Chapter 28
Our mission was completely FUBARd. We managed to enter the compound but our men weren't on site. They were either moved or were never in the compound. Something felt off. I signed to my concern to Tank. 'It feels like a trap,' I signed.
'Could be. Which direction?' he asked.
'North. We need to go south. I'll alert Les,' I replied.
'I got Bob and Ric.'
Using a special round, I loaded my weapon and fired a few feet to the left of Lester. He noted the colour of smoke produced and quickly cooled off the round to pocket. I watched as he planted another device and moved along the side of the compound, moving south along the perimeter. Turning my sight to Ram, I gave him our code to cover Les. Carefully, I climbed down from my perch.
Before I could register what was happening, I was grabbed. A hand covered my mouth and someone whispered, "Quiet."
"What do you want?" I asked.
"Payback," he answered. "Manoso storms in and takes all the prime missions. Gets to choose whatever he wants. He stole my life."
It took me a minute to see who was talking to me. "Kavanough. You don't want to do this,"
"He marries the girl every soldier wanted. The best sniper was assigned to his mediocre team," he was rambling.
"I was married before I met you. We have a child together," I whispered. He seemed surprised.
"You're a mother?"
"Yes. I have a little girl. Please let me leave. I need to get back home to her," I answered.
He was very reluctant to let me leave. I could see how much he devolved since I'd seen him last. "I fell in love with you when you blew up the jerry can."
"Where is the rest of your team?" I asked.
"Tortured to death," he started crying. When he collapsed to the ground and buried his face in his hands, I took the opportunity to sign a message. I was hoping Tank or Ram could see it.
Tingling went through my body as goosebumps appeared on my arms. We were in imminent danger. I tapped on Kavanough's shoulder to warn him. He looked up in time to see the weapon pointed in his face. My hands were quickly secured behind my back by a chain and padlock. Weapons were removed from my body. I was wearing the special picks stuck in my braid and I had a knife in my boot. If I could move my hands from behind my back, I could grab the picks and free myself. Kavanough was hogtied on the ground if front of me.
I was dragged into the compound by my hair while Kavanough was thrown over the shoulder of a man larger than Tank. Another tingling sensation went through my neck, but it was a good tingle this time. Ranger was closing in. The man who captured me was was making sexual suggestions. My shirt and bra were cut open. I was exposed to everyone still alive within the compound. Several men leered and offered suggestions for raping me. I helplessly watched as he fondled my breasts and pinched my nipples. His touch was very rough, reminding me of the parking lot behind Tasty Pastry.
He grabbed my crotch through my pants. Repressed memories attempted to resurface but I worked hard to suppress them. As he started to cut my pants open, vomit rose from my stomach to my mouth. He continued grabbing me before he leaned over in an attempt to bite my breast. As hard as I tried, there was no way to stop me from vomiting on the man. He jumped back and swore before pulling back a fist and breaking my cheekbone. It was very painful, but I didn't give them the satisfaction of knowing it hurt. I waited for Carlos' special signal before kicking the man in the face to break his nose. Carlos was murderous. Absolutely nobody walks away unscathed after hurting and assaulting his wife.
"Ranger, stop," I shouted seconds before a bullet whizzed past me, sinking into the man's forehead. He would have inadvertently stepped between the man and the bullet. I heard several gunshots before my team approached us. Carlos ran behind me to remove the chain and lock, freeing me within a minute. He covered me with his shirt before confirming the dead man was our target. Tank removed the locks from Kavanough's legs but left the arm restraints in place. We followed the path to the south and met up with a patrolling Army squad. Ranger retrieved his pack and pulled on a new shirt. They were ordered to search the compound for intel before cleaning up. Carlos asked them to find the fallen Rangers. They will arrange for them to be sent home to their families.
It took a few days to get to our new extraction site. Dragging Kavanough with us wasn't particularly fun. Luckily he was quiet and didn't give away our position when we snuck past an enemy post. Our flight back to the States took a bit longer than expected. Kavanough was very apologetic and told us the full story. He was working with a new team and they had problems accepting Kavanough as their leader. One member decided to go against a direct order and got his entire team captured. The result was devastating. As the youngest member was beaten, Kavanough managed to break free and kill the men responsible for capturing his team. The young man, like the other four, died in his arms. It was the moment he hit his breaking point. I knew he would be seeing a therapist for PTSD. Losing your team in this manner would have broken anyone.
We learned there was an ambush a few miles north of the compound where our Rangers were held captive. The ground troop lost some men as they rounded up the remaining men from the compound.
The chopper landed at the Air Force base, but we'd be staying in a local hotel. A soldier drove us to the hotel and reminded us to meet with the team for debrief at 0800. I desperately wanted to get back to my daughter. We were kept apart until our debrief was complete.
Our debrief went smoother than I thought possible. After everyone went over their version of the events several times, we learned one of our own caused our team to be captured. The youngest Ranger, the last to die in Kavanough's arms, was related to one of the compound guards. I couldn't understand how he managed to slip through the cracks.
On our final day of downtime, General Rogers arrived with a laptop. "It's bothering you too?" I asked.
"It is. I need you to check the software," he said passing me the computer.
I went through the program and noticed an important line of code was missing. "Part of the criteria in the code was deleted. I've added it back. You'll need to update the software on the mainframe." I continued working through the program. It was several hours later when I finally worked through the Beta teams personal lives. "He wasn't the only one related," I pointed out. "Only two men weren't related to our target or his men. Kavanough and Jamieson. Carter legally changed his last name prior to enlisting. His name used to be Cartez. Just one letter was changed. These three men also changed their last name. Huh..."
"What did you find?" Rogers asked.
"They all went to the same high school and enlisted on the same day, but different recruitment offices." I clicked a few more buttons to find these men wearing football jerseys. "On the same high school football team too."
"We need you back in Washington," Rogers announced.
"Not going to happen. I'm working on a more elaborate program with my partner at Rangeman Trenton. We could always negotiate a contract where I'll personally vet the men considered for any special ops program," I suggested.
"I'll meet with my team," he replied. I had a feeling Rangeman will be receiving a lucrative contract with the military. What they would want in exchange was a whole new can of worms. Requesting more years of service wouldn't surprise me.
My stomach was unsettled since the day I threw up on the enemy. It wasn't a sign of bad things to come. In fact, it was a sign of very good things to come. I was hoping to be pregnant.
We've been away from our daughter for fifteen days so far. It will be another four days before we could go home. I wanted to hold her in my arms. "I need to hear Julie's voice."
"As do I. We need to get through our mandatory therapy session first," he reminded me. We were scheduled for our session on the final day of downtime. If the therapist decided we needed more help, we would meet with him daily for a week before going home. Luckily we were cleared to go home.
As we were about to board our flight, a group of soldiers rushed towards us. "Excuse me Sir, Ma'am," a young man named Walters said as he approached us. "Are you Major Manoso and Major Palmer?"
"We are," Carlos answered.
"Follow me Sir, Ma'am." We were lead back through security to the Jeep waiting outside the building. Our teammates had to board the flight home without us. I was trying to understand what was happening. My spidey sense wasn't humming, but I sensed this was going to be life changing. He stopped the Jeep in front of the courthouse. Uncle Alex was waiting for us.
"What's going on?" I asked.
"Nothing bad, I promise." He led us to the judge's chambers.
"Stephanie Michelle Guzman-Manoso otherwise known as Major Palmer?" Justice Abernathy asked me.
"At your service, your honour," I answered as I handed him my ID.
"Ricardo Carlos Manoso the third. Husband of Mrs Guzman-Manoso?" he asked Carlos.
"Yes your honour." Carlos also produced his ID for the judge.
"Thank you for joining me today. Do either of you know Lieutenant Kiera Jenkins?"
"We both know her Sir," I answered. "She served with us on a mission four years ago. I've maintained contact through calls, emails and letters." My heart sunk into my stomach. I knew she was dead. Our reason for standing here was a bit confusing.
"She left a living will prior to her last deployment. Her instructions were clear. Ms Jenkins left her entire state in trust to her son Roberto Jenkins. Guardianship is assigned to Stephanie and Carlos Manoso. If you are unwilling to accept guardianship, Roberto will be sent to child services." I was completely dumbfounded, she never mentioned having a child.
Before I had the chance to respond, Carlos said, "We accept guardianship." Putting this child into the foster care system was not an option either of us would willingly choose.
"You may return to New Jersey with the child. Child services will visit periodically, at random times, to ensure Roberto is safe."
"Thank you your honour," we both said. A small boy with dark skin and aqua eyes was brought into the chambers. He looked like his mother.
I kneeled in front of the boy to be less intimidating. "Hi Roberto, my name is Stephanie. His name is Carlos."
"Robbie," he quietly said. "Mommy call me Robbie." His name sounded more like Wobby.
"Okay. Robbie, your mommy asked me to take care of you. Would you like that?"
He nodded before asking, "Me see Juwie?" Kiera must have shown him the photos I sent during our correspondence.
"Yes, you'll get to see Julie. Do you have your clothes and toys?" I asked. He nodded his head and pointed to a small backpack.
Abernathy passed us an envelope containing custody papers, birth certificate and social security number for Roberto. "Dismissed," he ordered.
I took Robbie's hand while Carlos carried his backpack and documents. Uncle Alex was waiting for us. He gave us a ride back to the airport and explained what happened. "It was a low risk routine mission. Her squad was retrieving the injured soldiers from base. Around thirty miles north of camp, their helicopter was hit by an enemy rocket. Everyone on board died. Our initial intel never discovered the enemy camp." Unfortunately this happens during war. Enemy camps appear overnight after the area was previously cleared.
Carlos carefully removed the headphones from Robbie's ears. "We have to take an airplane home. Can you finish watching your movie on the plane?" he asked Robbie.
"Okay."