AN1 Well then… It appears that Jamie, and maybe the chapter as a whole wasn't very well received last chapter (lowest reviewed chapter, by a lot). However, I immensely enjoyed it regardless of if not too many others share that same sentiment. I guess that's the main thing that matters because I'm writing Who Dares Wins primarily for me anyway.
AN2 After 24 chapters of lockdown, we conclude the tense segment with a three-part trilogy with back-to-back assignments for Red Team.
Who Dares Wins
Chapter Forty-Six: Lockdown: Part Twenty-Five: The Killing House
Stirling Lines
Credenhill
Wednesday, 21 November, 2007
07:00 hours
Sarah entered her base's cafeteria for breakfast in low spirits. The weather outside was freezing cold with the temperature far below zero today. Paired with the extreme cold, today was exceptionally wet, as would the next few days be with Great Britain set to be battered by the winter storm quickly approaching the island.
In addition to the lousy weather—a mood killer in itself—the lockdown still looming over Mobility troop had been going on for about two weeks too long now! So instead of waking up in her own bed with Chuck this morning, which Sarah was very much yearning to do, instead, she woke up alone in a small cramped up room also without being able to have sex last night.
This is so miserable right now! I want the fun back in the job, which will come from being able to sleep in my own bed, not a prison cell in our barracks as the lads so infamously always put it! The barracks really are a prison cell for all of us! I've only known Chuck for closing in on two months now, but almost a month of that has had us living in lockdown. I want to get to know him free and safely out in civvie street without the threat of kidnapping or bloody gunfights like the one we almost had last night!
Sarah drew out a melancholy sigh before she looked towards her lover and adopted canteen partner to see if he had ordered for her.
He had.
Finding some comfort in the fact she didn't need to queue up to order today, she started to approach Chuck, Jamie and Big Dan as the intense rainshower bounced down freely onto the rooftop above the busy facility.
Arriving at their position, she moved to climb into her spot around the large bench.
Once she was seated, she shared a nod with Jamie and Big Dan in front of her before she turned to look at Chuck.
He was grinning at her.
However, not even a loving gaze from her newly acquired other half was enough to cheer her deflated spirits today.
"Hi," she said, attempting to force through a smile, but she failed miserably at the task.
"Hi," he replied, still grinning at her. "I'm guessing from what I can see that you're having a bad start to the morning?" he asked softly.
She nodded affirmatively.
"Do you need to talk about it?" he asked as his formed smile shrunk to the point he was still smiling, but now showing no teeth.
She shook her head.
"Wow," he said, amazed. "It must be a bad morning, beautiful, if you're having to resort to just head movements," he whispered, well, at least the 'beautiful' part of it.
She nodded again. "Tell me about it," she soon lamely mumbled.
Chuck held his friendly gaze at his teammate and his new relationship partner—while they were off-duty, at least. "Well, if there's anything I can do to cheer you up, you only have to ask," he said.
"Thanks," she said before drawing out an additional sigh. "But there's no point because the only reason I'm feeling down is that this whole Red Alert bullshit is going on for far too long, so the only thing that can cheer me up is all of us being called in for a briefing to tell us that lockdown is over."
"There is nothing I wouldn't give for that to happen, Sarah," he said with conviction.
Sarah nodded. "Me too."
"What's the first thing you'll do once it's over?" he asked.
Sarah glanced around her vicinity for the briefest moment to ensure no one was looking toward them. Satisfied with her observations, she returned to look at Chuck, bit her lower lip and said, "You."
Chuck suppressed laughter for a long moment, and he shook his head at her in amusement of her reply.
Sarah merely smiled at him for the first time this morning as they held their friendly gaze.
"What about the second thing?" he soon inquired.
Sarah looked around briefly again, then said, "Sleep… In my own bed. With you…"
Chuck smiled as the lovers held their stare from their positions just inches away from each other.
Once their moment ended, Sarah turned to gaze at the food in front of her.
And after a period of studying the contents, she said, "Thanks for ordering for me."
Chuck suppressed a laugh before he said, "Unfortunately, I can't take the credit this time. You know I will always order for you and help you out, and you know why I will do that without having to say it right now, even though I want to say it, but can't, because of where we are. However, even if we weren't you know what with each other, I would still do it anyway because it's a simple gesture, and you have done it for me too. But this time it wasn't me."
Sarah narrowed her eyes before she jolted her head to make eye contact with him again.
"Because I can detect your impending question, to save you having to ask it: I'll give you the answer instead. It was Bryce who ordered for you," Chuck declared.
Sarah's eyes narrowed significantly tighter than they were preceding Chuck's revelation!
Chuck suppressed additional laughter at her reaction. "That was my identical reaction when I arrived to find he'd ordered for me too."
Chuck's latest comment caused Sarah's mouth to open wide and her eyes to close tighter than ever. If she put extra pressure into narrowing her eyes, they would explode!
"He ordered for you and me?" she asked, gobsmacked and stunned.
Chuck nodded, muting further laughter.
"I don't believe it," Sarah declared in shock, shaking her head dismissively before she started to laugh in disbelief.
Chuck's muted laughter developed more audible sound cues at her continued reaction.
Sarah's eyes narrowed again as she stopped laughing and looked inquisitively at her lover. "Is this one of your attempts to tease and wind me up?" she asked.
A loving grin lit up his features while he shot his hand to the position of his heart and said, "Sarah, I swear it, hand on heart."
Now believing her newly acquired boyfriend because she knew he didn't have it in his character to lie to her, she still held her narrowed glance because she was in shock that Bryce Larkin had done something good towards her for what felt like the first time. It would take a lot more than him ordering breakfast for her and Chuck for Sarah to forgive him for everything he'd done to her, but it was a start.
"What's his angle?" Sarah soon asked.
Chuck shrugged as the lovers held their gaze. "I've been trying to figure it out, but I'm drawing blanks."
"Yeah…" Sarah agreed, nodding. "So am I."
Their conversation paused as Sarah started to eat the pastries and fruit while Chuck also resumed feasting.
After a few minutes of quiet, Chuck started to lean in towards her.
Sarah turned and arched herself to receive him, sensing he wanted to whisper something to her out of earshot of people around them.
Once he arrived, he whispered, "By the way, you look beautiful today. I hope I'm not overstepping professional boundaries. If I am, I won't do it again."
Sarah arched herself to look at him, where she donned him an adoring smile. "We're not on duty until Chris says we are. Until then, we can do what we want. If we weren't in this bloody lockdown, we would be having breakfast, just us, together."
Chuck matched her adoring gaze. "I like the sound of that. It sucks we can't express intimacy right now, but everyone else is in the same position. Cole, for instance, can't be with Sophie at this moment when he should be."
"Yeah," she agreed, nodding. "It does suck. If lockdown isn't over soon, I might find a new job that pays extremely well so I can retire early and move to the Mediterranean or the Caribbean."
Chuck grinned but teased, "Wow, Sarah, you want to be careful because you're turning into a real girl."
Sarah held her adoring gaze, but she moved to swat her lover's arm. "Shut up."
He held his grin and continued teasing, "Well, Sarah… I'll miss you when you go on that next adventure, but we had a good run together."
Sarah shook her head and refusing to allow her lover to wind her up, said, "You'll be coming with me."
Chuck suppressed laughter and said, "Don't I have any say in the matter?"
"No," she said dismissively with a loving smile.
Chuck grinned. "Oh well, I guess I can find something to do for work to make the most of a two-bed apartment in the Caribbean or Mediterranean, even if it's with you."
"Two bed?" she asked, her tone filled with mischief as the lovers started to flirt.
"Oh, so I have to share a bedroom with you as well? Now you're pushing it," he teased.
Sarah's mouth instantly opened agape, which caused him to suppress immediate laughter in approval, feeling very satisfied with himself for stimulating her playfulness, which he enjoyed seeing very much.
"Way to ruin a girl's dreams," she said, shaking her head at him but still smiling. "Ok, I give up. The deal is off. I'm going to Australia. Alone."
Chuck grinned in immense fulfilment. "Now, now, don't be so hasty, Sarah."
Sarah laughed sweetly. "You had your chance to come with me, but you blew it."
Chuck pouted cutely, which caught Sarah's breath at the immensely appealing sight now in front of her eyes.
"Aww! I guess I'll have to become the third wheel to Cole and Sophie again and think about what could have been between us if I'd kept my mouth shut."
Sarah snorted in joy. "They'll give you up and send you packing in less than a week."
Chuck winced. "That hurts. You're not nice to me."
"You killed my dream!" she said back, smiling.
Chuck returned the smile as they shared a loving gaze in pause until Chuck said, "I'll go and fetch you some coffee, but then I have to be off to spend some time at the kennels before we start our team tasking and exercises."
"You don't have to do that," she said, her tone filled with sincerity, a closed smile showing toward him.
"I want to," he said instantly without hesitation. "Besides, I want one to carry out with me during my dash to the kennels anyway."
"Ok," she agreed as her smile developed into a beaming grin before she snuck the briefest of touches with her hand onto his thigh under the bench, looking at him as she did so, to let him know it was her.
Chuck grinned, not flinching as he felt her hand connect against his thigh.
After a few seconds, Sarah retracted her hand, and Chuck moved to stand as she did so.
Now standing, Chuck soon turned and departed from Sarah, where he moved to join the short queue while Sarah zoned out in a gaze towards him where he stood.
After about a minute, Sarah broke her gaze from Chuck, who entered a conversation with his friend from the Grenadier Guards, Ryan Shawcross.
Deciding she would pass the time in wait for Chuck's return by speaking with other teammates of hers, she looked to her front, where Jamie and Big Dan remained seated two seats away.
Jamie and Big Dan finished their conversation after a few seconds and turned toward Sarah.
"Alright?" Big Dan asked.
Sarah nodded, pushing out a smile in reply, now feeling better than when she first arrived, and it was because of Chuck, who, since her first day in the Regiment, had never failed to not brighten up her day and make her feel better.
How he always made her feel was by far the biggest reason why she was falling for him so quickly. She certainly already felt more intense feelings towards him than she'd ever felt towards anybody else before.
And she was sure that those feelings would only continue to grow stronger as each day passed for the foreseeable future.
"Where's Chuck?" Jamie asked.
Sarah nodded over to Chuck's position, who was still in conversation with Ryan Shawcross, but he caught her glance and smiled at her.
She returned his action before she turned and looked back at Jamie and Dan.
"Can I ask you both something?" she said.
"Ask away, Sarah," Big Dan replied.
"Did Bryce order either of your breakfast today?" she queried.
Jamie chuckled before he said, "Yeah, mine was already here when I arrived, mate."
Sarah then looked at Big Dan, who said, "I don't recognize anyone by the name of Bryce, but just like Jamie, I arrived to breakfast already having been served, courtesy of someone going by the name of Speedy Gonzales."
Sarah snorted to hold in her laughter while Jamie was already at the full stage of laughter and said, "Fucking hell!" under his breath, shaking his head in amusement at Big Dan's joke.
"So that makes four of us he's ordered for because he did it for Chuck and me too. What's his game?" she asked.
Big Dan shrugged. "Your guess is as good as mine, Sarah, 'cause it's the first time Speedy has ordered for any of us, never mind all of us."
"Maybe he's turned over a new leaf, mate, and we'll all see a new Bryce?" Jamie suggested.
Big Dan snorted before he said, "Yeah, and fucking pigs fly too, fella!"
While Sarah scoffed sharply and said, "Yeah, right, Jamie!"
Jamie chuckled for a long moment at his teammates before he said, "Don't say I didn't tell you both if you get your eyes wiped."
Sarah instantly narrowed her eyes as she gazed inquisitively at Jamie. "You've said something to him, haven't you?" she asked.
Jamie just glanced at her and opted not to reply verbally.
"I'm sure I was the topic of the discussion, so I think I might have the right to know what you said to him?" she further pressed the issue as her curiosity to find the answer overwhelmed her.
"Sarah, with the greatest of respect, mate, that's between Bryce and me. I think we all know what the topic was about, so yeah, you were. However, I'll never repeat what I've said to anyone privately or what they've said to me. All you need to know is that he won't be behaving like a gobshite towards you anymore, and if he does, he'll be getting his head punched in by me. So let's leave it there, yeah?" Jamie said.
Sarah nodded before she changed her gaze onto Big Dan.
"Don't look at me, Sarah," Big Dan said. "I don't know what was said either, and I wouldn't reveal it even if I knew."
"I wasn't looking at you hoping for you to tell me instead," she protested.
"I know," Big Dan said, snorting. "I was just winding you up."
Sarah shook her head and glared in scorn at him.
Big Dan chuckled at her reaction when the three teammates were suddenly disturbed by Chuck arriving back with two coffees.
"No coffees for us, mate?" Jamie joked.
"What's wrong with the one in front of you?" Chuck asked back.
"He's a greedy bastard and always wants more, fella," Big Dan said.
Jamie chuckled at the comments from his two teammates, which Chuck and Sarah shared the humour with him.
Chuck then proceeded to hand Sarah her coffee.
"Thanks," she said in reply.
The lovers shared an additional warm gaze until Chuck said, "Right, I had better be off most ricky-tick before I'm late for our tasking, and Chris has my head."
"In a bit," Big Dan said instantly.
"Catch you soon, mate," Jamie said.
"Bye," Sarah said, her tone filled with affection, in conjunction with the look in her eye towards him.
Chuck then turned away from his teammates and hastily departed the cafeteria, with Sarah watching him until he left the facility.
X-X-X-X-X-X
Wednesday, 21 November, 2007
Noon
Chuck came to a stop outside The Killing House in a great mood. He was never one to allow bad weather to dampen his mindset, nor even the lockdown Red Team had been locked in for more than three weeks. Besides, suppose the extreme weather event occurring in the United Kingdom at this very moment had gotten to him, all he had to do to overcome the gloom was to think about the most beautiful woman he had ever set eyes on, who so happened to be his new girlfriend. Sarah was enough to cheer anybody up.
So, as such, in a truly fantastic mood, Chuck called out, "Come on, boy!" to Ghost, who was on Chuck's knee.
The owner and K-9 then departed one of the two tactical vehicles, which contained multiple assault ladders on the roofs of the vehicles.
Chuck was undisputedly the happiest member of Red Team right now.
The rest of Red Team promptly departed the vehicles, and the team of eight plus K-9 moved to link up together.
"You're sure looking chirpy there, Chuck," Cole noted, picking up on Chuck's excessive happiness compared to everyone else.
The team all turned to observe Chuck, and everyone soon nodded.
Grinning, Chuck deflected, "Of course I am! Because I'm thrilled and ecstatic that I'll soon be setting Ghost on Bryce again," although what he'd said was at least half true because he was very much looking forward to that too.
Snorts erupted amongst the unit while Bryce said, "You proper, horrible bastard!"
Bryce's reply caused the snorts to develop into full laughter for a brief moment until the squad put their game faces on and focused on their tasking.
Staff Sergeant MacDonald then started to detail the instructions of the exercise, "Right, we'll undertake a few activities within The Killing House with Ghost. Because we don't have any previous times to go on, we'll use our judgement to determine how fast we view our performance. We'll leave a trace amount of explosives in Room 1C for Ghost to sniff out and detect. On completion, we'll advance to assault the first floor where Bryce, while wearing this lovely bite suit I'm holding onto, will be the only live X-ray and Ghost will have at him."
"Oh, fucking hell!" Bryce complained, shaking his head in irritation.
Sadistic laughter in approval broke out amongst Chuck, Sarah, Big Dan, Jamie, Cole and John Murray, while Chris gave Bryce a formed glance and said, "Quit your whining, Laddie, or I'll take back what I said at the bar in Manchester and have you up for getting bitten a third time."
Bryce soon stopped talking, which caused additional snorts and laughter in approval from the team.
"Let's do this," Chris commanded.
Everyone nodded before they got to work on their preparations.
A few minutes later
Everything was set for Red Team to assault the Killing House with Ghost taking the lead, who would be let inside the Killing House first as a sentry in search of whatever he may find if the operation was the real thing.
Bryce, who was now wearing the bite jacket, was in position in Room 2B and, to his misfortunes, was ready and waiting to aggravate Ghost into biting him a second time in the space of just a few days!
"Right, are we ready?" Chris asked on comms, who had taken up a position as a decoy inside the Killing House, as he frequently did on exercise.
Chuck looked around briefly at his teammates, who were all in position. Putting his hand up to the transmitter of his audio device, he confirmed, "Ready."
"We go on three," SSgt MacDonald said. "3, 2, 1, Execute!"
With the command to assault given, Chuck pushed open the doors to The Killing House, detached Ghost from the lead attached to his belt, and commanded, "Building Search!"
Ghost instantly entered The Killing House, alert in search of any threat to the team.
The War Dog progressed deeper into the facility, and Chuck, Sarah, Jamie, Dan, Cole and John advanced slowly behind.
To the left and right just ahead of Ghost, were the open doors of Rooms 1A and 1B.
Ghost paused on arrival, sniffing in both directions but remaining stood on all paws.
He soon moved to peek inside both rooms, searching for hostiles and the scent of any explosive material. Soon satisfied that the rooms were clear enough for Red Team to do a more thorough search, Ghost continued with the team of six following behind.
"No sign of explosives in 1A and 1B, Red Two and Six moving to secure Room 1A, while Red Four and Five moving into 1B," Sarah reported into comms.
Staff Sergeant MacDonald clicked his transmitter two times in radio silence to acknowledge the report.
Arriving at Room 1A and 1B, Cole and Jamie entered 1A, while Big Dan and John Murray entered 1B.
Chuck and Sarah, meanwhile, continued after Ghost, who arrived at the end of the hallway, which split into the second corridor of the ground floor.
Ghost paused in the centre, turning to his right, where he came into contact with Staff Sergeant MacDonald standing outside Room 1D, who was unarmed and not in the bite vest, so he posed no immediate threat to the War Dog.
However, Ghost turned back to look at Chuck, jerking his head to his owner in the direction of Chris to alert Chuck of the presence of something in its tasking.
"Good boy. Building Search," Chuck whispered into the radio set attached to Ghost's tactical vest.
Receiving his new orders, Ghost turned to his left and continued out of sight along the hallway and past the stairwell towards Room 1C.
Chuck soon turned the corner after Ghost, who stopped outside Room 1C.
In perfect sync with Chuck's turn, Sarah turned right briefly, where she got her team leader in her sights, who was waving at her.
Cancelling him out per training rules for that action to always be undertaken concerning him, she instantly doubled back and closed the distance to Chuck, where the two teammates caught sight of Ghost sniffing before the K-9 quickly proceeded to sit.
That signal alone to Chuck was the signal of danger. However, in addition, Ghost turned back to look at Chuck while sitting, a clear and undisputable warning that explosives were present at that location, and indeed they were because Red Team had planted them during the preparations just minutes ago.
"Room 1A and 1B secure, rejoining Red Three and Seven," Cole reported.
Chris pushed his transmitter two times again to acknowledge the report.
"Good boy!" Chuck bestowed praise to the canine before he gave an additional command, "Guard."
Ghost turned to his front and remained alert towards Room 1C as the rest of Red Team arrived behind Chuck and Sarah.
Now ready to search Room 1C and find the explosives John Murray had planted, Chuck, Sarah and John Murray approached Ghost's position outside Room 1C.
On arrival, Chuck commanded Ghost, "Find."
Ghost instantly stood and entered Room 1C, with Chuck, Sarah and John Murray following behind.
"Explosives detected by the dog in 1C, moving to secure and locate now," Sarah reported.
Chris pushed his transmitter two times again.
Ghost purposely made his way around the room, which was made up in the format of a typical living room, as the canine's senses worked overtime to locate the position of the explosives, quickly coming to a stop at a sofa in the room.
Chuck and Sarah grinned in massive approval as they had each observed John Murray planting plastic explosives under a cushion of the very same sofa.
"Good boy!" Chuck encouraged before he changed his glance onto John Murray. "John, make that safe."
John nodded before he moved towards the sofa to remove the plastic explosives. "PE located in 1C. Securing explosives now," John Murray reported.
"Continue with assault onto the first floor," Staff Sergeant MacDonald commanded.
Red Team minus John Murray started to exit 1C as Chuck said to Ghost, "Come, boy."
Ghost followed Chuck as they exited 1C and Red Team waited as the K-9 and handler took the lead and started to advance up the stairwell, weapons trained up above as they moved silently.
"It's your turn, Bryce. Leave the room and provoke him. And if you don't do the job well, you're up again next!" Chris commanded sternly.
Bryce's teammates tried their very best not to laugh as they advanced onto the first floor with Chuck and Ghost in the lead.
Arriving at the top, they turned left when suddenly: Bryce exited Room 2B and came into contact with Chuck, Sarah, and Ghost.
Ghost became instantly alert, taking an extra special interest in Bryce because he was in the bite jacket.
"Guard," Chuck commanded as he lined Bryce up with his rifle, and his teammates behind him secured the rear.
After the command, Ghost's excessive interest in Bryce developed much further still as he started to watch him like a hawk.
"Oh, it's you again!" Bryce shouted at Chuck and Ghost, which caused Ghost to show his teeth.
"Guard," Chuck repeated his command to Ghost.
"YOU FUCKING TWAT!" Bryce suddenly screamed at Chuck and Ghost, unwilling to suffer a slow and torturous process of winding Ghost up this time, like a few days ago.
His actions had the immediate desired effect because Ghost let rip a deafening howl, and he bore his full teeth at Bryce.
And just like last time, Bryce instantly crapped his pants.
"Guard," Chuck repeated once more.
Snorts erupted amongst Bryce's teammates, who could only watch the performance with glee, just like the last time.
"COME ON! YOU BASTARD! I'LL FUCKING KILL YE!"" Bryce screamed again before he turned and instantly ran back into Room 2B.
Ghost let out a second deafening howl, but unfortunately for Red Team, today's show would have to end much quicker than the first time a few days ago because Chuck had no choice but to yell, "Get 'em!" once Bryce started to flee.
Ghost instantly gave chase, and Chuck and his teammates were hot on his tail as they flooded into Room 2B right in the nick of time to see Ghost taking Bryce down, fully biting into his arm.
"Here we go again! I'm sick of this twat with his teeth in me!" Bryce complained.
Intense laughter erupted amongst Bryce's teammates as they watched on as Ghost started to rag away at Bryce, an action which the canine would only ever do if his target showed additional hostility while already on the ground, so basically, Bryce's further comments while on the deck only made the additional suffering for him unnecessary, and completely of his own making.
"Good boy!" Chuck said encouragingly to Ghost as he approached where Ghost had Bryce decked.
On arrival, he looked at Sarah and said, "Sarah, secure him."
"With pleasure," Sarah said with glee before she moved towards Bryce and stamped on him, just as she had done a few days ago.
The laughter continued amongst Bryce's teammates, who looked up at them and said, "I don't know what all of you are laughing about because one of you bastards is up next time!"
The laughter amongst everyone suddenly stopped, except for Chuck, who continued to laugh and said, "That is an excellent point, mate. And I've already decided that the very next person getting bit will be…."
Chuck paused for a very long moment to add suspense as John Murray, Big Dan, Jamie, Sarah, and Cole each shot Chuck anxious glances until he said, "John Murray!"
"YA WEE BASTARD!" John Murray instantly complained with venom.
Approving laughter, mixed in with relief erupted from Sarah, Big Dan, Jamie and Cole, while Bryce erupted in immense, smug laughter despite still getting bit and he said to Chuck, "You're a fucking legend, mate! That was epic seeing all of them sweating for as long as they did! I can't wait to see how he likes it!"
"I know!" Chuck said as he continued to chuckle before he calmed himself and helped Bryce out by commanding Ghost, "Out."
Ghost let go of his bite on Bryce, which led to Chuck instantly saying, "Good boy!" and he moved to pet Ghost.
"Stronghold secure," Cole Barker said into comms.
The whole team instantly relaxed as Big Dan and Jamie helped Bryce to his feet.
After a moment of petting Ghost, Chuck looked up at Sarah.
They shared a smile before she said, "Great job, Chuck, you were amazing, and you're a natural at it."
Chuck grinned at her bestowal of praise.
Overhearing what Sarah had said, Big Dan said, "Yeah, you were great, fella, spot on. You and Ghost acted like you'd been together for years, which is a testament to your ability, and the bond you already have with each other."
Cole joined the praise of Chuck as he moved into his proximity, shook his hand and said, "Good job, Chuck. We're proud of you, and so would Ben and Neil have been."
"Thanks," Chuck said, grinning at his best friend before he looked around at the rest of his teammates, who were glancing back at him with respect.
The seven teammates were soon joined by their team leader, who entered the room.
Everyone turned to face him, detecting his presence in wait for his assessment on whether they were slow, sloppy, shit, or pretty good.
Chris soon nodded at his team before he finished his glance at Chuck. "You're a natural. Ben would be proud," he said, bobbing his head again, only this time, he reserved the action for just Chuck.
Great spirits broke out amongst the team, knowing their team leader approved and agreed with their assessment of how they felt the exercise had gone.
"It looks like we've found an outstanding canine to replace Reaper, too," the Staff Sergeant said.
Everyone muttered prompt agreements.
Once things quietened, Jamie said, "So, what shall we do with the rest of the day then?"
Red Team mused over the question until Chris said, "The helis are available. So we could do some freefall?"
The unit considered the suggestion briefly until heads started to nod.
"I'd bring Ghost with us because he's been trained for freefall as well. But I'm not sure it's wise to rush into everything so quickly," Chuck said.
"Agreed," Chris concurred with his team member.
Everyone quickly nodded.
"Right, let's pack up, and then we'll be airborne," Cole stated.
The team nodded a final time before they carried out the instructions and collected all of their gear inside The Killing House.
A few minutes later
Red Team were now back at the two tactical vehicles and was preparing to drive off to return the transports to the hangar and replace them with their two service red Range Rovers when suddenly, their pagers all started to go off in sync.
Excitement and adrenaline built up within the whole squad as they each removed their pagers from their persons to study the message from command, which read: Report to the main briefing room for assignment with MI5 as soon as possible.
"MI5, huh?" Chuck asked, glancing around at his teammates. "I wonder what they have in store for us?"
"Hopefully not more nightmare Plutonium transports with renegade soldiers and turncoat Old Bill all around us again, fella, or else I might just hand in my resignation," Big Dan joked, shaking his head.
Snorts erupted amongst the entire team as Jamie got in on the joke and said, "Any mission that has us involved in anything like that, and I'm fucking off to Tenerife! So, who's with me on that?"
"Agreed!" Red Team said in unison as the unit shared intense laughter before they entered the two vehicles, hastily retired the tactical vehicles to the hangar, collected their service vehicles, and departed for the briefing room to be further informed about their upcoming assignment….
End of Chapter
AN4 Did you enjoy the chapter? Is interest still here? I hope so. I could certainly use additional voiced support for Who Dares Wins to continue right now, after two low-reviewed chapters in a row. I would greatly appreciate those who may not have commented on the previous chapter to go back and comment on it now. I'd be eternally grateful :)
AN3 Next chapter: Red Team are briefed on their tasking, the mission takes place in the very same chapter, and it leads directly into a second assignment.