The Brotherhood, Chapter 2

Disclaimer: I do not own any of the original characters or places.

Alex struggled to get her bearings as the horrendous noise died down. She felt hands on her shoulders as she was pulled upward. She soon found herself looking up into Sergeant Boscorelli's face. She could see his lips moving, but couldn't make out what he was saying at first.

"Are you ok?" Bosco repeated.

"Uh....you're...you're bleeding." Alex muttered, focusing on the blood trickling down from a cut over Bosco's left eye.

"I'm fine. Are you ok?" Bosco repeated, shaking Alex slightly.

"I....think so." Alex replied uncertainly.

"Come on. You have to get out." Bosco instructed as he pulled Alex toward the opening in the right side of the helicopter, which was on a slight incline since the chopper was tilted to it's left side. "Sit" he instructed as she got to the edge.

Alex did as told, looking out to see thick jungle surrounding them.

"Doherty." Bosco called out, motioning to Alex once Jimmy turned.

Jimmy quickly helped Alex down. "There you go, little lady."

"Thanks" Alex mumbled, then headed over to see if Holly was ok.

Bosco meanwhile turned back to Doc and Grimaldi, who were hovering over the pilot.

"Doc?" he questioned.

"He's in pretty bad shape, Bosco. I don't know if we can move him." Doc reported.

"Hey, Bosco." Jimmy Doherty called from the side of the chopper. "We've got a fuel leak."

Bosco turned back to Jimmy. "How bad?"

"Bad enough."

"Ok, scout out the area. When you find a good spot, take Davis, Nieto, and whatever you think will be useful from the chopper and set up a defensive perimeter. And stay alert. This place may be swarming with VC any minute." Bosco instructed.

"We gotta move, Doc." Bosco informed the medic.

"Yeah, I heard." Doc answered. Turning back to the pilot, he spoke to him quietly. "Ok Joe. We're gonna have to get you out of here, buddy. Ok?"

"Sure Doc." Joe wheezed. "Just do what you gotta do."

"Ok, Marco. I'll get his upper body and you get his legs." Doc instructed.

"Ahhhhhhhh."

Joe screamed out, as the two began to lift him.

"Shhhhhh.." Bosco motioned for Doc to try to keep Joe quiet so the Viet Cong would not be alerted to their location.

"I'm sorry." Joe mumbled.

XXXXX

Bosco nodded at Jimmy, satisfied with the area that he'd chosen for them. There was an area where the ground sunk lower than the surrounding terrain. To their front there were a few fallen trees and brush; and beyond that was a fairly open area that the VC would have to cross if they approached from that direction. Dense jungle was on either side. And behind them the land dropped off into a hill with dense foliage along the steep bank.

The area had its pros and cons. On the one hand, there was less area to defend since no one in their right minds would try to charge up the bank. But on the other hand, if their position were overrun, it would be almost impossible to get an injured man and two women down the incline quickly. Bosco only hoped that if the Viet Cong located them, they could manage to keep them at bay long enough for their own reinforcements to arrive.

"This might come in handy." Jimmy commented as he pulled a 60mm M19 mortar out of a wooden crate and showed it to Bosco. "Got a couple of boxes of rounds." He commented pointing to two closed wooden boxes.

"Yeah, you better set it up. I have a feeling the VC will find us before our guys do." Bosco turned and approached Carlos who was trying to work a portable radio. "You get anything yet?"

"No, Sergeant. Nothing." Carlos answered, obviously distressed.

"Well, the other pilots saw us go down. They should be able to get us some help." Bosco tried to reassure him, while failing to reassure himself.

Seeing Holly Levine approach him out of the corner of his eye, he turned toward her. "What?" He asked.

"You're a....you're bleeding, Sergeant." Holly pointed out as she dabbed at the cut above Bosco's eye with a handkerchief.

Bosco stepped back and pushed Holly's hand away. "I'm fine." He grumbled. "Go help Doc with O'Reilly."

"Ok." Holly replied and turned away mumbling under her breath, "I was just trying to help; you don't have to get all huffy about it."

As she approached, Alex was helping Doc with the pilot's bandages. "Sergeant Boscorelli can be a real grump." She commented.

"He's probably just worried about having you ladies out here with us." Doc replied.

XXXXX

Bosco eased over to the side of their encampment when no one was looking. Kneeling on one knee, he reached inside his flack jacket and pulled out a brown envelope, hiding it under a fallen tree and covering it with leaves. He had a bad feeling about things. And if the Viet Cong managed to take any of them alive, he didn't want them to find information about their own supply routes on him. Being a prisoner of the VC would be unpleasant enough without that. Fortunately, he had memorized a lot of the information the night before just in case anything unusual happened.

XXXXX

Jimmy glanced over at Ty Davis. The kid looked scared to death and what he had to tell him wasn't going to bring any comfort, but it needed to be said. "Hey Davis." He said in a coarse whisper.

"Uh...yeah." Davis answered.

"Whatever happens, you make sure that you keep a couple of bullets on you at all times. No matter what, we make sure that the VC don't take either of the women alive. Do you understand me, Davis?"

Ty nodded his head slowly. He understood what Jimmy was saying, but he couldn't believe he was hearing it. Glancing over at Grimaldi, he saw the seasoned door gunner nodding in agreement.

XXXXX

Bosco let out a slow breath, as sweat trickled down his back. They had finally contacted the base and knew that they were a good 20-30 minutes away from a rescue attempt. But there was someone a lot closer. Bosco could tell by the movements of two birds in the trees above them.

Jimmy turned to open one of the boxes of mortar rounds, but what he found was not what he expected. Opening the other box quickly, he shook his head. "Sarge." He called quietly, pointing to the open boxes.

Bosco crept over closer and peered into a box of three-inch nails. Looking over at Grimaldi, he mouthed, "Nails?"

Grimaldi whispered back, "Sullivan."

"Mortar rounds?"

"Must be on one of the other choppers. Ole Sam had the supplies loaded." Grimaldi answered.

Bosco looked back wearily toward Doc and the two Red Cross volunteers who were still working with O'Reilly.

A twig snapping.....a twig snapping in the distance was the faint signal that the time was here.

"Sarge" Carlos began to whisper to Bosco, but stopped when Bosco's finger came up to his lips, then pointed out towards the opening ahead of them.

"Get down." Bosco ordered suddenly, pushing Carlos's head down as a barrage of bullets descended on them.

Carlos stayed low, frozen as gunfire erupted all around him. He heard a stifled scream from Holly Levine and looked up to see Holly and Alex huddled together with Doc hovering over O'Reilly.

Sergeant Boscorelli opened fire on the enemy, completely focused on the task at hand.

XXXXX

Ty jumped slightly, then stared in fascinated horror as a hand grenade dropped onto the ground beside him. Everything moved in slow motion, as he saw Grimaldi abandon his machine gun that they'd brought from the helicopter, grab the grenade and fling it back towards the enemy. The action exposed Grimaldi to enemy fire and he staggered backwards and fell as he took a round in the left shoulder.

Jimmy seeing this happen, immediately manned the machine gun, swinging it on its tripod, firing across the width of the open area.

The firefight continued with the VC advancing, then retreating several times before the firing stopped.

Carlos took in a deep breath. "Is it over?" He sputtered.

"No, it's not over. They're just regrouping." Bosco replied, looking over at Jimmy, then back at the mortar that lay propped against one of the boxes of nails. Suddenly scrambling over to the weapon, he motioned for Jimmy to join him.

Jimmy motioned for Ty to take over the machine gun. At Ty's uncertain look, he commented, "Just shoot anything that moves out there."

Jimmy turned to Bosco. "What are you thinking?" He asked.

"Here, hold this." Bosco replied, handing him the mortar. Taking off his helmet, he scooped it full of nails and poured them down the barrel of the weapon.

Jimmy began to grin as he realized what Bosco was doing. Once the barrel was full, he maneuvered the mortar up against his shoulder and aimed towards the open area, waiting for the VC to charge again.

Carlos looking on in confusion, asked, "Sarge, isn't that bad for the barrel?"

"Definitely." Bosco replied, just as the VC came charging across the clearing again.

Jimmy fired the mortar, slinging nails across the jungle with a pattern that reminded him of a shotgun, only wider and with a lot more velocity.

Three men dropped in their tracks and the others retreated, some staggering back, crying out in agony as the nails pierced their flesh.

Ty instinctively pulled the trigger on the machine gun, his eyes closing as he fired randomly.

XXXXX

All was quiet, at least on their end. The VC retreated and were not brave enough to charge the clearing again. At one point they heard movement off in the denser jungle, but they only had to fire the mortar once more for that to stop. Now, just a little way off, they heard more firing and knew that their own rescuers had engaged the enemy.

Another fifteen minutes and all was quiet once again.

Carlos and Ty both jumped as they heard movement in the jungle ahead of them.

"Hold your fire." Sergeant Boscorelli instructed. Seeing an American uniform creeping along the edge of the thick brush, he called out to them.

XXXXX

Ty froze as he crossed the clearing, staring down at one of the enemy dead who had a huge hole in the middle of his chest. Looking at the man's face, he realized that he was just a boy, no older than seventeen or eighteen at the most.

Jimmy Doherty stopped beside him, clapping him on the back. "You did good, Davis." He said, nodding his approval.

XXXXX

Alex was never so glad to see an Army helicopter in all her life. As the chopper touched down in a clearing, the elated group emerged from the edge of the jungle and started to climb aboard. A large hand reached out and grabbed Alex's hand, pulling her up quickly. Holly Levine was soon pulled aboard in the same manner.

Bosco, having brought up the rear in order to retrieve the envelope he'd hidden, climbed aboard last. "Boy, am I glad to see your ugly mug, DK." He commented.

"You just can't stay out of trouble can you Boscorelli?" DK replied.

Bosco just shook his head.

Billy Walsh looked back over his shoulder as he lifted the chopper off of the ground. Spotting the two women in the group, he smiled. "Welcome to Vietnam, Ladies."