Not Gonna Die // Mitch Rapp

06

A loud bang sounded, waking everyone up and Stan said, "Why is there no one on watch? You're all dead."

"Yeah, yeah," Mitch muttered. "I got it. I got it."

Stan stood in front of Mitch. "You're dead. What? You wanna say something to me? Say it. Go on, say it." Mitch remained silent, not deeming it worthy to answer. "You got 30 seconds!"

They made their way to another area and were shown images of people. "These are your targets. Memorize them. It's your responsibility to be able to identify them. You shoot a combatant, you get a point. You miss, you get a shock. You shoot a noncombatant, you get a bigger shock. Combatant shoots you... Let's just say you're gonna feel it. Ready? Go."

Mitch looked around for a combatant and shot one. The terrorist who had taken Heidi appeared and Mitch shot at the pop-up terrorist.

He kept shooting at the terrorist and soon electricity surged through his body. But the satisfaction of shooting the man who had taken his life far outweighed the pain from the electricity.

The next training exercise was a maze of sorts. Each recruit was in a box with several rooms and they had to find their designated target.

Mitch walked up to someone to see if he was the target, but he wasn't. The cashier looked at Mitch as he said, "Hi, excuse me."

"How can I help you?" the woman asked.

"Question."

Mitch caught sight of a man that looked like the target and the cashier questioned, "May I help you?"

"No thanks, I'm okay."

Mitch snuck over to the other side and began shooting. He hit a 'pregnant' woman and Stan yelled, "Rapp! God damn it! You have to stay under control."

"Dickhead!" the woman yelled.

"Asshole doesn't know when to quit," one of the trainees said.

Mitch turned to him. "You're kidding me, right? I just saved your ass."

"You gotta know when the mission's been accomplished, Rapp," Stan told the fuming trainee.

"Sir, he's a fucking..." the trainee began.

"Which he did. Never assume your target is the only target. The enemy dresses like a deer and he kills like a lion. And that's what we gotta do. We just gotta do it better. All right."

He walked off and the woman said, "You're an asshole."

Mitch got word that Stan wanted to see him, so he walked to Stan's office and knocked on the door. "You wanted to see me, sir?"

Stan looked at Mitch. "Yeah. Shut the door." He did so as Stan continued. "We're shipping out. Set those down here. You like movies?"

"Sure." Mitch frowned, wondering what Stan was getting at.

"We can see the skyline any time."

Mitch got up and turned to the door. "What the fuck is this?" How had they gotten the tape? He stared at Heidi, hoping he wouldn't break down.

"Yeah, I thought so."

"You thought so?"

"Yeah. Why are you even alive, Rapp? You ever asked yourself that? Why you? You know, of all those people? You're special, I guess."

Mitch watched as he pulled out the ring. Heidi's smile widened as her brow furrowed in confusion. He glanced down as he listened to the proposal that had taken place moments before everything had gone horribly wrong.

"Yes!" Heidi answered, with a gasp and a nod.

"You want me to turn it up?" Stan asked and did so.

"Oh, it's beautiful, Mitch."

"It's my mom's ring."

"You're a fucking coward, you know that? Turn that shit off."

"Your mom has wonderful taste."

"You gonna turn it off?" Mitch asked again. He knew what was coming and the last thing he wanted was to relive the nightmare that had plagued him for months, and if he was being honest, still plagued him.

"Heidi!" He saw her fighting in the man's arms as she tried to escape.

"Am I supposed to feel sorry for you? I don't."

Mitch lunged at Stan and was easily countered. He wrapped a wire around Mitch's neck and Mitch ended up on the floor.

Stan said, "You made a big mistake. You let emotion cloud your judgment. Never, ever let it get personal. You understand?"

Mitch's neck was released and he coughed. "Yeah, I got it."

"Be ready to go by 5:00."

"See you at 4:30."

As he left, he mentally cursed Stan out. What was wrong with being emotional? He was still able to do his job, despite all the anger festering deep inside.

---

The next day, he and Stan boarded a plane and landed in Istanbul, Turkey. As they walked towards the airport, Stan asked, "You know what you're gonna do here?"

"No, sir," Mitch answered.

"Correct. You don't. So keep your eyes open and your mouth shut. And wait for my orders."

A woman stood outside the driver's door and they greeted her. Mitch noticed a blonde woman in the passenger's seat. He frowned, noting how eerily similar to Heidi the blonde looked, but it couldn't be Heidi; right?

[Apologies about the wait for Heidi to reappear. I wanted to get the next few chapters in.]