Tada! :D Huge thanks to Missblueeyes63 for imparting your vast knowledge for this chapter!


Chapter 9 – Med Evac

JTF2 Base – Afghanistan

General Nathan 'Ares' Braddock paced in front of the med tent as he kept an eye on the horizon. He was waiting for the birds carrying his son and the men in his Unit back to base. He knew that the medics behind him had been briefed on the injures of the men. Hell, he had been briefed too. That was why he was pacing.

When Nathan had gotten the word that Sam was badly injured he immediately went straight to medical. From what he had been told Sam had a severe concussion, his right wrist was at least sprained, and his back was covered in bruises from when debris fell on his back. But what worried him the most was the shard of glass in Sam's side. The Unit's medic and best friend, Matthew Taylor, was apparently worried about there being severe internal damage. That is precisely why Nathan already had a bird on the tarmac waiting to take Sam, and any others needing additional care, to Germany where there was a better medical team awaiting him. The base medical team just didn't have the equipment that would be necessary to care for him long term if it was as bad as he feared.

Finally, after what felt like an eternity, Nathan saw helicopters on the horizon speeding towards them.

"Helo's inbound. Be prepared to move!" Nathan ordered as he turned to the front of the med tent.

"Sir, we'll take good care of them. Your son is in good hands." The lead doctor placed a comforting hand on the man's shoulder and squeezed lightly. "We'll get him stabilized and on his way to Germany ASAP."

Nathan simply nodded once before turning back to the horizon. He was just moments away from seeing his son, and the real damage to Sam's young body. Taking a deep breath he steeled himself. He hated seeing his son injured. It made his heart ache each time knowing he had been the one to order his son into harm's way. Each time Sam came back injured he prayed that his precious Granddaughter wouldn't lose her father. This case was no exception.


"I see the base. We're almost there Sam." Matt squeezed his best friend's hand while holding the gauze around the wound in Sam's side.

Matt had packed gauze around the shard of glass as best he could to stabilize it and try to slow the flow of blood, but Sam was still losing so much. His pants were soaked through at the knees from where it was pooling on the floor of the helo. Matt looked up and met Harrison's eyes. Both were extremely worried about Sam.

"He's going to make it Matt. Don't lose hope yet." Harrison stated with conviction. "He has his baby girl and his beautiful wife to get back to. He'll pull through!"

"I hope you're right Pops. I don't think I can look Jules in the eyes if we lose him." Matt admitted with a sigh.

"Well then I guess it's a good thing we won't have to." Leblanc stated firmly. He hated that Sam had been injured so badly. He needed his friend to pull through this just like the rest of the Unit.

Liam Harrison took a deep breath and looked around the helo. He noted that Corporal Moon hadn't taken his eyes off of Braddock the entire flight back to base. Moon was rocking back and forth muttering something. Harrison had to listen closely to hear what was being said.

"It's my fault. It's my fault. It's my fault." Moon muttered as he watched the Sergeant bleeding out right next to him.

Lieutenant Lunow was about to speak to his rookie when they all heard Braddock speaking softly.

"Not…your…fault." Sam said slowly. He was in almost unbearable pain, but the rookie needed to know that he wasn't to blame.

"Yes, it is! You gave me one of the plates from your body armor. If you hadn't done that…"

"Wouldn't have…changed…a thing." Sam tried to hide the pain from his voice but it was impossible.

"Sam's right Moon." Matt turned to look at the young man, trying to help Sam save his strength. "Where the shard went in…the plate wouldn't have helped much anyway."

"I thought our battle armor was supposed to protect us from things like that." Moon's brows furrowed.

"They are bullet resistant, but, there is a difference between Kevlar meant to thwart a bullet, and that meant to stop a knife and such. The weave of the Kevlar is different. Our armor is built to withstand bullets. Unfortunately that means we are more susceptible to being stabbed through it." Matt informed them. "It sucks, but it's true. We're more likely to meet a bullet than a knife in combat."

More conversation was halted when the wheels of the helo made contact with the ground. Within moments Sam had been lifted out and Matt ran after the medics into the med tent. He would stay as close to Sam as physically possible. He would not leave his friend now.


Nathan Braddock watched as the medics moved his son from the floor of the helo and into the med tent. His stomach clenched and he almost lost his lunch at the sight of the glass sticking out of Sam's right side. His son was so pale, had lost so much blood. He was thankful for men like Matthew Taylor. Taylor was always there for Sam and had saved his life so many times. Nathan would always be thankful for the men in Sam's Unit.

While he waited for word on his son he worked with his aides and put Harrison's Unit on medical leave indefinitely. He would require Taylor and Harrison to travel to Germany with Sam. Harrison would go due to injuries, although they were minor, and Taylor because he was the Unit medic and Sam's best friend. Nathan would have a threat assessment done and if needed would send the rest of Harrison's Unit as protection detail. He would not allow anything to happen to his son if it were within his power.

Turning around to begin pacing again Nathan caught sight of the men cleaning out the helo. They were pouring buckets of water on the floor of the helicopter to clean the blood out. Once again his stomach churned as the water turned red as it washed out his son's blood. So much blood!


Military Medical Transport – Germany Bound

Matt leaned forward and rubbed his hand over his head and across is eyes once again. He was tired, so tired. But he refused to sleep until he knew that Sam would make it.

They were currently on a med flight to Germany. He and Harrison were ordered to accompany Sam. Harrison would be getting additional tests to ensure his broken arm didn't have any complications. They would then cast it and he would be good to go. Sam on the other hand would potentially need additional surgery.

The medics had done what they could for Sam. They wrapped his right wrist, removed the glass shard, repaired a damaged vein that had caused the massive amount of bleeding, started him on a course of antibiotics, and set up the blood transfusion in preparation of his med-evac flight to Germany. Once Sam arrived in Germany, the doctors would perform scans and tests that weren't available here to ensure Sam didn't have any hidden internal injuries or nerve damage. If Sam was lucky, there wouldn't be any complications and his recovery would be relatively routine. Sure, he'd have to take it easy for a while due to the concussion, ribs, and deep wound in his side, but none of that would require an extra-long hospital stay.

Checking his watch for what felt like the hundredth time Matt, realized it was time for concussion checks again. Standing he moved to where Harrison was resting a few seats down.

"Pops, time for your concussion check." Matt said softly as he patted the other man's shoulder, careful not to startle him. Normally the medic on the flight would do this but the guy was so exhausted that Matt told him he'd take over for a bit while he grabbed a bit of shuteye. The medic agreed and said to wake him it any issues arose.

"I hate concussions. Can't get a wink of sleep with one." Harrison grumbled as he adjusted himself to a more upright position.

"At least yours is relatively mild." Matt commented as he checked Harrison's eyes. "Sam wasn't so lucky."

"He's going to be quite miserable for a while." Harrison agreed as he looked to the younger man.

"Nausea?"

"Barely. Still have a severe headache, but that will fade in time. No other symptoms at this time, Dr. Taylor." Harrison answered with a smirk.

"Leave it to you to be a smart alec." Matt laughed. "Try and get some more rest. We should land in about an hour and a half."

"Since when do you give the orders around here?" Harrison asked as he leaned back in his chair.

"Since you broke your arm." Sam answered just above a whisper as he woke for the second time during the long flight. The first time he woke, he learned only Matt and Pops were close to him. He wondered where the others were but sleep had taken him before he could ask.

"Good point. How you feeling Braddock?" Harrison whispered as he turned to look at his Sergeant and friend.

"I hurt," Sam softly answered honestly. Often times he would downplay his injuries when around others who weren't in his Unit. But the only ones Sam saw were Pops and Matt. "Shells exploding in my head. Light and sound—worse. Feel like puking if I move. Not that I can."

"You've got a pretty fabulous concussion." Matt informed Sam as he moved to do a vitals check. "I think it's the worst you've had to date."

"Fabulous." Sam drew in a shallow breath because his back and ribs hurt like hell. He wondered why he was lying on his stomach.

As Matt knelt down by Sam's head, he asked, "How are your back and ribs feeling? They're pretty bruised. In fact, that's one of the reasons why you're not laying on your back. They wanted to relieve the pressure on your ribs and the wound."

"They hurt. Can't breathe...deeply. Side hurts...lots." Sam answered simply.

"I'll see about getting some more pain meds on board for you." Matt rose to talk to the medic but was stopped by Sam's next abbreviated question.

Sam wondered what the other reason was for him being on his stomach. "Why stomach?"

Matt chuckled and gently patted Sam on the shoulder. "So you don't choke if you puke."

Sam rolled his eyes at Matt. Dang, he shouldn't have opened his eyes—his stomach threatened to hurl and he slammed them shut. Sam heard Matt walk away.

Keeping his eyes closed to avoid making his headache or nausea worse, Sam asked Pops, "Where we going?"

"Germany. The General made sure you had a ride waiting for you. Medics wanted you moved, too. They want to make sure you don't have any internal damage beyond what they repaired and they didn't have the equipment for it in Kanhahar." Harrison answered. "Now, stop talking and get some rest. You need it."

"Yes, Sir." Sam sighed.

Matt returned with the medic who administer a strong pain medication. "This should take effect quickly and give you some relief." the medic stated quietly in deference to the concussion.

It did and moments later Sam was asleep once again.


Canadian Forces Base Lahr – Germany

"Well, it seems like you're going to live." Matt reported with a smile as he dropped to a chair next to Sam.

"No other internal injuries?" Sam asked from where he lay on his stomach on the hospital bed.

"None that they could find. You still have to take it easy and be careful not to ruin the nice stitches they put in you, but you managed to not do any permanent damage to yourself when you decided to catch that shard of glass. Also, they say that your wrist is just a bad sprain. Keep it in the brace and it will heal on it's own." Matt leaned back in his chair and crossed his arms over his chest.

"Well that is good news!" Harrison smiled from where he stood in the doorway. "I don't know how I'd find another sniper with your abilities."

Matt laughed quietly as Harrison sat in the empty chair in the room. The Lieutenant seemed to be doing very well. He had a cast on his arm but it had been a clean break. Over the last two days the concussion side effects had gone away as well. All Harrison needed was time for his arm to heal.

Sam on the other hand was still dealing with the bad concussion on top of everything else. The nausea and headache were still very prominent. Matt would have started to get worried if he hadn't known that the side effects could stick around for a while. It was also why they talked in hushed tones in Sam's room. They didn't want him to be in more pain if they could help it.

A while later their quiet conversation was interrupted by a light knock on the door.

"Sergeant Braddock?" A Corporal asked from the doorway.

"That's me." Sam answered as he slowly turned his head towards the door, knowing that moving too fast would make him need to puke and he didn't want to do that...again.

"I have a letter for you Sergeant."

"I'll take it." Harrison stood and approached the Corporal.

"I'm sorry, I have direct orders to hand this directly to Sergeant Braddock and no one else." The man seemed to be suddenly very uneasy.

"That's fine Corporal. Just hand it to me please." Sam stated, his gut was suddenly churning for a completely different reason and he knew something wasn't right.

The Corporal handed over the plain manila envelope and quickly made himself scarce.

"Matt, can you help me out please?" Sam asked as he looked to his friend. It would be easier to just have Matt open it.

"Sure." Matt moved closer to Sam and Harrison looked over his shoulder.

Matt quickly opened the envelope and looked inside. He pulled out a small piece of paper.

"It's a note. It reads, 'No person or place is safe.'" Matt's brows furrowed as he looked to Sam. "What could that mean?"

"Is there anything else in there?" Sam asked, now sure his gut was right.

Matt looked in the envelope once again and pulled out two small items.

"A card." Matt turned it around so Sam could see. "The Ace of Hearts."

"And a picture." Harrison reached down and took the picture from Matt and handed it to Sam.

"SON OF A BITCH!" Sam bellowed as he looked at the picture, he winced as the pain in his head flared and the ever present nausea made itself known again. He swallowed hard to keep from puking his guts out, for more than one reason. "Harrison, call the General…Now!"

Matt leaned closer to look at the picture. It was of sweet Sadie Braddock. She was standing in front of a Disney Cruise Line ship and had the biggest smile on her face.

"Sam, look. This is an old picture, probably from last year. Her hair is cut different. She doesn't have the bangs anymore." Matt pointed out, only slightly relieved.

"So that means they have old intel. But that doesn't mean she's safe. Harrison?"

"Already on it." Harrison answered before turning away to speak with General Braddock.

Sam stared at the picture. His daughter was simply beautiful in this picture but it pained him to know that the terrorist had gotten close enough to get this picture of her. Was she really safe? Was Jules? He was clearly still a target and the Ace of Hearts wanted him to know that he wouldn't be safe anywhere. Sam could live with that. What he couldn't live with was either of his girls being hurt because of him!

Harrison spent the better part of a half hour on the phone with the General. It had been decided, Sam had to get out of Germany, and fast! A plan was developed and the men were out of the hospital and off base before forty five minutes had passed. No one knew the patient had fled until two hours later, and there was no trace of where he had gone.

Samuel Braddock, Matthew Taylor, and Liam Harrison just vanished into thin air.


AN: Muahahahaha! Okay, time to go hide from the veggie launchers and wait patiently for reviews :D