***Finally! Can I just say this was sooo long overdue? Grad school has been kicking my butt, I ended up taking summer classes; then on a whim, applied for a program that ended up with me studying in India. So, here I am, finally back and settled and am dedicated to not abandon my fic.
Thank you all so much for sending me messages and encouraging me to continue, I'm just sorry it went untouched for so long and so many of you have been waiting. The next update won't be painstakingly absent, so I hope there is still the interest.
Disclaimer: Language warning, SA- Special artillery, SA 7-4A- Imaginary SA gun, Slater/Del Margino are used interchangeably. Oh and the Stiletto...awesome Ranger boat.
Previously..."And to die for her?"
"Every day." Ranger said without hesitation.
Stephanie let out a sob.
"Always the superhero, eh?"
"Regardless of what happens to me, you will be dead by the night's end, Margino."
"So will you." Slater raised his SA 7-4A. "It's over Manoso! Adios."
A scream pierced the night air. The sound of Slater's gun was deafening, the blast was blinding, and the pain, searing. Jumping forward and throwing his weight into his victim, Slater shoved the body off the ship, sending it plummeting to the black abyss of water.
The scream continued as Slater stared over the edge, the sound of the body entering the water was swallowed by the noise of the barge and the ocean clapping the sides of the metal vessel.
"You bastard!" Stephanie yelled as she collapsed to the deck, sobbing.
Slater whipped around and smirked at the broken form of Stephanie shaking on the deck, a slippery smile spreading across his face. "Ahh, Corina. There is no need to weep." He moved with methodical steps until he was kneeling in front of her. "You have me, no?" Slater ran his hand along her tear stained face, smearing streaks of partially dried blood.
"Get away from me!" Stephanie tried to roll, kick, anything to get away from Slater. Ranger, in his own way, had just professed his no-strings-attached-no-price love for her, and taken a bullet for her. Again.
Slater let out a hallow laugh as his wicked face admired her. "I hate you! Don't touch me you piece of shit! Oh, god." She turned her face away and tried to scoot along the deck only to feel Slater's grip tighten and pull her upright.
"We still have a party to finish. That shot was heard around the ship. Any friends of yours still prowling my ship will meet a similar fate from my men." Slater pulled out his radio and began his orders.
Stephanie stole a glance to the side of the ship and fresh tears began to leak from her eyes. Pain stabbed at her heart and felt her stomach clench and began to pump yet again. She doubled over as the nausea consumed her, dry heaving as her stomach was emptied hours earlier. "Oh, Ranger." Her fingers feebly curled the cold surface of the ship, the pain wrenching.
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The icy water temporarily engulfed his senses, paralyzing his survival instincts. "Holy shit that stings." Ranger thought as he began to drift into an ulterior state of mind.
"Kick your feet soldier! What the hell do you think this is? A fucking kiddy fountain? This isn't water aerobics! It's the goddamn Army Rangers! Kick, surface, breathe! Survival you bastard! Kick, surface, breathe! I'm going to strap you to the bottom of this fucking pool! Then you'll wish you were thinking you piece of shit! Even shit floats! Kick, surface, breathe!"
"Babe," Suddenly snapping to his senses, Ranger pulled his thoughts forward and kicked, taking a salty breath of air as he breached the surface. The force of the water battered him as he tried to maintain a position near the massive boat. Placing his hand on the cool steel, he was rocked fiercely by the boat's wake as he kicked against the current. The massive ship continued to trudge ahead of him, no matter how hard he kicked, he was losing ground.
"Fuck," he breathed as another wake knocked him away from the vessel. As the bow of the ship made its way further from him, he continued to kick, the pain in his shoulder no longer an , Slater didn't aim for his head or he would have been fucked. Just like Cal had been wounded by an area unprotected by his vest, Ranger suffered a similar fate. The bullet pierced the fleshy area of his left pec to the side of his arm, making a clean exit, at least that's what he hoped. Adrenaline kicking in, he let out a primal scream as he kicked and swam with everything he knew. To no avail he continued to lose distance from the massive boat.
Suddenly, Ranger felt a snakelike object slither across his neck. On instinct, he grabbed it and felt it slip through his hands. "Holy shit." Ranger tightened his grip and stared up the boat. With the grappling rope from their earlier ascent wrapped around his forearm, he instantly felt himself pulled forward. Like bad body boarding, he centered his focus and inched his way towards the boat, methodically placing one hand over the other. Twirling and swaying from the force of the waves, he reached the side of the boat and pulled his body above the water line. Feet dangling in the frothy water, he composed himself. His shoulder began to throb and forced the pain away. Flipping his body around, he attached the rope to a black carabiner around his waist and loosely wrapped the rope around his leg. Arm throbbing, he walk up the side of the boat, emulating his earlier climb.
Painstakingly, he pulled his weight and sloshed up the steep vessel. As he neared the top, Ranger's foot slipped and his shoulder gave out, toppling him down the side. "Shit." Ranger flailed and managed to grab the rope as he dangled upside down, the rope taut on his leg. "Good, god…Babe," Righting himself, he curled up and swore to himself if he let the pain take over him again he would throw himself back into the Atlantic. Slowly and more assured, he finally crested the top.
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Even in the belly of the ship, Ranger's men could discern the sound of a gun firing. "Move! Move! Move!" Lester shouted to the Alpha team. "Topside! Yesterday!" Tank, Lester, and Bobby sprinted toward the staircase they had just descended on pure adrenaline, guns drawn. Suddenly, an object 'pinged' off the railing and the three men rolled simultaneously to the left of the staircase. Tank took refuge behind two large I-beams, and Bobby and Lester rolled three feet away behind a short steel wall.
"They know we're here!" Lester said, holding his gun up as rapid fire bounced off the metal and voices yelled angrily in Spanish.
"What was your first guess?" Bobby quipped as he began pulling items out of his pocket.
Searching the stern of the ship, the crackle of the radio broke into the Beta team's search, "Ram, Hal, Vince! Deck! Now!" Tank bellowed. "We're under fire."
"Holy shit!" Vince yelled. "This is a fucking war zone! Where did they all come from?"
Lester adjusted his vest and pulled out a small mirror and post and stuck it around the wall. "South America my friend."
"Tank, we're not going to make it topside." Ram said. "Main points of exit are currently blocked with unfriendlys. Tank…we're trapped."
"Shit, there's four above us, two on the stairs, and three maybe four positioned below us. Ow!" The mirror shattered as a bullet caught it, sending glass splinters into Lester's hand. "Fuckers." He whispered as his hand began to dot with blood droplets. Bobby shook his head as he turned towards his friend.
"Here," he handed Lester an oblong shaped cylinder and he smiled. "Tank, what do you got?" Tank pulled out a smoke grenade and held it up. "Good. We'll go on three. I'll send mine out, Tank, you drop yours. Santos, you throw the flash grenade up the stairs." The men all nodded.
"Hold fire. We'll run down the plank towards the stern of the ship. They know we're here and are going to be on upper grates waiting."
"Copy." Bobby and Lester acknowledged.
"Ready?" Bobby saw the head nods. "One, two.…three!"
They dropped the pins and hurled their grenades. Screams followed the sound of the flash grenade exploding above. Gunshots sprayed the walls as Slater's soldiers became disoriented with the flash and smoke. The three men tucked and rolled sprinting down the hall, unseen.
"We're going to have ten very unhappy Colombians when the smoke clears." Bobby said as they peered around a corner. All clear, they moved deftly towards the sound of gunfire.
Tank raised his hand and they all stopped. With his long arm, Tanked reached into an open space and grabbed a rebel by the throat, dragging him out of his hiding spot. The man gasped and was quickly silenced with a quick yank from Tank. Lester smirked at the sight. Tank signaled the 'all clear' and they moved forward.
The voices of Vince, Ram, and Hal continued to feed through in desperate tones. As Tank, Bobby, and Lester dropped down a level and approached the stern, the scene looked dismal.
"Holy mother of god." Lester whispered as they crouched down, surveying. "Ranger'd be pissed if he knew they were trapped like rats down there. Talk about not being aware of your surroundings."
"We have them from an elevated position, we should be able to knock several down." Tank began. Bobby ran a head count as Tank continued, "We'll spread along the gangway and come up from behind. Count?"
"Thirteen,"
"Hmm, alright, we should each be able to take three with an initial knife attack. Choose your target carefully. Cut from behind. Throw your knife at the one who turns a gun on you. Use the body as a shield against another."
"And from there?" Bobby said as he pulled his knife out and tossed it from hand to hand.
"Take 'em down. Brown, you take left, Santos, take right." The men snapped into guerilla warfare mode and silently moved into position. Each man lined themselves above their target and slipped over the railing, slowly lowering their bodies behind the men shooting at their companions, each silently mirroring the moves of the other. With knife in hand, Bobby dropped and grabbed a man from behind, slitting the man's throat. Pulling the body over his right side, he turned left and threw the knife at an unsuspecting rebel firing upon Ram a level below. The rebel shot his gun up the wall and dropped, falling over the railing with a scream.
Seeing the body fall over the railing, attention and confused shouting turned to the new RangeMan arrivals. Lester threw himself over the rail, taking out another gunman effortlessly, a scream slipping out as Lester tossed the body into another rebel's shots. The RangeMan Beta team, originally trapped, took the moment of enemy confusion to reassess their position, scrambling for a more advantageous assault point.
Bobby felt his body shield shred as it absorbed SA bullets from the right side and impact his vest. As he fell to the ground clutching his body shield, he pulled his sidearm out and pointed it at the man charging him with an SA rifle. Suddenly, the man's eyes went wide as he slumped to the ground, landing on Bobby's feet. Tank emerged, bloody knife in hand, and nodded to Bobby.
"Don't mess with my man, fucker." Tank said as he extended a hand to Bobby, effortlessly hauling him up. Bobby slapped him on the back and nodded.
"Vests work." Bobby coughed out as he patted his stomach. "Hurts like hell." The men turned their attention over to Lester who was taking out his third victim with a slight grin. "Let's get our men. We're going to have a welcoming committee running down that corridor any moment."
Ram, Vince, and Hal took out the remaining confused militants and scaled the stairs and railings. A little worse for wear, they were relatively unscathed. Ram placed a hand over his chest and coughed as he shouldered his gun. "Shit! Those bullets fucking hurt!"
Tank grinned at Bobby who also grimaced.
"You pussy. Would you rather be dead?" Lester said as he straightened tenderly. "We'll see who wins later ok? I'll show you mine, you show me yours."
"You little shit," Vince said as he eyed Lester's bleeding hand. "Each bullet you pay 50 bucks. Shows how sloppy you were."
"Fuck you, Vince. Funny you'd be saying that when I took one to save your…"
"Ladies!" Tank bellowed, "Later. We got incoming and a hell of a mess above us. We are at the bottom of this beast. They're going to be looking for us." The six men confirmed. Hal reached over a dead body and removed the radio, tossing it to Lester.
"Keep tabs on them." Hal said.
Lester attached the radio and the men began to scale the labyrinth of stairs, gangplanks, and corridors to the top of the ship, praying they weren't too late.
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Slater yelled into the radio, throwing it across the deck.
"See? You won't get out of here alive." Stephanie yelled. "They will come for me."
"A minor setback." Slater grinned as he shoved his foot into her back and she dropped to the deck. "Don't like your attitude, sweet." He pressed his knee into her back and squashed her head hard and leaned over her face, taking a deep breath into her hair.
"Just die!" She squeezed out. "You'll never have me."
"And where is your dear precious love to take you away from me now? Hmmm?"
"Right here."
Slater jerked his head up and yanked Stephanie with him, gun pressed hard to her head. "How the hell…"
"Ranger!" Stephanie's screamed.
"You just won't die, will you, Manoso?" Slater spat, his stance stilted with rage. Snapping to, Slater dragged Stephanie to the side of the ship and dramatically kissed her ear. "Still so sweet."
Ranger eased his steps towards them, his Beretta from their earlier confrontation only steps away. He couldn't risk a shot with his Babe so close. Slater was too good to miss twice. He looked on with wrath brewing.
"I've had enough of our games, Manoso. Adios, querida." Slater effortlessly picked up Stephanie and tossed her over the edge. This time, the horror of Ranger's scream piercing the darkness.
"Noo! Stephanie!" Horrorstruck, Ranger retrieved the Beretta from the deck as he ran to the edge of the ship, witnessing where her body entered the water. Sadistic laughter filled the night air and he heard the distinct sound of a gun being cocked. Ranger whipped around, his eyes black with fury. His Beretta molded with the contour of his hand, familiar with its position. All that mattered now was getting to Stephanie.
"You were prepared to give your life for her, yet again. But not this time." A smirk spread across Slater's face, his eyes black and beady like a snake. Slater stared at the 92FS Beretta in Ranger's hand and glanced over to the clip discarded from his previous heroics. He smiled at the blood running down his arm and pooling off his hand, dripping onto the deck. "You are finished. As are your men."
Ranger said nothing, his eyes flicked to his radio discarded next to the clip from earlier. Suddenly, a flash of light burst and a blast was heard as the two men faced off.
"Ahh, I see. Your casualties are many."
"Not as many as yours."
Margino smirked, "There's nothing left for you, Manoso."
Ranger stood assessing like a predator his prey, his grip tightening on his weapon. "There is Margino."
"And what is that, Amigo?"
"Fuck you."
Faster than the words left his mouth, Ranger's gun had already discharged the lone bullet left in the chamber. Gun raised and still pointed at his mark, the stunned look on Slater's face stared back at the malice laden one. Blood exited the entry point on his forehead, dripping towards his nose as he fell to his knees. "Fffu…"A gurgle escaped Slater's lips as his body slumped forward, motionless on the deck.
Rushing to the edge, Ranger surveyed the water below. "Stephanie!" Nothing. 'Shit. It's too damn dark.' He thought as he retrieved a high-power flashlight from his pocket and scanned the water. 'Forty-five seconds? Sixty seconds? How long had it been?' He continued to scan the choppy water, his chest clenching with every passing second. 'Oh, God. Where are you, Babe? And where the hell are my men?'
Desperately searching the choppy sea, Ranger found nothing. 'Come on, where are you!' Still no sign. Sweeping again, the light caught an uncharacteristic brilliance from the sea. It was fleeting, but long enough for Ranger to know the sea did not emit such a sparkle.
"Babe!" Without hesitation, Ranger dropped the flashlight on the deck as he jumped off the side of the barge, diving into the icy water, this time of his own will.
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The metal door leading onto the deck burst open as the six RangeMen made assault topside. Guns at the ready, they passed by numerous dead bodies that littered the deck.
"Someone's been busy." Ram said as they passed a container with a body dangling by his own weapon and another sprawled with his neck bloody and open.
"You could definitely say that again." Bobby said kicking another one over with his foot.
"I haven't heard from Slater in several minutes." Lester said pointing his weapon around a container. "I've got static since we left his buddies dead at the bottom of the ship."
"Radio silence?" Tank asked.
Lester shook his head no, "I've heard a few scattered voices through the static."
"Anything from Bossman?" Hal asked.
Bobby cleared his throat, "Not since we heard shots before rescuing your asses." A grim silence fell upon them as they moved forward.
The looks on everyone's face gave him the answer.
A sound of metal on a container made Bobby's steps freeze as he instinctively grabbed for his side, "Move!" Everyone readied their weapons at Bobby's voice and turned to see Bobby lurch forward, throwing a knife flawlessly up into a rebel's throat causing him to collapse. As the body gurgled on top of the container, the distinct sound of a metal object rolling perked their ears. "Get down!" The trained men jumped behind an adjacent container. Hitting the deck and covering their heads, they heard the grenade stop rolling as it reached the edge of the container above. A blast of heat and shrapnel splayed the air around pinging off the boat and metal boxes, shattering the box.
"Fuck that was close! All here?" Tank asked sitting up and rubbing his head.
A few murmurs replied and they looked around, counting five. "Bobby?"
"He was right here." Hal said looking around.
"Bobby!" Came their cries as they saw movement of a metal sheet that had collapsed and heard a low moan.
"Grab it!" Tank yelled as they scrambled around the large siding of the fallen container wall. "One, two, three!" The five overly muscular men easily removed the heavy sheet off Bobby, Lester was quickly at his side.
"Bobby, you okay man?"
Bobby crawled onto his hands and knees and Lester placed his hands on this shoulders to steady him. "Yeah, couldn't be better."
"You sure?" Lester moved his hand and pulled a piece of shrapnel shallowly embedded in Bobby's neck and tossed the piece of metal up to Hal.
Bobby let out a cough, "Got the wind knocked out of me. That's all." He dusted off his pants and nodded
"Good, you scared the shit out of me."
Bobby pat his friend's shoulder and stood.
"As touching as this is, we gotta move." Vince said his eyes assessing.
Bobby extended his middle finger and retrieved his gun from Hal's outstretched hand as they moved forward.
"Shit." Tank held up his fist and they stopped, viewing the deck below. A lone dark figure was sprawled on the deck. "Ranger," Tank led with his weapon and came to the body. As he approached, he realized it was not his friend. Using his foot, he flipped the body over and the bloody vacant stare of Del Margino looked back.
"Where's Ranger?" Lester said surveying the deck. The radio and Beretta magazine abandoned. "And Stephanie?"
The flashlight rolled to and fro with the ship's sway, casting its beam across the deck.
"Shit, there's only one place."
"There's blood everywhere, and not just from Slater." Hal said looking around
"Uh-oh," Bobby whispered.
"Stand guard!" Tank pointed to Lester and Ram. The rest of them ran to the side and looked over the edge.
"I can't see shit!" Vince yelled.
"Ranger!" Tank bellowed. Of course it fell on deaf ears, but it made him feel like he was accomplishing something.
"Hector, Hector. Do you copy?" Hal spoke into his radio. "Hector?"
"Si?" Hector's voice came back.
"Shit. Santos! Get your ass over here!"
Vince ran to monitor with Ram, and Hal handed off the radio to Lester who began speaking rapidly in Spanish. "Hector get that fancy ass boat back here double-time! Good." Lester listened as he watched the other men search the water. "What do you mean? When? How long until they arrive? Oh shit. Double-time. Starboard." Lester disconnected, "Stiletto, ETA 60 seconds. Men, we got company ETA fifteen."
"Who?" Tank asked.
"You don't want to know." Lester shook his head.
"Grab a rope!" Tank yelled as the men assembled and Ram began to tie the rope and toss it overboard.
Lester placed a hand to his ear, "Let's move! We got incoming!"
The men obediently hopped the ledge and repelled down the side of the ship as Hector expertly idled below the rope.
Safely on the top of the Stiletto, they monitored the top of the barge for hostile fire.
"There! The lights! You see it?" Vince yelled pointing north.
"Fuck me. You silly, bastard." Tank muttered under his breath. "Hector! Pull out!"
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Ranger kicked furiously, his life literally depending on it. Reaching forward, he knew he had his prize. "Babe!" Ranger flipped Stephanie over, her head lolling to his chest. "No, Babe!" Ranger held her tight as he rolled onto his back, laying her across him. "No!" Reaching up to his left shoulder, he pulled down the Velcroed material and twisted the exposed round object. "Breathe, Babe. Please, don't leave me."
The sleek boat pulled next to Ranger drawn over by the strobe beacon on his chest Vince spotted from the ship. He didn't actually hear the boat pull silently next to them, but he heard the cries of his men and felt several pairs of strong arms pull them from the water.
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I hope this was satisfactory for everyone! Again, thanks so much always for waiting and for your awesome support, reviews, and messages! With my break, I'm hoping more to come next week :)
Special thanks to financebabe who stimulated my thoughts as to who should fly overboard when she so graciously gave her support through my fic!