Sea of Temptation ; Simon Riley.

Chapter 21.

"Rog' – go to work, we need him alive." Laswell replied.

Meridia grabbed the knife from the sheath, swimming together with Soap towards the other vehicles, "On the move, Soap and Scylla, check and clear all vehicles." John ordered while he made his way to one of them.

"Target vehicle's takin' on water, let's get this done, Cap." Gaz responded.

Meridia's eyes fell on a few soldiers getting out of the cars and desperately trying to reach the surface, but she was quick and immediately dug the blade into one of them, while her other hand grabbed an ankle of another one.

With all her forces she dragged him down, took out a second knife and stabbed him in the neck. She checked inside of the vehicle, narrowing her eyes for a better view, "Vehicle three, clear." She stated through the comms.

"Target's air has gotta be running thin." Gaz commented, "Negative on target – no Makarov. Just a prisoner. Let's pull him."

Soap swam to the captain after clearing the fourth vehicle and helped him open up the door to the prisoner's car. They cut off his restraints, "Prisoner secure, moving to surface." John stated before dragging the man with him to the surface.

Meridia followed after them and once she finally stuck her head out of the water, she took off the mask, inhaling the cold air. After a while, she started to feel suffocated under the water, even with all the oxygen from the tank. With a grunt, she crawled out and sat on the ice, taking deep breaths to calm down her adrenaline.

"Six to Watcher, no Makarov. Target was not in the convoy. Prisoner has been intercepted and secured." John informed through heavy pants, now walking towards the masked prisoner kneeling on the ice.

"Can you ID?"

"Standby.."

Once Meridia was calmer, she stood up and walked towards the prisoner to take the black sac off of his face, revealing his identity. "What the fuck?" Her eyebrows furrowed in confusion when she recognized the man. General Shepherd.

"Wilson.. the fuck? Captain.." He looked around with the same confusion, hot breaths could be seen coming out from his mouth as he breathed heavily.

"Fuuuck, is there a single shitshow that you are not a part of?" John growled and grabbed him by the collar, forcing him to stand up. "Ghost, you seein' this?" Soap asked through the comms.

"In my sights." He responded with his usual grumpy and deep tone, pointing his sniper right on Shepherd's face. The situation was unbelievable, how did he end up in the enemy's hands?

"Let's smoke him and call it a day." Soap took out his gun from the hip holster, switching off the safety.

Meridia shot him a glare, "Soap." and shook her head in disapproval.

"Scylla, who do you have?" Laswell asked with a serious tone, "Gold fucking Eagle."

"Shepherd?"

"In the cold flesh." Soap butted in with a rough voice, his eyes sending daggers to the General in front of him.

"Holy shit.."

"Cap, we're sitting ducks out here." Gaz paced around, aiming with his rifle to look for possible enemies or back ups. "Then let's move him."

John and the others walked towards the start of the forest, slamming Shepherd against a tree to interrogate him. Meridia stayed behind, even with the dry gear and the layers of clothing underneath, she was fucking freezing. Her teeth were gritting together, her gloved hands were rubbing against each other to provide some warmth.

She could still hear their conversation from where she stood. Shepherd informed that Makarov was hunting them down and found him first, and that he knew the next target.

She narrowed her eyes, Makarov wasn't alone, he had her father by his side, she didn't know in which position but that man could be dangerous.

"Ghost, Farah, push to the exfil." Gaz's voice oozed from the comms, making Meridia snap out of her thoughts.

"Rog."

Meridia grabbed her rifle from her back and checked the mag, before switching off the safety. She glanced at the group, John was standing face to face with Shepherd, handing him a gun and she immediately understood what it meant. He was going to fight along them, one wrong move and she was going to make sure he wouldn't see his family anymore.

"Scylla, let's go." Soap called out to her, gesturing with his head to follow them through the white forest. Without saying anything, she followed behind, turning on the thermal sight on her scope.

"Konni helo dropped in some shooters. Got 'em on thermal. Eleven o' clock." He informed through the comms, crouching down next to a tree. Meridia did the same and looked around with the thermal sight, trying to spot the enemies from behind the fog.

Her hands were slightly trembling from the extremely cold temperatures but she managed to hold a tight grip onto her rifle. "Come." Soap whispered to her, bumping her shoulder to get her attention.

He quickly walked away, crouching and hiding behind trees. So, it was going to be all stealth and hiding from the Konni, smarter than her decisions. For a while they managed to sneak through the forest, but when Meridia stepped on a hidden branch, accidentally, an enemy nearby got alerted. He yelled something in Russian and she immediately crouched behind a tree, before a few bullets flew past her.

She clenched her jaw and readied her rifle, "Weapon's free!" John informed through the comms as soon as other bullets went flying around. "Sniper!"

Another bullet hit her tree, "Fuck." she cursed under her breath, peaking out her head to aim to a soldier, his yellow silhouette popping on her thermal sight. She pulled the trigger, knocking him in less than a second and she aimed around, taking down a few more.

Another snipe hit the tree she was hiding behind, a surprised gasp escaping her. "Scylla!" Soap waved his hand from behind a fallen trunk in the distance. With her gaze, she calculated her next movements, counting the time the sniper would take to change mags to his weapon. Another bullet went flying near her head and she took advantage of the moment, running for her dear life on the thick snow, towards her teammate.

"Come on.. come on." He repeated to himself, watching her running towards him. "Sniper's down!" Shepherd yelled from afar, making Meridia collapse on her knees from the exhaustion, the snow deforming around her. "What the fuck! You could've done it earlier!" She yelled back with a frustrated tone, Soap smiling in amusement and crouching down next to her.

"You good?" He asked and stuck out a hand to her for support.

Meridia looked at it, reluctant at first, then her expression softened a little. She placed her hand in his and stood up, "Always."