Chapter 34

The Dark Sun soldier whimpered and looked fearfully at Steve as he babbled about the location, "Okay, okay, leave them out of this . . . we buried him in a field near here . . ." Steve patted him down for weapons and then yanked the frightened man to his feet and dragged him to a car that was parked up nearby. It was rusty and looked like a chicken coop inside, but the key was in the ignition and it fired into life after a couple of turns. Steve updated the rest of SEAL Team 9,

"I've got a lead on Hart's location. I'm driving down the access road in an old green car, I can't tell what make it is - don't shoot me!" Wade replied,

"Copy that. Jacks - get clear and then light it up. Garcia, continue to watch for any stragglers we missed." Steve continued to drive, his bleeding passenger slumped against the door. He slowed the car as he approached his CO, who had made his way from his hiding place in the trees back to the road. Steve leaned out of the window to speak to the man,

"This one knows where they buried Commander Hart. Permission to check it out?" Wade nodded,

"Just don't take too long, Commander. We need to be ready to move out in 10. Pick up Harrison on your way, he's 500 yards further down this road. Rendezvous as planned at fourteen hundred hours." Steve gave the Commander a grateful smile and set off again. He had just stopped to let Harrison into the car when an enormous explosion had them both looking back towards the camp. Steve raised his eyebrow at the other SEAL,

"Jacks likes his C-4, doesn't he?" Harrison chuckled,

"You don't know the half of it . . . and it's actually EPX-1. It has the highest detonation velocity of any plastic explosive."

Steve smirked, "Of course it does."

He set off along the track once the other SEAL was safely in the back of the car. After only about a minute, the injured soldier motioned them to stop. Steve and Harrison dragged their prisoner out of the passenger seat and instructed him to show them the grave. The man feebly pointed across the field on their left and they moved out, supporting the soldier between them. When they reached a patch of the field that had less crop growth than the surrounding area, their prisoner indicated that they were in the right place.

Steve let him drop to the ground and looked around for something to use as a shovel. There was a large piece of bark and Steve snapped it into two pieces and handed one to Harrison. They both started to dig and it didn't take long before their bark shovels were scraping onto something hard. It was a very shallow grave and just below the surface some old wooden boards were visible. Steve braced himself and ripped up the boards one by one to reveal a dried corpse. He closed his eyes for a second and then moved forward to verify the identity of the man who had been killed and been unceremoniously dumped in an unmarked grave. Steve gingerly turned over the right arm to look for the tattoo that Freddie had shown him just before their HALO jump. He sucked in a shuddering breath as he made out the love heart etched into the shrivelled skin. Then he noticed the damage that had been done to his brother's body; all the joints and long bones had been broken, jagged pieces of bone sticking up at awkward angles. As his eyes drifted upwards he saw that the skull had been repeatedly caved in. He couldn't stop the tears that formed in his eyes and roughly brushed them away. His voice broke as he turned around to the bleeding man on the floor, "What did you do to my friend? He was already dead, you sick bastards!" Harrison put a steading hand on Steve's shoulder,

"Hey, man. Let's just prepare Commander Hart's body for transport and go. We have to be back at the rendezvous point in 5." Steve collected himself and nodded, glad that the other man was there to pull him back on point. Harrison had already pulled a plastic sheet out of his pack and proceeded to help Steve wrap it around Freddie's remains. They lifted the bundle out of the unmarked grave and placed it on the ground. Steve pulled out a grenade from his pocket and removed the tape, keeping his finger pressed down on the pin. He carefully placed it under the soldier's head, pushing the man back down onto the grenade,

"I wouldn't move if I were you." His voice was like ice, dripping with hatred. Then Steve straightened up and carried the remains of his brother and best friend back to the car with Harrison. They drove back down the road until Harrison indicated that they should stop, his eyes on the compass in his watch. Between them, they carried Freddie's remains into the trees and continued further into the forest to rendezvous with the rest of the Team.

Frank Bama had been delighted to get a call from Commander White, not having seen the man since Joe was last passing through South Korea in '08. He had readily agreed to put his beloved old helicopter back into service. She might not look much, but she had never let him down yet. He pushed an old cassette tape into the music player and rocked out to the sounds of James Gang Funk #49 as he flew perilously close to the border. He was a wily old bird and knew just how low and exactly which route to fly to avoid detection, after all it was not the first time that he had been required to fly this particular route. He was about a minute out from reaching the coordinates provided by Joe when he saw the smoking ruins of the Dark Sun training camp. He huffed a laugh, "Well hot damn, you boys sure don't mess around."

Then his full attention was required to manoeuvre the cumbersome helo around the trees in order to land in a small clearing. He had barely touched down when a line of men emerged from the trees, ran the short distance across the clearing and climbed in the back compartment of Tangerine. Frank had thoughtfully cleared out the chickens and assorted debris before he took off, so there was room for all of them. The last two men were carrying a large plastic wrapped package between them and carefully placed it down on the floor of the chopper. Frank briefly wondered what was inside but thought better of asking. He very cautiously feathered the controls to lift them clear of the trees and then banked to the right and steered them back towards the old military installation that had been used by Wo Fat and his men. He sniggered into his mike as they got closer to their destination, "Oh hell, I see you boys have been here as well."

The compound had been completely destroyed, the outer walls collapsed into what had been the bunker. There was nothing left but rubble, the ruins still smoking from the blast. It was much more open around the compound and Frank had no trouble dropping Tangerine down. Steve jumped down from the back and went to help Samson carry Josh to the waiting bird. The other SEALs retrieved the wrapped body of Wo Fat and the computer hard drives. When they were safely back aboard Wade tapped Frank's shoulder to let him know they were good to go. The journey that had taken so long by jeep was a quick hop by air and they were soon touching down on the airstrip next to Wo Fat's private jet. The men all expressed their heartfelt thanks to the pilot and Wade leaned over for a quick one armed hug, "Thanks, Frank. I owe you." Frank beamed back at him,

"That you do. Don't be a stranger, Wade."

The SEALs stormed the jet and quickly took control of the plane, overpowering the pilot and single crew member and securing them with zip ties. Gutches frowned in thought for a second and then gave the order to have the two men placed in the back of the cabin, not wanting them to get the chance to tip off the North Koreans. Steve had wasted no time in strapping himself into the pilot's seat and was already running through the essential pre-flight checks. He jerked his head towards the open plane door, "Lt. Jacks, would you mind?"

Bradley smirked, "It would be my absolute pleasure. I can't wait to try out those very comfy-looking sofas." He leant out of the open door to salute the man sat in the adjacent helicopter. Frank responded with a cheery wave and proceeded to encourage Tangerine back into flight and lifted off for his return journey back into the safety of the neighboring South Korea. With the plane door now securely closed, Steve was able to start taxiing the jet to the runway. His brow furrowed in a deep scowl as he took in the poor state of the runway surface. He turned and shouted to the occupants of the sumptuous cabin,

"Everyone buckle up, it's going to be a bumpy take-off. Don't let Agent Hirsch roll off that sofa." He gave them chance to comply and then accelerated down the pitted concrete before the front wheel lifted off and the jet took flight.