Daisy | Simon Riley

|10|

Her eyes studied the blueprints, committing them to memory.

A precision guided mortar... It caused a pit to form in her stomach, because a terrorist group should not have access to military weapons.

"The device can be slipped inside here," an engineer stated. "The panel will come off relatively easily, so you can tuck it beneath the other wiring."

"Easy enough," Soap nodded.

Earlier that day, Drew had gotten a hit about a weapons deal happening only a few cities away, so they had to prep quickly, hashing out a plan in the meeting room.

It was high stakes and relied on each step flowing smoothly.

From what intel had discovered, the transfer was happening at a dock, where the weapons would be transferred to a ship and sent God knows where. But rather than just tracking the container, higher ups wanted the weapon tracked, upping the risk factor significantly. Not only would they have to get into the storage container, they would also have to crack open the weapon.

Soap was taking the infiltration role, while Drew and Ghost would be keeping watch and interfering if necessary.

The risk of having the enemy know they were being watched was too great, meaning there wasn't room for mistakes.

"You all know your positions, go get suited up and meet at the helos in forty-five," Price ordered.

She cursed that the meeting was over. Cursed that although Soap and Ghost were beside her, she was distracted and in her head. Alone.

That morning's interaction with Fox was still fresh in her mind, and it was the first time since breakfast that she'd been able to think about it. She refused to get lunch, instead working through the hour, and then almost immediately calling meetings to discuss what she'd found.

As she entered her room and changed into dark combat gear, the anger and humiliation from earlier returned in force.

It wasn't the time. She had to focus.

She distracted her mind by going through a recap of the plan, jumping over possibilities and reroutes.

Each step of her dressing was done by habit; finishing lacing her boots, buttoning up her jacket, clipping her belt around her hips.

When she left her room, she kept her eyes forward and head high. She wouldn't look for him. Wouldn't let him overtake her mind. Wouldn't cower away from him if she saw him in the hallways.

When she reached the first floor, she went directly for the door.

"Hey."

She flinched as she looked over to see Soap beside her now. And from the corner of her eye, she noticed Ghost behind him.

"You alright, lass? You've been off all day. Didn't even see you at lunch," Soap asked.

Her hackles raised at the unwanted concern. "I'm best kind," she answered bitterly as she looked forward again and pushed open the door, "just wanted to keep on this lead. Cause if I hadn't of, we wouldn't be moving out right now."

There was that sharp defensiveness to her words again, something that came out so naturally that she didn't have a chance to stop it.

From the corner of her eye, she saw him raise his chin as he watched her. "We can get someone to fill in if you're not."

His words were caring, but they also held a tone of command. Because if she didn't have her head in the game, she could put them all in jeopardy. And she was well aware of that.