Chapter 2

Knelt on the tarmac, Carlos was trying to ram a box of Cinnamon Crunch cereal into his pack before the CO arrived, "What did your mum say?" Carlos asked as he caved in the corners, hoping it would slide in easier.

Jules just watched in humour, they had reached the hangar before anybody else, "The usual. She wanted to know why I hadn't called her in over a year and then told me about my cousin's wedding they were going to."

"Oh, I love weddings," Carlos lifted his head with a boyish grin, "All those little flavour boxes and the cake. Do you have a plus one?"

"Calm down," Jules sighed, "I won't be going."

Carlos looked a little hurt.

"It'd be a bit hard to attend seeing as I'll be over the other side of the world," Jules explained as a van started to arrive with their new company from the base, "Besides, I hate my cousins."

"Shit," Carlos whispered under his breath as the CO was nearly upon them and he was still trying to sneak the cereal aboard the plane.

Carlos resorted to opening the box and removing the plastic bag which contained the Cinnamon Crunch inside and slipping it down the middle.

Carlos looked over his shoulder as the van pulled up, a small jeep following with their Commander inside.

"Here," Carlos panicked and handed her the empty box, "Can you put this in your bag?"

Jules arched an eyebrow, "You're willing to allow your friend get in trouble for this as well?"

Carlos looked between her and the box, "Yes! Now put it away."

Snatching the box out of his hand, Jules turned her back on the van, as people began to disembark, to untie the top of her pack, which had been leaning against the back of her legs.

Breaking the box down, Jules bent at the waist to stuff the evidence into the bottom of her pack when she heard a chorus of laddish cheers erupt behind her.

Jules paused, still bent at the waist, and looked past her leg to see a small gathering of male soldiers begin to approach her.

"Hey lads!" One shouted.

Carlos remained still and watched.

Jules turned back to finish packing her bag and secured the tie.

"If I had known there would be booty like this in the Navy I would have joined earlier!"

Jules raised an eyebrow as she slowly straightened up and turned to look at the men behind her, their laughter growing silent as she stared at them.

There were four of them. Jules recognised the man with reddish-brown hair in the back, the corner of his eye twitching, the two soldiers beside him were sharing in a handshake as they laughed, complimenting their friend on his verbal dexterity.

It was him that Jules focused on. He was a few inches taller until her eyes were level with his nose but height did not intimidate her.

His eyes, scrunched in the corner from where he was smiling, were a warm brown that contrasted nicely with the soft tan that played on his skin.

His hair, a few shades lighter than the colour of his eyes was cut short but the tips still seemed to sway in the soft breeze that cut through the hangar.

He was handsome and he knew it. It only made Jules more determined.

Jules smiled at him, feeling the man in the corner release a small breath. He thought she was forgiving him.

Jules was doing nothing of the sort as she curled her fist by her side, leading him into a false sense of security.

The man's lips parted once again, no doubt to deliver further sexist remarks, so Jules decided what she must do.

Making her fist tighter, Jules continued to smile until her knuckles connected with his jaw.

Stretching out her leg as he stumbled a few steps backwards, Jules tripped him up and watched him hit the deck like a sack of potatoes.

Carlos let out a loud cheer

Jules grinned down at the man on the floor before her, his hand delicately inspecting his jaw for any breaks.

No one moved for a few seconds as they simply looked at each other when a new body entered the scrap.

"Langdale!" Their CO shouted, "What are you doing down there!?"

"He tripped." Jules smiled innocently, learning the man's name so she could avoid him. Langdale.

The CO narrowed his eyes at each of them, trying to decide if he should investigate further but it seemed he couldn't be bothered.

"Langdale, get up and make sure you don't trip again. Understood?"

"Sir," Langdale got to his feet, moving his jaw with more confidence now that he knew it wasn't broken.

Jules went to take a step around him when Langdale planted himself in front of her and smiled, preventing her from going anywhere.

Was he asking to get punched again?

Jules looked past his shoulder and saw that they were being watched so she refrained herself.

"What?" Jules snapped as people began to line up for the photograph without them.

His eyes twinkled with mischief that Jules did not like the look of as his lips spread into a wider smile, he spoke with confidence as he said, "I'm going to marry you one day."

Her lips parted in shock.

Langdale chuckled, snapping Jules out of her revere and she clamped her lips shut, glaring at him.

"Remember that," Langdale chuckled as he swept his pack up from the ground, "I'm going to marry you."

Jules was about to punch him, hang the consequences, when their names were shouted from across the tarmac.

"Reynolds! Langdale! Get your asses over here!"

Langdale chuckled to himself as he turned and jogged over to the small stand where their company had been lined up for the photograph.

Jules trudged along behind when she spotted Carlos raising a hand in question, what the hell just happened?

Jules was damned if she knew but the urge to punch him was still there.

* * *

As the plane began to cruise, jolting every so often from turbulence, Jules sat beside Carlos and stared at Langdale.

Being on the opposite side of the plane and a few people down, Jules could watch him without being overly noticeable.

Advantages of her time with the Americans; they took their training seriously.

It also helped that pallets of cargo, waist high, had been placed between the two rows of seats.

Carlos, however, did see her looking and asked, "Who is that?"

Jules turned her gaze to look at the cargo, "Hmm?"

Carlos raised an eyebrow at her failed attempts to avoid the question.

"I don't know," Jules sighed, conceding, "Just some idiot that we're now going to have to spend the foreseeable future with."

Carlos smiled at her reaction before he looked back over, "Well, he seems interested in you."

"What?" Jules muttered, following Carlos's gaze over the cargo to see Langdale looking directly at her.

Jules instantly glared at him.

Langdale laughed, "So," He shouted over the roar of the engines, "What's the story with you two?"

Jules was too busy being angry to answer him.

"Story?" Carlos feigned ignorance perfectly.

"Yeah, you know, your story," The man beside Langdale spoke up, "Why were Rick and Thomas suddenly shifted onto a different company when you two showed up?"

His voice was filled with resentment.

"This is Matt Kipling," Langdale introduced them, "And yes," He added, "He does make exceedingly good cakes."

The men laughed at the oldest joke about their friend's name. Carlos joined in to try and infiltrate himself into the group.

If they liked him, maybe they wouldn't ask awkward questions that neither of them could answer.

Carlos was always the smart one; Jules was just staying angry at Langdale.

"No, why were two marines, with no marks against their names, suddenly transferred? I'd like to know." Matt turned on them, not about to let the topic drop.

Jules frowned, "We just got told to come here. We don't know anything."

"Bollocks," Matt snapped.

"Hey," Marc spoke softly in warning.

"If she says she doesn't know," A voice spoke from the top of the plane, and Jules turned to see the man with red-brown hair, the left side of his face suddenly encased with spasms, "Then maybe she doesn't know."

"You don't really believe that do you Twitch?" Matt scoffed, "Their records are classified!"

Jules and Carlos frowned as a silence fell over the men.

"And where did you get a look at their records, Kipling?" Another soldier shouted.

"Yeah, did them happen to be made out of pastry and icing?" The men laughed.

"I have friend in the admin block," Matt did not appreciate jokes about his name at a time like this, "Their," He pointed to Jules and Carlos, "records are classified. Only people with the highest clearance level can look at them. What does that tell you?"

Marc Langdale stared at Jules in confusion, trying to decide what it was about her that enabled top level clearance.

Carlos took control of the situation, "You want to know the truth, Matt?"

Jules watched Carlos from the corner of her eye, wondering what he was going to say.

"Yes." Matt snapped.

"Well, the truth is this, see Jules and I, we're not really Marines."

Jules frowned, wondering where he was going with this but everybody was engrossed in it, believing every word that fell from his lips.

"Not Marines?" Twitch asked.

"No," Carlos spoke with seriousness, "We're subjects of a government experiment. We were raised in a lab underground, forced to endure terrible ordeals, starved and drugged, in an attempt to make us into the next generation of super soldiers. This deployment is our test run."

You could hear every intake of breath throughout the plane it was so silent.

A man with blonde hair and a tattoo on his arm sat next to Carlos was the first to speak.

His eyes wide with excitement as he whispered in disbelief, "Really?"

Carlos turned to the man in all seriousness, before he shook his head, "No."

Carlo then burst out laughing, "You should see all of your faces!"

The entire plane groaned, kicking themselves for being so easily fooled, before they shouted at Carlos.

"But- But what about your files?" Matt exclaimed.

"I don't know," Carlos replied, still laughing, "I have no idea why our files would be classified. Maybe your friendin Admin got it wrong."

Yes, Jules rallied, throw doubt into their minds.

A few moments later as everybody had moved on from the conversation Jules leaned in to Carlos and whispered, "Ridgeway would have been proud."

Carlos scoffed and mock punched her in the shoulder.

Jules was still smiling as she looked across the plane and saw Marc Langdale watching them.

She swallowed around the lump in her throat as she tried to convince herself that he couldn't have possibly heard the name she whispered to Carl.

It was too loud in here now.

Jules settled in for a very uncomfortable ride.