Author's Note: We're back! Thank you all for the growing amount of follows and favorites. Now here come's the part where Damien was cursed with the title of "Nightmare". I based a few incidents that Damien will witness in the next few chapters that actually happened in Iraq and Afghanistan. None of course so extreme but a few of them that actually happened were kind of hard to believe, even though they were true.

Dreaming of Glory: You're preaching to the choir man. I have no idea why no one really took the time to upload a serious Jormungand FF.

Chapter 17: Off The Reservation

July 31st 2010 1420 Hours

Aboard the Fruition, The Mediterranean Sea

Our next destination was going to be Alexandria, Egypt. We would get more details on the buyers when we got there but as I was standing out on the deck after my run I then remembered that we passed by Greece and then I thought about the Odyssey. How Odysseus, or Ulysses depending on how you read it, wandered the sea for ten years trying to return to Ithaca after the Trojan War. While he had many adventures and braved and survived many perils, he was the only one left who returned home. Considering on how long rides by ship took it's no wonder it had to have been ten years. But I hoped that all of us made it to whichever destination we going to arrive at, at the end of our journey. But it looked like someone was gonna end theirs a little sooner rather than later. I had a few suspicions when we first left South Africa, she wanted closure on her past badly. I couldn't blame her, she was the sole survivor of her unit and was left as a scapegoat to cover up a failure. Naturally she wanted to get back at the man who ruined her life, Guoming Chan. Since Scarecrow was tailing both Koko and Chan, I didn't need to figure out that Valmet was gonna use Schokolade to dig up any info on his whereabouts and since we were heading to North Africa it would be closer to area's that had strong Chinese influence. In a way she and I were very similar. Except where she got caught up in a situation she couldn't handle, I chose the path of my own destruction and I will never find closure. All I could do is pray that my sins wouldn't rot me away from within. As she was looking out to the sea I could tell she was deep in thought. She had to be planning something but I just wasn't sure when. She didn't even notice me walk up to her.

"You've been a little quiet since we found out were heading to Egypt. Something on your mind?"

She didn't answer so I nudged her shoulder.

"Hello? Earth to Valmet?"

"What do you want Damien?" She said with hostility.

"Ok if you're gonna start slapping me because I show concern for a teammate then you, me, and Koko are gonna have a nice long chat."

She sighed. "I'm ok I'm sorry, it's just that were heading back to Africa so soon."

"I can actually sympathize with you on that. We've been bouncing back and forth between three continents for five months it feels weird that we've been all over the place."

"Isn't this any different from when you were still a mercenary?"

"I actually stayed in one spot for lengthy periods. I never really did constant traveling. In fact the longest I've ever stayed in one spot was when I was still a teenager and lived with my dad in Virginia until I went off to West Point."

She then looked down at the water, I decided to keep the conversation going and hoped she didn't think it would come off weird.

"Is the hunting in Finland any good? I know the fauna there in Europe is almost identical to the United States but it all depends on where you go."

"Actually it is. Even though over half of all land and freshwater are privately owned Finland has the largest amount of people to actually hunt in all of Europe. All you really need is a license to hunt, own a firearm, and permission from the land owners. But to hunt specific animals like bear you need a license for them."

"Ha! Far cry from America. All you really need is just provide proof that you're eighteen and you can get damn near anything. You don't even need to be a good shot either. When I was just a kid I just had to sit through a bunch of boring lectures and at the end of the week I got my junior license."

"For someone like you that doesn't surprise me, just answer what each color is and say the alphabet and you pass."

"Ok one, the jokes about me being one of those moron muscle heads from all those 80's comedies have run its course. And second, you're kinda right but not everyone is Simo Hayha."

She then raised her eyebrow at me, he was Finland's national hero. Nicknamed White Death by the Soviets, he was barely five foot three but his accuracy with a rifle at long range using no scope and only iron sights made him one of the deadliest men in history. And one of the toughest as he nearly had his entire face blown off by an explosive round.

"I'm surprised you even know who that is."

"I've heard of Chris Kyle's exploits in Iraq that's put him in the US spotlight as the next Alvin York but he pales in comparison to the man who killed over 500 Russians during the Winter War."

It went on for longer than I had expected but she was starting to catch on. We weren't shop talkers and she knows I'm not that open to lengthy discussions.

"Ok is this starting to go anywhere? You're probably the most anti-social out of all of us so what are you getting at?"

Thinking about what Koko said to Baldra a few days ago. I decided to use Koko's little habit. I figure I end this now, hopefully she wouldn't catch on. I knew ever since South Africa that she was gonna wait for a perfect opportunity to go after Chan. If I had the opportunity to find a way to get my life back I would take every chance I got to make sure that happened. I had to help her. I walked beside her, wrapped my arm around her side, and leaned closer to her. She let out a slight gasp.

"What are you doing?"

"Koko said that I was part of her family now. It took me a while but it finally sank in a few days ago. She may be the mysterious type but I can tell when her genuine feelings come out. Amalia may have only seen me as a sympathetic case but no one in the last two years has ever made any attempt to take me out of the dark pit that I threw myself into. Koko reached in and started to pull me out regardless of the fact of all the shit I've done. What I'm getting at, is that I want to follow her example. I thought you should know that, Sophia."

I let her go and walked away. As I made for the hatch to go inside she spoke.

"Does that example have anything to do with having a key to a new world?"

I answered without looking at her.

"I don't know if I can answer that yet. I've always been the wanderer."

August 2nd 2010 1000 Hours

Alexandria, Egypt, The Four Seasons Hotel, Koko's Suite

Alexandria, one of the greatest cities of the ancient world and still thrives today. Founded by Alexander the Great over 2,300 years ago it had been erected as a gateway between Greece and the resource rich Nile Valley. Along with the history of being the third most important seat of Christianity in the world it also had the ruins of the Lighthouse of Alexandria, The Necropolis, and the Great Library. And like many cities of the ancient world it experienced its fair share of wars ranging from the Romans, to Muhammad, and Napoleon. Now it serves as a port for 80% of Egypt's maritime trade and the trade we were bringing in was guns for the local Italian Mob. I did my best to remain focused in case if this was gonna go smoothly but the way Valmet was zoning out more than usual, I had a feeling this was gonna be the time.

"This job is gonna be a much smaller transaction than normal. Three trucks worth of guns we'll be selling to the local Mafia here, this will just keep us busy until our big missile deal next week. And yes Damien you'll get time to take more pictures."

"Sweet."

That's if I'll be in Egypt long enough to do that, as Koko continued Valmet continued to stare out the window with a thousand yard stare. In tragic stories where normally you're the lone survivor it's natural that you blame yourself. But none of what happened to her and her men was her fault. I could only piece together the details but to me it seemed that they came across an enemy that they didn't expect and it proved too much for them. A perfect example if an infantry squad came across an entire tank battalion, unless you had readily available air support, you got the hell out of there and reported it up to higher. At least she was better off than me, I intentionally caused myself to have PTSD from when I was in Afghanistan. The scary part was that I've barely felt anything after that. Koko then brought her out of her trance.

"HEY!"

"AHH! Koko!"

"Did you hear anything I said? You looked like you were paying less attention than Lutz."

"Hey! Small potatoes, three trucks, jumpiness. I've been listening."

Valmet then sighed and looked down at the table.

"Your right I'm sorry I was zoning out."

Once this is done I'm heading back to the ship to get my bug out bag. I ain't risking it.

2100 Hours

One of the benefits of working for Koko was that you had more access to HCLI resources and information gathering. After everyone thought I went to sleep after my shift was over I made a call to one of HCLI's 24 hour responders and they got me in touch with one of their intel members. I was a little surprised on how quickly Chan's record came up, man used to be full-fledged PLA until he got his leg crippled by a landmine in Ethiopia. But then all of a sudden he gets his own trading company, naturally this all seemed a bit sketchy.

"OK I'm looking at Tashinhai finances but you're gonna have to walk me through this. I'm not really good with numbers so give me the layman's terms. And what does any of this have to do with Chan?"

"Quite a bit Mr. Andrushko. You know on how China has been steadily increasing its influence in Africa this last decade? Well Chan was one of the spearheads that wanted the Chinese to establish trade and infrastructure in Africa. They're starting to take a more capitalistic approach on how they can benefit from the continent."

"I doubt that the Chinese are using an actual capitalistic approach to this. A lot of Chinese industry is still state run. They may not be as communist as they used to be over 30 years ago but they still rely on that same system."

"Correct. Chan was a General in the PLA, so naturally they want to protect their assets. They got mining and manufacturing facilities in multiple countries but so far there are seven main special economic zones with one in Mauritius, Ethiopia, a new one being developed in Egypt, and there are two each in Zambia and Nigeria."

"What's that mean?"

"Means that they have their own trade and business laws and they don't have to comply with the ones of whichever country they're in. Tashinhai has holds in all of them. But even though there aren't specific ones in Angola or Sudan the Chinese keep a little bit more of an aggressive hold on some of their resource facilities."

"Let me guess, oil."

"Exactly. They've been pumping almost or over half of it from both countries. Chan is one of the senior advisors that supervise security at these facilities. It's the same agency all in each country except they just have their own branch."

"I think I can fill in the rest of the blanks from here on in. Beijing wanted to keep Chan employed so they give him a little slice of Africa to supervise. Naturally since it's run by the Chinese state, all these numbers are legit, even if he wanted to sell guns he could use the excuse of them be sold by the state to another African state. Ok, thanks for the info and if it's not too much trouble don't tell Koko I was the one that asked for this stuff. Kinda doing it for a friend."

"Of course Mr. Andrushko. Good night."

"Good night."

I then turned off my laptop and phone and leaned back on my bed and sighed.

Christ. Chan's company is all over the friggin continent, he could be anywhere. I hope Sophia has been doing a little more research than I have. I hope that Schokolade girl is not as ditzy as I think she is.

Just then I heard a shower running in the opposite room, Koko and Sophia's. If this was the time it would have been perfect since the next shift wasn't gonna go by our rooms for a while. I then put on a fresh change of clothes and grabbed my bug out bag. Not as large as a rucksack but stylish enough that people wouldn't notice that it was something else. Full of cash, passports, fake ID's, my own emergency sat-phone, optics, and my short range weapons. Even though she has a chance to finally kill and bury some past demons I couldn't bare the fact that there would be a high probability that she would not come back. We both wanted vengeance against those who left us scarred and ruined. But I realized long ago that my so called desire for justice and vengeance against the CIA let me lose control of my anger and blind me and I had no one to blame but myself. I won't let anyone else ruin their lives like that. It then occurred to me on that I cared about Sophia a little more than I should have.

Looks aside, she has such a powerful drive to win. She's fierce but also innocent at the same time.

…

Why the hell am I feeling this way?

…

Ahh screw it. I'm not the first guy in the world that has ever done something dumb for a woman. Dad probably did the exact same thing when he first met Mom.

As quietly as I could I went outside into the hall and made in the direction not leading to the elevators. Koko's door opened up and Sophia exited without turning around to notice me. I looked at her again and realized her hair was shorter. It was a bit more military reg in style, she was preparing for a fight after all. I let her get in the elevator first and then brought up the next one. Depending on how the next day or several days went it may or may not be the last time I worked for Koko.

Not the first time I've gone off the reservation without anyone knowing. At least this one is a hell of a lot more quiet. And if the worst happens I'll just call Koko and tell her to mail me my stuff to wherever I bounce off to.

The moment the elevator got to the lobby I immediately spotted her. I stayed out of sight as best I could and followed her as she left the hotel. She didn't go to the cabs or even the rental stations. Instead I followed her for a few blocks and there was a bus being loaded up. As I took cover behind a building corner she looked like she was asking the driver where he was going. She managed to hitch the ride but I knew I couldn't really just get on the bus and hide in plain sight. I did notice on the back of the bus there was a ladder that allowed you to put suitcases on the roof. As the bus started to get ready I made for the ladder. I just prayed to God that one they wouldn't notice me and two that I wouldn't be eating bugs the whole trip.

August 3rd 2010 0500 Hours

Along the Nile River, Highway M75, Egypt

Oh God this fucking sucks!

Most assuredly the roughest and shittiest bus ride I had ever experienced in my life. At least the road was well paved and I didn't have to worry about my skin being torn off by sand since it was a calm night. The bus then began to slow down and since we were almost in the middle of nowhere this had to be her stop. As I looked down and saw Sophia exiting the bus, thank God it was my stop too. Using the engine noise, I quickly jumped off the roof and waited until the bus left. I checked my watch and it was little more than an hour until the sun came up. The sky was quite clear and the stars were still out reflecting off the Nile. I then looked at Sophia walking along the road taking her time. I then approached her, she was not expecting me to be all the way out here.

Lord Almighty. My life really has turned into one hell of an adventure. One fallen warrior that will make sure to catch the other one. Kinda romantic in a way. Far cry from the tragedy it began with, I hope at least I can make this one have a happy ending.

"So where are we actually heading?"

Shock and disbelief were an understatement.

"Damien!? What are you doing here!? You followed me!?"

"Look save it. If you can't tell I've had wind blasting me in the face for the last eight hours and I'm in no mood to argue on why I'm here. According to my GPS the nearest town is Asyut on the other side of the river. We should be able to make it there by sunrise."

"We? There's no "We". This has nothing to do with you. This is something I have to do by myself."

"I said I'm in no mood to argue so shut up and let's go. Like it or not you're stuck with me and we're in the middle of nowhere. We can argue all you want after we figure out what the hell we're gonna do next."

I then walked ahead of her, I didn't need to know she was burning a hole in the back of my head. She then ran up next to me.

"God you are a fucking egotistical asshole!"

Somehow I get the feeling that this is just mild frustration compared to how Koko is going to react once she figures out the both of us are gone.

0830 Hours

Asyut, Egypt

After a long silent walk and getting cleaned up in an old inn, Sophia was waiting for me at a table in a room away from the people there. Naturally she didn't want me there but I was gonna prove that I wasn't just there to satisfy my ego. I sat down and looked her dead in the eye.

"Ok. NOW we can argue."

"Look I want you to go back to Koko now. I told you this has nothing to do with you."

"Not happening, Sophia."

Without warning a punch came to my face. Looked like I'll have to play serious to get her to listen to me, and it was gonna be a long trip to where were going.

"Damn it! This is for your own good! I'm not letting anyone else get dragged into my problems!"

Making sure I had no teeth missing I looked back at her and answered.

"Urrrgh. Last I checked you're not in charge of me. I told you on the ship what Koko did for me so I'm not only doing what's best for her but you as well. And you're wrong about another thing, this does have something to do with me."

"How exactly?"

"You are my friend. And judging from the way you've been acting since South Africa you were planning on leaving and never coming back. You're doing exactly what I did two years ago when I abandoned my unit in Afghanistan. I'm not gonna let you go off and do the same mistakes I did without thinking it through."

Her eyes widened with surprise and I didn't let her respond.

"I know that a CIA tech girl named Schokolade was giving some intel to Koko for a while now. I didn't need to put two and two together that you asked her for a few favors on intel about Chan. I've been doing my own homework too, Tashinhai has several holds in the Chinese economic zones throughout Africa. Some of them are in Sudan which I have a feeling is where we're heading. And if he's not there we'll just look for him in another country. I asked some of the intel guys at HCLI to give me a few things that can help us."

Naturally it took her longer to respond, she had no idea what to say and I couldn't blame her. Intelligence gathering was a necessary part of training for being a Green Beret. She then stood up from her chair and her face straightened.

"Wow. You are just full of surprises aren't you? No wonder everyone has a hard time trying to figure you out. You're so unpredictable I don't even know who the real you is."

I then stood up from my chair and grabbed my bag.

"Well then it's time you got to know the real me. It's gonna be a long trip and a long story, grab your stuff I think I spotted a decent car we can steal and keep until we get to the Sudanese border."

Despite its advancements Egypt was still a third world country and the police didn't always arrive when they wanted to. Since we were heading to Sudan, the border there was kind of porous but the highways were faster and monitored so we had to ditch the car before we got there. After discretely picking the pocket of the poor saps car we were going to steal we got out of town easily and headed back south towards the highway.

"Take a look in my bag, my laptop's in there. Then look at the files I saved. That should help you find out wherever Chan may be at."

As Sophia turned around to the back seat and looked through it she immediately noticed there was more than a laptop in there.

"Figures. You like to come prepared." She said holding up my new MP7.

"Hey that's a quick in and out for me."

As she booted up my laptop, it looked like it was story time again.

"Ok what did you mean that I'm doing the exact same thing you did?"

"Well…I think it might be more appropriate to say that I will not allow anyone else to become me."

"What do you mean?"

"Sophia…you and I have a lot more in common than you think. We're both haunted by traumatic events from our pasts. We're both outcasts from our armies. We both want closure. We both want to find peace in our lives. We both want to see a new world. But that's were our similarity ends. Where you at least have demon to slay, I am my own demon. I ruined my own life by letting my anger blind me and misdirect my sense of justice by making myself into a monster."

I then started breathing heavily and gritted my teeth hard.

"I didn't even know what I was doing it until it was too late. I also in the process made myself an enemy of the United States and in caused so many people to get hurt and some didn't have anything to do with what I did."

I was starting to choke up. I then felt tears run down the sides of my face, the memories were coming back hard. I slammed on the brakes to stop the car to try and clear my head or I would have run off the road.

"Damien? Damien!"

When I looked to Sophia her face said it all. She couldn't process what she was looking at and it was full of concern and fear. She never seen me it such sadness before.

"You want me to drive? If it's too much we can wait till we find a spot to rest after we cross the border and you can tell me there."

I then wiped my nose and eyes.

"No it's ok. This is actually a part of why I can never really sleep. Because of the trauma I developed a mild form of insomnia. But every time I do sleep, it's nothing but nightmares of the last two years."

"Damien I…"

"It's ok. I want to tell you this. And if you see me as something horrible, then the moment we find Chan. I'll do what you said and let you go on alone and I'll head back to Koko."

I then continued to drive, there was a small moment of pause but then she spoke.

"Before you start, I like being called "Valmet" why are you calling me by my name?"

"That's an easy answer." I said turning to her. "You are not a weapon and I'm not thoughts that cause fear when one sleeps. We're both people with names, and personally it makes you sound like a thing rather than a woman."

She sighed while rolling her eye.

"Ok. What happened two years ago?"

God, at least let me finish this story without breaking down and throwing up like I did with Lehm. Sophia I hope you can say the same thing he did. But I don't doubt this cause I'll never be able to escape it even if I do find peace. I know that violence is who I really am.

Two Years Earlier:

January 6th 2008 0530 Hours

CIA Black Site Anvil, Afghanistan

Nestled in between the provinces of Northern Helmand and Kandahar, Anvil was like most top secret sites. You weren't supposed to really advertise them unlike the other FOB's and it wasn't as noticeable like Camp Shorabak. But since the key players were CIA Special Activities Division and field agents, if anyone wanted to try and get into this place they would have never been seen again. But since field and guard patrols weren't a part of what they were supposed to do you had to maintain security. That's where the civilian security contractors came in but that was just a fancy term for implying the name mercenaries. Not more than two days after I got here one of the detainees who was just asking for more water got rifle butted in the gut. I went to report him in but they let him off like nothing happened. I knew we worked in the grey areas but I didn't let it get under my skin that much. I decided to avoid the contractors for now, at least my team seemed better to get along with and I hoped it wasn't just because I was in charge of them. Our mission this morning was to escort three suspected Taliban members we nabbed after a patrol on the day before New Years to a specific location. I was gonna be briefed before we left, things moved fast around here and all of us were on need to know basis. I clicked on my radio to get in touch with the man who was Anvil's agent in charge, Thomas Henry Kane.

Under the code name of Forge his career spanned all the way back to just when the Iron Curtain fell. He must of thought of that name as something clever to try and reforge the world after communism fell. Whatever his reasons he may not have had the chance to combat the Soviets but from what he said he made quite a name for himself in helping the DEA crack down on the drug czars in South America. He then was stationed in Saudi Arabia for a time during the 90's, didn't really need to guess who he might have been gathering intel on, and then he ended up here.

Since they naturally worked on a different clock than ours the waiting was, well the waiting. Time differences on how civilians and militaries operated was nothing new to me but I did like to annoy them sometimes on how we needed to get things done for the day.

"Forge, this is Iron Actual. Are you awake? We're about to head out with those prisoners and we need directions on where to go. Over."

"Iron this is Forge. Have some damn patience. Heading your way now. Out."

This guy has been all business since I got here, only time I see him show any emotion is when we succeed in a mission.

Out of everything that's happened so far the only thing that really annoyed me after being here for less than a month was the constant changing of clothes. The temperature in the southern part of the country at least been moderate but with the sun blasting the temperature up and with nightfall it plummeting you could either burn up or freeze up without you knowing. As I was waiting for the rest of my team next to our two JLTV's I loaded up my rifle and Sig. The good thing about being an operator was that you got to have the latest and greatest gear before anyone else did and Special Forces almost always got the field tests. Officially called the MK17, I preferred calling it's shortened name of SCAR. They were actually supposed to be officially put the rifle and the JLTV, or MATV as it was going to be called, into service next year but the CIA hooked us up. I could help but ogle at all the cool shit I had access to.

"Sir, you know no matter how much you stare at those damn things they ain't gonna look back and say "Hey big boy!""

"I thought I told you when I landed here last month Ken that I'm not just muscles and a pretty face. Anyway where's Iron 3 and 4?"

"Getting those three Taliban suspects. They'll be here soon."

My second in command of my team Team Iron, Sergeant First Class Louis Isaac Kennedy, was my weapons sergeant and designated sniper. A black man with literally no neck and a solid block build he was from rural Alabama. He had been in the Army since before the new millennium and volunteered for Special Forces only a few months before 9/11. His enthusiasm was matched by his great sense of humor. His call sign was Iron 2, I called him Ken for short. I preferred using names instead of ranks here since we're all pretty much equal out here but I still had the last say in anything. At least until we got tasked by our CIA overseers. Special Forces operators may have operated outside of regular army's freedom of movement but we still had to get our missions from somewhere. I then noticed that our ride was inbound, a Blackhawk then touched down and I then saw Kane walking towards me with the prisoners with Iron 3 and 4 in tow.

"Captain Andrushko! We're done with these three we have what we need, take them to Sarposa Prison in Kandahar."

We had to shout rather loud over the blades whirling.

"What? Just like that? Aren't we supposed to hand these guys over to the ANP?"

"The officials you're going to meet at the prison are the ANP. Head back once you're done ASAP, you have a meeting with Zayed Fahim this afternoon."

0620 Hours

Flying Over Kandahar

During the flight the prisoners were unusually quiet. They also wore black cloths over their heads, naturally the CIA didn't want the Taliban to know where they were at. What was the point of a black site if you didn't keep secrets? But speaking of secrets not everyone was keen on need to know basis. The CIA had its job, we had ours. That's what I kept telling myself.

"You're not alone here boss I hate that asshole too. Just cause he's got security clearance and has a rule to break the rules he thinks he can act however he wants."

Staff Sergeant James Colin Sawyer, call sign Iron 3 and my engineer sergeant and demolitions expert. Another country native but this time from Minnesota, since he grew up around lakes he was an avid fisherman. After working in his father's limestone quarry for a few years after high school, he decided to join the army. His day's from working with stone and heavy machinery gave him his distinct athletes build. After witnessing that one of the blasters used a bit too much explosive when they were blasting away earth and rubble they ended up brining down half a hillside and re-buried the limestone. I didn't need to guess what he wanted to do, he was the most independent of all of us, his beard growing out was obvious, but he was a lifer. He didn't want to take over his dad's business but he also didn't realize you do have to climb a ladder to reach the top, as Kennedy explained to him.

"We do still have a job to do Sawyer. You can't just take the missions you want."

"Yeah, yeah, yeah. But at least Kane can give us a little leeway on finding the Muj our own way. I'm not complaining but I don't wanna do delivery or clean up duties this whole tour."

Iron 4 then jumped into the conversation.

"Hey as long as I don't have to do my job and just make sure you guys are healthy then I don't care what the hell happens."

Staff Sergeant Nestor Juan Lucente, my team's medic from San Jose California he was of Spanish-Italian descent. With deep bronze skin and thick slicked back black hair the locals often mistook him as being a native that joined the American Army. He was also the most fluent in Pashto and Tajik out of all of us. Naturally of course it was his job to make sure we all stayed alive but unless he wasn't fighting or tending injuries it was his job to interact with the locals and let them know we weren't there to cause trouble.

"I've also really expanded my vocabulary with the locals, I almost know about every damn curse word."

"Save that for when we get into a firefight and we can piss them off. Ok guys, ETA to drop off point is five minutes. Doc, make sure they're ready to go."

"Sir."

0630 Hours

Saraposa Prison, Kandahar

It wasn't any secret that Afghanistan was still a stone age country even after the massive influx of the twentieth and twenty first century technologies and tools to better their lives. But it all depended on who took it and used it and material things never really changed ideas and what not. Naturally the concept of humane treatment was still kind of foreign. Most of the prisoners here were rather thin and had wounds that were from beatings. The smell, didn't need to explain any further than that. As we lead the prisoners past the main gate to the front desk I handed the clerk the form that we were turning them over to the ANP. He nodded and then ordered his guards to take the three away. As they removed the blindfolds from them, one of the prisoners started shouting as if he was freaking out only to be hit over the head by one of the guards night sticks. The clerk didn't even bat an eye as he signed and stamped the form and handed it back to me. That was our cue to leave, as we made out to the chopper I turned to Lucente.

"Hey Doc what the hell was he blabbering about? He was shouting so crazy I couldn't pick up."

"Something about cursing us out for being liars. Said that they only knew Kasim, nothing else."

Almost instantly the hair on my neck stood up.

"Don't tell me we just handed over a few innocent men over to jail without a trial."

"I'm not sure sir. But it's not like we can ask for them back."

Who the hell is this Kasim guy that made Kane lock up three men we just grabbed?

"Sir if I may be so bold?" Kennedy then got my attention. "The enemy does have ears and they don't necessarily need to hear directly from a specific person to get what they need."

"It's also our responsibility here to make sure that we don't end up creating more enemies. If that guy was only just an acquaintance of whoever the fuck this Kasim guy is and he didn't do anything. Why the hell did we just send him to prison?"

I'm gonna have a long talk with Kane once this is over.