belladonna | alejandro vargas ✓

【Chapter 1】

"Clear, Echo-1."

"Ghost, how copy?" she pulled up a map that showed the terrain, a little light blinking on the edge. That must be him.

"Loud and clear," came his gruff answer, his cold and steady voice making her hands sweat. God, this man creeped her out so bad.

And things only got worse once she heard the rumors about Ghost. Her squad wouldn't shut up about him and how cool it was to work with him, but Beadie was too busy being afraid of the man to get excited about the opportunity.

"Send me a ping of the target for confirmation."

In a few seconds, she received a ping from Ghost, checking if the coordinates were matching. Slightly off, but she corrected their new target, now ready to go. She was very meticulous about her job and targets, and even if the smallest thing was off she had to redo everything.

The perks of being a perfectionist.

As the others talked about the target, she was busy setting up their launching station. The moment their helicopter touched the ground, the Hellfire boys were already jumping out and securing the site, watching out for any threat that could cause the mission to fail. Right now, her only job was to launch the missile and terminate the target.

She did this many times before, this shouldn't be any different.

But somehow, something felt off. She just couldn't tell what it was.

"Visual on General Ghorbrani."

The gruff voice snapped her out of her thoughts, her heartbeat picking up. It was almost time.

"Copy. All stations - target confirmed," informed Kate Laswell, who got the Hellfire boys on the team. Beadie wanted to be like her; confident, a woman of power. One day, she'll achieve that, but until then she'll have to wait.

"Echo-1. You are cleared hot for launch," spoke General Shepherd, Beadie nodding at his statement, her fingers flying across the panel in front of her.

"Roger that, Actual," she was ready to hit the launch button when her light blue eyes snapped towards the map. The blinking light, marking Ghost's position was way too close to the target. "Ghost, you are danger close to the zone. This arrow's gonna pack a punch."

"Copy. Approved." his immediate response came, not even a small smidge of care behind his words. Her eyebrows furrowed at his statement, panic making her fingers tremble over the keyboard. Beadie didn't want to harm the man. "Send it."

Beadie looked behind her, seeking some comfort from her team, but everyone was too far. She was pretty sure they didn't even care about her moral compass. She had to tough this out alone, like usual.

"All stations, Echo-1. Missile is ready for immediate delivery, stand by for launch," Beadie pulled her confident girl out for this one, even though she wanted to tell Ghost to get out of there. These missiles weren't the most precise things in the world, and even a few meters could make or break things.

She lost people before for this exact mistake before. But she wanted to make sure that didn't happen this time.

"Coordinates in... Target designated... Two, one... " her hand shook as she pressed the launching button, the whole container where she and the panel sat shaking like it's gonna collapse any minute. Her pulse drummed in her ear so loud it almost matched the roar of the missile. "Shot out. Missile is loose. Link is good, target acquired. This will take some manual guidance to hold her..."

This was her favorite part. Controlling the missile in the air required much skill and if you played video games, the knowledge from there could be to your advantage. For this job, her video game addiction from when she was a child finally became handy, even if barely.

She tried to keep the missile low and between the canyon's walls, avoiding being spotted. She felt sweat dripping down her back, the unruly heat of the Al-Mazrah desert punishing them for such an act. Her heavy uniform didn't help with the heat, either, as her hands shook from the concentration.

She could not make a mistake. Not even a slight tremor. So she braced her breathing as she concentrated.

"You're right in the pocket, stay with it..." someone informed her through her earpiece, but she barely understood their words. Multitasking wasn't that easy for her, especially when she was handling a missile. But others still struggled to comprehend that.

"Check, comin' in hot..." she spoke once she got out of the canyon, her little screen showing an open field, full of trucks and tanks. She zeroed in the middle of the convoy. "Brace for impact... Time to target 5 seconds. Termintation in 3,2,1..."

The loud explosion shook the ground, the sound waves getting carried towards them through the canyon. Beadie even forgot to breathe properly as the explosion resonated through her body, a chill running along her spine.

That was a big fucking explosion. And Ghost was too close for that.

She was in the middle to reach for her earpiece and try to contact him when it clicked in her ear before she could reach it, causing her to stop mid-air.

"Direct... Target destroyed."

Ghost's voice was usually threatening, cold, and emotionless, just like this time. But instead of triggering her fight or flight, it calmed her nerves. She didn't kill him by the looks of it, and as she let out a breath she didn't know she was holding, she let herself settle back down in her chair.

"Nice shot, Echo-1," Commander Graves, the leader of Shadow Company spoke this time, his voice smooth and easy. His compliment caused her to blush, her eyes going to inspect her nails.

Maybe this wasn't all that bad. Maybe she could get used to this. Maybe she could make her dad proud, just like she promised she would.