03 - Quantico
Quickly and quietly, the six man team moved into position just outside the door of their target, the tallest standing to the left of the doorframe nodding to the man opposite him. In a fraction of a second, a third man hit the door right next to the knob with a battering ram causing the wood to splinter and the entire housing to crash inward as shouts went up in Arabic for everyone to hit the floor. Two of the men inside raised rifles and were immediately taken down by two of the team while the others began the task of clearing the apartment. In less than two minutes the task was accomplished and a buzzer sounded. Everyone involved, including the prisoners, relaxed and began to exit the simulator.
The tall man spoke with a Texas drawl. "So do you believe me now, Derwin?" Houston shifted the assault rifle over his shoulder and removed the helmet from his head.
A shorter man awkwardly took off his helmet nearly dropping his rifle in the process. "I just didn't think it was that...that..-"
"It looks easy from up in the booth. But when you're bundled up with all the weight of the gear, it ain't a cakewalk is it?"
"No. I'm sorry that I didn't understand before."
"And you've got to remember - this was just one run through of one scenario on a very small target with very limited firepower. These folks have to do this repeatedly. And when you factor in the heat…"
Derwin Dunlap nodded, reminding Matt of a bobblehead doll. "You were absolutely right. I will never try to interfere with it again."
"Good. Sometimes you just can't understand until you've been there yourself." After spending the last three weeks working through a few areas of disagreement with his business partner, Matt had finally been able to convince him to do a run-through in full combat gear.
"Captain, you've received a couple of calls, sir." A sergeant approached Houston holding up his phone.
"Thanks, Gutierrez." A worried look crossed his face. "'Scuse me, bud. I need to return this." Stepping outside the building where it wasn't quite as loud he punched a button calling the cellphone of the Houston family's nanny Sheila Wentworth. She knew that he was supposed to be unavailable so for her to have attempted to contact him raised his suspicions. The call was answered by a concerned sounding woman. "Sheila, everything alright?"
"No." Trying her best to sound calm, the nanny moved out of earshot of the children. "CJ's been taken to the hospital."
"What?" He felt a jolt of fear go through him.
"She was over at the PH with Ben when the first round of storms started about an hour ago. They were about to leave when she realized that she had left her phone in the arena. Just after she got inside the winds hit and-"
"Is she okay?" Matt felt his hands begin to shake.
"She was unconscious when the ambulance came. Ben called me over there and I stayed with her until the EMTs got there, but with Madre Rosa out of town…"
"Where is she?" He began heading back toward the building, running right into three of the Marines that he had just gone through the simulator with, causing them to be knocked off balance.
"Hermann Memorial."
"I'll be there as soon as I can." He disconnected the call and returned to the group that had just run through the exercise. "Derwin, I've gotta go."
"But we've just-"
"CJ's been hurt." He began pulling off body armor and throwing it onto a nearby table. "Gutierrez!"
The young sergeant immediately came to him. "Sir?"
"I need you to take me to Dulles - ASAP."
"Yes, sir."
Dunlap watched as Matt finished removing the gear. "Houston, let me know if you need anything."
"Thanks." Picking up the bag that he had brought in with him that morning, Matt turned and hurried out of the building and climbed into the Jeep that had been assigned to him, pulling out his cell phone and arranging to have his jet ready to go as soon as he got there. Trying to calm down he took a deep breath. "Sorry to yell at you. My wife's been taken to the hospital."
"I'm sorry, sir."
After arriving at the airport he thanked the Marine, moving quickly to the area where the jet was being refueled, and irritated at the fact that the job wasn't yet done. As rain began to fall he began his preflight inspection and cursed at the length of time that he had to wait to take off. Once finally in the air he called Sheila's phone but got no answer. After two more tries to connect to the landline at the ranch, he attempted to call Ben with the same results. Pulling up the radar for Houston he understood why: severe storms were lashing the area. "Great. Not what I need right now." Silently he berated himself for not getting more information from Sheila while on the phone. She had said that CJ was unconscious. Did she have a head injury?
He looked for the number of the hospital on his phone and placed a call: nothing. "Damn it!" Now besides worrying about how badly she might be injured he was concerned about whether the hospital and the ranch had been badly damaged and if the kids were safe. Not long after entering the airspace over Tennessee he ran into turbulence from the leading edge of the storm system that was sweeping from Iowa all the way down into Texas, requiring him to use every bit of concentration and skill to keep the plane flying safely.