Let's Start A Riot

Chapter Thirteen - Blue Flag

"Fuck, this is shit cover – we have nowhere to hide." Marcus swears under his breath, loading a couple of paint balls into his gun. The rest of us do the same.

"Where the fuck even are they?" Sarah whispers hastily.

Hugo risks a peek over the top of the bins and ducks back down not a moment too soon as another paint ball sails over his head, hitting the ground in front of us, spraying green paint all over our boots.

"There's two of them to the right behind some wooden boxes, one straight in front behind a bush, and the last one is behind a tree to the left." Hugo exhales all at once.

"I'll take the far right, Patience takes the other one on the right, Hugo the middle and Marcus the one on the left, sound good?" Sarah instructs.

"All good." We reply.

This will really test my shot accuracy. I will have about three seconds in total to get above the bin, find my target, take the shot, and get back behind cover – please don't let me fuck this up.

Marcus holds up three fingers, taking another quick look around the bin. He slowly puts each finger down, nodding when he closes his hand.

We move as one, swinging up and around at the same time. My eyes immediately dart towards the stack of wooden boxes Hugo had described. I aim my gun towards them, looking through my scope and suddenly two figures pop up behind them. I quickly adjust my aim slightly to the left so that I am accurately targeting the correct soldier, then I pull the trigger. I duck back down in a crouch as soon as the shot is fired, not even waiting to see if I'd actually hit the soldier.

Sarah, Hugo, and Marcus all do the same, a lot more gracefully than I do.

We wait a few seconds, breathing heavily from the adrenaline, my heart beating at a million miles a minute. I could almost laugh at how serious a game of paintball is taken, it feels comical until I remember that this means something and isn't simply a game, it's a roleplay of the real-life circumstances that I will soon find myself in, and taking this seriously will one day save my life.

Because this is my life now.

Crazy.

"X-Ray Squad, you are eliminated, please place your flag on the ground and return to base."

"Yes!" I whisper excitedly – two squads down, one left to go.

Sarah leans around the edge of the bin that she is kneeling next to, then looks back at us, nodding eagerly. "They had it! They have the blue flag!"

"Shit really?" Hugo shifts from his knees to his feet, still crouching.

"Well no, Hugo, I just said that to wind you up." Sarah answers sarcastically.

"Shut it." Marcus hushes politely – not. "Wait here, I'll be back in a second."

He edges around the bin and disappears around the side silently.

Sarah moves next to my ear and whispers encouragingly, "You got her, two for two." Referring to the soldier I was assigned to shoot.

I could almost jump for joy right there, finally moving steps in the right direction in this MI6 business. I guess people are right when they say you do your best work under pressure – in some scenarios at least.

Hugo gives me a thumbs up and I give him one back, squeezing Sarah's hand with my other one in thanks.

A minute later, Marcus is back, holding the blue flag tightly in his grip. He stuffs it into his pocket along with the red one, closing the pocket firmly. "Now would be a good time to be in that tyre pile." He mutters quietly.