Wolf

Chapter 13 - Operation Snow Highlands

Tonight's mission was the least I liked. When Captain Frank explained the details of the mission to us in the briefing room, my mood sailed right down to my boots as I stared moodily at the projector screen. We are going to be in the mountains this time, and it was snowing heavily so everything would be covered with a thick layer of snow.

The temperature would have dropped to the negatives which mean two things.

I'd have to dress white, and my rifle has to be modified to take the cold temperature.

Lucas has noticed my expression and he liked to gloat whenever he has the chance so he was laughing in my face at my discomfort – earning confused questions from the bunch of rookies who was happy that it was finally cold.

"She hates the cold," Lucas provided helpfully.

I sighed in annoyance.

"Make sure you wear the heat tech," Frank reminded. "I don't want another repeat of that operation."

"What operation? What happened?" Quinn was the first to ask the question that I dreaded. His eyes went wide with curiosity and the other three mimicked his expression earning another groan from me.

"Come on, tell us!"

"Don't keep it to yourself!"

"Do you want to tell it or I'll do the honours?"

I sighed again.

"It was about two years ago," I said. "It was too cold, the temperature was minus twenty degrees and we were experiencing a harsh winter storm. I was at the lookout point, lying on fresh snow with a white tarp over me and I was freezing my ass there because I can't light any fire."

"I wore a few layers but my hands were frozen, too stiff and numb that I couldn't move them. I had to bail halfway because I couldn't shoot. I almost got hypothermia – my nails went dark purple and Lucas had to pour hot boiling water on them just so I could move them again."

"Weren't you wearing gloves?" Quinn exclaimed.

"Fingerless gloves, mind you," I pointed out. "I needed them to be exposed because the winter gloves are too bulky for me to use."

"Yes and because of that incident, a division in charge of the uniform design had to design a glove specifically for winter weather," Frank added. "And comfortable enough for snipers to wear."

The boys ended up bursting into laughter at me, which made me roll my eyes at them because I knew they'd laugh at me. It was a hilarious situation after you look back on it but honestly, I was terrified for my fingers. I had hiked back from the post, attempting to locate where the rest were hiding and burst into the hut demanding for them to start a fire.

Even though they were laughing about it now, Lucas had turned pale upon seeing how bad my hands were and Frank was afraid for me. Both Keith and Tom had panicked, because they didn't know what to do.

Thanks to that incident, I was unable to use my hands for a week.

"Alright, get yourself geared up and ensure that you keep warm because the temperature will be unpredictable," Frank interrupted. "We'd be heading down to the tarmac in three hours."

"Yes, sir!"

The mission was infiltration and extraction of a news reporter that had been kidnapped while passing the border. He was en-route to the embassy when he was jumped by a group of insurgents who didn't want the information he held to be submitted to the local news agency.