Chapter Three: The Sign

Sergeant Liz McCall held her machine gun in her hand along with the rest of the soldiers in the truck. Determination appeared on her face as the truck drove through the jungles of an island off of Hawaii.

'Hopefully, we can do this,' she thought.

It had been three nights since she and her friends were at a restaurant celebrating Jake's promotion. Now here she was on another mission. Along with Jake and Debbie, she was sent to the jungles of an unnamed island to retrieve an eight-year-old girl from captives from an organization, name unknown.

Supposedly, from what Liz has heard, the little girl, only known as Maryanne, was kidnapped for ransom. Her father happened to be the forth richest man in the USA so Liz could see one reason why Maryanne was kidnapped.

'She's done nothing,' she thought with a bit of anger. 'Who could be so heartless to commit such a horrible act?'

Liz looked over at her best friend Debbie, who had the same determined look as hers. "You ready for this?"

Debbie looked at Liz and nodded. She tightened the grip on her gun. "Hell yeah, I'm ready."

Liz noticed Jake right behind her. He wasn't facing the girls. He was looking at the truck's exit. Liz then knew that his mind was focused on the mission and nothing else, even with Debbie, his girlfriend, right next to him.

Then, Liz's mind briefly drifted to Wagner. He wasn't chosen to go on this mission, but she didn't know why. She knew that Cammy was back at the base working on paper work involving a recently completed mission she helped out in, but she didn't understand why Wagner wasn't able to go. Sure, she knew of his past of getting into trouble, but he hasn't done much in quite a while.

Liz shook the thought out of her head. She had a mission to complete and that's the only thing she had to concentrate on right now.

Then, the truck stopped. One of the soldiers looked at Liz and the rest of the crew. "The mission now begins. Your main objectiveis to retrieve Maryanne and bring her back to the main base unharmed and alive. Let's move!"

Everyone jumped out of the truck and began running into the depths of the jingle. Liz made sure to be as careful as possible by keeping her eyes wide opened, preparing herself for any enemies who may pop out from behind the trees or bushes.

Debbie and Jake followed behind her along with the rest of the crew. Liz turned around to face everyone. "It's best that we spread out!" she called out. "It'll be easier to find Maryanne that way!" She turned to Jake and Debbie. "You two, come with me."

Jake and Debbie nodded as the others began to go their separate ways.

"Ready for more?" asked Jake.

In the distance, gunshots could be heard not too far in the distance. Immediately, the trio ducked down for cover to avoid receiving any bullets.

"Let's move," Liz ordered. They quickly moved forward while staying down as low as possible on their feet. As they did, they could hear more of the gunshots and a few screams coming from some of the soldiers.

A few Air Force planes flew above them shooting off their ammo at the other planes. Debbie slightly looked up a bit. "That should be us."

"Remember," said Jake. "The General ordered us to fight on ground."

"Conversations are nice and all," said Liz. "But we don't have time for it. Let's move."

Jake and Debbie nodded and began following Liz again.

Ten Hours Later

Wagner watched from the windows as the planes returned to the base on the runways a few miles away from his dorm. He knew that Liz, Debbie, and Jake had returned from their mission from the island off of Hawaii.

At least he hoped they returned.

He had heard from General McCall a couple of hours ago that the mission to save one of the richest men's daughter was a success. However, it cost about fifteen soldiers' lives. It wasn't too bad of a loss than normal consider how many soldiers went on the mission, but Wagner was worried. He figured that Liz survived the mission because General McCall didn't seem terribly upset as he talked about the losses, but he wondered if Jake and Debbie were all right.

Then, he heard a ringing noise that sounded like someone instant messaging him on his computer. 'I don't remember having my messenger on,' he thought. He turned around and was surprised to see Cammy on his computer. He knew that she was in the room, but didn't realize that she went on his computer.

"Hey!" Wagner cried. "Did I say that you can go on my computer?!"

Cammy turned to him and spit her tongue out quickly. "Well, last time, you were using my phone for three hours. I got a pretty high bill because of you."

Wagner growled knowing that Cammy won the argument. Then, she turned around and continued chatting with others on his computer.

After a minute of silence, Wagner spoke again. "I know that Liz's all right, but do you think Jake and Debbie are, too?"

Cammy turned from the computer and looked at Wagner. "I'm pretty sure they're all right. If they weren't, I think Guile would've pulled us aside and told us."

Wagner nodded. "You're right, Guile would've told us. He knows how close the five of us are. I mean, after Eric, we should know by now."

Cammy nodded, feeling sadness in her.

Wagner sighed as his friend, Sergeant Eric Miller, came to his mind. He met him when he moved into the dorms last year. The two of them, along with Jake, were roommates. Eric was two years older than the two of them, but the three of them got along great. The three, along with the girls, were always hanging out and everything.

It was six months ago when Eric was called to go on a mission to retrieve a bomb that was going to explode. It wouldn't have been too much of a worry if the bomb wasn't too close to a village, threatening many of the villagers there.

Eric was the only one of the six friends who went on the mission. Wagner knew that the mission would be an easy one and that Eric would be returning shortly.

But Eric never returned.

When the bomb was retrieved, the person who tried to stop the bomb from going off accidentally pulled off the wrong wire causing the bomb to explode. Fifteen soldiers were killed instantly, including Eric. When the General announced the losses, he didn't mention whose lives were taken right away.

After the meeting, Guile pulled Wagner, Cammy, Liz, Jake, and Debbie to the side and sadly told them that Eric was one of fifteen killed. Wagner and Jake were more angry than upset about the freak accident. Liz only had a grim, but sad look on her face. Debbie sobbed softly while Cammy found that she couldn't stop crying. She held Wagner that day, the hot tears falling from her eyes and onto Wagner's shoulders. Guile only stood there with a grim look on his face.

The thought left Wagner. He lied on his bed on his stomach with his chin on his wrists. He looked over at Cammy, who was still typing away on his computer. He thought back on the way she cried when she heard the news of Eric's death. He always had the feeling that, somehow, Cammy had feelings for him. Wagner never bothered to ask, fearing that it would upset her. She had seemed fine in the last couple of months, but Wagner wasn't sure if that was her way of hiding her true feelings.

Cammy was very good at doing that.

Two hours later

"The mission was a success," said General Abraham McCall. "We managed to get Maryanne back to her family."

"True," said Major General Guile. "But don't forget, it was at a cost."

The General's face turned a bit grim. "Yes."

The two of them were at dinner in the base's cafeteria. Guile looked around the cafeteria and noticed Wagner sitting with Cammy, Liz, Jake, and Debbie a few tables back. They were chatting away and laughing.

Guile turned back to McCall. "Seems like your daughter's not too affected."

McCall looked quickly at Liz, then back to Guile. "Perhaps it was because she didn't know anyone who was killed today. Then again, she doesn't show too much emotion easily."

"I see," Guile nodded as he took a bite of his roast beef sandwich.

Meanwhile, Wagner was with his friends in their own conversation.

"So what exactly happened?" asked Cammy.

"Well," said Debbie. "The three of us stayed together, at least until we got to where everything was happening. A bomb actually separated us out for quite a while. Jake and I fought off the soldiers for a few minutes. Then, one of the soldiers managed to get Maryanne somehow and we got out of there."

"I was relieved when we found Liz at the base there," said Jake.

"So what happened to you, Liz?" asked Wagner.

"Well," Liz said. "At one point, I was literally in combat with one of the enemies. No weapon or anything. I managed to knock him out after a while. When I got back here, I found a part of his shirt on my pin. It had a really interesting design."

"Show us," said Cammy.

Liz went through her pocket and took out the blue fabric. She laid it out in the middle of the table.

"Interesting," said Jake. "That could be like some sort of new necklace or something if it wasn't part of some sick organization that kidnaps children."

"Yeah," agreed Debbie.

While Jake and Debbie talking, Wagner and Cammy stared at the design in horror. They couldn't believe of all the enemy soldiers, they faced this one in particular.

Liz saw the look on both of their faces. "Is something wrong?"

They quickly looked up. "Eh," said Wagner. "Nothing."

Wagner knew a few things about these type of soldiers from Guile. He looked at his three friends one by one. 'They could've easily been killed today,' he thought. 'They were very lucky.' Wagner looked at the design again.

It was a golden skull with wings.