Amanda loved every minute of the time she spent in the military. Although, most of her superior officers did not like her. She talked back and got back in their faces if they tried to treat her differently because she was a woman so she was eventually transferred to her brother's team. Clay had his own special team he called "The Losers" because they were all extremely intelligent yet idiots at the same time. She had known these men for years so they already had her trust and vice versa.
That was the start of her on and off relationship with Jensen. He was a computer genius but incredibly immature at times. He drove her nuts but for some crazy reason she loved him and only God knew why. Then there was Cougar. This man didn't speak much but his actions spoke louder than any words ever could. Once he trusted you and you trusted him, no one lived if they messed with you. Pooch is next. He was married and his wife was pregnant and he still had tons of jokes for everyone. He drove everywhere and his driving was borderline scary. Last but not least was Roque. This man was a knife master and, for some strange reason, loved killing. He was scary but Amanda loved him nonetheless.
She was usually saved for backup since she was Clay's younger sister but he had started using her more and more because of her skills in hand to hand combat and skills with a gun.
Right now they were in Bolivia waiting on orders for a job they picked up. The boys were playing cards while Clay was waiting on the orders to come through.
"Where's Amanda?" Pooch asked as they kept betting.
"I'm right here. Was just bathing around the corner. I can't be seen smelling like you boys after a few days of sweat. That's just nasty." Amanda said walking up behind them braiding her still wet hair.
"Hey Losers!" Clay yelled and we all turned around. "It's time."
"Yes!" Amanda yelled grabbing her gear and jumping into the truck.
"She seems almost too excited about this." Pooch said and Cougar laughed.
"I know, isn't it hot?" Jensen asked staring after her to get hit in the head by Clay. "Right, sorry man. It's time to go."
"We got a drug and arms dealer named Fadhil," Clay said, "He is running a home grown terrorist assembly line out by the Madre de Dios River Basin. We find it, we paint it for a laser-targeted bomb, then we get the hell out."
"That's it?" Amanda asked. "Man I never get to have any fun."
"Get over it." Clay said.
"You're such a jerk, bro." She shot back and they both smiled.
"For that little bit of work they need us?" Roque asked.
"Would you rather take on 50 dudes with AK's?" Pooch asked. "Wait I know the lady in the back would but does anyone else?"
"Hey don't hold that against me! I'm bored." Amanda said smiling at Pooch.
"Aw, is Jensen not keeping you occupied enough?" Pooch asked looking back.
"Can we not go there please?" Clay asked as they arrived at their destination.
Once there, they got all the equipment set up and Amanda stuck by Jensen so the other guys could work. She wasn't into all the technology stuff. She was just good at getting Intel by any means necessary.
"Alright, I've got eyes on Monsieur Fadhil." Roque said looking through binoculars.
"Paint it," Clay ordered.
"Showtime, fellas," Pooch said when he pushed the button for the lasers to paint the buildings for the bombers. "Go ahead and call me Michelangelo."
"Dropkick," Jensen said into the com, "This is Pinball. Request fire mission. The target is lased and you are clear to make a run from North to South. Over," he ended.
"Roger, Pinball, target acquired and locked. Be advised, ETA fireworks, zero eight Mikes." The pilot's voice rang through the com back at them.
"Roger, we will break out the earplugs." Jensen said as they all got ready to go.
Suddenly Cougar's head popped up from his scope.
"Boss!" He said waving Clay over. Amanda walked over to her brother while he picked up Cougar's rifle and looked through the scope himself.
"What is it, Clay?" Amanda asked.
"They're using kids as mules." He said and Amanda's look darkened. No one messed with innocent kids while she was around. "Call it in."
Jensen grabbed the walkie. "We have children at target site. Repeat, we have eyes on the children at the target site. Please advise." He called through.
"Acknowledged. Maintain position." Another male voice came through the radio.
"What the fuck?" Amanda said looking at Clay.
"Maintain position?" Roque asked. "What is he talking about?"
"We strongly recommend cancellation of payload delivery." Jensen tried again through the com.
"Your orders stand. Prep for extraction." The voice said.
"Clay, those are innocent kids down there! I'm not going to just stand here and watch them get blown to smithereens!" Amanda yelled as Clay looked at Cougar and nodded. Cougar then took the butt of his rifle and smashed the laser equipment to pieces.
"Dropkick, this is Pinball. Target equipment has suffered catastrophic system failure. I am calling an onsite abort." Clay said into his mike as Amanda smiled at him.
"Well that was just stupid." The voice rang through the walkie again.
"Is this mission controller?" Clay asked.
"This is Max, Colonel Clay." Max said through the com.
"No one uses names on comms. This is a secure military channel." Amanda said into her com on her shoulder.
"Ah, Amanda, the child prodigy of the military. Too bad that mouth of yours ruined your career. But is this channel really secure?" Max taunted and Amanda was taken aback by his knowledge of her.
"Goddamn it," Clay said getting angry. "Listen to me. There are children on site!"
"And you think I didn't know that?" Max said and Amanda's jaw dropped as she looked to Jensen. This man was going to kill innocent children? "We locked coordinates the moment you painted. Delivery will occur on schedule. You have a super day." Max finished before the com link went out and all they got was static.
"Shit!" Clay cursed. "Jensen, you contact the plane directly and call an abort!"
"I'm trying but he is jamming us. There is no signal. There's nothing I can do." Jensen answered and they all looked around at each other.
"There's something we can do." Clay said and Amanda smiled.
"Hell yeah! Let's kill some evil sons of bitches and let's raise a little hell!" She said.
"I'll drive!" Pooch said putting his glasses on.
"We have only about 8 minutes till payday." Roque said looking at his watch.
"Plenty of time." Clay smiled as they piled into the truck.
Jensen leaned over and kissed Amanda. "You be careful." He said knowing how she gets riled up in fights.
"Aren't I always?" She said then got serious. "You too, ok?" He nodded and they braced themselves as they came up to the gate.
The hummer came to a stop and everyone piled out. Amanda cocked her rifle and shot every enemy target in sight she could. She could feel her adrenaline kicking in and relished the feeling.
"Jensen and Pooch, get a truck for the kids. Amanda, cover me and Roque and we'll be out in five!" Clay yelled over the gun fire.
"Not to mention the airstrike in four minutes and change!" Roque called out.
"Make it four minutes!" Clay corrected as they headed out.
Jensen watched as Amanda scaled a building breaking the necks of the goons on the top and as she jumped from roof to roof. He smiled and ran after Pooch keeping an eye out for enemy targets.
Amanda jumped from building to building killing any enemy targets shooting at her brother and she knew Cougar had her back in case someone came up behind her. She finally jumped down and followed Roque and Clay into the building where the kids were being held. They shot everyone in the room and Amanda followed Clay to free the children. They were so precious and scared it wanted to make her cry but she held her emotion in check. A little girl spoke Spanish to Clay pointing up.
"What did she say?" Amanda asked.
"Her brother is upstairs with Fadhil." Clay said and Amanda nodded as they headed upstairs.
They found Fadhil with a knife against the boy's throat. Amanda smiled at the boy letting him know he would be okay and let Clay talk to Fadhil.
"Did Max send you?" He asked them but they kept quiet with their guns trained on him. "I won't commit to his plan and he does this?" Fadhil asks.
"I'm gonna make this easy for you. Let the boy go and I let you live." Clay said quickly.
"Come here, baby." Amanda said softly reaching out for the boy as Fadhil released him.
"He'll kill you too, you know." He said and reached for something on the table. Amanda quickly shielded the boy from the gruesome sight of Clay shooting and killing Fadhil as they headed out to the bus; which turned out to be a literal short bus.
"Did you guys stop for tea in there?" Pooch asked before taking off.
"You guys had to get a short bus?" Amanda asked laughing.
"What kind of blast radius are we looking at?" Roque asked and Jensen showed him with a worried look on his face. "Pooch, I'm going to need you to make this bus go a little bit faster."
About that time, they heard the explosion and Amanda looked back to see fire right on their asses. She screamed with the rest of them as they went over a hill and dropped into a puddle of mud causing everyone to laugh.
Amanda carried the little boy and followed behind the children as they made their way to the chopper for extraction.
"My favorite part had to be when we were on fire but the shoot out was fun. Good times." Jensen said and they laughed.
"You are such an idiot!" Amanda called out. "Only you would think being on fire was fun." She called out laughing as the little boy laughed at her idiot comment.
They walked up to the chopper but there was no room.
"Sir," the man in the chopper addressed Clay. "There isn't enough room for your team and them."
"Then it's them." Amanda said as the kids went inside and she looked at the little boy and pointed at her cheek. "¿Puedo tener un beso?" She asked and he nodded kissing her cheek like she asked. She smiled and put him inside the chopper and moved aside as Clay said goodbye to him.
They stepped back as the chopper left the ground.
"Those were some cute kids." Pooch said looking up. "I hope they make it to the court martial." A noise suddenly filled their ears.
"Do y'all hear that?" Roque asked and they all nodded.
"Guys?" Jensen called. "This is bad." They heard their radios crackle.
"Max, Cobra One, Bandit is locked." They heard from the radios.
"Understood." They heard Max's voice. "Cobra One, kill Bandit."
Out of nowhere, came a jet and Amanda took off.
"NO!" She screamed as the chopper exploded as a missile from the jet hit it. She tried to go through the rubble but Jensen pulled her away. She barely noticed she was still screaming. Cougar walked up and put a hand on her shoulder and she turned and cried into Jensen's chest.
They stood there looking at the rubble before Clay spoke.
"That was supposed to be us." He said as he took his dog tags off and threw them into the fiery rubble.
The rest followed suit but Pooch kept his wedding ring. Amanda didn't talk the rest of the way back into town. It looked like they were blacklisted and had to stay in Bolivia until they could figure out a way to get back. God help Max if she ever got a hold of him.