Carnivore Valley

Mission briefing

Blake passed the four rooms where the team was set for the night, through a gap in a door she saw Genevieve still drinking her bottle of whiskey, she knocked.

"Who is it!?" Genevieve yelled.

Blake pushed the door open.

"Oh, I swear if it was that mallcop you'd be short one rescue member right now!" Genevieve said putting her Sig sauer back on the table.

"You know, I think you two would make a perfect match"

"f**k off Blake! This is a rescue assignment not a dating camp!"

"I know" Blake said coming in and closing the door "Why don't you take it with a pinch of salt?"

"What do you mean?"

"Sure, I also feel a little uncomfortable when the men look at me, hut hey, I am pretty, or so I'm told, it can't be helped"

"Here you go again Blake...!"

"Just hear me out..." Blake stopped her.

Genevieve took her glass of whiskey and threw it down her throat.

"You had a boyfriend before right?" Blake started.

"Yes, and that's exactly why I'm not interested in men anymore! I'm looking after myself from now on"

"Did he cheat on you?"

"No..." Genevieve looked down at the glass in her hands.

"What, happened?"

Genevieve signed and refilled the glass with the last bit of whiskey in the bottle "He was with me in my unit during our service in Somalia..."

Blake felt her heart pound her chest, so... This was the true Genevieve, somehow she knew what was coming.

"I took too long before I pulled the trigger, I planted him just after he let the RPG go... And the Humvee he aimed at..."

"Was the one your boyfriend was in...?"

"My, fiancée"

Blake placed her hand on her mouth, Genevieve looked up at her "So there you have it! After Benjamin got ripped from me my will to be a Navy seal got ripped from me equally as hard, I didn't get a greedy need to go smuggle with diamonds, I merely saw a way to escape my own shortcomings"

Blake gave her a nod "And I guess, you don't want to experience that pain again?"

Genevieve brought the glass to her mouth "Yes"

Blake stood up "I'm sorry then, please forgive my rudeness"

"You are forgiven Blake geez! It's that stubborn mall cop that annoys me so much!"

Blake giggled "I know, he's really brave isn't he? So, on behalf of the fact that he's now part of your team, what about him annoys you, so maybe I can set it right for you?"

Genevieve looked up at her "He reminds me of Benjamin, the way he's so cocky, the way he's not really impressive but accomplished so much, he's almost a cut out of Benjamin, it's like I'm seeing a ghost"

Blake nodded "If need be, I will remove him from the squad and send him back to South Africa, his previous employer is more than willing to take him back, it's not like hell be sent back with nothing"

"No!" Genevieve said making Blake hop.

"I mean, no, it won't be necessary, you heard what Rebecca said right? He's a targeted man, you'll be sending him to his death"

Blake smiled "Then I leave the rest in your hands right?"

Genevieve nodded "Yes, I'll get over it"

Blake opened the door and stepped out "You know... Why don't you give him some of his own medicine?"

"How so?"

"He's clearly brave, tell him he ain't got the balls, or don't have the guts, you know, make him stumble a little?"

Genevieve laughed "I'll pass, I don't want to give him false impressions"

Blake nodded "Goodnight then"

"See you tomorrow" Genevieve said as she closed the door.

***

The next day the crew stood at a large aluminium table set up in Jade's office, there was an awkward silence, only Bison and Helga seemed rested out, but Genevieve and Arno had bags under their eyes.

"Hey mallcop" Genevieve said and Arno looked at her.

"Yeah?"

"Sorry bout last night, just, don't try s**t ok? I'm not interested, this is a rescue mission after all"

Arno nodded "No, I'm sorry, I didn't mean to offend you"

"It's ok" Genevieve's tone of voice told Arno she didn't want to have a long conversation, so he left it at that.

Jade walked in and gave the lot a scan "Morning, you all seem ready"

"Hootin tootin, ready for shootin!" Arno couldn't help say, but dropped his smile "Sorry"

"No, motivated I see, let's start the brief" Jade smiled and held up a remote, the first button she pressed dimmed the lights, then another made a projector come on, it showed a map of an area that was in an oval, Jade then took out a laser pointer and aimed it at the map.

"We are down here, as you can see that small white square is this building, and up here is where the team last reported back to us" They saw Jade stroll the pointer all the way up from the very south to almost the very north of the map "If you didn't see the island from the sky as you came in, then this might seem like a short trip through the jungle, but it's not, that distance is just over nine hundred kilometers"

"Nine hundred!?" Arno asked loudly.

"Yes, so this is how you go about this" Jade brought the pointer down again "The pickup you will use has roughly six hundred kilos it can travel on a tank, before you hit that there will be a refuel station here, then about halfway through this jungle you will reach a cliff side" Jade circled the area in the middle of the map with the red pointer.

"There you must leave the jeep where a staircase will take you up the two hundred meter cliff side, on top another jeep will be waiting with keys inside ready and fueled, then cross this section, we call it the devide cliff wall, when you descend on the other side another jeep will be there and take that to a refueling station here..." She pointed again "After that refuel, you'd have enough gas to make it to that location"

Jade pressed the remote and the screen went dark, the lights got bright again "Any questions?"

"How many of them were on that expedition?" Bison asked.

"Two, a man named Jackson, and a woman named Liona"

"Are there any reasons out there why they might have gone silent?" Genevieve asked.

Jade shrugged "Maybe they fell, maybe a predator got them, we're not sure"

"What kind of predators are we talking about?" Arno asked.

Jade smiled "It's strictly confidential for now, all I say is if you can use the weapons you have in those duffle bags, you won't have a problem"

Arno swallowed "Well, ok then, at least we won't get shot at, that's a relief from my side" He said making Bison laugh.

"Yeah boy, bullet magnet finally retired"

"My gun still shoots bullets" Genevieve said smirking at Arno, he swallowed again.

"Just joking mallcop!"

"Now, if you all will be so kind as to ready your weapons, you need only them and your extra ammunition now, in the back of the pickup there are food, water and extra camping gear already loaded" Jade said going to her table and sitting down.

Everyone accept Bison placed the bags down and started opening them up, Genevieve slyly waited first to see what Arno and Helga brought.

Arno lifted out his Vector then the pump action. Helga took out her standard issue Famas assault rifle and a Baretta pistol.

"You brought a pump action?" Genevieve asked as Arno started loading the shells into the shotgun.

"Yeah, I'm good with it, What did you bring?"

Genevieve smirked and took out her disassembled sniper rifle, then put it together to form a large rifle longer than she was, Arno's head bucked back.

"That thing is huge!"

"It's a Barrett model 90, I always wanted to shoot this thing" She said placing it down on it's bipod then lifted another hefty bag and opened it to reveal a squad assault weapon, or SAW for short.

"Woman! You look like you're about to start world war three!?" Arno said astounded.

"They said I could take anything I want, and I wanted these"

Bison laughed seeing the two quarrel, Arno looked at him "Where's your weapons Bison?" He asked feeling interest to see what a Marine would bring if he had a choice.

"I didn't bring any weapons brother, I turned my life around"