Chapter 13

Thanks again to everyone reading. I love hearing what you think and that I have you on the edge of your seat. Honestly I have myself on the edge of my seat as well as I write lol. I hope I continue to keep the suspense going. Enjoy cuz things are about to get more intense! Sorry if I don't know how to write an action scene!

Jason was hunkered down behind a building trying to figure out where to attack. This wasn't like going out on a mission where they had comms or a drone overhead for help. They were calling out their signs and observations trying to protect the entrance with the rest of the soldiers on base.

"Where the hell did these guys come from?" Sonny yelled.

"We need better cover if we're going to get an angle on these guys," Ray yelled as an explosion went off nearby.

Gun fire was going off everywhere they looked. Rockets and grenades were being thrown everywhere around them. All the commotion was sometimes deafening and it was difficult to think of what their plan of action should be.

"Clay! You see any high ground you can get to," Jason asked.

Clay took a look and saw a couple of the towers had been taken down but there were some still up. "Looks like the main ones up front are gone but if I go further back I might be able to get to them."

Jason had a decision to make. Did he send Clay to get set up a sniper positon and risk getting taken out if they found him or did they continue to battle on the ground? Another explosion went off, this time closer to where they were and debris was falling on them.

"Fall back and set up on high ground. Take out the guys with heavy machinery and watch your six," Jason said to Clay as the guys prepared to give him cover fire so he could move.

"Moving!" Clay yelled as he made his way towards a tower behind them. The guys started laying down cover fire and once Jason saw Clay make it around the corner out of the fire fight they stopped.

"Hey boss," Trent said. "Is it just me or are they pushing us left?"

Jason fired off a couple more rounds before thinking about what Trent said. They were pushing the soldiers left and leaving the right side of base open. Why? What was on that side of the base?

"Guys, push right! Tell everyone to push right!" Jason said as he realized what or who they'd go for on that side. "It's a prison break. They're here for al-Hazred."

"Isn't he with Mandy and Lisa?" Full Metal said over the gun fight.

"Shit! We have to get to them," Sonny yelled thinking about Lisa in danger.

Jason took a moment to process what Full Metal had said. Mandy was with Asim al-Hazred right now and that's who these guys were going for. He knew Mandy and Lisa could take care of themselves but that didn't stop the thought of something going wrong and them getting hurt or worse.

"Alright, we push right and hold these guys off. Once the others have a hold on this then we see what we do about getting to JSOC," Jason said to the team.

The guys got in formation and started pushing right forcing the bad guys to retreat back towards where they came from. As they moved, they had found some of the base personnel hunkered down for shelter.

"You guys good," Trent asked as they shakily nodded their heads. They weren't soldiers and weren't prepared for a warzone.

"One of us needs to tell Blackburn they're coming for al-Hazred and get a warning to Mandy and Lisa," Jason said.

"I'll go," Brock said getting ready to make a run for it.

The guys continued to fight against the enemy and hope everyone made it out of this alive.

Meanwhile Mandy, Lisa, and a couple guards were moving Asim towards the holding cells. That area was more secure and the walls were solid. The downside was there was only one way in and out. So if the enemy got the best of them then they were probably doomed. The two guards had gone to the equipment room and gotten as much fire power as they could. The guards had most of their tactical gear on already.

"I was only able to grab one vest," one of the guards said.

"You take it," Mandy said to Lisa.

"What? No," Lisa replied.

"Lisa, put the vest on. At least if you survive you can continue on the work you started," Mandy said as she checked her gun. "Put it on," Mandy said in a commanding voice making Lisa cave.

"Yeah, well we're all getting out of this alive," Lisa said reluctantly.

The guards had secured Asim into a cell and cuffed him to the wall so he couldn't reach out and try to interfere. The building rumbled as an explosion went off.

"Sounds like that was close," one of the guards said.

"We'll stand outside the door as the first line of defense," the other guard said. "You guys good here?"

Lisa and Mandy nodded at the guard. Another explosion went off and this time the lights flickered. Before they knew it, gun shots were heard outside the door.

One of the guards was hit and the other dragged him into the cell area before going back out into the hall. As soon as he was about to raise his gun to fire Mandy and Lisa seen him take a head shot before dropping dead. The two looked at each other and knew they were on their own.

"I'm gonna get behind the door and you hide in a cell," Mandy said quietly. "We'll ambush them. Watch where you fire and conserve your rounds."

Lisa nodded and headed for a cell further down. They both waited with anticipation for the fight of their lives. A couple shadows could be seen in the door way. One guy walked down towards where Asim was while the other stayed just past the open door in Mandy's line of sight. As soon as the first guy reached Asim's cell Lisa jumped out from the opposite side of the hall to attack while Mandy shot the guy in front of her.

The next thing both women knew two more had come in. One came at Mandy from behind shoving her into cell bars before she threw an elbow back at her attacker. Another guy had gone for Lisa and knocked her gun out of hand. The two were in hand to hand combat and once both had their attacker down and out they took a second to catch their breath. Before they could another figure showed up in the door way and both pulled their guns up ready to shoot.

"Just me," Reiss said with his hands in the air. Lisa dropped her gun immediately but Mandy slowly lowered her gun. She was on alert and ready to shoot if a surprise came up.

"Reiss," Lisa said. "You okay?"

"Yeah, I'm good. Everything got crazy and I wanted to come find you," Reiss said.

Mandy eyed him suspiciously, "What's happening out there?"

"Lot of gun fire out there. Orders are to move al-Hazred. We think they're headed here," Reiss said.

"Who ordered the move?" Mandy asked.

"Blackburn,' Reiss replied.

"Okay, so we need a plan. Do we have a team ready to escort us?" Lisa asked but Mandy made no move to do anything.

Mandy had worked with Blackburn for a while now. They'd talked about a lot of things in the past like situations they'd been in or what to do if they were in sticky situation. One thing they agreed on was a code. They had words or phrases they'd use if in trouble and they thought the situation was compromised. They had a way to communicate and Reiss said nothing of that kind. Granted the whole situation had caught them off guard so it could be possible that in the moment things were lost in translation.

"Lisa and I will head down the hall for some more gear. Mandy you stay here and keep watch," Reiss said.

Mandy really didn't like the plan but she didn't have anything better to suggest. They were fighting for survival right now and trying to figure out if someone was the enemy or not was kind of hard without having time to think straight.

Reiss and Lisa quietly walked down the hall and around the corner to where they knew the equipment room was. When they walked in Lisa went to grab a vest for Mandy.

"Okay so we're going to be escorted by a team out of here. I'll get the essentials just in case we need more. What the hell happened? How the hell did they coordinate this so well? It's like it was the plan -," Lisa was rambling with her back to Reiss and didn't see him come up behind her with a gun and hit her hard in the back of the head. Lisa fell to the ground unconscious.

"I'm sorry," Reiss said to her still form on the ground. He grabbed his phone and made a call, "I took out one. I'll go take care of the other."

"Don't bother. You make sure our coast is clear and I'll handle Ellis," the voice on the phone said.

Mandy was standing across from Asim's cell. She listened to see if she heard footsteps outside and so far everything had been calm. Mandy thought about the feeling she had been having all this time about something being off. This was well coordinated and intentional.

Asim chuckled watching Mandy, "Loss of words, Agent Ellis. Trying to figure out what you missed."

Mandy's head snapped to look at Asim with a cold glare. "You wanted us to catch you. So this was it? Attack an American military base for revenge."

"Wanting revenge ignites something inside you, wouldn't you agree? Nothing gets in your way when you want revenge," Asim replied. "This is just the beginning."

"You get revenge and then what? You just keep attacking innocent people for fun?" Mandy said as she stepped up to the cell bars. "You won't get away with this."

"Oh but I think we will," a new voice at the door said.

Mandy turned with her gun up ready to shoot. As she focused on the person in the door way her eyes widened and heart beat quickened. Mandy's thoughts were running wild because she knew who this person was.

"What the hell," Mandy said. "Since when did you start associating with terrorists in the Middle East?"

"Is this any way to greet an old friend Mandy?" the man said. "Let's be real, you won't pull that trigger."

Mandy kept her gun raised while speaking, "The money. You're behind the money. No wonder it was so sophisticated."

"Ding, ding, ding, we have a winner everybody. Still the same old Mandy though breaking rules and going around people to get what she wants done. Gotta say, I wasn't too happy to see my money frozen. Cost me quite a bit of business and setbacks."

"You son of a bitch. You're not getting away with this either," Mandy said while also wondering where the hell Reiss and Lisa were. "What did you do to Reiss and Davis?"

"Honestly, I have no idea what happened to Davis. Reiss said he took care of it. Now if you don't mind, I need to get my friend Asim out of here. So from one friend to another, how about you move aside or this won't end well for you Mandy."

Mandy kept her stance up before replying, "Over my dead body."

Asim took that as his cue to distract Mandy with movement and before she knew it the other man was disarming her. He threw a punch and Mandy dodged it while sweeping him off his feet. Mandy went to get the gun on the ground before she felt herself trip. The man flipped her over and started choking her and Mandy fought back. Her hands reached his face where she stabbed her fingers into his eyes.

"Ahhh," the man said as he howled in pain and tried to get his site back.

Mandy turned on her side to catch her breath and decided she needed to get up. She tried looking around for a weapon of any kind but couldn't find one in time. She heard a blade lock into place and turned to see the man coming at her with a knife. She jumped out of the way and rammed him into the cell bars.

Mandy was still trying to clear her head from the oxygen and was lagging in her punches as the man came at her again. She felt the knife swipe against one of her biceps. She'd been in close combat fights before but it had been a little while.

"Uuuhhhhh," Mandy groaned as she felt herself being slammed into the wall behind her. All she saw were stars as her head smacked it as well. She was conscious enough to see the man pull his arm back and try to stab her.

Mandy fought as looked into the eyes of someone she once thought she knew and trusted with her life. How did things get to this point? She was pushing back at him with all the adrenaline pumping through her.

Unfortunately, he was stronger and managed to push an inch of the blade into Mandy's side. She felt a fiery pain in her left side.

"It's like we're going down memory lane again. Us fighting for our lives," the man said.

"Fuck you," Mandy said letting out a gasp as he pulled the blade out and Mandy started sliding down the wall. It wasn't a deep wound but blood still began to trickle out. She was trying to catch her breath as she hit the floor and she could feel the effects of the concussion settling in.

"You need to get out now," Reiss said from the door way all of a sudden. "Your guys are losing the battle out there."

"Get the keys and get Asim out," the mystery man said as he crouched down in front of Mandy. "Well, it's been fun catching up but I gotta run," he got up and once Asim was standing next to him.

"Nice meeting you Agent Ellis," Asim smirked as he and the man left the area to escape.

"Why," Mandy asked Reiss as he stood there. It was just the two of them left.

"They pay a lot better," Reiss replied as he picked up a gun on the ground. "They want to keep you alive but I can't afford that."

"And Lisa? What about her?" Mandy said trying to stall time for any chance of a rescue that may come by some miracle.

"She just happened to be the easy target. A woman recently promoted trying to make her way in the ranks. Chomping at the bit to prove herself to everyone."

"You really think you can just kill me and get away with it?" Mandy asked while putting a hand to her side and seeing the blood run through her fingers. "Why not just let me bleed to death?"

"Can't risk it," Reiss said raising the gun. "Don't worry, I'll tell them how you heroically died."

Mandy looked him right in the eyes and waited for the shot to come with a glint in her eyes.