Undercover
'I want a room that is facing the South Lake, with a king sized bed and I don't want my room number to consist the number 4. And I...' I half-heartedly nodded at the guest's demands and silently cursing him for his insolent attitude. Suck it up, girl. This was your career choice. I often thought of how different my life would be if I were to decide on another job, accounting maybe. Perhaps a doctor? Nah, too much studies to do, and I hated science since high school.
Too immersed in my thoughts, I sighed at my computer screen. I guess the irritated guest took it personally as he threw his cash deposit onto my keyboard. I counted to three under my breath and flashed my brightest smile at that imbicile. After sending him off my sight, I felt my watch on my left wrist and smoothed my finger over the latch that was hidden under the face of the watch.
A shadow loomed over the counter. I looked up to find myself staring into a familiar face. I gasped and instinctively reached towards my waist.
'Getting rusty?' He said. I was speechless as I tried to figure out whether to march a salute or to answer him without the honorifics. Well, I AM in my work uniform. And I don't think my colleagues are aware of what I was.
'We need you. Now. The secretary will take care of...whatever you're doing.' With that, he head back towards the main entrance and disappeared. Mr. Kim, the secretary came forward a second later with my manager and gave me an approval nod. I was still in a trance until I saw the previous guest coming towards the counter with an angry scowl. I guess he really wants to see the South Lake from his room. I dashed out the counter with Mr. Kim and hurried towards the main entrance without a glance back.
Once outside, I realized how serious the situation is. Barracks of armed soldiers are rushing towards the loading bay of the building right opposite my workplace. It used to be an accounting firm. But it went bankrupt last year and the building was left vacant since. Dennis approached holding a black bullet proof vest, a pair of black tattered pants, some Velcro body straps and a small briefcase. 'It's from the last call. Don't think you can fit into these, you've gained some weight.' He tossed all the stuff to me, expecting me to catch it all in time before it hits the floor with a thud. 'Shame. You lost your vigilance as well.' He picked up the small briefcase and sat on the truck hood next to me while I tried to get out of my uniform. 'Funny.' I said while slipping my uniform into a large zip lock bag. Don't worry; I've always worn tight shorts and singlet underneath my uniform. So I'm not violating any nudity laws in the country.
'So, what's the deal?' I asked. 'And aren't they rich enough to at least get me some new pants?' I complained at the black pants I'm wearing, actually it's more like a cheese pants with all the holes and cuts on it. 'I got my new ones at Uniqlo. We're not regulars; they ain't gonna fork out their budget for us.' He answered. 'C'mon, we're reporting in five.' He helped me with my bullet proof vest and strapped one of my body straps on my left arm. I opened the briefcase, took out the army knife and placed it securely into the body strap on my right thigh. 'Detonix MTX. Nice.' I flashed the handgun under the sun and squint at it. Oh yeah, imagine me holding this at the counter at work! Those idiots would know better than to mess with me! South Lake eh? I'll show you what a bloody South Lake looks like!
'Don't tell me you've lost your speed as well, Jaz.' He sighed as he quickly fastened another pistol, torch and more ammo into the body straps on my waist, left leg and right arm. 'I was just thinking...' I stammered. 'There's no time to think, we need to get this job done in forty minutes or else we're out.' We ran towards the loading bay in unison. 'What, like they'll revoke our license?' I asked. 'Yeah, and this will be our last farewell to your beloved MTXs.' He smirked. 'Oh hell no.' I said with determination. Ain't nobody gonna take away my treasures!
The Commander regarded us with his hawk eyes. Still, we fist bumped two of our comrades who we've always worked together with. Dennis went to the main table and picked up four walkie-talkies for us. 'Channel Five.' We strapped it to our back and placed the earpiece into our right ears. When we're done, we marched towards the Commander with a salute. 'At ease.' The Commander ordered.
'We were supposed to get twenty men over to the Kirk Prison in Burqeen. They were being brought over in two separate trucks. However, to our dismay, we were attacked by five vehicles on Causeway 52. One of our trucks was taken over by them and eventually they made their way into this building. There are thirty six heavily armed fugitives in this building right now, with only thirty of our men hunting after them. Not that I'm worried, but we're preparing for the worst case scenario. We suspect they held explosives, which is why we are beginning to evacuate this area.' The Commander paused. Looking at each of us directly into our eyes.
'You're the last team we have. As usual, it will be just the four of you.' The Commander said. 'We received an encrypted message from this building at 1311. Six hostages were held on the 25th floor, four women and two men. One of them is our former comrade. Your call is to see these hostages come out alive from this building. Do not, I repeat, do not engage in physical combat with the fugitives. The lives of these six hostages are your priority. Do you understand?'
'Yes, sir!'
The Commander nodded. 'I know we've promised to honor peace in your lives after your successful mission in Larken two years ago. But we must also know, once a soldier, always a soldier. And as much as I hated to say this, we need you for this job, big time.' He regarded us again. 'Most of our teams are out of the country for national missions. None other than the thirty men I have in there is close enough to participate in this mission. And it is my greatest regret to resurrect the four of you again, let's hope this would be the last one.'
'Attention!' With that order, we saluted the Commander.
'You are considered off time soldiers.' The Commander paused. 'Just bear in mind: Be valiant, be smart, be quick and always...be careful.' The Commander turned his back towards us, but we stood still. 'What are you waiting for? Go!'
'But where's the honorary speech of the event where we did not make it out alive and such?' I asked.
'Oh, you'll make it out. You'll all make it out alive. Because you guys owed me one.' He smiled.
With that, we ran towards the emergency staircase with a big smile. Yeah. I guess we owed you that much, Sir.
With speed, we moved up to the 10th floor in no time. The rest of the troops are covering our tracks and defending us from the front and back. But we still are on our highest alert with that many blind spots in the building. Dennis was leading us, listening to the slightest sound of light footsteps on every level. I looked at the elevators on the far end of the corridor. It's not gonna be so heroic to rescue the hostages with a 'ding' on the elevator. Plus it's too risky. We continued to move upwards with our backups. But as expected, we encountered a major ambush on the 16th floor. We're on our own since then.
Getting to the 25th floor was our priority, so we scouted around the staircase without a good look of the situation on every level. One of us will take care of the front, making sure the perimeter is clear before the rest of us move on to the next level. Another one will defend our backs, just in case someone decided to attack us. With that sequence, we took turns to be the lead and the defense. We reached the 21st floor with no difficulty; well at least we thought so. We heard a loud clink on our far left, and then smoke started to surround us. Intuitively we reached to our backs to get the gas mask, only to realize we were not equipped with it. We put away our handgun and took out our army knives.
Heavy footsteps can be heard descending from above, we moved away from the stairs and went left. Yeah, right into the fugitives who set free the smoke screen. Surprisingly there were only two of them standing by the area. They were stunned seeing us rushing towards them; I guess they thought we would move to the opposite direction of the smoke. Dennis and Paul stabbed them in the thighs and hit them hard on the head with the hilt.
'Do not engage in physical combat with the fugitives.' That's what the Commander said.
Charles and I undid the ropes from our shoulders and made a dead knot around the nearest pillars from the window. Without hesitation, we broke the window with the biggest rocks we could find and threw the other end of the rope down the building. Holding on to the rope, the two of us jumped down the building with our handguns. We slipped past two floors and shot the windows thrice. We broke the window using our body inertia and landed on one knee. I pointed my muzzle at the staircase and took aim while Charles quickly scanned the area. Dennis and Paul swung in right after us and cut the rope behind them. We made way towards the elevator while Dennis and Paul frantically gathered the rope into a loop and hung it back over their shoulders. Charles and Paul forced the elevator door open whilst Dennis and I kept watch. After making sure the elevator box is not hanging above us, we stepped onto the sides of the elevator shaft gingerly and shut the door tight.
Paul and Charles are our best climbers, so they head up first. Fortunately the shaft has support metals on each floor, which helped us move upwards steadily. I stopped at the 23rd floor to catch my breath. My hands are sore from gripping on the metals and I started to tremble with exhaustion. 'You alright?' Charles asked from above. 'Yeah.' I sighed. 'Better than I thought I would be.' I joked. Dennis moved over to my side and tied onto my waist with the rope around him. 'Just in case.' he said. 'Let's get going.' He commands as he started climbing upwards again. I followed closely, trying my best not to think how sweaty my hands are. 'Higher.' Dennis whispered as we finally reached the 25th floor. Our walkie came to live with reports that the rest of the troops are closing in from below. They've conquered the first 20 floors with twenty-one fugitives in cuffs. That leaves us with another fifteen of them.
After we positioned ourselves in the shaft on the 27th floor, we unlatched our watches and pressed on the button under the face of the watch. It serves as a GPS device that shows the Commander our current position and also acts as an indicator that we're going in for the kill. Dennis and Charles grabbed the elevator door open and we rushed in with a quick analysis of the place. The entire floor was vacant with empty cases of magazines on the floor. They must have left hurriedly to support their team downstairs. We snaked around the stairs again towards the 25th. We paused on the 26th to make sure there's no ambush. Well, it's getting a little too easy. Maybe those fugitives are amateurs. But the fact that they could take down two army trucks to rescue the prisoners, we'd better not underestimate them.
It was awfully quiet on the 25th floor. Except a few muffled cries from the distance, there isn't any evidence of people guarding the floor. We slowly edged along the walls towards the opening with our handguns. On the silent count of three, Paul and I turned our backs with speed and aimed towards the opposite directions from each other. I was expecting at least five fugitives on guard duty but only the six hostages stared back in horror. Their hands were tied behind their backs with a masking tape over their mouths. After a quick scan of the place, I announced 'Clear. All hostages safe in sight,' Paul answered 'Clear' as well. But he proceeded cautiously to that direction in search of any hidden gunmen with Charles. I stood my stance while they carry on their duty. Dennis stood by me to defend me from behind. A moment later, Paul and Charles came back and nodded to indicate the other half of the area is safe.
Dennis and Paul acted as our defense at the staircase. Charles and I approached the hostages with our backs towards each other. We parted awhile to check on the blind spots of the area. Safe. No fugitives were found hiding anywhere. We head back towards the hostages. As we got closer to them, I realized they all looked vaguely familiar to me. Without the chance to dig deep into my memory, five of them stood up abruptly. There were no ropes restraining their hands as they are currently aiming their pistols at us. For a whole ten seconds, we were just pointing our guns at each other. Four versus five. Then it came back to me. Two years ago, Larken. Those were the same people we fought against, and with the same stance, same weapon. Only this time, we're the ones who got outnumbered.
'I realized we never had the chance to introduce ourselves properly.' The lady in red said.
We kept quiet.
'I'm sorry guys, they made me do this. They had my daughter. I had to...' The only guy who was seated on the floor spoke up. I wasn't sure who he was. But from Dennis' s expression, I guess he was the former comrade that Commander mentioned.
'Oh don't be so dramatic. All you did was just to send a message to the army. And all we did was to destroy the telecommunication service at the rubbish camp your daughter was enrolled into. We never had your daughter in our hands; it only takes a worrisome parent to make our plan work beautifully. Surprised? Don't be. We have more ahead of us.' The lady said.
We said nothing as the former comrade tried to tackle the buff fugitive nearest to him. All it need was a firm kick to his chest and he was knocked out cold. I wondered how long he had been kept captive with them. We continued to stare down each other until Dennis spoke up. 'What do you want?'
They smirked. 'We want revenge. Isn't it obvious?' The lady in red put down her gun. She walked towards Charles but stood out of his reach. She regarded Charles with a smile and asked 'Your girl?'. She nodded towards me. I glared at her long enough to make her turn her attention to me, 'Spicy. Good guys should never date a girl who handles guns, you know?' She said again.
From the corner of my eyes, I saw Dennis and Charles exchanged glances. It's four versus four now. Well, if we only count the ones who're aiming guns. 'Cut to the chase, what are your conditions?' I asked. The lady threw her head back and laughed. Now. Dennis, Charles and Paul each fired a shot towards the fugitives in front of them. Dennis fired another shot towards the one aiming at me. But it was a second too late when the fugitive fired two bullets into my left shoulder. The first one was held back by my vest, but the second one that followed close penetrated the same spot and got me.
It happened so fast, the lady was still in the midst of her laughter. Charles stepped in and hit the gun off the lady's hand. With his swift kick, the lady lost her balance and tumbled on the floor. Charles pressed on her and searched her body; he fished out two army knives from under her shirt and threw off her shoes. In three minutes, all the fugitives were tied separately with their hands above them and shoeless. 'You know you'd need to figure our your weaknesses before seeking revenge. Cause you just lost to the same reason two years ago: You talked too much.' Dennis said before announcing our situation to the Commander.
Seconds later, our troops came dashing in and cuffed the fugitives. Paul examined my wound and declared that I'm good to go. Well that means I can wait until I reach the medics outside. We made our way out from the building to find policemen buzzing around the streets with confused looking pedestrians. We head back to the base - which is the loading bay, and waited for the Commander. The medic was fixing my shoulder when the Commander approached. He gestured us to stay seated on the floor and squatted next to us.
'I guess we owe you an apology.' The Commander said as the medic plucked the bullet out of my shoulder. I winced as the medic tried to stop the bleeding with some sort of torturing powder that seems to be meant for death sentences. 'We should know better. Well, they knew better. With such minimal amount of soldiers available, they knew we will be extracting our retired ones.' He looked down at his boots and sighed. 'Not bad for your first combat in two years eh?' He patted Paul at the back. We smiled at his comment and relaxed our shoulders.
The Commander passed a document to us and waited. Dennis opened the file and handed us a copy of the report each. It states the evidence of the fugitives trespassing into the country, and showed pictures of their hide outs. There were miniature copies of blueprints of the army base, the palace and our workplace. I'll admit it. I was shocked to see those blueprints. It either meant they are experts in hacking into the government system, or it meant we had spies.
'That's all I could show you without violating the army's confidentiality. And on behalf of our government, I would like to express my greatest appreciation for your participation in this mission, and having successfully retrieved our hostage.' He motioned towards the former comrade who was being interrogated and treated at the same time. 'Now, run along. You can now get back to your work positions.' He stood up and took back the reports.
'What? Can't you at least get us a day off work?' I exclaimed while looking at the others for support. The Commander laughed. 'No. You won't get paid lazing around, my dear.' He winked as I grumbled. 'Our tradition is still going on right?' Charles asked. 'Yeah.' The Commander answered. '2200 hours. My place. Bring you own booze.' With that being said, he gave a salute and left. We returned the honor and stood still until he's out of sight.
Now the worst part of my day begins...Work.
Too immersed in my thoughts, I sighed at my computer screen. I guess the irritated guest took it personally as he threw his cash deposit onto my keyboard. I counted to three under my breath and flashed my brightest smile at that imbicile. After sending him off my sight, I felt my watch on my left wrist and smoothed my finger over the latch that was hidden under the face of the watch.
A shadow loomed over the counter. I looked up to find myself staring into a familiar face. I gasped and instinctively reached towards my waist.
'Getting rusty?' He said. I was speechless as I tried to figure out whether to march a salute or to answer him without the honorifics. Well, I AM in my work uniform. And I don't think my colleagues are aware of what I was.
'We need you. Now. The secretary will take care of...whatever you're doing.' With that, he head back towards the main entrance and disappeared. Mr. Kim, the secretary came forward a second later with my manager and gave me an approval nod. I was still in a trance until I saw the previous guest coming towards the counter with an angry scowl. I guess he really wants to see the South Lake from his room. I dashed out the counter with Mr. Kim and hurried towards the main entrance without a glance back.
Once outside, I realized how serious the situation is. Barracks of armed soldiers are rushing towards the loading bay of the building right opposite my workplace. It used to be an accounting firm. But it went bankrupt last year and the building was left vacant since. Dennis approached holding a black bullet proof vest, a pair of black tattered pants, some Velcro body straps and a small briefcase. 'It's from the last call. Don't think you can fit into these, you've gained some weight.' He tossed all the stuff to me, expecting me to catch it all in time before it hits the floor with a thud. 'Shame. You lost your vigilance as well.' He picked up the small briefcase and sat on the truck hood next to me while I tried to get out of my uniform. 'Funny.' I said while slipping my uniform into a large zip lock bag. Don't worry; I've always worn tight shorts and singlet underneath my uniform. So I'm not violating any nudity laws in the country.
'So, what's the deal?' I asked. 'And aren't they rich enough to at least get me some new pants?' I complained at the black pants I'm wearing, actually it's more like a cheese pants with all the holes and cuts on it. 'I got my new ones at Uniqlo. We're not regulars; they ain't gonna fork out their budget for us.' He answered. 'C'mon, we're reporting in five.' He helped me with my bullet proof vest and strapped one of my body straps on my left arm. I opened the briefcase, took out the army knife and placed it securely into the body strap on my right thigh. 'Detonix MTX. Nice.' I flashed the handgun under the sun and squint at it. Oh yeah, imagine me holding this at the counter at work! Those idiots would know better than to mess with me! South Lake eh? I'll show you what a bloody South Lake looks like!
'Don't tell me you've lost your speed as well, Jaz.' He sighed as he quickly fastened another pistol, torch and more ammo into the body straps on my waist, left leg and right arm. 'I was just thinking...' I stammered. 'There's no time to think, we need to get this job done in forty minutes or else we're out.' We ran towards the loading bay in unison. 'What, like they'll revoke our license?' I asked. 'Yeah, and this will be our last farewell to your beloved MTXs.' He smirked. 'Oh hell no.' I said with determination. Ain't nobody gonna take away my treasures!
The Commander regarded us with his hawk eyes. Still, we fist bumped two of our comrades who we've always worked together with. Dennis went to the main table and picked up four walkie-talkies for us. 'Channel Five.' We strapped it to our back and placed the earpiece into our right ears. When we're done, we marched towards the Commander with a salute. 'At ease.' The Commander ordered.
'We were supposed to get twenty men over to the Kirk Prison in Burqeen. They were being brought over in two separate trucks. However, to our dismay, we were attacked by five vehicles on Causeway 52. One of our trucks was taken over by them and eventually they made their way into this building. There are thirty six heavily armed fugitives in this building right now, with only thirty of our men hunting after them. Not that I'm worried, but we're preparing for the worst case scenario. We suspect they held explosives, which is why we are beginning to evacuate this area.' The Commander paused. Looking at each of us directly into our eyes.
'You're the last team we have. As usual, it will be just the four of you.' The Commander said. 'We received an encrypted message from this building at 1311. Six hostages were held on the 25th floor, four women and two men. One of them is our former comrade. Your call is to see these hostages come out alive from this building. Do not, I repeat, do not engage in physical combat with the fugitives. The lives of these six hostages are your priority. Do you understand?'
'Yes, sir!'
The Commander nodded. 'I know we've promised to honor peace in your lives after your successful mission in Larken two years ago. But we must also know, once a soldier, always a soldier. And as much as I hated to say this, we need you for this job, big time.' He regarded us again. 'Most of our teams are out of the country for national missions. None other than the thirty men I have in there is close enough to participate in this mission. And it is my greatest regret to resurrect the four of you again, let's hope this would be the last one.'
'Attention!' With that order, we saluted the Commander.
'You are considered off time soldiers.' The Commander paused. 'Just bear in mind: Be valiant, be smart, be quick and always...be careful.' The Commander turned his back towards us, but we stood still. 'What are you waiting for? Go!'
'But where's the honorary speech of the event where we did not make it out alive and such?' I asked.
'Oh, you'll make it out. You'll all make it out alive. Because you guys owed me one.' He smiled.
With that, we ran towards the emergency staircase with a big smile. Yeah. I guess we owed you that much, Sir.
With speed, we moved up to the 10th floor in no time. The rest of the troops are covering our tracks and defending us from the front and back. But we still are on our highest alert with that many blind spots in the building. Dennis was leading us, listening to the slightest sound of light footsteps on every level. I looked at the elevators on the far end of the corridor. It's not gonna be so heroic to rescue the hostages with a 'ding' on the elevator. Plus it's too risky. We continued to move upwards with our backups. But as expected, we encountered a major ambush on the 16th floor. We're on our own since then.
Getting to the 25th floor was our priority, so we scouted around the staircase without a good look of the situation on every level. One of us will take care of the front, making sure the perimeter is clear before the rest of us move on to the next level. Another one will defend our backs, just in case someone decided to attack us. With that sequence, we took turns to be the lead and the defense. We reached the 21st floor with no difficulty; well at least we thought so. We heard a loud clink on our far left, and then smoke started to surround us. Intuitively we reached to our backs to get the gas mask, only to realize we were not equipped with it. We put away our handgun and took out our army knives.
Heavy footsteps can be heard descending from above, we moved away from the stairs and went left. Yeah, right into the fugitives who set free the smoke screen. Surprisingly there were only two of them standing by the area. They were stunned seeing us rushing towards them; I guess they thought we would move to the opposite direction of the smoke. Dennis and Paul stabbed them in the thighs and hit them hard on the head with the hilt.
'Do not engage in physical combat with the fugitives.' That's what the Commander said.
Charles and I undid the ropes from our shoulders and made a dead knot around the nearest pillars from the window. Without hesitation, we broke the window with the biggest rocks we could find and threw the other end of the rope down the building. Holding on to the rope, the two of us jumped down the building with our handguns. We slipped past two floors and shot the windows thrice. We broke the window using our body inertia and landed on one knee. I pointed my muzzle at the staircase and took aim while Charles quickly scanned the area. Dennis and Paul swung in right after us and cut the rope behind them. We made way towards the elevator while Dennis and Paul frantically gathered the rope into a loop and hung it back over their shoulders. Charles and Paul forced the elevator door open whilst Dennis and I kept watch. After making sure the elevator box is not hanging above us, we stepped onto the sides of the elevator shaft gingerly and shut the door tight.
Paul and Charles are our best climbers, so they head up first. Fortunately the shaft has support metals on each floor, which helped us move upwards steadily. I stopped at the 23rd floor to catch my breath. My hands are sore from gripping on the metals and I started to tremble with exhaustion. 'You alright?' Charles asked from above. 'Yeah.' I sighed. 'Better than I thought I would be.' I joked. Dennis moved over to my side and tied onto my waist with the rope around him. 'Just in case.' he said. 'Let's get going.' He commands as he started climbing upwards again. I followed closely, trying my best not to think how sweaty my hands are. 'Higher.' Dennis whispered as we finally reached the 25th floor. Our walkie came to live with reports that the rest of the troops are closing in from below. They've conquered the first 20 floors with twenty-one fugitives in cuffs. That leaves us with another fifteen of them.
After we positioned ourselves in the shaft on the 27th floor, we unlatched our watches and pressed on the button under the face of the watch. It serves as a GPS device that shows the Commander our current position and also acts as an indicator that we're going in for the kill. Dennis and Charles grabbed the elevator door open and we rushed in with a quick analysis of the place. The entire floor was vacant with empty cases of magazines on the floor. They must have left hurriedly to support their team downstairs. We snaked around the stairs again towards the 25th. We paused on the 26th to make sure there's no ambush. Well, it's getting a little too easy. Maybe those fugitives are amateurs. But the fact that they could take down two army trucks to rescue the prisoners, we'd better not underestimate them.
It was awfully quiet on the 25th floor. Except a few muffled cries from the distance, there isn't any evidence of people guarding the floor. We slowly edged along the walls towards the opening with our handguns. On the silent count of three, Paul and I turned our backs with speed and aimed towards the opposite directions from each other. I was expecting at least five fugitives on guard duty but only the six hostages stared back in horror. Their hands were tied behind their backs with a masking tape over their mouths. After a quick scan of the place, I announced 'Clear. All hostages safe in sight,' Paul answered 'Clear' as well. But he proceeded cautiously to that direction in search of any hidden gunmen with Charles. I stood my stance while they carry on their duty. Dennis stood by me to defend me from behind. A moment later, Paul and Charles came back and nodded to indicate the other half of the area is safe.
Dennis and Paul acted as our defense at the staircase. Charles and I approached the hostages with our backs towards each other. We parted awhile to check on the blind spots of the area. Safe. No fugitives were found hiding anywhere. We head back towards the hostages. As we got closer to them, I realized they all looked vaguely familiar to me. Without the chance to dig deep into my memory, five of them stood up abruptly. There were no ropes restraining their hands as they are currently aiming their pistols at us. For a whole ten seconds, we were just pointing our guns at each other. Four versus five. Then it came back to me. Two years ago, Larken. Those were the same people we fought against, and with the same stance, same weapon. Only this time, we're the ones who got outnumbered.
'I realized we never had the chance to introduce ourselves properly.' The lady in red said.
We kept quiet.
'I'm sorry guys, they made me do this. They had my daughter. I had to...' The only guy who was seated on the floor spoke up. I wasn't sure who he was. But from Dennis' s expression, I guess he was the former comrade that Commander mentioned.
'Oh don't be so dramatic. All you did was just to send a message to the army. And all we did was to destroy the telecommunication service at the rubbish camp your daughter was enrolled into. We never had your daughter in our hands; it only takes a worrisome parent to make our plan work beautifully. Surprised? Don't be. We have more ahead of us.' The lady said.
We said nothing as the former comrade tried to tackle the buff fugitive nearest to him. All it need was a firm kick to his chest and he was knocked out cold. I wondered how long he had been kept captive with them. We continued to stare down each other until Dennis spoke up. 'What do you want?'
They smirked. 'We want revenge. Isn't it obvious?' The lady in red put down her gun. She walked towards Charles but stood out of his reach. She regarded Charles with a smile and asked 'Your girl?'. She nodded towards me. I glared at her long enough to make her turn her attention to me, 'Spicy. Good guys should never date a girl who handles guns, you know?' She said again.
From the corner of my eyes, I saw Dennis and Charles exchanged glances. It's four versus four now. Well, if we only count the ones who're aiming guns. 'Cut to the chase, what are your conditions?' I asked. The lady threw her head back and laughed. Now. Dennis, Charles and Paul each fired a shot towards the fugitives in front of them. Dennis fired another shot towards the one aiming at me. But it was a second too late when the fugitive fired two bullets into my left shoulder. The first one was held back by my vest, but the second one that followed close penetrated the same spot and got me.
It happened so fast, the lady was still in the midst of her laughter. Charles stepped in and hit the gun off the lady's hand. With his swift kick, the lady lost her balance and tumbled on the floor. Charles pressed on her and searched her body; he fished out two army knives from under her shirt and threw off her shoes. In three minutes, all the fugitives were tied separately with their hands above them and shoeless. 'You know you'd need to figure our your weaknesses before seeking revenge. Cause you just lost to the same reason two years ago: You talked too much.' Dennis said before announcing our situation to the Commander.
Seconds later, our troops came dashing in and cuffed the fugitives. Paul examined my wound and declared that I'm good to go. Well that means I can wait until I reach the medics outside. We made our way out from the building to find policemen buzzing around the streets with confused looking pedestrians. We head back to the base - which is the loading bay, and waited for the Commander. The medic was fixing my shoulder when the Commander approached. He gestured us to stay seated on the floor and squatted next to us.
'I guess we owe you an apology.' The Commander said as the medic plucked the bullet out of my shoulder. I winced as the medic tried to stop the bleeding with some sort of torturing powder that seems to be meant for death sentences. 'We should know better. Well, they knew better. With such minimal amount of soldiers available, they knew we will be extracting our retired ones.' He looked down at his boots and sighed. 'Not bad for your first combat in two years eh?' He patted Paul at the back. We smiled at his comment and relaxed our shoulders.
The Commander passed a document to us and waited. Dennis opened the file and handed us a copy of the report each. It states the evidence of the fugitives trespassing into the country, and showed pictures of their hide outs. There were miniature copies of blueprints of the army base, the palace and our workplace. I'll admit it. I was shocked to see those blueprints. It either meant they are experts in hacking into the government system, or it meant we had spies.
'That's all I could show you without violating the army's confidentiality. And on behalf of our government, I would like to express my greatest appreciation for your participation in this mission, and having successfully retrieved our hostage.' He motioned towards the former comrade who was being interrogated and treated at the same time. 'Now, run along. You can now get back to your work positions.' He stood up and took back the reports.
'What? Can't you at least get us a day off work?' I exclaimed while looking at the others for support. The Commander laughed. 'No. You won't get paid lazing around, my dear.' He winked as I grumbled. 'Our tradition is still going on right?' Charles asked. 'Yeah.' The Commander answered. '2200 hours. My place. Bring you own booze.' With that being said, he gave a salute and left. We returned the honor and stood still until he's out of sight.
Now the worst part of my day begins...Work.