Chapter 23
Jade stood there with her arms crossed over her chest daring Marcus to turn his head slightly and notice her standing there. She was mad, no she was beyond mad she was fucking fuming that out of all the places to be based she was stuck for the next 3 months with this fucking prick.
It didn't take long for him to realise her standing there and the shock on his face made her feel a little better because she would chew out his balls and maybe return them after she shoved them so far up his ass he may never retrieve them.
Jade saw him walking towards her and her expression softened somewhat when she Marco coming over.
"Jade what are you doing here?" Was his first words to her after almost 2 months since he left her without a word.
"That's Sergeant Jennings of the Alpha division to you." Jade watched as Marcus's jaw dropped open as Corporal Tucker stood there smugly with the other men.
"Well, we are meant to be escorting you to your sleeping quarters. Sergeant Blackwood, Bravo division." Marco said introducing himself as Jade was in a stare off with the very shocked arrogant pig before her.
"Marcus." His brother said breaking her eye contact as he looked towards his brother. He nodded his head into the direction of the sleeping quarters, but Sergeant Smith walked ahead first bumping into Marcus on purpose.
"You better watch you back Blackwood." Lance Corporal Mass said as he followed Smith and Tucker gestured towards Marcus as if to say I'm watching you, boy. Corporal Taylor stepped up to Marcus sizing him before he shook his head following his team with Jade not far behind, but not before she all but sneered at Marcus. Marco stood there very confused about Jade's hostile attitude and the way her team reacted to his brother before he realised. That fucking prick.
"Oh, please tell me you did not fuck Jade then leave her without a single word," Marco said to his brother as Marcus was still trying to get over that fact that not only was Jade here, but she was the mysterious elite Alpha division.
"I left her a letter with Mum" His brother threw his hands up in the air furious at his idiotic twin brother and followed Jade and her team not to apologies for her brother, but to make sure they settled into their sleeping quarters okay.
"Bro what the hell did you do to piss off not only Jade but her men," Roger asked as he watched Jade walk off.
"I didn't tell her I was leaving." Marcus felt a stinging on the back of his head from where Roger had just smacked him.
"You are royally fucked, my man. Have you not read up on the Alpha team? If I knew Jade was on the team when I met her shit. She is more of a legend than you and your brother. Now she is their leader and a sergeant." Marcus quickly turned around.
"What, Jade is the leader?" Roger whistled and walked off and Marcus ran back to his tent and opened up the file he was given a week ago and read up on not only Jade but her team and when he was finished he realised he was royally fucked.
Jade was settling in when Marco came in and Jade nodded for her men to leave which they did giving Marco a weary look. Jade had told her team what happened with Marcus when they asked she wasn't seeing anyone and if she remembered correctly, it wasn't her Marcus had to look out for it was her boys.
"I didn't know. I thought he told you." Marco said and Jade waved her hand.
"Yeah well, he didn't. It was your mother who informed me after I went to her trying to look for him. She then gave me a fucking letter." Jade said turning her back to Marco and continued to put the last of her items away.
"Look Jade-" she held up her hand not wanting to hear the excuses she knew he would make for her brother.
"Don't bother Marco. I know you had nothing to do with this, but if you could just give me space, I would like." Marco said nothing as he walked out of the tent cursing his brother. Once Jade had finished unpacking the first thing she did was head, to the supervisors to inform them about changing their daily routes.
Almost an hour and a half later after much negotiation and Jade impressing the supervisors they worked out different routes to take and different times promising her another meeting tomorrow to go over her mission and work out the logistics. When Jade left, she went into the common room to find her men in an intense game of poker.
Jade waited until the next game before she bought into the games smiling at the surrounding men about to get their assess handed to them.
Six rounds later Jade had wiped them clean and also drew in a crowd. In the back of the room, he stood in the shadows and watched as she laughed and glowed in the surrounding environment. He wished he could join her, but he knew he royally fucked up and he knew he would have to live with that every day of his life.
He left the room as it was too painful to listen to her laugh the same way she used to laugh with him. He knew he should have told her he was leaving, but the last time he went away and told the women who he thought he loved she fucked someone else and tried to pin the baby on him.
He knew Jade would never do that to him, but it was still in the back of his mind. So he did what he did best, leave without another word.
Jade could feel him staring at her in the back of the room, but when she finally found the courage to look up towards his fiery stare, he was gone. Instead of focusing on that scumbag, she collected her winnings and smiled at the men around. After the game, Jade knew she would have to get an early night as she had morning patrol and needed all her strength to deal with Marcus whose squad was joining them.
***
The sun hadn't even risen when Jade groaned and kicked her sheets off her bed sweat already clinging to her like a second skin. She put on a clean shirt before waking up the rest of her men who cursed and groaned at the early start. While Jade waited for them to get ready, she quickly stopped by the kitchen to get some food knowing it would be a very long morning. As she sat at a table thinking about the mission, she would have to execute soon her body became tense and aware as Marcus walked into the room grabbed his food and took a seat next to her.
Jade turned away slightly and ignored him although he wanted to talk to her. She heard her team before she could see them and when they entered the room, their cold stares went straight to the man sitting next to her. Knowing he was no longer welcome Marcus got up and left before Jades team murdered him with their eyes.
Once they joined Jade, she told them that within the week they would complete the mission than just have to ride the rest of the tour out without too much complication. It was originally a rescue mission, but the more intel they received the more they discovered, which changed it from a rescue mission to an undercover operation.
"This is an 8-hour patrol Mass, Taylor you boys need to slip off and return unnoticed by the Bravo team. I want you to surveillance the area. We won't be far from where the mission starts." She pulled a map up to the table were in red she drew where they would have to investigate.
"I want a report of the activity and who is coming in and out. Stay away from the purple zone that is our target, but we need to know what is going on around the area." The men nodded and talked to themselves on how they would slip away for 4 hours unnoticed. They decided to do it in 1-hour blocks so Bravo team wouldn't become suspicious.
"The rest of us will do a regular patrol and cover for Mass and Taylor. This is a secret operation, details stay with us." As if it was perfect timing the officer in charge of this patrol walked in and said it was time to suit up.
They went out to where the Bravo team were waiting and each person picked up their personalised tactical vest, hats and weapons. Once Jade was suited up, she stood next to Marcus as she had no other choice. Marcus felt when she stood next to him and she looked tiny next to him all geared up and looked out of place amongst all the large men.
"You going to ignore me this tour." He asked and when he didn't get a response, he knew his answer.
"You have a job, I have a job can we please stick to our jobs and nothing else." Jade finally looked at Marcus and the fire in her eyes told him she was a woman he didn't want to mess with.
After everyone was ready they all jumped into a truck and were dropped off at their destination.
"Sergeant Blackwood I want your team to set up a perimeter upfront with myself and Corporal Tucker, the rest I want you spread out and alert." Everyone nodded and Marcus was about to say something about the orders, but a single feisty look from Jade was enough to shut him up.
"Yes, Sergeant." He gritted out and Jade smiled as she hopped out the car eyes wide and alert.
It was around lunchtime when they all stopped and had something to eat and drink. Mass and Taylor had been seen in off and on occasions and if Bravo team noticed they said nothing. Smith was on the roof with one of Marcus's members keeping watch overhead while they kept eyes on the ground.
"Alpha this Charlie there are two suspicious people walking in your direction coming north, over." Jade heard in her radio and she stood up alert gun ready.
"Charlie this is Alpha can you identify the people, over."
Jade stuck her head around the corner and she could see two people, but they were too far to identify.
"Blackwood take the west and east side, Tucker on me." She directed everyone as she stepped into the clearing gun pointed waiting for conformation from Smith if they were a threat.
"Alpha this is Charlie it is a woman and a child, the women has something bundled under her shirt and the child is hiding something behind his back possible a gun. Over." Jade swore as her a Tucker took a step forward.
Marcus could see Jade from his viewpoint and wanted nothing more than to step in the way and push her to the side to safety, but he had his orders and could do nothing, but wait.
"Alpha this is Charlie I have a clear shot on your command, over," Jade yelled out in Arabic hoping to establish communication before they made any decision. However, the closer they got the more Jade could understand the frantic women and before she even had time to think she raised her gun at the young boy who looked no older than 7 and shot the child before he set off the bomb that was hiding behind his back.
It was a clean shot that killed on site and before Jade's brain could think or even formulate what she had done; she moved her target to the weeping women who had reached inside her shirt to pull out a gun. She went down before her hand even hit the trigger.
Jade took a deep breath still looking down the barrel of her gun at the situation that took no longer than a minute.
"Tango this is Alpha do you copy, over," Jade said into her radio needing Lance Corporal Mass here to look at the bomb that was sitting on the ground next to the dead child and mother.
"Alpha this is Tango we copy."
"Tango, this is Alpha, we need you to checkpoint Zulu for a code 307. Over."
"Alpha this is Tango 2 minutes out." They were the longest two minutes of her life as no one moved from their positions that Jade had placed until Mass had arrived and quickly defused the bomb. Once the bomb was defused Jade walked up to the young child and women and closed her eyes and sent up a silent prayer for the young lives she had just taken in the name of war
"You okay?" Marcus said placing a gentle hand on her shoulder knowing it was hard to take a life and one so young.
"I'm fine, lets, move out. Sharp eyes everyone. I want everyone alert and ready for whatever is to come our way." Jade ordered and walked off brushing off her feelings and emotions to deal with later when she was alone and didn't have a job to do. If she didn't push her emotions away than it might very well get her and Bravo team killed.
Marcus hung back a bit and watched Jade walk-off confused about how she could so easily mask her emotions. He knew men who would shed a tear for everyone young innocent life they took, but Jade just shook it off like it was no big deal.
"Don't worry about her, she is made of steel that woman," Roger said patting his shoulder before he joined Jade who was gaining distance on him. Praying that this tour would be over quickly.