CHAPTER ELEVEN: Cold shower

When she got to her section of the border to do recon on, Taeyeon scoped out the points where the enemy soldiers would be staking out. She hid, low to the ground, with a pair of binoculars for help. She made sure Tiffany was out of sight, so that when she got sniped in the head, there would be someone to report 'the soldier I was following died by head shot. It was a clean kill because this soldier didn't have much brains to spill.'

She surveyed the area for an hour before moving to another location. Within five hours, she had gone through her border section. Taeyeon moved back to the first location and repeated the process.

Tiffany and Taeyeon didn't talk. It wouldn't have mattered if they did since the enemy was too far away to humanly hear them, but Taeyeon's entire focus was through her view scope. She could see the Northerners, but she couldn't shoot them yet. Rifles were too loud. The first shot would scatter everyone, then maybe she'd be able to take down another one, but the rest would have dispersed into the wind.

There was no way she could sneak up on them. Not even at night, because the enemy had night vision goggles. Other South Korean troops that tried to penetrate the border at night had been killed.

By the end of the first day, Tiffany and Taeyeon had hardly exchanged five words. Taeyeon thought that staking out would be torturously boring to a civilian. As the sun set, they retreated from the forest to the more civilized part of Kaesong. They found an abandoned house and took refuge inside. There was water but no electricity, because water was mechanically pumped from the river and power was generated by North Korean utilities. 

Taeyeon chose a room with an attached bathroom. She taped up the room window and bathroom window so that no light would leak through, then cracked a few glow sticks. She scattered three on the bedroom floor and threw the rest into the bathroom. "Tiffany, you want to wash up first?"

"Sure." The water must have been icy, because Tiffany was done in less than five minutes.

Taeyeon took her turn, and the water was indeed cold. She hastily washed her face and mouth. She went out again. "I'm heading back out to continue recon. It's going to be the same thing we've done for the past eighteen hours so I don't think you wanna go through that for another twenty-four. You stay here and get some rest. Eat something too. I'll be back tomorrow morning and we can go back to the main OP together."

Gratitude and relief filled Tiffany's smile. "Thanks. Sounds good."

"Don't leave the building."

"I won't."

Taeyeon left her assault pack in the room, only taking a water pouch, night vision goggles, binoculars, a few extra magazines clipped to her vest, and her CM assualt rifle. Her Beretta and combat knife were holstered already.

Outside, the sun had already set. She put on the night vision goggles and sneaked back to a stake out spot. The enemy was disciplined. They always had at least one person on the look out. Shift changes appeared to occur once every eight hours.

The sun rose, and Taeyeon stayed at the same spot, to observe three shift rotations. She slept for seven and a half hours between two of them. There was no change from the previous day.

She went back to the abandoned house to collect Tiffany, and they journeyed back to the Main OP.

"Taeyeon."

"Hmm?"

"Jess and I have been friends for seventeen years. We grew up in the same town in California, back in America. Although I moved to New York for college, we kept in touch. We're pretty close friends."

"And so?"

"So what's your relationship with Jess? You two are always disappearing at the same time."

Was it that obvious? If Tiffany noticed it, did Sooyoung and Yoona? Taeyeon shifted nervously. They would have to be more careful from now on. "There's nothing. Is it a crime to not be in the same place?"

"Okay," Tiffany said, "I'll cut to the chase. I know that Jess doesn't do guys. I also know that you've been looking her up. I want to know what you two are doing."

Taeyeon didn't speak. All she could think about was that her career was over. Her life was over. She gripped Tiffany's wrist firmly and led her down an alley way. The journalist didn't resist, thinking that Taeyeon had spotted a hostile situation up front. The danger was more immediate. Taeyeon pushed Tiffany against a wall and pressed the barrel of her Beretta into Tiffany's ear. "You don't mention this to anyone, or I swear I'll pull the trigger. Jessica and I aren't doing anything. Are we clear?"

Tiffany's lower lip was trembling slightly. "Calm down. I'm for LGBT rights, especially for places like the army."

"Don't lie to me," Taeyeon said. "I see you praying. I know your type." She had to make sure Tiffany was too scared to tell on her. She unlocked the safety catch on the Beretta. "You know... I could kill you right now and no one would know that it was me. The paper would write you an honorable orbituary, I'm sure."

The look in Tiffany's eyes shifted. There was fear, of course. It had ratcheted up a notch, but there was no longer empathy, but derision. "I know your type, too. You get high off killing, right? You don't care if you're putting a bullet into a civilian or a hostile."

"Shut up!" She hadn't expected that. She wasn't that sort of person. I chose not to shoot Soojung. She lowered the handgun but continued screaming in Tiffany's face. "You don't know me. You don't know what I've done. If you were in my position do you think you'd be talking like you know ?"

Tiffany was frozen. Taeyeon didn't like the disgust or the pity. She put the Beretta back into safety and shoved it into its holster. She wiped her eyes with the back of her hand roughly. "I wasn't going to kill you, okay? But you don't want to tell anyone... what sort I'm into."

"Nobody else will know. Not through me, anyway." Tiffany's voice was cold but no longer loathing. "I haven't said a word to anyone, and I don't ever intend to, because this is a private matter. I only brought it up because Jess is my friend and I just want to watch out for her."

"Good." Taeyeon spun on her heel and walked back to the street they were taking.

Tiffany caught up with her. "You should apologize to me."

" off."

"You're not good enough for Jess," Tiffany said. "You're competent and loyal, but you're a flaming in general. You think most people don't deserve your time or respect. You're responsible but you're not kind."

Taeyeon smirked. "Congratulations. You hit the jackpot. Made the epiphany of the century."

Tiffany was persistent. "Jess is going through a really hard time right now, so she doesn't need to get her life messed up anymore, okay?"

"I know that already." Even if I don't know why. Taeyeon took a deep breath and released it. She could understand this whole older sister vibe Tiffany had going with Jessica. "I'm not messing up anything. We're not anything serious, so get off your high horse. If I ever ask her out I'll seek your permission and do a background check first, happy?"

"You're not dating?"

"No."

"Oh."

"Yeah, so it's really none of your business, Tiffany."

"I don't like what you two are doing. I'm going to tell her that."

"Okay, you take that up with her, not me."

After dinner of instant ramen and preserved meat, Taeyeon went to take a shower. The water in the outpost was barely heated, but she really wanted to feel clean. Taeyeon shampooed and stood directly under the showerhead. The warm suds made the water temperature more bearable. She soaped her body down twice and stood under the water, spacing out.

She heard someone come into the shower hall. Jessica came to her stall, decked out in her corpsman uniform. 

Jessica had been providing medical assistance to the other medics at the outpost for the past two days. She stripped off her clothes and stepped into Taeyeon's stall.

"Jessica, there aren't any curtains."

"We're the only women here. Tiffany already knows."

Taeyeon grinned. Whatever Tiffany said about her to Jessica hadn't changed anything. "Sooyoung and Yoona-"

Jessica cut her off. "Have already turned in for the night."

Taeyeon stood by the side while Jessica shampooed, wondering. She was getting cold without the water. If Jessica wanted to shower together, they'd shower together. 

She squeezed soap into her hands and worked up a thick lather. She covered Jessica's back first. Slowly, carefully. From the shoulder blades down to the hollow of Jessica's spine. When there was no protest, she soaped Jessica's neck and arms. Jessica's legs were smooth and firm. She kneaded the soles of Jessica's feet and covered every toe with soap.

Taeyeon rubbed up a gentle lather and moved her fingers to Jessica's navel, sliding down between Jessica' legs. Jessica stopped her, putting her fingers away. 

They started kissing. Jessica pushed against Taeyeon hungrily, water running down their faces. Jessica's nails were trimmed. Even so, Taeyeon was sure Jessica was streaking her back with angry red marks. Their tongues twisted against each other, yielding and tasting.

Taeyeon broke away for air first. She wiped down her face with one hand and pushed her hair away, drinking in the perfect pleasure of Jessica Jung. Jessica turned her out of the stall and flung a towel at her. Taeyeon pulled on a long-sleeved shirt and black sweats. She sat on a bench, brushing her teeth, waiting.

When Jessica was done, Taeyeon ran a hand through her hair to neaten it. It was already dry. They walked together to the room that Team Firefly and the two Americans were assigned. Sooyoung and Yoona were already out like lights on their military cots. Tiffany was reading a notebook with the help of a torchlight. Taeyeon held Tiffany's gaze for an extra second to show that she had given Jessica an enjoyable time. 

Since there was no way to sneak up on the enemy soldiers watching the Kaesong border, Sooyoung decided that they would sneak from behind them. How do you get behind someone without passing by them?

By passing over them. Sooyoung had engineers dismantle the Chinook waiting at the other side of the Freedom Bridge, and the helicopter parts were smuggled to the Kaesong Main OP. The engineers put together the Chinook again. Since helicopters were noisy, the Chinook would climb as high as it could in the sky, and soldiers would skydive out of it, parachuting beyond the Kaesong border. Meanwhile, grunts would stay at ground level and work lights and noise, keeping enemy attention away from the skies.

The Chinook would travel, mostly vertically, up and down, until the Kaesong border was surrounded by South Korean soldiers. Kaesong was shaped like a circle, and Firefly would take the upper half of the circumference while the other three would take the lower half. The three platoons would be loud, drawing attention to lower Kaesong, while Firefly would be stealthy and wipe out upper Kaesong. The South soldiers currently holding fort at Kaesong, who were not part of this operation, would ensure that upper Kaesong remained clear while Firefly moved downwards, hence trapping lower Kaesong's enemy soldiers with four whole teams.

That was soon-to-be-Captain Choi's strategy. All platoons were briefed, and they began the operation at night, right on schedule.

When Taeyeon landed outside of Kaesong, she detached her parachute and started running. She came upon the first duo of hostiles that she had observed two days prior. Through her night vision goggles, they appeared as bright, monochrome figures. They didn't notice her. She smashed the back of their heads with her Beretta to put them out of commission. Then she drew her combat knife and slit their throats, deep, from ear to ear. Their blood sprayed crazily, like loose water hoses, but their deaths were quiet. 

She kept running. When she could no longer kill stealthily, she fired her Colt Modular at close range. Taeyeon was able to clear her section of the border easily. She jogged the rest of the perimeter to Yoona's section, which was almost all done. They radio-ed Sooyoung, who was done as well. Time to move downwards.

Taeyeon reassembled her CM into the designated marksman rifle that it could be. She perched in the grass and looked down the telescopic sight. She picked off enemies that her fellow soldiers hadn't gotten at yet.

By the time dawn became day, the fight was over. Kaesong was liberated. Taeyeon checked herself. Minor scrapes. She trotted out into the field and helped carry the injured back to the Main OP. The other Fireflies were fine, but a number of their fellow countrymen had not fared as well. At the Main OP, only emergency triage could be conducted. They got a truck and shipped the badly injured to more sophisticated Battalion Aid Stations in South Korea.

While they were washing dishes, Jessica spoke to her. "I know Tiff spoke to you yesterday. I hope she didn't say anything insensitive. You've got a lot on your mind, I know."

Taeyeon stopped rinsing her mess tin. This was the first time Jessica was talking to her socially. She didn't know what to say. "It's all good."

A/N: I guess this is too late to be called a double update T.T If only I could write faster... Thanks for the comments last chapter. Good, bad, let me know:)