Twins to the Rescue?

Xamot and Tomax stood next to Cobra Commander. They were listening carefully to the report Zartan was providing to Cobra Commander. Apparently, Zartan and the Dreadnoks had captured a small team of Joes.

Of course, Zartan wasn't present. He was speaking to Cobra Commander over the communication system. The screen was large and the Crimson Twins could see the background. Zartan was speaking to them from his swamp base in Louisiana. The cabin, what could be seen of it on the screen, was sparse. There was a cot tucked in the corner and blankets thrown haphazardly. Some rifles were leaning against a wall near the cot.

"How many?" demanded Cobra Commander.

"Three Joes," said Zartan. He smirked. It was obvious to anyone who looked at him on the screen that the red haired mercenary was very pleased with himself.

"Who?" demanded the leader of Cobra.

"Gung-ho, Shipwreck, and Lady Jaye," replied Zartan.

When the twins heard the name of the last Joe, they understood why Zartan was so happy. The mercenary had been wanting to capture that particular Joe for a long time. While they were also interested in Lady Jaye, there were some lines that the twins wouldn't cross that Zartan didn't have any issues with. Ironically, for how often Destro would insult the Crimson Twins, their views of woman were similar. There were just some things you didn't do.

"Perhaps we should..." said Xamot.

"...pick up the Joes for you?" finished Tomax, looking at Cobra Commander.

"I can damn well bring them in myself," growled Zartan. "When I am ready."

"No," said Cobra Commander.

The Crimson Twins stilled. Zartan also waited. None were certain who Cobra Commander had been talking to. The Commander was aware that all three men were waiting for him to finish his statement. He pretended to organize his thoughts, but what he was doing was waiting to see if any of them would grow impatient waiting for him.

Xamot and Tomax were hoping the negative had been directed toward the mercenary. The Crimson Twins had made an agreement with Desto to keep an eye out for interactions between Zartan and Lady Jaye and to interfere every chance that they had. For some reason that the twin had yet to discover, the silver masked arms dealer didn't want Zartan to attack Lady Jaye. Some might believe it was due to Destro's attitude regarding women and his hatred of Zartan. Desto would love to see Zartan fail. But Xamot and Tomax both believed it was more than hatred.

Zartan was hoping that the Commander's comment had been for the Crimson Twins. He wasn't interested in interrogating her. The red haired mercenary didn't care what information she had or how it could benefit Cobra. Zartan had been waiting for years to have Lady Jaye as his prisoner and he had lots of plans of what he could do to her before he gave her over to Cobra.

"I will send the Crimson Twins to escort the Joes," said Cobra Commander, as if he had finally come to a decision. The Commander had already decided, the moment the Crimson Twins offered, that he would send them, rather than wait for Zartan to deliver the Joes.

"I can start questioning them," offered Zartan. It had taken him a long time to capture Lady Jaye and he didn't want to give her up without some time spent with her. If he had to pretend to question the Joes to have that time, he would.

"I think it would be..." said Tomax.

"...best if we..." continued Xamot.

"...did the interrogation ourselves," finished the Twins at the same time.

"Xamot and Tomax will handle the interrogations," said Cobra Commander. "Don't touch the Joes until the Twins arrive."

"Fine," said Zartan, but his tone of voice indicated it was anything, but fine.

…...

The Joes were being held in a structure. To call it a building would be generous. Yes, it had four walls, a door, and roof, but the walls didn't keep the wind out. The sides of the structure were multiple poles, driven into the ground close together. Additional poles crisscrossed the outside, to provide stabilization. The roof was more poles, with leaves thrown on top. Looking at it from outside, it looked like it would fall down in a strong wind. Of course, inside the structure were three Joes.

Evenly spaced apart, there were hooks in the ground. Running through those hooks, there were two sets of chains for each Joe. The first set of chains wrapped around the wrists of the Joe, with the second set of chains locked around their ankles. Sliding the chains through the hooks in the ground, each Joe could move a little to the left or right, but not enough to be able to touch the closet Joe to them.

"This is embarrassing," said Shipwreck.

Gung-Ho didn't reply. Ever since he woke up, he had been trying to muscle the chains, testing to see if they were weak and would break if he kept pulling on them. The only thing he was accomplishing was making himself tired.

"Flint got away," reminded Lady Jaye. She was kneeling next to her hook and using her hands to dig at the ground.

They had already discovered that the hook was half buried in a cement block, which was buried in the ground. There was no chance of pulling the hook from the ground, unless they dug up the whole block. Lady Jaye was trying to figure out how big the block was. So far, she knew the block was at least a foot across.

"The only question is, what are they going to do with us?" said Gung-Ho, as he stopped pulling on the chain.

That thought made Lady Jaye's stomach turn just a little. Zartan had been very pleased with himself that he had caught them. The Joes had already been in the camp for over an hour though and no one had entered the structure where they were being held. But that didn't mean Lady Jaye hadn't seen someone outside.

It was dark outside. Night had fallen and there wasn't any light in the structure. The Dreadnoks camp had a few campfires burning and that provided all the light. It was the light that Lady Jaye used to dig with and it was the light that Gung-Ho used to exam the chains with. It was also that same light that allowed Lady Jaye to see the shadow outside of the structure.

Every few minutes, someone would walk up to the structure. He, since Lady Jaye could see enough of the shadow to know it was male, wouldn't stand in the doorway. He would look in between the poles, usually on her side of the structure. Lady Jaye was chained to the last hook, which was closet to the fires and the doorway to the structure. Shipwreck was on the middle hook, while Gung-Ho was on the last hook and furthest from the fires.

"I think they're waiting," said Lady Jaye.

Movement caught her eye and she turned to look. This time, the shadow didn't approach from the side. She could see him through the open doorway. The doorway, rather than be in the middle of one of long walls, was directly in front of Lady Jaye.

Standing outside, feet from the open doorway, was Zartan. She had suspected it would be him. For once, the man was trying to be seen. From where he was standing, Gung-Ho and Shipwreck couldn't see him. For some reason, he wanted her to know he was watching her.

He wasn't doing anything. He was just standing there and staring at her. Thanks to her uncle's warning, Lady Jaye could guess what the mercenary was thinking. She was so focused on the man that, at first, she didn't hear the sound of a few helicopters. Zartan looked to the skies and curled his lips.

"I think Cobra is coming," said Lady Jaye, when she realized that Zartan had been waiting for that sound.

It wasn't until the helicopters were overhead that Zartan reacted. As they had approached, he had been calm, but when they circled overhead and soldiers, GI Joe soldiers, had repelled down from the hovering helicopters, that Zartan ran.

One helicopter, landed just outside of the structure. Flint jumped from the side door and rushed in.

"Everyone alright?" he demanded.

"Just get us out of here," replied Shipwreck, "And I will love you for life."

Flint motioned toward someone from behind and another Joe came in with bolt cutters. Minutes later, Lady Jaye, Shipwreck, and Gung-Ho left the structure behind.

"We need to get out of here quick," yelled Flint over the sound of the helicopters. "We followed some Cobra helicopters to find the place."

Quickly, the Joes got on the helicopter that was on the ground. As soon as everyone was on board, it took to the air.

"Where are the Cobra choppers?" demanded Lady Jaye, as she scanned the sky.

"It was damnest thing, Lady Jaye," called Wild Bill from the pilot seat. "We were following Cobra to the camp, then about a mile from the camp, they flew off in a different direction."

"It's ironic," said Flint, nodding his head. "It it hadn't been for Cobra, we might not have found Zartan's camp."

…...

The Crimson Twins stood in front of Cobra Commander.

"The Joes were..." said Xamot.

"...already being evacuated when..." said Tomax.

"...we arrived at Zartan's camp," finished the Twin together.

Cobra Commander clenched his fists.

FIN