Chapter 9 – You're On Your Own.

"…Terry, I know you're upset right now, but you both understood the risks when you accepted the mission…"

"Knew the risks? KNEW THE RISKS? Don't throw that bullshit back at me Havery. Dino's a damn fine K&R specialist. He's made you a rich man and now when he needs some help you're going to turn your back on him?" Terry began to pace backwards and forwards as far as the thick cord on the phone would allow him to, which, in reality was only a couple of paces in either direction. This limited range of movement caused him to shuffle a bizarre path around the telephone and eventually he gave up and threw himself down into the chair which gave a loud creak as it threatened to give way under his weight. Luckily the chair was made of sterner stuff and remained intact, the legs merely bowing a little under Terry's weight.

"Terry." The tone was firm and in many ways finite. "I want Dino out of there as much as everyone else, but I cannot do anything. My hands are tied on this."

"Fine. Enjoy your afternoon tea, Sir. I have a man's life to save." He slammed the phone down in its cradle and hoped that the resulting bang had echoed down the phone line all the way to the office in London, with any luck the force of the disconnection would send Havery temporarily deaf. It'd serve the bastard right.

The thing was, Havery had a point; this was a solo mission, he'd told them from the start that the firm couldn't bail them out and when he'd picked up the phone and dialled the international number that would connect him with their boss Terry hadn't really expected to get any help from Luthan Risk, but he'd had to try. Besides, yelling at someone made him feel a little better, made him feel that he wasn't completely impotent in this situation. Terry picked up the phone and slammed it back down into the cradle a couple more times for good measure just in case his first attempt hadn't managed to fully sever the call to his boss and Havery was still on the other end.

Following the rescue attempt that had left Dino unconscious and at the mercy of Niños del Diablo Terry had returned to their previous headquarters in the city. They'd already packed up their equipment and had it sent back before they'd attempted their first rescue, leaving only the bare essentials behind in the building, just in case their attempt didn't work and they had needed to return to base to regroup and come up with another plan. At that point neither of the men could have imagined the dire situation that had unfolded before them. Now Terry wished they'd been a little less sure of themselves, a little more pessimistic and had left more equipment behind. This rescue mission was going to be tough enough without having to try and plan it with virtually no equipment at all.

The phone rang, causing Terry to jump sharply.

"Yeah, Thorne."

"Terrrryyy." The voice was smooth and had a slight slurring quality as if the owner had drunk too much liquor even though it was still early in the morning.

"Wyatt, is that you?"

"Better believe it."

"Good to hear your voice mate, I mean really good." Terry leant forward and massaged his forehead with his left hand whilst keeping the phone clamped to his ear with his right.

"Well I hear an ugly rumour you were having a few problems down there so I thought, well…why not give the bloke a call, see if I can help…"

There was a movement in the doorway of the office and Terry reached into the desk draw, quietly withdrawing his gun, but instead of a thief, renegade or beggar; a plump, slightly balding man in a white linen suit came into view, a man currently holding a cell phone to his ear.

"Wyatt, you sneaky bastard, it's even better to see you than it is to hear your voice." Terry stood up, replacing the now irrelevant phone in its cradle as he did so and walked over to his friend, wrapping him in a quick and manly hug.

Wyatt could feel the tension flowing from Terry like a beacon radiated light.

"What's the situation Terry?"

The younger man's shoulders slumped and he sat back down in the chair with a thud.

"I don't know Wyatt, that's the problem, we've heard nothing. Two days and nothing, no communication, no ransom demand, nothing. We went back to the landing zone but there was no body so I'm at least inclined to believe he's alive…" He left the sentence hanging on an unfinished note, not wanting to hear himself speak the words that had jumped to his throat, 'at least for now'.

"I think you're right. I've never seen a group waste the effort removing a dead body. Besides, it'd take more than a little fall from a helicopter to kill Dino, he's like a cockroach, sometimes I think he'd even survive a full-on nuclear explosion."

Terry couldn't help but laugh at this analogy.

"It's good to hear you laugh."

"Believe me, I haven't been doing a lot of it lately."

"I don't think many people have. News of the situation out here has reached the K&R scene back in London, Dino's a popular guy, everyone's behind you on this one Terry."

"Not everyone." Terry looked down at the phone, thinking of his recent conversation with Ian Havery.

Wyatt seemed to understand the meaning of his words but moved on.

"That's as maybe…" He let the sentence trail off as he saw Terry's attention waning. "But enough of this talk, I come bearing gifts." Wyatt gave a sharp whistle and footsteps could be heard echoing on the wooden stairs outside the room. Wyatt moved out of the way to allow these newcomers to enter the room. Like the Three Wise Men bringing gifts in the Nativity, Angel, Bird Dog and Turkey trooped in bringing with them large metal cases.

"You're still in the country?"

"You bet your ass we're still in the country, we won't completely abandon a brother Hell Bird. Besides, Wyatt here's too old to be lugging around these boxes." Turkey elbowed Wyatt gently in the ribs as he spoke the jibe.

"Thanks." Wyatt rolled his eyes and smiled as he spoke. "Seriously Terry where'd you find these guys?"

"Nothing to do with me mate. They're entirely Dino's fault."

"Figures. I'm going to have to have a word with him about the company he keeps when we get him out." And there it was, the one statement, spoken without thinking that lightened the mood of the whole group, banishing their thoughts of failure to the very back of their minds and replacing it with the knowledge that they could and would succeed in their upcoming mission to rescue their friend.

"So what's in the boxes?"

"Weapons and rations. Most of which was purchased out of your new friend Mr Eduard Milogost's own pocket."

They'd airlifted their hostage back out to a hospital in friendly territory. The medical team had gone to work straight away getting him patched up. A couple of days later he'd been airlifted to a larger medical facility in the US apparently on the mend from his ordeal.

Wyatt shot Terry a meaningful glance.

"You know Havery wants Dino out as much as anyone."

"Well he's got a twisted fuckin' way of showing it."

"That's as maybe, but he's in a difficult position." He paused, the older man thinking about the issues that would face Havery back in Britain, issues he knew Terry wouldn't be able to understand given the immediate circumstances. "Remember whose payroll you're on when you get back to London Terry."

"Shit." Terry cursed, his hands coming up to cover his eyes.

"What?"

"I'm going to have to apologise to him when I get back aren't I?"

"That'd probably be a good idea, yes."

To be continued…