Page 2

LINDA

"What's that?" Linda Castellanos adjusted her pack on her left shoulder. She shivered slightly under her body armor, not enjoying the return to true winter weather. "The frequent flier miles?"

"Don't I wish," Orkin admitted with a laugh, running his hand through his short hair, his helmet resting in the crook of his elbow. "I'd be taking leave in Australia for free if that was the case. Nah, it's the weather."

"The weather?" Takeshi Satomura, Linda's assistant team leader, asked. "No offense Sarge, but are you nuts?"

Orkin laughed. "Not at all. How's the weather right now, 'Keshi?"

"'Keshi, huh? Guess you're officially one of us now, Sarge," Linda said with a playful edge to her voice that didn't quite mask her protectiveness of her team.

"Colder than the inside of my fridge," Takeshi answered, wrapping his arms around himself. Like Linda, he wasn't originally a warm weather person and definitely did not enjoy Virginia winters. "Why?"

"That's the beauty of our job, don't you see?

" Orkin said with a grin, gesturing broadly at their surroundings.

"Think about it. We're freezing our butts off here in a good old fashioned Virginia winter, scraping snow off our windshields and making sure we've got our Chapstick on before PT so we don't start bleeding when we run.

And bam, Uncle Sam needs us to go take a week's vacation in the warm, sun-drenched tropics.

All for the low, low price of doing what we've been trained and paid to do. How sweet is that?"

Linda had to chuckle at Orkin's enthusiasm.

The mission hadn't been too difficult compared to others she'd seen in her time with the unit.

Two journalists had flown down to South America for another 'exposé' on the drug trade and gotten themselves into trouble with one of the cartels.

They'd asked too many questions to the wrong people and captured too many faces on camera.

Another couple of journalists in trouble. Linda sighed. This rescue mission was likely more about avoiding political embarrassment than genuine concern for the reporters. Still, she was glad they'd gotten in and out without complications.

"So how was your first action with the squad, Hollywood?" Linda asked her newest fire team member, Logan Goodman. 'Hollywood' Goodman had been with 'Cranked' company for a couple of months and would pin on Specialist soon. But he was a lateral transfer, having started off in Third Squad.

Linda usually approached lateral transfers with caution. They often signaled a soldier who'd struggled to find their footing. But Goodman was different—sharp, motivated, his reason for transferring had nothing to do with his performance.

"Good, Sergeant," Goodman replied, yawning.

He hadn't slept much on the plane ride back, his body still processing his first time in action.

Linda would have been worried, except that he'd managed to nap during the last two hours of the flight.

"But remind me... I gotta work on my foreign language skills.

I felt like a damned idiot with you translating for us all the time. "

Linda smiled, her fingers unconsciously touching the small Puerto Rican flag pin she kept on the inside of her pocket. While she was proud of her bilingual abilities, she'd joined the infantry to be more than just a translator.

"We'll get you set up for classes tomorrow then," Linda replied. " Tranquilo , the Army's got some good programs, but there are apps you can use too."

The Spanish word slipped out naturally, a small reminder of the home and family she carried with her.

The squad reached the hangar where a large van awaited them. Linda relaxed, looking forward to some downtime before the weekend. Major Kirk usually took care of them after a mission like this.

"Hey Hollywood, is your girl ready?" Specialist Derrick Jackson asked, settling into his seat.

With his close-cropped hair and sharp features, he caught the eye of many, though Linda had never seen him actually maintain a relationship longer than a month.

"You don't have to push anything back, right? "

"Nope, we're all good," Goodman said. "I messaged Sabby when we were about to go wheels up, so she knows we're still on schedule. I mean, that was a hell of a bachelor party I just had, but I'll still make it Saturday morning."

Everyone laughed, and Orkin clapped Goodman on the shoulders. "Yeah well, you enjoy the two weeks off, got it? And we want a full video after the ceremony."

Linda smiled, thinking about the wedding. Goodman and Sabby were doing things their own way, a splash of color in a world of green. It made her own life feel... stark.

"If Sergeant Adams lets any video of her doing something as soft as a wedding ever even exist," Goodman joked, getting more laughs.

The care he took to maintain professional boundaries with his future sister-in-law was something Linda genuinely respected.

"Well, can you at least tell me what color hair Sabby's going to have?" Takeshi asked. "I've got bright pink and electric blue in the company pool."

"Sorry... mint green and platinum silver," Goodman revealed, causing another round of laughs. "It matches the decorations that she and my mom decided on."

"Can you bring in photos to prove it?" Takeshi asked. "So that somebody can win and we put all that behind us?"

"Sure. How much is the pool, anyway?" Goodman asked curiously. "Nobody told me about it."

"Well of course we didn't," Orkin said. "That'd ruin the whole thing. And three hundred dollars."

Goodman whistled. "How many people are in on this damn thing?"

"Too many, in multiple companies," Linda said with a little chuckle. She knew about it but had decided against the five dollar buy-in. "So where's the honeymoon going to be? Disney? Miami? The Keys?"

"Actually, Sabby found a metal concert in J-ville that she wants to go to," Goodman admitted. "So yeah, back home in the fourth greatest football city in Florida it is."

"Jacksonville," Simon Dawkins, the youngest member of the fire team and just out of high school, said in disbelief. "Of all the places you could go on your honeymoon, and you choose Jacksonville. I just... no words."

"And where would you go, Dawks?" Derrick asked, raising an eyebrow. "You know, on a PFC's salary?"

"Pssh, that's why I'm not getting married for a long while," Dawkins replied confidently, leaning back in his seat.

"I figure I'm not even looking at settling down until I get to Sergeant at the very least. Until then, I'm playing the field and making sure my wild oats don't get sown in fertile soil. "

Linda turned to look out the window, her reflection staring back with a knowing expression. She'd heard that same speech from at least a dozen soldiers who ended up married within the year. It always seemed to be the ones who protested the loudest who fell the hardest.

The van ride was short, less than two miles through Fort Pickett. As they pulled into the Charlie Company area, whistles erupted when a flash of metallic green and platinum hair bounded out of the company offices.

"Baby!" Sabby called, running over and hugging Goodman tightly.

Linda felt her chest tighten as she watched them.

She looked away, busying herself with her gear.

It wasn't Hollywood she envied, he wasn't her type at all, but that moment of pure joy when someone sees the person they love return safely.

She couldn't remember the last time anyone had looked at her that way.

"What're you doing here, beautiful?" Hollywood asked, planting a kiss on Sabby's cheek. "I thought you had work today."

"Evening shift, and I wanted to come by and verify some stuff for the project," Sabby explained. "Major Kirk said I can start as soon as we get back from our honeymoon."

"Sabby, we've still...” Linda began, but Sabby waved her off.

"I know, I know, Sarge. You guys have gear to clean. Guns to clean, boots to clean," Sabby said with a dramatic sigh. "I get it. So I'll bounce for now. Logan and I can have our dessert later."

Wolf whistles accompanied her statement as Sabby strutted off, her clunky goth anime boots clopping on the pavement.

"God I'm going to be glad to get the fuck out of the barracks," Goodman declared to more laughter. "Finding privacy is hard."

"Why not use her house?" Dawkins asked, earning a jostle in the shoulder from Takeshi.

"Sabby lives with her sister," Takeshi explained. "I don't think Goodman wants to go to pound town when Muscle Mommy's in the building."

"Oh yeah." Dawkins shook his head and then groaned. "Oh hell... does that mean Sergeant Adams is moving back into the barracks?"

A collective groan went through the squad at the mere thought. Sergeant Adams's legendary attention to detail was inspiring on duty but terrifying off duty.

"No, I already talked with her," Orkin reassured them. "As an NCO she doesn't have to live in the barracks unless she wants to. She found a place in Blackstone that's near her favorite gym. So you barracks rats can continue to live in your slob holes."

"Man, that's good... I can't handle having M Squared on my ass in my downtime," Derrick said. "No offense to her, but she scares me."

"Hey, just a reminder she's my soon to be sister-in-law," Goodman said with a bit of heat in his voice. "And while she's tough, she taught me a lot when I was hers. So chill."

"Good point, Hollywood." Linda turned to go to the back of the van. "Sergeant Adams knows her shit, and taught you a lot. So no disrespecting her from anyone, got it?"

There were assenting grunts all around. Linda opened the back of the van, and grinned. "Now, Alpha team... we get to unpack the van while Bravo can get the personal bags into the barracks. Then our favorite time begins."

"Cleaning... yay," Takeshi said in mock excitement, earning laughter again. "And I thought we did a lot of cleaning at school in Okinawa."

The squad got to work, and as cleaning began, Linda paused to look at Goodman. He was easily the happiest of the entire squad, and she knew why. The man had a lot to look forward to.

Linda didn't, but at the same time she was glad about one thing.

She respected Jessica Adams immensely, and she'd done a fantastic job of training Hollywood to be a good soldier.

On the mission he'd more than held his own, and Linda knew that if they really got into the shit, Hollywood Goodman was someone she could depend on.

But as the only other enlisted woman in Charlie Company, if Jessica did move back into the barracks, they'd end up being roommates. They were the same rank, both female... it was just the nature of the system.

And the truth was, Linda liked having a barracks room to herself.

"Hey Sarge!"

Linda looked up, realizing she'd been lost in thought, and Sergeant Atkins, the Bravo team leader, was looking over at her. "Yeah, sorry. What's up?"

"XO just got the armory unlocked," Atkins said. "Let's get this stuff broken down, what do you say?"

Linda flashed him a thumbs up. "Let's knock it out."