So this is the chapter I suspect most of you have been waiting for. Well, almost.
Chapter 4 - The Faint White Line
11 days after failed mission
Fort Belvoir, VA - 18 miles south of DC
12:08 am EST
EPOV I tear myself open
I sew myself shut
My weakness is
That I care too much
And our scars remind us
That the past is real
I tear my heart open
Just to feel
I laid there for a moment listening to my ringtone before I answered my cell. I always found it very fitting for me. Just before it would have cut off, I grabbed the phone. Checking the caller id, I saw it was from somewhere on the base.
"Captain Cullen speaking," I answered.
"Edward, it's Eleazar." Eleazar was actually General Eleazar Denali. He was the one star that was directly in charge of me and my men. I like him personally. While Eleazar was a laid back guy who had no problem using first names when we weren't around the real big boys, he was not the man you wanted to screw with. He would hand you your ass so fast your damn head would be doing a move straight out of The Exorcist.
"What can I do for you, Sir?" If he was calling at this time of night, something was up. Probably something big.
"I need you to call four of your most trusted guys, enough to cover the essential jobs even if they have to double up. I'm sending you boys in for a rescue mission, that's all I can say for now. Briefing is at 0500."
When someone tells you to only call a handful of men, you know it's gonna be bad. Black ops shit, great. "I'll be there."
Eleazar hung up and I resisted then desire to chuck the phone. I knew which men I would call right away, but I needed to make one other call first. I had plans to cancel. Damn it.
I dialed and waited for her to pick up. Finally, a very sleepy voice answered.
"Hello."
"Tanya, it's me."
"Edward? What's going on? It's nearly 12:30 in the morning."
"I can't pick up Anthony this weekend. I'm being called out."
I heard her sigh, but I knew she understood. "Alright. I'll let him know. I don't know how he's going to take it though, this is the third time in the last four months."
"You know I want to see him, but I don't really have a choice."
"I know that, Edward. Anthony's only 8 years old, he doesn't understand yet. I'll try to explain that to him."
"Thanks Tanya."
"You should come over for dinner whenever you get back. Give him something in case your next plans fall through."
"I'll do that."
"Wherever you're going Edward, be careful."
"I will. I'll call as soon as I get back."
"Ok. Bye and be safe."
"You too. Bye."
After I hung with my ex-wife, I thought about the men I would take on the mission. First on my list was always Emmett McCarty. Ever since we met in the Seattle airport, we had been like brothers. Along with Jasper, we had always served every mission together. We had each others backs. Unless, of course, it was something embarrassing. Which was how each of us ended up with our call signs.
I was known on the field as Vanquish. Yeah, sounds cool until you know how I got it. After years of saving money, I finally came up with enough to get my dream car, the Aston Martin Vanquish. I had it all of a week before I destroyed it. Some members of the team and I went up to a lake in Pennsylvania for the weekend. I had parked my car on a hill, and like a dumbass, forgot to engage the parking brake. Next thing I know, my beloved car is rolling down the hill and right into the lake. So while I'm standing there in total horror, Emmett fucking screams at the top of his lungs; 'Dude! You Vanquished the Vanquish. Somehow, the name Vanquish got stuck with me and became my call sign. Freaking yay.
Emmett was known as Gecko. We were in Guam for some stupid reason, and we hit up this bar/arcade known as GameWorks. Well, someone decided that $10 for 12 Jell-O shots was an awesome deal. I don't even know how many trays the three of us went through, but it was a lot. So, we decide that going down to the beach would be a great idea. We were walking down these steps and there was a gecko sitting there on one of the steps and Emmett decides he wants to catch the little lizard. Well, it turns out that geckos are fast little fuckers and they turn on a damn dime. Just picture a very intoxicated Emmett trying to catch a very quick gecko on a flight of stairs, it was beyond hilarious. He was then dubbed Gecko.
Jasper's was probably the most humiliating though. He had fallen asleep in the office and one of the guys that used to be on the team decided that he wanted to have some fun waking him up. Someone had this novelty toy sold by Spencer's called 'Humphrey the Humping Dog.' It was a motorized stuffed dog that would 'hump' pretty much anything you stuck it on. This guy thought it would be hilarious to put the dog on Jasper's lap. We figured that as soon as the dog was on him, he would wake up. Well, he didn't. Jasper started moaning like he was being rode by Pamela Anderson and not a stuffed dog. Needless to say, he has never lived it down.
After I made my calls to them, as well as Garrett (aka Nomad) and Benjamin (aka Element), it was already almost 2am.
One thing a soldier always remembers is 'sleep when you can.' So I set my alarm for 4 and grabbed a few hours of sleep.
General Eleazar Denali's Office
4:57am
I sat in my chair and waited for Eleazar to tell us what the deal was. Emmett was seated in the chair next to me, while Garret and Ben were sitting on the sofa against the wall. Jasper stood behind Emmett and I, leaning against the wall by the door.
Eleazar looked at me and I nodded that the team was ready to hear the briefing. He cleared his throat before he began.
"About 11 days ago an American Embassy in Africa received a very disturbing package. The package was the body of an American who had been tortured. Evidence pointed to it possibly being the work of the Angelis family, but there was no solid proof. It took until two days ago to find out that it was the body of not a regular civilian, but that of a black book operative. Now this is where you'll have to bear with me because someone high up is trying to keep a very tight lid on this. This operative had given information to his command on the location of the Angelis blood diamond operation in the Republic of the Congo. We are not sure if he gave this info before or after the torture began. Regardless, the organization sent in a team of six. Almost as soon as they landed someone started intercepting transmissions. The team thought they were communicating with their home base but were actually talking to someone else. We believe that whatever information the Angelis' had gotten from the operative, they in turn sold to someone who may or may not be Aro Volturi. If you don't know, he runs a massively large heroin empire. We haven't figured out the connection yet between Volturi and the Angelis'. Anyway, the team was attacked about a week after they got there. Two of the members were picked up about two days ago after their communications expert found a way around whatever had been done to the transmission. Two more were found executed, leaving two operatives missing. You guys are going in after them."
I finally spoke up. "Since when do we go after black book operatives?"
Eleazer smiled at me because he knew I had a valid point. Black book operatives are usually on their own if captured. The government didn't want anyone finding out about them, and staging a rescue tended to draw attention. "Someone high up wants these particular operatives found. This someone requested you specifically, Edward. This mission is to be kept very quiet. Travel as civilians and leave your patches and military id's at home."
"So do we know anything about who we are looking for?" Jasper asked.
"All they gave me was that it was two young women, one blonde and one brunette. My guess is that they might be the medical or navigation experts. I don't think these guys would hold the real dangerous ones without a good reason."
"What agency do you expect?" Emmett asked.
"With female operatives, I don't really know. Could be BAD, USTSC, maybe Section One. Either way it doesn't matter. You boys have a job to do, now go do it. All other prudent information is in the folders by the door. Do the job, come back alive."
A chorus of "Yes Sir" was heard and we filed out the door to go suit up.
Republic of the Congo
Time of rescue - 3 days after briefing
1:35am GMT+1
It took us three days to find the camp where we believed that the girls were being held. Three days of sweating my ass off when I should have been home playing baseball with my son. But I couldn't deny the rush of adrenaline lacing my blood stream.
So, here I am; belly down in the mud and muck that made up the floor of the Congo. Odds were some huge ass fucking snake was around and the mosquitoes were buzzing around me. I noticed some kind of colorful beetle crawl across my arm and scurry away.
My rifle was beside me but it would be saved for later. Tucked against my arm was my trusty k-bar. That would be my weapon of choice to start. We wanted to go in unknown for as long as possible.
. Finally, it grew dark and the ran began to fall. I heard Emmett whisper in my ear over the com device. "Gecko to Humphrey and Vanquish; time to move in."
Then I heard Jasper. "Humphrey moving in."
That just left me. "Vanquish moving in," I said. As I belly crawled closer to the enemy camp, I let calm seep into my body. I turned off my emotions as I moved into position behind one of the perimeter guards. He was dead before he even knew I was there.
I saw Emmett and Jasper take down their targets and we moved into camp with Garret and Benjamin tracking our progress from the other side of a scope.
In front of us was the tent where we believed the women were being held. The two guards standing in front kind of gave it away. Instead of facing the two men when other lives were on the line, I used my k-bar to cut a small peep hole into the tent.
The two women were indeed there and alive. They were tied back to back very securely by someone who knew what they were doing. Maybe Eleazar was wrong, maybe these women were in fact very dangerous.
I cut the whole wider and stepped inside. In front of me was one obviously pissed off and gagged blonde. Emmett went around to the brunette and I could hear him whispering to her. I looked to the blonde and whispered while I cut the ropes.
"I'm an American Green Beret. We were sent in after you, so I would appreciate it greatly if you didn't try to kill me."
She nodded while I cut her free. Two weeks in the jungle made it extremely hard to see her features, they were covered my mud and blood. All I could really see were angry and determined blue eyes.
When I got her gag out she immediately began to whisper to me. "Someone's going to have to carry my team leader. They've been keeping her sedated since she got one good kick into the face of one of their men and killed him."
I looked up to Emmett who was still cutting the ropes off the brunette. He had heard and nodded. As soon as he had her free he tossed her up on to his shoulder caveman style and we made our way out. We got lucky, clean in and out, no shots fired.
I led a rapid pace for about 10 kilometers, and I was pleased that the blonde had no problem keeping up and not once complained about the tough pace.
Deciding that we were far enough away, I slowed down a bit and looked behind me. The blonde was right behind me with Benjamin behind her. Emmett followed him with the other woman still on his shoulder and Garret brought up in the rear.
I trekked about another five kilometers before I stopped us for a rest.
I handed my canteen to the blonde so she could have a drink. Garret was taking off his jacket to use as a pillow for the other one and I looked to Emmett. "Check her injection sights. I'd hate for her to die of infection right after we save her."
Emmett nodded as he laid the girl on the ground. Her dirty hair fell over her face and for some reason I felt the need to push it away. I must be losing it.
I got my med pack out of my bag and went over to Emmett who was just finishing cleaning her arm. I got out the antiseptic and went to treat the punctures. Just as I was about to put the cream on, I froze.
On the woman's arm was a faint white scar that I would know anywhere.
Bella.
Couple of things I want to say here. First of all thanks as usual to SparklingTwilight. You are the shit.
If you didn't recognize it, Edward's ring tone is Papa Roach's Scars. Great song.
The story about Emmett and the gecko after Jell-O shots; yeah, true story. And it was me. I served four years in the US Navy and I hope to add a few more of my more humorous adventures in here. And Humphrey the Humping Dog is real. I don't know if they sell him anymore, but they did.
Lastly, I'm not making Tanya into a bitch. I've kinda started to feel bad for her. Yes, she is Edward's ex-wife, but they parted on good terms. I'll explain it more later in the story. Just don't go hating her, she's not in love with Edward anymore in this.
So, reviews make for a very happy Star.
