AN: Hi, this is my first story that I have uploaded to this site. I this little series will sorta centre around Clay. Not because I am copying the other writers, but I think he is definitely the easiest to write about. The timeline for this series starts at the beginning of season two, without the first operation. -O
0100 Hours, August 23, Bravo Team Equipment Cages
Clay Spenser towelled his head off after stepping out of the shower. Bravo Team had just completed their last evaluation after they had come home after deployment, and had done so with flying colors. They HALO jumped into the ocean from which they swam to shore, evaded their way through the mock town, assaulted the target house with blinding speed, extracted the HVT, and exfiled in a record amount of time. "Did you take long enough in the shower there GQ" Sonny teased, he ignored him. Despite Clay's new position as Bravo-2, Sonny still saw Clay as his little brother and still teased and poked. They all saw him as their little brother, and truth be told Clay didn't mind it so much, he enjoyed someone having his back, something for a good portion of his life, he didn't enjoy the privilege of having.
Despite being the last out of the shower, Clay was the first to leave, Stella had just come home from a trip to Toronto earlier in the day. They had sorted out all the jitters in their relationship after he had come home from Afghanistan. They had seen each other every day since then, the few exceptions being when Clay had a couple of two-day exercises and Stella had her three day trip to Toronto with her class. Arriving outside their apartment, Clay had butterflies in his stomach, something that hadn't happened to him since he had returned from deployment. He smiled, he loved this girl with all his heart, and so did she. He unlocked their door, silently and padded in. He removed his shoes quietly and made his way to the bedroom. Clay peeked in the door which had been left open a crack. Illuminated with the yellow glow of the bedside light, her beautiful figure was sitting up, with a book in her hand, but sound asleep. The opened the door ever so slowly, he took off his shirt and placed it into the laundry basket. He removed his pants and changed into a pair of pajama shorts. He silently moved over and kissed Stella on the top of her head. Her head slowly lifted, her eyes blinking the sleep away, she let out a little eek once she saw who kissed her. Stella pulled him in close and giggled "I missed you so much baby"
"I missed you too" Clay said, kissing her gently. The pair spent the next hour or making love, even though they were both exhausted. They finally went to sleep, Clay in Stella's arms. Over the three days Stella was alone in that hotel room in Toronto, she missed how he affectionately and protectively held her when they slept. She missed him more than she thought she would. Stella did not know how deep her love for the man that held her in his powerful arms ran.
1038 Hours, August 24, Bravo Team Briefing Room
Clay walked into the briefing room, his dirty blonde hair tussled, he took his seat nearer to the front of the table, something he was still not used to. "We aren't playing any more paintball are we Blackburn" Sonny inquired with his usual southern drawl
"Unfortunately not, once again the world has refused to give peace a chance" Mandy said,
Hoots and hollers came from the guys in celebration. "As you know we have several SOCOM assets in Africa right now. A couple months ago we got word a warlord who had been suppressed in the past has risen up again and has stated recruiting. Last week a part of the Ranger Regimental Reconnaissance Company was ambushed in Ghana. All four men on the patrol were killed"
The mood in the room was immediately dampened. Blackburn returned to the front of the room "Njah Loté," a picture of a middle aged black man popped up on the screen. "he is the one responsible for this. JSOC has asked for you guys specifically to go get that son of a bitch." Eric continued the brief "Loté's organization was forced underground eight years ago, then he was the largest distributor of arms in Africa. A little over a year ago, he rose up again, this time a warlord, as of a month ago estimates put his fighting force at nearly four thousand, most of them kids"
"Scumbag" muttered Trent
"Not only that but his billions that he racked up before he went underground are now being used to bankroll ISIS terror attacks that have killed American soldiers.
"Total scumbag" said Brock
"So how are we getting into this place," Clay said "I mean from the looks of things there is only one, narrow road into the camp with thick jungle on all sides"
"So vehicle insertion is out" added Jason.
"I think before we go any further with this one we should get Ray in here. We need him on this one, Boss, were good, but we aren't firing on all cylinders, even you can see that" Trent said
There were murmurs around the room, "He's right, we need our number two back" Sonny added.
"Fine, Blackburn, can you page him, you guys are right we need our brother in this."
"Alright, I'll get him in here, by the way were wheels up at 1400 tomorrow. So get all of your personal things cleared up"
"I'm guessing dropping a bomb into this dudes window is out" Sonny said, half hoping that was the case.
"Sorry, the Brass already crossed out that option, we got to get our hands dirty on this" Blackburn responded
"Shit, 'Goddamn hate the jungle" Sonny murmured. All the guys grinned, knowing they could push his buttons on this one.
"There's a clearing here, we could do a HALO insert on this one, patrol our way to a surveillance point, set up there, wait for the sun to go down again then hit it"
"It's like you were never gone, Ray" Jason grinned, the twelve operators in room all nodded in agreement with the insert plan
"How do we get out of there then" said Brock. Blackburn interjected there,
"There's an airbase in Niger, two hour flight in Blackhawks, JSOC has already arranged for five MH-60s with a platoon of rangers as a QRF"
"Now that, I wouldn't mind" Exclaimed Sonny, in his head he was thankful that he wouldn't have to walk out of the jungle, never mind walk out with an HVT
"Well now that we have insert and extract figured out, how are we even going to assault this place, I mean this thing looks like a fortress" Said Clay, leaning back in his seat
"It pretty much is" Said Mandy, " Intel confirms two-foot-thick cinder block walls, ten feet high, reinforced steel doors, the lot"
"Well that doesn't tickle my nuts" Said Sonny, laying on the southern drawl extra thick. All the guys smirked and shook their heads
"Easy enough, we don't fuck around at all with the walls. Simple, we set up simultaneous breaches on either side of the compound on the two man doors, overpower the breaching charges for shock effect and to get anyone on the other side, then storm it and grab HVT and exfil" Trent said, demonstrating on the model with his hands.
"I don't see any other way of doing it" Jason said
"I got no problems" Said Full Metal
"All right, sounds good, and JSOC has taken off the leash on this one, our rules of engagement say that anyone raises up, you can kill them" Said Blackburn, all the guys nodded and exchanged looks, enjoying the new rules.
1400 hours, August 24 Jenny's Diner, Virginia Beach
Stella and Clay had chosen a window seat, looking out over the busy avenue. "So how long is this spin up going to last?"
Clay swallowed his milkshake that the pair were sharing "Less than a week maybe" just then the waiter came up to them, giving them the bill. Stella held his hand, "Come home to me, please" lately she had found her self up at night worrying about him, even if he was on exercise. "I will, don't worry" she held his hand as they got up to pay.
"Any chance you want to go for a drive down the coast road for a bit?" Clay said as they walked down the street, back to his car. She smiled at him as she got into the car. "Of course I would" Clay pulled out onto the road and drove until they got onto the coast road, where Stella then undid her seat belt and slid across and cuddled up against Spenser. He stopped the car at a turn out, about an hour from Virginia beach, that looked out over the ocean. There were white puffy clouds on the horizon the waves had white caps, a cool summer wind blew salt water spray off the ocean. Clay turned the car off and looked out over the ocean with the tell tale thousand-yard-stare of a hardened, combat veteran.
"What's wrong Clay?" Stella asked, still cuddled up beside him. Clay looked down, brought out of his trance, he looked down and kissed her, "Nothing, I'm just thinking". Stella looked at him, "What about" she asked, concerned. "It's nothing" he lied, in truth, his mind was fixed on the helicopter crash they endured in Afghanistan, unable to escape. His mind played on repeat the crash, in painstaking detail. The missile lock alarm, the impact, the look of terror on the battle-hardened SEAL's faces. Getting tossed out just before impact, the ground coming up to meet him, everything going back. That loop of the helicopter crash kept playing in his head, over and over again.
"Are you sure nothing is wrong? You look like your head is somewhere else." Stella asked him, over the months that she grew to know him, she had been able to tell when Clay was somewhere else. He looked over into her beautiful brown eyes,
"I'm right here." He sighed and looked back out over the ocean, resting his head down on hers
"Before this spin up, I just wanted to say that you are the world to me. And I know that I've said this before but I want to say it again. When I met you eleven months ago I didn't realize how you would shape me to become a better person. I Love you"
"I love you too baby," They both sat in silence as they watched over the ocean. By the time they left they had watched and talked and watched for nearly four hours. They drove home to his apartment where they had dinner and watched a movie. Neither really watched the movie, they held each other closely, enjoying the company of each other. After they retired to bed, Stella once again fell asleep in Clay's arms.
1100 hours August 25, Dam Neck Annex, Virginia Beach
Clay and Stella slept until around 7:30 where the couple got out of bed and went for a light jog, Stella beat him in the usual race they did, up the stairs, something they both enjoyed with their highly competitive personalities. As the time for Clay to leave approached she helped him prepare a little bag of clothes for the trip home. Clay drove to the annex with Stella in the passenger seat. Subconsciously, Clay drove slower than he normally would, and wouldn't have been able to place why he did. He pulled up the to the gate that guarded the DEVGRU headquarters, cordoned off from the rest of the base. He handed the MP his ID and he waved them through, not bothering to check Stella's. Clay pulled the car into a spot about a hundred yards from the front entrance, and put the car in park. Both he and Stella got out of the car, Clay grabbing his bag out of the backseat. Stella walked around to the driver side and embraced him in a tight hug. "Please come back to me, Clay." Stella said. About a minute later, Clay pulled out of the hug and held her hand as he walked off, "Don't I always" he grinned. Stella watched him walk to the front door before she got into the car to drive herself home. "Please come home" Stella said to herself
1240 hours, August 25 Bravo Team Equipment Cages
Clay finished packing his gear into his usual bag, because this was a long op and he would be carrying the extra weight of his rucksack, Clay elected to run with his MP-7 and his M-110 instead of his HK-416 and his longer sniper rifle. Despite being on DEVGRU for nearly 10 months now, he still felt like a kid in a candy store with the amount of gear that he was able to acquire, just for himself.
Across the room Sonny was grumbling something about the how he hated the jungle. The rest of the team was apparently listening because all of their heads perked up, all sporting shit-eating-grins. Ray started the banter off, "Now Sonny," he started, stifling his laughter "I know how much you like the jungle, so I just thought that you should know, that on this op, 100 percent of the time will be spent in it." The others giggled
"Yeah, I know"
"But did you also know that in those jungles they have these spiders that will lay their eggs under your skin, and the babies eat their way out" Brock teased. The Texan shuddered, he turned around and paced the two steps to the thresh hold of his cage
"Y'all listen up, I am not scared of some bullshit spider," he lied. The rest of Bravo team was thoroughly enjoying this, each man stifling chuckles.
"Well these jungles they hold a bunch of mean animals," Jason said, no longer able to supress the grin on his face "right, leopards, lions, snakes, and I'm pretty sure they wouldn't mind a triple a slab of texan" all the guys laughed at that one, Sonny just shook his head
"Look here, I am at the top of the food chain, and I'm not letting some dumb ass kitty cat get in my way of that," Sonny wagged his finger at the guys who all had big, toothy grins from ear to ear "So y'all can stop running your mouths like that"
All the guys laughed except for Sonny who had returned to grumbling about the jungle.
0040 Hours, August 26, 1.5 hours from DZ
Clay balled his hand into a fist and threw the quick jab right at his fathers face. The punch connected right on Ash Spenser's cheek bone, he stumbled backwards, his hand on his cheek until his back was up against the wall. "Don't you ever call her a bitch again, you hear". He was awoken from his dream by his hammock being shaken. He opened his eyes, finding Sonny standing over him. "Time to wake up, Wonderboy".
He got up out of his hammock, and put his feet into a pair of flip flops. He joined the rest of Bravo and Alpha team by the pile of gear. First changing into his cammies he then pulled his chest rig out of the bag, along with his rucksack, parachute, and weapons. He was the last one complete prepping his gear, before joining the rest of the guys as they sat near the tail of the plane, on oxygen, preparing their bodies for the HALO jump. Clay grabbed a seat next to Sonny, the two sat in silence for a few minutes, Sonny with his eyes closed, Clay with his head in his hands. The Texan was the one to break the silence, "How's Stella?" he asked out of the blue. Clay brought his head up and faced Sonny "What?" The Texan opened one of his eyes, and looked down at The Kid, "Stella, how's she holding up". Clay smiled.
"She's good, man"
"I'm glad to hear it, it's not easy what these people do for us". Sonny said, his eyes still closed.
"No, its not" Clay laughed, he said, facing back towards the middle of the plane
"Stella's good for you Clay, keep her" He said, opening his eyes to face him.
"I'm gonna," Clay said, once again smiling, "And your right, she's good for me. She makes me a better person"
"I think everyone needs a person like that in their life" Sonny sighed. Deep down inside, past the battle hardened exterior, Sonny was lonely, he longed for the person in his life that cared about him. Sonny knew that if he found that person he would not let her go easily. The was something he was not able to fill with his brothers either, his brothers were his family, his best friends, everything, but they would not be able to fill the need for a good girl to love him. That left the pair in silence, until the red light came on in the plane, indicating the proximity of the DZ.
"Let's go Bam-Bam, time to rain on this fucker's parade" Sonny held his hand up to help Clay get up. Clay took his hand and pulled himself up. Through necessity, each operator wore their self-contained oxygen systems even while gearing up. With the help of their brothers, they all strapped their gear on, each checking and rechecking each-other's rigging. Before Blackburn held up his index finger, indicating 1 minute to drop, the twelve operators huddled up, saying a quick prayer. Breaking the huddle, they each fist bumped each others and spread out along the width of the, ready to jump massive C-17.
The back ramp opened, revealing a starry night sky with a cloud layer twenty thousand feet below them. Twelve DEVGRU operators and a hair missile waddled to the edge of the ramp, their rucksacks slung between their legs preventing normal steps. The load master switched the jump light to red, indicating they were mere seconds away from the drop. "TEN SECONDS" the load master shouted over the sound of the wind. Adrenaline coursed through Clay's body "Lets go kick that hornets nest" he said to himself and lowered his NODs. As soon as the jump light switched to green Alpha and Bravo team walked over the edge and into the darkness. Falling through 27,000 feet the teams formed into a circle to wait out the rest of their roughly three minute free fall. "LZ in sight" Trent said over the intercom as they exited the clouds at 7,000 feet. At that point in the free fall the group split up so they could safely open their canopies. At four thousand feet, twelve parachutes were opened, it had taken only two minutes and forty-eight seconds.
Clay flared his parachute just above the grass, ensuring a soft landing. The long dewy grass quickly soaked through his pants and gloves. Clay and the rest of the guys all quickly deflated their chutes. Linking up with Full Metal, they quickly dug and buried their breathing apparatuses and parachutes, virtually removing any trace that they had even dropped into there. Each man helped a buddy lift their rucksack onto their backs. Ten minutes after insertion the twelve men had disappeared in to the Ghanaian bush, Twelve kilometers away, the men in the war lords camp had no idea the kind of hell that was sneaking towards them.
0023 August 27, Outside Warlord Compound
"HAVOC, this is Bravo One. Were set for assault. We will commence at 0200 local time."
In the C17 HAVOC the bleary eyed Blackburn reached for the radio. Lisa was asleep on the red webbing seats. He decided that for now he would let her sleep but wake her before they began their assault.
"Copy Bravo One, happy hunting. Please be advised the QRF and exfil helos will arrive on station approximately 30 mikes after your initial assault"
Hundreds of miles away a ranger contingent was being loaded onto three of the five MH-60 Blackhawk helicopters. All crewed by experience night stalker pilots. The doors closed on the helicopters as they lifted off into the night.
During the course of the day the group of operators had surveyed the compound, It was clear that the militants inside were badly trained and badly motivated. At numerous points during the day, Clay and Ray would have been able to pull of clean shots on Lotè. All of the action in the compound suggested they were not even aware that they were a target.
0159 August 27, Outside Warlord Compound
"Alpha 1, this is Bravo 1, breaches in place, execute on my mark" the men stood in the dark Ghanaian night, the chirping of insects seemed to come from every where in the dense jungle. The two teams had made their way to the walls of the camp in complete silence, their rucksacks dropped at a rally point 100 metres away. Ray tapped Jason's shoulder indicating all the men behind him were ready. Silently, the team leader, the man that held all of the operators lives in their hands reached up to his push-to-talk "Execute. A rush of adrenaline surged through Clay's veins, he had been chomping at the bit for months to get back into combat, a strange feeling of calm in the madness that he and all the other operators craved. Trent looked back over his shoulder away from the explosives set on the hinges of the rear door to the compound "BURNING!" he shouted. Across the compound, Derek, Alpha's Breacher was doing the same thing, except with the front gate. There was a bright flash and the heavy steel door was blown fifteen feet into the compound. At the front gate, the blast blown the door in, killing a militant who was sleeping behind the door.
The operators stormed in clearly catching the men inside the compound off guard. Militants poured out of the buildings responding to gunfire, some looking as young as sixteen. They were quickly cut down in a hail of well aimed rounds. Quickly advancing through the compound it took merely two minutes to clear all the buildings before they made their way to the last building.
Clay and Ray were the first to reach the building, Clay tried the door, expecting it to be unlocked like the rest of them. When that failed he tried it with his breaching tool, again nothing. Ray stopped him from trying a second attempt, instead he reached for his radio.
"Trent, we need you up here man, there is a steel door, and we can't get it open"
"Copy, twenty seconds out"
Trent came running across the compound, he had been starting an SSE in what seemed like an office.
"Hey, y'all might want to stand back, this is going to get loud." Trent grinned. He was a wiz with explosives, if it went bang, he knew hot to use it. A year before Clay joined Bravo, Trent did an exchange with Delta Force, there he had learned to use explosives with effectiveness that he was probably DEVGRU's top breacher.
Setting his charge on the door he stood back with the fuse in his hand
"Bravo 1 this is Bravo 4, be advised I am about to explosively breach the HVT's house with 2 and 6"
"Good Copy Bravo 4"
Trent faced away from the door, as did the other two, "BURNING!" he shouted. There was a bright flash of light and an enormous bang. It took only a few seconds for the smoke to clear but what it revealed was not a blown open door
"Shit! Failed breach, failed breach"
The operators stepped forward, inspecting the partially blown door
"Fuck, that must have been a bigger door than I thought" Trent said, inspecting his damage. Clay stood beside him, lifting his NVG's he inspected the open part of the door with the flashlight on his rifle
"No wonder the breach failed, it's a false door," He pointed to the open spot behind the door "Its bricked off"
"There's another door around back" Ray said.
The operators all lowered their NVG's and made their way around the back of the two story house
"Lets hope this works" Trent said as he set the explosives once again
"Second time's the charm isn't that what they say" Sonny appeared behind them with Jason, Brock and Cerberus
"Yeah something like that" Trent joked
The men all faced away from the door "BURNING". The explosives went off and the door flew inward.
"Good Breach, Good Breach". The men stormed inward with deadly speed. Clearing the bottom floor, they made their way up the stairs, Brock let the dog go and it sprinted up the stairs. Seconds later they heard a scream coming from the bedroom. Brock and Clay made their way towards the sound. They came through the door and found Njah Lotè on the floor with the dog holding his arm. Clay rolled him over, his knee on the man's back, preventing escape. Brock reached into a pouch on the side of his chest rig, pulling out a pair of flex cuffs. He quickly put them on the man.
"HAVOC this is Bravo 5, Jackpot"
"Good copy Bravo 5, Jackpot. Be advised all callsigns, exfil is ten mikes out" Grins were exchanged,
"Good call 2," Jason said patting Ray on the back "Alpha 1, how's SSE Coming"
"Bravo 1, this is Alpha 1 we'll be done SSE in two mikes"
"Copy Alpha 1, meet us at the front gate then we'll get our rucksacks and make our way to the exfil point"
"Copy"
Clay hefted the Lotè to his feet and walked him down the stairs and out to the front gate. Sonny and Trent collected all the cellphones and documents from the house, which didn't take long. After that had been done, they met the others at the front gate, three alpha operators holding massive fabric bags filled with documents, hard drives and cellphones. Grins and fist bumps were exchanged with one another
"Alright let's move" Jason said. The group exited the compound, as fast as they entered. They moved to the rally point where they dropped their bags, just as they left it. They hiked the four hundred meters through the jungle to the small clearing where they would get picked up.
Beyond a nearby ridge the two exfil helos held in a pattern, waiting for they call from the operators. "Knight Seven Four, this is Bravo 1, We're prepared for exfil"
"Copy Bravo One, Knight Seven Four and Seven Five coming in for exfil"
"Good Copy, Knight Seven Four, Bravo One out" Said Jason, looking up into the night sky, spotting the helicopters as they came in low over the trees from behind the ridge
"Let's get the fuck out of this jungle" said Sonny
"Are you sure you want to go just yet, you might just find you'll miss it" Clay said. Sonny didn't even look over but gave him a quick jab in the arm. "Ow, what was that for" all of the operators, even Sonny, laughed, just as the two choppers flared just before they touched down.
They all crouched as they ran towards the helicopters, Bravo going in one Knight Seven Four with Loté, Alpha on Knight Seven Five. The two helicopters lifted off, piloted by some of the best in the world, and skimmed low over the ground, they followed about 100 meters off the road, not going especially fast. It was nearly light and there was sun poking through some of the trees
Suddenly there was fire coming from the road, two DShKs mounted on trucks opened fire on the helicopters, the crew chiefs on the two helicopters opened with their miniguns, ripping the trucks to pieces, but apparently not before one could launch and RPG. The shot was one in a million, an already inaccurate weapon, launched at a moving target, while being shot at. Never the less the shot connected, it hit just and above the rear door, the blast severing the drive shaft to the rear rotor. Shrapnel tore through the thin metal roof of the cabin, wounding several operators and crewmen.
"Fuck, This is Knight Seven Five, were hit, complete loss of control of the rear rotor, were going down. Knight Seven Five is going down".