Chapter 6

 SIX

“Is that the target?” Adams asked, tapping Morgan on the shoulder.

“Possibly” Morgan replied

The two men sat in a parked cargo van across the street from the school. They, along with the rest of their team had been in country the past few weeks stalking their prey.

“Did you read up on who it is?” Morgan asked the younger Adams.

“Nope, figured it doesn’t really matter in the long run” Adams replied, taking a sip of his coffee. Morgan shook his head in disappointment.

Glen Morgan had been with the team for almost fifteen years by this point, rising to the ranks of Gunnery Sergeant. He had seen almost every battlefield, foreign and domestic, while conducting their ever-changing missions. His partner on the other hand was newly promoted Sergeant Curt Adams, who had only been on the teams a little over a year, having transferred after a brief stint in the other Osean Marine Corps Special Forces unit.

“I don’t know how you did it while tasked to Sea Goblin, But-“Morgan started

“Yeah, yeah, yeah, ‘You want something done flashy, call Sea Goblin, you want something done right, call Basilisk’. Believe me, I’ve heard that enough from the Old Man and the Lieutenant at this point” Adams dismissed.

“Clearly it still hasn’t stuck” Morgan replied, feeling satisfied in hearing the annoyance in the younger NCO’s voice.  He turned his attention back to the school.

From what he could tell, it was a modest brick building, approximately three stories tall with a large school yard in the back where he could see dozens of children playing. It was located almost in the heart of the City.

Morgan rolled down the window of the van and listened intently to the sound.

It was that of any other major City, He could hear the sounds of cars honking, birds chirping, children playing and that ever constant dull roar that accompanied any large collection of people. It was a stark contrast to the sounds he heard almost four years prior.

The Gracemeria Morgan had known had been quite different.

A Platoon from Basilisk had been dispatched to Emmeria in late 2015 to support the guerilla’s opposing the occupation from the neighboring Estovakians. He had been in Gracemeria when the Emmerian army liberated the city six months later. The Gracemeria Morgan knew was one of a burning skyline, set to the backdrop of gunfire and the high pitched whine of fighter jets arcing across the sky.

He was more than happy to not recognize the city today.

“So, are you going to tell me or just expect me to be able to read minds?” Adams asked.

“How about you just shut up and read the fuckin dossier the Broker passed along to us. Besides we don’t know its her yet, that’s what Zhao is checking up on”

“Better him dealing with the brats than us” Adams snorted.

 

There was a loud tap on the passenger door window that startled both men.

“fuck” hissed Adams as he rolled down the window. “Just let me do the talking” Morgan growled as he studied the interloper briefly, one of Gracemeria’s finest.

“Morning gentlemen, mind if I ask what your doing here?” the police officer asked.

“Ah, just having breakfast. Anything we can help you with officer?” Morgan quickly responded, flashing a fake grin in an attempt to sell the lie.

“Interesting… Just got a call about some suspicious activity in the area, would you two know anything about it?” The officer asked incredulously.

“Can’t say that we have” Morgan replied.

“Interesting, You boys have your ID’s on you”

“Yes sir” Curt replied, pulling out and handing over an ID card, Morgan producing a passport and handing it over to the officer.

“I see. mister Martin Baker and mister Kelly Johnson, is it?” The officer said, studying both documents “You boys from Usea?” he added.

“Yes sir, just moved. We were looking for schools for another friend of ours and decided to check this one out” Morgan responded. It was half true, and Morgan hoped that was enough to wave off the questions from the cop.

“I see mister Baker, Well I don’t know how it works in Usea but in Emmeria, we find that suspicious. Im going to let you boys go but I suggest when you search for schools, do it the old fashion way. Less people thinking your kidnappers that way” the officer chided before returning the documents and strolling away.

The men sat in silence until they were sure the officer was not returning.

 

“Shit that was close” Adams said, breathing a sigh of relief

“Agreed. Lets hope that’s the only hang up we have this op.” Morgan said, putting the Van in drive.

“Should we report it in?” Curt asked

“Probably. The sniffers in the back, we can see if the cop left us any presents in a moment” Morgan explained, as he made his way to an empty convenience store parking lot.

 

Adams got out first and turned on the sniffer, it was a simple device that scanned for anything emitting an RF signal, passive or active. Feeling satisfied the vehicle was ‘clean’, he made his way into the store, wandering around and looking the part of the haplessly unaware customer.

Returning the the van a moment later Adams produced a bag of random junk food and drinks.

“Why?” Morgan asked

“Dunno, seemed fitting for a stakeout” Adams responded childishly.

“Jesus… Just don’t get any Cheesy-puff marks on the dossier” Morgan ordered, pulling the van out of the parking lot and making his way towards the harbor.

***

“What the fuck do you mean you don’t know where the gear is?” Morgan hissed. Corporal Jeff Dennings shrugged in defeat. “just got passed down from the Old Man earlier. Guess it got seized in customs” he explained.

“Fuck!” Adams yelled, kicking the tire of the van in frustration.

Morgan cringed at his subordinate’s outburst. The harbor was one of the busiest movement areas in the entire country of Emmeria, no one would know, or even care, about the small gathering of Osean Marines discussing illegal arms shipments, one of the many reasons they had chosen the harbor as the meeting place.

 

“So did we pick it up, or did the Emmerians?” Morgan asked

“El-Tee said it was the Oseans, They seem to think it is related to some Saipanish cartel operation, they made a big deal out of it” Dennings explained

“Im sure the OIA had something to do with them coming to that conclusion” Adams replied

“Probably, kinda weird since the Cartel are just a bunch of pussies, and they prefer more rudimentary gear than that stuff.” Dennings noted.

 

“Well what ever it is, they just made our jobs that much harder. Wonder who that blue-falcon mother fuck gets the credit for that. Hey Gunny can we kill them next?” Adams moaned.

 

“Stow it, Sergeant.” Morgan barked “We aren’t sunk yet. War wasn’t that long ago, do we still have the supply caches around here?” he asked Dennings

The corporal shook his head solemnly.

“Not an option, Emmerian Army made a big deal cleaning the old guerilla sites up, Most of the gear was theirs anyways“

“What about gun stores?” Morgan implored

“Hard telling. I can look around but Emmeria’s kind of still weird about all that shit. That being said the war wasn’t long ago and the Arms bazar of Estovakia is still open, I can see what I can do.” Dennings replied.

“Well we’re still on the timetable. I suggest we get back to the safehouse and discuss everything with the Lieutenant.” Morgan said scratching the stubble on his chin.

“Sounds good, Im just gonna go off and do my own thing” Dennings said, making a lazy about face before strolling off.

Morgan and Adams stood around for a few moments, Adams finishing up a cigarette, watching large container ships pass under the Kings Bridge. Satisfied enough time passed, the two made their way back towards the parked van.

“So now what?” Adams asked

“We head back to baseplate and go from there” Morgan replied.

***

Antoinette watched the children playing in the school yard. Even though it had been years, She still kept her guard up whenever she was exposed like this. It was a behavior her husband picked up on, though chalked up to other childhood traumas, rather than its route cause.

It had been over a decade since she saw the landscape of her homeland. As, far as the world knew, she had been killed in an ISAF attack. No longer was she leading troops from the bay of Gunships or planning insurgent operations against the bastards who walked right up to their front door. As much as she hated herself for it, she was relieved to put that life behind her.

She felt a slight tug at her pants leg, Antoinette looked down to be greeted with the inquisitive eyes of one of her students. She crouched down to get to eye level with the little girl.

“What can I help you with sweetie?” Antoinette asked,

The child shifted nervously before stammering out her question,

“Miss Hall, What happened to your face?” the child squeaked out.

“Lauren!” Another teacher who witnessed the incident shrieked behind Antoinette. The high pitch of the Adult made both Antoinette and the girl cringe. “You know that’s very rude, and you shouldn’t ask those questions!” The Teacher, Mrs. Smith, admonished.

Antoinette smiled, putting the child at ease, and raising her hand to silence the teacher.

“Well you see, Years ago, I was playing with something I shouldn’t have, and that’s how I got this way” Antoinette explained.

 

The Question was one she had gotten used to over the years. Along the right side of Antoinette’s body was the scars of combat, however the most noticeable injury was on her face. Along the bridge of her nose and extending down her right cheek was the scar that by all rights should have killed her.

She had more than enough practice to tell the lie to explain her injuries to people. As far as her husband, coworkers and friends knew, Emelia Hall had suffered a catastrophic car accident at a young age which took both her parents and left her scarred. It was uncomfortable enough of a story that it rarely garnered any follow up questions.

In Truth, The scars and burns had been from her last day in the Erusean military.

 

***

They had been on the run for two years. Ever since the Independent States Allied Force’s had rolled into Farbanti with impunity, Antoinette and her men had been on the run. In the early days she had hope for the Insurgency, The promise that the Free Eruseans would expel the invaders and restore their once great and feared republic. With the fall of Megalith, and the deaths of the Free Erusean leadership, those hopes had been squashed.

The UAZ bounced down the road towards the ‘Airfield’. It was a generous term for a small wooded area that had a small helipad cleared and had been home for the past few weeks.

Antoinette was exhausted, Over half of her men had surrendered to the ISAF forces nearby, She had to sell off nearly all of her gunships to the thugs in Chopinburg and was now running once again along the wooded hills of Bulgurdarest to run once again. Just then, the first vehicle in their convoy exploded, the shockwave shattered the windshield, sending shards flying all over Antoinette, stunning her. Through the ringing in her ears she could hear the quit rapport of Anti-aircraft guns firing in the distance

The next thing Antoinette knew, the ground was exploding around them.


Antoinette woke up in a daze, She looked around, black smoke belched from the vehicles in the convoy, she could make out the shattered remains of some of her men who had been able to exit their vehicles, She unsteadily got to her feet, She felt cold. Nothing made sense to her. She just hurt.

She walked along the dirt path towards the airstrip. Antoinette wasn’t sure if her eardrums had ruptured or if it had been that quiet.

She wasn’t sure how long she had stumbled for before arriving at the airfield. She was greeted with the sights of destruction, Fires burned out of control where her once proud gunships sat parked, a large crater occupied the center of the camp.

She felt the world crumbling around her, by the time the ISAF soldiers took her into custody, she felt nothing at all.

***

Antoinette was lost in the memory, It was one she had relived time and time again. The pain, the loss, it was all still fresh in her mind. She prayed none of her children would suffer like she had.

Lauren, satisfied with the answer provided, ran off to tell a small group of children around the playground her findings.

“Doesn’t it ever get annoying?” Mrs. Smith asked.

“What do you mean?” Antoinette asked, standing up and dusting off her slacks. She took a slight satisfaction of seeing the disapproving look her much older coworker had shown. Mud and dirt never bothered Antoinette, she liked to think that made her a better teacher.

“Well I mean, you get asked that question every year, I have to imagine it gets annoying after a while” Smith elaborated.

“Why would it, we should encourage children to be inquisitive” Antoinette scolded.

Putting the end to their conversation, Antoinette Bradley, who her Family knew as ‘Emelia Hall’, watched the children play.

***

A sharp kick to the side jolted Adams awake, he had dozed off on a couch reading the dossier on their target.

“Adams, did you finally read that report?” Lieutenant Fick asked, staring at the younger non-commissioned officer with his arms folded.

“Sure, did Lieutenant” Adams said groggily.

“so, who is he?”

“Uhh… a Belkan?” Adams said half heartedly

“Sergeant I gave you a direct order to make your self aware of the target. Why the fuck did you not?” Fick hissed

“Well honestly Lieutenant, Never really cared enough about the previous targets and I still eliminated them” Adams explained.

Fick shook his head in disgust

“MORGAN!” He bellowed “You better get Adams up to speed before I have his ass dropped from the teams. I don’t care what his tally is, this shit doesn’t fly” Fick said, jabbing a finger into the confused Gunnery Sergeants chest.

“Aye aye Sir” Morgan responded

“So, Greg who is it anyways?”

“Well since you apparently live up to your title and cant read, What do you know about the San Marco Massacre?” Morgan said

“Jack and shit, what of it? That a Belkan thing or?” Adams said

Morgan walked behind Adams and smacked the back of his head

“Open the damn folder and you might learn something dumbass” Morgan barked

Adams studied the picture provided, it was of a young woman in a distinct military uniform, Adams was struck by her beauty. Her dark hair was pulled into a bun, and she was adorn with dozens of medals and commendations.

“Her name is Lieutenant Colonel Antoinette Bradley. If our intel from the Broker is right she now goes by the name of Emelia Hall.”

“Damn, how old was she in this picture?” Adams asked

“2004, just after she took command of the Erusean Air Force 28^th Helicopter Squadron. She’s twenty-two in that picture” Morgan explained

“Jesus Christ, And I thought I had a fast track career” Adams muttered

“She was a military protégée, went through the Academy at fifteen, commissioned at eighteen, and had her first war crime at twenty-two. Fast burner in the military you could say” Morgan said bemused.

“Fuck, what happened at San Marco then?”

“Well, Lieutenant Colonel Bradley here was the Squadron commander of the Erusean Air Force’s 28^th Helicopter Squadron. Back in 2004, under her orders, the twenty Hind gunships of the 28^th went in and opened fire on a civilian religious gathering. Almost seven hundred people were gunned down that day under her orders” Morgan said flatly

“Fuck, and I thought the Belkans were bad” Adams muttered.

“What happened next is a bit of a question, we know her unit went off the radar right before the Republic collapsed. Intel believe she was going to take her unit to Megalith unit some ISAF unit took it out. From there, no one really knows. We know she was spotted with multiple Free Erusean cells on and off until 2007, but after that she went entirely underground.”

“Any idea how she ended up here?”

“That’s the trick, aint it? Well you see that Hind we got chased by back in Usea a month or so back?” Morgan asked

“Yeah, until that fly-boy from the Gunther squadron took it out, I remember”

“Well we had OIA do some digging. Of course they came up with nothing but our information broker found something. The old Republic of Erusean military was the only power that ever adopted the Hind for any major work, and the numbers on our particular aggressor were not on any official registration of captured equipment from the last war-“ Morgan explained sitting down in a chair across the room from Adams

“- So then we figured out it was actually being operated by the Saipanish Cartel in the region” He finished

“How does this play out with her then?” Adams asked

“It was one of her Hinds. The Broker got some more information, found a guy named Sergio Borisov. Henderson’s team paid him a visit and he spilled the beans. After some ISAF airstrike took out most of Bradley’s unit, she made her way to Borisov who was well known in the Free Erusean movement for getting people out of the continent. He set her up in Emmeria under the assumed name of Emelia Hall and gave her all the documents to start a new life here, unbeknownst to any Emmerians”

“I see. What she up to now?”

“School Teacher. Has a Husband and two children, Zhao should be making contact with her today to confirm its her.”

“Wont that tip her off?” Adams asked

“Probably not, He’s pretty good at the trade craft thing now.” Morgan re-assured him.

***
The sound of rollers along a linoleum floor distracted Antoinette from her grading. She looked at the clock

4:00 PM

“Almost time to go home” she muttered to herself.

There was a knock at the door of the classroom, a second later the schools new janitor walked in to collect the garbage.

“Evening Miss Hall” The janitor grunted out. Antoinette studied the man for a second, something just seemed familiar about him. She couldn’t directly place it.

As the man threw the small plastic bins contents into the much larger garbage bin Antoinette watched him. Mister Nagase had only joined the schools staff a few weeks prior. If Antoinette had to guess, she would say he was in his Late thirties’ early forties, with dark hair that was unkempt starting to grey, tanned skin and an average build. He also seemed off to Antoinette.

“Mister Nagase, do you mind if I asked you a personal question?” She asked

“Shoot” He grunted in response

“What did you do before you were a janitor?”

He didn’t look up from his task, but Antoinette noted the pause as he chose his words.

“Odd jobs, Why?” He replied with a gravelly voice.

“Oh no reason, Just wondering if we worked together at some point” She replied nonchalantly.

He was of an Asian descent, and didn’t sound Erusean, in fact his accent was so neutral it seemed to lack any distinct dialect at all.

“Did you happen to serve in the military?” She probed.

He nodded, a slight grin on his face

“Third Battalion, Crnero Regiment” he replied wiping his hands on the chest of his blue coveralls

Oh good an Emmerian she thought to herself.

“If your asking, I imagine you must have been too?” he asked, studying the much smaller woman.

She smiled, though the question and his gaze bothered her.

“Oh no, nothing like that!” She dismissed, “But why do you ask?” She implored

“The Scars. Look similar to the one’s the Stovies gave my buddies a few years back” He explained, “Figured its reasonable that you must of gotten them the same way” he concluded.

She could feel her heart starting to race, She had been on combat missions in thunderstorms and had felt less in danger than she did now.

“Oh nothing that exciting, really” She said, trying to suppress the stress from showing in her voice.

Nagase nodded

“Excuse me for asking then,” he said apologetically.
***
Morgan stared at the monitors of the safehouses Security system. From every angle he could see the comings and goings around the small three-bedroom family home the Oseans had taken as their base of operations in Emmeria.

On the Garage camera, he could see their Lieutenant and Dennings unloading duffel bags and hardcases from the back of a suburban, On the backyard camera he could see Adams grilling steaks and smoking a cigarette, and on a third monitor, he could see a map of Gracemeria with multiple GPS tracker locations.

It had been a busy afternoon, Morgan had gone back to the school and planted a tracker on the targets vehicle, he wasn’t sure if it would help but their logic had always been ‘More details cant hurt’. Dennings had called in every arms dealer the OIA could find them and Archer had done more location scouting for their mission.

A sharp whistle caught Morgan’s attention.

“Alright, start unpacking this shit” The Lieutenant ordered.

Morgan grabbed a gun case, Unzipping it revealed an old bolt-action rifle, the smell of cosmoline was almost incapacitating. He threw the rifle to Adams.

“What the fuck is this? Am I supposed to defend the Hot Gates against the Belkan Fifth Panzer?” Adams asked rhetorically,

“Cool it, don’t strain the metaphor” The Lieutenant chuckled.

“Dude, a Mosin Nagant has been the snipers choice for nearly a century, Plus, it was the only rifle I could find, so deal with it” Dennings shot back.

The operators continued to unpack the contents of the bags until the deadbolt unlocking on the door caught their undivided attention.

A Moment later, a tired looking Asian man in a blue coveralls stumbled in.

“Honey I’m Home” he shouted wearily.

 

“Good day at work I trust Zhao?” The Lieutenant asked, returning to the task at hand.

Morgan studied Staff Sergeant Tom Zhao’s new uniform, The Coveralls were covered in grime and dirt, a white nametag was sewn to the breast that read NAGASE in fancy script.

“I cant see how kids can make that much of a mess. I’ve seen buildings hit with JDAMs that looked better” Zhao sighed defeated.

“Did you make Contact with the Target?” Lieutenant Fick asked.

“Yessir, She even has a pattern, but-“ Zhao paused

“But what?” Morgan asked annoyed

“-But she might be onto me” Zhao finished.

“What makes you say that?” Adams asked

“She recognized I’m a Marine for one” Zhao said.

“did she say that?” Denning asked worried

“No, But she guessed I was military,” Zhao said.

Fick thought for a moment.

“You come up with a decent cover story?”

“Yep, Made up some shit about being in the Army, should be good enough”

“What did you get on the target?” Morgan piped up.

Zhao produced a wad of papers from his pocket.

“Personnel record from the school, Map layout of the grounds and the teacher monitor schedule for good measure” Zhao reported.

 

Fick took the papers and put the map of the school on the table before them.

“So whats the plan?” Dennings asked.

Fick studied the documents for a moment before replying. “First mission is a go, Looks like next time she will be a recess monitor will be the end of the week. Adams, you think you can get that rifle zeroed in time?”

“Yeah, shouldn’t be too much of a problem” Adams replied.

“So we’re gonna shoot and scoot, What happens if that goes tits up” Morgan asked.

Dennings reached into the duffel bags and produced two AK-74 rifles.

“Then we go to this” He said pridefully.

“Fuck me, you talk about rushing the school?” Zhao said shocked.

“If we need to, its an option” Fick replied flatly.

“Your asking for a blood bath in that case.” Zhao muttered

Fick shot a glare towards the Sergeant.

“We do what we have to, to accomplish the mission. We’re all professionals and I trust you all can Identify a non-combatant even in an environment like this.” Fick said, letting the words hang in the air.

 

It was a familiar argument, one many of the senior members of the team had heard time and again.

 

“Alright then, lets get to work” Morgan said coolly