TANNER

CHAPTER ONE

It was a cold night, quiet and peaceful. The sky was clear and the moon was bright, stars glimmering in the night sky. The air had a frosty chill, a freshness about it. You could tell it had been raining that day, raining hard at that, large puddles everywhere in sight. Cars bouncing dirty muddy water onto the pavement at passers-by as they drove onto their destinations. Busy people going about their busy lives on a busy road in a busy world. London was always busy at night, bright lights everywhere, sounds and smells were everywhere, it seemed no matter where you were you could always smell some kind of food or hear some kind of music coming from a corner bar with live bands playing or even just a club with the latest chart songs. Nothing particularly special just the day to day goings on. The British American Tommy 'Gun' Tanner, hadn't seen much of the weather that day. He had been stuck in briefings all morning and tactical training in the afternoon, by the time he left the bunker, it was dark. Darker than the previous night had been anyway, and now he was stuck in the back of a bulletproof Ford transit van reminiscing of the past, trying to keep calm before the inevitable storm that was about to be unleashed.

Tanner, a Sergeant in the British Military. Military Intelligence to be exact, A tall a young lad, standing six feet two inches, almost Norse like, blonde curly haired and blue eyed, like his father, a rustic stubble on a square-jaw. A muscular build, defined and strong. These were all qualities that made Tanner stand out amongst his peers and that wasn't even considering his genius level intellect. He was as fit and strong as the best of his peers but couple that with a genius level intelligence, now that really separated him from the herd of fine men around him. They had all been gunning to take his spot as the best in the group. It was a fine thing having such a rank in the military, at his age alone was impressive, never mind being in military intelligence at only the age of only twenty-five.

Having such a physical and intellectual ability, had helped him get to where he was today without question. His physical and mental ability allowed him to progress through ranks fast. He had been given his rank of Sergeant purely based on the fact that he had a higher rank in another allied military unit but he also had the skills to back him up too. Tanner a former Senior Chief in US Navy Seal Team 6, DEVGRU, the United States Naval Special Warfare Development Group, had elected to join the British Military Intelligence only a month after leaving the US Navy due to an operational miscommunication followed by an operational disaster resulting in his entire team perishing leaving him the sole survivor of his unit.

Tanner had recently been assigned to a new joint special operations task force operated by UK and United States Special Forces. A taskforce that would demonstrate Tanner's significant and impressive skills. The task force, specially titled Taskforce Copperhead Spear, TFCS for short, was a joint effort in identifying and stopping domestic terrorists. Terrorists that were planning on expanding onto the global stage. The task forces job was clear and simple. To put an end to the organisations that presented the most threat to allied nations across the globe.

Tommy was the second in command of Echo Company. Echo was the first of two operational units that made up the fast reaction task force. Echo comprised of operators and explosive experts that could handle all eventualities in the field. The second group code-named Fox Company, was a cyber warfare division that was tasked taking down online services, financial aids, equipment, and anything terrorists used to communicate from emails, texts, and social media. Simply put, anything that could be hacked, didn't stand a chance against Fox Company. Echo and Fox were both made up of the best men and women that the UK and the United States had to offer. Ranging in ages from 24 to 46.

Tanner sat patiently in his seat listening to the radio chatter in his earpiece. Various teams were checking in on their positions as they surrounded the warehouse. He paid most of it no mind, he was only concerned about all of his Echo comrades being in position. He was the 2IC which made it his business to know where his men were, mainly to take a load of Echo One, but really, he just enjoyed knowing everything that was going on. Many people mistook him for wanting more responsibility when actually it was just his own anxiety and obsessive-compulsive disorder that made him want to be in charge of the situation and know all the facts.