"Are you still talking?" Operative Malick asked almost darkly. The stunned expression on the Scot's face would have pierced a heart like Martinez's. "Because sitting here talking is wasting valuable time that I need to drag your sorry self through a building that's about to, in essence, self-destruct."

Billy just smiled weakly and nodded, pushing himself upright and trying to be less of a burden to his teammate. "I won' forge' this. Y'do care."

"I'm willing to bet you will forget this, Collins. You're hardly lucid." Casey waited until Billy was carefully standing on his own two feet, still propping him up with some support, before they began moving again.

There was another problem that came to mind. Though he'd taken out a devastating number of men around the compound, there were certainly still a handful about as well as their Cuban terrorist. The logical thing to do when a building was falling down around you would be to run to the exit. If the exit is blocked, you're stuck. So it was inevitable that, when they reach the exit, it will be swarmed with unfriendlies. However, it was not surprising that the distance to the exit was completely vacant. They were making fair time when Casey saw the dull glow of a flashlight flicker down a hall. Immediately he shut his own off and pulled Billy into the darker shadows. He slipped out from under the man's arm and made sure he was carefully leaned against the wall. Then Casey Malick slid down the length of the wall to peek around the corner into the new hallway. Sure enough, there were eight men and Estrada trying to get a door open. They needed to find another way around or wait for those men to blow the door down.

He returned to Billy's side, shaking his head. "I could take 'em if I really focused, but we don't have time." He whispered. "Nine men plus Andre Estrada."

"Malick, brace yourselves. The military chopper is inbound." Michael's voice crackled over the comm..

"Here!" Casey hissed, guiding himself and Billy into the nearest corner, then pushed him down into a squat. "Cover your head." He raised his own arms over his head and braced himself against Billy. Without an actual table or surface to tuck under, this was the best cover he could provide.

The next explosion did just as Michael had feared.

OoOoO

Michael and Rick watched as the roof exploded once again with the concussive blast of another missile. They could see the mound of sand draining down from the roof leaving a funnel-like dip in the side of the mound. He and Rick broke off at a run.

"Casey! Are you guys alright?" Michael barked over the radio, steering clear of the landing helicopters. Another explosion, as the third silo fired, caved more of the roof in. More sand was vanishing within the structure, but there was still silence over the radio. He and Rick shared a glance of concern as the silence stretched on. They sprinted right past the military, flooding out of the landing helicopters.

When they reached the outer door to the compound, they wasted no time as Michael pulled his pack of his back and unzipped it, holding out small cubes of C-4. "Rick,"

"Got it!" Rick was taking the explosives before Dorset could even tell him what to do. He was setting up the charges while Michael was threading the detonator. They took cover and blew the door just as seven men in military outfits approached. When the door blew off the hinges, sand spilled out, but not as much as one would have thought. They shined a light into the open hall and noted that there were four men, including Andre Estrada. The man seemed to have been knocked back in the blast, but all of them were alive. Guns were immediately pointed at the men inside. They were being apprehended when Michael noticed the door down the short hallway was shut.

"If jou're looking for jour man, he is dead." Estrada spat, jerking his head towards the door. Michael turned quickly and grabbed the man by the front of his jacket, jerking him out of the hands of the military officer holding him. The man grinned. "That room flooded with sand before we shut the door."

That explained the mere foot of sand in the locked hall. They got this door open just before that room could fill completely and sealed it off to save their own hides. Michael released him with a rough jerk, pushing him back into the marine's hands.

"We've gotta get this door open, Martinez—"

"If you detonate within the building, you risk a complete structural collapse." One of the marines cut in, casting him a glare that said he wasn't going to risk his men over that.

"I'm not leaving my men back there. They could still be alive!" Dorset's tone left little room for argument and the man shrugged.

Martinez set up the charges and they waited, ushering the marines and criminals out quickly.

"I don't have another remote detonator." Rick said frantically as he searched his pack.

"What?" Michael held up the flashlight to allow Rick both hands to search through the pack. Sure enough, there wasn't a single remote detonator amidst the mess.

"Wait." Martinez pulled out a conventional detonator, but the lead wasn't near long enough to use from outside the compound. "I'll—"

"No, you won't." Michael ordered, snatching the detonator from his hands and plugging it into the molded explosive. "Get out. Now."

"I'm not—"

"That's an order, Martinez! You're wasting valuable time in which Collins and Malick could be suffocating!"

Reluctantly, Rick turned and fled the room. The moment he was out, Mike triggered the detonator. Sand flooded the room as Michael ran to the open door where Rick was waiting. He was no help if he got buried under the torrent as well. But as the sand filled the doorway, it eventually stopped. Someone would have to dig at the crack of the door to coax more sand out of the room where their team was trapped. Rick and Michael wasted no time doing so but it wasn't enough. Sand just kept filling the doorway and blocking off more flow until Michael and Rick couldn't reach it anymore without getting buried themselves.

Michael hit the nearest solid object out of frustration. "Dammit!" He glanced down at his watch. It'd been nearly ten minutes. He closed his eyes tightly. Not even Casey could hold his breath that long under the conditions, he was sure of it.

TBC