' positions, each taking long gulps.
Putting his water bottle down, Sean Miller turned to Chuck and said, "I'm gonna miss you once you are dismissed from The Foot Guards for your selection, mate."
Chuck's gaze lowered to the ground briefly before returning his gaze up to look at his friends, and he said, "Not half as much as I will miss all of you, lads, and you know how much I mean that when I say it... but we still have a few months left of this deployment, and who knows, I may not even make it in selection."
"You will, mate," Ben Roberts instantly said with confidence, "If there's anyone in this regiment who can cut it in amongst the big boys, then it's you."
"We'll see," Chuck said as he smiled at the praise bestowed upon him by his close friend, who he had known since his first day in the army: he had known Sean and James for just as long.
"There's no 'we'll see' about it, lad," Andy Wilson said. "You had best do our Regiment proud and earn that beige beret. And good luck to the other Guards who are also going for it."
"How many of us was it again?" James asked, glancing around his mates.
"Eight of us in total put our names down and attended the 22 SAS SFBC (Special Forces Briefing Course) with me," Chuck declared.
"Ryan Shawcross has a great chance of cutting it, just like Chuck," Sean Miller stated, glancing between his friends.
The group nodded in agreement and then paused in silence briefly, with their topic now at an end.
James Prescott soon disrupted the brief silence, and the group observed as he bent down, took a handheld camera positioned by his water bottle into his possession, and turned back to face the group with the device now in hand.
"Let's take a piccy to send back home!" James said excitedly while suppressing laughter.
The group turned enthusiastic and shared the muted laughter with their friend as they moved into a line to prepare to take a picture.
"Fuck knows why we're doing this, 'cause no one back home in their right minds will want to see a picture of all of us topless without our shirts on and in just our shorts!" Ben Roberts laughed to his mates.
Sean quickly replied, "I don't agree, mate. We all know that Hannah won't be able to resist seeing Chuck without his shirt on. I mean, look at these gorgeous abs," and he moved to fondle Chuck's chest as he did so.
"Fuck off!" Chuck laughed as he instantly fought Sean off, and he got him into a headlock, which caused laughter amongst the five friends until they composed themselves.
They then had their picture taken by James before Andy replaced him as the camera holder so James could take a shot with his mates too.
Once the picture-taking was complete, Chuck declared, "Let's go to the canteen, lads. I'm starving."
"Great shout, mate," Sean said in approval.
The group of five promptly made their way towards one of the food outlets on the base, but they paused just outside the facility because their OC, Captain Ian White, had departed the facility.
The Captain instantly ascertained the group's presence, and he walked up to the five friends.
"Well, well, well, if it isn't the five musketeers?" the Captain said to the group.
"Boss," Sean Miller said, as the whole group nodded to acknowledge the rupert.
"All going well?" the OC asked.
"Fine and dandy, Boss," Ben Roberts replied.
"Good stuff!" Captain White said quickly, "I'm glad I caught you all. Corporal Bartowski, your section will lead a patrol at 19:00 hours."
"Boss," Chuck said, nodding, as their OC soon left the group and the five friends entered the canteen…
Present Day
Chuck was disturbed from his thoughts from where he had taken up a position on the wet ground near to the now-deceased Sean Miller, and he glanced up to look at his OC, Captain Wallace, who had arrived in his vicinity.
"Corporal Bartowski, a word?" Captain Wallace said, glancing down at Chuck.
With reluctance, Chuck abandoned his position from where he was seated on the ground, and he closed the slight distance to his OC.
"Boss?" Chuck said, his tone extremely depressed, while he was pretty zoned out and unable to register much of anything right now, feeling in an entire world of his own over the trauma-inducing events of just minutes ago.
Captain Wallace glanced around his immediate proximity briefly to ascertain who would be able to hear what he had to say, and he obtained that Trooper Walker and Staff Sergeant MacDonald were near enough to himself and Chuck.
Returning his glance back to his soldier, he said, "Never ignore a direct order from me again, Corporal, or you'll be returned to your unit, do you understand me?"
Chuck nodded, unable to give a verbal reply. Because, to be frank, he'd barely even processed what his OC had to say to him, owed entirely to his fatigued state of everything that had just happened, and his mental trauma stemmed from the engagement with his now-deceased once upon-a-time very close friends, Sean Miller, Ben Roberts, Andy Wilson, and his OC during his time in the Grenadier Guards, Captain White, laid out all around him.
Not content with leaving the discussion there, Captain Wallace said, "I may have to report this, Corporal."
Chuck nodded again, still unwilling and unable to give a verbal reply.
However, Chuck and Captain Wallace were interrupted by Staff Sergeant Chris MacDonald, who arrived at the position of the officer and soldier, and said, "Boss, a word."
The Red Team leader then pulled Captain Wallace to one side and away from the earshot of anyone else.
Once they were alone, the rugged Staff Sergeant said, "He's just had to shoot a mate because of this job, with two other mates of his also on the ground. Cut him some slack."
"Ignoring orders from a superior officer is unacceptable, Staff Sergeant," Captain Wallace replied.
Chris suddenly leant in close to his officer commanding to be one hundred and ten percent sure that nobody would be able to hear what he was about to say. "You panicked and lost your composure for a while back there. And all of us know it. The only thing he did 'wrong' was attempting to defuse the situation without further loss of life, at risk to himself. And I'll state it on record if necessary, so will all of the lads, and you'll be kicked out and returned to your unit," the team leader warned, giving his OC a stern-looking glance, which showed the officer that he was in no mood for messing about.
Chris held his firm stare for a final second until he turned away from the officer, who had nothing further to say, and the veteran Staff Sergeant proceeded to take command of the situation as immediate police reinforcements with blue lights and sirens began to arrive…
Several hours later
"Stop the car."
Chris, Sarah and John Murray, in the lead vehicle returning Red Team to their base in Hereford, turned to look at Chuck to query his request.
The team leader, driving the lead vehicle, soon nodded in silence before he turned to concentrate on driving once more.
Staff Sergeant MacDonald turned on his indicator shortly after, and he pulled the vehicle over at a service station.
As soon as the vehicle came to a halt, Chuck unfastened his seatbelt in the rear of the transport, and he quickly pushed the door open, where he proceeded to throw his guts up onto the surface of the road.
While proceeding to remain silent, every teammate of Chuck's glanced with concern at him from their positions in the vehicle. Chuck meant a great deal to everyone in this transport, to everyone in the car following behind, and actually, to a sizable portion of the whole Regiment, to which Chuck had brought great credit and service since his very first day in 22 Reg.
Nobody envied what Chuck was going through right now. Many men had broken for much less than what had happened to Chuck just hours ago, and even Chris, a veteran soldier of almost twenty years, wasn't sure if he'd be able to come through and survive having to kill three longtime friends of his.
They all knew he was already taking it heavily to heart, too, because this was the first time in a while that Chuck had been sick after an operation. Everyone knew he had become seasoned to the climb down: which was a mixture of delayed shock and adrenaline.
Chuck returned to sit in the vehicle after two minutes, and Sarah, Chris and John Murray were still looking at him with concern and empathy.
"You did your job, Chuck," Chris stated as Chuck met his gaze, "They were your mates, and nobody will ever take that away from you. But you didn't ask to be there; they did and were given an appropriate response from all of us, not just you. We're all here if you need us."
"Yeah, fella," John Murray started, still turning around to glance at Chuck in the rear from the front passenger seat, "It's not on you. You gave them enough chances to do the right thing and end things peacefully. I am gutted for you, fella, that they chose violence instead because now we're all going to have to live with that."
Sarah, seated next to Chuck in the rear, continued her gaze towards him, which had not left his person for much of the journey. She couldn't imagine what Chuck was now going through. At the very least, she was sure that he was going to need help and support for some considerable time to come, even though she predicted that he'd be unlikely to seek out that support, which meant that it was probably going to have to be given to him whether he asked for it or not.
However, she intended to do precisely that, just like he had supported her, ever since her first day in the Regiment and right up until this morning, when he had stuck up for and defended her against George and Gary back at Hinkley Point in what felt like a lifetime ago.
Chuck soon turned to meet her gaze, and when he did, Sarah's emotions started to overwhelm her because she already cared a great deal about him, and with each passing day, those feelings grew more intense.
Sarah Lisa Walker had never been in love before, but it was very possible that was changing right in front of her eyes, and she was powerless to do anything to stop it.
Forcing a smile at him, which showed no teeth, she said, "I'm sorry," her tone seeping with emotion, her eyes glossing, knowing he was in distress.
Chuck simply nodded in reply at her, with no sound emitting from him, save from a long, drawn-out sigh from his nose, as his mouth remained tightly closed.
Sarah wanted to yank Chuck into her arms right now, to comfort him, and to whisper to him that everything was gonna be ok and that he would heal from everything his former friends had made him and their team do in time.
However, taking aside completely how unprofessional it would be if she was to mix her intimate, romantic feelings towards him with her professional ones right now, they had both agreed anyway that they would never again display romantic intimacy towards each other while in their team's presence, so she couldn't.
After the problems and issues displaying their feelings towards each other had caused both of them the last times they had done it when they had passionately kissed while on the job in Birmingham in front of multiple team members. While their subsequent intense flirting at Jim's pub in front of the whole team led to them sharing a bed the very same night, which their team had covertly orchestrated and set them up.
"We need to top up on gas," Chris declared, unfastening his seatbelt, and he departed the vehicle.
"I'll join you, fella," John Murray said, quickly departing the car.
Chuck opted to remain inside the vehicle and was gazing ahead of him in an apparent world of his own.
Now faced with the opening to at least have some kind of private moment, Sarah paused in wait until Chris and John Murray were away from her sight before she turned her gaze to look at Chuck again.
Attempting to initiate eye contact with him, which was unsuccessful, she softly began to stroke his thigh and whispered comfortingly, "It will be ok, Chuck."
"It won't be," he replied, his tone distant and detached, still facing toward his front, "I loved all three of them, and now they're gone..."
Sarah swallowed air nervously at his reply while now also caught in two minds as to whether it was appropriate for her to continue to rub his thigh or not.
Making a split-second decision, she opted to continue doing it, convincing herself that she could find some way to connect with him: to begin to help him—like he had helped her with her demons in her first weeks...
"I know they are. But we're all here for you, Chuck. You won't need to deal with this alone. We'll get through it together," she reassured him, as her features formed a fully-shaped smile towards him.
But she was still unable to make progress and to make a connection.
Puffing out a defeated sigh—at least for now—she removed her hand from his thigh.
She couldn't blame him for not opening himself up to her just hours after an intense firefight that culminated in the death of four people he'd known for eight years, one of which he'd had to shoot at close range because he'd reached for his gun.
It was going to take time.
Maybe a lot of time.
But she vowed, here and now, never to rest until he was healed...
Stirling Lines
Hereford
United Kingdom
19:00 hours
Jamie pulled the vehicle he'd used to transport himself, Cole Barker, Big Dan, and Bryce back to base to a stop outside the barracks housing the accommodations of Mobility troop.
In the SAS, all soldiers had the right to twenty-four hours cooldown after a firefight.
And for everyone in this particular vehicle, and everyone who had arrived back a few minutes ago in the car that was now parked next to Jamie's service vehicle, they absolutely needed those 24 hours to cool down.
Just for the firefight alone, which was a bloody battle against a significant force of eight, with at least four being highly trained British soldiers, they needed the twenty-four hours.
However, when factoring in that Red Team had, had to kill said soldiers, even if they were offered a seven-day cooldown, it still wouldn't have been enough.
Jamie, Big Dan, Cole, and Bryce promptly departed the vehicle, each feeling mentally and physically exhausted.
The four teammates walked over to the position of Chris and John Murray—who each showed the same signs of fatigue—just outside the barracks.
"How is he?" Cole asked, glancing at Chris and John.
Chris and John shook their heads in sync, their facial expressions glum, just like Jamie, Big Dan, Cole and Bryce's.
"Not good," Chris said, "I've never seen him as bad as this. He's barely uttered more than two words since the engagement."
Nodding at the barracks just in front of the six teammates, John Murray said, "He went straight inside as soon as we got back."
"Poor bastard," Bryce said, his gaze hitting the ground in sympathy with Chuck.
"I don't envy him tonight," Jamie said, "It's gonna be bad enough for all of us as it is, but him… Fucking hell, mate!"
"None of us will be envying him tonight, Jamie, fella," Big Dan replied, "Now that it's over and done with, my sympathy towards those four lads has returned big time, 'cause it's finished. But for a lad who served with them… fucking hell! I'd sooner be tortured by the Taliban."
Everyone present nodded.
Big Dan couldn't have said it any better.
All of them would rather be prisoners of war and tortured endlessly than have to shoot their mates.
"We're going to have to all be there for him, in our own ways," Cole said, glancing at the barracks, "Otherwise, he'll be RTU'd (Returned To Unit)."
Big Dan shook his head. "Nah, fella, if he cracks over this, then we can forget about an RTU for him. Instead, we'll all be pallbearers at his funeral, fella, and I'm not going to let that happen to him."
Everyone nodded.
"So who checks in on and helps him first then?" Jamie asked.
"Sarah does," most of the team said instantaneously.
The teammates shared glances with each other.
"I'm glad we're in agreement," Chris said.
"There was only one answer to be given, fella," Big Dan replied.
Everyone nodded.
"He helped her settle when she had her demons in the first weeks. Let's just hope for his sake, and ours, that she can do the same for him now," Cole declared.
Cole's teammates nodded.
"Right," Chris started, glancing around all five of his team members, "Let's all make ourselves scarce for an hour, head to the canteen, and leave Sarah to get cracking on it without any of us getting in the way of them."
Big Dan suddenly pointed in endorsement at his team leader. "Good shout, fella…."
A short while later
Sarah departed her on-base accommodation, having freshened up and changed into civilian clothing.
After another intensive operation, in which she had taken another life, and no less than that of a British army officer, Sarah was more drained through fatigue than she could ever remember.
However, there was someone who needed her right now. Even though she knew he would neither admit it nor reach out to her for help: she would give it to him anyway.
And it was the right thing to do.
Because he had helped her.
Walking up the barracks' hallway, Sarah saw open doors everywhere she glanced.
Taking the time to check inside each door carefully to ensure no one was around, she soon became satisfied that the barracks were deserted except for one room.
Room Six.
Chuck's Room.
Swallowing air to compose herself, Sarah approached the only closed-door room in the barracks.
Arriving at the door, she paused in thought for a few seconds.
What if he's asleep? Or if he doesn't want me around him right now?
Sarah remained paused, locked in thought, while increasingly becoming nervous and uncertain on how to approach going about her first step to helping him.
He helped me when I was all alone and needed somebody to help me come to terms with everything that I've seen, heard, and done since joining the Regiment. And I think I can help him the same way too
Sarah soon moved to position her ear against the door, searching for any sound.
And then she heard something…
Then she heard it again.
He was crying.
And her heart melted because of it.
Feeling her emotions overcoming her, she pulled herself back slightly, took hold of the door handle, pushed it downward, and then forwards, hoping it wasn't locked.
It wasn't.
With no turning back now, she promptly entered his room and showed herself from behind the door.
Taking in her new surroundings, Chuck was sitting on his bed, with his hands on his cheeks.
He had ceased audibly crying as soon as Sarah had opened the door.
But as soon as Sarah had taken one look at him, she knew that there was a whole lot more of it still to come.
Turning away from Chuck briefly, she moved to close the door after her, where she clicked the lock in place.
Anyone who disturbed them before she left this room would feel the full wrath of Sarah Lisa Walker.
Now privately alone with him, her growing intimate feelings towards him quickly consumed her.
She suddenly paced with a purpose to his position at the bedside, where she took hold of his hands.
From there, she picked him up and pushed him into her arms.
"Let it all out," she commanded in a soothing whisper, "We're alone. I checked."
She soon felt his body tense against hers.
And then the floodgates opened once more.
"It's ok," she whispered to him as he cried into her frame.
She soon began to softly caress the back of his head with her hand, and she adjusted her head to plant the softest of kisses onto the side of his face. "I'll be here for you whenever you need me, Chuck. I promise that. We can overcome this together, beautiful..."
Next chapter: AWOL: Part Two. Any further guesses as to who will go AWOL yet?
See you in a few days! And as always, please review :)