The Squad

Inside Intel

Zack entered his room, closed the door behind him and leaned on it. "God damned all of this shit," he said and shook his head. He walked to the desk, sat down and spread a paper in front of him. It was a detailed schedule of some of Owai's forces and there were last-minute corrections done free-hand. Under the schedule, it said "For Your Eyes Only", "Confidential", and "Do Not Disclose". Zack pinched the bridge of his nose and swore again. He slammed his fist on the paper. Right on top of the part where it said the whole thing was signed by one F. Mitchell, GEN.

Zack glanced at the side of the table and picked up a phone. He punched in a number and hovered his thumb above the call button. He sighed, closed his eyes and put the phone back on the desk. He reached for another device, searched for the name "Mike" and tapped on the "Pager" button, then put the device back on the table. He leaned backwards and closed his eyes, sighing deeply. The radio on the desk made a beep sound. Zack glanced at it.

"Carrot?" Came Mike's voice. "I'm safe. You wanted to touch base?"

"Mikey...", Zack said and drew a deep breath. "Remember Europe? First year in the 48th?" He said. There was a long pause, more than two minutes. Zack swore he could almost hear the expression on Mike's face.

"I'll bring you a souvenir from Vienna", Mike said and closed the call. Zack let out a long sigh and leaned backwards. At least he could trust Mike, if nobody else. Well, Jenn of course, but it was different with her. Zack had known Mike longer than the 48th, but Jenn had been with him there from the start. He trusted Jenn with his life — actually he trusted everyone on his team with his, and everyone else's lives. Everyone else but that unknown one, Itzal. Something about that person irked Zack to no end, and he couldn't figure out what it was.

Well, at least Mike was now kind of aware of the situation. They had been on a mission in Europe a few years ago, back when Mike was a new recruit for the 48th. It was during a gruesome winter, and they learned that their chain of command was corrupted and that their leaders were suspected of dealings with the enemy. Zack had traveled over to Vienna to get help. With the way Mike answered, Zack thought that he had figured it out. Now, to get the word to Jenn...

Zack reached for the pager unit, searched for "Blackout" and tapped the button next to it. The radio made no sound for at least five minutes. Zack was almost about to page Jenn again, when the radio came to life again.

"Carrot," came in Jenn's voice. "Sorry. Was... busy," she said. Zack raised his eyebrow.

"Everything alright, Jenn?" He asked.

Jenn cleared her throat at the other end. "Yeah," she said. "Just busy doing... mission stuff," she said. Zack raised his eyebrow.

"So how's the weather there?" He asked.

"Weather?" Jenn said with a questioning voice, then added a few seconds later, "Oh! Ah, no, nothing like that. Weather's fine. Just fine. No need for that, Zack. I'm just with Phase. It's just that the thing we're trying to do is... rather awkward and I hate to say it, but difficult. Who comes up with these plans?"

"Yeah... tell me about it," Zack said.

"Zack... Are YOU okay?" Jenn asked.

"Yeah, yeah!" Zack said, "I'm okay. Just finished lunch with Itzal and Mandy. Back at my room planning strats. Hey, Jenn, say... Once this mission is over, do you think we should go out, buy ourselves a couple of sundaes, chill at the park and have a green picnic blanket?" He asked.

Jenn was silent for a while. Zack only heard some distant electrical humming and buzzing noises and at least once Phase cursing about something. Then, after some time, Jenn cleared her throat.

"Yeah... yeah we should..." she said. "And bring a green umbrella," she added. Zack smiled and let out a long sigh. At least Jenn got the reference. It was something they had experienced when the 48th was created and there were the four of them. Jenn, Holloway, Unnie, and Zack. The original four members. Unnie and Holloway were a sore subject for Jenn and Zack, and they never mentioned them to anyone else. They were the only failure either of them had ever had. And all because they didn't question the orders. They'd watched in silence when their comrades were put into the ground, covered only by two bright green blankets that Jenn had called picnic blankets. And Zack added that they should bring an umbrella to hide from the crap that fell down high up from the command chain.

Jenn closed the call and Zack leaned backward. That's it. That's all he could do for now. Mike knew, Jenn knew. Jenn could tell Wendy. Mandy and Itzal knew to be aware, even though they didn't know of his suspicions directly. Zack leaned forward and pulled up the stack of maps and reports. Well, it was time to concentrate on actually doing something about this mission, at least until they learned more.

***

Mike sat on a chair in a local pub. He was dressed in somewhat casual clothes; jeans, a cotton shirt and a black leather jacket. He had a mug of beer in front of him and he leaned on the chair, looking tired. Beside him lay a bunch of clothes belonging to a worker, his working clothes. Many patrons in the pub had similar bundles of clothes beside them as they were on their way to home after a hard day's work.

Mike looked like he belonged into the same bunch of workers, only betrayed by the fact that his eyes looked keen and he was actively looking everywhere — the others just stared forward and sighed. A burly guy sat at the same table as Mike. He looked at Mike once, shrugged, and took a deep chug from his beer.

"You a new guy?" he asked. Mike nodded.

"Yeah, started a couple of days ago," he said in a weird accent.

"Ah, You're from the North?" The guy asked.

Mike nodded and grunted. "Eleminka," he said, "right next to the ocean."

"Never been there," the guy said. "Heard 'tis pretty in summer, though," he added.

Mike nodded, chuckled and showed him an awkward grin. "Less likely to walk into a soldier too," he said. The guy laughed aloud and nodded.

"Ain't that the bloody truth!" He said. "Those bastards are everywhere. Can't bloody do a job properly anymore without stepping on some pretty military boots," he added.

"Did you hear them today? Something about more of them coming or going?", Mike said.

"Don't know about today, but they've been hauling as for days now up in the mountains. Something's going on up there, let me tell you. There's the old military base, but are they going there? No, no, no. That would be logical. Not what these boys do. They've been driving boxes upon boxes to the old wheat fields up in the mountains, south of the military base," the man said. He shook his head.

"There's nothing there. They were abandoned because it was a stupid plan in the first place. Wheat doesn't grow there, it's too cold. The only thing that worked there was the old mine a hundred years ago or so," he said. He looked into his mug and grimaced. "Empty. I swear the bartender doesn't fill these up all the way in," he said.

Mike smiled at him and picked up a few coins from his pocket. "Here," he said, and tossed the coins to the man. "You can have my second mug today. I have to be home soon, so I can't. But it would be a travesty to leave that mug of beer without drinking, so. Do me a favor and drink it for me, will you?" Mike said and grinned at him. The man chuckled. He chuckled and winked at him.

"Of course. Never good to leave beer without drinking," he said and laughed. They both stood up and walked to the bar, Mike continuing to walk toward the door. They waved goodbye and Mike walked out. He glanced towards the mountains in the north.

"Trucks full of stuff. Old Mine. Well, well. Whadda ya know? I really want to go for a hike in the mountains tomorrow. I really do," he said under his breath and started to walk towards the establishment where they had their temporary HQ set up.