The Memorial Day Murders

Chapter 6 : Be ready...

South Korea (Years ago)

I wake to a start at five in the morning, seated on my bunk bed. "Olivia." I called, knocking the wooden frame of the bunk bed above me. I tried my best to not wake her up by yelling and one minute later I heard her groan and the gentle shuffling of the blankets. "Olivia, get up."

"I'm up." she said, a yawn later. We stayed in a more private bedroom apart from the service members because of our rankings which we can be free of the risk in the form of disturbing other members if they are sleeping in the same room. After brushing our teethes and taking a shower we left our dorm in the barracks, complete with our training uniforms. The barracks for the male soldiers is a block away. The boys had already descended from the barrack's staircase when we reached them. "Morning boys." Olivia said. 

"Uh... we're the only ones?" Jason asked, in an awkward manner and noting the empty field where service members undergo training at. 

"Seems that way." Dominic replied, stuffing his hands into the pocket of his pants. "Guess that the six of us are here for an unknown reason."

"Don't forget our CO." Gerald reminded us. 

"Attention!" a shout was heard. We stood straight in a line per protocol and we heard footsteps behind us. Three men walked to our front, all wearing training uniforms and a military cap. "Attention!" the commanding officer of this six people team, Lieutenant General Gerald Forest, shouted. 

"God, where are the goddamn soldiers?" General Gordon Duncan, another commanding officer asked. General Byun Woo Dae, the officer in charge of this base, shook his head in disapproval. I highly doubt that the general's gesture is referring to the American general's words. 

"Already lazy after basic training." the general muttered. Taking out his cellphone from one of the pockets of his pants and dialed a number. A while later the speakers installed in the barracks blared out the morning call in the form of someone screaming to wake up the soldiers still asleep. "Go get breakfast soldiers." he added. "I might need to discipline the boys about waking up early."

"Sorry sir, but we only got up at five." Dominic said. 

"I acknowledge that soldier, but we here have recruits and officers waking up late. And now is already six in the morning." the general countered, glancing at his watch. Then we are dismissed and headed to the dining hall. The dining hall is quiet but the employees are up and running the food stands. 

"Isa, you're a local right?" Dom asked me. 

"Is that a question?" I asked him. 

"Because Dom forgot to tell you that we're not really familiar in Korean dishes." Gerry replied, clearly annoyed by his cousin's question. 

"I see. Nah, no worries." I said, grabbing a tray and dashed to the very stand serving my favorite food. The employee recognized me and started speaking in Korean to me. "Is this the soup?" I asked.

"We have just cooked it. It's fresh and steaming hot." she replied with a smile. Taking one of them I looked at my teammates, stunned by the reaction.

"Haven't seen that excitement." Gerry said. 

"Sorry, back to business." I said. After a brief introduction we now sat comfortably at one of the tables, chatting and speculating the reasons why are we deployed here. 

"It feels weird, actually." Jason said. "Why are we being relocated from Burqa in the first place?"

"He did say that we're a black ops team in Burqa. You think that LGF brings us here for an unknown purpose?" Lincoln asked.

"Gordon and LGF definitely had a reason. Why would the Pentagon want a black ops team? Especially from LGF?" Dominic said. 

"Dom, LGF's team only has the best of the best." Gerry explained. "Man, all of us are under him."

"Gerald, you remember that moment at Burqa right?" Olivia asked. "He said that we're the best of the best."

"Well, I think Gerry's fallen asleep." I said. 

"Hey, not funny." he said, leveling a glare at me. After finishing we exited the hall as the sun comes up, covering our bodies and faces in a golden glow. We begin our slow walk as the men and women have already risen from their barracks and are now performing physical training. "Uh... where's LGF?" 

"No idea." Olivia and I replied. They all seemed dazed when they saw the six of us. 

"There." Lincoln replied, pointing at the watchtower. 

"Attention!" our CO's sound was heard and we stood in a single line. 

"This is the team sent from the front lines in Afghanistan." General Byun introduced. "They will be with you until the team is ready for action. So train harder!"

"And we're sitting here to do nothing." Olivia whispered. 

"There is going to be a team building session in the form of paintball next week." he then added. "Be ready because the results of your training will determine who is qualified to join the session." then he dismissed all of us but the six of us formed a circle and sat down on the ground to talk.

"Paintball?!" we all groaned. 

"Damn, why?" Gerry asked, his head drooping low. 

"My uniform's going to get dirty again." Dominic complained. "Even though I liked the idea of team building through paintball."

"We already had it more than once back at Burqa." I said. "I think that Gordon and LGF liked the idea."

"Well yeah... that smile, definitely a sign." Jason said. "Just hope that we don't get lost in the dense South Korean jungle."

"Isa's with the plan." Olivia said.

"Yeah, about that... I was trained here before." I said. "No problem, I can navigate the terrain."