Page 5 of Duty and Desire
SCARLETT
Show time.
Waving them over, her squad trudged through the snow to huddle around.
“From here, we are on our own. No talking unless necessary. This is a stealth mission. If we’re spotted our information will be useless. Stay out of sight, low to the ground.”
Once they had neared the edge of the outlook, Scarlett dropped to the ground, her white camouflage now hopefully obscuring her movements if the insurgents had surveillance.
Crawling through the ice and snow was difficult, the still-dropping ice shards complicating it even further.
Scarlett reached the edge of the outcrop; she could just about make out some dotted figures milling around in the distance.
So, they are here then.
Slowly, carefully she pulled her binoculars from her pack and zoomed in on them.. Tents littered the valley with the largest encircled by smaller ones in the center of the encampment. Insurgents wandered in and out of the tents, each one armed with an assault rifle. Snow mobiles patrolled the edges of the valley, packed with even more militants. Next to her, Scarlettcould hear Private Lance muttering under his breath, counting the number of insurgents present at the camp—or at least all the ones he could see.
Scarlett slipped her binoculars back into her pack and pulled out the camera. Moving as little as possible, she photographed the insurgent camp. The central tent, the snow mobiles on patrol, the soldiers wandering about. Anything she could see was captured. Lance stopped muttering; he must have completed his count. Scarlett glanced at her watch. They didn’t have much time until the storm hit.
Discreetly gesturing to her troops, she signaled their retreat.
“Good work, squad. The intelligence we’ve gathered today will go a long way to help command. Time to head out. We don’t want to risk getting stranded out here when the storm hits.”
Scarlett had plenty of time to think once they reached the cliffs again. Being the lightest of their squad, she would descend last, clearing the screws and making sure the only evidence of their ever being there were merely two holes in the ice where they tied their anchor.
She watched as the last private backed up over the cliff and waited for the signal to begin her own descent. Being the last, she wouldn’t have the peace of mind that the anchor was backed up by screws; she would have to trust the ice and her squad mates below to keep her from falling.
“All clear, Captain.”
Scarlett had never been overly fond of abseiling. Going up was fine, but she wasn’t in control if something went wrong while rappelling down. She noticed clouds darkening in the distance and knew she couldn’t delay. If they were still at the base of the cliff when the storm began, they ran the risk of the ice collapsing on them.
Clipping the screws onto her belt, Scarlett tugged hard on the anchor; it didn’t budge.
Thank god.
Eyes closed, she backed over the edge, letting out an unsteady breath. Willing her heart to slow its frantic beating, she began making her way down the cliff. Steadily, one foot then the other, not looking down as she went.
After what felt like an eon, her feet hit solid ground.
Thank fuck that was over.
She pulled the last of the rope through the drilled anchor, watching it tumble toward them.
“Rope!”
She could hear the young privates chattering away behind her again as they made their way back across the snowfield. She didn’t mind; they had done well today.
She grabbed her radio.“Come in, command.”
“Go ahead, Captain,” General Carson said.
“Mission successful., Now returning to base.”
"Very good, Captain.”
“Over—”
A crack behind her echoed through the valley. She spun around to see a hole in the snow field and one private staring at it in shock.