"Commander Zion Jackson, reporting to Central!" Zion says uniformly, raising a fist to his chest and standing tall as we all follow.
"At ease Commander." Seargent James says as he rises from his seat with a brown confidential envelope in hand.
"We have word from the Head of Central America, that we needed a unit for this assignment." Stg. James said as he rounded the table putting the envelope on the table in front of Zion. "I searched files and looked into your unit and knew you'd finish the assignment."
Stg. James motioned for Zion to open the envelope as he opened it and read the assignment his eyes shot up.
"With all due respect Seargent, I do not believe my unit is best suited for this kind of operation," Zion said in a neutral tone, eyes following Stg. James as he sat in his seat and nursed a dark liquor in his hands.
"Your unit is the only one that can do it," He raised the glass to his lips taking a sip, "I can't ask any unit higher, we're getting intel that our dogs are biting their leashes." He chuckles setting his drink down.
"Elites and the like are selling information, if this gets out then many problems arises," he says as he shifts in his chair staring intently at us. "You proved good enough to do an Elite sequence, you can do this."
"Do I have permission to speak Stg?" Zion says.
"Permission granted." Stg. James says.
"Will my unit be receiving any more ground soldiers for this mission? The Unit with me are only snipers they are trained in many areas but are most experienced with ranged weapons." Zion shifts a little. "For something this high profiled the minimum I'd request is 25."
"No, the people in this room are the only ones to go." Seargent James said standing his ground.
"But Stg. with all due respect a few members of my team are injured that could impact the mission," Zion said trying to reason.
"And I apologize for that." Stg. James claimed, giving a sympathetic expression while keeping his tone neutral. "But the only people that will go are those in this room." Standing up again he walked around the table reaching Zion, Putting a hand on Zion's shoulder he gave a smile that didn't reach his eyes, "Remember this is Central you can always say no."
The air stilled in the room. I didn't have to look around to know everyone was wearing the same expression as me, distraught.
There's a joke in this military that you can always say no.
Knowing you won't see sunshine tomorrow.
If we didn't take this mission, they weren't going to take the chance of intel leaking.
They'd kill us before we could make it home.
No wonder they didn't take this to an Elite Platoon, They could kill us and claim a mistake but it didn't roll with anything higher than us.
Zion's expression hardened as he looked St. James in the eyes "I understand, I will go over the details of this assignment with my unit in private."
"Good." Stg. James said smiling and patting Zion's shoulder before picking up the brown envelope and handing it to Zion. "After the debriefing I expect your unit to be ready in 3 days."
"Yes sir," Zion said.
"You are all dismissed," he said walking to his chair, Zion raised his fist to his chest and we all followed ending with a salute before we walked out of the room. No one spoke a word until we made it to our temporary quarters, As we entered Zion stood by the door closing after Bob.
At the sign of the door closed, Zion turned around to us pulled a chair from a desk sat down, and sighed, slightly rumpling the envelope before he passed it to Avery, "Read it." he said as he sunk lower into the chair. As Avery read it her eyes shot up too.
"Correct me if I'm wrong," she paused as she took a seat on the bed. "They want us to babysit a non-military all the way to New Central Mexico."
"You read that right," Zion said.
Piecing things together. "So they threatened our lives to babysit?" I said irritation coming through. "We are a unit of snipers," I said looking at everyone as they nodded. Lowering my voice "It may have been better if they got trained bodyguards."
"That's what I was trying to reason," Zion said sighing deeper.
"Then it's simple." Bob said taking the papers from Avery and peering into them "There's way more to it." He said setting the papers on the desk.
"I hope we find out before it's too late," he said solemnly as Zion signaled him to shut up.
'Ears everywhere' Zion signaled in sign language.
'I know' Bob said grinning back.
"We get this done then we go home back to our manufactured food plans" Zion claimed slightly cheerfully.
"Sounds like a date," Bob joked before Zion signaled some very inappropriate things to Bob.
"Well, I'm going to hit the hay, fully debrief us tomorrow?" I asked looking at Zion.
"Yeah, night guys get good rest you'll need it for tomorrow." Zion finished.