A/N- from this point on, some chapters might be named, some might not.

Chapter 10:

Always Kiss Them Goodbye

March, 1994, Unit Compound, Fort Bragg, North Carolina. Colonel Colleton has now been The Unit's CO for 6 Months. Newly promoted Staff Sergeant Chester Martin, who passed selection in December, had received his (unofficial) Unit Tattoo and 22. Caliber Hi-Standard Silencer pistol. Unfortunately, both 1st Sergeant Kearns and Sergeant 1st Class Clarkin had left the Unit. John Hirsch was promoted to Master Sergeant and made Alpha Team's Senior NCO.

It was 1000 hours when the unit was called into the T.O.C. "Listen up" said Colonel Colleton as he walked in. "At 0530 this morning, a group of hostiles, with unknown affiliations broke into a chemical weapons depot in South Carolina. From there they headed north, and The N.C Staties have tracked them to an airfield near here. "Tony, I want you to take Mal and Martin with you to investigate. Hirsch will stay here to run ops. Understood?" he asked.

"What was stolen sir?" asked Tony.

"2 Canister of Sentox VX-1 Nerve Gas" said Colleton.

"Yes Sir" replied Tony.

As Tony and Malachi walked out of the T.O.C Tony said, you ever get a really bad a feeling before a mission?" asked Malachi.

"Before every single one" said Tony with a straight face.

An hour later, Tony, Malachi and Chester pulled up to the airstrip at Manfredburgville. There they found two state police officers waiting for them. "Officers" said Tony, who was wearing his trademark Aviator Sunglasses. "What's the situation?" he asked.

"4 men inside the hangar" replied one of the officers. As he said Tat, the hangar doors started to slide open. Tony, Mal and Chester all drew there sidearms. A single engine JC-3 rolled out of the hangar towards the runway. Malachi fired 2 shots at the plane before Tony stopped him.

"What the hell?" asked Malachi.

"Under the wings" said Tony. Malachi looked over an saw a canister attached to the bottom of each wing. "It's the nerve gas, a bullet pierces that we're all dead" The plane taxied down the runway and took off. "Fuck me" said Tony as he took off running to the nearest plane. He opened the door of a Cessna 317 and fired up the engine. He taxied the plane over to the runway and took off. He was about 10 minutes behind the

JC-3. He put on his headset and turned the dial to the Unit's frequency. "Marshlands, this is Movie Buff over" said Tony. Tony had given Tom Colleton that nickname after the South Carolina Cotton plantation Tom grew up on.

"Movie Buff, this is Marshlands over" replied Colleton.

"Marshlands, I'm flying a Cessna 317 in pursuit of single engine JC-3. JC-3 has been retrofitted with VX Canisters. Current vectors 87 degrees North by Northeast, over" said Tony. Then Tony noticed something. "Marshlands, Pilot is dead, I repeat pilot is dead, it must be running on some kind of auto pilot"

"Copy that Movie Buff, we'll try and figure out where he's headed." Said Colleton. As he said that, Hirsch walked into the T.O.C carrying a map of North Carolina. "Target's heading 87 degrees north by northeast. Any probable targets?" asked Colleton.

"Hirsch got out a ruler and did some calculations before he said "shit".

"What?" asked Colleton.

"Those current vectors will put him right over us in about 45 minutes. His target is Fort Bragg" said Hirsch gravely.

At the airfield, the 3 remaining hostiles had barricaded themselves inside the hangar. Chester and Malachi had retrieved M-16s from their HUMVEE and opened fire on them. "Are things always this interesting?" asked Chester, smiling.

"Just shut and shoot kid" ordered Malachi. Malachi and Chester were taking cover behind the front passenger side of their HUMVEE. Malachi popped up and fired a quick burst from his M-16. 3 of the bullets hit one of the hostiles in the chest and he fell to the ground. A second hostile appeared on the roof of the hangar holding an RPK LMG.

"Look out!" yelled Chester as he knocked Malachi to the ground. The hostile raked the HUMVEE with fire as he expended the entire 40 round magazine. When the hostile went to reload, Martin popped up and fired 4 rounds from his M9. 2 of the rounds hit home and the hostile dropped his weapon and fell to the earth below. Malachi nodded his thanks as he stood up.

"Come on out its over" yelled Malachi, trying to bring in the last guy alive. The Hangar doors slid open once again, a man walked forward. "Oh Shit, get down" he yelled as both he and Chester dove for the deck.

"ALLAH AL AKBAR" yelled the final hostile as he clicked the detonator on for his suicide vest. The man and the hangar exploded.

Malachi looked up and saw that the flames had engulfed a nearby fuel storage tank. "Move, more, move!" he screamed as he and Chester ran for their lives. Shrapnel from the explosion had caused the tank to leak. Once the flames hit the leaking gas, the tank exploded, sending flaming metal and shrapnel in every direction. A fireball rose above the air strip. The cop car that the state troopers had arrived in had also exploded; sinders and ashes began falling everywhere. Malachi and Chester were covered from head to toe in soot, as ashes fell all around them. Thankfully, the explosion had only caused their HUMVEE to flip over. "Marshlands, this is Blue Star, over" said Malachi into his radio.

"Blue Star, this is Marshlands, over" replied Colonel Colleton.

"Marshlands, 2 hostiles down via gunfire. 3 hostile explode suicide vest, took the hangar, fuel storage tank and cop car with him. Need 1st responders to help deal with fire, over" said Malachi.

"Copy that Blue Star. Status of State Troopers?" asked Colleton.

"Killed during shootout over" replied Malachi.

"Roger that. 1st responders en route, sit tight, over" replied the Colonel.

"Copy that Marshlands" replied Malachi. "Marshlands, status of Movie Buff?" he asked.

"Movie Buff still in hot pursuit of hostile craft over"

"Movie Buff, this is Backdraft, you are approaching Waterloo Yellow, I repeat, you are approaching Waterloo Yellow" said John Hirsch over the radio. Waterloo Yellow signified that the hostile airplane was approaching the 5 mile limit around Fort Bragg.

"Then I'm out of options, there's only one thing left I can do" said Tony as he pulled back on the stick. He looked down at his forearms, where he could still see the burn marks that he received when the M-242 shell casing fell on him in Somalia. He pulled the plane up to Angels 10, or 10,000 feet AGL, a good 3,000 feet above the enemy craft. Then, he pulled the stick forward and aimed the nose of his plane straight at the

JC-3. He could hear Backdraft yelling at him through the radio.

"Don't do it Top. Top! Top! DiNozzo! God Dammit DiNozzo don't do it. Tony!" he yelled. Tony ignored him. Just as he was about to hit the JC-3, it banked hard to the left.

"Whoa!" yelled Tony as he fought to regain controlled flight. "Backdraft, hostile craft has changed course, repeat hostile craft has changed course. New heading, 297 degrees north by northwest, over" Tony said.

"Copy that Movie Buff, we're checking that heading now." Replied Master Sergeant Hirsch. Tony few on for about 5 more minutes in absolute silence. "Movie Buff, this is Backdraft over"

"Backdraft this is Movie Buff over" replied Tony.

"Movie Buff, according to the vectors you gave us, target is headed for downtown Charlotte" said John, gravely.

"Holy shit" said Tony. "That's gotta be at least a million people right?" asked Tony.

"At least" replied John

"How long have I got till we reach Waterloo Yellow again?" asked Tony.

"Based on your current airspeed and the prevailing winds, less than 10 minutes" said John.

"Anyway to scramble some fighters before then?" asked Tony, hoping for a miracle.

"No, Air support is at least 25 minutes out" said John, as he knew what Tony was planning to do.

"Than I guess I have no choice now" said Tony gravely as he began to pull back on the stick once again. "Backdraft, is there anyway you can patch me through to Kate?" asked Tony as he was praying for a chance just to say goodbye.

"Hang on, I'll make the cal" said John. Tony waited for bout a minute, in silence. "There's no answer Tony" said John.

"Tony, its Malachi, I've been listening this whole time. Is there any message you want me to pass on to Kate and Three?" he asked.

"Just make something up, you know what to say" said Tony. He was just about to begin his decent when he thought of something. "Hey John, what happens when a plane goes into a tail spin?" Tony asked.

"Um, it looses all lift, and departs from controlled flight" replied John.

"And it takes a pilot to counter that, right?" asked Tony

"Yeah, it takes a pilot"

"It takes a pilot, it takes me. An auto pilot can't put out of a tail spin" said Tony.

Think you can pull it off?" asked John.

"Only one way to find out" said Tony as he put his plane into a slight dive and pulled his plane level with the JC-3. "Here goes nothing" he said.

"Good luck Tony" said John.

Meanwhile, Tony fought for control. When he spun out the JC-3, the enemy plane went into a perfect nose dive and plummeted straight to earth. Tony yanked back on the stick and banked hard right.

For about a minute, Colonel Colleton, Malachi, John and Chester listened in silence. Then they heard it over their respective radios. "In the immortal words of John McClane 'Yippy ky ah Motherfuckers!'" yelled Tony.

The T.O.C erupted into a pandemonium of cheers. "Yeah!" screamed Tom Colleton.

John Hirsch could only laugh as he said "There will be now living with him now"

Meanwhile at the Airfield, Malachi , who was now covered in soot and ashes yelled "Yes, Yes, Yes!". 45 minutes later, Tony's Cessna 317 touched down on the runway. Tony jumped out and when he saw that both Martin and Malachi were covered from head to toe in soot and ashes, as well as the destruction of the field, he burst out laughing.

"Jesus Christ Mal, I told you to pop Martin's cherry, not blow up the fucking Airfield" said Tony as both Malachi and Martin joined him in the laugh.

It was 1935 hours when Tony got home that night. As he walked in the door, we shut the door behind him, dropped his bag and made his way back to the kitchen.

When Kate saw him burst into the kitchen, she was making dinner. "Oh, Tony your home, I was just" was all she got out before he cut her off with a soft, yet passionate kiss. His arms locked around her waist, as she threw her arms around his neck. After about a minute he broke the kiss.

"I Love you, Katie" he said with a tear in his eye

"I love you too, Tony" she said, as they resume their make out session.

A/N- A quick little chapter to bridge the gap. Also, for the record, to my knowledge, there is no such thing as a Cessna 317.

P.S- PLEASE REVIEW

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