[quote]"He brought me this. And I think he got you something in the back. Really fucking loves us. That's an FN P90TR, CompM4 optic, M952 Flashlight and silencer attached. 50 rounds of 5.7mm glory. Shit, it might not have much flesh power, but it cuts body armor like a saw, and there is an awful lot of it with high ballistic capability to more than make up for it."[/quote]
Scott whistled appreciatively and nodded his head. He'd cross-trained with the P90 on several occasions, and had found the unusual-looking PDW a powerful, accurate and effective weapon. He'd be glad to have it in hand. At Jan's smile toward him, he couldn't help but return the same. It felt good to see him, and especially alive and in one piece. Even if the whole situation was fucked, at least they were fucked together. 
Still listening to Jan, he walked around to the tailgate of the land-rover and opened up the rear door, pulling the pile of gear and fatigues towards him and beginning to check through it, as well as getting changed out of his wet and travel-crumpled civvie clothes. 
[quote]"So, how have you been these last few days?" [/quote]
He sighed as he thought over the last few days, pulling on a fresh T-shirt and then buttoning up his fatigue shirt. "A bit shit, if I'm honest. I didn't react very [i]well[/i] to being pulled off the mission and all our contacts being stonewalled and delayed. I got pretty much taken off of duty until our lady friend got in touch. By that point I was eager to find out anything and do something about all of it".
He listened carefully and attentively as Jan spoke. It was a something they'd barely found time for what with running all around the globe for Lima's missions. The rare downtime had been spent on catching up with sleep, admin, or the basic necessities of life. 
He pulled on the rest of his clothing and shut the door; the assault kit could wait 'til later. No use being uncomfortable for hours on end. He climbed into the passenger seat of the landrover and looked out at the darkness and the sleet with Jan as the Pole opened up to him, describing his life and career, while checking through his equipment and gear. 
"I don't think," he said after Jan had finished talk, his voice more serious and quiet than his usual humoured, bombastic tones. "That anyone outside of our circles - Special Forces I mean - ever really understands it. The life, I mean. Our families love us, no doubt, and there are friends and others who think of us. Sure, there are documentaries and books, and stories people hear. But it's different to living it. Some of the blokes I've served with, they've been complete tossers. I wouldn't have given 'em the time of day if I'd met them outside of the service, or growing up, for example. But crawling through a mile of swamp, or humping your kit over a mountain range in horizontal rain in the middle of the night and knowing that even when you stop, there's still a whole countries' army looking for you, it makes things different. You end up having that brotherhood, like you say". 
He shifted in the seat, watching the rain drizzle patterns down the glass, before pulling his own kit over and giving the P-90 a thorough once over, unscrewing the suppressor and then checking the batteries in the light and the scope. 
"Can't say I'm looking forward to going up against the Danes either. Especially since, if everything was right, they'd know we were all after the same goal; stopping the bad guys. But if we do end up trading shots... well, they're like us - they signed up to put themselves on the line, and it's a shitty business. We can do what we can to avoid casualties as much as possible, but they'll be shooting to kill us, and we know that's what we're there for too." He fell quiet for a breather as he reflected on the rest, thinking about what Jan had said about his life and times, before he spoke up again.
"As fer the rest, mate - I don't think any of us are living rock-star lifestyles exactly. Not all of us can be Andy McKnob and get a million-book deal and a film adaptation... We get paid a shitty amount to do shit work no-one wants to hear about. So we make the most of it we can, and most of the time it leaves us pretty much wrecks... best we can do is make the most of it with each other while we can." He looked over at Jan, worried by the fatalism of his words. It was a very Eastern European trait - maybe it had something to do with all the heavy poetry and suicidal novelists; he wasn't sure. Either way, he didn't really want to give in and let Jan go out in a blaze of glory, if he could avoid it.
"I appreciate you saying you'll get us out of this in one piece too. For what it's worth, I'll do my best to see the same happens to you as well. Maybe we can all disappear and lie low for a while. Find somewhere warm, far away, and quiet to let it all blow over so we can start again. Open a bar and drink all the profits. Who knows, eh? Either way - you haven't done me wrong so far, Jan, and I'll give my word to you, too, that I'll do what I can as well. And I reckon you're right about Zhenya, too. It might not have come out well, or sat well with us... but I reckon he was probably being used, rather than doing the using. I'm sure we both know enough other people it's happened to".
Another pair of headlights emerged out of the gloom, and the grinding of an engine came with them as the vehicle came to a stop. Squinting into the dark, the shape of another almost identical Land Rover could be made out - and then a familiar face climbed out from behind the wheel. Scott glanced across at Jan, before he opened the door on his side and climbed out, stretching as he did so and nodding to the Russian, and smiling warmly as he saw the teams' snipers back in one piece.

[quote]"Merry Christmas, Captain." Zhenya said with a nod as he climbed out of the vehicle, taking a folder while he was at it. It had been described as a 'present for Lima' by Katya, and contained almost every relevant document the SVR had on the TIAF's Copenhagen mission, as well as Medved's role and the limited support provided by the SVR. He walked towards the Captain and handed him the folder. "It will explain everything, and also, I found our snipers."[/quote]

"Looks like the bands' all back together, Scott said, walking the short distance over to the others. He stood with his arms folded for a moment, before sighing and sticking his hand out to Zhenya to shake and nodding. 
"Good to see you again, mate," he said with a slight smile. "Merry Christmas an' all that too".