Chapter Ten
"Success is not final, failure is not fatal: it is the courage to continue that counts." – Winston Churchill (This is one my favorite quotes.)
Callie was frozen as she watched the engine come down aiming right at her. She had to move, she needed to move, but everything that happened during the plane crash took so much out of her and then some. Her body was sore after continuously being tossed around like a rag doll in the plane, her back on fire from the ceiling. Her arms and arms pits burned when she held on to the seats as plane came crashing down, and for some unknown reason her legs burned as well. She wasn't sure where she was or where the others were. All she did know was the ice cold snow against her body was nice and she welcomed it so much that she didn't want to get out of the way of a falling 747 engine. However, Callie lucked out, as the engine came falling down the trees that surrounded her managed to stop the engine from reaching her spot. With the engine a few feet above her, Callie took a few seconds before she rolled over on to her stomach and slowly staggered to her feet.
Her head was down and her body was slightly hunched over. Callie had little to no energy left after the crash. She took two wobbly steps forward before she heard the tree branches snap and the sound of the engine crashing down to the ground. Slowly, Callie turned around to the see the fiery mess were engine's new resting place was. Callie was too dazed and confused to care about what just happened, so she just turned back around and started to walk aimlessly.
She had no weapon, no clue where she was, and had no clue where Izzie, Yang or Bailey was. Callie was still hunched over only half aware of her surroundings. She noticed the more that she was walking towards the north…or was it south, maybe the west? In whatever direction she was waking in she noticed that the sounds of gunshots were getting louder and louder. Still dazed and confused Callie continued walking until a small dark shadow from her right started to run right towards her.
The two crashed into each other. Callie instantly fell to the ground, while the figure stumbled for a couple of footsteps and then regained their composer. "Torres," Bailey said as she looked at what she crashed into.
"Hmm," Callie responded in a half moan. Callie found that it was too hard for her to get back up.
"Come on Torres, get up. I lost the President and the First Lady in the crash. We have to find them before Dixon's men find them." Bailey rushed to Callie's side. "Torres!" Bailey slapped Callie in the face when Callie didn't respond and her eyes were closed as she was lying on the ground.
"I'm awake," Callie slowly opened her eyes to see Bailey hovering over her.
"Then get up off your ass," Bailey grabbed Callie by the shirt collar and pulled her to her feet. "Here take this, I don't know whose it is but it's loaded. Let's see if we can find the Yang, Stevens, the President and the First Lady." Bailey handed Callie a loaded Colt M1911 pistol, and she started to continue her run in the eastwardly direction with Callie stumbling behind her trying to keep up.
Together the two of them had been walking/ running in the eastwardly direction for more than 3 miles before Callie tripped over something on the ground. Callie fell down to the ground with a soft thud and a slight groan that got Bailey's attention and caused her to turn around. When she turned around she was greeted with sight of Callie and Yang crawling around the ground trying to get their bearing again. "Come on you two." Bailey helped both Callie and Yang to their feet.
"Yang, do you have a weapon?" Bailey asked.
"Yeah," Cristina held out her Rainbow issued Beretta 800. "It's half loaded." She said as she checked her clip.
"Good, let's find Stevens and the President." Bailey said as she took off in the same direction.
The three of them were walking/running around looking for the others when the walking right in the middle of a gunfight.
"Bailey!" Izzie yelled from behind one of the plane's wings.
With their heads down low Bailey, Cristina and Callie made their way over towards Izzie. There behind the wing using it for protection was the President and the First Lady. They were sitting in the snow hugging each other waiting for this nightmare to be over. "I haven't had time to call for help yet!" Izzie said as she lowered herself behind the wing. "I think there is a radio in the man's pocket." Izzie pointed to a dead secret service agent.
Bailey crawled over to the man's body and pulled out a radio in the man's front coat pocket. "TWACS Thunderhead, this is Mike Bravo from Rainbow. Air Force crashed at 53.0769 N and 8.8089 E and we need rescue, immediately." Bailey said in the man's radio.
"TWACS Thunderhead, understood. A rescue chopper will be there in approximately 5 minutes. Can you hold on long enough for them to come?"
"Yes," Bailey said before she put down the radio and went back to the wing with the others. "Rescue chopper will be here soon." Bailey looked at the President and the First Lady.
For 5 long minutes Bailey, Izzie, Callie and Cristina shot at the enemy, who remained unseen as they hid the behind the trees that surrounded them. The four them were caught up in firing back at their enemy they almost missed the fact that their rescue chopper arrived.
Izzie was the first to notice that it had landed right behind them. "Guys, rescue has arrived." She yelled.
"Take the President and the First Lady to the helicopter. Yang, Torres and I will watch your back." Bailey said as she stood up to fire one last time.
Izzie shook her head and escorted the President and First Lady to the helicopter. However Izzie was so focused on making sure that the President and First Lady didn't get shot from behind she failed to realize that the helicopter that landed behind them was not a U.S military helicopter.
When they made it to helicopter Izzie moved from the back of the group to the front of the group so she could open the helicopter door. Izzie was looking back at others when Callie lowered herself to change her clip on last time. These 30 bullets were her last. Before she stood back up she looked over to Izzie and helicopter. Izzie had opened the door and wasn't paying attention. "IZZIE!" Callie yelled as she pushed herself off the wing and ran over towards her.
This action got the attention of the Bailey and Yang who looked behind them towards Izzie. Their eyes got wide and soon just like Callie they were running towards the Izzie and helicopter.
When Izzie saw the look of panic on Bailey, Yang and Torres' face she turned around to face the helicopter. There staring her right in the face was the barrel to a Colt M1911 pistol, it fired hitting Izzie in the head, which caused her to fall to the ground instantly, dead. Bailey, Yang and Torres were too late on saving Izzie, but they still had time to save the President and his wife.
Unfortunately they were too slow, before they could do anything Dixon had aimed her gun at Callie and fired. She then aimed her gun at Cristina and fired followed Bailey. It only took one shot for each of them. They fell to ground each of them taking a shot to chest. Callie remembered breathing hard while looking over towards the helicopter. The last thing she remembered before she passed out was Dixon throwing the President and his wife in her helicopter and leaving them there to die.
2 minutes. 2 minutes was the time it took for Arizona to fall from the 250 foot height that she was once at. As she was falling she realized just how close she was to successful crossing the tarp before it caved. If she were right in the middle like she original thought she would have been and surrounded by water for the entire fall, but she wasn't. She felt herself trying to bend her knees and steer her fall as much as she could for 2 minutes. 2 minutes that felt like 2 hours to her.
When she finally hit the ground she originally thought that the worst was over, she was wrong. The minute she hit level ground she found herself in the river that was just below the waterfall. When she hit the river she hit it hard and should have passed out, but somehow she remained awake. She was weak from the fall, which meant the current of the river was too much for her handle at the moment. As she went floating through the rapids she tried to find something to hold on to. She grabbed rocks, branches, burying her fingers in the ground, nothing seemed to stop her. Everything just gave way seconds after she grabbed it. She was about to give up and see where the river would take her when she grabbed on to a root from a tree. This time unlike all the other times the root didn't break off and Arizona was able to use the last of her strength to pull herself out of the river and onto the river bank.
She just laid there breathless and tired unable to move. Her eyes were closed but she could hear a helicopter hovering over her. Either Tim found her, or the enemy did. She was hoping that it was Tim. She knew that during her fall and her time in the river her radio had fallen out so she was left with no communication in the middle of the Congo.
Arizona still heard the helicopter hovering above her, so she finally opened her eyes slowly. When she did she saw that a repeal rope was hanging from it and two people were about to repeal down to her. It was Tim, and she knew that Alex and Addison were about to repeal down to her. Luckily Alex and Addison didn't make it on the rope because seconds after Arizona opened her eyes a missile hit the tail of the helicopter causing it to spin out of control and crash somewhere in the jungle. Not good.
For a moment after the crash the jungle was quiet, the only thing that could be heard was the sound of the river and a few wildlife creatures. She didn't hear anything that sounded like her team, and she had no radio so she had no clue if they were safe or not. Arizona wanted to get up her mind was telling her to get up, but her body was doing the opposite. Her body refused to move, it need rest and it chose the river bed in the Congo to do it.
As Arizona laid there in silence she was waiting for someone to find her. Her best guess was it would be someone from Dixon's compound. She had no clue how the rest of team was doing since the crash. She wasn't sure how long she had been laying there but finally she heard something that sounded like a human from her left, "Robbins!" Owen's deep voice broke through the thick trees of the Congo's jungle.
"Yeah," Arizona's voice was scratchy the when she opened her mouth so she cleared her throat and tried again. "Yeah," she said a little louder. She raised her hand slightly before it plopped back down by her side.
"Found her," Addison said as she ran over to side.
Addison's face came into Arizona's view. She was missing her helmet and she a deep cut over her right eye. "You ok?" Addison said as she grabbed Arizona and lifted her up.
"Yeah," Arizona groaned as she wrapped her arm around Addison's neck. Her legs were sore from the fall so she put most of her weight on Addison as they walked back into the jungle. "Where are we going?"
"Derek is waiting for us in a clearing that is 6 klicks north of us." Owen said as helped Addison carry Arizona. "We have to hurry because I'm sure that there are men coming find and kill us if we aren't dead."
Right as the statement left his mouth, a patrol jeep started to drive towards them. "Patrol," Alex whispered.
Without saying anything else they hid behind trees and bushes that were around them. The car passed by slowly making sure it scanned the area thoroughly. They had to wait another 20 minutes before the car was completely out of sight.
"I don't want to push you guys, but if you don't hurry we won't be able to get out of here. They are closing in on me and fast." Derek said over the radio.
"We are doing the best we can. Robbie isn't 100 percent after falling 250 feet and then being dragged around the river." Alex spat back as he walked over to Owen and Addison who were still holding on to a tried Arizona. Alex shoved Owen aside and lifted Arizona up onto his shoulders. "Let's move." Alex said as he turned around the briskly walked towards Derek and the helicopter.
With Arizona on Alex's shoulders they were able to get Derek in 20 minutes only having to stop for 5 minutes when another car came by looking for them. They made it to Derek and away from the area just in time. If Derek would have been there 10 minutes longer Dixon's men would have found him and then they would be in serious trouble.
"Is the Prime Minister safe?" Arizona asked.
"Yes he is. He should be on his way back to England right now." Alex said back.
A full week passed by before Callie finally opened her eyes again. She was in the make shift hospital room at Rainbow Headquarters. When she opened her eyes she immediately looked to her right to see Arizona sitting by her side looking at her. "Hey," Callie said in whisper.
"Hey," Arizona whispered back.
"What happened?" Callie asked. The events were now a little fogging in her mind and she couldn't tell what was real and what was fake.
"Dixon's men tried to take over Air Force One when you were going to peace summit. The plane crashed in Bremen Germany, and Dixon was there waiting to kidnap the President and the First Lady after she shot you, Yang and Bailey." Arizona's voice was low and raspy.
"What about Stevens? I think I saw Izzie get shot." Callie questioned.
"She was," Arizona whispered. "Her injuries were too severe and she died." Arizona lightly shook her head. "She was dead before her body hit the ground."
Callie clenched her jaw and laid back down in the bed staring up at the ceiling. "Lexie, Henry and Kevin have been working around the clock trying to find the First Lady and President." Arizona paused for a moment. "Having Kevin as a part of our intelligence team is proving to be a success. He can see and find things about Dixon that we would have never thought of. He was able to find the First Lady. She is being held up in a rundown building in Berlin. Perfect for hiding someone seeing how it's not cleared as habitable yet."
Callie sat up in the bed and started to get out of the bed, "what do you think you're doing?" Arizona grabbed Callie by the shoulders and tried to force her to lie back down.
"You found the First Lady, and by the way you are dressed I'm taking it that you are about to go get her." Callie looked over to Arizona to see that she was wearing Rainbow's signature black cargo pants, black boots and black long sleeve shirt before the vest. "I want to go with you." Callie replied.
"No," Arizona said with a stern voice. "You, Yang and Bailey are still too weak. I need you guys to be strong. I need you to be 100% for when we finally take down Dixon."
"How do you know she won't be there when you go find the First Lady?" Callie asked.
"Because it's the First Lady. The First Lady means nothing to Dixon. Dixon is probably with President right now." Arizona paused and ran her hand though Callie's hair. "If you're strong enough you can come on our next mission. Promise."
"Be safe,"
"Always am," Arizona bent down and kissed Callie on the forehead before she turned to leave. When she faced the door she was greeted with both Bailey and Yang standing in the doorway.
"I think I'm going to hurl." Cristina said before she left the room.
"Note to self, talk to Callie if I want General Robbins to do something for me." Bailey said before she left as well.
Arizona just smiled to herself before she left the room and went upstairs to finish getting ready before Rainbow went to Berlin to rescue the First Lady.
Once everyone was ready they made their way over to the helicopters. Along with the addition of Arizona's vest, helmet and guns she was also sporting a gas mask. The gas levels were still too high for people to live in so gas masks were needed for any authorized personal that were allowed to be in Berlin.
The building that the First Lady was kept at was run down and was a building used when Dixon set off her dirty bomb. The once 50 story building now stood at 10 stories. The roof was completely ripped off, and Rainbow knew that the First Lady was in a room on the ninth floor. Getting to the ninth floor of the building was going to take some work since the stairwell to some of the floors had a few gaps in them making it hard to get the next floor. Each floor a number of people guarding it, and the building looked like it was two seconds away from falling over.
Derek and Ben dropped off Rainbow a few miles away from the building making sure that none of Dixon's men saw them. Using satellite images and drones, Henry and Kevin were able to confirm that the surrounding buildings were empty and that the only building being used by Dixon's men was the 10 story building. The plan was for Arizona, Addison, Meredith, April and Nate to go into the surrounding buildings and provide cover fire for the others as they quickly stormed the building.
They knew that Dixon didn't have problem killing people no matter what their background was. So running into the building guns blazing was not the way to go. This mission was going to be a little bit tougher than previous ones mainly because they were on a time limit. The gas masks that they were using had a time limit which was 2 hours. Rainbow had 2 hours to storm the building and get the First Lady. They had a lot pressure, pressure that would have been welcomed by Rainbow with open arm, but they were dealing with Dixon. She a ton of tricks up her sleeve and her constant winning was starting to take a toll on the group.
Arizona and the other snipers quietly and quickly made their way to their buildings. As they went to their separate floors they set up claymores and other traps to alert them if someone else in the building. "Snipers are in position, ready whenever you are Tango Alpha." Arizona said over the radio.
Teddy and others made their way towards the entrance of the building. They were greeted with two guards keeping watch in two tall towers on either side of the entrance door. The angle at which the towers were standing made it hard for the sniper team to see so taking out the main guards would be left to Teddy and Alex.
"Alex," Teddy whispered to her right.
Alex looked over to her and watched as she signaled to take out the man on the right tower. Alex shook his head and aimed his gun at the man. "On my count, 3…2…1" Teddy said as she counted down to one. When Teddy reached one they both shot and both men came crashing down to the ground. With main guards down for the count Teddy and Alex made their way to the building with others close behind them. Teddy and Bravo team were on the left side entrance while Alex and Alpha team were on the ride side of the entrance.
Teddy looked over Alex and without saying anything they both entered the building. Teddy took the left side of the building while Alex took the right side. Teddy's side of the building was clear, while Alex had three men sitting at a small table on his side. Before the men could register that someone was in the room, Alex shot and killed all three of them in a three single shots. Together Teddy and Alex checked the rest of the floor. "Clear," Teddy said first.
"Clear," Alex said as he lowered his weapon slightly.
The rest of the team joined them on the first floor. With the first floor clear they used the main staircase that was right in the middle of the room to make their way up to the second floor. The second floor itself was clear with no signs of life. They continued on the staircase to the third floor.
The third floor was where the main staircase ended. On the third floor right by the stairs was a long dark hallway. When you exited the stairs you were forced to go either left of right. Teddy and Jackson took the right side of the hall while Alex and Owen took the left of the wall. Teddy and Alex slid across the floor to hug the wall that was on the opposite side while Owen and Jackson hugged the wall that was on same side as the staircase. They remained quiet as they walked down to the ends of their hallways. Both teams were about to turn the corner and clear their teams to enter the floor when two men turn the corner on Teddy's side of the hallway. Teddy took out one man while Jackson took out the other. However they both missed the third man that was still hiding by the wall and was about to radio in for help. Arizona managed to shoot him, but she shot him when he was in mid-sentence.
Alex and Owen heard footsteps running towards them. They raised their guns and were ready to shoot, but they heard the faint sounds of a sniper being shot followed by the sounds of their bodies hitting ground.
When the other hallway was quiet for longer than 30 seconds Alex peered around the corner. 5 guards were died on the ground, thanks to Addison. "Remind me to never piss off Addison." Owen whispered to Alex as they cleared their side of the floor. After Teddy and Jackson cleared their side of the floor they were met with their next challenge. There were no stairs that lead to floor 4 through 8.
"We're going to have climb up there," Teddy gave a heavy sigh. Cristina was the master at climbing and shooting, but that moment she was not with them. Teddy turned around the face the two unofficial members of her team, "which one of you can climb and shoot at the same time?" Teddy asked.
Without hesitation Drew, Brian, Tim and a red dot from Nate's sniper pointed to Nick. Nick stepped towards Teddy and grabbed the rope out of her hands, while Mark stepped over towards Alex and grabbed the rope out his hands.
It only took Nick and Mark two tries each before they were able to catch the rope on something solid and stable. Their actions of trying to get the rope to catch on something alerted the attention of the four people on the floor, which were quickly taken out by Meredith and April.
Mark and Nick started to climb up to the 8th floor with their guns drawn clearing each floor as they went. When they made it the 8th floor they were greeted with sight of the dead guards that Meredith and April had killed. They both looked over the edge telling the others the floors were clear.
It took 10 minutes for the rest of the Rainbow team to join Mark and Nick. Once they on the 8th they doubled checked the floor making sure it was really clear before they moved on to the 9th floor where the First Lady was located.
Together Alpha on the left side, Bravo the right side they moved up the last set of stairs to the 9th floor. Without looking at each other Teddy and Alex stepped into the hallway, Teddy looking right Alex looking left.
Teddy shot the four men on her side each man getting a single shot while Alex shot the two on his side each man getting a single shot as well. Just like the third floor Owen joined Alex and Jackson joined Teddy. The rest of the floor was cleared before they moved to the door of the one and only room left on that floor that had a closed door.
Teddy was on the left side of the door while Alex was on the right side of the door. Teddy was the one that took out her snake cam and put it under the door. She scanned the room briefly before she looked over to Alex.
"5 men total, 2 on the left 2 on the right. The last on is right in front of the First Lady, so we have to be careful." Alex shook his head agreeing with her as he got his gun ready. Teddy put away her snake cam and took out a flash bang. With her hand on the doorknob she opened the door and threw the flash bang in the room. She let the flash bang do its job before she and Alex entered the room. They were able to clear their side of the room with no problem, however, when they moved to the man in the middle it seemed like was unfazed by the flash bang and was now holding the First Lady hostage in front of him. For a brief second he moved her to the side to show his face more so he could talk to Teddy, which was a mistake. The moment his face was far enough away from the First Lady Mark shot and killed the man. The man fell backward and fell through one of the many holes in the floor that the building had. If it weren't for Alex quickly lunging forward and grabbing the First Lady she would have fallen 9 stories to her death as well.
"Derek, Ben. We have the First Lady; let's get out of here before something bad happens." Teddy said as she, Rainbow and the First Lady moved to the 10th floor or the building's new roof.
Ben took the task of the hovering only 2 inches off the main building where the First Lady was. Since the building was unstable he played it safe and didn't land on the roof. He hovered enough to make it easy for the First Lady to get in the helicopter with no problems. While Ben was picking up the First Lady and Rainbow, Derek was flying to the other buildings that housed Rainbow's sniper team.
As Rainbow made their way back to London the air was different among them. For the first time in mouths they finally had a successful mission.