"You think they can do it?"
"Yeah. But it's risky with us being outnumbered." Avi pulls out his binoculars and surveys the situation.
"Can you see them?"
"No. They're out of sight range."
"What happens if they're caught?"
He looks at me and shrugs. "Then it's just us."
I hear the pop-pop-pop of gunfire. Avi curses again. "Nimrod's down. Udi's captured. The other team ambushed them. Nimrod and Udi got two down before getting hit. It's just you and me," he says. "I probably don't have to tell you the odds aren't in our favor."
I'm to blame for Avi's team dying and/or being captured, one by one, as soon as I arrived. "Are you giving up?" I ask him.
"No."
"Because I have a plan."
"I do, too. It involves me opening fire when they start shooting at us. The other team knows me, and they know I'm not going down without a fight."
"I have a better plan. One that might give us the advantage."
"Let's hear it," he says, gesturing for me to share my idea.
"You'll really listen to my suggestion?"
"Of course. My girlfriend might be an American princess, and gets herself into ridiculous situations all the time... but she's no dummy."
I straighten my back and hold my head high, ready to reveal my perfect plan. "Avi, take off your clothes."
Chapter 28
Who knew the best time of your life could be on a mountain, in the middle of a desert, caught up in war games?
With an M16 retrofitted paintball machine gun in my hand and Avis clothes on my body, I head into enemy territory. The mask is too big, the shirt is flimsy except in the boob area, and the pants are about to fall off, but I manage to look enough like Avi maneuvering through the rocks.
My heart is racing wildly, because I know it's just a matter of time until they realize I've got boobs and not muscular pecs. While my boyfriend is slinking around the other side in his undies, with black paint on his body (my artwork, thanks to the small container of face paint he had in his vest) and his own paintball gun, I'm the decoy.
Avi gave me specific instructions to surrender so I don't get hit. They won't fire unless fired upon. Although I know and they know that Avi would never go down without a fight.
I run from one rock to another just like Avi told me to. (Imagine one of those ducks going back and forth in a carnival shooting game.) I'm still a bit shocked he agreed to my plan, but it just goes to show that a great leader like Avi knows how to listen as well as lead. I admit it took a little coaxing from me. At first he wasn't into letting me become the target. But when I assured him I'd be okay, and that we were in this together, he finally relented.
He said to count to ten and then hold my hands over my head to surrender. But as two of the opposing team members move closer to me, cornering me on both sides, I start to panic. They're too far away to make out that it's me, but I desperately want Avi to have time to rescue the hostages from his squad and fix this botched exercise. I have to help him, even if it means opening fire to kill the enemy. I wouldn't shoot anyone in real life, because even after all of this training, I'm still totally for peace and happiness and rainbows and sushi.
But this is paintball. And I'm taking no prisoners.
I turn my gun on auto and shoot.
Pop! Pop! Pop! Pop!
Little paint balls are flying ferociously out of my gun. Since it's dark, I have no clue what I'm shooting, and hope I'm hitting at least some part of the enemy squad. I'm Rambo and GI Jane all wrapped into one.
Something hard whacks my back and thigh. "Ouch!" I scream. "That hurt!"
I look down at my thigh and realize I've been hit.
By a paintball.
I'm officially dead. I think.
Chapter 29
Everyone should try living in the gray areas of life at least once.
I'll have you know I took down two guys before I was paintballed to death. My idea actually worked. During the shootout, Avi was able to rescue Udi and Ori. They captured the last guy on the other team and we were victorious.
That's the good news.
The bad news (besides the paintball-sized welts I have on my thigh and stomach) is that I'm waiting in a large military tent, with Avi sitting on the chair next to me, about to be debriefed on how I got into the war games in the first place. At least they let us change back into our own clothes.
The guy who's in charge of the war games isn't Sergeant B-S. It's this other guy, with a bunch of stripes on the side of his sleeve, who happens to be sitting at a table opposite us in the tent. He's dark-skinned, bald, and does not look happy.
I don't know his rank, but he's high up there.
Considering I'm zero rank, I can't be demoted. But Avi can. And even though he personally had nothing to do with me wandering into the war games, he ended up being an accomplice.
When Sergeant B-S files into the tent, his stern eyes focus on me. This is not good. It's the same look my dad gave me when he found out I'd taken his credit card and signed him up for an online Jewish dating service.
"How did you get here?" he asks me. The bald guy with the high rank stands next to him.
I clear my throat and will myself to stay strong and positive. With Avi beside me, I get an inner strength. "I kind of wandered away from our campsite to find a place to relieve myself."
I know that telling them the entire truth--that I also wanted to say goodbye to Avi--wouldn't go over too well. I decide to play the confused American girl. I know, I know, I'm not doing my country any favors by playing dumb. But my friend Kayleigh from Georgia totally uses her southern accent to get what she wants. And this girl Renee at my school--she's super-smart and super-blond-- plays the dumb blond so that guys give her attention and come to her rescue even if she doesn't need rescuing.