Archeology and Espionage

By

UCSBdad

Disclaimer: I don't own Castle, Beckett, Nikki Heat, the Middle East…but you know that. Rating: K Time: in the near future after the story The Treasure of the Penelope.

Tock zeroed in on the truck that had overturned when they had attacked the first time. She sent one missile right into the rear of the truck, setting off the gas tank. As they flew past, they could hear ammo cooking off from the heat.

"Excellent shot." Buller said over the radio. "I saw no muzzle flashes from the ground. I think the jihadis don't want to attract our attention."

They made repeated passes on the vehicles. Then things went wrong. They could see muzzle flashes from straight ahead of them and Agony Zero One's front canopy was suddenly starred.

"I'm hit." Tock yelled.

"Where?"

"Armpit, I think."

"Can you check yourself out?"

"I'll have to unstrap myself and undo my flak jacket." Tock said.

"Go ahead. I'll get us out of here." Woz got on the radio. "Buller, Tock's been hit. I'm going north a couple of miles to give her a chance to check the wound. You get that motherfucker that shot her, you hear?"

"Roger that, Woz." Was the only reply.

Woz settled into an orbit several miles to the north as Tock checked herself.

"Not much blood. I think I just got a little chunk taken out. It missed the front of my vest and punched a hole out the back of it but didn't do me much damage. I think that was a machine gun, maybe a fifty cal."

"Okay, we're headed back."

"Woz, did Buller get that gun?"

"That's not important. We need to…"

"Buller, this is Tock. Did you get him?"

"Negative. I shot up the area, but I'm pretty sure I didn't hit him. I didn't get a good look at the target when he shot."

"I did. I know where he is. We'll go back and get him."

"Like hell we will, Tock. We're going back."

"No, we aren't! We're going after the bastard. That's an order, Mr. Wozniak." Tock screamed.

Woz was about to explode, but then he laughed.

"If I wasn't a happily married man, Tock, I'd marry you. You sure you know where he is?"

"I recognized the rock formation he's hiding in. I can find it again."

And find it she did and that was the end of that machine gun team.

"Now can we go back, Lieutenant Tock?" Woz asked.

"Woz, I'm sorry I yelled at you and pulled rank. I know I shouldn't have, but I was really mad and I…"

"I meant it, Tock. If I wasn't a happily married man, I'd marry you in a New York minute. Why the Marine Corps has you flying plane guard is a mystery. You're amazing."

"I am?"

"Damn straight."

Ron Fields was waiting for the helos when they returned and got Tock to the sick bay on Helen of Troy.

Aboard the Helen of Troy

"How is she, Ron?" Rick asked as the helo crews and others gathered around.

"If you have to be hit by a large caliber machine gun bullet, she did it exactly right. It tore a chunk out of her armpit, but not too badly, not too badly at all. I'm keeping her overnight, though to be sure."

"She'll get a Purple Heart then." Woz said. "She should get an Air Medal with the V device, too. At least."

"She'll get the Purple Heart, but we'll have to see about anything else." Rick said.

"I'll write up an after-action report on the mission." Woz said.

"Try to keep it semi-believable."

Woz laughed.

"Don't I always?"

After dinner, Rick went to see Graham.

"How're you feeling, Tock?"

"Just fine, sir. You're not going to send me back to the Wake Island, are you? I'm really fine, sir. Just fine. Better than just fine. I'm feeling better than ever. In …"

"That depends more on Dr. Fields than on me, Lieutenant. But you'll go if you have to, and you'll stay here if you can. But Dr. Fields…. "

"Is here to see his patient, Rick." Fields announced, coming into the ship's small sick bay. "And if you'll kindly leave, I need to evaluate my patient's wound."

As Rick left, he could hear Tock.

"I'm really fine, Colonel Fields. I know…"

"I heard all of that when you spoke with Colonel Rodgers. And I'll be the one to decide how fine you are. Now, let me examine you."

The maintenance crews worked on the helos all night and had them ready for another run on the column just before dawn. The results were not good as Wozniak reported when he got back.

"Sir, they're all gone. We shot up some of the remaining vehicles, but they were already a mess. The Iranians and their jihadi friends have left, on foot. We only found one group of two and shot them up. The rest are spread all over Saudi Arabia. Headed towards their friends, I'll bet. We'll refuel and rearm and go pay them a visit. The more we kill from the air the fewer you and Colonel Nayef will have to face on the ground."

"Okay, get to work, Woz."

"Um, sir, how's Tock?"

"Colonel Fields says she's fine for someone with a bullet hole in her. He still hasn't decided if he can treat her here, or if she'll have to go back to the Wake Island, or maybe all the way to Germany for treatment."

"It'd be a shame if she had to leave us, sir."

"And it'd be a shame if she got worse because she didn't get the proper treatment."

"Of course, sir."

"One thing, Woz, it looks like our short war with the Iranians and their friends is about over. A cease fire has been signed and the Iranians apparently want it to hold. It looks like Tock is going to be the only pilot off of the Wake Island to get any kind of combat decoration. The Marine F 35s off of the Wake Island did nothing but fly air defense missions over Jordan waiting for Iranian air strikes that never came. Their rotary wing assets were used to move some Army anti-missile missile unit around so the Iranians couldn't hit them, not that they tried. So, that leaves our Tock with a Purple Heart."

"And an Air Medal, sir."

"Maybe an Air Medal."

It was hard to tell how well the strike against the Iranian Revolutionary Guards to the south of them was. They were dug in and camouflaged pretty well, and Wozniak's helos received no return fire. But they shot at everything that looked like it might be hostile.

When he got back, there was good news, of a sort, and bad news, of a sort.

Colonel Rodgers briefed his troops.

"There are now all kinds of air assets available to take out the IRGC people to the south. But, since they're in Saudi Arabia, the Saudis want to be the ones to go after them. They're sending an airmobile infantry battalion, with artillery and air support and maybe some light armor. Mr. Wozniak will be staying here, but Lieutenant Commander Borghese, Captain Fellowes and I will be going with Colonel Nayef and his troops."

Rick smiled.

"Oh, there's one more thing. It seems Colonel Nayef was very impressed with Tock and her work. He used his connections to let Saudi public relations know all about her. He got some cell phone video of her going off with Woz, and of her being carried to sickbay after being wounded. She's a big hero, which is kind of embarrassing since we're nothing but an archeological expedition, but the Saudis are giving her their equivalent of the Purple Heart and another medal for valor. The military has decided that we can't let the Saudis out do us on this, so she'll also get a Bronze Star with a V for valor device. That should make Tock the envy of every Marine pilot in the Middle East."

"Does she know about this, sir?" Woz asked.

"That she does. The line to congratulate her forms behind me."

"When do we go after the jihadis, sir?" Someone asked.

"As soon as the Saudis send us some choppers."

The Coast of Saudi Arabia

"Where the bloody hell is the war?" Fellowes asked to no one in particular.

"A ways south of here, I think." Rick said. "I can see aircraft making strafing runs and can just about hear artillery fire."

Colonel Nayef smiled.

"I fear my countrymen wish to take care of these invaders by themselves, Colonel."

"Since we're here, we'll act professionally. That hill will give us a great field of fire in case anything does come this far north, and we can see for forever since everything else is so damned flat. Let's move out."

Since the ground was too rocky to dig in, they built sangars out of large rocks for firing positions. Once they were set up, they waited. And waited. And waited.

"I don't hear anything to the south." Fellowes said to Rick well after midnight. "And Colonel Nayef said he's getting nothing on his radios. The Saudis are either gone or they've moved so far away, our radios can't pick them up. I hope they remember to pick us up in the morning."

"We're still in touch with the Helen of Troy, so if the Saudis leave us, we can have our own helos pick us up."

They did get a surprise at sunrise.

"Someone coming." One of the Royal Marines called out softly.

"Two someones." Another Marine said.

"Not Saudi soldiers, but armed." Nayef said. "They could be locals; most would carry assault rifles around here. They might be jihadis."

"Let them get close and then ask who they are." Rick decided.

When the two men were about sixty yards away, Nayef stood up and challenged them.

"Who are you? Identify yourselves!"

"We are oil workers from the pipeline…" One man yelled back.

"They speak with Yemeni accents!" Nayef yelled as the two men ran towards them.

Suicide vests exploded as soon as gunfire began. No one would ever know if the two men had detonated the vests, or if gunfire had set them off. In any case, the men were blown to bits.

"I think we should call Helen of Troy for extraction." Rick said, looking at the grisly remains.

However, they got no response from the Helen of Troy.

After a number of tries, Rick turned to Colonel Nayef.

"Colonel, can the Saudis give us a ride back? I hope nothing's happened to the ship."

Nayef nodded and on his radio.

"We should get comfortable, Colonel Rogers. The aircraft are busy supporting a company sized unit chasing after a half a dozen survivors and also shifting the remaining Saudi troops back to their bases. They can't get here until morning."

"Okay, we'll set up a defensive perimeter and wait for tomorrow."

The Saudis managed to arrive about an hour before dawn. Rick had kept trying to contact the Helen of Troy all night with no success. He was beginning to get worried.

As soon as they saw the ship from the air, they knew they had plenty to worry about.

"Shit. Our bloody ship's been shot up." Fellowes said, unnecessarily, as the damage was very visible to all.

At the Site

As soon as the helos landed, Rick ran to Warrant Officer Wozniak. Rick saw Woz had a bandage around his head and one arm was in a sling.

"We got hit, sir. Hit bad. Both my helos are out of action and the bastards tossed a grenade into the ship's radio room. We lost two dead from my people and four from the ship's crew plus wounded, but the worst is they got Mrs. Rodgers and Tock, sir."

"Who took them?" Rick demanded.

"Jihadis from across the Red Sea in Sudan. Our Saudi archeologists caught a broadcast from them bragging about attacking the Great Satan and capturing two women."

"Do we know where they are?"

"Yes, sir. The electronic warfare van came through without a scratch. They're in a small village just across from us and about two miles inland. But they're less than a mile from the Chinese base, sir. You can bet they aren't going to let us go after the ladies with the Chinese so close."

"Any way you can get a helo ready, Woz?"

"No, sir. They're shot to bits."

"Is the Tsunami around?"

"She went out last night to take a quick look at the coast. He should be heading back now. You planning something, Colonel?"

"Not yet."

TBC