"Smoke, stop lagging and get the fuck up here" Ghost hissed over the radio at the newest addition to the 141. Shepards way of saying 'get over it Gary can be replaced'. He was young, not as young as Roach had been but, still close to the same age as the 21 year old. No he'd be 22 now... Riley's mind corrected. Gary's birthday had been three days ago.
A phone call to Nicolai and a ocean later, the team was back at square one. Ghost fought the urge to just leave the soldier behind like they'd done to Roach. This one he wouldn't mind loosing.
Moonlight danced across the tin rooftops of the flavela, the mewling of stray cats and the scuttering of rats amongst the garbage ridden streets had everyones nerves on edge, waiting for another rooftoop chase and escape to play out. Ghost swung low and fast, silenced ACR ready to fire, as a loud bang followed by a string of shushed curses came behind him.
The barrel of his rifle was barely an inch from Smoke's head, silver light danced in his blonde hair and Riley saw the reflection of his gun in his wide pale blue eyes. Ghost grunted his displeasure and jerked the young man to his feet by his collar and slamed him into the wall left of him, plaster cracking with the force, coming down and dusting his black uniform and leather gloves. The metal roof rattling some.
"What the fuck don't you understand about covert and silent?" he his menacingly to the young man, who shook slightly in his hold.
"D...dude chill" Smoke said his voice quivering. Hands up in defense.
"Your going to get us all fucking killed, why the bloody hell Shepard let you join a elite task force is beyond me." Ghost said steadying his rage and letting go of Smoke, who scuttled quickly to retrieve his sidearm from the ground and reholstering it with shaky hands.
"Ghost get your team to the building and get into position" MacTavish's voice hissed over the radio. Ghost pressed the button to the side of his head set, turning the frequency to match his captain's.
"On our way Capt'n" Ghost responded, glaring at Smoke, who had suddely taken a liking to wearing his facemask. He turned back to the frequency he shared with Smoke, and started forward again. This time the soldier was hot on his heels and silent.
They went through a back alleyway, the worn stone steps were cracked with mold and damp sewage, the sound of their steps was absorbed by the brown liquid. Ahead of them were three doorways, one on the left, the other two on the right. A yellow soiled rug hung from the left doorway. Ghost, made a shushing jesture and waved two fingers towards the scantily covered doorway. It was way too quiet for anyones comfort. He crept past the doorway huging the right side of the stone alley, his kevelar vest brushing against the plaster walls. Smoke covered the doorway as his superior passed. Ghost looked back at him, he hated the skull mask and red glasses the lieutenant wore. It gave him the creeps.
"Come on"
Smoke gave the alley a dreaful look, he was on edge, and the quiet wasn't helping. Following in Ghost's footsteps he hugged the right wall and tried his best to keep his footing light.
Nothing happened, it was like the town was dead.
They reached the mouth of the alleyway, the moon was full enough that they didn't need night vision googles. Ghost led them through another alley and a flight of stairs before the buildings thinned out and they approached a poorly gaurded compound.
"We see you Bravo-two, Snipers are silenced and in position, do your best not to alert the enemy, this may be our only chance" MacTavish warned through the radio.
The compound was small, far smaller than Roba's had been. There was no gate or fence, it was a simple two story building with tile roofing, Riley could only see two soldiers pacing in front of the main door. It was poorly lit with a single flickering lamp post.
"In position"
"Delta-four cut the power" MacTavish ordered quietly through the radio.
Smoke watched as Yankee and Kahuna crept in towards a ungaurded wall, a utility box was their target. Kahuna brought out wire cutters and got to work on the box while Yankee gaurded the door right next to it. A large hunting knife in hand he was crouched low, and on the balls of his feet ready to kill. He could barely make out the American flag bracer Yankee wore. The rest of Delta-four: Exxon, Apex, and Chino; came in from the opposite side of the brush surrounding the compound, huging the shadows and waiting for the lights to go out.
"Zulu-one, move up; Bravo-four start infiltrating the rear doors; Alpha team on me; remember were here for Javier Fhay, make sure the bastards alive"
Smoke followed Ghost around the back of the compound, and as they moved in the few yards towards the doors, Archer and Toad had picked off the two outside gaurds and the power was cut. He could faintly hear portugese being spoken upstairs but it was calm, their cover hadn't been blown yet. Ghost took up the right side of the door while Smoke took to the left he spun out low after Ghost opened the door. The room was something from a horror movie, blood stained all sorts of equipment that hung from silver hooks and on trays. The white walls were stained pink with blood that refused to vanish. File cabnints lined the left wall with the hanging equipment. A single metal gurney was in the center of the room, bolted to the floor. Its leather binds dangling on the floor.
The room was empty.
"Clear"
They walked in cautiously, making it quickly to the door on the right wall.
It was the same method, the room was safe, teams Alpha and Zulu-one, had cleared it quietly and Yankee and Kahuna were busy pileing the bodies wile Zulu-one moved back outside to the brush to gaurd for any possible runners or reinforcements.
Ghost led them up the stairs first, Smoke winced slightly as the wood creeked under his weight. Ghost just glared. They continued up quickly because the speaking had stopped.
Alpha team followed behind them; the three: MacTavish, Flux, and Zach; took to the two doors on the right. While Smoke and Ghost had the two on the right, leaving the one straight ahead in the hallway to wait.
"Clear the far door Iv'e got this one" Ghost ordered taking the closer doorframe.
Smoke readied his gun and put his hand on the knob. Turning it open fast, he swung low, except this time he was met with a crowbar to the head. The force of the blow had landed him back in the hallway. The militia in front of him was shouting something but Smoke couldn't hear a word he said, just saw his lips move.
His face pounded and he vaugely wondered what had happened, but he couldn't bring himself to do much but groan. He closed his eyes, hoping the room would stop spinning, but opened them when something wet sprayed across his face.
The man lay dead at his feet, brown eyes empty and a bullet hole between them, the crowbar layed limp in his hand.
"...ke...SMOKE...SMOKE come on!" someone was shaking his shoulder. It was Yankee.
His head pounded and he coughed on his own blood. They weren't in the hallway anymore. He was laying on the metal gurney in the torture room. Someone was screaming. It wasn't helping his headache.
"Por favor, pare! Vou lhe dizer onde ele está! Basta parar!"
"ENGLISH!" Ghost demanded dragging the blade through the mans leg, twisting it, slowly.
"I'll tell you just stop! I'll tell you!" Javier begged.
Ghost looked up towards MacTavish who nodded.
"Tell"
"There's a file, its in the interrogation room downstairs. Its under your soldiers name. All the transactions and information is there. Please just let me go."
MacTavish went to his radio. "Yankee I need you to find a file under Roach's name in the room your at."
"Okay but only for a sec, Flamers is fucked up bad." Yankee hissed as he went through the filing cabnints finding 'Gary Sanderson'.
"Okay Ive got it and its stuffed about two inches thick, need me for anything else?"
"Check for a transaction paper and then you're free"
Javier stared wide eyed at the men, and the long silence had Ghost itching to kill him.
"Yah its here its in Russian, but its here...shit...Jake wake up!"
MacTavish nodded to Ghost, who proceeded to jerk the blade from Javiers thigh and in a quick fluid motion, drive it to the hilt in his chest.
The man gurgled blood for a few seconds before laying still.
They went straight downstairs after that. MacTavish telling the squad to group up inside the compound as they waited for Nicholai to arrive. Walking into the 'interrogation room' and not knowing what had become of Smoke had MacTavish's nerves on edge.
The young man laid still on the gurney, his pale hair was stained red and was spiked in thick clumps. The top half of his left ear seemed crushed and a six inch gash bleed freely above it. The left half of his face was swollen , blood had pooled and dripped from the metal.
Yankee looked up quickly, then realizing it was them he went back to work on trying to both wake Smoke, and stench the bleeding.
"I think his skulls fractured but I can't tell, he won't fucking wake up" he said almost paniced.
Ghost felt guilty, had he stayed with the kid, this probobly wouldn't have happened.
"...wish he would have worn a helmet"
Yankee was fretting. And he was getting on Ghosts nerves more than usual. He took the file on Gary from him and held it tightly.
"Were stuck here till Nicholai arrives which will be in a few minutes tops, theres nothing we can do but keep him breathing til were back at base." MacTavish sighed.
Kahuna came in with a cheerful gleam in his brown eyes, unbeknownst to him what had occoured inside the compound. As did the rest of the team.
"What the hell happened?"
"Smoke took a crowbar to the head, but hey we found the files on Gary" Yankee said in mock cheerfulness.
Ghost grunted his dislike of Yankee's tone. He was new too, he didn't know the team as it had been four months ago. The death of Doc, Meat, Royce, Cyrus, and many others; including the possibility of Roach had left the 141 lacking and starting from scratch.
Many of the new members did not bond well with the seasoned ones. And MacTavish knew he'd have to fix that soon if anyone else was to survive.
Yankee squared his shoulders and glared back at Ghost.
The roar of Nicholai's MH-53 Pave Low gave relief to the squad.
Dust blew in from the open door as Nicholai landed. MacTavish and Yankee held up Smoke and carried him to the Pave Low.
"Ghost get looking in that file as to where Roach was last shipped."
"Exxon what's this transfer paper say"
"He's someplace near derevnya Druzhina, Russia" Exxon said quickly handing back the paper and walking out with most of the squad.
"A place not far from derevnya Druzhina, Russia" Ghost relayed back to MacTavish.
"Nicholai do you have any friends up near Druzhina" MacTavish asked holding Smokes head still, not liking the amount of blood that was soaking into his gloves.
"Da not close but I know of a base near Lyutenge, your friend will have to hold out a few hours though, is that okay?" Nicholai reved up the engines as the last of the 141 boarded the Pave Low.
"He's gonna have to"
"Wha's the noise..." Smoke mumbled through bruised lips, his jaw ached with the action. Everything ached.
They had only been flying for an hour and MacTavish had given up hope that the young man would awaken anytime during the flight.
But as soon as it happened Smoke had gone back out of conciousness.
I want to thank Mirai M. Mieux for all her help! the 141 team wouldn't be, without her! and CandyMugger who created Smoke aka Jake Mehr Flamers, age ;23. hope you like! review! THANK YOU ALL!