LONEWOLF: Prologue

ALPHA

The scorching sun and the rampant fire ants were nothing for Lieutenant Cole Warner of the American Contractionary Execution team (A.C.E). He held his treasured Soviet marksman in his hand, watching over an enemy outpost in North India. He had been deployed three days ago with five other teammates, and his instructions were to provide cover if needed, as the team was going to carry out an assassination mission. He stared longingly into the scope, waiting for movement, when his two-way radio suddenly crackled to life: *static*...*static*," This is Ghost, coming up on the target as we speak". Cole hurried to his radio, "You've had me sit my ass here for three days; go ahead, I'll cover you ". Cole took up a firing position and waited a while. 'Movement', the target (Commander Howard Hajji), a defector of the Indian army and a black-market arms dealer, was making his way out of the outpost. Cole knew his teammates were unaware of his sudden leave, so he radioed headquarters, "This is Wolf to headquarters. I've got my eyes on the target, awaiting your orders, there was a pause in between. "Stand down; our ground forces need to move in ", Cole persisted. "The target is about to leave. Permission to shoot, and I don't want no for an answer", the voice on the other end of the radio went harsh. "Watch your mouth, Cole!!! I told you to hold on for your teammates. Cole didn't give a damn about what the higher-ups said; he cocked his gun. The sound of the 50mm round rolling down the chamber always got him riled up. A suppressed bang later, enemy infantry were on high alert, their commander was dead, and they needed revenge. Cole swiftly packed up his camp and was making his leave when his radio headset screeched. "WHAT THE HELL! I gave you specific orders not to engage the target..." Cole shut off his radio. He had done what anyone would do in the situation, and frankly, he was annoyed with the higher-ups for being too uptight. Cole made his way back to camp with annoyance. "It's like the chief has lost his mind; I'm the best he's got", he scoffed at the thought and continued through the thick bushes of Khirsu. Cole was now a few clicks away from base camp when he noticed a disturbance in a nearby bush. An unknown enemy in the shadows was a soldier's greatest fear, but the Lieutenant knew how to handle himself in these types of situations. Cole readied his gun and threatened to shoot, shouting out a last warning, but then a Revolutionist Soldier cried out and shot a flurry of bullets, one just managing to impale Cole.

Cole dropped to the ground trying to steady himself, but his attacker had already pinned him down. "You god-damn Americans think you can come here and do what you like, ehhh." Cole didn't say a word but instead gave him the middle finger. "Playing hard to get, right?" his attacker was getting impatient; he pressed his gun to Cole's forehead and gave him one more chance to come clean. Cole gave him a cold look, "Kill me if u got the balls". The man got angry, and he was going for his trigger, but in a flash..........

A bullet went through the head of the Revolutionist and out through the front. Blood splattered everywhere on the jungle ground and some on Cole. "You took your sweet time, Nick- what took you?" Nick gave him a nudge on the arm. "You bloody bastard, you were acting all agro on that guy ", Nick said, laughing. Nick helped Cole up and led him to the rendezvous point. It was an opening in the forest, but it was just barely hidden. A small tent was put up, and supply cases were littered all around the helicopter. Squad leader Sam Walker, code name "Ghost", was under the tent preparing a mission report. Nick called out to Sam indicating his arrival, "Yo Sam I got him back", Sam slowly stood up from his seat, "You're late and on top of that, you cost us our primary mission objective ", Nick made an attempt to talk but Cole cut him off, "IM LATE, you fucked up at the one thing you were supposed to do and your telling me I'm late!! ", Sam flared up, "I don't appreciate your tone Lieutenant, if you think you can work your way around a national conflict then I suggest you do it yourself ", Cole made a move to fight him, but Clara Henderman, code name "Fox", stopped the argument from escalating. "You guys are bigger fools than I thought. Do you want to alert the enemies of our position? ". Cole unclenched his fists and limped back. Sam scoffed, "Exfil is 10 minutes; pack your bags and get ready to leave. Clara had administered first aid treatment to Cole, and then they were off back to headquarters as quickly as they had come. Back at the outpost, the assassination of their commander had been reported to the commander-in-chief (Bhatti Khadga), the organizer and the lead hand in the Indian civil war. For months, he had been waiting for America to make the first move, and they had- "a bloody game of chess", he called it and it was his turn to make the move. The Indian civil war had caught the world's eye, and he intended to carry out his main plan behind the curtains of said conflict. The next phase of this war had begun.