The words on the report were there, but he could not process them. MacTavish's brain stopped functioning from the night before. He thought that a good night's rest would help his mind reset it but that was far from the truth.
He candidly admitted that the mission with the sergeant was enjoyable. It was on the other end of the spectrum from his usual work. Even though he still needed to remain switched on and sharp, it was fun, quirky, and he did enjoy making her life hell throughout the night. He was certain that she wanted to plant a bullet between his eyes at various times throughout the mission.
Reynolds blended in perfectly with her attire and demeanour. God... that dress with that hint of red lace underneath remained branded in his head in his dreams. He adored the way she behaved awkwardly and also annoyed. If they weren't on a mission, the time they had spent in that private room would have gone definitely differently.
His thoughts were soon interrupted by his door flinging open and slamming shut. He lifted his gaze and observed Reynolds fuming in front of him, and he could feel the storm brewing.
"Come in," he said sarcastically, shifting pages in his report.
"I know what you tried to do last night," she leered, jabbing her finger in his direction.
"Oh?" he sighed, raising his eyebrows inquisitively.
Reynolds gritted her teeth. It was extremely difficult keeping her composure with MacTavish openly mocking her in her face.
"When we were in the underground. Was what you did... necessary?"
His mouth gaped and he stared at her in disbelief.
"You're bloody joking, right?"
"Was there the need to grab me between my legs?" she hissed in a harsh whisper.
"You told me that I needed to sell it," he spat, raising his voice. "One of the guards kept staring at us. I did what I thought was enough to get him off us. And I succeeded."
"You went over the line."
"What the bollocks are you on about?" he asked, rubbing his forehead in frustration.
"The whole fuckin' mission! You spent it manipulating me and getting on my last nerve. This was some kind of power play for you."
He moved from his desk and halted mere inches away from her face. She could feel his breath on her and his eyes lingered over her lips. He moved slightly closer, and she noticed how dry her mouth was, and her cheeks started feeling hot.
"I simply obeyed your instructions, Sergeant," he said firmly. "You wanted a doting boyfriend, and I gave you exactly what you asked for."
"You could have toned it down a bit," she snarled.
He laughed heartily. "If I did, you would probably stand here before me, biting my head off how I could have been a better boyfriend!"
She revealed her teeth, sneering like a feral dog, her nails digging in her palms.
"I think I know what's bothering you," he said, nonchalantly.
"The captain knows how to read minds now! Go on then, entertain me," she mocked him.
"You're pissed because you enjoyed your time with me. You felt comfortable enough working with me."
She scoffed and laughed sarcastically.
"And you're getting riled up about it because you're supposed to be hating me, especially after the interrogation in New York."
Her face soured, her knuckles turning white thinking her bones might crack.
"I do hate you," she said in a low voice.
"You don't sound convinced," he chuckled. "Anyway, why are you so adamant in despising me? Isn't the best course of action for everyone to move on?"
"Because you weren't captured, waterboarded, beaten up, and humiliated. You weren't caught between our bosses in the middle of a power play."
MacTavish looked at her, pensive, mulling over her words. She was right. Their bosses started butting heads, and she ended up in the middle of it. She never asked for it and probably did not even know what dealings were being passed under that table, but she caught the brunt of it. All of them did.
"We did, actually, get caught up in the middle," he said, gently. "We were lied to and manipulated into capturing who we thought was an enemy of the country. Everyone lost, except for our bosses."
She dropped her gaze looking apologetic. She opened to say something but closed it again. For the first time, she was genuinely lost for words.
She cleared her throat and went for the door.
"Good work yesterday, Captain."
Feeling active and useful made Reynolds alive once more. After a training session and a good shooting at the ranges, she was enjoying breakfast with Roach and another soldier named Ozone. He was the 141's medic and in fact, he joked that it was imperative everyone be friends with him, he had winked.
She felt a squeeze on her shoulder and looked up. Hernandez was smiling down at her.
"Hey there, chica," she winked.
"Genesis! You're back!"
"I got a surprise for you."
She reached in her pocket and threw on the table in front of her a bag of homemade chocolate truffles.
"You lucky bitch," she mumbled, "you've been to Brussels?"
"Small job; protective detail for a VIP," she shrugged and turned to the others. "How's it going Roach?"
"Lieutenant," he nodded curtly.
Hernandez introduced herself to Ozone and they started chatting immediately. However, the conversation halted swiftly as Reynolds saw Meat approaching to their table. He raised his arms in surrender and smirked.
"I come in peace!"
"I doubt that," muttered Reynolds.
He settled on Reynold's side and continued grinning at her.
"I know that we started on the wrong foot –"
"You called us whores," snapped Hernandez.
"Not exactly, ma'am!" he said, defensively. "I mean, it's all about perception really..."
They both raised their eyebrows at him, and he continued leering back.
"Ladies! Take it easy! It's water under the bridge."
"Still a dick," uttered Reynolds munching on some toast.
Roach and Ozone glanced at each other and started laughing.
On the other side of the room, MacTavish was devouring a ham sandwich. His gaze settled on the group of soldiers laughing and joking with each other in the middle of the rec room.
"Looks like they are settling in well with the others," commented Ghost.
"All Reynolds does is yell at me."
Ghost sniggered. "Well, you did slightly torture her."
"You tortured her."
"You just threatened and waterboarded her. That's all," he replied, casually.
"So did Roach and he's over there in stitches all having a banter."
"And it's pissing you off?"
He shrugged. Their last conversation had started to mend the rift between him and Reynolds, but he wasn't convinced it would be enough for her to truly accept it.
MacTavish felt the weight of a stare on him and glanced up. She was watching. The moment their eyes met she flicked her gaze away.
The base was deadly quiet at one the morning, even more silent than usual as half of the task force has been assigned on an emergency mission. Everyone was snoring away apart from that occasional insomniac that not even the heaviest of sleeping pills can knock them out.
The smartphone lit up and started beeping. MacTavish woke with a start and fumbled around on the bed stand trying to grab the phone. It slipped through his fingers and fell on the floor with a thud.
"Shite."
He groaned and got out of bed. A message from Shepherd flashed on his screen.
Get the team to the ops centre. Briefing file is available in the system.
He rummaged through his clothes and put on a fresh uniform. He ran through the corridor banging on Ghost's door along the way, ordering him to get the team together for briefing.
MacTavish burst through the ops centre and stopped abruptly. Billy was sitting at the computer wearing a headset. He greeted him casually.
"Good morning, Captain. Briefing file is available on that computer."
He rushed and started reading through it. His men started shuffling inside, taking a seat, yawning and rubbing their eyes. Ghost and Roach were the only ones that seemed slightly more awake than the rest.
Roach noticed that MacTavish was scratching his head in frustration.
"Is everything alright, sir?"
MacTavish looked up. There were Ozone, Meat, Royce, Roach, Ghost and himself. They were not enough men to complete this task.
"No, Roach. This mission requires a full-on assault and we're working with a skeleton crew."
"We'll manage just fine," said Meat, raising his shoulders.
"I do not wish to work overtime as your medic, Meat," sneered Ozone.
"What are we going to do if we're short on men?" asked Ghost.
"You do know that we have two PMCs upstairs, right?" asked Roach.
Billy turned slightly in his rotating chair but remained silent.
"I am unsure of their capabilities when it comes to these kinds of missions," replied MacTavish.
"They trained and worked with spec ops back when they were deployed in Afghanistan. I think they'll be just fine."
"And how in the fuck do you know all of this?" asked Ghost indignantly.
"When you're nice to people, they tend to open up to you. You should try that sometimes, sir," said Roach, mockingly.
"Why you little shite –"
But MacTavish was already dashing out the door and up the stairs. He was not in the mood to waste more time with their bickering.
He banged on Reynold's door non-stop until it finally opened. She greeted him with her hair sticking out weirdly, wearing a sweater and hotpants.
"What's wrong?" she mumbled sleepily.
"Briefing in five, wheels up in twenty. Wear woodland camo. Both of you, get a move on." And with that he rushed back downstairs.
Back in the ops centre, Billy was bringing up a map on the main screen. It showed what looked like a military facility in Russia bordering Ukraine.
Reynolds and Hernandez shuffled inside and settled down. Reynolds tied up her short hair to get it out of the way.
"Listen up," said MacTavish. "Intel gathered recently from Amsterdam has indicated that there are a couple of arms dealers involved in the recent massacre carried out in Moscow airport. Vladimir Makarov is suspected to have been the mastermind behind. Our job is to find the ammo used to connect him with the terrorist attack.
"Half of the 141 has already been deployed elsewhere alongside other units. We are needed five clicks away from the town of Leninskii off the Russo-Ukraine border.
"Our objective is to neutralise the targets and the base itself. We need to eliminate every trace of the illegal armaments and ammo found in this facility and gather any intel.
"We'll be divided in two teams. Ghost, Meat, Royce, and Reynolds are Team Alpha; myself, Roach, Ozone, and Hernandez are Team Bravo. Callsigns are Alpha or Bravo One etcetera according to the way I called out your name. Billy's callsign here is Hammer.
Any questions?"
The men shook their heads.
"Expect heavy resistance. Let's move."