The Memorial Day Murders

Chapter 1 : Black Ops

Burqa Military Base, Afghanistan (Years ago)

Dressed in my military combat uniform I entered the dining facility as it's lunch time. Taking a food tray I approached the salad bar to pick up a bowl of fresh salad, a plate of pasta and a cup of soda. The cooks, except newbies noted my resistance in taking snacks from the snack bar and had stopped asking or recommending me for snacks ever since. The hall wasn't crowded yet as I arrived ten minutes before the actual lunch time. I have recuperated from my horrifying encounter out at the deserts and has now returned to active service. My commanding officer Lieutenant General Gerald Forest has officially cleared me for duty and I went back to my post. But something tells me that he has something in his mind. 

"Christ, you're early West Point." Gerald Carter said, sliding his tray on the table.

"The lieutenant general cleared me for duty." I replied. "I'm going to have to go back on monitoring duty."

"Man, that sucks." he said. 

"Hey, uh, heard that the lieutenant general cleared you." Dominic Hayes approached our table. "Looks like that you're stuck with me later, patrol duty."

"No worries, c'mon. Sit down." his more outward cousin Gerald said. "Been a while since we talked." I drank a bit of soda after eating the pasta. The dining facility became crowded and chatters were heard. But before Gerry can dig into his food my commanding officer entered the facility. The room then died down in silence as he wasn't really a fan of loud chatters during meals. 

"To those names that I will call out later, you have ten minutes to finish up and gather in the tactical room." he announced, his stern voice drowned out the chatter in the facility. He started calling as the cadets' and officers' ear perked up to hear. "-Isabella Stark, Gerald Carter and Dominic Hayes." hearing my name being called I raised a curious brow while Dominic dropped his fork on the salad bowl. Gerry looked nervous but continued to eat his food. Ten minutes later we all gathered in the tactical office as ordered. All dressed our combat uniforms we waited for our commander. I felt weird as the men gathered in the room outnumbered women as me and another cadet or officer are the only females in this team. Curiously, I also saw the insignia marking the ranking of second lieutenant, a gold bar on her uniform. 

The lieutenant general entered the room. "Attention!" he barked. We stood straight in a single file as a four-star general entered the room. He took a quick look at us and joined the lieutenant general. 

"Is this all?" he asked.

"Yes they are, the best of the best." the lieutenant general replied. 

"Good." the general said. "Are you all aware why you're here?"

"No sir!" we responded in unison. 

"Good, because this is an off the books team." he said. "You all are now drafted into our black ops team."

"This is General George Duncan in charge of our base from the Pentagon." he said. "He and I will be your superior of this black ops team."

"Any questions?" he asked. We all know why are we here and we kept our silence. "No? Good. Familiarize yourselves with each other for a while, and get ready for take off." both officers left the room and we relaxed ourselves. 

"Okay, everybody." Gerald said. "Let's start by introducing ourselves first." then he glanced at me since I was the one near him. 

"Isabella Stark." I said out my name even though the surname of every officers are sewn on their uniforms.

"Dominic Heyes."

"Gerald Carter."

"Olivia Wilson."

"Lincoln Jefferson." 

"Jason Roosevelt, but I'm not related to FDR or Teddy Roosevelt."

"Okay." Gerry said. We exited the room and split up to get our gear. 

"Hey." Olivia said, catching up on me.

"Oh, hey." I said. 

"You're Iron Man's daughter right?"

"Um... yeah." I said. "Was my birth kept from the American media?"

"Not much people are convinced that he had a kid, not to mention that she is a badass lieutenant who survived that grueling ten day experience trapped in a small town."

"Well, it's better to keep the anonymity junior lieutenant." I said.

"How did you-"

"I learned to recognize the military insignias." I explained. I bumped into Luke before I can reach the dormitory for female soldiers.

"Hello." he said. "I heard the callings just now."

"Everybody hears that." I shrugged.

"Where are you going?"

"I'm going to be deployed. I'm not sure when I'll return."

"What's with the name calling?" he asked.

"Sorry, Luke, I'm not allowed to say. Look, it's been great talking to you but I have to go." I hurried to my dorm room and packed all my things into my backpack and headed to the airfield. The lieutenant general is there as well, carrying his backpack as well as the general. The airfield was quiet at first until the sound of a Chinook transport helicopter broke the silence and landed on the airfield, it's ramp descending. 

"Let's go!" the lieutenant general shouted. After that the Chinook lifted off and is now soaring across the Indian Ocean. 

"Where are we going?" Dom murmured in my ear. I also have no idea and shrugged in reply. All of us except our commanders shared a similar look of confusion. Two hours later the aircraft begin to descend and I saw the Korean Peninsula. 

"Uh... guys? We're deployed to South Korea?" Gerry asked. No one replied as the aircraft made it's landing and the ramp was lowered. The generals led us outside and we find ourselves meeting with a group of soldiers dressed in combat uniforms. Then a man walked towards us, wearing the same outfit with the addition of a military cap.

"Welcome to South Korea." he then greeted in English. The man is none other than Byun Woo Dae, General of the Republic of Korea Army and, personally, my uncle by marriage. "We'll make sure that you're settled in as fast as you can." The general then leads us to the barracks and as usual we are divided into pairs. Olivia and me doesn't need to worry anyway as we know that we'll be living in the same room and sleeping on our own bunk beds but the boys frowned. But lucky for them they get to choose who their bunk mates which they did.