The last place Bravo wanted to be right now was sitting in the briefing room. It was 3 am on Saturday when they all got the call. A Saturday that was supposed to be a much deserved day off for all of them after a hell week of training, but yet here they were.
Mandy could tell they weren't happy about being there. Hell, she wasn't happy about it either, but her boss insisted Bravo was the only team capable of pulling off the mission and refused to let it go to another team.
As she began filling them in on the details she noticed Jason rolling his eyes, Ray laughing at Jason's annoyance, Sonny practically falling asleep, Trent messing with Sonny, Brock petting Cerb, and Clay staring into no man's land. "Are any of you going to take this seriously?" She asked annoyed, looking over at Blackburn and hoping for a little back up.
"I just don't understand why it was so important that we were sent, it's not even our rotation." Jason huffed out.
"Not my call. Trust me." Mandy replied as she finished briefing them on the mission. She expected the attitudes on this one and didn't blame a single one of them.
Once the briefing was over, they all gathered their equipment and boarded the plane. "Get some rest, it's gonna be a long flight." Blackburn ordered, knowing they didn't have to be told twice.
"I'm sick of this shit." Sonny mumbled under his breath as he set up his hammock.
"Middle of the night wake up calls on our day off?" Clay asked.
"Well yeah, but no. These high level government employees getting kidnapped in foreign countries cause they think their above the rules and nothing bad will happen to them." Sonny started and Clay immediately regretted saying anything. "Well guess what, they're not and they do. These guys were specifically told DO. NOT. LEAVE. THE. PERIMITER. And what do they do? The fucking leave and go missing."
"Are you done your little soapbox rant there Sonny? Some of us would like to get some sleep." Ray said looking over at Sonny from his hammock.
Clay chuckled as he got comfortable in his hammock, laughing even harder when Sonny gave him the 'what are you laughing at?' look.
It didn't take long for everyone to fall asleep. They were all exhausted and slept almost the entire flight to Somalia.
When they landed it was like a switch was flipped. They were still annoyed about being there, but didn't let it show. They were all business, with the usual jabs at each other to lighten the mood.
They were given part of the day to get situated and familiar with the base before they were thrown into the briefing room to come up with their plan.
There were three men that were taken and based on some solid investigating, they believed they had the location of where they were being held. It was supposed to be an easy grab. Ray and Clay were going to enter an abandoned building and go high, about a block away from where the rest of the team was going to grab the three missing men.
No one knew they were there, which was supposed to make it an easy grab. Jason hated missions that were supposed to be easy. They were the ones that seemed to always have the shit hit the fan.
Ray and Clay approached the abandoned building and looked at each other. It was a three story building and despite being in the middle of the night, it was hot as hell. "I don't suppose they have a working elevator." Clay joked as they made their way to the second floor.
Ray laughed as they swept the floor, making sure there was no one hiding on that floor that would give them away. They could hear random gunfire and minor explosions off in the distance, but making its way closer to their location which they didn't like. "We need to get to that roof befo…" Ray was cut off as an explosion went off close enough to make the building shake. A grunt from Clay caused Ray to instantly turn around, revealing he was the only one left on the floor.
A portion of the floor had collapsed taking Clay down with it. Ray immediately ran over to the hole in the floor. "Spenser! Hey! Can you hear me!?" Ray called down. No answer. "Come on Clay, answer me!"
Clay heard his name being called, it just took a second for him to respond. "Hmm. Yeah. I'm here. I'm good."
"You sure? That's quite a fall you took there." Ray asked concerned. With the amount of dust, he was unable to get a full visual on Clay, even with a flashlight.
Clay coughed as he breathed in some of the dust. "Yeah. Yeah I'm sure. Just a little jammed up. Get to the, the roof. I'll be right behind you." Clay huffed out.
Right as Ray was about to protest leaving Clay behind, Jason called them over the radio. "Bravo two, Bravo one. You reach that roof yet?" Jason asked.
"Bravo one, Bravo two. That's a negative. Nearby explosion caused part of the floor to collapse, took Spenser down with it. Says he's ok though. Gonna continue to the roof. Spenser said he's right behind." Ray informed Jason, still not liking leaving Clay alone.
"Copy Bravo two. Keep me updated." Jason asks.
Ray hesitantly makes his way to the roof expecting Clay to be right behind him. What Clay didn't realize was that his leg was trapped under a large slab of concrete. He reached for his radio to inform Ray that he was stuck, only to realize his radio was broken. He threw it against a wall out of frustration and then attempted to free himself. The wave of pain that shot through his leg was unbearable. It literally took his breath away and made him even dizzier than he already was. .
He closed his eyes and waited for the pain to dissipate. He must have closed them longer than he had expected to cause the next time he opened them he was no longer alone.
Ray was growing concerned that Clay hadn't made his way up yet. He tried reaching him over the radio, but there was no answer. The sinking feeling in his stomach grew. "Bravo one, Bravo two. Unable to make contact with Bravo six."
"Copy Bravo two, do you have visual on his location?" Jason asked concerned. They had just reached the three men they were sent to retrieve and needed Ray and Clay to clear a path for them to exfil.
Ray shifted his position momentarily to check on Clays location, closing his eyes in disbelief when he saw three men on the floor Clay fell from. "Bravo one, we have a situation. Looks like bravo six has some unexpected visitors."
Jason cursed and kicked the dirt. There was no way in hell he was going to leave Clay behind, but there was no way they could safely get the three hostages to exfil fast enough to get to Clay before the bad guys rained on his parade.
Jason looked around. He was glad a group of marines tagged along for extra support, even though he was against it at first. "Have they hit the jackpot yet?" Jason asked Ray.
"Can't say for sure, but gonna say no. No one's doing any sort of happy dance indicating the won big, but I don't know how long that's gonna last." Ray said.
Jason looked around one more time. "Alright, here's what were gonna do. Trent, take the marines and the three idiots to exfil. Sonny and Brock, you're with me, we're getting our kid back." No one argued and as much as Trent hated being separated from the rest of the team, he understood the reasoning.
Ray easily guided Jason, Sonny and Brock to the abandoned building, while also keeping an eye on Clay's location. The three men entered the building guns blazing, taking out anyone that stood in their way. Cerb barked, wanting to get in on the action, but being held back by Brock until the floor was clear.
It didn't take long for them to take out anyone that stood in their way. During the gunfight, Ray managed to take out the three men on the second floor, while Jason, Sonny and Brock took out the ones on the first.
Once the dust settled, they looked around for Clay, finding no one. "Bravo two, you sure he was down here?" Jason asked nervously.
"Positive, Boss." Ray replied as he made his way over to them.
"Jase, over here." Brock called. Cerb was whining and pulling, forcing Brock to listen. He led him straight to the cement slab that had trapped Clay's leg. A small trail of blood left behind. His broken radio a few feet away and his gun hidden under a pile of rubble, the only signs that Clay Spenser was indeed there at some point, not that anyone didn't believe Ray.
Sonny rubbed his hands over his face and Jason throws his gloves at wall before having a lightbulb moment. "ISR, they're over the building. They had to have spotted Clay being taken." He instantly grabbed for his radio and called Blackburn slightly pissed off that no one informed him Clay was being taken. "TOC, Bravo one, you want to tell us why no one informed us of Bravo six being taken."
Blackburn was taken aback. "Say again Bravo one. Did you just say Bravo six was taken?" They had been watching ISR the entire time. All it showed was the three men Ray saw entering the building.
"Are you kidding me?" Jason asked
"Bravo one, besides you guys, all ISR picked up was three men entering the building. No one has left." Blackburn stated.
That statement sent chills down Jason's spine. All ISR picked up was three men entering the building. The three men that were taken out by Ray. Not the 8 that they took out. "TOC, we took out a total of 11 men. Are you sure ISR only picked up three?"
"Affirmative, Bravo one. We haven't taken our eyes off of it. No one has entered or left the building except for you and those three men." Blackburn's stomach was now it knots.
It was in the moment that Cerberus starting whining and barking again. Everyone raised their guns, not knowing what had his attention. There clearly had to be another way in and out and they were pretty sure Cerb just found it. What they didn't know was if someone had entered while they were trying to figure things out.
They kept Cerb on the leash, but followed closely as he pulled Brock to a hole in the wall, hidden in a far corner.
"TOC, Bravo one. We found a tunnel in the wall. We're going in after our boy." Jason informed Eric.
"Copy Bravo one. Be careful and bring our boy home safe." Blackburn responded.
Hope you guys liked the first chapter. I just finished re-watching season one… again, when this idea jumped out at me. What if they didn't get to Clay quick enough in 'The Upside Down' and by the time they got to him he was gone? I changed things up a bit, but that's where the inspiration came for this story.