Operation: smoking trap

A day out

Noah's pov
       I walked through the halls heading to Harry's office, I stopped when I heard Collinn behind me "Where are you going?" I stopped in my tracks turning behind me seeing collinn smirking like he caught me stealing cookies. I replied "I'm going to talk to Harry" collinn pressed forward trying to get me to slip up "What about?" I replied simply "the recovery operation Sebastien and my teams were on yesterday" collinn looked me over before speaking "the debrief has been done, so why go talk to Harry about it?" I answered "there's always more to learn" collinn sighed, I'm guessing he was discouraged about not catching me doing something he could tease me about. I continued on my way to Harry's office, I arrived after a couple minutes and knocked. I heard the door handle squeak as it opened and saw Harry looking at me, he spoke "come in, come in" as I stepped in. It felt slightly off to be in my Commander's office out of uniform, he walked around his desk and pulled open one of the drawers before lifting two pink slips "here's your leave passes, have a good time" I smiled as I took them and tucked them into my pocket.
      I bid Harry farewell and walked back to the dorm, I pulled out my phone and checked the weather "huh, gonna be 80 today" as I walked in and saw Tina looking at herself in the full body mirror, she did a spin before smiling. I looked at what she was wearing and saw a yellow sun dress and a small denim jacket, I asked "ready to go?" She jumped slightly before looking at me "Yea, how do I look?" I replied without thinking "like a goddess" I froze as it registered what I said and saw her burning red. I grabbed my white leather jacket and keys before opening the door and walking though the halls I joked "now we just have to sneak out of enemy territory" she laughed behind her hand as we reached the main entrance, the door that held our freedom. We got outside and headed to the parking lot, I saw my blacked out Dodge Charger. I heard Tina say "you got a new car?" I nodded and replied "it's an old police cruiser, I bought it and painted it black. Now I have a tuned up charger with a push bar"
She spoke as I unlocked the door "you have an interesting way of getting cars" I chuckled as I slid in and closed the door. I put the key in the ignition and asked "so what do you want to do first?" She checked her watch "why don't we go get some breakfast?" I shrugged and replied "sounds good to me" as I turned the engine over and backed out of my parking spot. I pulled to the gate and handed them the leave slips getting motioned through before I pulled out to the road and headed into town, we stopped at a small coffee shop and bought some coffee. Tina got a laugh out of my sorry excuse for russian before speaking in fluent and clear Russian, as we walked out I joked "you're the talker now" she laughed as we got back in the car and headed to a small souvenir shop, I looked around before I saw a small snow leopard statue. It made me remember my mother, she's grown an attachment to the cats in her elder years, I think she's adopted 4 through the conservation programs.
      I picked it up figuring I'd send it home to her, I knew she'd love it. I walked around looking for something for myself, I looked and looked until I saw it, a Matryoshka doll. I smirked and grabbed it before walking to where I saw Tina and saw her wearing a bear skin like a cloak. I asked "is that real?" She nodded and sighed "it's pretty expensive tho" I waved her off and asked "you want it?" She nodded again getting sadder and sadder as she realized she wouldn't be able to leave with it. I grabbed it off her and walked to the counter, Tina battered me with questions as I paid for everything and handed her her new bear skin rug. She looked at me before asking "why?" I replied simply "you really wanted it" she countered with "I didn't need it or have the money to get it" I nodded and answered "and I did have the money so I got it for you" she sighed and mumbled "I don't like owing people" I replied with a smile audible "good thing you don't owe me anything" she looked at me and deadpanned "you just spent almost 15,000 rubles on me"
        I added "because I wanted to, you don't owe me anything" she sighed as we put our things in the backseat. I climbed into the drivers seat and pulled back into traffic, I saw the Russian military moving tanks and APCs making me wonder out loud "think they got nervous with the masks taking down the Blackhawk?" Tina replied "every major nation involved in combatting the Masks is getting nervous after the US lost SEALs and a helicopter" I replied after thinking about it "I guess that makes sense, they used to just take buildings and be on the defensive but here they are going on the offensive and striking out against USSOF" she nodded and replied "makes you wonder why they suddenly changed their strategy" I replied after the final APC passed "probably to catch us off guard, we were all ready to go assault a building to rescue hostages or defuse bombs or biohazard units but rescue ops are always harder. You have to go into enemy territory and then find your friendlies without getting bogged down so badly that you have to be rescued yourself." She mused "we almost got to that point"
       I replied smugly "almost doesn't count for much in this field" she looked out the window and replied "I suppose, but I'll take almost shot over get shot any day" I replied with a small laugh "getting shot isn't  that bad" she looked at me and asked "you got shot?" I nodded and replied "there's that RPG shrapnel that got my head, then a couple years later when I was on the Horn of Africa I got hit while retaking a cargo ship." She asked "where'd you get hit?" I replied "my left thigh" she looked at my leg as I asked "anywhere else you wanna go?" She replied after a second "oh there's a gun shop I wanna stop at" I glanced over and asked "a gun shop?" She nodded and spoke "I wanna get a new gun for hunting" I shrugged and replied "fair enough, I can't wait to get back to the states. I put in for an Elk tag on a controlled reserve and I got it, I'm looking for a monster bull" Tina looked at me in shock "you hunt?" I nodded and replied "I've been hunting since I was 12"
     She asked "weren't you born in Brooklyn?" I nodded slowly not understanding what that had to do with the conversation causing me to ask "the fuck does that have to do with me hunting?" She asked "where'd you hunt?" I replied "a state park called Slide mountain wilderness" she replied with a simple "huh" I jokingly asked "what? I don't give off Hunter vibes?" She replied somewhat nervously "no.... not really" I chuckled before replying "and you definitely look the part, one of these days when we get leave I'll have to bring you to my lodge" she gave me a look and teased "trying to get me alone already?" I laughed and replied "I just wanna show you some of the trophies and trade some stories" she nodded and asked "are you a trophy hunter?" I replied sourly "no, I hunt for food. I just have head and shoulder mounts" she sighed in relief. Trophy hunting has always seemed like a waste, killing an animal just to put it on the wall or in a trophy lodge is a waste of a life. I pulled in and parked the car as Tina spoke "I'll be back, don't forget me" I laughed as she slid out and walked into the gun shop.
      I played on my phone until I heard the back door open and saw Tina sliding in a gun case and a box of ammo, I shrugged and asked "did they have what you were looking for?" She nodded with a broad smile "I finally got it" I chuckled as she sat in the passenger seat and closed her door. I pulled back into traffic and headed back to base, I yawned causing Tina to ask "tired?" I nodded and replied "we've been running around for 4 hours" she double checked the clock "seriously?" I nodded and replied "seriously" I listened to the music Tina picked before speaking "this place seems so dull compared to New York" she replied "New York is bright and eccentric, St. Petersburg is still recovering from Communism" I nodded before speaking "I guess that makes sense but even Poland and Ukraine seem more lively than here" she nodded and replied "I guess, it has its own aesthetic but it's charming" I chuckled and continued talking until we reached the gate and I pulled out my ID and Leave pass, Tina gave me hers as I handed them to the gate security.
      Once we got cleared I drove down the road and pulled into a parking spot, I pulled my keys out of the ignition and asked "ready to sneak back into the base?" She chuckled but nodded as I got out and grabbed the bear skin, my matryoshka doll and snow leopard statue as Tina grabbed her new gun and we started walking back to the base. We got to the door and I saw Tina grip it pulling it open as we started running through the halls back to the dorm. I saw a couple of our teammates looking at us as we ran through the base before I tore the door open and Tina went flying past me into the room as I followed her and closed the door. I asked "think we made it here unseen?" She nodded breathing heavily as I heard slow clapping from my bed. We slowly turned and saw Sebastien, Craig and Collinn sitting on various beds looking at us. Craig was the one slow clapping as Collinn spoke "you really thought we wouldn't notice you two being gone for as long as you were" I chuckled as Collinn spoke "by the way, Your answers this morning were what tipped me off"
       I sighed before Sebastien stood and yelled "How long has this been going on?! How long were you going to play with my interest in your love life?!" I heard Tina ask "how are you so sure we're together? It's not unheard of for friends to go shopping" Sebastien sighed before Craig replied "Oh come on, Kerry trains, plans, sleeps and repeats. There's no way he would leave unless you asked him to" I spoke "actually this was my idea" the three gasped before Sebastien spoke "that confirms it, you two were on a date" I asked confused "how does that confirm it?" Collinn answered "you asked Tina to go to town with you meaning Tina wanted to go with you therefore confirming it was a date" I sighed as Tina replied tiredly "you are jumping to conclusions so hard" the trio laughed as Craig asked "so what'd you get?" Tina showed them her new gun, a 12 gauge shotgun with intricate designs on the grip and buttstock. I showed my snow leopard statue and matryoshka doll, Seb asked "what's the snow leopard about?" I replied "it's for my mom" collinn cooed "aww you're a mama's boy" I rolled my eyes with a small laugh as Tina took the bear skin rug from me and put it down between our beds.