AN1 I'm feeling a little unwell so I'm publishing while I can.
Who Dares Wins
Chapter Twenty-Five: Lockdown: Part Four: Harassment
Monday, 5 November, 2007
It was no exaggeration to state that the past twenty-four hours for Sarah had been the most challenging and tormenting twenty-four hours of her entire military career.
Yesterday for Sarah had begun with severe psychological torment as her visual subconscious played out in vivid detail events she had seen in London a month ago. And from there, her day had only gotten worse...
The extreme shame and humiliation that Sarah had received when she entered the canteen yesterday… she never wanted to experience it ever again for the rest of her life.
Sarah would much rather experience the nightmares anytime than lose the respect of the people she worked with.
For without their respect, she had nothing…
Today, just like yesterday, Sarah once more received another salvo of whistles when she had visited the cafeteria a short while ago. Intensity wise, they were less ferocious than the barrage she received yesterday, which gave her some glimmer of hope that they may fade out altogether over time, but here and now, she took no comfort in that.
And then, to round off the worst twenty-four hours of her life, there was the issue of the ongoing conflict within her own team.
During a dispute, Sarah could not blame others first without considering what she could have done differently instead.
Yes, Bryce had shamed both her and Chuck—a guy she cared a great deal about—in front of many people. Not content enough with embarrassing the both of them, Bryce had also used Jamie and not even himself as a tool to perform those deeds.
As far as Sarah was concerned, if she never saw Bryce freaking Larkin ever again in her life, that would be just fine with her!
But that didn't mean he was entirely nor solely responsible for what transpired yesterday.
Sarah was convinced beyond all doubt that she could have done things differently to prevent what occurred yesterday. For starters, she could have kept her distance from Chuck at the pub on Thursday night while they were in the presence of the whole team.
If she hadn't put herself into that position in the first place, then Bryce, nor Jamie, or anyone else on the team for that matter, wouldn't have had the faintest of ideas as to how she conducted her personal life. Sarah had allowed her team to hold that leverage over her the moment she allowed herself to get close to Chuck in the same venue that Red Team was at.
So yes, Sarah very much believed that she could have done things differently and that because she hadn't done things differently, she had contributed a great deal towards the rift now present within Red Team.
Nothing anybody said to her would change her opinion of that. It was just something that she was going to have to live with.
Arriving at the entrance to the barracks housing Mobility troop, Sarah entered inside.
Sarah moved along the hallway, where multiple Red and Blue team members were situated and in chatter with each other. The soldiers paused their conversations, and Sarah shared a nod towards Big Dan and John Murray. However, she ignored Blue Team altogether because they had participated in the humiliation dished out towards her with the rest of the squadron for the past two days.
Arriving outside Room Four, which had her name placed on the door, she entered inside.
Sarah moved deeper into her room, where her gaze soon connected onto a box of condoms placed on the centre of the bed.
Shaking her head, Sarah puffed out a sigh before she instantly picked up the box of condoms, and she stormed out into the barracks' hallway.
"Whose bastard idea was this then?!" Sarah shouted in frustration, glancing around at the soldiers as she showed the box to all of them.
The Blue Team members situated out in the hallway erupted in laughter, while John Murray and Big Dan, the two Red Team members present, shook their heads in disgust.
"We thought you might need them," Blue Team member Kyle Rogerson said as Blue Team continued to laugh at Sarah's expense.
Sarah threw the box of condoms at Kyle Rogerson, and her precision throw connected onto the top of Kyle Rogerson's head.
"I don't think you're funny!" Sarah shouted at him, and she stormed to his vicinity as Sarah pointed at him in anger as she entered a very pissed off state over the continued tormenting for what she had done with Chuck.
"If you can't take banter, then you're in the wrong regiment," Kyle Rogerson said back to her, still feeling very satisfied with his and his teammates' prank on Sarah.
With a scowl on her face, Sarah stepped into the immediate proximity of Kyle Rogerson. "This is harassment, not banter! Leave me alone, or you will bloody well regret it!" she snapped, glaring into his face in anger.
With her comments made, she turned away. Sarah quickly stormed back to her room, and she heard mocking sounds towards her by Blue Team as she did so.
Entering inside, she slammed the door shut, and she moved to hit a wall in frustration.
Meanwhile, out in the corridor, a conversation was now occurring.
"What was that about?" Chris asked, departing his room to query the commotion.
"These tossers here left that box," Big Dan started, nodding to the box of condoms on the floor. "In Sarah's room."
John Murray nodded as he continued to shake his head in distaste towards Blue Team, who still found their actions towards Sarah to be highly amusing.
Chris, Jamie, and even Bryce, who had all departed their rooms to query the commotion shook their heads in disgust, though Bryce also felt shame because he knew that he had caused this behaviour towards Sarah, and he was now starting to feel deep regret for his actions.
"You're out of order!" Jamie shouted, pointing at Joe Lewis as he moved right towards him. Jamie and Joe weren't the best of friends because of previous disputes they had had with each other, which is why Jamie sought him out.
"It wasn't me, Jamie," Joe Lewis said, who was actually the only Blue Team member that had not been laughing at Sarah's expense, because he felt like he had a respectable understanding with her.
"I don't give a fuck!" Jamie shouted into Joe Lewis' face. "This stops now, or I'll deck the lot of you," he warned, glaring around multiple Blue Team members.
"Jamie, leave it," Chris attempted an intervention before the whole troop ended up court-martialed for scrapping with each other.
Big Dan waved off his team leader's intervention. "No, Chris, he's right, fella. And so is Sarah. This isn't banter; it's harassment. Leave the fucking girl alone. If you're gonna play these kinds of games, at least do it to Chuck instead. He's a man just like you lot. I don't see a box of fucking condoms in his room, so why do you have to do it to Sarah? Is it because she's a female and nothing else?" he asked, shooting a very unfriendly gaze around the five Blue Team members.
Kyle Rogerson scoffed. "It's not because of that at all," he argued back.
Big Dan suddenly stepped in close to Kyle Rogerson's proximity. "Well, it looks that fucking way to me, fella, alright?!" he shouted aggressively as he edged in even closer to Kyle's face.
Kyle Rogerson simply nodded meekly, and he turned nervous at the hostility shown towards him by Big Dan, who was scowling at him.
"What's going on here?"
Mobility troop turned to look at Blue Team leader Staff Sergeant Neil Williams to query the question.
Staff Sergeant MacDonald walked to his counterpart. "It's your lads, Neil," he said.
Staff Sergeant Williams briefly changed his glance between his team and then back at Chris.
"Are you going to give me any more than that? Because you've given me nothing," Staff Sergeant Williams said.
Chris nodded as he pulled Staff Sergeant Williams aside and away from earshot from Mobility troop.
Once they were alone, he said, "Your lads left a box of condoms in Sarah's room. It's too much, and I want it packed in now, Neil. What they're doing is bordering sexual harassment, and don't give me any bollocks saying otherwise."
Staff Sergeant Williams nodded. "I'll put an end to it from my side, at least. I can't promise or speak for the rest of the squadron."
"See that you do, or I'll take it to the Colonel for disciplinary measures," Chris warned with a stern expression...
O-x-O-x-O-x-O
Bryce arrived outside the door to Sarah's room. Taking a minute to build up the courage to knock, he finally did.
"Come in!" Sarah called.
Bryce pulled down on the door handle, and he entered inside. Walking deeper into Sarah's room, he turned to his left, and they connected their gaze onto each other.
Sarah shook her head, and she puffed out a sigh. "What do you want?" she asked, her tone unfriendly.
"To apologize," he said as his gaze hit the floor. "The grief that you're now getting is my fault, and I feel like crap. What those dickheads did to you just earlier was too much."
Sarah scoffed. "It's too late for you to take the moral high ground and to say what's too much and what's not. You're the one who told everyone about Chuck and me," she said, shaking her head in disgust at him once more.
Bryce nodded. "It is my fault. But I didn't do it to hurt you."
Sarah scoffed sharply.
"Sarah, it's true. I know that's hard to believe-"
Sarah interrupted him, "Impossible more like."
Bryce nodded again. "Ok, impossible. But it's true. I told the people that I did out of jealousy and because I felt insulted by the team constantly getting on my back and rubbing my face in it that you like Chuck and not me. I was sick of it, so I snapped."
"Chuck never teased you about it, and nor did I. You took your frustrations out on the wrong people. I'm more pissed at you right now than everyone combined because of what you did to me. You're just not worth drawing a reaction from," Sarah said with extreme disdain.
Bryce lowered his gaze over her remarks.
Sarah stood up, and she walked into Bryce's proximity. "We still have to work together. That can't be avoided. But the moment we clock off duty, I never want to talk to you again. If you attempt to talk to me, I won't be held responsible for my actions. You got that?" she said, holding a stern glance at him.
Bryce nodded. "Yeah."
Sarah held her hostile glance at him for a final second before she brushed past him, and she made for the showering facilities.
O-x-O-x-O-x-O
Red Team were gathered close to their personal vehicles, which they were checking for tracking devices.
Bryce and Chuck's cars were clean, and the team were now paying close inspection to Jamie's car.
"Shit!" Cole exclaimed suddenly.
Red Team paused their inspections, and from their respective positions, they darted their glance to Cole, who was bent over and inspecting one of Jamie's wheels.
Cole rose to stand while extending his hand to reveal its contents.
"Oh, bollocks," Big Dan said.
Now in Cole's hand was a GPS tracking device identical to the one found on Cole's car and the one that Morgan had shown them at the briefing a few days ago.
"Someone's really tracking what we're up to," Chuck said with concern.
Red Team nodded.
"Right, let's get the rest of our cars searched thoroughly and then bring our latest discovery to Wallace," Chris ordered.
A short while later
"Ok, ladies and gentlemen," Captain Wallace started a briefing to Mobility troop. "The good news is that our personal and our service vehicles are now cleared of bugs. The bad news is that with the discovery of this latest device, that's now two tracking devices discovered on our transports. That means, whoever is behind this, is going to great lengths to track our movements, and we need to hurriedly find out why before all hell breaks loose."
Mobility troop processed their OC's remarks.
"Have any other troops in the squadron discovered bugs on their vehicles, boss?" Sarah asked.
"As of now, Mobility troop, and more specifically, Red Team, is the only unit to have discovered a tracking device on their vehicle. Exhaustive searches are ongoing," Captain Wallace replied.
Sarah nodded.
"Ok. Great. So the threat is solely against Red Team. That means we can all go home to our nice cosy beds and leave them to it!" Joe Lewis shouted out.
Blue Team quickly voiced their agreements, while Red Team groaned and promptly voiced their disagreements. If they were going to sweat on the base, they would go out of their way to ensure that Blue Team did too!
"I don't recall you being the officer and being the one to give out the instructions, Trooper Lewis?" Captain Wallace asked.
Red Team and especially Jamie Hughes quickly laughed at Joe Lewis's expense.
"Well said, boss," Big Dan added in with a massive grin, feeling happy that Blue Team would be sweating just as much like him and the rest of his team.
"Too right, fella," John Murray said.
"Are there any leads? Anything at all," Staff Sergeant MacDonald asked.
"Nothing at all. We're blind," Captain Wallace declared.
Immediate groans erupted among the whole troop.
"Boss?" Chuck said suddenly.
"Yes, Corporal?" Captain Wallace replied, meeting Chuck's glance.
"I've been giving this a lot of thought since we all got pulled in. What if it's not actually IRA-natured, and instead, say what if it's something like journalists up to no good?" Chuck asked.
The whole room turned to glance at Chuck to query his comments, and Mobility troop plus their OC entered contemplation of the remarks.
"Be assured, all avenues are under consideration. If that were the case, the reporters would be violating multiple professional standards. They would be breaking laws, although their actions would be misdemeanours. Any reputable news agency would give them the sack for such violations, but some companies, I'm not so sure," Captain Wallace declared.
"Too right," multiple Mobility troop members said in agreement as the room mused over the conduct of some of the news agencies within the United Kingdom.
"Naturally, we can't operate under the assumption that the gentlemen responsible for the trackers intended to place them without intentions to capture or kill any of you. And even if they did not intend them to be as so, we have a massive OPSEC situation on our hands regardless," Captain Wallace said.
Chuck nodded. "I get that, boss. It's just, I'm concerned about how easily our operation in Birmingham ended up over the news. Obviously, we were followed during the operation by journalists. I don't believe in coincidences."
Captain Wallace nodded at Chuck. "Nor do I, Corporal."
"Plus, what the fuck was that black van doing outside the base?" Jamie asked.
"Your question is as good as mine, Trooper. We're tracing the origins of the van as we speak, which is providing us with some difficulty because the vehicle in question changed hands many times. It's our belief that the sale of the van was performed via the black market and not all that legal," Captain Wallace said.
Mobility troop processed their OC's remarks.
"That sure sounds like IRA activities to me," Kyle Rogerson said.
Chuck shook his head. "Nah, they're not that stupid to park up outside our base. They would know that we would have eyes on it the moment it arrived. That is something else entirely, in my opinion."
Most of Mobility troop and Captain Wallace nodded in agreement as the discussion continued on...
O-x-O-x-O-x-O
"I felt a lot of tension between your respective teams before, during, and after that briefing, Staff Sergeants," Captain Wallace said to Staff Sergeant MacDonald and Staff Sergeant Williams, who remained behind at the request of their OC.
"It's just frustrations over the lockdown, Boss," Staff Sergeant Williams deflected away from the present issues between Red and Blue teams created by Blue Team's actions towards Sarah and Red Team's immediate response to those actions.
"Don't take me for a fool, Staff Sergeant. There's more to it than that. I won't inquire about it just yet out of respect for your abilities to resolve the issue. So I will ask you both instead, what do you intend to do to resolve this issue?" Captain Wallace asked, changing his glance between both NCOs.
"How about a football match between us both, Boss?" Chris suggested.
Captain Wallace and Staff Sergeant Williams turned to look at Chris, and they entered contemplation.
Staff Sergeant Williams soon nodded while a grin lit up Captain Wallace's face.
"That is an excellent idea, Staff Sergeant!" Captain Wallace said.
"Boss," Staff Sergeant MacDonald said, nodding.
A short while later
"Right then, lads, Sarah," Chris started as all of Red Team stood gathered outside their barracks. "Wallace has detected the growing frustration between ourselves and those fine gentlemen in Blue Team."
"What's he going to do about it?" John Murray asked as Red Team listened in.
"For now, nothing," Chris said, and he let his information sink in briefly as he glanced around his team. "But he wants it resolved, and so do I. Which means tomorrow, we get to take them on in a football match."
Groans in complaint erupted among most of Red Team.
Chris frowned as he looked at Chuck, Jamie, Cole, Big Dan and John Murray one by one. "That's not the response I was expecting."
"Chris, usually I'd be all for kicking the shit out of them, mate. But we aren't exactly a tightly knitted team right now, and we'll need to be to beat those tossers," Jamie declared.
Chuck, Cole, Big Dan and John Murray nodded because it's the reason why they groaned in the first place.
"Jamie's right, fella. The last thing we want to do is embarrass ourselves towards that lot. We'll never hear the end of it if we do," Big Dan complained.
The team nodded. Big Dan's point was a good one.
"But on the flip side, if we embarrass them whilst we're not at our best, then it's them who will never hear the end of it," Chuck suggested as he entered immediate contemplation over his suggestion.
Red Team turned to face Chuck, and most of them moved to put hands to their chins in consideration of Chuck's remarks.
"He's got a point," Bryce said after a few seconds.
This time all of Red Team nodded in complete agreement.
"Of course he has, which is why tonight and tomorrow, we're going to be football training in preparation to give them a good beasting tomorrow night. It's high time we became the best unit that we all know we can be once more," Chris commanded his team.
Red Team nodded at their team leader's remarks, but not with as much conviction as they would have previously, before the events that occurred between them yesterday.
Knowing that his upcoming actions would help to ease a lot of the tension in the team and help restore cohesion amongst the unit that they would need in their endeavour to get the better of Blue Team again, Chuck extended his hand out towards Bryce.
Chuck then said, "Sounds good to me."
Bryce nodded as he smiled at Chuck, and he moved to shake his hand.
"Right then, let's smash these bastards, fellas!" Big Dan shouted with glee, glancing around his mates, and he extended his arms out excitedly.
Approving laughter erupted among the whole team.
"Joe Lewis is mine!" Jamie declared with a massive smile while pointing around his team to make sure they understood.
The laughter continued while everyone nodded affirmatively.
"I'll be having that shithead, Kyle," Big Dan declared, as the laughter continued.
Chris, Jamie, Bryce and John nodded. While Chuck and Cole stopped laughing and frowned because they were not aware that Big Dan had any issues with Kyle Rogerson.
However, they could not inquire because Sarah suddenly spoke, "What if I want him?"
The team glanced in Sarah's direction to query her intervention.
"Sarah, if you want him, you can have him. I've no preference as to which one I smash, so feel free," Big Dan said.
An elegant smile erupted on Sarah's face. "Thank you," she said excitedly.
"What did I miss?" Chuck queried, glancing around the team.
"He left a box of condoms in my room and said that I might need them," Sarah informed him.
Chuck suddenly raised his fist into the air in anger, and he clenched his teeth. Cole's reaction was one of frustration also.
It took Chuck a short moment to cool down enough to speak, and when he did, he said, "Right, that's given me even more conviction to smash these vile bastards all over the field! I want all of you in your best condition, and I want all of you to put your differences with each other aside so we can smash them all over the park. So who's playing where?"
"Defence," Big Dan said instantly with a massive grin, and he outstretched his arms in happiness. He was very much looking forward to getting physical with the other half of Mobility troop tomorrow.
Chuckles erupted among the whole team.
"God help them," John Murray muttered.
The laughter continued.
"Defence too," Chris said.
The team nodded.
Pointing into the air, Cole grinned and said, "Box to box midfield."
"I'll be midfield as well," Jamie said.
"Me too," John Murray added in.
Red Team nodded.
"Sarah?" Cole asked.
"Goalkeeper," Sarah said as a smile lit up her face.
"Fast and agile. Perfect," Chuck declared, grinning at her.
Sarah held her smile, but she aimed it at Chuck instead, and they held their glance for an extended moment towards each other.
"That leaves Chuck and Bryce in attack. Don't let us down, lads," Chris said after a few seconds.
Extending his arms out, Bryce said, "Let's have these bastards!"
Approving laughter erupted amongst the team, and they continued chuckling as they entered the barracks together.
Now inside the barracks, their gazes connected onto Blue Team in the hallway. Blue Team were preparing to depart the barracks, and they were walking in the direction of Red Team.
Both teams continued walking towards each other, and they traded glances at each other as they did.
"Alright, fellas? Be seeing you out there tomorrow," Big Dan—who was the first in line for Red Team—said as he grinned from ear to ear.
"We're looking forward to it," Joe Lewis said in reply, matching Big Dan's grin.
"Not half as much as me, mate," Jamie said, chuckling while he pointed excitedly at Joe Lewis as the teams came to a stop in the vicinity of each other.
"You lot have no chance against us. You're fighting amongst yourselves," Kyle Rogerson said, glancing at Bryce, whose face was looking worse for wear after his fight with Chuck yesterday.
"We'll see about that tomorrow, you prick!" Chuck said, glancing at Kyle Rogerson with extreme distaste. If Chuck and his team didn't have a chance to get physical with Blue Team tomorrow, he probably would have smacked Kyle here and now for his behaviour towards Sarah, which he deemed sexist. But he would save his frustrations for the match.
"Yeah. We'll also see which team Bryce will be playing for, too," Blue Team member Adam Carter joked, which earned approving laughter amongst Blue Team.
"I'll be showing you which team I'm on tomorrow. You're gonna get spanked," Bryce declared.
Laughter erupted amongst Red Team.
"Prepared to bet on it, are we?" Blue Team member George Russell asked smugly. Blue Team were feeling extremely confident in beating Red Team tomorrow simply because of the internal problems within Red Team, plus the fact that Red Team had a woman on their team, which Blue Team believed to be to their advantage.
"You know we can never resist taking your money, fella," Big Dan said back, and he glanced around his team to see if they shared the same sentiment as him.
It appeared that they did.
"Did we ever tell them how we spent their twenties recently?" Chuck mused suddenly, glancing around his team.
"I'm not sure we did, fella," Big Dan said back.
"I guess it would be rude not to inform them of how their money was spent. How many rounds of drinks was it? Can you remember Jamie, mate?" Chuck asked.
Clapping his hands together, Jamie declared, "Too many to count, mate!"
Intense laughter erupted amongst all Red Team at the expense of Blue Team, who instantly started to groan loudly and glance with distaste towards the other half of their troop.
"You bastards!" Kyle Rogerson said with venom, and he was promptly met with strong voicings of agreement from all of Blue Team, which only furthered Red Team's laughter.
"So how much will it be this time, fellas?" John Murray asked, glancing at Blue Team. He didn't need to ask any of his own team because Red Team would bet a million pounds if necessary just to get the better of Blue Team.
Mobility troop pondered John Murray's question briefly.
"Same again?" Staff Sergeant Williams suggested.
The two teams nodded towards each other.
"Even if they win, which they won't, they will only break even anyway," Cole said, chuckling, which continued the laughter among Red Team.
Blue Team immediately shook their heads towards Cole in frustration for his winding them up, and Big Dan also shook his head, but for a different reason.
"Fella, fella!" Big Dan started, glancing at Cole. "Not even in their wildest dreams will they ever get the better of us!"
"Yeah, Cole, I know you're my best mate, but I feel like disowning you for even saying what you just said," Chuck added in.
"We'll see about that tomorrow," Joe Lewis said with confidence.
"We're looking forward to it, fellas," Bryce said with excitement, glancing at Blue Team, but he then changed his glance to look at all of his team. "Jim's pub again tomorrow night to spend their money again then, yeah?"
The laughter among Red Team peaked at an all time high.
"Sounds good to me," Chuck declared, nodding as he laughed at Blue Team's detriment.
Red Team quickly nodded, and they continued in bellowing laughter as the two teams finally separated and went their own ways, each feeling confident in their abilities to come out on top of the other one tomorrow night…
End of Chapter
AN2 So, no Cole/Bryce, and no Ellie this chapter either. I really like teasers, but you have to follow where the story takes you (so maybe I should stop teasers). I am not in control of the story, nor are many writers. Initially, none of this with Blue Team was going to happen (except the condoms), nor was a football match against them going to happen either. But when I got to work on the chapter, that's precisely where it led me. The next chapter will be Chuck/Ellie/Sarah as soon as the chapter starts, Red Team training for the match against Blue Team (where Cole hands out his measured response), and then the game against Blue Team begins, and things get physical!
AN3 As always, leave a comment, please.