Author's Note: Next chapter will be up a little later than normal. Duty calls for June and I won't be around a computer. Let's just say a life changing event has also occurred so be wary that not everything will go according to schedule. But for now, here's where Damien starts to really break the rules.

Chapter 19: Turning Gray

February 5th 2008 0645 Hours

30000 Feet Above the Faryab Province, Afghanistan

It wasn't fear that was overcoming me, it was eagerness to fly. Well technically I would be in a state of free fall once I hit terminal velocity at 130 mph. The HALO jump was an unbelievable adrenaline rush but you needed a little bit more in your bloodstream at this high a flight even in a pressurized C-130. Which was why for the last thirty minutes me and the team were breathing straight oxygen. Even though we had our oxygen masks on during the fall, if you didn't put all that extra oxygen in your blood, not only did you run the risk of becoming hypoxic you could also pass out during freefall and end up as a massive stain on the ground before you could regain consciousness. Since it was going past thirty minutes now, we had to be getting close to our drop point. I then pressed my throat mike and got the jumpmasters attention.

"How much longer till drop off?"

He then checked his watch. "Twelve minutes Captain."

"Ok guys, time to zip and seal. I want nobody getting frostbite or passing out. Hooah!?"

"Hooah!" Team Iron said in unison.

We then began making sure we didn't have any exposed skin and fastening on our jump helmets. While they looked like what fighter pilots usually wore they were slightly different. They were extra insulated to suppress as much sound as possible from the wind and included a communication headset inside synced to our radios so that we could communicate even during free fall. They also had the option of attaching NVG's but since it was almost sunrise we had no need for them yet. All of us were used to carrying our own weight and more. Because we had three days to get across the mountain's towards that weapons depot inside the valley. With any luck we would time it just right and catch them dropping off their weapons delivery and put a massive dent in the Taliban supplies. After that we then had one day to hump it fast to the extraction zone and hopefully not have every single bad tempered Afghani following us wanting to flay us alive. As Ken finished checking my chute the pilot, Lieutenant Colonel Hyatt, came on my radio.

"Iron Actual, this is Sparrow. ETA to drop off point is eight minutes."

"Copy Sparrow. When, we depart get on the horn to Copperhead. Tell him to wait for us at Farah until he gets our call."

"Understood. Jumpmaster! Begin depressurization."

"Affirmative Sparrow."

Even though the time was short, it felt much longer as we were getting close to exiting the plane. Jumping out of a perfectly good aircraft is not a natural act. But the good thing was that Special Forces are anything but natural, it made me feel proud in a way. As we remained in our seats, the red light above us began to blink and then turn yellow.

"Depressurization complete and jumper's oxygen supplies are nominal. Six minutes to drop off! Opening rear hatch!"

As the rear of the plane opened up I squinted my eyes at the brightness of the morning sun even behind the shaded lenses of my helmet. I could feel the intense wind blowing on me but I did not feel the cold, my insulation was holding up. I then felt the vibrations of rapid tapping next to me, Sawyer was tapping his feet and hitting his legs with his fists. He was practically begging to go but we did have to be above where we needed to jump or else we'd overshoot our zone.

"Man I LIVE for this shit!" He yelled ecstatically.

"Just don't shoot your wad before you exit the plane Sawyer!" Kennedy responded in his comedic timing.

Unfazed, the jumpmaster then gave the next command.

"Three minutes to drop off! Stand up!"

We all got up at once, me in the front leading by example. As much of a rush as it was, parachuting was incredibly dangerous. Even in regular jumps, things could go wrong. Tangled in the wire's, chute's not opening, being dragged, or falling to your death. None of these were the way anyone would want to die but if it happened I would let it happen to me first and not let it happen to anyone else. But human beings, especially soldiers, have a habit of pushing past their limits, breaking barriers, and achieving amazing things. This was probably routine to Kennedy, Sawyer, and Lucente, but this was my first combat jump, so I had to do this right. As we all moved toward the end of the plane in unison the final orders came from the jumpmaster.

"One minute to drop off, status OK all green!"

As the light above us turned green, for a split second all went silent. I didn't know what came over me in that moment, it felt like an out of body experience. As if I entered an alternate state of consciousness, that I was ready for anything. And that asshole Kane wasn't gonna micromanage our mission.

"Countdown…5…4…3…2…1. GO! GO! GO!"

Let's fly!

The four of us leapt out at once and then all was just the sound of muffled wind and the pressure I felt from the free fall. All four of us then interlocked arms so not to get separated and continued to the ground. As I looked down toward the earth I saw the snowcapped peaks and various mountains. None of us could really do much else except wait till we had to the altitude where we opened our chutes so I just enjoyed the view. Military life tends to take people to a lot of places, both emotionally and physically, and what I tended to like the most is see the beauty of the world. There is so much that you can do but only so little time that you can stay in this world until the next life.

One day I'm gonna make an impact on the world that will affect everyone. I don't know how, but I'll figure that out later.

I then looked at the altimeter on my wrist, we were getting close to when we had to release our chutes. I motioned to the team and we all broke off. I looked again and it was at its mark, I pulled the cord and out popped the chute no problems. It then got real quiet because once your no longer at terminal velocity, there's not really much anything else around you that can hide the sound of a chute opening or even if you were talking to another person in mid-air so we had to be quiet. I touched down first and after removing my chute did a radio check.

"Iron Actual is on the ground. Sound off."

"Iron Two, locked and loaded."

"Iron Three, armed and ready."

"Iron Four, awaiting orders."

After I loaded my SCAR along with my grenade launcher and strapped on my pack. I then punched in the coordinates we were supposed to go on my Garmin Forerunner and looked in the direction we needed to go, which was north around a mountain in a valley on the other side.

"Ok guys we got three days to hump it. Let's not waist time. Move out!"

February 7th 2008 2200 Hours

It may not have been the Hindu Kush on the eastern side of the country but it didn't change the fact that it was below freezing and the wind wasn't helping either. It was my watch first tonight after humping around the mountain for two days we set up our tents at the base of the mountain just outside the valley. Even though no one in their right mind would be patrolling in an environment like this, you never let your guard down when you are behind enemy lines. But then it occurred to me that no one over here is in their right mind, if they were no one would be here. It was one of the discussions, along with the plan to raid the supply site, during our little walk for the last two days.

"You want to know what's the best way to catch fish boss?"

"Knowing you I'm gonna say C4."

"Heh. Good option but then there wouldn't be anything left to eat. Naw, it's patience."

"Well duh but what do you mean?"

"It's like what we're doing here. You mentioned me using explosives so that means that it will be the fastest way to get a fish and then everything else you used before will count as nothing. Soon others will see it as normal and become numb to its affects."

"Skip to the end Sawyer, I hated philosophy class."

"War has been part of this nation since ancient times, no sane minded individual would allow this to be an endless loop. Our country may have the ability to wage war with overwhelming power but that's not enough to defeat an enemy like this. It's the older cultures and people that have perfected war. Nation's will fall but if a people have a strong enough will they can beat anyone. These people did it to the Russians, and the Vietnamese did it to us. They're crazy, a "sane" type of crazy."

Iron 3 may have been a bit of a jackass but he was the most socially intelligent out of the four of us. When he was working in his father's quarry he came across people of many walks of life, guys earning money for college, convicted felons that needed to start over, some that didn't have all the credentials to get another job, and utter blockheads that got by on their physical strength. The world is full of different people and you can acquire much knowledge from them if you listen properly. And the one thing they forced down our throats at West Point was that you needed to listen to your subordinates. They were the ones with the experience and the proper job knowledge to help you succeed as an officer. As Ken and I discussed when we were planning out the raid before we boarded the plane.

"Remember sir sometimes you can't always want to go faster and not slow down."

"Isn't that the point? So that we can accomplish the mission at hand?"

"No. This may sound cheesy but it's true. If you want to go fast, travel alone. If you want to go far, travel together. You've accomplished a lot for someone your age, but at times I see you pushing yourself too hard and you don't recognize it. You told me you want to make a big impact on the world one day and you'll do better if you have other's with you on that journey. I have also noticed you spout out unnecessary anger when things don't go the way you want them to. You can't lose your cool like that, especially if you're in a leadership position and more so that you are part of Special Forces."

"I had a reason for that anger Sergeant."

"You can't just hate Kane because he's an asshole. I didn't like what he said to you either but there are horrible things in war that you must do or else more will die if you don't. I remember before you came over here I was on over watch in Kabul for a bunch of guys at a checkpoint. A woman was approaching them with a baby in her arms, it was a girl wrapped in white, asking them if she could pass. As I focused in on the woman with my binoculars I saw that when our guys were asking for identification she wasn't letting go of her baby. I then focused in more and I saw what I didn't want to see."

"Let me guess a trigger."

"Yes, it was remote but she didn't press it yet. I had to make a call so I made it. I made sure that no one was behind her and I took the shot. Gravity took over after that and my spotter got on the radio to the checkpoint after I told him why I shot. I may have saved that checkpoint and even the baby but I made that girl an orphan and even gave her a head injury when her mother collapsed on top of her. I may have felt like shit for doing that but I saved those men's lives. Sometimes it's one thing or another."

"Ken, I appreciate the concern I truly do. But if you don't mind me saying so, I believe that everything has a choice. Hal Moore said that there is always one more thing you can do. I'd like to think I can make one more decision if I come across something difficult."

"Hmm. Your call sir. And I'm with you either way, hell do I have a choice?"

As the wind began to die down I smiled at the thought on how Ken could remain so positive in bad situations or when he was telling me that story. It would be a good idea if I took the quality of his humor and applied it to whenever the situation called for it. I looked at my watch and then noticed my time for watch was up and I went to get Lucente in his own tent.

"Come on Doc get up. It's your watch."

The groans of coming out of deep slumber occurred inside his pup tent followed by a weapon cocking. Men of readiness may snap to when the bullets start flying but more often than not the one thing a soldier never has enough of is sleep. You gotta grab it when you can.

"Right. We still moving out before sunrise?"

"Yeah. If we get there quick enough we'll go through the plan and hit them in the afternoon when they would not expect it. There's only one route that has enough maneuverability to get that large of amount of supplies through."

As he took up watch and tightened up his weatherproof hood I then started to think about what Ken mentioned to me yesterday.

"Hey Nestor."

"Hmm?"

"From your observations. Do you think I push myself too hard into thinking I want things to go my way?"

He then looked at me and formed half a smile. It was the nature of medic's to let their patients know they were in good care.

"You're just young and this is your first time on the battlefield Damien. The entire US Military may have different jobs but we're all on the same team and everyone reacts differently to how they experience war first hand."

"Well how have I reacted?" I said expecting honesty.

"A solid leader…with being hopelessly lost in social skills like all young officers are."

No doubt he was referring to Khandan, I fist bumped his shoulder and made for my own tent. The wind continued to blow loud outside but I was at least warm inside the pup tent. As I was about to shut my eyes, my thoughts then drifted back to her. She was an attractive girl, but I then thought the wiser. I far prefer someone that led a least a normal life. But I couldn't think about that now, I had to steel myself for the upcoming fight.

February 8th 2008 1307 Hours

10 Miles From the Turkmenistan Border

"Looks like our predictions paid off Cap, they're still unloading crates into those caves. From the looks of how those trucks are parked they must have arrived not too long ago."

Ken was looking through his sniper rifle keeping observation on the high ridge looking over the bowl like formation of landscape with several cave entrances on one side. The rest of us were hunkered down behind rocks about 300 meters to Ken's right. The five old Soviet Ural 4320's were lined up like dominos in the middle of an assortment of camo covers, staging areas, small power lines and guards quarters. There had to be more of this place, the outside was too small and area to store that many weapons so they had to be in the caves. They were all too preoccupied with the activity below so it was now or never. There were also two over watch positions, one our right flank and another directly in front of us, both with DShK's. I then got on my throat mike and turned to Lucente and Sawyer.

"Ok guys here's the plan, Ken you're gonna lay down sniper fire after we start the show down here. From where you're at there ain't no place for them to hide except the cave's. Once we pacify the area you meet up with us at the cave entrances and we clear 'em out."

"I'll wait for your signal Cap."

"Jim take the left flank and keep that path clean, if any of the trucks make a brake for it toss one of your remote charges. In fact give me and Nestor two charges in case if we have to make a quick run for it. I'll let you know when we need to radio it outta here."

"Got it boss. Each charge has their own remote control taped to it so you don't need to worry about setting off the wrong charge. Just flip the switch and poof."

"Nestor, you and I are gonna take those gun nests, we'll use them to clear out the area quicker. You take right and I'll go up the middle and fire the opening shots. Until then no noise, knife only. Let's move."

Using cover and low profiles we each slowly made our way around the numerous amounts of rocks to our positions to conduct our raid. It took about three minutes to get to the nest I was about to take, I then heard a sputtering noise which sounded like an idle moped engine. But as I got closer I immediately froze as an extremely thin line was in front of my face. Slowly and gently I made my way from one side of the line to the other, it was attached to a grenade. Seeing that the pin was just barely in it and two heavy stones were holding it in place I gently pushed the pin back in and using my knife I cut the wire. I took the frag and put it in my pocket, maybe use it later. As I was right in front of the nest there were two men, one near a power generator and the other tying his boot right in front of me, he was first. Using my unnatural strength I pulled his neck back with my hand over his mouth and shoved the blade down through the plumbing so he couldn't scream. After laying him down gently I quickly moved to the other one and with the sound of the generator covering my footsteps. Same technique but plunged the knife into his back where his heart was, after a few tense seconds he stopped moving.

I then looked to my left and right, Sawyer and Lucente were in position and they still didn't notice us. After I moved the machine gun to get a better shot on the Taliban below I noticed that the generator had four wheels and the way the elevation overlooking the bowl wasn't extremely steep. After ripping out the cables that were connected to the thing I placed one of my charges on it and removed the chalk blocks. It was heavy but I was still able to push it, more specifically into the direction of the trucks. The insurgents didn't notice at first but when they saw a bunch of the Afghan moon dust kicking up they knew something was wrong. But it was too late.

"Ka-boom."

The generator smashed into the fourth truck from the last and I hit the detonator. A massive ball of fire erupted and chaos ensued, I followed up by tossing the frag I picked up earlier and then fired my grenade launcher. I must have hit some fuel drums because there was a lot of fire starting to spread, and me and Lucente placed even more by unloading on the Taliban below with Russian .50 caliber. There wasn't much solid cover below that could stop the heavy slugs and those bodies which were not on fire were being blasted in half by the kinetic energy of the heavy MG's. After a mad minute and a lot of corpses later I got on the radio.

"Iron 3 and 4 move up to the cave entrances! Iron 2 get down here and keep us covered! Clear out any remaining hostiles and follow us in!"

"Got it Cap. By the way, you dropped all of them in the meat grinder!"

"Not now Iron 2! Move your ass!"

I got what he was referencing but I didn't have time to think about movie coincidences. As we made our way down the slopes, mercy killing anyone that was still alive, me, 3, and 4 were stacked up ready to enter the caves while 2 kept watch outside from my gun nest. Using our honed close quarter movement we quickly made our way through the main cave entrance but the tunnel was shorter than I thought, we then entered a rather huge cavern with crates and small shacks everywhere, along with a few dozen very angry Taliban. There was no think, just react and clear them out. I took the left side while Sawyer and Lucente took the middle and right. Stop and pop, stop and pop, stop and pop, they may have been putting a lot of fire on us but they were panic firing. More than two thirds of them were killed outside and looked like they never expected anyone to come and burn their base to the ground. As I unloaded on two I caught off guard I then noticed movement of three bodies moving towards a structure on top of an elevated position in the cavern. One of them wore old tiger strip pants with a thick tan colored jacket and wasn't armed and it looked like he was being protected by the other two. That meant a VIP, and I sprinted in that direction and got back on the radio again.

"3 and 4, clear out the rest of them and get the charges planted. Use any of the unburned fuel as an accelerant. Iron 2 you read?"

"It's still clear out here Iron Actual, what's up?"

"Get on the horn to Copperhead, tell them to come get us now!"

Lucente then patched in. "Wait sir, where you heading?"

"I think we might have a guest tagging along with us."

Moving up to the shack I then prepped a flashbang and my pistol, I heard shouting inside and then decided to interrupt their conversation.

"Knock, knock!"

After the flash and bang I went in to clear, there were three, I dispatched the two that were expendable, and round housed the one important one who flew with the force of the kick into a table and after some painful groans spoke English.

"WAIT! DON'T SHOOT! I'M NOT ARMED!"

I stood over him pistol drawn and obviously not believing anything he said. He was not skinny, definitely Afghan, had a thin beard, and looked no older than me. Least I didn't have to call Lucente over to translate for me. He then addressed me again.

"Whatever type of information you want to take with you, you won't find it here on paper or data! I however have it memorized, promise me safety and I will tell you whatever you wish to know."

The way he was shaking I didn't need to figure out he was a born coward. But it didn't look like he was lying.

"Stand up, hands on the wall, you do anything stupid and you won't leave this site with your fuckin knee caps intact!"

After I patted him down and zip tied him I then noticed that the firefight had stopped. I then clicked on my throat mike.

"Iron 4, what's your situation?"

"Area is clean Iron Actual. Prepping the last charge."

"Once you're done meet me at the cave entrance, I want you to look over a guest we have. Iron 2, what's the status on that evac?"

"They just left, we move towards their direction and activate our beacons they can lock on our signal. ETA 90 minutes."

As I took our new guest outside, he kept his eyes shut most of the way not wanting to look at his dead comrades. Sawyer was the last one out and with a mischievous grin set off the charges, the explosion was loud but also muffled since it was inside a cavern. Smoke was coming out of the cave entrances indicating the fuel barrels had done their job too. Ken then made his way toward us and I punched in the coordinates on my Garmin to indicate which direction we needed to go to link up with the choppers. But then our new guest spoke up.

"There goes $7 million."

I then noticed that his accent while appropriate for this part of the world, it wasn't one of the prominent Afghan languages and I couldn't place it. I then turned to Lucente as we began to walk off.

"Iron 4, you picking up on his accent? Cause it's not Pashto, Tajik, or even Arabic."

"Your right it's not, it's Urdu."

Ken then jumped into the conversation. "You can worry about all that later Cap. I doubt we're all alone out here so I suggest we double time it."

Our new guest then spoke again.

"Wait! If your planning on escape why not take one of my trucks? It will get you there faster. Plus there's an alternate route I know of where you can avoid the Taliban patrols."

"Hold up why are you so willing to help us all of a sudden?" Ken looked at him skeptically.

"I had an unpleasant feeling that the Americans would eventually find this place. I gave them these weapons but I also warned them not to get routine with the delivery schedules, it would have made them predictable and the Americans would have found out where they operated but they didn't listen. And as you can see they've reaped the fruit of their errors."

Then it hit me, it couldn't have been more obvious. Why someone like him was this far north, I'd figure out later. I then pointed to each of them

"You know what I'm gonna take a leap of faith. You're riding shotgun with me but if I so much as smell an ambush I'll blow your fucking head off. Iron 4 get that front truck ready to roll. 2 and 3 clear out the back of anything useless in it cause those are your seats, we're leaving."

"Whoa boss hold up! You just gonna trust this guy!?" Sawyer protested greatly against the idea.

"Iron 3, my squad, my call. And we're kinda running against time."

1410 Hours

After a few arguments from Sawyer on how much it was a bad idea to listen to a prisoner. We managed to calm things down as he began to give us a few pieces of information. But as we rumbled along an old dirt road left behind by the Soviets heading south to link up with Copperhead he wouldn't give everything unless he was 100 percent safe. His name was Karan Simran, a Pakistani national that apparently was a delivery man for an arms dealer. Along with what was being delivered to those caves there wasn't anything else he would say yet.

"Just so we're clear Simran, just cause you're helping us doesn't mean you're gonna get away with selling weapons to terrorists that want to kill Americans."

He then looked at me as if I had falsely accused him of something but spoke as if we were in a debatable discussion.

"A dealer of arms only takes the side that has money. I do not care whether my AK's go to the Afghan Army or the Taliban. I'm only a supplier I don't fight the war and I don't take sides."

"We'll you're going to take our side and like it. We could always use another source on the other side."

"So long as I am well compensated I'll tell you what you wish to know."

"I promised I'd keep you alive, that's more than compensation. Once I have a task I stick to it till I'm done."

Lucente began to chuckle.

"Even if it's past the point of you nearly blowing out your knees?"

"Beg your pardon?" Simran obviously didn't know what he was talking about.

"Sorry, the Captain here told me a story a while back that he made one of his instructors mad during SFAS training and as punishment for a ruck march he had to go one and a half times further than everyone else and still kept up with the other candidates for the rest of the day."

I actually didn't make him mad. Bastard just wanted to blow off steam for being a sore loser in CQC.

"As a medical man I'm surprised he's in as good a shape he's in considering the amount of abuse he puts himself through."

Simran looked back out to the road almost uninterested.

"Not surprising to me. You American's have a habit of wanting to break limits and barriers. Especially in war."

Reeling back from the bad memory during training, Ken came on the horn.

"Cap! I got incoming transmission from Copperhead, they got a lock on our beacons."

"Got it." I then switched radio frequencies and pressed my throat mike. "Copperhead this is Iron Actual how copy over?"

"Go for Iron."

"You should see us coming towards you now. We're in an old Soviet Army truck. Over."

"Uhh…roger. We'll radio in when we have visual. Over."

"Understood. Can you relay a message back to Farah?"

"Send it."

"Have the MP's waiting for us. We have one prisoner to hand over to the boy's in intelligence."

1526 Hours

FOB Farah, Farah Province

As the Blackhawk approached the FOB and began to land I turned to Simran.

"As per our agreement you'll remain here under US Army supervision and we'll be back in two days to discuss what you know."

The mission actually went smoothly. No casualties, the destruction of weapons, and a source of information we a good haul today. But like any valuable item, others tended to want to get it their own way. As we all left the chopper landing pad four plain clothes men in black plate carriers approached us, one of them very familiar.

"We'll take over from here Captain, that prisoner now belongs to us."

"Brooks? What the hell are you doing here!?"

"I have my orders Captain, and this one comes down from above us."

He then handed me a paper detailing authentication orders from SOCOM. Any matters concerning the apprehension of the individual named "Kasim" are to be turned over to the CIA immediately.

"Trent, Kramer, take him away. Set up the interrogation in the third hanger and clear out all the regular troops. I don't want them listening in."

As the two SAD agents made past me and Ken to take Simran he began shouting and struggling. But what caught me were his eyes, they had a different look from when I first kicked him across a room.

"Captain! You lied to me! I said I would help! I know what the CIA does and it's why I chose not to help them!"

Something about this whole meeting was sketchy. Brooks showing up, Simran implying that he met with the CIA before, and this "Kasim" thing again.

"Brooks, that is my prisoner. You best start talkin, NOW!"

I closed the space between him and me quickly and aggressively, Brooks' fourth in tow backing him up. But he held his hand up to let him know to calm down.

"Calm down Ruvic, he deserves a little explanation. You see the weapons that were delivered to where you were at were delivered by Kasim and with one of his men there it would score a lead on tracking him down. But you did us one better, you actually got him. I didn't think he'd oversee one of his own deliveries."

It then hit me like a ton of bricks. While the pronunciation of the first syllables of his names were different, they were spelled differently, Karan Simran or Kasim. But something else was bugging me, this was no coincidence.

"You assholes were listening in on our radio's weren't you?"

"I have no idea what you're talking about Captain." Straight faced and unfazed.

As he and Ruvic turned their backs to me and walked off. I gritted my teeth and squeezed my fists so hard I couldn't stop shaking, I was in an absolute rage. Kane and Brooks had played me into doing their crap and were even spying on me. Kennedy then grabbed my shoulder.

"Captain! I recommend you calm down, don't do something regrettable."

I then turned to him with a dark stare and addressed him coldly.

"Sergeant Kennedy, take your hand off me. I'm going to contact 3rd and rectify this situation. Get the bird ready to go back to Anvil and stand by until I say it's time to leave. Understood?"

"Sir I…"

"Do you understand me!?"

Kennedy's reaction, along with the rest of the team were caught off guard. I almost never used my authoritative tone, it often bordered on violent.

"Yes, sir."

1843 Hours

The video call I finally managed to get to Colonel Pegorino didn't pan any better than what I expected it to be. Apparently you have to listen to people who are nowhere near you're at even after you were told that you had complete freedom of movement from when before you left for your mission.

"Sir there has to be some way I can appeal this to high command. What Kane is doing borders on violating the Laws of War."

Pegorino looked exhausted from saying the same thing over and over again. He wasn't going to budge on helping me out.

"There is a reason why some information remains classified Captain. It's so that others won't die. While you are in charge out there you still have to follow orders, not follow what is right. This anarchic thinking will ruin a lot of hard work in order to build up trust we have with the Afghani's."

"He said he'd help us sir, willingly in fact."

"And you believe him? If we went around trusting every gun runner in that country they'd know all of our weaknesses and crack open our armor and kill us from inside. Or to put in a matter which you would understand. THEY WOULD TOTALLY FUCK US OVER!"

This guy's not the same Pegorino I talked to five months ago. Why the hell is this shit happening!? It's like the worlds turned upside down on its head. This ain't why I joined up!

"This conversation is over Captain. You have your orders, so follow them to the T."

As the monitor switched off my anger kept rising, so in order to let up the stress I punched the computer monitor. The smash drew the attention of everyone in the room. As I stormed out, the comms officer got in my way but I shoved him aside not paying attention to his shouting that I broke his stuff.

I don't got time for this shit.

If no one was gonna help me, then I was gonna help myself. I was also planning this completely on the fly, but I was going to win on my own terms. My father said I'd eventually go into the gray area, this is probably what he meant.

2000 Hours

"We told you before Andrushko, he is not your prisoner anymore."

Brook's SAD member Trent was obviously aware that I was gonna try something stupid and he was right. But I'd hope he'd buy my nice guy routine a little more, at least until I could get to Kasim. Then I'd work on my next phase of the plan I was winging. At least he was the only guard in this little makeshift prison inside the hanger.

"Calm down I only wish to talk to the man. No funny business, but has he at least been cooperating?"

"Oh yes, quite well. Though he might be too exhausted to answer anything you want to ask. See for yourself."

They turned one of the offices in the hanger as a cell. But as I looked through the window it was clear it was used for something else. Kasim was tied to a chair bleeding from head to toe, clothes torn, and his left eye had swollen shut. But the expression on his face was that of resistance, this guy was not just another gun runner. I then turned back to Trent.

"Do you mind if I have a little privacy? You can keep an eye on me through the window but I'd like our conversation private."

God please let this asshole buy this.

"You got five minutes. Say what you need and leave."

As Trent closed the door behind me I had to act fast. He was conscious but definitely mad that I was there.

"We don't have much time Simran, so I'll be brief."

"What do you want?" His one eye looking up at me.

"I'm through being played by the CIA, every time I try to do my job they keep weaseling in to my efforts to screw me over. Despite what you may think, I actually want to try and save people regardless of who they are and what they've done."

"What is your point?"

"You said you did not want to help the CIA because of something that they did. If it's something that's hurting the US cause here I want to know about it. In exchange I'll give you your freedom."

He then raise a very skeptical eyebrow.

"I'm finding this a little hard to believe Captain Andrushko, why should I trust you?"

"If you don't believe my words then believe my actions."

As I exited the room I turned to Trent.

"Ok I'm done."

"Good now-AUGH!"

I didn't let him finish as I replied with a head butt from my helmet. Following up with locking his arm behind his back in a choke hold and slamming his face several times into the wall. I then dragged his body into the office and stripped him of his gear. I then cut Kasim loose, and mentioned to put on his stuff as I tied up Trent. Hopefully Brooks found him later rather than sooner.

"Why?" He said bluntly.

"I'm not helping you, I'm helping myself. Hopefully we can get out of here without the front gate being too thorough with us. You should be able to disappear in the town just outside the FOB. Despite what you might think, the US Army just makes sure their FOB's are safe, not the surrounding towns at night."

As Kasim clean up his face as best he could, we both exited the hanger and made for the motorpool to hopefully find a thin skinned humvee. I then got on my radio.

"Iron Actual to Iron 2 get the bird ready and ready to dust off."

It was a few seconds but Kennedy finally responded as if he sounded like he was half asleep.

"Understood sir. We'll wait for you to get here."

"Negative. Pick me up outside of Farah, look for a strobe."

"What!? Cap I-"

"Just shut up and do what I say! Iron Actual out."

2020 Hours

Town of Farah

Pegorino was wrong on all accounts, we were making gaps in our own armor just fine. The checkpoint out of the front gate didn't even stop us. They just opened the door and let us pass. It was only one of the many screw ups that was going on over here. I witness the intentional civilian deaths, gun runners like Kasim being allowed to pass through without being stopped, and known insurgents being let go repeatedly despite entire units knowing that they were responsible for the deaths of their men.

"If you can get me hard evidence on this stuff I will be sure to compensate for you."

"It will take some time but yes, but for now I must return to Pakistan. I should be able to get a bus ride out of here by tomorrow morning."

"I'll need some contact info as well. As a matter of fact give me that guys sat phone. I want to make a little insurance investment, plus if you keep this they'll track you."

"That call I made earlier was to my people so I don't need to worry. Well I best go now."

As he exited the Humvee he extended out his hand with a piece of paper in it.

"Thank you for saving my life, I owe you. I actually told them all lies, so naturally once they found out they would have killed me. You're not like the rest of the Americans, you want to make a difference here."

I took his hand and shook it. Then I used what Fahim told me.

"Not everyone on what I might consider to be bad in this country is actually bad."

As he marched back into town, I turned on my locator IR strobe so that Copperhead could get fix on me. Then after I memorized the number that was on the paper and then punched in another one on Trent's phone. She apparently did have a thing for me, I really needed to find out one day on why the hell I was a form of cat nip for the opposite sex.

"Hello?"

"Khandan? It's Captain Andrushko, sorry for calling so late but I need your nelp."