One With Shadow

Operation Snowfall

Ivy

The sound of the clock ticking away is the only sound that echoes in the quiet confines of the briefing room as we wait for our commanding officer to arrive for briefing. Keegan meticulously writes on some documents with an earbud in his left ear with music playing loud enough I can hear. I sit to his right and to my right sits Bones, a thirty-two-year-old insertion specialist from Florida, he stands at 6'6 and his body is all muscle. Nice enough, rather quiet and reserved just like Keegan. Leaning against the wall is Gator, highly skilled in technology and intel extraction. He's 5'10, twenty-four, fit but on the smaller side, he doesn't speak unless out in the field and his mouth is covered by a steel faceplate that he never takes off. And lastly, is Merrick. Merrick is thirty-six, well built and stands at 6'2. He's our lieutenant after his time during Operation Sand Viper, he's strict but he gets the job done and has high expectations for his men, and now women, on his team. 

Our commanding officer finally comes into the room, albeit being about twenty-four minutes late from the original start time. Commander Rollins, a decorated officer who has seen four deployments in his time in the military, once in the navy then transferred to the marines. Now he heads our organization and specializes in terrorist threats and foreign affairs. He sets down a few files and stacks of paper on the desk in front of his chair and turns on the projector behind it, taking a moment to look at me, almost as if he's sizing me up, looking at my small frame and masked face. I look at him and nod, smiling with my eyes. 

"Alright lads and lady, we got a mission coming up. Operation Snowfall." He clicks the next slide on the projector, showing a massive compound hidden in the mountains, a compound of Russian Insurgents that have been dealing weapons and arms from that location to the Middle East. "Russians have been handing out weapons to terrorists like candy, so. We are going to go in and deal with it. Merrick, I want you leading this one along with Gator, you two will deal with security and keeping your team hidden. Bones, you will be helping Keegan and Poison with breeching the buildings and providing them cover while they arm explosives to weapons caches in the compound." He flips through his documents and pulls up my file. "Poison I see here that you are an export in demolition and explosives, as well as a recon sniper. So, you are going to be responsible for arming the caches while Keegan provides you with backup and covers you the more you move in deeper." 

I nod and write in my journal of the roles each of us will play in our mission, I feel a pair of eyes on me and look to my left and see Keegan watching me write. He narrows his eyes slightly and then looks back at Commander Rollins. 

"Before you blow the explosives, we also need intel. Gator and Merrick you both will push through files in the server room, we need to know exactly who these weapons are going to and how often they're being pushed out and what for. Once we have what we need, you'll blow the caches and base with it. Extraction is to the East of the compound in the hills where a heli will be waiting. Any questions?" He asks as he looks at all of our faces, the room stays quiet and he nods. "Excellent. You all are dismissed. You leave in an hour." He gets up and nods and leaves while we stand. Keegan nudges me, I turn around and look up at him. 

"Get your sniper ready, we'll need to rely on your eye when we push into the compound. I know how good you are with it; I've seen your previous reports. So, I have high hopes for you. Don't make me regret my decision, Ivy." He says in a relatively hushed voice, looking at me almost as if he shouldn't trust my abilities as a sniper and demolitionist. I roll my eyes and chuckle. 

"I'm here because of my abilities, Keegan. I can guarantee you, I'm good enough at what I do." I say as I cross my arms over my chest, glaring up at him. He rolls his eyes back at me and shakes his head. 

"That's the point. You're borderline cocky, not confident. Just do as I say, and we'll make it out of there in one piece. Got it?" He says as he shoves past me, leaving the room with the others and leaving me behind in silence. I groan and pinch the bridge of my nose. Fuckin' men thinking a woman can't handle themselves...seriously that attitude is getting annoying. I head out of the briefing room and to my quarters to get ready, unlocking the door and shutting it behind me. 

Sniper is ready and repaired, knives packed safely in my pack, heartbeat sensor, spare mags. I quickly tie my long red hair up into a high ponytail and paint my eyes in eyeblack and re-adjust my balaclava. One last look in the mirror and I throw my winter gear on, strapping up the thick coat and sliding the snow cleats on my feet, grabbing my gear and heading to the helipad. Everyone is standing around waiting for me, they're early so at least I'm not in trouble for being late, they all nod at me and nod, everyone except Keegan who is leaning against the wall with his arms crossed and staring at the ground. The pilot starts the engines in the heli and we all hop on, the rotors beginning to whir to life as Gator closes the door behind us. Merrick gives the all clear and we head out for the mountains. 

Operations Snowfall has begun. 

(A/N Apologies for the chapter being a little shorter, I wanted this to be a character building one where we meet the rest of the team. Plus I'm sicky, so I'm not 100%. Lets get to Operation Snowfall shall we?!)