5 DAYS LATER

Hector parked the car and looked directly at Charlie, who hadn't said a word in the last 10 minutes. "You look like shit man." He wasn't exaggerating either, Charlie hadn't shaved in days, and his eyes were bloodshot from too much drinking the last few days. It started at the Gerhardt's barbecue on Sunday, Hector reflected as they got out of the car and walked to the main building. Charlie had drunk a little more than usual, but everyone was having a good time, glad to be home for a few free days.

But then, Lisa somehow cut her hand open, and Charlie had it out with Rhonda, trying hard not to create a scene in front of all their friends. Hector felt partially responsible for what had happened, his girlfriend had unwittingly brought Rhonda along, and while at first Charlie was quite receptive of her attentiveness, he suddenly wanted nothing to do with her after Lisa left the party. Rhonda hadn't taken that well, and caused a minor disturbance as she cursed him out in Spanish before Hector and Annette led her out to the car for the ride home.

Hector stopped walking as they reached the sidewalk and stared at his sullen friend. "Have you spoken to her since the bbq?" he hesitantly asked.

After a moment's pause, Charlie shook his head, but remained silent.

"You need to see her. Talk to her, find out why she didn't tell you." Hector knew that Charlie was upset, even if he wouldn't admit to it. He knew he would be just as upset if he was in love with Lisa, like Charlie so obviously was.

"Nah, its all cool man. Not a big deal." He shrugged, attempting to walk away.

Hector grabbed his arm and decided to just lay it all on the line, what was the worst Charlie would do? Punch him out? "No, it's not all cool." He made eye contact and continued quietly, yet forcefully, "You love her. I know it, you know it, the whole damn base knows it, but for some screwed up reason, you won't tell her." Hector figured he might as well go on, to make the beating really worthwhile. "And I'm pretty sure she's in love with you. So why they hell haven't you told her?" He waited for the first punch as Charlie stiffened and eyed him warily.

Charlie glared at his friend. "You think you got it all figured out, huh. It's not that easy you know." He looked away, hearing her last words in his head over and over. She was furious at him that much was obvious. The whole day was a disaster in his mind. Reilly chatting Lisa up, that skank Rhonda showing up and practically attacking him in front of everyone. Then Lisa getting hurt, he had rushed in the minute he overheard Kim telling her husband, the only thing on his mind was to check if she was okay. He did love Lisa; he wanted to tell her, but why hadn't he?

Hector interrupted his thoughts, "Actually it is that easy. Tell her you love her. Marry her. Have some beautiful looking babies. Make me the godfather." He cracked a smile as he saw Charlie smile a little. "See, easy as can be." He clapped him on the back and walked to the front door.

Charlie decided just then to call her, telling himself he wouldn't hang up at the last minute. He had dialed her phone so many times over the past 5 days, only to realize he was scared to finally admit to himself, much less to Lisa, that he was truly in love. He held his breath as he punched the send button for the first time.

Lisa heard the phone ringing, and as she went to grab a clean shirt out of her closet she checked the caller id. It was Charlie. Seeing the familiar numbers on the tiny screen caused her to burst into a fresh round of tears. She was rushing to get dressed for work, and like every day this week, she was delayed by her emotions. But today was different, today he called and she knew the tears were from relief.

But as relieved as Lisa was, she let the machine pick up while she busied herself with the rest of her morning routine. She couldn't face talking to him right now, she knew she would break down uncontrollably and she didn't want that to happen. She would see him in the TOC today, maybe by then she could pull herself together long enough to speak with him without bursting into tears.

"Hey, it's me." Lisa heard his voice, low and quiet, speaking into the silence of the machine. "I…I need to talk to you Lis. I need to tell you something." She was surprised at the rawness in his voice, and she sensed urgency in his words.

Suddenly she heard Hector in the background, talking quickly to Charlie, "That was the boss, we got to go. Now." She felt her heart race, as she heard the change in Charlie's voice, he was all business now. "We're being deployed, I have to go, I'm sorry." He lowered his voice slightly, "We'll talk when I get home, okay? Be good." Seconds after hearing the click, she was up and running to the phone.

She picked up the receiver, fully intending to call him back immediately and pour her heart out to him, but as she dialed, she realized she couldn't. Lisa hung up the phone and walked slowly to the couch, her eyes dampening quickly with tears. She wanted to hear his voice, hear him say her name again, but she couldn't risk endangering his life or the mission by pouring out her heart to him the minute before he deployed with his team. She'd have to wait until he returned, and then they would talk things over. She sighed heavily, dried her face and continued to dress, hoping it would be a quiet day in the TOC.

Adjusting himself inside the Black Hawk, Mack looks through the doorway and glances toward Jonas, "Hey Top, ain't this where Collins ditched?"

Jonas shot a hard glare towards Mack which did the trick by unsettling him. Jonas then lightened his face into a slight grin and replied, "It was a nice watch, wasn't it?"

Hector quietly commented, "I really liked that jeep. Wonder if it's still there…" he then continued to gaze at nothing in general, but appeared to be deep in thought.

"Well, this ain't no field trip down memory lane…Charlie, where are we at?" Jonas quickly shifted gears. Charlie has been around a long time, this was a small test to see if he was up to speed on the operation. Jonas had noticed a distance to him that was unnatural. Hector, now Hector was always the quiet, brooding type, but Charlie was the center of attention normally. He was unusually quiet so far in the mission, and Jonas wondered if he should have taken Bob along instead. He knew Charlie was going through some personal stuff, but he hadn't realized how deeply it affected him. Jonas just hoped it wouldn't affect the mission or the team.

Charlie had offered to take the headset on this ride. Normally, the team leader would do so in case things went bad. He had communications with the pilot and crew. He would hear their conversations and when they called out markers and terrain features. Should they have to ditch unexpectedly the team would know where they were in relation to the target. Despite his misgivings Jonas was heaping a great responsibility on Charlie and Charlie knew it, too.

He tried to keep his head clear and concentrate on the mission ahead. But his thoughts wandered back to Lisa over and over again. Charlie wished he would have spoken with her before the unit deployed. But things happened so quickly, he had no time to see her, and he didn't want to leave such a message on her answering machine. He kept reminding himself that things would be cleared up once they got home. Finish the mission, and then he could see her again. He hoped this would be another quick in and out job, but since when did things go his way when it came down to his love life lately?

The map was spread on the floor between Charlie and Hector. Each man had a foot on a map corner. This had struck Jonas as odd, but they hadn't lost the map yet. Charlie took his knife and jabbed at a point on the map, much to the consternation of the Crew Chief who yelled, "Hey, I don't stab holes in your floor, do I?"

"Sorry, Bro.", Charlie then gave exact coordinates on the grid to his team leader and raised a hand in submission to the Chief.

"As you can all guess this is not where we want to be. We been here before and they know us, but Ryan says we're the best bet on the job. Of course, aren't we the best bet on any job?" Jonas had to lighten the mood after Charlie's erratic behavior. He continued, "The name of the game here is Nomad. There are only about 2 million of them in the area, so I don't think it'll be hard to find one, but the goal is to not find them."

Charlie felt Top's eyes on his back, and tried to ignore the pointed looks his teammates were giving him. He knew what was running through their minds, and he vowed to shrug off all thoughts of Lisa and put the mission first.

Earlier the previous day an American aircraft had experienced turbulence followed by an engine malfunction which had brought the plane down. It was a quiet landing though, as nobody knew it had occurred, at least nobody on this continent did. This was an experimental aircraft with equipment that need not be seen by any foreign powers. The CIA volunteered assistance in the matter, which was odd because there had been near open hostility with the Unit recently. They had a man posing as an archeologist, with a small crew, "digging sites" throughout the region. His role was to locate the aircraft site and guide the team in to do their work. They have to recover the sensitive materials and destroy the plane.

As the Hawk approached its destination the pilot did a series of fake landings. If there were people in the area they needed to be as confused as possible about the location. The pilot did the exact same sequence several times, dropped the team, and repeated it a few more times. Hopefully, any locals would be stretched thin checking dry holes.

Kayla turned to Bob, who was in charge of the TOC momentarily while the Colonel was away. "Sgt. Brown, Bravo team is almost in, drop off in five. We should have a satellite visual in a few more moments to confirm coordinates." The staff worked quietly monitoring the team's presence on foreign soil, keeping tabs on their men and support staff from afar. Lisa Anderson appeared at his elbow, handing over a bright orange folder, marked with security warnings. "Hey Bob," she looked around the room noting the incoming satellite link and hoping for a glimpse of Charlie. "Here's the weekly briefing report." He knew Lisa usually didn't walk over to the TOC just to deliver the standard weekly reports, and he could only guess as to why she was lingering in the room. He spoke quietly to her, so the staff wouldn't hear, "they're getting dropped off now, why don't you hang around in case we need you?" Bob smiled knowingly at her, seeing the relief in her face and chuckling at her response, "Well, I guess I could. I mean, if you really need me." She walked away to get a closer look at the screens.

Hovering several feet off the ground the bird did a quick flare and leveled out. Mack leapt out of the open door followed by Hector, Charlie, and Jonas. The team immediately fanned out. Mack and Hector stood to, while Charlie and Jonas checked the map with their GPS coordinates.

Jonas nodded and said, more to himself than to Charlie, "These boys don't play around." The team had been dropped almost perfectly on their intended location. Charlie nodded silently and then motioned on the map their route which was confirmed by Jonas. Charlie quickly folded the map and said aloud, "Left cargo." He had said this so each member of the team knew where the map was on his person. They all had maps, but Charlie's was the most detailed and would come in handy should things turn ugly.

Jonas moved towards Hector and Mack saying, "We're on course. No dramas. Keep to the plan until Murphy changes the rules." Murphy's Law was ever present within the Special Operations world. If it could go wrong, it probably would. Jonas rose up and said, "As the Brits say, let's get tabbing."

The team then moved off towards their rendezvous with the CIA man. It wasn't more than a 6 mile walk, but in the desert 6 miles can seem like 6 lifetimes. Hector caught up to Charlie and walked in silence for a few minutes. "You alright?" he asked his friend, knowing he was waging an internal battle within to focus on the matters at hand, and hoping for the team's sake he was winning. Charlie nodded as they trudged onward, "Yeah, I'm good." Maybe if he kept saying it, he could convince himself, he thought as they continued on their trek.

From the top of a small sand dune Jonas was able to make out a ragged camp in the near distance. There was a small flag attached to the tent which was the signal that all is well and to come in.

The guide was friendly and an impeccable host. He greeted his allies with cold beverages and a meal. Such polite actions were welcomed, but were accepted with skepticism. Jonas was made nervous by these actions and remained on guard.

Their contact had not seen the plan himself yet, because he was only given the vaguest of directions. The team mounted out within the hour, leaving the camp and the crew to continue with their cover. The contact would continue with them.

The glimmer of the desert heat made long distance vision a rare commodity. Charlie had this nagging, ominous, feeling in his gut. He could not shake the feeling that something was not right. Charlie began to look in every direction more so than usual.

Noticing the distracted soldier the contact said, "Haboob." And nodded his head to the west. Hector's head snapped towards the contact and said, "How come I can't go in the desert with Charlie and not get a damn sand storm."

Without looking over Mack shot back, "Dude, it counts as hazardous. You're getting paid to be Charlie's unlucky rabbit foot."

Within the span of several moments the wind began to pick up and the men began to cover any exposed skin. This sand can cut right through skin. Jonas gave the order to continue moving. It would have wiser to stop, but the sensitivity of the mission would not allow this.

Lisa noticed the feed was getting grainy and cutting out occasionally, she knew what that meant, a possible sandstorm coming up. Her stomach fluttered nervously, she tried not to worry about Charlie, she knew he was a professional and could handle the mission. But she still worried.

After several more minutes Jonas decided they had to stop. They could not see and the strength of the wind was sapping their energy and they needed all they could get. The men were strung out though. They need to complete this mission successfully, and he needed the men at their full strength.

Charlie's mind was nowhere near the mission. His love life had come between him and his job. As the command was passed down the line Charlie heard it, but it never registered and he continue forward without the rest of the team. After what seemed an eternity the storm passed and the desert was again visible. Charlie felt the change in the storm and began to look for his team when to his horror he realized they were nowhere to be seen. Charlie tried to radio his team, but in his disorganized state, he had forgotten to check the batteries which were dead.

From the East, unknown to Charlie, a platoon of soldiers were approaching his location. Amazingly enough, Charlie was actually near the site of the crash. The African soldiers had been tipped off about a disturbance in this area and were sent to check it out.

Charlie reasoned that his best bet was to continue to the target. Worse case scenario was that he would be alone until the team arrived. The mission comes first and he knew they would arrive. After a few more miles Charlie could see the aircraft, which was in decent condition considering what had happened.

Charlie stopped and remained silently hugging the sand listening for anything out of the ordinary. After ascertaining that the scene was safe he approached the aircraft. Entering the area of the wreckage he was immediately struck with a sweet, foul odor. Charlie found the pilot, dead and decomposing already in the heat, strapped into his seat.

Charlie began to search the area for any confidential debris. His mind constantly drifted from the mission. He could hear her voice and see her face as clearly as if she was here. He shook his head to remove the image, but it was to no avail. Suddenly, Charlie did not need to try and remove the mental image.

An oddly familiar voice called out from nearby, "I think you should not move."

Charlie spun quickly bringing his M4 to his shoulder and dropping to one knee. He knew this voice. He was able to identify a target and 2 rounds quickly put him down, but he was soon out of the fight when a 7.62 AK round tore through his left arm and into his rib cage. Charlie dropped, losing his grip on the weapon. The pain was excruciating and his vision began to blur. He could make out a form moving towards him. He began to reach for his sidearm, but was stopped when he saw the stock of an AK 47 coming at his head…