JasperPOV
The sunlight beaming through the bedroom windows dazzled my tired eyes as I blinked to clear away the fogginess of sleep. I'd slept restlessly, much like I had every night since returning from Port Angeles. If I'm being honest it's not just Emmett that needs a break from all this, all of us guys on the team are suffering from that experience. Yet none of us want to succumb to the shrink. Yesterdays phone call from the CIA guy had stirred up feelings that I thought I would never have, I was actually coming to dislike this life, the sacrifices that I, my friends and family had made for the good of our beloved nation were becoming too heavy on my heart. I knew that when the time comes to re-up or ship out, I'd be hitting the ground running in order to get the hell out of dodge and I wouldn't be surprised if most of the guys went with me.
When I had enlisted straight out of high school I had this image of an ideal life, adventure, sun and sea. The reality of course is something else, sure the adventure is there, the sun occasionally and the sea played its part, but they didn't mention the fear, the fatigue, or the pain of seeing your friends die, sometimes in your arms, often for a trivial cause. Is this what I wanted? Could I really subject my Alice to any more of the pain, she'd already lost her brother, my best friend, could I really live with myself or understand the abject fear she must live with every time that my pager beeps. Don't get me wrong, I've loved being a seal, but the more dangerous the situations we encounter are, the more I start to think, there must be more to life than this.
Shortly after 8am, I dragged my sorry self from the comfort of my bed, Alice had already left for the early shift at the hospital, I trudged down to the kitchen to grab a coffee, bless her heart she'd set up a pot before she'd left this morning. I grabbed a cup and headed across the hall to my office, I felt restless, since coming back from Port Angeles, we'd been on leave, yet I still had reports to write and statements to send in, I needed to shut down and forget everything for a while, but I knew that with the latest developments and being back on standby, my much desired R&R was going on hold. Sighing I sank into my large leather seat, sipping my coffee like a drowning man in the desert I flipped open the file on the desk, we had a new guy joining us, so we'd need to get some training in, check him out, test his strengths, Haze his ass. Sure he was replacing Edward, but that didn't mean we had to treat the guy any different from any other noob joining our team. We're a well oiled machine, everyone of us knew each other so well that we didn't even need to talk to communicate. This guy was going to need to hit the ground running and have some bloody huge balls to boot. He was due to arrive at Little Creek later today, I scratched my head, well damn, guess I'm going to have to go meet this guy, perhaps I could round the guys up, get some time in the kill house while we're there, wouldn't hurt to throw him in the shit from the get go.
I grabbed my cell and sent a text to the team.
Little Creek, 1400. Noob 1430, kill house 1500, bring coffee.
I contemplated for a few minutes as to whether or not to call Em, I'd put him on emergency leave, Rose being pregnant actually helped, I was right when I told her that he would be stoked, he was overwhelmed, like a kid in a toyshop with a blank cheque. On one hand we all needed some time with this new guy, but on the other, we need the R&R, Em especially. Fuck it, I grabbed my cell from the desk and hit 2. It managed two rings before Em picked up.
"Wassup," he called down the line.
"Quoting budweiser adverts now?"
He chuckled in response, a hint of my brother, my friend from 7 days ago sneaking in there.
"So..." I started, suddenly unsure, "Um... the noobs due at Little Creek this afternoon, figured would be a good time to get the guys in for some Kill House action, you coming? No pressure bro, but maybe some no shit shooting would do us all some good."
"Er..." I could hear the uncertainty in his voice, "yeah? I guess I could do with some no shit shooting, so er, this noob, anyone we know?"
"Nope, he's just out of boat school in Coronado, so not been around long enough to pick up any bad habits yet, I say we need to corrupt his ass and sharpish."
"Damn, bet he aint even got his feet wet yet, primary skills?"
"Medic and navigation, according to his file, the guy could navigate his way to the moon with a piece of string and a cup of water. His weapons skills are pretty good, but until I see them for myself, I'm not going to pass judgement, either way bro, I need your input, this guy ranks as a PO like Jake, but until I can see he's not another bullshitting armchair general, I won't have him endangering our team."
"Ok bro, I'll see you at Little Creak in an hour," Emmett bellowed before hanging up.
I smiled to myself, thinking that he seemed more like the old Em, before all the fucked upness of the past week. I quickly drained the rest of my coffee before grabbing the file, my car keys and my cell and hightailing it out to the garage to head on out to Little Creek.
It was close to 11am when I parked up at the administration block at Little Creek, our assigned base of operations stateside. There were a few teams stationed here, we covered the East Coast and most International Operations, while the other teams in Coronado covered the rest of the US, the fact that we'd gone to Port Angeles was a fluke, the teams on the West Coast were either training somewhere out of the country or on their own missions, so in a sense it was fated that we would end up covering their back yard, fated or fateful, it was definitely fatal.
Shaking my head to clear my weary mind I leant over the centre consol and picked up the files and my phone before heading into the Admin block, if I could get our time in the kill house logged in ahead of the boys arriving, I'd still have the time to get a few reports out of the way and turned in.
"Lieutenant Whitlock!" a voice called from down the hall. I looked up to see General Garret standing in the doorway to his office.
"Sir?"
"When you've completed business with the clerk I'd like a word." he responded.
"Yes Sir, right away." I responded, trying desperately not to roll my eyes, sure he'd been a big shot back in the day, but now, just like all the rest, he was an armchair general in every sense of the word, the most action he got nowadays was paper clip requisitions and even they were dictated to the clerk.
I approached the clerks desk intentionally making my footsteps loud as she had a habit of being oblivious of her surroundings and jumping whenever someone approached, needless to say most of the guys on the teams found this a great source of fun and teased her mercilessly. Thankfully she took it in good humour.
"Morning Elisabeth," I said lightly.
"Why good morning Lieutenant, what do we owe the pleasure of your company this morning?" she responded, batting her eyelashes.
"I've got some reports to hand in and while I'm here, I need to book a slot in the kill house for the boys, we've got a new guy joining us today, figured it would be a good chance to break him in and have a bit of fun at the same time. I'm thinking 1500hrs if possible." I laid the charm on thickly.
"I'm sure I can accommodate you and your boys," she responded in a purr, I tried not to snort at her double entendre, no need to encourage her.
"Thank you Elisabeth, if Emmett arrives can you get him to meet me at the crew room, I've got to go see the old man quickly."
She nodded in response and went back to her filing or whatever it is that she does. I turned then and headed down the hall to the Generals door, he'd left it open and gestured me in when he noticed me standing there.
"Lieutenant, how are things on the team? Anything I need to know?"
"Things are pretty good sir, I've just been booking us in for some Kill house time this afternoon, we've a new guy coming in, so figured it was a good time as any to get acquainted." I responded dryly.
"And at home, I know you guys are all close, and I know that losing Cullen has hit hard, just know that we have the means to offer support if needed son."
"Thank you sir, I'm not going to say things aren't tough right now, we're a close knit team and losing Cullen has been... difficult on all of us, but we have a job to do and we will do it to the best of our abilities, he'd want that."
"So this new guy, do we know anything about him?"
"I've glanced though his file, on paper he seems great, but I won't make a judgement until I see him in the kill house, if he can work with our guys and not rock the boat then we'll take it from there."
"It's good to see you keeping an open mind Lieutenant, however regardless of how he does in the kill house, you're stuck with him, I won't have an incomplete team on this base, so if there's any problems with this guy you and I mean YOU Lieutenant will be responsible for shaping his ass to meet our needs, so you best hope that he hits the ground running and he hits it hard."
"Sir, yes sir." I responded, well that's just peachy.
"That's all for now Lieutenant, I'm sure you have better things to be doing than standing here talking with me."
"Thank you Sir."
I quickly turned and left his office, scrubbing my face roughly as I walked down the hall to the front entrance and out to the parking lot. I didn't really think as I jumped back into my car and drove over to the crew room. As I approached along the drive I could hear heavy bass thumping through walls, Emmett’s big ass hummer was parked out front. I smiled to myself, the number of times this very sound had greeted us made me feel nostalgic. I may be the ranking officer, but Edward was the crew chief, I held back the melancholy that threatened to descend at the memory.
Edward strode into the crew room, Emmett was sprawled across the weight bench, hip hop blasting through the speakers on the wall, he didn't even notice Edward was there until he smacked him across the back of the head and jumped back laughing as Emmett dropped the free weights he was using and fell of the bench.
"What the fuck Edward?"
"Seriously Em, you're getting into this now? I could've been anyone and I snuck up on your unobservant ass." Edward laughed.
Emmett sat back on the bench, crossed his arms and pouted moodily. The whole room erupted with laughter and his lip was soon twitching with a hard to hold in smirk.
I shook my head and pushed through the door, just as I remembered there was Emmett sitting on the bench lifting weights, hip hop blasting through the speakers, I smirked, nothing changes.
"Hey Em, turn that shit down, I could hear it all the way over at the Admin block." I shouted over the noise.
"Dude, I need these heavy beats to keep this body the temple that my Rosie loves to worship."
"Seriously Em? that's my sister, I don't need to know that shit, hell I'm convincing myself that her pregnancy is an immaculate conception and not the result of your hairy ass 'tappin that'"
A large guffaw filled the room, "Oh man did you just use 'tappin that' in relation to thoughts of your sister on me, damn if that aint the funniest shit ever."
"Em, if you don't want me to castrate your ass, I recommend you shut the fuck up," I responded sharply.
He held his hands up in submission the smirk never leaving his face, his eyes sparkling with mirth. I offered him the hairy eyeball in return.
"It's good to see you bro," I slapped his back, "But damn you need to get some better music tastes, I can't believe you're my brother."
"So any news on the new guy?"
"Nah, he's not due to land at Dulles for another hour, but I've fixed us a slot in the kill house for 1500, also I spoke with the General before coming over, he says that regardless we're stuck with him, so if he sucks, we've got a lot of work on our hands to desuckify his ass."
"Well that sucks balls bro." Em responded.
"Oh it's more than that, he practically implied that if he sucks ass, then we've gotta pick up the slack, cause he won't have an incomplete team on his base, and I doubt he'd think twice about shipping our asses back out to Coronado."
"Mother fucker." fumed Emmett.
The banging of the crew room door swiftly followed by the sounds of the guys loping into the room bought our quick conversation to an end, I had to stifle a laugh as I spotted Embry and Jake rough housing as they pushed through the doors, on closer inspection I saw that Jake was holding a pizza box, a slightly worse for wear pizza box and Embry was ragging him.
"Seriously dude lighten up, 10 second rule man, geez you're an uptight asshole!" Jake joked.
"Uptight! fuck you man, that 10 second rule is bullshit, if we eat that monstrosity we'll probably catch some awful disease and die," replied Embry seriously.
Jake stopped, lifting his eyebrow in response to Embry's tirade, by now the whole team were stood silently watching the verbal sparring between the two guys, I grinned at the memory that came to mind as Emmett and Sam caught my eye.
"I bet I know what you're thinking," whispered Sam, so only me and Emmett could hear.
"Uhuh," Emmett nodded, "I bet I'm thinking the same thing."
"Leptospirosis." We all said at the same time, grinning widely as the memory hit.
Embry was the new guy on the team, he'd been with us for about a week now, wet behind the ears and straight out of boat school. He was a hypochondriac, we were doing some close quarter training and spent some time on the ranges, sharing canteens and mugs during down time. He hated that.
"You don't know what shit you could pick up, you aren't exactly the cleanest fuckers around," he said.
"Too true," replied Jake "I was in the far east and contracted Leptospirosis, lost about 28 pounds, sucked balls."
"You caught lepto sucking balls dude? I thought you got that shit from dodgy water sources and animal matter." retorted Quil. Jake quickly got him in a headlock and proceeded to give him a massive noogie.
"See exactly what I mean, although Jake that sucks, bad luck dude, when did that happen?" Embry continued.
"Last month," responded Jake his lips twitching and eyes twinkling mirthfully.
"Dirty fucker!" screamed Embry, throwing his canteen to the ground and stomping back onto the range to the sounds of laughter.
"Damn Jake, his going to be ragging on about sharing mugs and hygiene for the rest of the fucking week" groused Quil.
A short while later Embry came back to the safe area, eyeing us all suspiciously.
"You know I think you're all dirty fuckers, sharing your shit an all that, but I know for sure I'm safe, you lot though, there's no telling what ya'll are gonna catch."
"And why is that my friend?" grinned Jake.
"Because I've been pissing in the coffee pot in the crew room all week," he smirked before grabbing his keys from the wall and heading off to his jeep.
I smirked at Emmett and Sam, that was some funny shit, it was that time that we knew Embry was going to fit in fine with the team, sure he had his 'issues' but hell it took balls for him to do what he did, needless to say since then we bring in our own coffee, although the other teams still drink from the 'piss pot'.
We looked back at Embry and Jake, they were still going back and forth, by the time this was over, the pizza wouldn't be worth eating anyway.
"Guys, enough already, Embry just call for a fresh one, either way this shit ends."
They both looked chagrined but nodded in response. Jake loped his huge ass frame to the tables in the corner and began to devour the rough ass looking pizza, I shrugged, maybe Embry was right this time, while Embry grabbed his cell and called for another to be delivered. We all eventually meandered to the tables and discussed the new guy and what it meant for the team. Fresh pizza soon arrived and the group discussion was replaced with the sounds of eating and general bullshitting that you get from a group of guys.
"So LT when's the noob arrive," Seth murmured over his pizza.
"Anytime now Seth," I answered glancing at my watch.
I'd barely spoken when the sound of a vehicle was heard pulling up in the parking lot. I glanced around the table, each of the guys had heard the vehicle too and were looking to me as to what to do next, I shrugged and took another bite of my pizza, if this guy is going to fit in, then he'll get no special treatment, he needs to step up. A minute later we heard footsteps then suddenly the door opened and a tall dark haired guy with deep brown eyes stood before us, his eyes bounced around the room and finally meeting ours at the table. He sighed quietly, I guess he was nervous of the reception. Stepping in the door, he dropped his duffel to the side and walked slowly towards the table.
"I'm looking for ugh... Lieutenant Whitlock," he said glancing at his orders.
The guys looked at him, and then at me before going back to eating, well they're no help.
"That'll be me," I nodded at him.
He stood straight and went to salute, "Dude stop that shit before you start, we don't salute, the stuff we deal with, well let’s just say that acknowledging rank causes problems." Emmett interjected.
"Oh ugh, yeah um right I forgot," he replied nervously, visibly gulping at the hulk that had spoken to him.
I smirked to myself before standing and heading over to him. "Come on, lets get your stuff stowed and introductions made, we've got a session in the kill house in 30 minutes."
I walked him over to a row of lockers, "here, this one is yours, they'll have your name plate for you up at admin, so until then, you'll just have to remember which one is yours, I suggest you memorise your neighbours."
"Thanks, ugh sir, um LT, since we don't mention rank, what exactly do I call you, for reference?"
I grinned, "Jasper or Jazz, ignore the hulk who spoke before, I will not answer to J-dog or Jasperdoodle or any other hair brained fuckery that he comes out with."
He smiled, his first genuine smile and promptly offered his hand, "Peter Jackson, or Pete although for a while they did call me Kojack at Coronado, I have a bit of a thing for lollypops."
I laughed quietly at that, "Well Pete, I think we'll save the nicknames to the guys, we all have them, although if you're unlucky enough to be named by Emmett or Jake, well you have my sympathy. Time to meet the team, then we'll head on out to the Kill House for some CQB."
We walked back over to the tables and Pete was introduced to the team, first impressions he seemed a pretty stand up guy, a little quiet, but then he knew why he was joining our team and had the sense to not ask about it. Jake decided to take him under his wing, I decided that this could be either very good, or very bad, but until we see him in action, time will only tell.
A little before 1500 we suited up and headed over to the kill house, it's really just a derelict looking building out on the back roads of the base, well away from all civilisation, we used it for planning assaults, CQB and stress relief, today it would not only serve all of those purposes but also help us determine if we had a lame duck on the team with the new guy.
"Ok guys listen up, you'll be going in, in teams of two, Em and I will go last, as we'll be timing you," I started and was quickly interrupted by Jake groaning.
"Something to add Jake?"
"Yeah, you guys do this every damn time; we already know the routine, how about we sex this up a bit?"
"Um dude there's no way in hell I'm calling your girl and getting her to play hostage, that chick scares me." quipped Emmett.
"Dude!" Jake laughed, "No I meant what about a wager, say fastest team gets all their drinks paid at the bar tonight."
"Don't you think that's a bit unfair Jake, we all know Em and Jazz are the speed demons here." replied Sam.
"Nah I got a good feeling about my new homeboy here." Jake nudged Pete.
"Fine, if that's what motivates you Jake, sure what the hell." I muttered.
Jake pumped his fists and practically vibrated where he stood. "Well what are we waiting for?"
"Ok, inside the kill house we have unknown X-Rays and 2 civilians, you need to enter and clear all the rooms as quickly as possible, before exiting, if you lose a civilian you will be penalised with a 10 second time cap. Questions?"
There were grunts and head shakes all round, so I gestured for the first team to posse up and head on in. As the afternoon stretched on, Jake and Peter were holding first place, closely followed by Seth and Sam. It was finally Em and my turn, we'd both done the kill house so many times that it was almost second nature now, although recently we hadn't done so together, I'd partnered Edward and Em had been with Jake, so this was new to us. Taking up positions at the door and side window, we listened to Jake count us in.
"3, 2, 1, GO GO GO"
Em lobbed a smoke canister through the window as I steadily pushed the door open, hitting the corner and checking my blind spots, BANG an X-ray target popped out half way up the hallway ahead of me, 'pop pop' it dropped as I hit it with 2 silenced shots head and chest. Em followed in behind me and signalled he was hitting the stairs, Bang another X-ray appeared on the landing, quickly followed by two shots from Em. We moved quickly and quietly through the house, the smoke canister billowing through the halls obstructing our sight although not enough to cause a problem. I approached the first door in the hall, it was wide open, but pitch dark inside, I pulled down my NVG's and observed the green hued image before me, ah, 2 X-rays and a civilian, stepping quietly into the room I dropped the first one with a well made shot to the head and knocked the second down before the first hit the floor. I chirped my throat mic to call Em, "1 civilian free, moving on bro", he chirped back a whispered "yeah!"
I slowly crept back into the hallway, heading back through the house to the central room, I heard white noise ahead of me and smoke pumped through the hallway, visibility was getting more and more difficult. That fucker Jake wanted his beer bad! I heard two more silenced shots then Ems voice through the mic, "2 X-rays down, no Civs up here I'm coming down."
Less than 15 seconds later Em appeared to the left of me, I gestured to the doorway ahead of us, we crept forward, hunkering low to the ground to make less of a target of ourselves, as we reached the door Em stopped me from proceeding. I raised an eyebrow, before rolling my eyes at him as he lifted a flashbang from his belt. Using the tip of his gun to edge the door open, he pulled the ring on the flash bang and lobbed it into the room before pulling the door shut once more as the loud bang erupted in the room beyond, at that moment we both sprung through the door taking separate directions and rolled into the room, knocking out the remaining X-rays with a flourish, leaving the Civilian standing in the middle.
"Clear!" we both called.
"Son of a bitch!" yelled Jake, "1 minute 55 seconds. How the hell do you to do it that fast?"
"Practice Jake, now pay up." I laughed.
"Yeah that and he designed the damn thing, seriously Jake what idiot would bet against Jasper in his own goddam house?" laughed Emmett.
"I forgot," mumbled Jake.
The rest of the guys laughed even Pete seemed to join in, the jury is still out, although he handled the kill house fine, at least I know he can handle himself. I clapped Jake on the back, as we strolled back to the crew room, shouting and joking amongst ourselves. The kill house was just what we needed and it didn't hurt in getting the new guy to join in either. I can only hope he's as good when he does the real thing.
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