INFERNAL GAMBIT

Chapter Five

A few days drifted by, and an invisible tension lingered between Mina and Simon. They seemed to go out of their way to avoid each other on base, like the plague. One afternoon in the mess hall, as Mina sat tucked away in her corner on the couch, engrossed in her journal, Soap's voice rang out. "Aye, Shadow! Come over here and sit with us!" he hollered, drawing the attention of everyone in the room.

Mina glanced up, catching Simon's unmistakable scowl and the roll of his eyes. A mischievous smirk played on her lips as she weighed her options. She relished the thought of irking Simon, but she also knew the value of keeping up appearances. With an exaggerated sigh, she closed her journal, and gracefully sauntered over to their table.

As Mina settled into the seat, the atmosphere at the table seemed to shift. Soap grinned broadly, clearly thrilled by her presence. "Glad you could grace us with your company today," he remarked, pouring her a cup of coffee.

Vargas chimed in, he couldn't help himself now that the main team was all together. "Did anyone else happen to hear the noises from the other night?" He said with a smirk.

"Aye," Soap rolled his eyes, "I couldn't get a bloody wink of sleep thanks to those arseholes." He muttered as he shook his head disapprovingly. Mina and Simon exchanged covert glances, both fully aware that they were the ones responsible for the noise. Despite their animosity towards each other, a shared secret lingered between them, one that ignited a flicker of amusement amidst their rivalry.

Gaz couldn't resist throwing in his two cents with a mischievous grin. "Come on, Johnny! You're just jealous that some of us are getting lucky. Can't be mad, they were having a wild time on that squeaky bed. The poor thing was begging for mercy!"

"Come off it, Gaz, your room is next to mine. I know it wasn't you, dickhead." Soap shoved Gaz's shoulder playfully as he took another sip of his coffee.

"Right... so who could it have been?" Mina said in a low voice, her head tilting trying to feign innocence.

"I bet it was Marshall, she's a fuckin' slag, probably with one of the recruits. No respectable man on our team would ever fuck her ever since one of the guys said he had to go in full gear AND a parachute to find that g-spot." Soap's hand smacked the table as the rest of the team began laughing.

"Fucking hell, you're disgusting, mate." Simon chuckled as he shook his head at Soap. Mina shook her head at all the boys and shared a laugh, she leaned back in her chair, content to let their wild theories play out. Anything to get her off the hook. The table fell to an unexpected hush as the men saw König.

König, with a serious expression, stealthily approached Mina from behind. His hand lightly brushed her shoulder to alert her, and in a hushed tone, he spoke in German, "Mein Mädchen, ich möchte mit dir sprechen." (My girl, I'd like to talk to you.)

Mina nodded and stood up. "I'll catch you guys later."

She walked off with König to a far corner of the room. "That fucking guy, again?!" Soap hissed, his jealousy boiling over.

"Told you, you have some competition my friend, if you like the girl, just say it." Vargas chuckled as his attention averted back to the table. Simon's eyes locked onto Mina and König as they engaged in their private conversation. As he watched her, jealousy and possessiveness gnawed at him. Vargas' jest about competition only served to fan the flames of Simon's internal struggle. He had convinced himself that his encounter with Mina was purely physical, void of sentiment. But seeing her with another man, especially König, stirred something deep within him.