I think this is the end of the line for this series. I have lots more chapters sketched out but time is always short and I want to work out a few other ideas I have.
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Curtains were a luxury she didn't have in Kurdistan. As soon as the sun came up, bright-white sunlight streamed round the edges of the badly fitting blast proofing that filled the windows. Jen had never been able to decide whether this palace (small by Saddam's standards - but a palace none-the-less) had just never had them or whether they had been looted at some point in the past. In a country as hot as Iraq, it seemed unfortunate either way.
Considering the nature of the work most people in the secured perimeter were involved in, dawn was a pretty standard bedtime. The arrival of the sun lost them the advantages of night vision googles and thermal imagers that they enjoyed over the ISIS militants during the dark hours. One set of those goggles was worth tens of thousands of pounds - surely they could afford some fucking curtains?
Jen had only been asleep for a few hours but knew she could nap in the midday heat later, so rolled out of bed and took a long drink of water from the bottle by her bed, then brushed her teeth using the same water. She slept in a pair of yoga shorts and a loose t-shirt so she was nearly ready to start her day. She pulled the t-shirt off and fixed her hair back into a ponytail, using the enormous, gilt-edged mirror on one wall of the room. Why would you loot the curtains and leave that, she thought to herself? She appraised herself in the slightly dusty glass. This lifestyle suited her, she decided. She had been out in Erbil for the last 3 months. She was due to head home in another 5 weeks. A summer of sun and tough PT had her in pretty good shape. More of the same today, she thought.
She squeezed her curves into a sports bra, grabbed a towel and headed down to the gym. Any more modesty than that was unnecessary round here. In what had originally been Saddam's bowling alley, the lads had built a pretty comprehensive CV and weights area. Being underground, it was even cool enough to use when the A/C failed (which was often). A few guys were working there already, probably having just come off shift in the Ops Room. She waved to them in turn (everyone knew everyone here) but said nothing - this was a solemn room, for serious work. No one read Cosmo while on an exercise bike in this gym.
Stepping into the middle of the mats, Jen put in her headphones and did a thorough warm-up before rotating through different areas of her routine. She worked on the squat rack, did her deadlifts and pull-downs. Then she burned a few Ks on the treadmill, did some 500m sprints on the ergo and spent some time on the stair climber. She finished with a lengthy stretching session back on the matts.
Now sweating profusely, she focussed on controlling her breathing while she lay on her back, rotating her knee over to the side. She could see the guys in the gym were all following the movements of her butt as she did this. It didn't even phase her anymore as their eyes watched her toned legs stretch from side to side and her pert arse creased at the top of her thigh. As one of the few girls in the place, she had come to expect the attention. As one of girls charged with keeping the assaulters sexually satiated, she took it as a professional complement.
Jen loved being a girl in F Troop. She had been quickly moved out of the Army's mainstream units after a tryst with a senior officer had been made public, but she had found her niche when she had been offered the job of concubine to the SAS. That had been nearly a year ago and she had had a lot of fun, made some great friends and learned a LOT about herself. But she was starting to think she might have reached her limit of unlimited sex and unlimited credit cards. Out in Erbil she didn't even have that much sex - mostly she was a surrogate for the civilisation the men had left behind. She looked, talked and smelt like a piece of home as much as a piece of ass. She felt that her job was similar to that of a nurse, except that she diagnosed loneliness, anger and stress and treated them with chatting, flirting and the occasional blowjob.
She was still a soldier though. Once she was finished at the gym she went back to her room, pulled on some walking trousers and a t-shirt, then threaded the paddle-holster of her Sig 9mm pistol onto her belt. A set of ear defence, some sunglasses and a range bag completed her new ensemble. Suitably attired, she walked to the back of the palace where the Olympic-sized swimming pool had been. Now drained of water, one end was piled with earth, 20 feet high. It served as the pistol/check zero range for the Squadron. Taking advantage of the time, training and ammunition available here, Jen spent at least an hour a day running through her drills. This morning she felt particularly hot and tore up targets from arms-length to the far end of the pool.
After her morning routine she showered, ate breakfast and caught up with a few guys that had been out on a task the night before. Her general rule was that if the guys came off the helicopter and went straight to bed, she left them alone. If she found them drinking coffee on their own, or pounding the heavy bag in the gym, she interjected herself and started diagnosing problems. She solved everything this morning by listening, advising and empathising, though she did make a date to perform some pretty deviant sex acts for Tommy later in the week - she had a soft spot for Tommy.
The rest of the day, she spent reading, sunbathing or napping. At about 3pm, Lauren, the other girl from F Troop, slipped into her room. Jen was dozing in the heat of the afternoon and barely stirred as Lauren tugged down her shorts and thong before licking her to a lazy, sleepy orgasm. After Jen had gasped her way through her climax, Lauren crawled up next to her and they both fell asleep, Jen vaguely aware that her best friend smelled quite a lot like her pussy.
As the evening cooled, they stirred, as did the rest of the compound. In other rooms they could hear men waking up and prepping equipment, ready for whatever tasking they were on during the night. Jen and Lauren walked to the showers together then shared a cubicle to soap each other up. They left the shower-curtain open, as they had long since learned that the lads loved to be able to wander by and watch the two girls together. Jen barely even noticed the audience anymore as she knelt on the floor, water streaming down her arched back as she licked Lauren in return for her earlier orgasm.
Feeling much more alert, Jen got dressed again and walked to the Ops Room. When she wasn't performing her 'pastoral duties' her other task was to be the radio operator on the alternate net between 10pm and 2am. In preparation for this she had to attend the daily intelligence/operations brief. Tonight, however, as soon as she arrived in the Ops Room, the Squadron Commander and a man she didn't know pulled her aside. The Commander, a serious but surprisingly youthful major that she called 'Boss' like everyone else, introduced her to Will, an officer from the Reconnaissance Regiment.
"We've got a drama Jen, and you might be the solution." Started Will with a directness she was used to. He explained that a girl from Ops Troop was out of action and they needed someone to step up into her shoes and deploy on a tasking tonight. "There's no pressure, Jen" her Boss reassured her, "But if you do go, we'll have some of the lads on standby should there be any trouble." He gestured over his shoulder and Tommy nodded at her from the far side of the room.
"What's the job?" She asked, trying to keep her voice cool and steady.
"It's nothing pleasant, but we think you can handle it." Will said.
