Chapter 10: The Nightmare Unleashed

Five Months Earlier:

February 22nd 2010 1831 Hours

Sezin Outpost, Myanmar

One, two, three, four, five, six, seven, and now eight. I was praying that they wouldn't actually smell the blood or find the bodies. Or find the kids making their way to the motor pool. The power substation was in sight, knock out the lights and their comms so they can't call for reinforcements. Cause distraction by getting them to shoot at each other. Find Win. Cause another distraction by blowing the fuel tanks. Bolt it to the truck with the kids and kill anything I see. Then one nonstop trip to Thailand. Easy.

But when was it ever that?

I opened the fence and set a charge for three minutes on both transformers. I didn't need much for the fuel tanks but I just hoped the charges were big enough to at least damage the transformers enough that they couldn't send out power. Tying my hair up in a ponytail I then cleaned up the blood on my knife sheathed it and pulled out my MP5 now I had to double time it to the fuel dump. Nine, ten, eleven, twelve, thirteen, fourteen, detonation. The lights went out and chaos ensued, it was pitch black out tonight with no moon, it didn't matter through my NVG's.

Time to go hot.

I switched my MP5 for my carbine and loaded my 320. I saw a group of six trying to figure out what the hell was going on, amateurs. The blast found its mark as bodies and body parts went flying. That made twenty, but I'm done counting now. Whoever built this place wasn't very keen on seeing if hostiles can easily maneuver through the closely connected buildings and get the drop on anybody. Unfortunately that included me as well as I had to keep looking behind my shoulder. Falling back on my training, I let off controlled bursts but they were all over the place. Some fools decided to make themselves easy targets by using flashlights and I switch to single shot to take them out at a distance. As I was about to exit the corridor from the last two buildings before the fuel dump I saw two groups on opposite sides of me but they didn't notice me yet. I couldn't take both sides without getting hit by the other and I couldn't double back. Then I noticed earlier my MP was about to run dry and I could hold both that and my carbine pretty easily.

Don't really need to hit them.

I let off a long burst on both sides firing single handed as I sprinted towards a stack of crates outside the dump fence. As the two groups started firing on each other my luck continued to be good as they forgot to lock one of the side doors to the dump, I dropped my dry MP5 at the door. As I made towards the main tanks I prepped my last charge for 30 seconds, the panic was getting more intense as I heard gunfire erupting all over the base. I ran to the other side gate and blasted the lock off with my short M870. The tanks erupting in a ball of flame behind me. No more wasting time, it was time to find Win and get out of here.

I just got one more thing I need to do guys and were outta here.

The hanger buildings were the only thing left untouched. If he wasn't there I couldn't afford to run around and look for him. Time was a factor, and he could have used his cell phone to call for reinforcements. The front door was a bad idea but I didn't need to use that to get inside as I saw an open roof hatch and a service ladder.

My luck is seriously paying off today. I wonder if I might actually get laid when this is all over.

I had two clips left in my 416 and one HE 40mm left, but still plenty of shells for my short 870 and I hadn't fired my pistols yet. I was gonna have to ditch my carbine soon and after I got inside it was gonna be either close or closer. I loaded up my last grenade and sent it towards the side door of the hanger next to the main one. Firing off a long burst to get their attention and then sprinted to the containers around the hanger to the service ladder. The troops inside shooting back out the door at nothing, I had the elevation angle on them and let out my last burst from my 416. I then jumped off the rafters onto one of the containers and letting my weight take over rolled off it. Unfortunately it didn't make it any less painful as I landed on my side, I definitely bruised a rib or two. Taking advantage of the adrenaline I got to my feet and whipped out my shotgun. As I was listening to the shouting of Burmese I heard a distinct voice.

"The fighting's right outside we need to go!"

Gusad.

"SHUT UP! I'll handle it!"

Found you. Time to die you murdering fuck.

I made for the sound of the voices. The adrenaline as well as my anger were in overdrive. I didn't care what was around me, I just wanted Win dead. One, two, three, four, cover, reload, one, two, none in sight, reload. I moved along one container slowly I heard heavy breathing on the other side, more targets. As I moved around the corner a familiar fat figure stepped into my line of fire. No smart comment, no need to look him the eye, no mercy, just 00 Buckshot and a spray of red mist followed by a scream, not Win's.

"Holy shit!" Gusad was around the corner.

I wasn't even acting tactfully at that point, I was just venting my rage. I pumped a new shell into the barrel.

"Stand up asshole."

"WAIT! I'm not one of them! I'm just an arms dealer!"

"So what? How's that gonna get me to not kill you?"

"Then how about this?" He opened his briefcase, it was filled with hundred dollar bills. "This was just a percent of what my boss was gonna offer, $500,000. "

I don't got time for this shit.

"Money is not going to bring back an innocent girl that that fat ass murdered."

He looked at me in utter fear in his last moments and I pulled the trigger. The buckshot ripped easily through the cash and his torso.

"That's that. Time to get the hell out of here."

I moved towards the main door of the hanger but then my soldier sense picked up again. I wasn't alone in the hanger. It was confirmed when I heard several smoke grenades pop off, the area around me slowly making it hard to get a read on distance.

They can see me. They know I'm wearing night vision so I can't see through smoke, cleaver. These ain't Win's goons, they're different.

I lifted my NVG's up over my head and kept my shotgun at the high and ready. Slowly making my way to the hanger entrance, they were surrounding me, so I just had to wait. But I didn't have to wait long as a woman's voice spoke behind me, a ghost could have been louder than her in how she got so close.

"Hi big boy."

First shock, then 180 degree turn, and trigger pull. But she caught the shotgun with one hand. I then noticed her raise a FN P90 PDW up at my chest. I used my left hand to push the gun away from both of us and leaned forward with a head butt but my move backfired as she was wearing a gas mask inflicting as much damage on myself as her. Reeling back we both yanked our guns from our hands at the same time. I didn't give her a chance to go for her sidearm as I made the move with a forward step kick my size and height advantage would allow me to hit her right in the head. But she was faster and moved to the side with a side kick to my gut but my plate carrier absorbed the blow. We both stepped back into defensive postures, I needed to get her dazed and far enough away to draw my sidearm and get the hell out of the hanger. The children were still in danger. I hadn't really used all the martial arts I learned over the years cause normally it was an absolute last resort. All that jumping around kung fu shit was just flashy and it exhausted your stamina. Krav Maga was a good standard for me since it was part of my training. Mui Thai definitely complemented with me by applying strikes with my big limbs. But one that stood out as very alien and which most guys I fought didn't have a counter for was also my personal favorite, Silat. It had one purpose, kill your enemy.

Ok sweetheart. Let's dance.

She went first and had a greater reach than I expected but I countered with my left arm and struck with a straight from my right. Classic block and strike. She then backed off in another defensive stance, she knew a straight forward approach wasn't gonna work with me and I was no dumb slab of muscle. She quickly ripped her mask off and focused right at me. She didn't want to let me take advantage of the blind spots in her mask, she was no amateur either. She had emerald green eyes with satin black hair, a lazy type of smile and dare I say it, quite attractive.

"Hmm. You have very pretty blue eyes and the pony tail is cute too. It's a shame though, I hope I don't have to kill you."

Ignoring that, her accent is definitely American but it has a hint of Eastern European in it. Fuck it, not a priority.

I went with the first strike this time with an attempt to grab her shoulder but she looped her left around my right and landed a palm strike against my nose. But I used my strength advantage by throwing her back with her landing in a stumble. Seizing the moment I moved forward with a front spin kick but she ducked and knocked me off my feet with a sweep. I managed to control my landing but it didn't hurt any less, and then I saw her reach for her side arm, naturally I did the same. We both got off the ground slowly. It was only a matter of seeing who blinked first.

"You actually did very well, but you took into account I was your only adversary." She pointed a finger to her neck. "Give it up."

I slowly raised my hand in front of my neck and saw what I didn't want to, the red dot of a laser.

Stupid. Maurice, Aung, Elizabeth, I'm sorry. But please be safe.

I placed my first .45 down and then unholstered my other one and did the same thing followed by my knife. I stood up then placed my hands on my head.

"But still despite you being a cub you have the ferocious instincts and aggression of a bear. Very impressive mishka."

I then heard footsteps. Two other's approached from the shadows, dressed in the same gear she was.

"I wouldn't believe this if I hadn't seen the evidence outside. This guy damn near killed every soldier on this base."

"I was wondering why they opened fire on us without warning. They must have thought we were him. I'll radio the chopper to touch down. There ain't no one left so there's no threat."

1915 Hours

On my knees in cuffs, every soldiers worst nightmare cause that's normally followed by an execution. I couldn't afford to panic now. There was no doubt this guy was the VIP that Win was gonna meet with. I doubt he was gonna be very pleased that I just ruined one of his business deals but technically he didn't lose any money so I could work that in my favor. But my priority was making sure the children were safe. How the hell I was gonna do that though was still up in the air. He wore a simple grey suit and was probably my age. But he had unnaturally ice blue eyes and white blonde hair with fair skin and spoke almost like college jock only with more manners. But I doubt he had any and that woman continued to stare at me with that lazy face.

"My name is Kasper Hekmatyar. I'm an arms dealer, who are you?"

"Someone who needs to intervene and tell you, you have shitty taste in women." I tilted my head towards her.

"Careful. You only fought her to a standstill and she only half jokes. Question still remains."

He kneeled down and continued to look at me with a ponderous smirk a third masked guard right behind him and the woman at my flank.

"You sure as hell are not one of Win's men. And your way too old to be one of the four registered orphan's they took in. But judging from a few of the rather neatly placed weapons we found outside you have a rather fine taste for quality merchandise. And even though you are an American, I doubt even any of their agencies would send in a lone agent to start marauding through a Burmese Army Outpost. I'm guessing mercenary."

I shut my eyes and formed a scowl but my voice remained calm.

"Three. There are only three orphan's left. That sick son of a bitch Win made her walk through a minefield. He tricked her and me into thinking she was gonna get out of Burma. And I think you can put the rest together."

I looked up to him but his smirk was gone. It wasn't anger that I expected, more like concentration. He then stood up.

"Ok then. Have you had your fill?"

"What do you mean?"

"Despite whatever you may think, you had a justifiable reason going after Win and his men. You wanted revenge for a girl and he lied to both of you. He deserved what he got and I don't need to guess you didn't want what happened to her happen to the rest of the orphans."

"Is this conversation going anywhere other than praising me? What's your angle?"

"Little back story so you might understand. My younger sister and I were born on a cargo ship. In our youth we traveled with our father all over the world and I've got fake passports in every nation under the sun. Since I have no real homeland I don't have any concept of patriotism."

Seriously. Does he like the sound of his own voice?

"My angle is that I find you actions rather abhorrent. All this death and destruction for one little girl."

"One innocent girl and this base was full of anything but real soldiers. And before you get some kind of concept in your head about some big American action hero, I could give a damn about my country. I chose to do all of this for myself and her."

"Hmm. Well either way it worked out for me in the end. And as far as Gasud goes it's just one less subordinate that didn't pay attention to what he was getting into."

At least he figured that out on his own. Still doesn't answer the question on how the hell I'm gonna get out of this one.

"I wasn't actually going to sell them weapons anyway, I was trying to get them into being complacent but it looked like Win figured out the bigger picture. This outpost was actually gonna be removed anyway. The Burmese were gonna begin construction of a major highway into this area to move in troops and export natural resources and he must have had the idea of profiting on it. The country itself was gonna make quite an economic push forward."

"Hmph. Money, it figures. You just made me feel even better, knowing that there was another good reason I turned that fuckers head into a smashed tomato."

"Your welcome. But that still doesn't resolve you of the fact you killed one of my subordinates. And I seriously doubt you're the type of guy that values his own life if he's backed into a corner. You'll fight your way out or die trying."

"Then don't waste my time with talk just kill me and get it over with."

"Calm down big guy. Killing you would not only be just plain vulgar but also shameful that you knew you avenged your friend's death only to needlessly die by having someone else kill you that had nothing to do with your vengeance."

He then walked off and without looking back spoke.

"Besides those three kids were scared out of their minds when we found them. It break their hearts knowing you died."

In my bad habit of uncontrollable rage I lashed out without thinking.

"YOU MOTHERFUCKER! IF YOU HURT THEM I'LL-ARGH!"

I didn't remember much after that, just pain in the back of my head and then everything fade to black.

…

Darkness, followed but difficulty moving limbs, and inability to shout. I didn't know how long I was out but I knew I was moving. I heard the distinct sound of a diesel engine of a truck. I was in one of their cargo containers heading to God knows where.

…

I still didn't know how long I was in there. But this was part of my training, one of the more secretive things that the US military doesn't tell the public about what it's special forces go through. Considering the places we normally go to if we were ever caught we would be either tortured, killed, or made an example out of for propaganda reasons. You were beaten, you were starved, you were sleep deprived, you were mentally fucked with. All of it was made so that if the enemy ever caught you then you could resist them and find some way of escape. Isolation was part of it too, I had to keep my mind working.

…

It definitely had been more than 24 hours now. I was starting to show signs of dehydration and hunger. But what was really getting to me was that there was the possibility my life would end and then the memories came back. The jobs I had to take just to stay alive and remain on the run away from the US, the jobs in which I was technically part of the bad guys and made even more enemies when I backed out of the contracts I formed right in the middle of them because of what they were really doing. I then though about my father, how he would see me now. If my mother was still alive I wondered how she saw her little boy turn into something that rose out of hell. My former friends I made at West Point, my team, my training buddies, the four children. And finally my fuck up in Afghanistan where what I thought I was doing what was right turned me into an enemy of the United States.

That's when it hit me. I acted in a noble intention for an innocent girl by killing a truly evil man. It's one of the reasons on how I wanted to truly influence the world. Let true evil know it cannot continue getting away with all its shit. But the world decided to reject me from that. Does it hate me? Should I care?

…

No. I don't. I still have a free will and a choice to do whatever I wish to do or accomplish. I will hold on to my beliefs till the bitter end. If I didn't I would have gone back home and faced the judgement of a society that would have turned a deaf ear to whatever I would have said to the contrary. Why should I care what the world thinks, in the end it's a bunch of people I've never even met. Why would I hate them? The world can hate me, but I can still find beauty in it and I love it.

…

Light, followed by footsteps, and a scent of something salty. As I adjusted my eyes it wasn't the first thing I really wanted to see.

"Now before you jump to conclusions and want to try and kill me the moment the opportunity presents itself hear me out."

He then pulled out a knife and a plastic bag with something in it.

"I didn't expect you to keel over from something like this but I had to take some precautions. I tied you up like that only after I found out who you were. But then it occurred to me that I think can benefit us both. And I know you were thinking the same thing too. But that's for later, for now I bet your hungry and thirsty. I got these noodles from one of the shops outside the docks, they're actually pretty good. We can't negotiate if you can't talk."

He finished cutting the ropes and gag and tried to lift me up but I barely had the strength to stand anyway.

"Hey Chiquita can you help? He's heavier than he looks."

"Alright you big wuss. You gonna behave yourself mishka?"

"Just help me up, I can't barley muster the strength to be sarcastic."

They carried me out of the container and set me down on the side I was careful not to inhale the noodles considering that would do more harm to me if I ate too fast I'd throw it back up. I then looked up to Hekmatyar, the damn smirk still on his face.

"I think you know the first questions I want to ask."

"They are safe, we're in Yangon, and it's going on your third day."

He probably opened it this last day so I wouldn't die of thirst. But he mentioned a way that benefit the both of us. Time to play a tune to seduce this assholes wallet and maybe his ego.

"You mentioned negotiations and your right I do wanna talk business. I also don't have any employer now so whatever you have in mind I'll do it, no fees or anything. It's just those three kids, send them far from here, safe and have the ability to lead a happy life. I don't care what happens to me."

"Deal. But one thing about what you said is wrong though. You are an excellent soldier, you should care about what happens to you. I didn't sit on my ass in a car for the last three days Damien, I did a lot of research about you. Despite what you think you've led quite an interesting life. You follow a set of rules, while they're your own, they're fair to those in this line of work. Your you and no one else. And that's actually what I like about you. You know your place."

I sighed deeply. "Whatever. But you do know in order for me to actually do my job I'll need some replacement hardware."

"That's not a problem. My team actually did you the honors of grabbing all your weapons and equipment from Win's base before we left including your laptop and everything financial. Don't worry we didn't peek at anything, but we will need to know your account number so I can pay you. I'm not in the business of slave labor."

I can't believe this asshole is just gonna say what happened happened. It doesn't change the fact that he almost left me to die. But I'm almost in the clear and so are Maurice, Aung, and Elizabeth. I ain't about to fuck that up.

"Ok. Magic question. What's the job?"

"You remember I told you I had a little sister?"

Present time:

June 16th 2010 1520 Hours

The Arabian Sea

"And the rest you know."

Both Lutz and R stared at me with nervous eyes. Which was understandable, I had actually killed more people in the span of one night as opposed to the both of them in their entire time working for Koko or their previous legit military units.

"You did all of that to keep those kids safe and that girl was innocent. I read the news reports out of Myanmar too, nothing's changed in the last five months but you saved three innocent children from all that hell, remember that."

Lutz normally saw the battle from the scope of a rifle, naturally every kill he made was personal whether he wanted to or not. He was effective at offering comforting advice on saving lives. As I nodded in acknowledgment, I continued to hear Koko's shouting.

"Stop walking so fucking slow and get off my ship. I won't say it again, get your crap and move!"

"Ok! Quit shoving I'm going!"

As he was walking on to the brow to the opposite ship Chiquita stopped and looked towards Lehm.

"Wow your actually still alive old man? You really should retire."

"Hello Chiquita, polite as ever."

She then turned to me completely unacknowledging the fact that we're both about ready to kill each other.

"Mishka, go easy on his old ass. I think with him having a younger version of himself working with him might be too hard on his heart."

If he was able to handle what I told him. Then I think he'll be fine.

I ignored her and walked towards the brow in my least aggressive stance.

"Kasper! Boobs McGee and the Three Stooges are not gonna keep you safe forever. I will get you back and wipe that damn smile off your face."

I heard R and Lutz snickering but one look from Chiquita quickly turned their faces straight.

"Ok Damien. I'll be sure not to drop by uninvited next time."

1845 Hours

As Kasper's ship sailed off into the sun I stood on the railing with Koko.

"You know that ass wipe tied me up and locked me in a container for almost three days and I nearly died."

"I know and I'm sorry. He's always been like that."

"You know while I saved those kids and while those guys were anything but soldiers. I still killed off an entire base. When I told you I wanted to make a big impact on the world, I didn't necessarily think at the time that I was better at taking lives than actually saving them."

Koko then looked to me with sorrow and pity, she knew I was thinking about how I descended into her world.

"In the darkness, that was the closest time in my life that I actually was at death's door but I'm glad he didn't open it. Then I thought why does the world reject me for wanting to do something right? But then I realized I didn't care, it can't change who I am. It can hate me but I still find beauty in this world, I love it and I don't wanna see wither away and die needlessly. Do you Koko?"

"I...don't think I can answer your question Damien."

That's a first, never knew for her to respond with nothing. I guess that's the one thing in what makes all of us similar in the world. We're all unique.

She leaned her head on my shoulder. "I'm still sorry though, you're not mad at me that I didn't tell you he was coming are you?"

"Nah. Forget about it. Mind if I ask where were heading to now?

"We're gonna be at sea a little longer than usual. Destination is South Africa."

"Hmm. Then you know what were gonna cross before we get there. Tell Lehm and Wiley were gonna need to make a plan tomorrow at breakfast. Tell them it's French toast."

She giggled. "Sure."