The Job

[Land Of Confusion]

Ok, this is my first piece here, and it's probably not very good, but I would like feedback so that I can improve my skill.

 

Anyway, this is about a PMC (Private Military contractor) and one team in paticular. Forgive me if the plot jumps around in the first couple of chapters, I'm still thinking it through, but I do hope to stable the plot soon, so have a lil patience .

 

 

I'm hoping you guys will like it, so, without further adu, I present to you, The Job!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The Job

 

Chapter 1: Training Day

 

“Gentlemen, you have all passed your intellectual and physical tests, with flying colors, today, we will continue your training. You will be training in a variety of subjects, including, multiple firearms training, vehicle usage, building and vehicle assaults, interrogation, weapon cleaning, assembly, and disassembly, and many more. You will be split up, into groups, Joseph Keeler, Marcus Roane, Tyler Robinson, Amber Wilde, and Alex Klieg, you are group Alpha.” said our instructor.

I was Joseph Keeler, and I was signing up for Ra, one of the most powerful Private Military contractors, in the United States of America. With almost 150,000 ‘soldiers’, it had an army, the size of a medium sized country. They had no problem with financial backing, due to the multiple companies owned by the president of the company, John Hatcher. They also developed weapons, guns, vehicles, planes, ammunition, explosives, which they sold to law enforcement or military, and issued to their own soldiers. They only accepted the best of the best, either members of elite law enforcement, SWAT, FBI, CIA, or men and women from multiple armed forces. I, was one of the latter, I worked in the US Military, for seven years, and then worked in law enforcement, for six. I got a letter, offering employment, if I would let them observe my skills, and so, here I am.

We were given an instructor, who told us to report to the practice building assault course. We first went to the armory, and received M4 Carbines, with blanks, the normal Interceptor bullet proof vests, Urban Camouflage suits, combat boots, Swat helmets with some sort of protective face shield, Glock 17’s, with blanks, radios, and flash bang grenades. I was appointed leader of the raid, and so we took up position, about one hundred yards away from the house, in the Forrest surrounding it. Amber was outfitted with a Remington 700 sniper rifle, instead of an M4 Carbine. I heard her say over the radio, “Sir, from what I can see, there is one hostile in the left window on the second floor, and one hostile on each window on the first floor, what are your orders?” She said. I spoke, “As soon as we go in, anyone who moves goes down.”

We started to move around to the back, there were no windows on that side, but there was a back door, it was glass I figured it would be locked. We moved, silent, but quick. Tyler and Alex stood back; Marcus took the battering ram, and slammed it hard against the door, shattering the glass. Simultaneously I threw a flash bang grenade through, it exploded and we moved in quickly. I heard shots from far away, and I figured it was Amber. I raised my carbine and shot two men standing by the stairs, one went down, the other, fired two shots, both missed. Marcus shot him again. We moved up the stairs quickly, and secured the hallway as well. I checked the main room and was greeted with automatic fire, I ducked back and Marcus tossed a smoke grenade inside the room. Then, Tyler Alex entered and I heard multiple gun shots, then silence. They both exited and I spoke. “Floor one, secure. Floor two, Secure. Mission, success good job people.”

As we exited the house and met up, a vehicle arrived to pick us up. We were about three miles out from the headquarters of Ra. That was when all hell broke loose. We were all smiling and patting ourselves on the back, when a man stood up in the house. He raised an automatic weapon; at first I assumed this was part of the test, it wasn’t. He opened fire and hit Amber, she went down. We all pointed our weapons and fired multiple times. He was hit over and over again, but we were packing blanks, he was actually shooting bullets. “Someone, get a real gun!” I shouted. Thank god, the driver had a pistol, he pointed it and fired when the man got back up, he went down, permanently. I rushed over to amber and put down my weapon. “What in god’s name happened, this was supposed to be a training exercise, he wasn’t supposed to have a real gun!” I yelled. Nobody knew what was going on. I couldn’t get to Amber’s wound, but blood was all over her vest. “Help me get her in the car!” I yelled. We managed to get her in the front seat, but we couldn’t get to her wound without getting off several layers of armor and clothing. “Hit the gas!” I told the driver, he grunted and took off back towards the headquarters.

My pulse was racing as we sped down the isolated stretch of road until we reached Ra headquarters. “Come on!” I yelled at the driver. “Can’t you go any faster!? She’s going to bleed to death if you don’t get a move on!” I continued. “Shut up! Look, we’re almost there, I can see the HQ building.” He said, pointing to the towering hulk of a building that was the headquarters of Ra. Finally we slowed down and finally stopped, I would have raced out of the car, if not for the fact that our instructor was standing there, almost as if he was waiting for us. I jumped out of the car and raced towards him. “Sir, Amber’s been shot! She’s hurt, I think one of her lungs might have collapsed, we need a medic out here now!” I said, racing frantically to get the words out. What he did next surprised me he put his hand on my right shoulder, and started laughing so hard I thought he might cough up blood. I wasn’t angry, scared, or sad, right then, I was just confused. Then, I heard a voice, soft, and sweet. “Calm down Joe, I’m not dead, not yet anyway.” It was Amber’s voice, and that, was what confused me most. I turned around, and looked at her, she was walking well. Although, there was still a small hole in her vest, and what appeared to be blood all over it. I tried to contemplate what I was seeing before my eyes. And then I saw it, a small, red button that was strapped to her right hand. “Oh please don’t tell me…” I muttered, clearly embarrassed. Amber pointed a finger at me, in an imaginary gun sign, “Gotcha!” She started to laugh. I remembered the first thing they had taught us in training, ‘Everything is not always what it seems.’ Sounded to me like some corny line out of a cheap noir movie, guess the joke was on me. I turned to my instructor, “So do I get an explanation?” He seemed smug; he said to me, “All in good time, all in good time, but first, we have more important matter to attend to, you and your team’s score.” Then, he led me, and the rest of my team, back to the headquarters.

We were all sitting in one of a multiple auditoriums; this one was on the first floor, we were waiting for the results of our first test. The passing score was a 90 or higher, and we were expecting a good score. If we failed, we had to do the course again, if we passed, we moved on. Finally our instructor walked in the room and I nudged Amber. We all looked up; he cleared his throat and began to speak.

“I have good news men, and err, woman. You passed with a 95 grade, but first I assume you all want to know what the hell happened out at the course?” He asked. We all nodded, and waited for him to continue on. “Alright, well, first I want you to know that what happened is standard issue training. We picked at random one squad member, and put a small package full of fake blood, and strapped a red button to one of their hands. At the moment rehearsed by the prep team, they would press the button, detonating the package, and splattering blood all over the vest. The vest we gave amber was intentionally faulty, so that the vest would pop out, to make it appear as if a bullet hole was in it.” He explained to us, making sure we understood. “I have one last thing to speak to you about. The president of the company has actually seen your results, and your backgrounds, including service and training. He told me, that if you are confident in your abilities, as a team, and as individuals, you may move on to your first assignment, you have until tomorrow to decide. Now, if that’s all done and finished, you may go back to the barracks, good job, get some rest, you’ve earned it.”

After a long, hard day, we were all in our designated section of the barracks. Tyler, Alex, and Marcus and Amber had gone to sleep. They had all voted yes on our ‘decision’. I still wasn’t sure, we had some good people, Tyler and Marcus had been in the Marines, Alex and I had been in the Green berets and Amber, she had been in the FBI, she was in HRT, the Hostage Rescue Team, we all knew, not many women made it in there, we all knew she had nerves of steel. I decided, that we would skip training, we all had experience, but the question, that would soon be asked, was did we have enough?

Edited July 23, 2007 by Land Of Confusion

[TheJonesy]

I felt a little "bland" about the story. For first time though, not too shabby. The only reason I feel this way is thaat I felt the characters, setting, vibrance, etc. wasn't touched on enough and progression went a little fast. That or I am just talking out of my arse.

 

Anywho, The story should see possibly more details and you should definately watch your commas. They're in a lot of places they shouldn't.

[Land Of Confusion]

Thanks! I appreciate the comment

 

 

and progression went a little fast.- Yea, that is one of my main problems, but considering how bad I was the first time I tried something, I think this is a major improvment.

[Oblivionz]

I enjoyed reading it, but it really does need a bit more detail.

Update soon. :]

[Land Of Confusion]

I plan on having the next chapter up next week.

 

so yay

[Land Of Confusion]

Sorry if there isn't too much action here, this was just touching down on the character relationships, the who knows who, details, and of course, the assignment.

 

 

But, trust me, you'll get your fill.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Chapter Two: the first assignment

 

The Next day, I woke up at 4:00 AM, four hours before we were supposed to be up and ready. For about 45 minutes, did pushups and crunches. Then, I checked my sidearm. Every ‘soldier’ was allowed a personal sidearm; the rest of the equipment was standard issue, varying from job to job. My handgun was a Glock 17, reliable, rugged, and a nice magazine capacity as well. I still wasn’t sure what assignment we were going to get, but I knew my team would be up to the job. Amber, she had been a sniper in HRT, six feet, extremely fit, red hair, like her name, but she was tough as nails. Marcus, 6’2, 250 pounds, all of it muscle, he was an assault trooper, Special Forces in the marines. Tyler was in his squad, he was just as tough, probably tougher. Tyler was 320 pounds of muscle 6’3, like me, and he was a terrific shot, maybe even better than me. Alex was 6’9, a giant. He was 230 pounds and what he lacked in muscle, he made up for in brains. He was a good shot, and an amazing strategist, good with logic too. He kind of scared me, back in Iraq, he thought like a terrorist and that’s what saved my ass. I myself, was 260 pounds 6’3, people joked because I kept my head shaved but I liked it that way.

I made breakfast for everyone, and then ate mine. I began to exercise for a while again. Then, I sat at the kitchen table, singing a System of a Down song to myself. “I wrote you, and told you, you were the biggest fish out here, you should have never gone to Hollywood…” I sang. That was what woke Amber. She stood against the wall, smiling and staring at me. It took me a minute, and then I turned to her and smiled.

“What’s with the gun?” She asked, pointing to my sidearm.

“I disassemble, and reassemble it, as well as clean it, as often as I can practice makes perfect.”

“You need to chill out and loosen up…” She muttered, with a slight smirk.

“I’ll loosen up when I know what job we’re going to be dealing with.”

“Yea, I can see it now, Joseph the tight ass, in theatres 12/12/09.” Amber started to laugh.

“Oh yea? Well this tight ass is going to save yours one of these days.” I replied.

“That’s what you think.” She muttered, still smirking.

“Yes, that’s what I think, mainly because it’s going to happen. Someone’s going to get the drop on you and I will save your ass.” I said she rolled her eyes to my response.

Finally, we stopped bickering and had some coffee. Slowly, the team began to wake, and we eventually were all huddled around the kitchen table, speculating on what assignment we would receive. Marcus and Tyler, as always, were hoping for something involving an urban assault, maybe of a skyscraper. Amber, well she was hoping for a hostage rescue. Alex wanted a car chase, being the action hero he always says he is. I wanted something that paid well, was simple, and didn’t have too many complications. None of us had any idea what we were getting ourselves into.

At 8:00 AM we were told to report to Conference room one, the top floor of the HQ, for a quick briefing on our mission. Once we got into the room, we sat ourselves down at a long table, and looked on at the stage. Eventually, someone apparently from the U.S. Military, walked onto the stage, at her side was our former training instructor. “Squad Alpha B of the Ra special forces, meet Ms. Clarence Rodriguez.” Our instructor spoke in a rather cheery tone; it worried me, because he was usually such a cynical and sarcastic asshole. We all clapped sarcastically, she didn’t seem disheartened. She actually had a smile on her face, it kind of said ‘The Joke’s on you’, little did we know she was right.

“Gentlemen, and lady, nothing that is said in this room is to leave this room, understand?” She spoke.

“Yes ma’am!” We answered simultaneously, as many soldiers did in boot camp.

“Good, because this mission is highly classified, so if anything leaks, you’re all going down, including this company, understand?” She said, the look on her face was stern, unflinching, and extremely serious, she didn’t even blink. She didn’t wait for a response; she went on, “Now, this mission is big, top priority, homeland security kind of stuff. If this goes wrong, your existence will be denied your records, will be erased, no one will ever know you existed.”

“And cue the dramatic music!” I smirked.

“Do you think this is a joke!?” She demanded of me. “This is extremely serious! If this doesn’t get done, we could be facing a holocaust!”

“If this is so important,” I spoke slowly, “than why, aren’t you sending the Green Berets, or the so called elite Marines?” I asked her.

“Because, we can’t risk sending some of our own out there, if we sent a small squad, and they were wiped out, by ‘the threat’, than our country would criticize us for not sending more. And if we sent many, we would be criticized for failing, and for letting a nuclear explosion destroy thousands of people.”

“Wait, you’re talking about a nuclear bomb?” I asked, jaw dropping, more serious than ever before.

“Yes. And you see, if we send you, we only have to put the contract on record, not what the contract is for, so if we word it right, we can avoid any mention of what the contract is for.” She smirked a bit.

“So, you’re sending us, so that if something goes wrong and we die, you can illegally modify our records so it looks like we never existed, and the assignment never happened?” I asked.

“Yes. I can’t say anything else here; you’ll be briefed on the plane to Afghanistan, so, are you coming or not?”

I looked around at my team, we got into a circle for a minute, brief whispers were exchanged, and we decided on it.

“We’re going.”