Rainbow Six: Broken Arrow

Chapter 15: A Small Admission

Upon returning to Hereford, Archer went straight to his dorm and showered. After the quick wash, he had to report to a debriefing along with everyone else. It was boring as expected but necessary. No stones left unturned. Archer noticed Harry was a very persistent guy. He wanted to know exactly what happened, write it down and inevitably to put in a personal filing cabinet. Even black ops. The Rainbow operators have rumored that he gets off on that kind of thing.

After the debrief, Ding asked Archer to stay there. He wanted to speak with his student. Once everybody was gone, Ding let out a sigh, "What the hell is going on with you? Are you messed up in the head?"

Ding's drill sergeant gene was kicking in, Archer could feel it, "No, sir."

"Then why the fuck did you run into a hot grid to kill that Russian bastard... and then don't even kill him?!"

Archer couldn't think of an excuse, "I just got heated."

"Don't give me that shit. You're a professional soldier, the best we've tried to produce! You're at the top of the food chain! Trained by the most deadly warriors we've had! The CIA isn't going to lose its investment in a friendly-fucking-fire accident!" Ding berated strangely in a father-like tone.

Archer didn't speak, he deserved it, after all.

"You have too much personal attachment to this operation. Your vendetta is getting in the way of the mission."

Archer felt the need to defend himself on that part, "Ding, we completed the mission. The gas facility was destroyed along with the Chinese war criminal Xin Baogh."

"You did! Good fucking job!" Ding clapped sarcastically, "But that chopper got away with probably enough VX gas to affect the entirety of downtown LA and now it's in the wild again. The SRF could attack anywhere at any time."

Archer broke eye contact with Ding and studied the gray carpet.

"I'm going to give you the day off tomorrow. Friday you're going back to that CIA Blacksite in Ukraine," Ding seemed to calm down, the veins in his neck returning back to their original place under the skin, "I shouldn't have brought Director Kingsley's lapdog here. He's up to something. I want you to search what's left of that blacksite for anything that connects Kingsley to that gas. Solo mission. No one will know but me and you."

That was the first time Archer wondered why the CIA was even producing VX gas. Archer knew the CIA was corrupt at its core, but there were plenty of good people in The Company. President Jack Ryan wasn't a huge fan of CIA Director Kingsley. Ding said that he'd been corrupted long after Ryan appointed him. Ding didn't know what had done it. Money, maybe. The root of all evil.

"There is a training exercise tomorrow, but you are excused from it to prepare for your mission. Is there anything else you need to speak with me about?" Ding leaned against the desk in front of Archer.

"No, sir." Archer responded.

"Good. You're dismissed."

***

Archer decided to spend what was left of the day in his dorm reading. The book he was currently on was 'The Revenant'. The path of revenge Hugh Glass treaded inspired Archer's own retribution. Though they were on different levels of urgency, Glass was just left behind, Archer... well, has seen something worse. He'd had something taken from him.

Archer's attention was instantly drawn to the door by the sound of knocking. He grabbed his .45 and tucked it in his waistband, instinctively, then answered the door. It was Elena in her black Crye Precision pants, gray t-shirt, and Team Rainbow cap. "Hey," she smiled, "Is it alright if I come in?"