AN1 Happy New Year from Paris!
AN2 Whew, that was exhausting, but worth it! The update has taken some days because I have transitioned my writing from a passive voice to an active one. I have heavily modified the previous chapters, and the story should flow and read a lot easier for most of you.
AN3 Review count was absolutely amazing the last chapter, by the way. And as such, I will continue to be posting Who Dares Wins on a chapter-by-chapter basis at least until it drops to danger levels once more. So don't go silent :) Please do keep engaging with the story.
Who Dares Wins
Chapter Ten: Guardian Angels: Part One
Sunday, 28 October, 2007
Hereford
United Kingdom
Chuck found himself conscious and awake the morning after his extremely eventful evening with Sarah. Chuck had slept on the sofa last night. You would be hard-pressed to find many people that would rather sleep on the couch in their home, rather than in their own bed. But Chuck couldn't stand to be around Jill for a moment longer last night, so he had willingly vacated his bedroom. Chuck and Jill had gotten into yet another disagreement. Jill once more had replayed that same broken record of Chuck putting his life in the military and his army friends before her because he had spent the whole day with Sarah. Chuck had told Jill last night that if she didn't like it, then she should pack her bags because he had frankly had enough of it now. It had gone on for far too long— a year too long.
Raising his left hand to his face, he proceeded to use his hand to rub his sleep from his face. On completing his action, Chuck rose to stand from his former resting position.
On standing, Chuck departed the living room, and he proceeded to head upstairs, and he entered into the bathroom. On entering, he closed the bathroom door, and he locked it after him before undressing himself from his clothes. He then stepped into the shower to freshen and wake himself up.
A short while later
Chuck exited the bathroom after having finished showering, and his gaze connected onto Jill, who had departed the main bedroom almost in sync with him. She was wearing a coat, and she was carrying numerous bags, and she looked ready to head out somewhere.
Jill met his gaze as she declared, "I'm going to stay with my mum."
Chuck nodded. "Maybe it's for the best."
"Aren't you going to fight for me to stay?" she asked.
He shook his head. "No, I don't think I am. I have no fight left in me for this relationship. How you have behaved with me for the past few weeks has been the final straw. You aren't the same girl I first met more than two years ago," he declared.
There was then an extended pause, as the two partners gazed briefly at each other in silence and reflection.
"It was the moving in, wasn't it?" she asked eventually.
He nodded affirmatively for a few seconds.
"I thought it would help our relationship," she replied.
"It killed it," he declared, and she nodded.
"Yeah, it did. But we had our moments."
He nodded as a faint smile formed. "Sure, we did."
She smiled back at him. "I'll miss you."
"Jill, it's for the best. You aren't happy in this relationship. And I'm not happy with how you have been behaving towards me alone never-mind how you have behaved towards my friends for the past year," he stated.
She continued her faint smile towards him. "I'm sorry for how I behaved."
He nodded in acceptance. "And I'm sorry you felt neglected," he said.
"Do you think we could try again from the beginning without us living together?" she asked as they held their gaze.
He shook his head. "No. We have drifted too far apart. I don't feel the same towards you any more. And I will never give up or ditch my comrades that I have fought side by side in the hellholes of Iraq and Afghanistan with. I love and cherish all of my comrades. And I have loved you also, Jill. But there are now too many broken bridges between us that I know can never be repaired," he admitted.
"The way I behaved and the frustrations that I showed towards you and your friends was only because I cared about and liked you. If I didn't care or love you, then I would have left long ago without complaining or saying anything," she declared.
He nodded. "I know."
They then pause in silence for a short moment until Chuck broke the silence once more, "I'll drive you to your mum's."
She smiled at him. "Thank you."
Chuck and Jill then began to depart from his home, and they entered into Jill's car because Chuck's was still outside Sarah's, and he began to drive Jill to the home of her mother, followed by him taking a short walk to collect his own car, and he departed for dinner with his best friend and his fiancee.
-O-o-O-o-O-o-O-
The next day
Monday, 29 October, 2007
Stirling Lines
Hereford
United Kingdom
08:00 hours
Sarah entered through the double doors, and she stepped inside the cafeteria on her base. She had spent all of yesterday hosting her mother and sister who had brought all of her personal possessions over from London, and the three Walker women spent the entire day in each others company. When Emma and Molly did depart Sarah's new apartment, it was well after 9 pm, so it was very late considering the drive had taken Sarah three hours when doing it with Chuck just a few days previously.
Sarah moved up to the counter of the canteen, and she ordered some coffee. She then waited as the civilian dinner ladies began to serve her with her morning beverage. On completion, Sarah gathered it into her hand, before she turned, and she began to head over to one of the benches inside of the cafeteria, and she moved to sit down. She then spent the next few minutes drinking her warm coffee until she glanced at Bryce, who moved to take a seat next to her. On him sitting, she slanted her head to the left of her to make eye contact with Bryce, and she nodded at him.
"Good morning," he greeted her.
"Hi," Sarah replied as the teammates shared a warm smile.
"Good weekend?" he asked.
She nodded. "Mh-hmm. I moved into my new apartment and hosted my family yesterday."
"Oh, nice. I haven't found anywhere yet. I don't suppose you fancy apartment sharing? Bryce asked.
Sarah vigorously shook her head for a few seconds as she replied, "No, thank you. I like my own space."
And I would sooner live in a sewer than have you as my roommate after how you behaved with me during selection!
He began to laugh, and he nodded acceptingly.
Silence then ensued once more, and Sarah continued drinking her coffee for a few minutes more until she noted Chuck enter into the canteen with Cole. She gazed at Chuck, and he quickly fixated his eyes onto her to meet her gaze. They held their gaze with each other for a few seconds, and Chuck began to smile at her, but she averted her gaze away from him, and she looked elsewhere.
-O-o-O-o-O-o-O-
Stirling Lines
Hereford
10:00 hours
Chuck discharged a round from his pistol at a static target inside of the indoor gun range on base. Chuck and the rest of Red Team were at the gun range, and they were practising their sidearm marksmanship skills. There were eight cubicles, and Red Team were occupying all of them. Chuck continued discharging his Sig Sauer P226 sidearm at the target for a few more seconds along with the rest of Red Team doing the same when suddenly, Chuck began to hear echos through his earmuffs of rapid gunfire at one of the targets. He watched on as the target was ripped to shreds by the rapid burst of gunfire from whoever had just fired that weapon.
On the gunfire ceasing, he instantly abandoned his marksmanship training, and he placed his sidearm down onto the desk of the cubicle. He then removed his earmuffs, and he stepped back from the cubicle as his glance concentrated on cubicle eight to query the gunfire, which was where the rapid gunfire originated from.
Chuck continued in wait, along with the rest of the team now doing the exact same as him when Bryce appeared from view in cubicle eight and he was holding onto his MP5 that he had just discharged at the target on the range. Chuck and the rest of Red Team instantly began to shake their heads in disbelief at what they had just seen as Chuck, and the rest of the team quickly began to suppress laughter at the actions of their teammate.
With their marksmanship training coming to an abrupt end after Bryce's antics, Chuck and the rest of the team started to depart from the gun range when their pagers all began to go off in sync. Red Team instantly froze in place as their glances all connected onto their respective pagers.
"Finally, a mission!" Dan stated, elatedly.
"Amen to that! I was getting bored out of my mind with training, training and more training," Bryce declared, and the team of eight shared laughter.
"Yeah, I don't think it's wrong to state that we had gathered that based on what you have just done!" Chuck joked as the laughter of the team extended.
"Another day or two, and the bastard would have been using plastic explosives in here instead!" Cole joked, extending the laughter even further.
"Don't give the bastard any ideas!" Chris retorted, causing the laughter of the team to climax at an all-time high.
Red Team then departed the gun range, and they entered into two red Range Rovers, and they began to head to the briefing room they had been requested in.
-O-o-O-o-O-o-O-
Chuck entered into one of the briefing rooms on the base. He then moved to take a seat on one of the chairs along with the rest of his team. Blue Team were also in attendance. Both of the teams then paused in wait, until Chuck watched as a short five-foot six-ish black-haired, bearded male entered into the briefing room. Chuck hadn't seen him before, but he was wearing civilian attire, so he was probably an intelligence sector employee. Chuck watched as the short guy moved to the front of the briefing room near to a large projector hanging from the wall.
"Hey. I'm Morgan Grimes, MI5," the intelligence employee announced himself, and Morgan began to glance around the troop with a friendly smile.
"A male Box 500, nice!" a Blue Team member joked earning laughter from the soldiers and also from Morgan who began to nod and chuckle approvingly.
"Where's Jenny?" Jamie Hughes asked.
"Maternity leave, so I'm your new guy," Morgan replied.
"What have you got for us?" Staff Sergeant MacDonald asked.
"Armed surveillance and if necessary, direct intervention. MI5 and GCHQ have been picking up a lot of chatter on the net since what happened in London a few weeks ago. There has been a lot of chatter of copycats and wannabe jihadists wanting to emulate and to take a pop at us whilst the country is still reeling from the shock of what happened in London. In conclusion; Islamist extremists are planning an attack on a British soldier outside of their barracks in Birmingham," Morgan informed the two teams of their mission parameter.
Chuck shook his head in disgust, and most of his teammates began to do the same.
"How are they planning to do it?" Blue Team Leader Staff Sergeant Williams asked.
"The chatter is that they are planning a vehicular ramming and knife attack," Morgan stated.
"Who are our surveillance targets?" Sarah asked.
"Not people, this," Morgan said, and Chuck watched as a picture of a mosque appeared on one of the projectors.
Chuck and the rest of the troop immediately shook their heads in complete disbelief of their impending mission.
"Oh, christ, you want us to observe a whole bloody mosque! That's impossible!" Cole declared, and Chuck nodded in agreement with his best friend.
"Well, I heard from Jenny that you guys were the best," Morgan retorted with a wide grin earning satisfactory laughter from most of Mobility troop.
"We like you already!" Chuck said in approval.
"Heh," Morgan chuckled, and he began to nod as they shared eye contact.
"Aren't you a bit short to be a spy?" Bryce joked earning laughter from Morgan and Mobility troop.
"I kind of bluffed my way into the job, to be honest with you, but don't tell my bosses, heh!" Morgan humorously replied.
Chuck and the rest of Mobility troop once more shared laughter with the funny Box 500 employee.
"You're alright, mate," John Murray declared warmly.
"How many worshipers attend the mosque?" Staff Sergeant MacDonald asked.
"Up to a hundred," Morgan replied.
"Christ! You want us to observe the whole lot?!" Big Dan asked in disbelief.
Morgan began to nod.
"Yeah. Obviously, you can't observe every worshipper at the mosque. So I'm afraid you're going to have to pick and choose who to follow and hope that it leads you to the right one. I wish I had more intelligence to give you. They have been very good at covering their tracks. The only thing they have slipped as of now is their place of worship."
"Mate, you have no intelligence whatsoever to give us! Just a location and a target! We're going in blind!" Jamie Hughes stated in frustration, and most of Mobility troop promptly agreed with their comrade.
Morgan began to nod his head, and he smiled sympathetically at the entire troop infront of him before his gaze finished onto the floor of the briefing room. "I know. I'm sorry. I wish we could give you more. If I had it, then I would give it to you guys, but I don't."
"Don't worry about it," Chuck intervened. "We'll have to make do with what we have."
Morgan nodded, and he raised his thumb appreciatingly up at Chuck.
"Where are we setting up camp?" Sarah asked.
"Overlooking the mosque in a block of apartments. We have commandeered two apartments for you to use," Morgan replied.
"That's nice of you," John Murray stated.
Morgan nodded and suppressed a laugh.
"Right then, Jamie, John, Dan and Bryce, go and fetch the necessary surveillance equipment that we will need on the operation and then go and change into your civvies once more once you have finished in the armoury. The rest of us do the same and then meet back here, and then we'll depart," Staff Sergeant MacDonald ordered, and Red Team all nodded as they departed the briefing room to head to the armoury and G Squadron's housing section of the base.
-O-o-O-o-O-o-O-
A short while later
"So, what's it like to be a member of Box 500 then?" Chuck asked Morgan on returning to the briefing room.
"Not as fun and as exciting as your career. We don't even get to carry a gun as you well know. And I kind of bluffed my way into the job by making out I knew more than I did. I knew that watching MacGyver would eventually pay off. Heh," Morgan joked, and Chuck nodded his head approvingly with a wide grin.
"Heh! I wish that would have helped me with my selection when I joined this outfit!" Chuck quipped back.
"What, you didn't need to do any bluffing? That's easy, then! I might change my career and apply for selection," Morgan joked, and Chuck suppressed a laugh as he shook his head.
"I'm not so sure it was easy, mate! It was the most difficult thing I've ever done in my life and probably ever will do!" he admitted.
"How did you get through it if it was so tough?" Morgan asked.
"I pretended I had died for six months," Chuck laughed out.
Morgan winced. "Wow, buddy, that's rough! I am suddenly having second thoughts about joining, heh," he said.
Chuck chuckled approvingly as he shook his head once more.
"Would you have still have done it if you had known what it was like beforehand?" Morgan asked.
"Yeah," he admitted with a nod.
"Wow, you guys really are something else!" Morgan declared in amazement, and he gazed at Chuck with a look of respect.
Chuck suppressed a laugh and nodded once more.
"What about you?" Morgan then asked, and Chuck watched as Morgan was looking behind him, and Chuck turned his body to the side, and his gaze connected onto Sarah.
"What about me?" Sarah asked as her gaze shifted between Chuck and Morgan.
"I was just talking with," Morgan paused to gaze at Chuck as he didn't know his name.
"Chuck," he introduced himself, and Morgan smiled at him before his gaze changed to Sarah once more.
"I was just talking with Chuck about how he got through his selection. What did you do in yours?"
"I pretended I'd died," Sarah admitted with a loving smile, and she rotated her gaze between Chuck and Morgan once more as both men began to laugh.
"What's so funny?" she asked.
"That's what I did in mine too," Chuck replied with a warm grin.
"Oh," she said as she gave him another loving smile before she walked off to another corner of the situation room.
"Wow, Chuck, your teammate is supermodel potential," Morgan declared on being alone with Chuck again.
Chuck shrugged as he replied, "No comment."
"What, you don't agree?" Morgan asked as he quirked his eyebrows.
"Morgan, it's not that I don't agree with you. It's just that she's my teammate first and foremost. How she looks is irrelevant to me. She is an exemplary soldier, and she is one of the best I have ever seen, and that's all that matters when she is on duty, not her looks. If we harbour any kind of feelings or distractions while on duty in our line of work, it could quite easily get our teammates or ourselves killed," he stated.
Morgan nodded. "Yeah, I guess you're right. You guys are deadly!" Morgan declared, and Chuck laughed once more.
"Chuck, if I ever run into trouble, can I give you guys a ring to bail me out?" Morgan asked.
"Sure, why not," he agreed with a chuckle.
"Awesome!" Morgan declared.
"So, Chuck, this is a long shot. But, with you being a fan of MacGyver, I don't suppose you like Zork?" Morgan asked.
"You are likely to be eaten by a Grue," Chuck retorted.
A look of amazement formed on Morgan's face. "Holy crap! You do!" Morgan declared in sheer amazement.
Chuck nodded. "Yeah, I loved that game."
"It's probably stupid in the new millennia," Morgan started.
Chuck shook his head. "I disagree. The millennia belongs to the geek!" he declared with enthusiasm.
"I don't suppose you get to be a geek much in the SAS?" Morgan asked.
"Not really. Sometimes I wish I was in another job for the briefest of moments so that I could geek out twenty-four-seven, but then I remember how adventurous, and how exciting my life is, and there is nothing else I would rather do with my life," Chuck declared.
"So you don't want to switch jobs with me then?" Morgan asked humorously.
Chuck grinned before replying, "No, thanks. I'm very happy where I am!"
They then shared brief laughter with each other. "I'll catch up with you again, Morgan," Chuck declared.
Morgan nodded. "Ok, Chuck, cya."
Chuck then departed away from Morgan, and he headed towards Sarah, who was hanging lamely inside the briefing room.
"Hi," he greeted her with a warm smile on stopping in her proximity.
She returned his smile. "Hey."
"Did your mum and Molly come over with your belongings yesterday?" he asked.
She nodded. "Uh-huh."
He smiled at her once more. "Cool."
"Did you go to Cole's for dinner as you agreed?" she asked.
He nodded as they shared another warm glance with each other. "Sophie was asking about you," he declared.
"Oh?" she asked.
"Yeah. Sophie loved meeting you, and she said she can't wait to spend time with you again," he revealed.
The teammates share another warm gaze. "She is lovely," Sarah declared.
He nodded. "Yeah, she is."
They then paused in brief silence for a few seconds until Chuck broke the silence between them, "Uh, Sarah."
"Yes, Chuck?" she asked as they held their gaze with each other.
"About the other night," he started as he looked anxiously at her.
Sarah turned fidgety. "Chuck, forget about it. We both agreed it was a mistake and a bad idea on my behalf, and it was. I think we should leave it there with no more said about it, ok?"
He nodded. "Ok. I'm happy with that."
They shared another warm gaze with each other. "Great."
The rest of Red and Blue Teams then arrived inside the briefing room in addition to Captain Wallace before the full troop including the Captain and Morgan all departed for Birmingham to begin their armed surveillance operation...
End of Chapter
AN4 Next Chapter: Chuck and Sarah's armed surveillance mission.
Please leave your thoughts and feedback :) Did you like Morgan? What did you think of the breakup? Is that the last of Jill?