2040 – 600m east of Bravo Landing Site, Libertad del Sur – Paraguay

"Bravo 3, this is 1. Where did you land?"

Sonny peeked above the grass, eyes on the farmhouse he could see in the distance. The lights were on, but they had been long before they'd touched down. "Trent," he hissed, keeping his body as close to the ground as possible while the medic used his binoculars to get a closer look. "Any movement?"

"Negative," Trent replied a moment later. "We're good."

"Bravo 3, Bravo 4; radio check, over."

"That's a good copy, Bravo 1," he replied, slowly getting to his knees so he could pack up his chute. There may have been no movement that Trent could see, but he wasn't about to stand up and chance someone catching sight of them, regardless. "We landed on the other side of the trees. No movement from that farm over yonder that indicates we were seen, so we're gunna pack up and meet you at the north end of this outcropping."

Trent paused. "We are? Sonny, it's like, half a klick through the trees to the other side. We'll just cut through the bush, link up with the others."

"Bravo 3, this is Havoc; it's a six hundred meter walk through the trees to link up with the rest of Bravo, over."

He rolled his eyes at that, and activated his comms. "Yuh huh, but I'm not fixin' to be jaguar chow mein today, Havoc. We'll go around."

"You do realise that being away from the tree line doesn't mean we're safe, right?" Trent sighed as he buckled his parachute into his pack and shouldered it. "If a jaguar wants to eat us, it'll come for us whether we're in the forest, or on farmland."

Well of course he knew that! "Yehup, but it does mean that they can't sneak up on us," he argued. "If they're comin', we'll see 'em."

Trent shook his head and walked off.

"What? What'd I say?"

"Havoc, this is 1; I pass Rattlesnake. We're Oscar Mike."

"Copy 1, passing Rattlesnake."

"Y'know, now that ya mention it, Jase; was it really a good idea to name our mission codes after animals. I mean, what if we come across a rattlesnake, or a toad, and we need to report it but can't because it's a checkpoint and it could confused Havoc?"

"Sonny, these animals have been chosen because they can't be found in Paraguay," Clay replied, sounding far too amused for his own good, the little shit. "That was discussed the first time you brought it up. Otherwise, I would have demanded piranha be one."

Oh yeah, so it was. Still; "Just double checking, Tinkerbell. No need to get your panties in a twist."

"Hey Sonny, maybe you should shut up. If you keep talking, you might bring a jaguar running. They can sense fear, you know."

Aw hell, can they? "Shuddup, Trent. No they can't."

"You sure about that?"

No. "Puhlease. They ain't that good." Maybe.

Through his NODs, he saw his brother shrug as he led the way. "If you say so."

Well, shit. Maybe they could. "But staying quiet is a good idea there, Trentanator. Don't want to attract any undue attention. Bravo 1, we're going radio silent till link up. See you boys soon."

"Copy, 3. Good luck, 4. Out."

It took Sonny a second to catch on, and when he did, he pouted and stomped off.

Twenty long, tense minutes after arriving at their new rally point, Jason was roused from his light doze when Clay huffed a sigh of relief.

"I got eyes on," the blond said, pointing towards the far tree line.

Jason donned his NODs and looked where Clay was pointing; but it took him a few minutes to find the pair, given they were half hidden by the foliage. "Bravo 3, Bravo 4; we've got eyes on," he told the pair; activating his helmet light for three seconds when his brothers paused.

"Copy 1, we see you," Trent replied. "Any movement we need to be aware of?"

He nudged Clay to reply. Given the blond had been on lookout, he'd know more than the rest of them. "Negative 4, it's completely dead out here."

"Copy 6. Be with you in ten mikes."

"Brock, Ray; tell me you've got a plan," he called over his shoulder, looking in the general direction the pair had gone. Now that they were on the ground and could see the type of terrain they'd be dealing with, the pair had found a rocky outcropping a few feet behind where they'd hunkered down so they could use their torches, going over the map and working out the best way to get to their target location.

There was movement in the bush, and Ray was soon at his side; Brock and Cerberus bringing up the rear. "We'll have to stick with the trees as originally planned," Ray told him, ripping open a pocket and putting the map away. "A straight line through farmland only saves us four klicks, and given that most of the plantations are small, we'll stick out if we don't. Best to stay in the trees and make any other decisions as we go."

He nodded. "Havoc, this is 1. Bravo's 2 and 5 have confirmed the tree line is the best course of action; the plantations will leave us exposed to anyone nearby. We'll reassess as we move, but it looks like we're going the long way."

"Copy 1. Let us know when you're linked up with Bravo's 3 and 4."

"Wilco."

When Trent and Sonny joined them, his medic was clearly less than impressed with his teammate, giving Sonny a dirty look when the Texan sauntered past him.

"So, how was your walk?" Clay asked cheerfully. The look on Trent's face made Clay and Brock grin.

He rolled his eyes and chose not to comment. In all honesty, he couldn't blame Trent for how he felt – whatever that may be. Being stuck with Sonny and his phobias was never fun.

"Havoc, this is 1. Link up with Bravo's 3 and 4 complete; we're Oscar Mike."

"Roger 1, have a good hike. Havoc out."

"Alright boys, let's get a move on. Brock on point; Sonny you've got rear."

There was a chorus of "copy" from his team, and Brock and Cerberus led them north beside the tree line where they'd mostly be hidden from view. They hiked in relative silence; the rustling of leaves and murmurings of creatures of the night providing a calming backdrop.

Except for when something sounded too close, and Sonny started muttering about being eaten. Then it was just frustrating.

What was even more frustrating, was that they were two hours away from their target when they realised they'd lost comms with Havoc.

They'd paused for a ten minute break, given hiking non-stop with heavy packs and weapons could be tiring, and Ray activated his radio to let Havoc know of their progress. When there was no answer, he tried again.

"Havoc this is Bravo 2. Radio check, over."

When silence was his only reply, Ray looked at Jason helplessly. "Maybe there's something wrong with my radio?"

He nodded and gave Sonny a nudge. "Your turn."

"'y me?" Sonny grumbled around his ration bar, chewing quickly. "Make GQ do it."

He glared at the Texan. "Because you're my 3IC, and I said so."

Sonny rolled his eyes and activated his radio. "Havoc Base, this is Bravo 3; how copy?" Silence was the response. "Yo, Davis; I think you've got your mic switched off."

There was still no answer, and he shrugged. "Are we even on the right channel?"

"Uh, boss; I think I know what the problem is." They all turned to Trent, who was holding his cellphone. The medic handed it over, and Jason saw the problem immediately.

No service.

"The hell?" Ray muttered when he peered at the screen over his shoulder. "I know for a fact there are cell towers as I saw one in the distance when we came in. There's no way they don't get service out here."

"They're using signal jammers," Brock said matter-of-factly. His was crouched next to Cerberus with his back to them and fiddling with something.

"How'd you know that?" Ray asked impatiently when the handler said nothing further. Jason could understand the feeling, but he also knew better than to rush Bravo 5.

Brock turned and raised an eyebrow at Ray pointedly, which in turn made Bravo 2 duck his head like a chastised tadpole, before he held up the device that he used to guide Cerberus remotely. The screen was on, but it alerted the user to the fact there was no signal. "It operates off its own transmitter; there's no reason it shouldn't be working, regardless of whether there's satellite connection or not." The best the handler had been able to describe it when he first introduced it into his dog's kit was that it worked similar to Bluetooth, but was way more advanced. "As its not working, it has to be a signal jammer."

"Shit." Jason pinched the bridge of his nose. "And we have no idea how long we've been in jamming range, which means we have no idea how far back we'd have to backtrack to reach Havoc and tell them what's going on." It also meant that internal comms were shot, and they couldn't use Cerberus for advanced recon, which had been a major part of their plan.

"Shit," Sonny and Ray echoed flatly.

"What should we do?" Clay asked, lips pursed as he looked back the way they came. "We're obviously going the right way, but do we go back and let Havoc know, or hope they work it out for themselves?"

Jason looked at the rookie thoughtfully, but didn't reply. Clay was right, but both options came with their own problems, and they were just as bad as each other.

"Case of beer for the new guy for saying something smart," Sonny drawled, smirking at the blond.

"Already did that on the China op," Trent retorted, smirking when the Texan grumbled. "Try something else."

"What are you thinking, bossman?" Ray asked. "These kids don't have a lot of time left."

And that was the crux of the issue. Time. They had no idea what the radius was of the jammers, which meant that it could be a ten minute delay as they backtracked, or it could be an hour; but the longer he dithered over a decision, the longer everything else would take.

"We keep going," he sighed. "ISR should at least tell Havoc that we're fine, and they'll eventually work out something's wrong when we don't check in, if they haven't already."

"What about when we're on target?"

"We've got two hours to figure it out," he said, indicating to them all to start moving. They'd planned for everything, or so they'd thought. Somehow, signal jammers hadn't occurred to anyone, and now they were going to have to improvise. "Get your thinking caps on boys."

0430 - Hezbollah camp boundary, Com Indig Tapysavy - Paraguay

"Alright, what do you see?"

"Um, I see what appears to be -"

"Appears to be?! C'mon Blondie Parton, we're not on a recon op. Drop that shit – ow!"

Jason nodded at Ray in thanks, ignoring the smarting Texan and nudging Clay to continue.

"What appears to be," Clay repeated with emphasis, smirking at Bravo 3 as he did so. Jason was proud; the blond would certainly keep Sonny on his toes, the way he was going. "A dozen buildings, barbed fencing surrounding each one, as well as the perimeter fence. Estimate twenty foot-mobiles, all armed. No cameras that I can see, but we shouldn't rule it out."

Jason nodded, leaned over, and nudged Trent. "T, thoughts?"

"Clay's right," the medic replied, peering through his own binoculars. "I can see the bus, too, so we're definitely in the right place."

Jason took the binoculars that Clay held out, inspecting the perimeter fencing, as well as the patrolling guards. "Well, getting past security should be a piece of cake," he muttered, shaking his head in disgust. The men were wandering around with guns, sure; but that's all they were doing. There was no discipline in the way they moved, hell; most of them weren't even paying attention to what was happening around them, too busy smoking or talking to each other.

"The fence is electrified," Trent added. Jason glanced at his medic, saw where he was pointing, and followed his eye line. Sure enough, there were a few electrical cables attached to the fence and a generator. It was crude, but effective. Relatively well hidden too, so they weren't as dumb as they looked.

It was also unguarded, which meant they had their entry point. "We'll go in through there," he told his team. "Kill the power, cut the fence enough to slip through without raising any alarms."

"And after that?" Ray asked. "We don't have any comms."

"Original plan was to split into pairs," Brock mused. "Clear the buildings quickly. There's no reason we have to do that, now that things have changed."

Jason nodded. "I was thinking the same," he agreed. "Without ISR, we have no idea what we're dealing with. Best thing now is to have two clear a building, four on security. It'll slow us down, but it means no one can be taken by surprise, or be killed, without everyone else knowing about it."

"That ain't reassuring in the slightest," Sonny muttered. "What about the kids?"

"Once they know they're safe, they'll stay put till we come back for them," Trent said. "Well, they should," he amended as an afterthought. In truth, no one really knew what the kids would do – hopefully they'd be too terrified to do something stupid, like trying to be heroes.

"Alright, I know it's not our most detailed plan, but shit happens," Jason said, looking at his team. "Anyone got anything to add?"

Clay raised his hand, and Jason ignored Sonny's grumbling about the 'goddamn new guy pickiness', waving at him to speak.

"The building closest to the infil point is taller than most of the others," the blond started, only to be cut off by Sonny, who muttered; "case of beer for the new guy pointing out something obvious."

"Sonny," he warned. "Go on, Clay."

Bravo 6 waved a hand between him and Ray. "I feel like having one of us as overwatch, clearing the way for the others would be a better use of our resources."

He looked at the blond thoughtfully for a moment before turning to his 2IC. Ray shrugged.

"I was gunna wait till we got inside the perimeter to suggest similar, once we knew what we were dealing with."

"Fine." He was glad to see his new rookie was thinking outside the box, and better yet, wasn't afraid to speak up. "Your call as to who does it, Ray."

"You up to the task?" Ray asked Clay. The kid nodded.

"I can do it."

"Alright then. Kid's on overwatch," Ray told him.

"Works for me." He looked at his watch and rolled his shoulders. "We've got just under two hours before sunrise, so we don't have much time. Let's go, boys."

They got to the fence without incident, NODs lifted now that there was some form of light they could use to see, and after Cerberus confirmed that the area was free of explosives, Sonny managed to get a static charge onto the generator. "Here's hoping this doesn't provide power to the rest of the base," the Texan whispered as he held the detonator. "Otherwise they're going to know we're here. Ready when you are, Jase."

"On that cheerful note, blow it."

Bravo 3 did as instructed, and the generator let out an angry buzz of protest before falling silent. Thankfully, the perimeter lights stayed on. "Right. Who wants to touch it make sure it's actually dead?" Before anyone could comment, the Texan waved a hand. "On second thought, it should be Tinkerbell; him having the younger heart in case anything goes wrong, and all that."

"I do believe Sonny just admitted he's old," Clay mused quietly.

"That's what I heard," Trent muttered.

"Same here," Brock agreed with a decisive nod.

"Now wait a minute -"

"Shut it, grandpa," Clay said, cracking his knuckles as he waved off Sonny's protest. "I got this." He touched a finger to the fence; only to gasp and go ramrod straight.

"Shit!" Sonny squeaked, horrified. "Jase -"

Clay sagged, then shook his head. "Sneeze is gone. It's okay, we're good. Fence isn't electrified."

"Save it for later, Sonny," Jason sighed, cutting off whatever rant the Texan's reddening face indicated he was about to unleash. He gave the grinning blond a look, but didn't say anything – still trying to decide how he felt about having another shit-stirrer on the team. Brock and Trent looked elated. Goddamn it. "Trent, get us in."

"Copy." Trent grabbed the bolt cutters from his pack and made quick work of the wires. It only took seconds, and Bravo was inside the enemy compound.

"Ray, Trent, Clay, and Sonny; you're on security. Brock, you and I will clear the building," he whispered. His brothers nodded, and got into position.

Brock took point with Cerberus, and thankfully the dog didn't sit at the door. Standing right behind Bravo 5, Jason tapped him on the shoulder.

The canine handler tried the door handle, looking back at him when it turned all the way. With a second tap to the shoulder, Brock and Cerberus led the way inside, with Jason on their heels.

"Clear," Brock muttered almost as soon as he entered. "It's a storage room." And it was. From the light of their torches, they could see discarded boxes, rolls of wire and what not, but no missing children or explosives.

"It's a poorly utilised area, too," he noted absently. "Not even a shelf. Let's go, we're done here."

They rejoined the others outside, and found Clay and Sonny wiping their knives on the shirts of two dead hostiles that'd just had their throats slit. "Good work," he muttered, nodding at the building he and Brock had just vacated. "Throw 'em in there with the rest of the trash."

He and Brock took Clay and Sonny's spots as the pair dumped the bodies as instructed, before returning to the team.

"Clay, Ray; both of you get on that roof, make a plan for us," he muttered, looking at his watch. "I want to be finished before sunrise."

The two snipers nodded, and with a boost from the others they were scrambling up the side and onto the rooftop.

Men moved about in the distance, talking, laughing – they saw one asshole fire a few rounds into the air near a building, the guys with him laughing as he did so. Jason shook his head, disgusted. They wouldn't be laughing for much longer.

Ray dropped down beside him silently a few minutes later, and the others all gathered around. They all faced outwards so they could keep an eye out, but they were listening intently.

"This is going to be a shambles," Ray muttered, cutting to the chase, and Jason sighed. Oh great.

"Best we can tell, guards are heaviest on the other side, but as these guys are walking all over the damn place, we're not sure. We're concerned about the buildings, though; they're a lot smaller than we thought."

"So?" Sonny grunted, glaring at Ray when Bravo 2 smacked him on the shoulder. "What? Small makes it easier to clear."

"Small also makes it harder to hide large numbers of people," Trent sighed. "Did you even finish math in school?"

"Only if counting gym reps qualifies," Brock muttered.

He and Trent high-fived.

Sonny was unamused. "To hell with the pair of you."

Jason shook his head, both at his team mates, and Ray's report. "So we could have people scattered all through the compound, or they could be covering the entrances to tunnels; easier to hide people in case anyone comes knocking."

"Exactly."

"Shit. What kind of sights does Spenser have up there?"

"Pretty good, actually, and it's got enough of a ledge that he'll stay hidden unless they're shining a light on him."

He nodded. "Comms?"

"After each building, one of us uses our NODS to look at him for instructions via hand signals. There aren't any lights near here, so we shouldn't have any issues seeing him."

"Alright. Brock, you and Cerberus are doing most of the heavy lifting this time; anything could be rigged to blow, and I don't want to take any chances. Once you've done the initial check of each building we'll breach, one of us will join you to see what we're dealing with, then move onto the next." The boys nodded, and he waved a hand at the building nearest to them. "We'll start there. Sonny, you're on point. Let's go."

They snuck across the compound, sticking to the shadows as they moved. Ray peered at Clay through his NODS, got the okay, and nodded at Brock.

"You're up."

Brock led Cerberus around the edge of the building, the rest of Bravo on their heels, and up to the door. Cerberus stood there wagging his tail, but otherwise didn't react.

Not that Jason had expected him to, given the security was pretty light down this end of the compound. "Trent, go with him."

The pair nodded, and Brock led the way inside.

"There's a bit more here than in the last one," Brock muttered after they confirmed there was no one in the room, looking around curiously. "Two computer monitors more than the last." He grinned at the look Trent levelled him with. "Just saying."

"Well thank god we know where to get two computer screens if we need them," Trent retorted dryly. "I was seriously beginning to worry about whether we'd have mission success if we couldn't find any."

He snorted. Well played, Trent. Well played. After checking the ground for scuff marks, or any other indicators of a tunnel and finding none, they re-joined the others, signaling the room as a bust.

That was how the next four shacks were cleared; he and one of his brothers went in, swept the buildings, found nothing of significance, and left again. In fact he was beginning to wonder if they were even in the right area when Cerberus sat at the door of the fifth building.

There was a window to the left of the door which he crept to, hoping that he'd be able to see what Cerberus had scented, and no sooner was he peering through the glass than he was yanking his head back.

Three men were huddled around a TV on the other side of the room.

He turned to his brothers and lifted his free hand to his face, using two fingers to point at his eyes, before adding a third finger when he held them up. Then with his pointer finger, he made an arc from his chest, away from him.

Jason nodded, waving him back to the other side of the door.

He and Cerberus moved silently, and following Jason's signals they slunk around the other side of the building, looking for another way in; which they found in the form of an open window that gave them a perfect view of the three men.

Jason chewed his lip, before turning to them and issuing their instructions by hand signal.

Five. Bomb check.

Four. Perimeter.

Three. Right.

Two. Centre.

Me. Left.

They all nodded and broke off, Trent taking up a watch position while Sonny, Ray, and Jason huddled at the window. Brock waited with Cerberus, ready to check the rest of the building once he knew it was safe to do so. There were three quiet, simultaneous pops, and he looked over his shoulder. Jason nodded back.

With the tangos eliminated, Brock and Cerberus swept the rest of the building's exterior, and after confirming there were no other explosives, he made his way back to the others.

"You and Sonny check the shack out," Jason murmured. "Deactivate the explosives if you can."

He nodded, and handed Cerberus' lead to Jason so he could climb through the window. Once he confirmed there were no surprises waiting for him, he took the lead back and gave the Malagator a quiet "up". The dog leaped through the window, landing on silent paws, and they headed over to the door to see what they were dealing with while waiting for Sonny to join them.

There were three bricks of C4 stuck to the door, but aside from that there was no indication that the bricks were active.

"What've you got, Brocolini?"

He waved a hand at the explosives. "C4, but they aren't active."

Sonny joined him, making a soft noise of surprise when he saw the bricks for himself. "Weird," he muttered, before muttering an "aha!" Brock looked to where he was pointing, and saw the detonating caps discarded on the table.

"Why the hell would they keep C4 on the doors if they weren't planning on using them?" he muttered, inspecting the doorframe. He ran his hands over the right side, then the left. "Unless…" his gloved fingers grazed over what he'd been searching for.

"Unless what?" Sonny asked, still inspecting the caps.

"You see any wire, or string?"

The Texan made a dubious noise, which quickly turned into one of confirmation. "Whatcha got?"

"O screw, bottom left of the doorframe."

They shared a look of understanding. "Tripwire," Sonny muttered. "Explains why one of these detonator caps has a tab on it. Wire runs from the frame to the cap; knock it, and it's lights out."

"Why put the C4 on the door and not on the wall, though?" he asked, more to himself than the Texan. "If you're planning an escape, you'd see it and would go out through the window instead."

"Huh." They stared at each other, before the Texan looked at the three bodies sprawled on the floor and turned to him, exasperated.

"What?"

"Unless it was their way of remembering to set the alarm."

Brock blinked. Then blinked again. "Y'know, that wouldn't surprise me in the slightest." Nothing about these guys screamed highly trained soldiers, or overly intelligent, so it was more than likely an accurate assumption.

He saw Cerberus nosing around the rug in the middle of the room, close to one of the bodies. "Given there's no other reason to arm a room when you're not in it, I think we may have a tunnel."

Sonny nodded. "I'll let Jase know."

Leaving his brother to give an update, Brock went to Cerberus and flicked the corner of the rug back. There was nothing there, but that didn't necessarily mean anything. He walked slowly across the carpet, and halfway across, the floor shifted beneath his feet. "Good job, bud," he whispered, ruffling the Malagator's ears. Cerberus panted back at him, but stayed quiet.

Sonny re-joined him after he'd finished shifting one of the bodies, and together they moved one of the couches before rolling the carpet back. "How much you wanna bet they're all down here and we can go home after this?"

"My next bar tab says they're not all here," he muttered. "Cerberus, suchen." Cerberus sniffed the door, and looked at him, wagging his tail. "At least this isn't armed," he said, breathing a sigh of relief. "Now we have to figure out how to make sure none of them are hostiles without making any of them scream and alerting the guards."

"Crack it open and shine a torch in; that should at least give them a reason to be suspicious its not their hosts."

Brock nodded. It was good a plan as any. Dropping down so he was on his belly, he positioned his gun so he was ready to poke it through the opening, and could eliminate any tangos that were unlikely to be in there, or shine a light if he heard anyone in distress.

It was a bit of a letdown, and a relief, when he saw stairs, and nothing else. "It's empty, from what I can see." Sonny nodded and pulled the door all the way open, and Brock swept his light into the hole. Along one side was a door. "Hold on, we've got a door," he whispered.

"Okay, hang five; I'll update Jase."

He nodded and called Cerberus to his side, reattaching the lead to the breakaway clip. Sonny was back as quickly as he left, his gun held ready.

"Jase said to get a move on. They've taken out two sentries, and he's getting antsy."

Brock shook his head. "We've only been gone five minutes." Together they took the stairs silently and gathered at the door, a simple wooden design with a handle, but no lock. While a lock would have added an extra level of security, it also would have given the hostages warning that they were going to have company. No lock meant they could be taken by surprise whenever their captors wanted; an additional layer to add to their torment. Once Cerberus confirmed the door was unarmed, Sonny waved at him in invitation. He cleared his throat, which resulted in several terrified sobs. "This is the US Military, we're here to rescue you. Everyone is to lie on the floor, face down, with their hands on their heads and stay silent. If you're standing when the door opens, you will be shot. You have ten seconds to comply."

As he counted down, he heard movement, and what sounded like several stifled whimpers. He looked at Sonny, who nodded, his hand on the handle, ready to let Brock through first. "Two. One."

Sonny wrenched the door open, and he and Cerberus charged into the room; the canine snarling while Brock quickly scanned the inhabitants to ensure they were doing as instructed, and that they weren't walking into a trap.

Everyone was cowering on the floor, but silent. Mostly.

Sonny started walking amongst the huddled forms, and Brock quickly checked the room for any recording devices. There'd been no cable outside the door, and no wires strung across the ceiling, but one could never be too careful. Thankfully there was nothing, and he and Sonny converged on the only adult present after confirming everything was clear.

"You can sit up," Sonny instructed, which the man did, albeit slowly. He looked terrified. Brock couldn't blame him. "Who are you?"

"Damian Shearer; I'm one of the teachers on the program."

Brock checked the name against the list Lisa had provided, and nodded when he found it. Sony nodded back. "Sorry for the roughness, but we ain't got a lot of time."

"How did you know we were missing?" Damian asked, his voice shaky but relatively calm now that he knew he was safe. At least, that's what Brock presumed was the case. "No one was able to make any calls for help."

"Very stringent safety procedures on the programs part," Sonny replied cheerfully. "Do you know where the others are?"

The calm disappeared as quickly as it arrived. "You haven't found them?!"

"Slow your roll there, teach. We haven't been here very long and still got a lot of ground to cover. Were you conscious when you got here?"

Damian shook his head, swallowing visibly. "No sir, we woke up here with three guys standing over us with guns. They said if we didn't stay quiet or do as they said, they'd shoot us."

Brock looked around at the kids that were slowly sitting up. They were terrified, there was no doubt about that, but they seemed pretty calm for the most part. "Anyone hurt?" Thankfully, they all shook their heads. That was a bonus. "Okay listen up, we still have a lot of work to do and not a lot of time to do it. We're gunna leave you guys here where we know your safe while we look for everyone else."

"You're leaving us here? Is it just the two of you?" The teacher asked, eyes widening fearfully once more. Cerberus whined at that, and the teacher blinked, panic momentarily derailed. "Three. My apologies."

One of the kids giggled, and Brock gave her a smile. He'd take laughter over hysterics any day. "Seven, including the Hair Missile. The rest of our team are currently watching our backs, so, like I said, we need to get a move on. Shut the door behind us when we leave; we'll knock four times when we come back so you know it's us, okay?"

Damian nodded. "What happens if they come back before you?"

He shared a look with Sonny. Given there were three bodies busy painting the floor with their blood above them, either the terrorists were going to know they had enemy forces in their midst, or Bravo were going to get lucky and eliminate everyone before any alarms could go off. "It's unlikely, but stay calm if they do, alright?" He said instead. "Hysterics aren't going to help anyone, and if they can see you're cooperating with them, things will go a lot smoother for you."

"Just don't tell them you know we're here," Sonny drawled, pointlessly in Brock's opinion, but oh well. False positive thoughts were better than nothing. "You'll make our lives a bit harder if you do."

As was undoubtedly the Texan's intention, his statement made several of them chuckle weakly. With a final nod to the group, he, Cerberus, and Sonny left the room, shutting the door behind then and going back into the hut. They shut the trap door and reset the room, to at least hide the fact they'd found the tunnel, before rejoining the others.

Checking the next four buildings went much the same way. Clay confirmed they were clear to advance, Brock and Cerberus checked for explosives, Bravo cleared out any hostiles, then Brock with Ray, then Trent, then Jason made contact with the missing students.

It should have been expected, then, that because things had been going so well something would go wrong. Like a semi-drunk, semi-asleep hostile stumbling upon the shack just below Clay with the two monitors and two bodies, and raised the alarm out of Bravo 6's sight.

It should also have been expected, then, that hostiles started flooding out of the remaining buildings, yelling at each other as they searched for whoever had killed their men.

It should have been expected, but it wasn't - so Bravo were taken completely by surprise when they lost control of the situation, suddenly surrounded by men that were yelling - and then, to make matters even more complicated, Sonny hit the ground, the crack of a gun following almost immediately.

"SHIT! CONTACT!"