The atmosphere in the command center was light and relaxed despite the active missions progressing out of the base. It was around midday, and the commander allowed most of the support personnel to take their break as their presence there was not necessary at that moment. Only five people were in the room: Blackburn, Mandy, Davis and other two soldiers.
They were sure everything would go exactly as planned, after all, the Teams were just doing taxi services, so what could possibly go wrong?

Between a sip of coffee and a light chat, they kept glancing at the monitors to not lose track of the mission with an ear to the radio in case the seals would open the comms.

"Hey, what's happening there?" Davis suddenly pointed at her monitor.

"The fights are approaching Bravo's location." Blackburn acknowledged, looking closer. "Can't you zoom in more?"

"We only have this old satellite, no much details on these images," Davis quickly explained.

"Something's definitely not right!" Mandy sharpened her eyes to better observe the scene.

"All Bravo stations, report your status!" Blackburn commanded into the radio in his hand and his eyes fixed on the monitor.

"Bravo One here, we are half way to the base." Jason's voice sounded loud and clear.

"HAVOC, this is Two, we are Oscar Mike, but-" Ray's tone made immediately clear to all those listening that something was wrong, leaving them on hiatus.

"Two, go ahead. What happened?"

"We lost sight on Bravo Six-" Ray paused again for what it seemed to be forever. "We had to leave him there..." He finally continued.

"You what?" Sonny instinctively jumped in the conversation. He knew that despite all that was going on between them, Clay did not deserve to be abandoned there.

"Bravo Two, say again your last," the Commander ordered, trying to ignore Davis and Mandy's shock.

"Militants got here before Clay and the missioner could come back. There was an explosion and chaos struck." The guilt in Ray's voice was clear.

"We had civilians with us, we had no choice," Trent justified their actions.

Davis shared a look with Mandy, then they both looked up to Blackburn again. In their eyes he could see all Bravos', he could easily read all their dismay and he could just imagine the thoughts that were going through the SEALs' minds.
They all knew the chances of seeing Clay alive again were very little. They doubted him, and now they may never be able to clarify things.

Blackburn knew that feeling could eat them alive, and he would not let it happen.
He took a deep breath to clear his thoughts, his grip still strong on the radio, with his lips pursed, and his eyes lost in the void. But only for a second. He had to maintain control and make sure his men would do the same.

"All Bravo be advised-" He tried to keep his tone as firm and reassuring as possible. "Return to the base camp ASAP, we need a plan to get our man back."

"Negative, we're still near," Ray objected. "We can reach him faster. We only need to deliver our passengers at the nearest refuge."

"Negative, Bravo and Bravo Four need assistance, you can't face the militants by yourself."

"We are not leaving him alone any longer than strictly necessary!"

"That's an order, Senior Chief Perry!" Blackburn's straight tone made Davis and Mandy winch.
"I can't lose you too!"

"You have not lost Spenser! Not yet! Not if I can do something!"

Davis looked up to Blackburn. "The area is getting clearer now, satellite images shows that the militants will be out of there soon."

"Fine," the commander reluctantly said. "Go look, but you don't have the permission to engage. I repeat, do not engage!"

"Copy that, sir."

"Five mikes from the passengers drop." Trent intervened.

"We are reaching you as soon as we can, Ray." Jason's voice sounded again. "Don't do anything stupid!"

... ... ...

Hot and muggy air penetrated deep in Clay's lungs as he started to regain consciousness. Feeling confused and beaten up he opened his blue eyes and Abigail was there with him.

What the hell happened? Where are we? He looked around, but from his down position he could only see her, and the low light barely allowed him to discern her features. She was sustaining his head, her red hair, sticky from the sweat, framed her dusty face, and her touch on his skin, as dirty and nasty as it must be, was very gentle. Her green eyes were fixed in his while he tried to clear his mind.

Clay's vision was blurred, and he had a loud ringing in his ears that disoriented him even more. He tried to focus on his sense of touch. His hand reached out to the back of Abigail's neck, then moved to her cheeks. Her skin was soft, like she hadn't actually lived in the desert for long, and sweaty as the temperature there, wherever there was, was high as hell.

She seems to be all in one piece. Clay groaned as he tried to move. Let's see if I can say the same about me... He closed his eyes.
It took a couple of minutes for the situation to normalize, but the background noise in his ears wouldn't go away.

The explosion... Yes... With Abigail's help, he managed to move in a sitting position.
"Abby!" He let out a course of pain. "You good?" He kept clumsily checking on her, barely able to move himself.

Now he could finally take a quite good look around, the place was dark and cramped, and was getting more suffocating every minute that passed.
We're... moving? He felt the vibrations of the side he was laying on. This is a moving vehicle, he acknowledged.

"How did we get here? Where are we going? Where's my Team?" Clay did not remember much after the explosion. In a flash their situation took the second priority in favor of what he didn't know: his Team's status.
"Have you seen my teammates? Are they okay?"

Concentrating was hard, and Clay had to appeal to all his training to maintain control.
He hoped she knew something more than he did and that she could give him some clues to come up with a plan and get them out of there, but the answer didn't come.

He could clearly see her lips moving, but he could not hear a single sound from her.
He touched his ears, and then looked at his red staining hands.

I'm bleeding.
He rested his head on the wall for a minute, eyes closed, trying to steady his breath.

"My ears..." He opened his eyes again, searching Abigail's. "I can't hear anything!"

The woman kindly put her hand on his chest and started sounding her words out, slow and clear, so he could read her lips. "It's okay, they are not going to harm us."

Not going to... harm? Has she said that? Clay stared at her more confused.
"Who are they?"

"Friends," she tried to explain.

"Friends?" He looked her, eyebrows raised and lips pursed. No, I must have read her wrong, they were shooting at us!
He saw war in many forms during his life and career, and he knew all too well not to trust appearances. There could be half a dozen explanations for why they took them, and for why they were still alive, and none of them were reassuring.
"I don't understand- Ugh-" he painfully moved, trying to spot something useful, as those 'friends' took everything except his vest from him.

"They promise-" Abigail could not finish her phrase that bullets started to perforate the vehicle's walls, and it started spinning out.

Clay instinctively shielded Abigail with his own body, but the whole thing started flipping, and he lost his grip on her. A sharp pain invaded him as he violently hit his chest on something hard, making him unable to breath for a few seconds.
The next thing he knew was that they were still, with the vehicle laying on his side, and no sound coming from the outside. No, it was not true, no sound he could hear was coming from the outside.

"Abigail- Ugh..." He utterly moved toward her. "Abby, wake up, we have to go." Even if the space there was very limited, dragging himself to her was not as easy as it should be.
"Abby!" he finally reached her, only to find her neck was broken.
His heart stopped beating as he saw her green eyes staring at him as they clouded over. He couldn't protect her.

Shake it off Clay, there's no time for grieving. Come on, you need to get out of here. He let out a growl, and started moving along.
He got on his knees and forced the back door open to take a quick look outside, but he had to back off to restore his vision as a beam of light blinded him instantaneously.

From what he could see, no one was there, but he couldn't be sure since his point of view was limited and he could still not hear anything besides that disturbing, loud ringing.
No choice, you have to take the chance! He forced himself to find the courage to exit. Then he glanced back at Abigail, before abandoning her. I don't have a choice, I'm sorry...

As he got out, Clay felt his skin burning from the hot air, a sign of the damage the explosion left on him. He limped toward the driver who was dead, as was the man in the passenger seat.
He took the gun from him and started looking around. Armed men were approaching his position while taking care of anyone who ended up in their way.
I have to hide, he thought.

Before doing that, however, he carefully searched the cabin hoping to find something useful.

As soon as he spotted his radio, he promptly took it back, and finally left the vehicle. Clay dragged himself along, disoriented and lightheaded, succeeding in hiding behind some dunes right before the men could see him.

... ... ...

Ray and Trent arrived back at St Clair mission finding no other than ruins and corpses strewn about the ground.

Please Lord, let it not be him, Ray kept repeating to himself while checking the bodies.
They searched breathlessly, terrified of what they could find, with the deafening silence of the desert making the whole situation even more heavy to stand.

"He's not here!" Trent finally said. "Neither is the lady missioner."

Thank God! Ray looked up to the sky.
He sighed. "If they took him, it means he is still alive. We still have a chance to get him back in one piece."

"Except we don't know who the hell took him!" Trent moved a few steps away from the last corpse he checked. "It could be the rebels, or the resistance, it could even be the national army, and we won't know about that because they don't communicate well!"

It cannot end like his! He can not end like this.
"We'll find him. We will!" Ray said, taking his radio to update the others.

"There must be some evidence there somewhere, look better." Jason's orders came through.

"There's nothing useful... I'm-" Ray answered.
"Damn it!" he let his frustration out, lowering his radio as he didn't know how to continue.

"The dust covered their way out." Trent explained. "There are no traces here."

"Come on! Try harder! When we get there, you have to give us something!"

"Wait! I may have spoken too soon!" Trent drew Ray's attention before he could answer to his boss.

"Bravo Two, how copy?"

"This is Clay's!" Ray confirmed, pointing at the '6B 9' tag his teammate just found.

"Ray! Do you copy?" Jason voice came insistent.

"We have tire tracks to follow, Jace. We know the way now!" Ray finally answered.

"Stand by Bravo Two, we're about to move."

"Negative, we're going after him, every minute counts." Ray looked to Trent, searching for his approval.

"Ray, you have to wait for us! That's an order!"

"You can file a complaint when we find the kid, before that I'm not gonna stop. Two out." Ray pulled the string, knowing that Jason would surely understand his behavior.

"I'm with you." Trent nodded to him. "Let's go find our brother."

... ... ...

Not so far from the street, Clay sat down on the sand behind a wall of more sand, with the dusty, dry air burning his lungs.
He tried to catch his breath, as nausea struck him violently and the ringing in his ears refused to give him a break.

He looked back to the vehicle's remains, then down to the gun in his hands, praying not to be seen by the heavy armed soldiers now searching the area.
He knew he should move to a safer place, but he knew as well that if he didn't move fast enough, the enemies would see him and kill him, and in that moment he could not be fast. Not at all.

He carefully sneaked his head over the dune to see what was going on there.
It was a risky move, he knew. He could be seen, but he couldn't do otherwise, as his hearing was gone, and he only had his sight.

Panic hit him noticing a man was heading toward him. He dragged himself along further in the dunes, then, he laid there with his gun pointed and holding his breath.
After an endless wait, no one came.

As soon as he had the courage to sneak his head out of the sand again he found out the militants were now burning down everything and everyone on the street.

Abigail! He stared at the scene horrified, knowing the image of her body in the flames would stick with him forever.
He thought to move, but he quickly changed his mind. He was powerless and going out there now would do nothing but get himself killed.

He closed his eyes, but the image of the staring look of her lifeless face popped before his eyes. I should have protected you... I should not have let you go that far. He clenched his fists. I'm so sorry Abby, I should have saved you...

He sniffed, trying to get his cool back unsuccessfully.
Her death is on me. Why do I ruin everything I touch? He started thinking about the past couple of years, he thought of Brian, Adam, his wreck of a love life, and finally of his relationship with his father. He still felt the pain for everything on that list, blaming himself for his mistakes, his mind filling with all kind of 'if I only' thoughts.

This time, though, he was going to be added to his friends' lists.
He could only hope they would find him in time.
If I die and they blame someone other than me, that will be on me too.

He painfully took a deep breath, and snuck another look.
The militants were leaving, and that was good. They would not shoot him dead.
But they were leaving, leaving him there. Alone. In the desert. And that was not so good, as he had no water, no food, and no reparation, his ammo was limited and by that point he didn't even know which direction he came from.

What if They are not looking for me? This thought struck him like lightening. If they don't come, if they leave me here, I'm done for. His heart started beating fast and more sweat drops were descending on his skin.
No, no... they are coming. Even if they don't care about me anymore, they will care about the mission. He tried to steady his breathing.
No one is left behind, and that includes me. They will respect that rule. They value this rules, or they would not get that pissed for my father's book. He sniffed.
Damn it, I just wish I could say something, I wish they could believe in me...

He patiently waited till the hostiles cleared the area, then he got up, coming out of his hiding position, but his head started spinning hard, and he lost his balance, falling on his knees with his hands in the sand.
He tried to get back up, but the nausea stroke him again, and he had to concentrate hard only to swallow everything back.

This is not going to work... He laid his sore body against the sand, heavily panting.
He closed his eyes for a few seconds, finding himself in the complete dark with the complete and absolute silence, except for that usual humming.
Suddenly he popped them back opened. He could not do that ever again. He could not afford to be that defenseless, and let the fatigue have the best of him.

"Come on, Clay! You can do this!" He muttered to himself.
Yes, but do what? He realized. Where should I go? He started looking around, but the sudden movement made him feel an acute pain in his ears, and this time the nausea had the best of him, leaving him barely the time to turn on his side to not choke with his puke.

Breath Clay, just breath... He tried to calm down, cleaning his mouth. You still have the radio, use it! You may not be able to hear them, but if you are lucky enough, they would hear you.

... ... ...

The commotion at the base camp was palpable, with personnel going back and forth from one barrack to another, civilians wondering around confused, and vehicles running in and out from their boundaries, raising dust and making the air even more unbreathable.

Davis finished taking care of the people Jason and his Team rescued, directing all the locals to the nearest refuges, and was now ready to settle the three Americans in a temporary accommodation, but they wouldn't once again obey at their orders.

"You have to find Abby," the female missionary said. "You promised to keep her safe-"

"We were trying to keep all of you safe," Sonny could not hold back anymore. "If it wasn't for her stubbornness, if all of you could just follow our orders, we would not be at this point now!"

She started crying while her blonde friend hugged her. "You have to find her!"

"Enough, Sonny!" Blackburn made him back off.
"We are doing all we can, miss," he said before one of the Bravos could even think of open their mouth again. "One of our own is with her, and I can assure you he would do everything in his power to keep her safe until we get to them."

"Come this way now, let them do their job," Davis stepped in, directing the three toward their accommodation.

"What the hell are we waiting for?" Sonny said, following the others in the command center. "We have to hurry!"

"Cool down Sonny! You need fuel," Commander Blackburn said. "And we need a plan."

"No, we only need to go there and take Clay back from anyone that's trying to hurt him." He started pacing in fear. "If anyone has to wipe the stupid smirk off that stupid kid's face that would be me, not some damn Bedouin!"

"If he's still alive..." With these words Mandy drew all the team members' attention on her. "What?" She shrugged. "That's what all of you are thinking, I just had the courage to say it out loud!"

"I never had to split the team!" Jason grunted. "I never had to let him go after that lady, I should just drag her kicking and screaming into the damn van!"

"Damn true!" Sonny stepped up again. "You should not have left him behind! And Ray and Trent should not have left him alone there!"

"Enough!" Blackburn stopped them.
"Listen up guys, this ranting against each other will not led us anywhere. The only thing we have to focus on is getting the kid back to us." He bit his lips, he could not bear another fallen eagle, but for sure he could not bear to lose the whole team trying to save one single soldier.

"Davis, what do you have for us?" The commander continued as soon as she was back with them.

"Nothing," Davis said. "This satellite images are just useless, this is all a big mess, I can clearly distinguish no one!"

"All stations, this is Bravo Six-" Clay's voice suddenly sounded from their radio, interrupting their talking.
As soon as they realized he was alive and on the other end of the device they all sighed in relief.
"I don't know if anyone can reach me-" Clay continued.

"Bravo Six, this is Bravo One, we reach you loud and clear." Jason Immediately answered with a big smile on his face, watching the rest of the soldiers' feces lightening up.

"I don't even know if this thing still works..."

All of them looked at each other puzzled, their smiles fading quickly and their hearts skipping a beat.

"Is his radio working one way only?" Brock raised his eyebrows.

"My... my ears are-are out of order right now..."

"What?" Sonny looked at his boss, his eyes full of horror.

"I won't be able to hear your response, but I-I'll try to communicate as well..."

"He must have been too close to the explosion," Trent voice sounded from the radio a second later.

"Here's my situation," Clay's voice continued to sound after a bunch of seconds, a little disturbed now. "Abigail's dead, I... I couldn't save her.
"I'm alone here now..."

"But where is here?" Sonny's eyes met Jason's as they both heard the fear in the kid's voice.

"I only have this junk radio a-and a gun, but not much munitions... and... I'm-I'm totally lost here." That word, 'lost', played over and over again in the soldier's minds as they imagined him all alone God knows where.
"I have no idea which direction we came from... It's..." He was breathing loudly. "I'm hiding behind some dunes, th-there is literally nothing here, I can't give you any more details on my position, I'm sorry."

They could tell how Clay's fear was starting to get the best of him, and that scared them to death. They all saw worse than that, so why was his voice so insecure? What was he not telling them?

"I'm gonna turn my radio off now, saving batteries..."

Silence filled the whole command center, the soldiers all looking anywhere but in each others' eyes, fearing what they could read in the others' glares.

"Bravo Six out." These three words now were like a stub in their hearts as they knew 'out' could mean 'out for good'.

"Bravo Two, this Bravo One, you heard the kid. We'll continue with the search."

"One this is Bravo Two and Four, we will go on our way, we have no time to lose, we need to find him before the night comes."

... ... ...

Author's Note: Well, I guess at least now you can see why I choose that particular title...
Thank you all for your kind and encouraging words.