Phantom ~ [Simon Ghost Riley]

VII. Sooner than expected

It turns out my first actual mission had come sooner than expected. I can immediately feel my pulse rise, but I quickly try to suppress it.

It's not that different from my usual missions, I tell myself.

"Laswell received intel just now. Supposedly Kahdemi has been hiding in a mountain base in Al Mazrah," Price tells us.

He then turns to me, "Kahdemi is an Iranian terrorist we've been after for some time now. He has slipped away from us once. It's time for us to get this guy."

His tone is more serious than ever. I look around the helicopter to see the other guys look rather calm. It seems that they're not nervous at all.

"You're fine," Soap's voice gets me back down to earth. He gently pats my leg, seemingly aware of the fact that I'm suddenly more nervous. My lips form a thin line in an attempt to smile at him. Gaz seems to pick up on it as well.

"We're here with you. You got it," he says.

I'm still wondering if Price had chosen correctly to put me in this helicopter with them, though their reassurance does help the slightest bit.

"We're gonna be in here for a while. Maybe try to get some sleep, Ace," Soap says.

"Should I?"

"Probably. I mean there's time now. I don't know the next time when we'll be able to get some rest. Might as well take the chance."

"You're right. Okay. I will," I respond. I position myself sideways so that I can lean against the side of the helicopter. My head is leveled with the window, so I can look outside as well, though there isn't much to see. It's currently nighttime and we're above a mostly abandoned area, with no light to be seen for a few miles.

I quickly feel my eyelids get heavy, even though I'm not even doing the sleeping technique I had learned during my military training. I realize I was probably way more exhausted than I was thinking. The sound of the guys talking fades more and more and I fall asleep in what seems like minutes.

I'm woken up by the same pat on my knee from Soap as before. He's knelt in front of me, not sitting in his seat anymore. I blink a few times, trying to get myself awake faster.

It's still dark out, and I have no clue what time it is, though that doesn't really matter at this point. Soap sits in front of me, one hand on my knee and the other holding a different vest.

"Wake up, Ace. I'm gonna need you to exchange your vest," His voice is calm and it helps me clear my mind. I sit straight, sobered up from my sleep, and take the vest from him. It's way heavier than the vest I currently have on, as it probably holds way more ammunition.

"Thanks," I say as I start lifting my current vest off of my shoulders.

I slide on the new vest. It's fully black and has more pockets than the previous one. It matches my full black outfit well, though that's the least of my worries. I slide my hands over the pockets, checking to see what's in here. It mostly consists of new assault rifle mags, although there are bullets for some different weapons as well.

Price gets out of the seat he's in and gets over to where we're seated. He sits down next to Ghost and flips open a laptop.

"This will have to do," He sighs as he pulls up loads of tabs.

He shows us the supposed layout of the base we're heading to. The map shows the entrances, the rooms, and much more of the specifics. He then pulls up an image of the guy we're looking for. The man looks terrifying, to say the least. His hair is dark and messy, and half of his eyebrow seems to be gone. He has lots of scars on his face, and his eyes are a different level of menacing. This would be the type of man to stay away from, and we're now heading directly to him.