Operation: smoking trap

Cards

Noah's pov
       I sat on my bunk before I heard Tina "So where are you gonna actually have your card game?" I motioned to the dorm before she replied "I know that, I'm asking where in the dorm. We don't have a table" I asked curiously "do you have a big cardboard box?" Tina replied "Mark does, I don't know why but he has a shit ton of boxes" we pulled one of his large boxes out and Tina asked "what are you planning?" I started assembling the box before flipping it over and placing it down between the bunks. She looked at me incredulously "you're using this for a table?" I nodded and replied "just like in the sandbox" she chuckled before asking "when are they gonna be here?" I replied "I told em to be here at 20:00" she replied "well it's 19:49 so they should be here soon" I replied "Jordan and Collinn should be on time, Craig has a history of being late and Seb should drop by some time around 21:00 he's on a date with Elena" she chuckled before speaking "executioner used to get so mad at him" I pointed out "showing up 5 minutes late to a brief about an enemy camp raid is a bit annoying"
       She nodded as I heard a knock on the door, I stood and opened it seeing Craig standing there with a smile, I spoke "Jensen, get in here you bastard" he walked in and spoke "Tina always wonderful to see you again" she laughed "don't be a kiss ass Craig" he chuckled but sat down before looking at the cardboard box "so this is it? This is our great table?" I replied chuckling "gotta bring back the great memories of Kandahar" Craig laughed before Tina teased "so you finally got over your being late habit?" Craig rubbed the back of his neck and replied "yeaaaa about that" I nodded before asking "so why are you here early?" He replied sheepishly "well you see, I was really excited to come hang out with the old group and I watched the clock hoping it was 20:00" I teased "awww you do care" he laugh as Tina joined in before I asked "are you hanging out with us Tina or going to hang out with your friends?" She replied "I'm gonna go spend some time with my friends but I'll be back around 21:00"
      I nodded as she stood and paused next to the doorway "Boys, please, don't destroy the room" we saluted and barked "Yes ma'am" as she walked away. He looked at me and asked "you sure you don't love her" I sighed and replied "not this again" he replied exasperated "what?! It's a genuine question" I replied after a second "yeah, I think the old feelings are resurfacing" he smiled and replied "you two would be cute together" I asked "what is this? Middle school? Enough of that shit" as I stood and grabbed the cards. I heard boots in the hallway before the door creaked open and Jordan and Collinn appeared in view. I smiled and spoke "just in time, please sit sit" as Jordan joked "I see only the best for the corps" I replied jokingly "this is the best the corps could afford" Jordan sighed and spoke "don't remind me, all the gear was so shit when I was in" I replied "it's gotten better, but we're still the red headed step child" everyone took up their positions at one of the four corners and and we started playing.
      We started off with small bets but by the hour mark the bets were getting hefty, this pot was for $200 when it came time to show their cards collinn smiled victoriously and showed a royal flush. I laughed as he took the money and the other two looked like they wanted to die, luckily I was dealing so it wasn't my money getting lost. I heard Jordan "anyone up for Uno?" I looked at him weirdly "Jordan I'm 36 why would I play Uno?" He replied "cause it's a fun game" the other two voices their support for Uno so I asked "anyone got Uno cards?" Jordan dished the box out of his pocket and we started playing. I laughed unexpectedly causing collinn to ask "what?" As I elaborated as to what I found so funny. "We're all counter terrorism operators who have killed people and were sitting here on a Friday night playing Uno, fucking Uno" they joined in laughing before I heard Tina "what's so funny boys?" As Seb came around the corner with her. We explained what we were laughing about as Seb sat between Craig and Jordan across from us and Tina wedged herself between me and Collinn who scooted over to offer her more room.
      We talked while we played before I got interrupted by a plus 4, I responded by placing down my own plus 4 putting it to a plus 8 on Jordan who put down his own plus 4 which made it plus 12 to seb who put down a final plus 4 making it plus 16 to Craig, the one who was on Uno he responded by body slamming the cardboard box that acted as our table. We laughed as cards went flying and Craig stood showing our 'table' with a large dip in the middle. I spoke "bro you gotta pick up 16" he yelled "I was about to win! God damnit! Everytime! This game is such a cock tease!" We laughed at his outburst, our laughing doubles as Jordan picked up a card and extended it to him "Here's the start of your 16" Craig sighed and mumbled "I lost $140 and got cock blocked at Uno, this place fuckin sucks" we chuckled as the order for lights out came over the PA. The group stood and we made plans for another get together next week before they filed out and I started cleaning up.
      Tina helped me before asking "did you have fun?" I nodded and replied jovially "it was nice to see everyone again" she smiled and replied "that's good to hear, I hope I didn't intrude" I felt my hands still as I straightened "Tina, you're always welcome to spend time with us. You're one of my longest friendships, 3 of us have known you since our 20s don't feel like an outsider" she nodded before replying "yeah but it was supposed to be a boys night, you haven't been able to talk to most of them a lot so I didn't want to take away from that when we talk everyday" I replied "Tina, just trust. You didn't take away from anything, I'm sure the others will tell you it was more fun to have you here" she nodded as I started breaking down the box and joked "if Mark asks we don't know who took it" Tina replied teasingly "scared of the 20 year old?" I spoke matching her tone "who knows maybe he's the cardboard box god?" She laughed as we finished cleaning up. Just then the other two walked into the room and we all got ready to get some sleep.
      The next morning I walked down to the chow hall and got my daily meal buying a bang from the on base store before sitting down joined a minute or two later by Craig and a tan woman with short brown hair. She spoke in an accent "those aren't good for you" I looked at my bang and lifted it "this?" She nodded as I replied "I don't think the bang will be what stops my heart, I think it'll be another chute failure" Craig asked "you had a chute failure?" I nodded "Training in Korea, we did a HAHO jump and my chute didn't function properly so I had to go to the reserve chute and that took a bit to start working properly" Craig sucked on his teeth before I looked at the tan woman "so who're you?" She replied "Aria de luca, G.I.S." As she extended her hand I shook it "Noah Kerry, Marsoc" she spoke "pleasure to meet you" I returned "you as well, most people call me Kerry. Feel free to" she nodded as Craig asked "where's Tina? You two are attached at the hip"
      I checked my watch "probably sleeping, we aren't running the kill house til 09:00" Aria asked "do your team run it often?" I nodded and said "everyday" Craig asked "really? Most teams do it once a week" I countered "well most teams aren't run by Thorn and sitting at #1 in the rankings" he nodded slowly "yeah, thorns a hungry guy. Gets after it hard" Aria questioned "so when did you get here?" I replied "2 almost 3 weeks now" she asked shocked "that long?" I nodded and replied "either training, resting or on missions. I haven't had a chance to meet more people let alone talk to the people I already know" she replied "yeah the team has a way of doing that" Craig spoke in question "you're the 2nd in command on thorn's team aren't you?" I nodded to which he asked "how much responsibility do you have with that? Thorn seems like he'd have most things under control" I answered "I do the maintenance duties, make sure the team is squared away, make sure they keep their noses clean, help plan, relay orders and plans to them. The typical NCO job that I've been doing for years now"
      Craig nodded as Tina and Mark joined us with their food, I spoke to the duo "morning sleeping beauties" Mark joked "Aww you think I'm beautiful" I laughed before asking "is all your kit in order and ready for the kill house today?" Mark nodded and replied "I got my MP5 all set and good to go, I'll get top score this time" I smirked at his hunger as Tina replied "yea, I got everything set but my shotgun isn't feeding properly so I'll have to take my pistol" I replied "bring it to the armorer, they'll get it fixed. Damn gun wizards I swear" Aria replied "yeah, right, my mx5 took a round to the receiver and those guys down there got it working again. It's smoother than ever" I heard Craig "so you just switch from your typical jokes to NCO that fast?" I looked over as Mark responded for me "well he's a good guy, we all trust him and know that him and Thorn are just being hardasses now so whatever we meet in the field won't be as difficult as in training." I pointed to the young soldier "see? They get it, I don't have to act like a DI to get them to carry out orders"
     Tina pointed out "yeah the training they put us through is really difficult and uncomfortable but it means we're confident in the field. Plus when we are in the field almost all of the jokes stop and he does get strict with how lax and comfortable we are, we know that while he might be comfortable with letting us joke and have some fun in training in the field it's all business" Craig replied "you've got an interesting squad here Ker" I looked at the two as they waited for my reply "yeah, they're definitely interesting. Wouldn't want a different team, they've got a lot of potential" they seemed determined at my words before I looked at Aria "what about you? You're on Sebastian's team aren't you?" She nodded and replied "sì" I heard Tina "what's it like? He doesn't seem to take anything seriously, like ever" Aria answered "he seems completely different on missions. He stops joking and just hands out orders and targets." I heard Mark "he's a minimalist in the field, I ran substitute on one of the missions and every conversation in the bare minimum" I laughed and heard Tina "executioner would've loved the new Seb" Craig replied "yea, he would. Sebastien never stopped talking back then"
      We talked for a while longer as our teams slowly trickled in before Erik was heard behind us "Kerry, is everyone ready to run it?" I looked behind me "check, they all got told to double check their gear and run maintenance in preparation. Just waiting on the word to go" thorn replied "this is it, let's go. We're beating our time today" I heard Craig ask "what time is it?" I replied "best time we've run it is 48.3 seconds" Aria asked "and you're not happy with that?" Tina took the words from my mouth "it's not about being happy with the time, it's about wanting to do better than that time" Apha spoke "Erik has said if you want to be in first act like you're second" I saw Erik looking over the team with a tinge of pride that had slipped into his eyes. He tried to hide it from them but we all knew he was proud of us, just like we were proud to say we're part of his team.