Rainbow Six

Zephyr

      I silently grab a foldable chair from the corner of the room, and bring it to the interrogation table.

     "I don't believe we met," I start off.

     "You know who I am. You put me out of business!" Alex yelled at me.

     "Actually, you put yourself out of business, we just took your spot," I told him, keeping my voice calm. He was fuming with anger, and making it obvious. "So why don't you tell me a little about your group." I jokingly ask him, to break the silence.

     "You know who we are." He said, trying to contain his angry voice. "You know who all of us are!" He continued, but turning to look at Merrick through the bullet proof glass.

     Merrick presses a little red button on the other side of the glass and starts talking through a microphone.

     "What do you mean we know who you are?" He asks angrily

     "You've met us all, you know us!" Alex said, getting more insane sounding. I heard a loud buzz, and the door behind me slid open. Merrick walked in and ushered me out, while he stayed in to talk to Alex.

     I went back to the Rainbow Six headquarters, and saw Spark preparing for dinner. I always felt bad for the small division of the Phoenix league that never gets to go the these dinners. They always must be on call, with no breaks or special dinners. Luckily, the Rainbow Six division is small enough to avoid that burden.

     I didn't want to tell Spark about what happened in the interrogation room, probably because I wasn't sure what happened myself. Instead, I simply ask where the other two are.

     "Well Flint is playing basketball with some Rockets and Jim... I don't know." Spark said, without looking at me. He just continued on with whatever he was doing.

     "Spark, are you sure you don't know?" I question him, keeping calm.

     "How could I know. You know him. When things get heated, he disappears. He blocks everyone else out" Spark said innocently. When he said that, I understood. I also know where he is.

     I make my way to the big Oak tree behind the Rainbow Six headquarters. Jim loved climbing trees, and this one in particular. This was his hideaway. 

     Last time Jim went to this tree was when the two members died. He didn't talk to anyone, for a week at least, and he simply blocked everyone out. He never showed up for meals, and was never seen on any ranges or basketball courts. Merrick gave us the week off that week, and put some Rockets in our place.

     I climb up to Jim to try to get a word out of him.

     "Hey Jim!" I say loud enough for him to hear, since I was in the middle of the tree and he was at the top. I see some rustling of the leaves, and his head poked down through the canopy.

     "Don't try, Hawk, I'm not in the mood." Jim said calmly.

     "Can I at least know why?" I say in a very calm, friendly voice.

     "Zephyr isn't dead." Jim said quickly. It was solemn for a Rainbow Six member to ever use someone's real name. The only reason we use Jims name is because he thinks the nickname system is irrelevant. The full impact of what he said didn't hit me a first, but then it slapped me like a frisbee someone forgot to warn me about.

     I slide down from my branch and practically sprint over to Merrick in the Ghosts headquarters. I found him in his office, sitting down, talking to Hesh in a very hushed voice. I barge right in the his office and interrupt their conversation

     "So Z isn't dead?" I say in a very angry tone.

     "Hawk, calm down-" Hesh tried to calm me down but Merrick interrupted.

     "I only just found out when I was interrogating Alex." Merrick tried to make that and excuse.

     "So the first person you tell is Jim? You've gone crazy!" I yell at him, and in response, Hesh pins me to a wall. Merrick stands up with a scared look on his face. Hesh had his arm across my neck and in his other hand, a knife to my stomach.

     "Hesh, stand down," Merrick said very calmly, while putting his hand on Heshs shoulder. He backs up, but I stay on the wall. "You know the rules Hesh; harm another member, and that's a night in the pit." Merrick said, scared sounding while remaining calm at the same time. 

     "Merrick, don't do this to me. Not on this night! Not on Friday night!" He yelled at Merrick.

     "You made the rules, Hesh." Merrick said matter-of-factly.

     It was a few minutes before dinner. It was going to be a home style dinner, with fried steak and gravy. We were all sitting down at our one long table. I had somehow convinced Jim down from his tree, so we were all sitting next to each other. It seems like the news spread quickly about Z.

     Apparently Alex told us that Z was never dead. We thought, on that mission, that he ran and eventually just died of natural causes. We still don't know where he is now. I guess Alex had some sort of serum where he was monitored, and if he told the enemy any information, he would die. He forcibly choked himself, and it didn't look willing.

     There was one seat missing today at this dinner though. Hesh was in the cells, or the pit. If you break the community rules of the Ghosts Compound, you spend x nights in the pit, depending on the offense. For some reason, threatening another member is only one night, but harming another is 3.
Everyone else was talking at dinner. Every now and then I heard a conversation about today's job, or a cheers to an old mission. It was obvious that I was the center of attention because of my action in today's mission. However, no one in Rainbow Six was talking. Alex died right after he told us about Zephyr. Z must have been watching. That also got me thinking, as I reached for another homemade roll, was Thatch dead too? We shot him, but it possibly couldn't have been fatal. We also left him to there.

     After finishing my roll, I grab one more, stand up, and silently leave the room. No one seemed to notice my absence, since no one followed. I made my way to the back of the Headquarters, on the way stopping at the self serve bar for some unsweetened tea. I never liked sweet tea.

Once I was in front of the cells, near the back of the Headquarters, I found Hesh.