Stand Alone

Chapter Three

"I'm listening." He hummed.

"The op is at MIT in America, it will be just us two and we will be completely alone. There'll be no back up and we can't tell anybody about the mission. If we get caught we will likely end up dead. Do you want to go ahead?" I could already tell what his answer was going to be just from the way his eyes looked. I was fairly good at reading people.

"Hell yeah." He smiled. "So when do we start."

"I don't know everything I know you now know. We have a briefing at 1900 with Boss Man." He snickered at me use of the word Boss Man. "Anyway, be there at precisely that time for our orders. Remember not to tell anyone. Comprende?"

"1900 and don't tell anyone, got it." We quickly made our way back up the stairs and into IR3 after I had checked the cameras u had installed to make sure the coast was clear. When we made it back to our barracks we slipped in quietly and nobody seemed to have noticed we'd even left as some were playing cards, some chatting amongst themselves and others cleaning their equipment. I did the same sitting on my bunk, stripping my gun down and cleaning it, it was gleaming by the time I was finished. I checked the time on my watch, it was 1150 meaning that I had ten minutes before my shift started so I took the opportunity to change out of my jeans and tee into some black cargo trousers and a black tee pulling on my black combat boots and lacing them up. I was done just in time as somebody from barracks three came to tell us that our shift had started. Today I was stationed outside the entrance to the building to make sure nobody accidentally stumbled upon it, not like it was ever likely to happen. I double checked to make sure I had the safety catch on my gun on before slipping it into the waistband of my pants concealing it with my tee and black jacket. The basic recruit uniform is completely black unless you're higher up such as working in operation planning or one of the desk jobs which were few and far between where everybody had to wear a suit and tie.

Just my luck that when I got outside it was in the middle of a thunder storm. Before I left the building, I checked the cameras to make sure nobody was around before getting out and moving away as quick as I could so as not to be spotted. I walked around aimlessly for ten minutes scoping out a good place to hide out and make sure nobody got anywhere even close to entering the building. The only other people mad enough to be out in the middle of this storm were the people who had been on a lovely day out and had got caught in the rain and were now waiting to get on the bus to get back home to their warm dry clothes. I pulled my hood up to cover my head and keep dry as much as I possibly could but it didn't work very well. It didn't take very long before I was saturated from head to toe. It wasn't an option to go in though so I just had to deal with it and get on with what I had to do until somebody came to relieve me. It was a six hour shift so more than likely I would do the first two hours then be relieved and then have to do the last two hours. Nobody likes to be stuck on guard duty but it has to be done wither way so there's no point in complaining about it. Recruits learn the hard way that complaining about something only makes the situation much worse because that's the job your most likely going to have to do.

Just as I predicted somebody came to relieve me at 1400 but I didn't have time to get changed. I was on kitchen duty next. For tea tonight we were having spaghetti Bolognese and I was in charge of cutting at least a hundred peppers before being rushed to weapons training for an hour. I put my standard protective earplugs in before taking my gun out of my pants waistband. I took my position on the end of the row and took aim at the target. "READY, AIM, FIRE!" One of the senior recruits shouted and we all started to shoot our paper targets until the last bullet had been fired and we all placed our weapons down and the targets were brought forward. When I looked at my sheet I saw I had hit every single one of them on target feeling quite proud of myself. "Well done McKenzie. I'm Jackson by the way." Jackson, the senior recruit, congratulated patting me on the back before taking his position behind everyone again. I quickly replaced my mag throwing the old one down onto the bench in front of me before flipping the safety off again. "READY, AIM, FIRE!" Once again I hit every single one of my shots on target. "Right everyone reload and listen carefully." I took my earbuds out so I could hear properly. "We're going to go on the other side of the benches and shoot while walking towards the targets. I want one in the right shoulder and then I want you to double tap the chest. Three shots are all you're allowed so don't screw it up." Out of all fifteen of us there were only two people who missed their shots and it was the shoulder shot both times. "McKenzie how confident a shot are you?" Jackson asked after getting into a slight argument with one of the failed shots.