Rainbow Six: Operation Blinding Lights

Chapter 3: Consequential Interactions

Harry

"C'mon Sam I know that this... Deimos... is out for Rainbow, but I have taught these operators to lead for when I'm inevitably gone from this mortal coil," I tell Sam through the phone and his sigh rattles its way into my ear then he speaks.

"Good God Harry you sound like that Lovecraft guy writing one of his stories. But you are right, I will give you that much, when you're gone who will train the operators, with NIGHTHAVEN out of here with some of our best operators it would've been difficult for me to train them all by myself, but now that you've made squads out of them the captains can and will train them. I just don't know which squads will be-" Sam speaks to me when I hear something outside of my house.

"Hold on, Sam, I think someone's here," I tell him and sit down the phone and start to walk to the patio when the familiar black mask I've been so diligently researching approaches me from the darkened garden gate.

"Hello, Harry," Deimos says to me in a deep, cold voice while walking up the patio and stepping up to the sliding glass door. "May I come in?" He asks fully intending to enter my home with or without my consent. I slide open the glass door, step to the side, and sweep my arm inside the room.

I walk over to the phone while looking at Deimos and speak into it. "I'll call you later, Sam," I say then pull it away from my ear with Sam yelling questions into the phone. I walk to my chair and sit, while Deimos kicks his feet up on my desk and sets a Rainbow issue phone on the desk.

"Harry, I've heard you're researching me and searching me out. Well, I'm here," he puts his arms up in a V-shape.

"Deimos, you're correct I have been trying to fish out your identity, but I haven't had any luck," I tell him, knowing that there's no need to lie to the man in front of me, who is most likely going to end my life tonight.

Savaana

"Move, you fucking maggot my trainer yells, his voice grating in my ears. The urge to snap back is almost Irresistible. "Is that all you've got? Maybe you should go home and suck your mother's tits to feel better about your sad, pathetic life!"

My hands are raw from climbing ropes, my ankles are both sprained, and one of my wrists is broken. But my trainer doesn't care. S.T.A.L.K.R. recruited me for my fighting skills and the specialized plates and ammo I use.

"Aww, are you gonna cry like a little girl? Maybe you should quit S.T.A.L.K.R. and go back to that sad, pathetic life outside!" he shouts as I slog through thick, viscous mud.

"Sir, no sir," I grunt through the pain.

"What was that, maggot?" he screams in my ear.

"I said sir, no sir!" I yell back.

He leans in close, his breath hot against my face. "You eyeballin my woman? Let me tell you something, bitch. When someone eyeballs me, it makes me want to kill them. So I ask again, are you eyeballin' me?"

I meet his gaze. "If I were eyeballin' you, you'd know it. No, I am not eyeballin' you."

In a blur, his fingers wrap around my throat. I'm lifted off the ground and then slammed onto my back, with him on top of me, a knife at my throat. He says something I can't catch because my ears are ringing. The knife presses deeper, slicing through skin, and blood spills down my neck.

The sound of a .357 cocking jolts me awake. I scan the room for an intruder but see nothing. Checking my Rainbow-issued satellite phone, I see it's 4:27 am. With a sigh, I get up, gather my workout clothes, my phones, and of faithful: Soul Reclaimer, a stainless steel knife with a blood-red handle and a black hand stub.

With my earbuds in, I pull up a map of the facility and head to the gym. On the way, someone shoulder-checks me, sending my earbuds flying.

"Watch where you're goin', fuckin' prick!" I nearly shout.

"Escute, vadia, da próxima vez que você me examinar, vou arrancar seu dedo e suas unhas lentamente!" the woman in front of me yells. I chuckle and start to walk away, but a small hand slams down on my shoulder. I spin around and drive a hard right hook into her skull-painted face. She grimaces but doesn't budge. She tries to knee me in the side, but I block and drive a flat-palmed hand into her jaw, stunning her and making her stumble backward. I turn around and walk away leaving her standing there stunned.

I keep walking to the gym whenever the klaxon alarm blares and what seems like everyone in the building rushes past me. I fall in line with them and follow them to the mess hall, to see Sam standing at the podium.

Once everyone, seemingly everyone in the building including the recruits is in the mess hall, Sam clears his throat and speaks, "Attention everyone, I have some very tough developments to tell y'all..."

"Well don't keep us in the dark Zero, tell us!" Someone shouts then everyone chimes in and Sam scowls.

"Alright everyone, quiet down!" Sam roars at the crowd and the people instantly go quiet then he continues, "Six...ahem...Harry got killed early this morning, and Sledge, Zofia, Ash, and Thermite have gotten caught in an explosion and Ash is in a coma due to the blast," Mutters and mummers explode through the crowd.

"What the fuck!? Who did it?" A female yells at Sam.

"Is Eliza ok?" Another person yells from the back.

"Where are they at if they're hurt?!" Another female yells.

I didn't care so I leave through the mess hall doors and ran into a strongly built thickly muscled dirty dirty-blond woman who wears a gray tank top and black cargo pants, both her arms were covered in full sleeves of tattoos.

"Excuse you!?" She exclaims glaring at me, I just stare back face neutral. I push past her and walk to the gym, which is unsurprisingly empty.

Meghan

'Who the fuck was that? More importantly what the fuck was her problem?' I think to myself as I enter the mess hall. I shake away the thoughts of her and look ahead at Zero on the stage and around at the three-quarters full mess hall.

I see Craig wave me over to him and some of his friends. I walk over to him and ask, "What's all this for?"

"Six is dead, and we don't know who did it," Craig answers looking straight ahead.

"Zofia, Jordan, Eliza, and Seamus got caught in an explosion that put Eliza in a coma for we don't know how long," I hear Yumiko say.

"Дерьмо. With Ash out of commission who's gonna make fun of my paintings?" I hear Timur ask with a chuckle at the end.

I turn to him and raise a brow and he lets out a low laugh then I turn to the stage and Sam keeps talking.

"We still don't know who did it, but I have my suspicions," he tells us, then says, "Once we have more information we will have another meeting. Dismissed," He tells us and steps off the stage then walks over to a small group of operators and starts talking to them.

I turn to Craig and ask, "Do you know who that one woman was?"

"Who? Oh you mean the new operator, right?"

"Uh... sure," I respond looking in the direction of Zero.

"That's Richochet, the newest operator that Zero and Harry recruited before he... uh... yeah..." I hear Craig answer.

Glaz pipes up and says, "I heard from a little birdy that she was approached by Nøkk so I wonder what that was about because she usually approaches someone if she suspects them of being suspicious or if she really wants them gone from Rainbow,"

"And from which little birdy did you hear this from?" I ask almost to myself not expecting an answer.

"One of my friends. Plus I heard multiple people are going after her because they can't find anything on the web about her," He continues, piquing my interest.