The Cobra Saboteur having recently dismissed Copperhead and his Water Moccasin, patiently awaits Cobra's Master of Disguise. He is on the bank opposite the Joe teams, within a binocular view of the Hovercraft. He looks at his wrist, and sees he is getting a thermal hit, which is approaching him. Appearing to speak to no one, in a barely audible volume he simply states. "Your presence indicates you have handled your part of the operation?"
A voice responds "I have" as Zartan appears from his camouflaged state "Proceed with the operation".
"Are they aware you are no longer in their captivity?"
"Let's find out". Zartan states as he takes out the communication gear that was equipped on Cutter's team. After briefly manipulating the operation of the gear, Firefly picks up the audio from the Joe teams. "Mutt! Where is the sixth prisoner?" Stalker's voice can be heard saying in the transmission. During a pause in the Joe chatter, he receives a transmission from a Tele-viper.
"The Joe operative, the one that was supposed to be in the building and taken captive, the one you were disguised as . . ." begins Firefly.
"Is none of your concern, Firefly." Finishes Zartan.
"I'm merely making sure all loose ends are tied, and we are not hasty in moving forward". Firefly emphasizes this by maintaining intense eye contact through his mask into the eyes of Zartan.
Zartan grins, and says "It is time to move forward".
The area between the building and the Hovercraft is now occupied by the Joes in a complete defensive formation. There is movement of a patrol and the escorted prisoners, shuttling them into the Hovercraft two at a time. The first two are already loaded, and the next two are just about to be escorted out of the building towards the Hovercraft. Barbecue, Mutt, and Tripwire are the only ones at the building still attending to some fires set by Bazooka at the beginning of the operation.
Stalker who is constantly moving overseeing the operation take place, is making his way to the building. He has seen the first four of the prisoners already boarded, and makes his way to collect the remaining Joes and the last two prisoners from the building.
"Hey, Barbecue, are all the fires put out?" asks Stalker, when he is actually telling him to leave them alone, it is time to go.
"They sure are Stalker, ready to move out!" responds Barbecue.
Stalker pauses to receive a transmission from the extraction team, led by Flint. He makes hand signals to Tripwire and Barbecue to fall into the defensive position with the others, while motioning to Gung Ho and his team to get the last two prisoners, and get on the hovercraft.
"Roger Flint. We leave in less than 5 mikes. Over" Stalker says. "Understood. Out".
In the back of the first floor room, near the staircase that leads upstairs is an overturned, thick, wooden table turned over and riddled by the impact of various small arms fire. This is the table Zartan hid behind during the battle. Before Stalker and Snake Eyes had gained control of the room, by killing those who tried to resist, Zartan had a brief last moment to put a listening device on the table. This device would auto-synch and relay any transmissions sent from an electronic device located within 500 meters of it. It can also pick up and relay anything audible with its built-in microphone. Moments after he applied that listening device, he made that single twist of the wrist to Stalker to indicate he was the Joe operative in the building. It was from this device, Firefly could hear Stalker say: "Mutt! Where is the sixth prisoner?"
Mutt sees the fifth prisoner, but none of the others. He responds to Stalker by asking "Is he on the Hovercraft?"
Stalker turns to Gung Ho, and Gung Ho says, "No Mutt. Four loaded. One here. Five accounted for".
Stalker thinking that the sixth, being Chuckles, the GI Joe undercover operative, may have got a change in mission, and that meant he wasn't coming with the rest of the team. No time to find out now, it was time to get on the move, while the getting was good, he thought.
"Load the last prisoner then all Joes begin boarding the hovercraft, people! Move out!" This was a voice command shouted by Stalker for all to hear. Team leaders could be heard echoing the same command to their team members. The defense position began to peel up and start moving towards the Hovercraft.
"Do you hear that, Firefly? What are you waiting for? Kill them! Kill them All!"
Firefly lowers the night vision goggles and in a staring trance it appeared, stood on that bank listening to the Joes. He wondered was that the voice in his head? Surely, listening to the Stalker and the Joes, it could have been his head trying to move the operation forward. Was it Zartan? He was standing right next to him, as he listened to the Joes. Zartan could hear them too. Or was it Cobra Commander? That sinister voice is always in Firefly's head. Firefly was not exactly sure who said it, but he was sure it was said. And now he is just waiting. Waiting for the signal. That perfect command and he'll push the button and kill them all.
"Stalker!" Beachhead commands, using Ranger signals. He makes a series of gestures. At first, Stalker is hesitant to respond to them, or even acknowledge them. Beachhead starts to emphatically gesture and Stalker's reaction changes to a quizzical expression; finally there is a moment of realization, and finally complete agreement with the masked Ranger. It probably helped Beachhead's cause that the Silent Commando was right next to him mirroring the gestures at Stalker as well.
The movement the Joes are making through the view of the magnified NVG's suddenly appears to not match the chatter Firefly and Zartan were listening to. For the first time in the operation, Firefly knows there is a glitch. He starts to get anxious, but he is commanding his rationale to control over his emotion. Just in case he thought he should start to look at the practicality of setting up his sniper rifle. In that moment, he receives the intercepted communication he had been waiting for.
"Stalker to Breaker, over. Yeah, listen Breaker, everyone is loaded up. All Joe team members minus Cutter's team, and 5 of the 6 prisoners. But hey, you know what? We can't seem to get the Hovercraft started. Any chance you boys can give us a remotely activated jump start here?"
Moments after that transmission, Zartan fiendishly grins and nods approvingly at Firefly. The device in Firefly's right hand is raised, and as a numbered code is entered into it, the Hovercraft explodes like a Hell fire in the dark jungle on the blackened waters of the river.
"Flint to Duke! Over! I hope I didn't just see what I thought I just seen!"