It feels like the whole world pauses for a second as Jason and team take in the scene. It is both better and worse that what they had hoped for. And then, as they have been trained to do, the action resumes.
"Cerberus down" Brock yells, and the dog retreats. The man begins to rise, but not before Clay knocks him down again, and ties his arms behind his back.
"Bravo Three, this is One. We've got Mandy. Continue searching for other targets and the driver. Clear the house."
"Copy that One."
Jason and Trent approach Mandy together. She is partially undressed, and there's minor bleeding from a long gash at her hairline. The blood has caked the left side of her face, and has seeped into the dirty rag her captors have tugged over her eyes. With gentle hands, Jason begins to untie the blindfold, and breathes a sigh of relief as Mandy moves around at his touch. He lets the blindfold drop away, and kneels down to her eye level.
Her body is ramrod straight, and tense as all hell, but her head swivels to take in her now visible surroundings. Mandy's eyes connect with his, her irises seemingly fidgeting in anxiety she's not letting her body show. But there's recognition, and Jason is pretty sure he can see relief staring back at him.
"Hey there, we've got you. You're safe. We've got you." Jason adds, voice low and calm. He continues to softly talk to her, nodding once to Ray as he and Trent continue to untie her hands and feet. Ten fingers. Ten toes. No nail polish, but nails, so they'll take it. Her right arm is already a motely of bruises, and her torso is a vivid showing of color as well. The men had taken her shirt, but left her in her bra, and Trent can easily feel at least one rib that's either cracked or broken.
"Bravo One, this is Bravo Three, rest of the building has been secured. We found the driver, he's KIA. Two more tangos, but they are down." Ray accepts the report for Jason, and steps away from where Jason and Trent tend to Mandy to update Blackburn and the rest of the command center.
"TOC this is Bravo Two, we are passing Burnett. The driver was KIA but Bravo One and Bravo Four have Mandy. She's alive and being tended to."
"Good copy, Bravo Two. Keep us informed."
Ray can picture the scene back at command, the quiet celebration of knowing Mandy is alive, muted by the knowledge that the driver had died trying to make his own country a better place.
Clay keeps watch at the entrance of the room, eyes away from the ministrations of Trent and Jason. Sonny has joined Brock back in the main room, the body of the driver wrapped up and ready for exfil. They keep their heads on swivels, hoping the neighbors aren't nosey. Ray, report to back to command finished, has led away the man they found with Mandy to the front room as well, preparing their prisoner, and taking initial photos so the analysts back on base can begin their work.
Mandy has slowly come out of her first wave of shock, and while she continues to tremble as Trent looks her over, Jason can quickly see her shields coming up, her focus honing in. After a few small sips of water from shaking hands, she begins to speak.
"His name is Mahmod Antar. His two associates never gave me their names, though one was I'm sure telling me in great detail what he was going to do with me tonight."
Trent's head goes up quickly at that, and before he can even speak, Mandy shakes her head at him, "Antar seemed to forbid it. Luckily for him, he spoke enough English for us to still have our conversation, even after he killed my driver. He was overjoyed to let me know that he's involved with the trafficking ring, kept calling it "mukafa'at aldhahab"."
"That's 'gold reward'" Clay says, body still turned away from them, eyes looking out from the doorway. "Sounds about right for a sex ring."
Mandy nods, and then hisses. Trent's hands immediately begin to probe her neck and base of her spine, finding a few more abrasions and another cut that had bled earlier in the day but now is clotting.
"He wanted to know how I knew about the women, how I knew this city was the base of his operations. He grabbed me almost immediately after I entered the market with the second source. She ended up being a woman, just like we had guessed."
"Was it a set up?" Jason asks, "Did he plant the sources?"
Mandy goes to shake her head and stops before she starts, Trent's administrations reminding her it's not a good idea right now. "No, he grabbed me, and the woman I was meeting with at the same time. He, uh, he made me watch as she was killed." She swallows, starts to say something else, and then stops. Takes a deep breath, looks Jason in the eyes, and continues, "She was fifteen."
"Hey, look at me." Jason says, keeping eye contact with Mandy, "We're going to stop them. You did it, okay. You got the guy. You got the info. We'll take him back to base, and you'll get what you need. Okay? We're going to get them all."
Mandy's eyes are brimming with tears, but she's steadfastly trying to avoid them falling. "He bragged about how many women he's sold. Said I would have caught a pretty price, but that there wouldn't be enough of me left to sell."
"Mandy, hey, stop, you're safe. We've got you. We're going home. Okay? We've got you." Jason barely avoids sucking in his breath as she continues to explain what has occurred. She doesn't need to see his reaction to those words. Doesn't need to see how badly he wants to leave this room and punch a man into a bloody pulp in the next room. Instead he just repeats, for her sake and for his, "We've got you. We're going home."
She shakes her head, pulls herself together, ignoring the pain the motion causes, blinking tears away and staring him down with forming resolve. "Jason, the next exchange is tonight. He doesn't show, they'll all spook. We might never see these girls again. We need to be there. It's close. This is our chance."
Jason frowns, "Mandy, my mission is to get you home, okay? There's a lot of people back on base who want to take turns yelling at you."
She weakly smiles at that, "Blackburn mention the grey hair rule?"
"Oh yeah," Trent adds, "and Davis mentioned a 'cosmo rule', but wouldn't give anything else up about it."
"We've got to keep ourselves busy somehow in command." She comments, before turning back to Bravo One, "but Jason, regardless of what HAVOC wants, the exchange is tonight. There's no way we can go home and let those girls suffer."
Jason sighs. His immediate relief at finding Mandy alive has quickly evolved over their ad hoc debrief, and he's settling into his three main emotions every time he deals with Mandy Ellis: pride, respect, and frustration. There she is, bloodied, bruised, with a foil blanket from Trent clutched around her shoulders her only attempt at modesty. Her eyes are steel, and he knows if he tries to drag her back to base, he'll never hear the end of it. Knows that if he does that, she may never trust him again; hell she may never trust herself again if she doesn't see this through.
"Okay, let me talk to the guys, see what we can make up on the fly for a night ambush and assault. But" he starts, holding up a finger before she can begin, "Final decisions are up to Trent, and if backup can get here in time. Trent says you can't go, we don't go. HAVOC can't get a few more bodies up here to help with ambush and coordination, we don't go. Agreed?"
"Agreed. I can talk with Eric as well."
"Right now, you're going to talk to Trent here, and not leave anything out. I'll take first pass at talking to Blackburn, make it my fault if a grey hair comes out of the conversation."
She nods, and lets Trent start asking questions, having predominantly been looking her over in silence as she had conversed with Jason.
Jason claps Clay's shoulder as he exits the room. "What are you thinking, kid? Know you've been listening."
Clay doesn't even pretend to not have been eavesdropping. "Seems like a lot to go through to not rescue those people. You know Sonny and the rest will agree, though Sonny hasn't gotten a good look at Mandy yet. After that, it'll be not just about rescuing the women, but also about beating some people up bloody, but it's a two birds one stone kind of night."
Jason scrubs a hand over his face and just nods. Thinks they'll all be looking for a little payback after entering the room where she had been held.
"Bravo One this is TOC, what's the SITREP? Lots of anxious people back here." Blackburn comms in, as timely as ever.
"TOC this is Bravo One. Mandy was able to get from one of her captors the time and location of the next exchange. She advises that the information is accurate, and that this may be our one chance at stopping this ring."
"Bravo One, I'm not going to like what comes next am I?"
"The exchange is tonight, about 100 kms from here at the border. We've got in our custody the man who runs point on this side. If he doesn't show tonight, we may never see them again."
"Bravo One, your mission is to bring Ms. Ellis back to base and recover the body of Mr. Amari. Not to continue north with a limited team and attempt an assault."
"Understood sir, but we're in a tough spot, and to put it bluntly, there's been a lot of blood, sweat and tears already shed for this information. Bravo team is ready and able to help bring this home. I'd ask that some of the support team Alpha head out on the second helio and join us at a rendezvous site about 10 kms from the border."
There's silence for a second. Jason can picture Blackburn staring at Davis, Davis shrugging, but already calculating what additional resources they'll need to get this done. Blackburn sighing, looking around the larger room at everyone else already knowing he's going to give in, and then finally admitting it to himself.
"Bravo One, you've got a go-ahead from here. I'd like a report on Ms. Ellis condition from Bravo Four, in case she needs to return to base when the rest of the support team is dropped off."
"Good copy TOC, Bravo Four will report soon, they're just finishing up. Though, to be honest sir, you'd have to drag her away."
"Understood. We'll be in touch soon with more information on the rendezvous site. TOC out."
Jason turns to Clay, who nods in understanding. "Alright, let's do this."
The set up for the assault is simple, and his men are in place. They've dragged Mahmod Antar, the main man behind Mandy's abduction, to the exchange point and told him in no uncertain terms what will happen to him if he tries to warn his buddies off when they arrive. Sonny and Ray are on Overwatch, and Clay sticks near their new friend, reminding him often of how quickly a bullet could silence him for good. Since Clay is a gentleman, he repeats it in both English and Arabic.
Mandy has acquiesced to staying near where both helicopters have landed for the time being, the balance between Trent wanting to send her back to base, and Mandy wanting to see this through. Trent has put her arm in a sling, almost positive she's got a break in her right forearm, and bandaged the three different lacerations: two on her head and one right under her rib cage. He's estimating two broken or cracked ribs, thought that won't be confirmed until she can get x-rayed. Trent had told Mandy straight up that he wouldn't give her anything stronger than Tylenol if she stayed in the hot zone, him not knowledgeable enough on how alert she could stay in the field on morphine. She had nodded in understanding: hurt, and see it through in real time, or leave and get seen to, but deal with the anticipation of not knowing.
Since they are all cut from the same cloth, regardless of role, Trent knows before she answers which option she would take. He hands her an extra shirt from his pack, and helps her put it on, before giving her a gentle hug and heading to the site of the exchange.
The exchange, and the raid by Bravo team that follows after, are as textbook as disrupting human trafficking rings can get. Which is to say there's not much of a textbook, but also that this isn't Bravo's first time doing it.
Clay and Antar drive out to meet the other group, with Brock and Jason in the bed of the truck. The car approaching from the other side is a non-descript white van that would have looked not out of place on the streets of New York, or seemingly the deserts of Iraq. The target comes to a halt about twenty feet away from where they had stopped their own vehicle.
They stay low as the vehicle comes to a stop, and Antar and Clay exit. Clay, dressed in 'borrowed' local garb, but with his body armor underneath, though not visible, walks head down behind Antar as they approach the other group. The men on the other side consist of a military age male dressed in western apparel, blue jeans and a shirt, with both a gun and a knife visible in his waistband. The other tango is more Antar's age, dressed in more traditional clothing, with a gun firmly in his hand as they approach. The older man begins to speak at Antar as they come within spitting distance of each other.
This is of course, where everything goes haywire, like they all knew it would, and hoped it wouldn't. As soon as Antar is close enough to his partners, he begins to scream in warning. As he screams, he lurches forward, and grabs the knife from the younger man's belt and arches backwards to slash at Clay. Clay tries to jump back, but to no avail, and takes a long slash across his collar bone, right above where his chestplate ends. Off balance and with a burning pain erupting across his chest, he falls to the ground, scrambling for his ankle holster. Antar begins to approach Clay with the knife again, and the other targets confusion breaks and comprehension dawns. Clay watches from the ground, as he continues to scramble for his backup gun at his ankle, the other two tangos reach for their guns as well.
However, Overwatch exists for a reason, and before Antar can take another step closer to Clay, he's down. A second later, the older target falls, and a second after that, the youngest member of the ring meets his demise as well.
"Bravo Six, come in. You okay?" Jason's voice is immediately in Clay's ear, even as he can hear him jumping out of the bed of the truck some feet back.
"Yeah man, I'm fine. Fucking knives man."
"He get you?" Jason asks, though this time not through comms, but in real life, holding out a hand to help Clay get back to his feet.
Clay nods, "Just a scratch," though as he looks down, he can tell it's going to be a hard sell, due to the white, light tunic he's wearing. The blood is already quickly seeping down the robe, a startling picture even in the low light of the two car's headlights. "Guy knew we'd end him, but still thought it'd be a good idea to go out doing something stupid."
Jason nods. "Stay here, we're going to secure the van."
"I can come," Clay protests, even as more of the team approaches.
"You stay there, Bravo Six." Jason repeats, and then adds for Clay's benefit, "Kid, we don't want to scare who's ever in that truck even more. Copy?"
"Copy."
From there on it's a good night, for all that it's worth. They find inside the van twenty-three women and girls, ranging in ages from twelve to twenty. Mandy comes down from where she was waiting with the helicopters, once the all clear has been given, to appraise the situation, much to Jason's disapproval. To add to Jason's disapproval, despite his best efforts, Clay ends up needing to come over to speak and translate for the survivors. Clay is only saved from frightening the survivors more by Trent quickly applying a few bandages to the long cut across his chest in an attempt to stem the bleeding and providing Clay back his t-shirt from before, changing it out for the long, very bloodied tunic.
As with what is beginning to feel like every mission, the people Jason had told to stay back end up in the thick of it. Just another Monday.
By the time the women have been calmed down, and basic medical needs for the survivors have been appraised, Tuesday is dawning. It's been almost twenty-four hours since Mandy had first left the base, and her energy and steel reserves are quickly faltering. To add to it, Clay, for all his bravado and assurance that it's 'just a cut' is beginning to sway every time he stands back up from talking to a survivor, and Trent is not alone in seeing either of the two's conditions decline.
"Boss," Ray says, having come down from Overwatch after confirming there are no more tangos in the area, "Think it's time for us to head out. Support Alpha can handle final talks as they wait for IAF to come in."
"Agreed," Jason responds, even as he watched Mandy and Clay approach the next woman, both softly speaking as they gather information. Jason keys his radio, "TOC this is Bravo One, we are passing Ball, and coming home. I repeat, Lucy, we're coming home."
Jason had initially planned on a quiet return to base, so of course it ends up being anything but. He'll give Clay credit where credit's due; at least the kid passed out once they were in the helicopter, so no one had to carry his ass to it. Clay did however give Mandy a bad idea, and she quickly follows Clay's suit, passing out almost in tandem with him.
Trent nearly goes apoplectic.
It's a dropping blood pressure due to blood loss, and probably a bit of pain for Clay. Easily fixed with fluids, rest, and stiches to close the wound. Clay's "just a scratch" will need some major needlework to close properly, and without a gnarly scar.
It's exhaustion, low blood sugar, pain, the final effects of shock and adrenaline depletion for Mandy. Mostly easily fixed with the same fluids and rest, a good meal Davis sneaks in, and the sense of security the base will hopefully provide. She'll also need a cast on the arm, new wrapping on her ribs, the good pain medication, and most likely, a sleep aid. How they'll deal with the mental trauma is still to be seen, but she's tough stock.
Trent knows this. But knowing it, and dealing with it are two different things, and it's amplified by the four other members of his team who all start yelling at once.
The body of a helicopter is not the best place for additional first aid, especially with how many are in there currently, but they'll make do. Ray, sitting next to Clay, eases him down fully to the floor on Trent's orders. Brock, on the other side of Six, helps stack his legs on top of his ruck. After a few moments, Clay blinks into awareness, mumbling to himself and grinning sheepishly at his current position. Trent ends up starting an IV on him to begin pushing fluids in, and tells him if he moves the dog will sit on him.
Sonny, who ended up as the shoulder Mandy drops on, tries valiantly to wake her up and have her drink water. She rises to semi consciousness, but nothing greater than that. She falls in and out of consciousness the rest of the flight, her face transforming from one of steel and ice to one of pain and uncertainty, with each rise to consciousness having less ability to orient herself to where she is. Jason eases her from Sonny's shoulder onto his, and gently talks to her the rest of the way back to base, murmuring nothings into her ear in hopes of easing her anxieties. Sonny, his initial burden gone, finds his hand softly clutching her hand and doesn't let go.
Trent radios ahead to have medics with stretchers ready when they land. Davis tells him they are already on the landing pad, awaiting their arrival. But only a few people she says. They'll save the fanfare for later.