Chapter 4: Down Mexico Way, Part 3

"So, yeah– that's why we're down here south of the border." Sister finished.

"…I see." Thom said, giving the former MECH soldiers a polite nod. "Thank you for your time." he continued before turning his back on the two. "Gauntlet Leader, this is Gauntlet Six. Come in, Gauntlet Leader." he said into his commlink.

"I read you, Gauntlet Six. What's the sitrep?"

"We've got company– bunch of MECH deserters gone mercenary. Jun and me ran into two of them, and they say that they and the rest of their crew are down here on a rescue mission for a mining company."

"What do you mean by 'deserters'?"

"Supposedly, they walked out after Clinton-Sherman blew up and they got written off as dead. Past that, your guess is as good as mine."

"And my guess is that they're trying to play us for suckers."

"With all due respect, Gauntlet Leader, I think they're telling the truth."

"Come again?"

"To put it simply, the two I ran into have 'idiot' written all over them. Seriously, when one of them tried to return fire at Jun, he just pointed his gun vaguely in the right direction and pulled the trigger. Oh, and that gun? He had it at too high an angle."

There was a long pause from the other end of the commlink. "…I see." Another silence. "Now, you got anything else to tell me about these guys?"

"Sir, I was thinking that maybe we could, y'know, work with them?"

"You hit your head or something, Gauntlet Six?" a feminine voice exclaimed."Idiots or no, we'd be looking at a massive breach in opsec and you damn well know it!"

"With all due respect, sir, I…" Thom took a deep breath. "If anything goes wrong, I'll take full responsibility."

Another pregnant pause from the other end of the commlink. "Acknowledged, Gauntlet Six." Cole replied."But remember– if this turns out to be a trap or something, then I will personally drag you up to General Bryce. Got that?"

"Sir yes sir."

"Good. Gauntlet Leader, out."

Thom turned back to face the two former MECH soldiers. "Remember what I said about my mission being classified?"

"What about it?" Sister replied.

"You just got clearance to know about it."


"Wait, wait– am I hearing this correctly, Doctor Armstrong?" Church asked as he glared at the new arrival back at the abandoned survey camp. "Because if I am, then you're telling me–"

"I said that they pulled their primary survey teams out." Herc bluntly replied. "Probably some other ones looking for new deposits of copper, graphite, zinc, gold, iron, what have you. Maybe one of those is your missing crew."

Church eased up slightly. "Fair enough." he said, a definite edge to his voice. "But if you're wrong, and it turns out that Ellingson was playing us for fools, then there'll be hell to pay."

Herc sharply exhaled. "If it's any consolation, I might be able to put in a good word for you back over at Gabor."

"Save your breath." came the retort. "Only way we're taking a paycheck from that bunch of enablers is when she kicks it."

"Who's 'she'?" Doc asked.

"Three guesses, and the first two don't count."

"Oh!" Donut said. "You're talking about Phyl–"

Just then, a piercing whistle filled the air, and all eyes gravitated towards Simmons.

"Sorry to break up this riveting conversation, but we've still got a job to do!" he exclaimed. "Besides, if we play our cards right, we might be able to score bonus pay!"

"What's that supposed to mean?" Tucker asked.

"Probably data recovery or something." Grif replied. "Why we couldn't have done that instead of playing search and res–"

"Can it, dirtbag!" Sarge butted in. "Last I checked, they aren't paying us for you to stand around flapping your g–"

"Um, Sarge?" Church piped up, removing his fingers from the side of his helmet. "We've got another situation."

Grif sighed. "What kind of situation?"

"Sister and Caboose just said they ran into some military outfit called 'Gauntlet Team'. Message was short on details, but judging from the sound of things, ten bucks says they're not your average bunch of grunts."

"…son of a bitch." Grif muttered under his breath.


"I can't believe it." Rosenda said as she, Cole, and Jorge drove through the desert. "You…you actually let him do it."

Cole gritted his teeth. "Thom–"

"I don't care, Augustus!" Gauntlet's intelligence officer screamed. "Maintaining opsec is your responsibility, and you blew it over a goddamn hunch! And don't start with the 'Thom agreed to take full responsibility' sh–"

"Gauntlet Leader, this is Gauntlet 4 and 5. Come in, Gauntlet Leader."

Saved by the bell. Cole thought as he picked up the mouthpiece. "Gauntlet 4, this is Gauntlet Leader. What's the sitrep?"

"Me and Clay just spotted an aircraft with MECH markings. Might be a transport or something."

"You get a bead on where it's going?"

"Looks like it's going southwest– according to the area map, only landmark out that way's a box canyon called 'Garganta de sangre'."

"Copy that, Gauntlet 4. Meet you at the rendezvous point."

"Aye, aye, sir."

Rosenda rolled her eyes. "Well, looks like our resident blind hog just found one hell of an acorn." she snarked.

"Do me a favor and stow the sarcasm." Cole retorted as he adjusted the frequency on the radio. "Whiskey-035, this is Gauntlet Leader. Come in, Whiskey-035."

"This is Whiskey-035. What's going on down there?"

"Report to these coordinates for pickup. I repeat, report to these coordinates for pickup."

"Sir?"

"I'll explain later. Right now, all you need to know is that we've found one hell of a lead."


AUTHOR'S NOTES:

For all of you who've been waiting for the action to kick in, your patience is about to be rewarded.