The Love Within The War

An Ops mission

Leon's POV

Once we finally get to the consulate, Alice Chloe, Lee, Ross, and I are greeted by Staff Sgt. He greets us "Good you all are here, Captain Mcvevoy is inside as well waiting for y'all. You all have a brief with some CIA officials who have some intel that needs to be briefed to all of you." Gunny says to us as we enter, we see two suited-up men and our Battalion commander, Colonel Jager.....

"Good, you are here now. Let's get started." One of the agents says to us. We all spread across the room and listened at ease. "I'm going to keep this nice and simple. You all have a mission that can finally turn the tide of this war." We are told by Colonel Jager.

"These two are Intelligence operatives from Virginia who have been collecting intel in the field for months on the Russians. I'll let them brief you." The colonel says.

"Good evening to all of you. I am Agent Chris, and this is Agent Amelia. We understand that you all are under great stress from the recent attack, but we need the best for this op...." they say as Lee and I look at one another as well as Ross. "You all need to know this, and only this no questions asked. This op, yes, of course, can change the course of the war, but it's behind enemy lines, though we chose you and others to take this mission. Because we fear the Russians have plans to use WMDs on Paris.... and the world as we know, it will be destroyed. We also have intelligence that we have allies behind lines, that they are planning on using them for intel. Your targets are a group of Black ops operators who are stuck behind enemy lines and captive in the Russian FOB (forward operating base). They were captured months ago and are being interrogated as we speak. We need you all to go out there and save them the intel they have is very important and one of them is a scientist and a colonel who has been there for a very long time the intel they have is vital.... especially the Colonel he's been moved back and forth since the start of the war... he was at the battle of the border at Korea."

They say, and I look at Alice, who has a shock in her eyes.... wait, could that mean her father is alive?

The last thing I hear is this "Assemble your team it is Monday you leave Thursday you will be resupplied in the field we have special forces SAS going to link up with us in the field once you get to a town called Verdun it is Russian occupied but they are holding there undercover. You all will be dressed in civilian gear, so pack only what you need. You are officially now Black ops ladies and gentlemen. Now go... have your team assembled by Wednesday at 0700 am. You will be led by me and Agent Amelia, see you then." Chris says, and then we get the order to leave by the Colonel.

Back at camp, which is still in tack to all our surprise... I grabbed Alice's hand, and we speed-walked to our tent. As soon as we are in, she drops onto her cot... I bend down to level with her, put my hands on her knees, and look into her eyes, searching for any emotions she's feeling. "Alice...." She looks up at me, her eyes becoming watery. "Leo, what if it's not? What if we think it is and we do this mission to only find out it's someone else's dad?" Just looking at her like this, so fragile and thinking about every possibility, I can't even imagine how she's feeling. I hug her so tight, feeling her body just go limp, not knowing what to think.

When I heard them talking about the Colonel who's been moved back and forth since the start of the war and was at the Korean border battle. I just couldn't even believe it... I mean, I didn't think he was dead, but I never imagined that it'd be my team and Alice who'd find him.

We get back to base, I see Alice walking into our tent, I hug and her and then pull away, and look at her, holding her away with my hands on her shoulders, making sure she's okay, I smile and kiss her forehead. She leans her head against me. "Thank you, Leo, for always being here with me." She's so beautiful as I play with her hair; I tell her that I will always be here for her no matter what it is, whether it's a brake up, or a bad day, or she just needs something to hold onto. We pull away from each other and gather up our things for tomorrow.

Waking up, I see Alice already fixing the pillows on the cot. She has on a green shirt tucked into her black jeans with a light olive green leather jacket. She also has her Kayla crossbody bag on her. Probably carrying her camera, notepad, pens, and whatever else she has in there. "You're up early. What time is it?" She looks up at me as she puts the last pillow in place. "Hey, oh sorry I couldn't sleep much, it's 0610, I was letting you sleep in." I look at her worried. "Are you sure you're up for this?" She looks away, thinking for a minute, then nods. "I have to be, I don't have a choice now, do I?" She looks at me as I sit up in my cot. "We'll find him, okay... I promise you that much." She gets up from her cot before leaving. She asks if I want anything from the chow hall. I tell her anything is fine, she smiles, rolls her eyes, and says okay see you in a bit then as she walks out.

I gather up all my gear and set it on my cot. I get dressed wearing a simple bluish-grey button-up long-sleeve flannel with a grey shirt underneath and, of course, my blue demi jeans. I have my tactical gloves on. My M16 is set next to my cot as my Colt 45, and my revolver is attached to my ankle. By the time I'm all ready and have everything set, it's 0625, and Alice comes back with one big plate of food. I look at her very skeptically. She looks back at me, grabbing a piece of toast. "What? if we're going to travel awhile, I'd want to eat now to hold me over." Rolling my eyes, I grab pieces of bacon and sausage and a pancake.

As we start heading out, we see Peter coming out of his tent. I almost want to question the way he's dressed, but for his personality, I guess it fits. He has on a blue button-down collar shirt with short sleeves and khaki pants paired with M-Decker shoes. I guess it's not a bad style. I just wouldn't wear the button-up and shoes when we're going on a mission, but hey, who's to judge? Peter and Alice talk while making our way to meet the rest of the group.

When we arrived, I first saw Gunny Kellin, the battle-hard stock marine. No brainer. He has civilian attire that is all black with a beanie. Carrying a scarred H rifle and his heavy-duty 44 magnum revolver on his hip. He also has a tactical backpack, which I already know has the American flag and all his other supplies. He greets us with a nod. Next, I see Doctor Lee. She's dressed in a simple outfit wearing a leather jacket and a tactical shirt with a beanie, and also carrying a very large medical backpack that's olive green. She only carries a pistol that she rarely uses. It's a Glock 19. The other marines with us are heavily dressed in regular op black mission uniforms. The only other Marine who stands out is Pvt. Hayes a young Marine who was an aspiring Olympic Marathon runner but joined the Marine Core instead.... As an athlete, he wasn't supposed to be here, but due to a shortage of men, he was chosen as an infantryman.... he's very slim and fit as a marathon runner. He isn't a real fighter he carries mainly an M4, a small version of the M16, and a Berreta. For this mission, we all have our parts he will be an old-school messenger/scout.