The fall happens fast. One minute Ray is leaning down, trying to pull Spenser back up; the next instant, they're just gone.
Jason takes a few deep breaths, then keys his radio. "HAVOC, this is One. We've lost Bravo Two and Bravo Six."
"Bravo One, say again?"
"Bridge we were told about turned out to be just a couple of parallel cables. Two and Six fell from it into the river and were swept downstream." He hesitates. "Saw Bravo Six surface briefly before he went out of sight. Didn't see Bravo Two."
The river is swift and the border isn't far downstream. There's a good chance Jason's guys have ended up in China, in which case retrieving them would be a nightmare even if Bravo didn't still have an urgent mission to complete.
"Copy, Bravo One. How do you want to proceed?" Blackburn asks, calm and steady.
Jason breathes. He thinks about the pictures Mandy put up on the screen: the missionary family, the big-eyed children. "How long until the deadline for the execution?" He asks.
There's a brief pause. "Right at three hours from now. Estimate it'll take you one to reach the village."
Gritting his teeth, Jason grinds the heel of his palm against his forehead. "Mandy still thinks it's not a bluff? They're gonna go through with it?"
Mandy herself responds. "Absolutely."
Jason closes his eyes.
Somewhere downriver, his 2IC - his best friend - and the kid Bravo just got back are alone, probably hurt, maybe dead or dying.
In a village an hour away, an innocent family is set to be murdered with the world watching, and Jason and what's left of his team are the only ones with a chance to stop it.
He thinks, I'm sorry.
He says, "We are Charlie Mike to the village. Need an alternate exfil plan. Probably can't get the family across this bridge, especially not if they're banged up."
"On it," Ellis replies immediately. Jason knows her well enough to pick up the hint of guilt and regret in her voice. It's not really her fault; due to its proximity to the border, aerial photos of the area are hard to come by. Her local asset assured her there was a bridge, but failed to mention exactly what sort of bridge it was.
Conversation with HAVOC finished for the moment, Jason looks at the rest of his team. Brock is crouched down by Cerberus, both hands buried in the dog's thick fur. Sonny is staring at the river like he can will it to give back what it took. Trent steadily meets his team leader's gaze, pale but calm as ever.
Not one of them tries to argue with Jason's decision. They know the score. No way they're abandoning a family to die just so they can risk starting a war by crossing into China to look for their guys. The loss hurts, the uncertainty maybe even more, but they have a job to do.
If Spenser and Ray are alive, they'll have to find their own way.
The rest of the trek to the village is cold and quiet. As they hike, Jason's brain keeps circling back around to the fall, and to the fact that it shouldn't have happened.
He didn't see how the first part of it went down. By the time he looked up, responding to Sonny's yelp of alarm, Spenser was already hanging from the bottom cable and Ray was on his way to try to help. Jason can't stop teasing it apart in his mind, trying to make it make sense.
No, the bridge wasn't ideal, but it shouldn't have been too much for any of them to handle. Sonny made it across just fine. Hell, Brock made it across just fine with a dog strapped to him. So why didn't Spenser?
Maybe a strong gust of wind, but from where Jason stood, he hadn't felt one. Not at that moment.
The one possibility he doesn't want to entertain keeps popping up in his head. Spenser isn't long back from devastating injury. He passed all the tests and got cleared to return, but this is the most physically strenuous mission he's been on since he came back. The first time he's had to hike for this long, in terrain this rough.
Did that goddamn bomb finally manage to take him out after all, and Ray with him?
By the time what's left of Bravo reaches the small town nestled at the edge of sparse pine woods, the sun is lowering into the beginnings of a long twilight.
During the mission briefing, Mandy assured them that if their presence gets discovered before they're able to secure the family, the captors won't hesitate to move up the time of execution to 'immediately.'
Basically, it's go in quiet or fail completely. Losing two of their best shooters - hell, both of their primary snipers - doesn't exactly help. They'll have to make it work anyway.
The village is small and eerily quiet. As dusk settles over the world, scattering a few bright stars across the canopy of sky, the wind stills and the air takes on a sharp-edged bite.
Almost none of the houses have lights on. Jason wonders if the villagers have fled - or worse. By all accounts, they'd loved their missionaries. Might have tried to defend them.
The farther Bravo moves into town, the more grateful Jason is that they pushed for Ceberus to be included on this mission. The dog helps forewarn them of sentries, whom they can then take by surprise and eliminate quietly.
They reach the missionaries' house. According to all the photos and videos released by the captors, some of which were quite recent, that's where the family is being held.
The tangos are clustered most heavily there, maybe half a dozen in the front room alone, visible through the picture windows. Once Bravo makes entry, quiet will quickly become impossible. They'll just have to try to take down all the captors before they get enough time to even think about offing their hostages.
Bravo kicks down both doors and goes in shooting.
Cerberus streaks from room to room, a flurry of teeth and fur, sowing panic and chaos that the tangos don't have a chance to recover from before getting taken down by suppressed fire.
Soon enough, the action is over. The house is clear.
And there's a big problem.
The parents are here, bound together in a back room, terrified but alive and apparently more or less unharmed.
There's no sign of the kids.
In every picture, every video, the entire family was together here, at this house. There was no reason to assume they wouldn't still be.
Jason and Trent quickly untie and ungag the parents. The father's first words, jumbled with panic, are, "Do you have my boys? Are they safe?"
Jason leans back on his heels. He looks at Trent, then back at the parents. "Do you know where they're keeping them?"
The man shakes his head. "They took them. We don't know where. They wouldn't say." His chest heaves. Tears stream down his face, and he gasps sharp gulps of air. "They'll kill them. Oh, God. They'll kill our boys."
Brock drops to a crouch in front of the mom. "Hey, Laura," he says in a soft, even tone. "Were your boys taken from here? From this house?"
Laura Rodriguez, who is pale but composed, nods.
"Okay, that's good. Listen, this is Cerberus, and he can help us find them. We just need something to help him get the scent. Clothing, bedding-"
The woman lurches immediately to her feet and stumbles into one of the bedrooms, emerging seconds later with a worn teddy bear.
Brock takes it from her and squeezes her shoulder. "That's great, Laura. That's perfect. Thank you."
Once Cerb gets the scent, Brock and Jason go after the boys while Sonny and Trent guard the parents. Jason hates splitting up with his team already down two guys, but hauling the traumatized couple along with them just isn't an option.
The village sits silent. In the near-total darkness, the streets and alleys are pooled in deep shadow. Trouble could be lurking anywhere. Two operators and a hair missile haul ass anyway.
Was the firefight at the house loud enough to alert whoever's guarding the kids? Jason isn't much of a praying guy - that's Ray's department - but he sends out a silent plea to the cosmos that it wasn't.
Cerberus brings them to a squat house on the edge of town. There are no visible guards; the windows aren't lit; all looks calm. Jason's skin prickles.
It's finally dark enough for NODs, so he and Brock snap them into place before making entry.
There's exactly one guard inside. When they come through the door, he's standing in the dark, holding one of the children in front of him, gun to the kid's head, using the small body as a shield.
Shit.
They can't even communicate with the fucker. That's Clay's department. Clay was supposed to be here for this, dammit. During the briefing, Jason thought to himself how lucky they were to have their resident translator back for this mission, and now he's gone.
There's a lot of shouting. The little boy cries behind the gag. Brock gradually edges to the side, trying to get a clear shot without risking the kid, while Jason keeps the tango's focus, trying to communicate the gist of the message: Let him go or you die.
The tango backs up. He's starting to panic. He yells something, gestures with the pistol.
Brock takes the shot.
Jason moves forward to grab the kid, pulling him from his captor's lax grip. Brock gets the other two up and they take them outside, away from the mess and the sharp tang of blood, to untie them and remove their gags.
The little one clings to Jason's neck, sobbing silently. The other two, a little older, are scared but brave. They nod when asked if they're okay. The oldest asks, voice trembling, "My mom and dad?"
Brock puts a gentle, reassuring hand on his shoulder. "They're okay. They're safe, I promise. We're gonna take you to them."
The kid closes his eyes and draws a sharp gasp that doesn't quite turn into a sob.
Jason doubts the entire area is clear. If the rebels' backup isn't here, it might be coming. They need to get the hell out of the village and into the cover of the trees ASAP.
Once he gets everyone out of the open and into the pine forest, sheltered in the quiet dark, Jason calls in to ask Mandy about that exfil plan. As expected, she's found a way.
There's an abandoned logging road she thinks is still passable, and likely unknown to the rebel group. With helos not an option due to the proximity to the border, she's sending in ground transport, along with support to help cover the loss of Bravo Two and Six.
It's a fair hike, but doesn't require crossing the river. They can make it.
Jason glances over at the family, huddled together, holding each other. "HAVOC, once we get the family to transport, we're headed back to the river."
"Copy that, Bravo One," Blackburn replies, steady and not a bit surprised. "We'll send a second truck so you can exfil after your search. I don't need to tell you to watch how far you go."
"Good copy, HAVOC. We'll be careful."
Jason looks around the clearing at his guys. Brock and Sonny have each picked up a small child while Trent works to keep the parents and older kid calm and ambulatory. Brock has wrapped his jacket around the little boy in his arms.
It's been a long day already. Everybody's tired, but there's no time to rest. The faster they get the family to safety, the sooner they can go back for their boys.
"Move out," Jason orders, and they walk on into the dark.