A long time ago... (closed)

[zydrate]

Lexi Montgomery sat with 4 others in the small room they had been brought to. 4 other soldiers that had been recruited for some special team. That was all she had known. They were waiting for one other to arrive and their team would be complete. Or so they were told.

No one had said much but they were all checking each other out and probably wondering what they were doing here. Lexi already saw one or two that looked like they wanted to take charge and they probably could, but there was no clear leader here. At least not yet. That was a posiition they would all fight for.

She and another female were the only women there so far. Who was the last person to arrive? They didn't know but there were rumors...

This wasn't the first special team Lexi had been apart of. Her military career so far had been pretty... spectacular. At least to her. She had only joined the army in order to get out of her shitty home life. She never expected to do as well as she had done. She had excelled in shooting. Thus her high marks in sniper school and setting one or 2 records but she didn't do it for recoginition, she just knew what needed to be done and she did it.

The others didn't know her and she didn't know them...

"Hey--hey... I heard the last one to join is some guy who works closely with the king... at least his father did... supposedly going to be head of his security."

Lexi just looked up from her corner of the room as she considered what had been said. Perhaps he was right...maybe not...

One of the bigger guys kicked Lexi's boot, "What's your story? You here to cook for us?"

She didn't answer. She just looked straight forward, her gaze resting on the door of small room. Seeing someone approach, it made some turn toward the door and that's when she acted, tangling her foot up in the man's and knocking him down as a ranking officer entered and all stood at attention while the man on the floor tried to hurry up. He shot looks at Lexi as he got up finally.

"We're still one short? Perfect. At ease."

Just as he said that, another man entered the room and Lexi made eye contact with him.

Oh great.

Well, at least she hadn't known anyone up until now.

"Perfect, now, let me catch you all up to speed as to why you are here."

 

[BeachBum25]

Jordan Simmons had grown up around royalty. His father had been a part of the King's Guard for as long as Jordan could remember. When the king travelled, Jordan always accompanied his father on the trips. It was a pretty easy life, but it wasn't necessarily one that Jordan enjoyed.

As he grew up, Jordan's father constantly told him that he was going to be part of the King's Guard. "That much is guaranteed son. The king wants you on his security detail. He knows that you have seen how things are supposed to work. You never know, you might one day become the head of security for His Highness." His father constantly told him that his path was determined. Jordan was told he would start at the bottom of the Guard, but would watch, listen and learn, so that he could move higher and hopefully be the leader of the King's Guard.

He wasn't sure that was what he wanted. Jordan wanted to be the best, but simply watching what others did was not necessarily the best way to learn. After all, there had been no real threats against the king for as long as Jordan had been alive. How could watching what was going on prepare anyone for the possibility that someone would harm the king?

The decision he made did not sit well with his father. Jordan enlisted in the military. he wanted to start from the ground up. He wanted to learn everything he could about war, and about defense. If after his military training the opportunity to work with the King's Guard was still available then he would take it. He would be much better prepared to defend the king and the kingdom this way.

During his time in the military Jordan has distinguished himself. He didn't ask for special treatment because of where he came from, and he didn't get it. He earned everything he got. He had spent time in Special Ops, he had done covert missions to many parts of the world; some working in collaboration with men and women from other countries. He had made many contacts, and had become one of the go to people if the military needed a difficult task accomplished.

There were not, however, many people he liked to work covert missions with. Some were more dedicated than others, and a couple had tremendous skills that were helpful on the missions. As he rose through the ranks, he got to pick who he would work with. However, when he was told about this assignment, he wasn't given the option of choosing. He was told that he would find out when he got to the rendezvous location. This did not make Jordan happy, but it was part of the job... take orders.

When he walked into the room and looked around, he was shocked at who he saw. He knew the other four from previous missions, but never had they all worked together. There was one that he was happy to see. He had worked with her several times, and she was good... very good. They had established a real connection on a previous mission, but hadn't seen each other since then.

Jordan listened as the higher ranking officer began his briefing.

 

[zydrate]

The briefing was brief. A rundown of what was to come and then bunk assignments. Meal times and such.

As easy and laid back as it sounded, Lexi knew it wouldn't be. Something was up and they all had been gathered here for a reason. They would run through a series of tests before being picked for a 4 man team.

There would be no special split of men and women. They would all be sharing a hall and, as the Colonel put it, be special friends from here on out.

Lexi wasn't sure about the guy she just tripped and how he would be at making friends. She was used to the teasing. It had come with the territory since she had joined. You either could let it bother you or just ignore it. Which she did. She ignored the insults and taunts against her. She had put up with it all her life, what made this any different.

Truth was, Lexi really was friendly. She would give you a chance to earn her trust but once that trust was broken. You no longer existed to her. Was it harsh? Perhaps...

Once they were dismissed, of course, as always, the men stayed with the men and the other female there drifted toward Lexi, to whom she had learned the other female's name was Sophia.

She had seen her around before. From what she had recalled, her specialty was computer science. But she was still pretty new and Lexi could only hope the poor girl didn't wash out completely. Maybe she would prove Lexi wrong...

As for Lexi, she was in this choice of 'career' for the long haul. She had nothing else outside of this line of 'work'. Her parents were dead and she had no known siblings. No other family members. Which is why she joined the military. Again, surprisingly succeeding in all that was thrown at her. Hell, she was even sent to train with GSG9 and that was the toughest thing she had ever gone through... at least so far.

She was beyond curious as to why they were there... she had to admit she wondered why Jordan was here also. Oh yes, he was good. He was good at a lot of things. She could see him going far as they had worked together before. A little over a year ago, they had met on a mission. Everything went to shit on that mission which was why they worked together in the end. Their ties to the higher ups had been cut and so they had to find a way out...

Something between had clicked. She liked him. And that wasn't easy to say about just anyone.

Once dinner was over, they all retired back to the bunk house and sat around. It wasn't late but they needed their rest before the real tests took place. Lexi wasn't a stranger to resting when she needed to, no matter the environment. She had supposed that was true for all of them, except for Sophia and one of the other guys named Humphries, they were still new in the field to have gotten used to 'roughing' it.

Just as most of them had fallen into a restful sleep, alarms started blaring and calls going out over an intercom requesting everyone to their post. Well, they were all new so they didn't have a post yet.

This was a test. Lexi knew it. She got up out of her bunk and looked over at Jordan and they made eye contact. He was having the same thought. Yeah, they had been through this before.

 

[BeachBum25]

After the briefing, Jordan decided that he would get to know the other people that were here. If he was going to be relying on these people to survive a mission, he wanted to know everything he could find out about them. He wanted to know their strengths and their weaknesses. He wanted to know about their experiences. He wanted to know if he could trust them.

There was once person that he didn't have to worry about, and that was Lexi Montgomery. They had been through some shit before and survived because they had each other's back. She had shown no signs of fear and she had demonstrated that she could take care of herself when a mission went sideways. She didn't fall apart when it looked like they were not going to survive, and together they came out in one piece. He hadn't seen her since then, but was happy to see her now.

His first interaction with any of them was with Sophia. He wondered why she was here. She had zero field experience. Her strong point was what she could do on and with computers. She was an IT person, which made Jordan wonder if there was another IT person in the group. There was obviously going to be some aspect of this mission that required expertise in computer science. They wouldn't just bring one person in for the testing.... would they?

Jordan found out that the guy who was picking himself up off the floor was Simpson. In talking with him, Jordan had a feeling the guy would be a problem. He thought he knew everything. Simpson also talked about his dislike for Lexi. "That little bitch better learn her place. If not, I am going to have to teach her a lesson." Jordan looked at him and smirked. "Buddy, if I were you I would be really careful messing with her. Just saying." Simpson laughed. "That little bitch? Yea, she better learn who to mess with and who not to mess with." Jordan just shook his head. Yea, Simpson would be a problem if he was chosen for the mission.

Humphries was another surprise to see here. He had very little field experience, and what he had was in a support role. He had no front-line experience, which made Jordan wonder who was responsible for assembling this team. It also made him wonder what this mission was all about. Humphries talked a lot about communications. Maybe that was his role, but was there another communications person? Jordan was confused about all of this. If there was only one person with certain areas of expertise, why was there only going to be a reduction of two people?

The other two were Purdy and Yates. He didn't have a chance to get any information from them, yet. That would have to wait until tomorrow. They were relaxing in the bunk house when the alarm went off and the announcements to report to your post were made. Everyone but Jordan and Lexi went rushing toward the door. He saw the look from Lexi and he nodded.

"STOP. Do not open that door. We have no idea where and what our posts are. We have no idea what lies outside of that door. You might be rushing right into an ambush that could get you killed.... or at least eliminated from the team." He saw the looks from the others. They went from confused to indignation. Simpson looked at him. "What do you think you are, the boss or something?" Jordan shook his head. "Hey, do what you want. Go ahead and show off for them." Simpson went to the door and opened it, Jordan and Lexi moved the remaining recruits out of the doorway and into an area where they could not be seen from the doorway.

 

[zydrate]

Something wasn't right.

Lexi could feel it. She and Jordan were more or less baby sitting. Why?

Quickly thinking of their location, they weren't any where near the states. They had all been sent to this small compound which had been around 40 miles from the main base. They were going to stay at this place and go through their mission details. This wasn't supposed to be hostile territory.

The power suddenly went out and their small bunk had gone pitch black... as had the rest of the compound.

And that's when Lexi heard it. Choppers.

The sound was getting louder, which mean, it was getting closer.

Well, this was a hell of a welcome.

More shouting coming from outside. Lexi didn't like just standing here in the dark but right now, she knew they had no choice as they weren't sure what was going on.

Suddenly gunfire... no one in the bunk house had any weapons, they--

"Fuck this! We need to get out of here!!" She heard Yates say as he rushed to the door and yanked it open and the deafening sound of gunshots filled the air and suddenly, Yates was on the ground.

Lexi press Sophia more against the wall as someone entered, weapon raised... even with night vision on, he didn't expect the sudden kick to his groin from Lexi. He fell to his knees as she saw Jordan take the gun away. Lexi then yanked the man's goggles off and punched him square in the nose with it, the sound of bones cracking beneath the force of the hit.

There was no time to argue, they had to get to someplace a bit more safe than the bunk house...and they also had to find out what the hell was going on!

 

[BeachBum25]

After picking up the weapon, Jordan looked toward Lexi. As he did, she was rearranging the guys face with a solid punch. Jordan noticed that the man Lexi hit was dressed all in black. It was not standard issue military garb. He had no idea what was going on, but what he did know was that if any of them were going to survive, it was going to be up to Lexi and him.

They made eye contact. Jordan let her know that he was going into the hallway without saying a word. His eyes were adjusting to the darkness and, as he moved slowly and quietly, he could hear some voices in the distance. Lexi waited behind in the bunkhouse.

As Jordan moved closer to where he had heard the voices coming from, he could tell that there was some type of interrogation going on. He moved closer. Jordan could not see who was being interrogated nor what exactly they were looking for, but he could see that there were 5 people dressed in black.

Making his way back to the bunkhouse, Jordan looked around for a way out. He saw an exit at the far end of the hallway. Stopping at the bunkhouse, he relayed to Lexi what he had seen and heard. He then told her about the exit at the other end of the hallway. "It is the only way out that doesn't take us right past them. We need to get moving before they miss the guy whose face you smashed."

When Lexi agreed, they worked together to let the others know the plan. Everyone else was still in shock. Well, it was good to find out now that none of them could be trusted in an intense situation. Checking the guy that Lexi had beat up, Jordan found a handgun on him. He handed the AK-47 to Lexi, while keeping the Ruger for himself. Jordan led them out, stepping over the dead body of Yates that was in the hallway. Lexi took up the rear. Lexi kept the night vision goggles to make sure she could see if anyone was coming from behind them.

Once they were at the exit, Jordan carefully opened the door and looked around. He saw a pick-up truck parked not far from the door. It wasn't ideal, but it was better than nothing. It would give them a chance to find a place to regroup and figure some things out. He made his way to the truck and was able to hotwire it and get it started. Once the engine started up, the others made their way to the truck... Lexi getting in the front with him.... the others sprawled in the bed.

As he pulled away, Jordan looked over to Lexi. "Good to see you again." He laughed a little. "Now, where should we go to get our shit together?"