Blessing in Disguise - Simon "Ghost" Riley

Tension

Ghost's POV:

I don't understand why she needs to be here. She's just going to weigh us down.

I hate her. I hate her with every bone in my body.

I'm not one to talk bad about my teammates. Never. We are supposed to be the best of the best. She's a good soldier, and she knows what she's doing, but she acts like a child and is unprofessional.

She was late for training, and didn't follow orders. What if she's like this on the field?

The way she outwardly disrespected me today was ridiculous. She needs to be held accountable for her actions. We are a team and need to work together, but she's not doing her part, she thinks about herself. She needs to learn to respect others and follow the rules.

As Price was talking about the details, she had her eyes glued to the ground, not paying any attention. Why isn't she listening?

"Alright, we're leaving at 3 AM, rest up. Dismissed."

Price finally finished the briefing, and she was one of the last to leave the room. I stopped her, "What's wrong with you? You're acting like you don't care about this mission. Stop being childish."

Natalie looked up, surprised. "I was listening." She snapped back.

"What's the mission about?" I spat.

"I shouldn't need to remind you of the mission lieutenant, maybe you weren't the one listening?"

I felt the warmth of anger bubbling up inside me, but I didn't say anything. I was too bothered to even let out a single word. All I could do was grunt and turn around to walk away from the situation, my feet moving quickly and yet feeling sluggish all the same. I wanted to scream and shout at her and let out all the anger and frustration I've been feeling, but I knew that wouldn't accomplish anything. Instead, I held it all in and kept walking, determined to put as much space between me and her as possible.

I don't fully understand why she bothers me this much. She shouldn't. She's just another teammate. I kept walking, not looking back, not stopping until I was far enough away from her to be able to finally take a deep breath and begin to calm down. I was still angry, but at least I was able to think more clearly now. I knew that eventually I would have to face her again, but for now, I just needed some time to cool off.

Natalie's POV:

"We will be tracking down a terrorist, Iranian Quds Force Major, Hassan Zyani." Price spoke as he placed photos of the man on the desk.

"He's currently located in Mexico, from what we know so far he is also working with the Las Almas cartel. Our mission is to go to Las Almas to track down and capture Hassan, we will be inserting at the outskirts of Las Almas. Once we're on the ground, we'll split into two teams. Team One will head to the north side of the city, while Team Two heads to the south side. Our intel suggests he is being protected by a local gang known as El Sin Nombre. We need to infiltrate their stronghold and find out where Hassan is. We will be working with a few of our friends from the Mexican Special Forces to ensure we have the resources we need to complete this mission. We will be up against a ruthless enemy who has nothing to lose, so be ready and be prepared for anything. Any questions?"

"No sir." Everyone said at the same time, well, almost everyone. I noticed a gruff voice didn't speak up. I quickly glanced at him and caught his gaze towards me.

"Alright, we're leaving at 3 AM, rest up. Dismissed."

Price finished briefing the mission, and everyone seemed to want to rush outside of the room, so I patiently waited to leave. As I made my way back to my room, I felt a familiar gloved hand on my arm, "What's wrong with you? You're acting like you don't care about this mission. Stop being childish."

I looked up, confused. "I was listening." I snapped back. Who does he think he is? He was the one literally staring at me as if he wanted to kill me.

"What's the mission about?" He snapped back at me. The audacity.

"I shouldn't need to remind you of the mission lieutenant, maybe you weren't the one listening?" I smirked at him, I'm not giving in that easily.

He didn't say anything, he just continued to stare at me with narrowed eyes. Our faces were only a few inches apart, I could almost feel his breath spread across my face. I began to grow nervous, as he continued to menacingly stare into my eyes. Suddenly he grunted, and quickly walked outside the base. I released a breath that I didn't even realize I was holding. I almost wanted to go after him, and continue this unfinished argument we were in the middle of having, almost. I turned around and went back to my own room, surprised he stormed off the way he did. I thought he was going to yell at me or make a snarky comment.

2 AM

I woke up to my alarm blaring right next to my ear, where I slammed my hand on it to shut it off. It's been years since I've used this alarm, yet I don't think I'm ever going to adapt to it being the first thing I hear in the morning. I groggily get out of my bed and check the time, 2 AM.

Perfect. I have an hour to get ready, and collect all of my belongings. I take a quick shower and change into another pair of dark cargo pants with my black t shirt. As I leave my room I notice Keegan walking down the hallway and I catch up to him, "Keegan! Are you going to the weapons room?"

He slowed down a bit and turned to me, "Yeah, why, what's up?"

"Nothing, I just also need to go to the weapons room for the mission, but I don't know where to go, but you're here so I'll just tag along with you." I gave him a smile. He nodded and we continued to walk.

After a comfortable few minutes, I decided to speak up, "Hey, I'm sorry if this is pushing your boundaries, but why do you guys wear the mask?"

"Oh, yeah, it's mainly to just hide what I look like to our enemies, and it also kind of serves as a reminder to the team about the sacrifices we've made."

I hummed in response, "Thank you for sharing that with me, I appreciate it. Is that also why Ghost wears it, or does he have a different reason, y'know because he like has a skull and everything."

"Honestly, I don't really know why Ghost wears it, but I'm assuming it's for a similar reason. Logan tried to ask him why he wore it and... let's just say the conversation didn't really end well." He lightly chuckled at the end, but I could feel the anger beginning to rise.

I scoffed, "God, he's so hot headed, doesn't it irritate you? Why does he think he can get away with the things that he does?"

"Well, I think he just needs to warm up to you, he's used to working on his own, and doesn't really do well with people."

I opened the door to the weapons room, "I guess, but that doesn't justify the way he treats people, I mean earlier-" I stopped mid-sentence when I saw the rest of the team already picking out their weapons for the mission. I gave Keegan a look, letting him know that we're going to talk about this later, and he nodded back at me. I quickly put my gear on, and double checked everything to make sure I have everything I need. I grabbed a USP .45, and an M4 Carbine and attached a scope to it, along with a sound suppressor.

I felt like someone was staring at me, I already knew who it was, so I didn't look around, then I heard footsteps come closer to me.

"Hey kid, how are you doing?" Price asked me.

"Hey, I'm alright, why do you ask?"

"It's just that you looked irritated when you and Keegan walked in here, I just wanted to check up on you."

"Oh yeah, I'm okay, thank you I appreciate it." He nodded.

"Alright lads, let's get on with it." We all made our way to the helicopter. I sat down with Keegan on my right and Soap to my left. Ghost and Price sat across from us. I began to doze off as my head slowly went limp and fell on a shoulder, but I didn't have the energy to move.