Sweep
The field tent was at one end of the arc of the pie-shaped segment they were going to sweep. It was only about one-eighth of the circle whose center was where the Fuhrer had been attacked, but they'd determined it to be the most likely place for the fugitive to have run. Their goal was to capture the man who'd attacked the Fuhrer, alive if possible, so that he could be questioned. Hopefully, Mustang would get a promotion out of it.
Breda and the three Ishval vets stood outside the tent.
"Remember," said Havoc, "we could be facing not just one injured Ishvalan warrior but three or four uninjured as well. And they won't be fighting to protect their clan, because they'll be either dead or gone. We have to assume that all they're out for is vengeance."
"Which means the only bargaining power we have is to let them live," said Breda.
"Which means no bargaining power at all, Second Lieutenant Breda," corrected Roy.
"We also can't assume that an Ishvalan who's down is out," Hawkeye reminded them.
"You already said that, sir," said Heymans. He was getting a little annoyed at all these reminders for his benefit. Sure, he hadn't been in Ishval, but he had been in combat before.
"Even one who's fatally wounded. Maybe especially one who's fatally wounded. If we can't immobilize them, we'll have to kill them," Hawkeye continued anyway.
Breda felt three pairs of eyes on him. "I understand."
"Just in case one of us can't ... " Havoc started.
Breda looked him straight in the eye. "I understand, sir," he repeated, a little more forcefully.
Havoc looked away, but Roy nodded.
They were going to space themselves out on the arc of the circle as far as they could while still maintaining eye contact with at least one of the others at all times. Then they would sweep in towards the center, a distance of about twelve and a half miles.
They walked out from the field tent until Breda could barely see it. "That's me," said Breda.
"Okay," said Havoc. "Signal me when we've gone far enough."
The three Ishval vets walked on in silence, Havoc keeping an eye back towards Breda. "That's it," said Havoc. "My stop."
Roy and Hawkeye continued on. When they reached the spot where Roy could barely see Havoc, he stopped.
"Be careful, sir," said Hawkeye. She didn't like leaving him alone on a field of battle like this, even though she would still be in visual contact with him.
Roy grinned, knowing her thoughts. "I always am."
"That's what I'm afraid of, sir," she said. "You're always careful and yet somehow you always end up in trouble."
"Then it's a good thing that I have the two best snipers in Amestris with me, one on each side," he answered in the voice he used to flirt on the phone.
She gave him a look that was half-smile, half disgust, then turned and walked on until he gave her the signal that she was on the edge of his visual range.
They got their bearings toward the center of the circle using their compasses. When Roy had counted down five minutes to give everyone time, he gave the signal and they started their sweep.
They'd found out about the attack almost as soon as it had occurred, around 11:30 am. Everything was ready to go, so it took them no more than a quarter of an hour to set up their alibis and rendezvous at the jeep. It took about an hour and a quarter to drive the eighty-some miles between East City and the Ishval border where they set up their base camp. Another half hour for that and then well over an hour to walk out the ten-mile arc and take up their positions. By the time they had actually started their sweep their quarry had a head start of three to four hours, injured, during the hottest time of the day.
They went slowly, signalling around the arc for a stop whenever any of them had to take more time to check out a pile of rocks or a ravine.
They had gotten about half way to the center when Jean called one such stop. The distance between them had now decreased from roughly two and a half miles to one and a quarter. They could all see each other now except Hawkeye and Breda on the ends.
Havoc saw dirty white fabric weighted down with sand on one side. As he approached carefully, he saw dried brown and rips. It was an emergency shelter and looked like it had been attacked. He signalled the others to join him.
When they got there, Roy and Hawkeye and Breda approached the shelter while Jean kept a lookout on the horizon all around.
"She's dead," said Roy. Jean turned to look.
Someone had dug out a trench about one and a half feet deep, six feet long and four feet wide and lined it with the traditional Ishvalan men's striped sash. The torn white blood-stained fabric Jean had seen had been the "roof" of the make-shift shelter. Seeing the bare-headed woman lying on the sash, it appeared to have been her floor length head covering.
"It's been strafed by machine-gun fire," said Havoc. He had a bad feeling about this.
"Whoever it was may still be around," said Hawkeye. "Look sharp."
"There's at least two, then," said Roy. "The man who was travelling with this woman and the person with the machine gun."
"Unless they're the same person," said Breda. "Could he have killed her himself?"
Havoc continued scanning the horizon, refusing to look toward the shelter again. "He could have, but he wouldn't have used bullets. He would have slit her throat or strangled her."
"Could she have been alone?" asked Breda.
"See how wide that shelter is?" said Jean, glancing back at it for a moment. "It would be much narrower if it was for just one. I guess she could have been travelling with another woman."
Jean paused.
"I saw these on clean-up. Sometimes people would seem to just jump out of the ground."
He paused again.
"Standard operating procedure was to strafe them first, like someone did here. Then you uncover them and take care of whoever's still alive."
Roy remembered something. "... sometimes we'd find a baby or a really young kid who was still alive and unhurt because its mother or father had covered it with their body."
"Okay, all of you, I'm going to check further. Watch for the Ishvalan or the machine gunner," said Roy.
There was only one place to check. Jean kept his back resolutely to the shelter. If Mustang was going to do something, he didn't want to watch ...
"I've got him," said Roy. "He's still alive. No wounds, but I imagine he hasn't had anything to eat or drink for a while."
"We'll have to call off the search then, sir," said Breda. There was disappointment in his voice but no doubt that that was what they would do.
"There will be other opportunities," said Hawkeye.
Jean still kept his back to the shelter but started to relax his stiff posture. They had resources. It wasn't a war zone. And like Hawkeye said, there would be other opportunities.
"I don't think we need to give up quite yet," said Roy. "Second Lieutenant Havoc?"
Jean went rigid again and turned to look at Roy, who was holding the limp Ishvalan infant in his arms. "Lt Colonel, I'm not going to - ," he began.
"... take him back to base camp for us?" finished Roy quietly.
"Of course!" said Breda. "We," he waved his hand indicating the rest of them, "wait here. We'll lose some time, but you'll be the fastest, Hav. We'll still be able to finish at least one sweep before nightfall."
Roy carefully laid the infant in Havoc's arms. "Hurry, my friend," he said. "Here's one you might be able to save."
"Yes, SIR," he answered and began to jog the six miles back to camp.