Part 6 Chapter 15
The mission lead's voice chirped in everyone's ear pieces.
"15 seconds remaining."
"10 seconds remaining."
"Op For last op standing."
"5 seconds remaining."
"Friendly last operator standing."
"Prevent further access to the bio hazard container."
Phew I just barely made it back. Now where the hell is the last Op For…
There was a cluster of bullets fired.
The screen on everyone's VR goggles went dark.
"Op For eliminated all friendlies. Mission failed."
"WAIT WHAT? WHERE WAS SHE?" Ela shrieked in confusion.
"I WON! I CAN'T BELIEVE IT!" Ash cheered. Her teammates jogged over to her cheering and exchanging knuckle touches with her.
Ela laid on the ground with her teammates staring at her angrily.
Smoke approached her.
"Ela, what were you thinking running back into a contested objective not ready for a gun fight?" Smoke asked angrily.
"I…I…I…"
Ela was at a loss for words. Smoke crossed his arms waiting patiently for an answer.
"Sorry." She muttered lowering her head.
Smoke pointed to the door.
"Save the apology and fuck off. Come back when you've gotten your head out of your ass."
Ela picked up her gear and sulked out of the training room. Smoke shook his head disappointedly. She kept her head down as she left avoiding her teammate's gazes.
"I think you're being too hard on her James." Mira, one of the designated anchors on Ela's squad whispered to James
"No. She fought with me tooth and nail that she was ready to return to training. It's been an absolute shit show since her return. She won't except any of my help. She knew what was coming her way if this continued."
The last 2 weeks since the shadow element's return from Iraq have been a nightmare. Ela's squad on Orange team started a massive losing streak largely due to Ela's inability to perform her job effectively. In Ela's squad, she's the primary roamer alongside Chul Kyung Hwa, one of Rainbow's South Korean operators. Ela had been making stupid errors getting killed very early into rounds leaving it up to Chul and anchors to pick up her slack.
Smoke, the leader of her squad, was at his wits end with Ela's silly mistakes and lack combat effectiveness. She had become more of a liability to her team than an asset.
What's the point of roaming when the roamer dies 10 seconds into the round or can't hit a target to save their life?
Soldiers and other operators were finishing up their daily routines for the day as Ela walked through Hereford Base. Some said hello to her as she walked past but she ignored them not wanting to be bothered.
She reached her dorm building and walked up the stairs to her hallway.
She walked past Meaghan's dorm room which had become a makeshift memorial in her memory until a more formal memorial could be erected for her. The door was closed so no one could go inside her room, but the front of the door was completely decorated with cards, flowers, pictures, and notes that the operators and staff on base had personally made and taped to the door.
Ela had to walk past Meaghan's door every day to leave her building. The daily reminder that her one and only friend was dead tormented her with every walk down the hall.
Ela unlocked the door to her room and walked inside. She placed her weapons and kit in the corner of her room. She fell face first onto her bed enjoying the silence and solitude.
What is wrong with me?! Her conscience screamed.
You're guilty. A man's voice replied.
Ela rolled over and stared at the ceiling.
"Leave me alone dad."
Your guilt is the reason why you fail. You're responsible for killing so many people you care about that you can barely focus. Let's see…
"Stop it Dad."
You drove me to suicide. You got plenty of your teammates killed as a PMC. You've gotten some of your teammates killed in GROM. You're killing your teammates in training. And the cherry on top of it all, you killed your one and only friend; Meaghan.
Ela rolled to her side in the fetal position covering her ears with her pillows attempting to block out her father's voice, but it was no use. His voice was embedded in her mind.
"Don't flatter yourself I never cared about you. I always hated you and I still..."
Ela bit her tongue. She took a deep breath trying to subdue the rage building inside her.
"I'm going to kill Vanguard and make things right for Meaghan." Ela muttered.
Are you sure you're doing this for Meaghan? Or do you want to kill Vanguard to selfishly ease your own guilt? Whether you succeed in killing Vanguard or not, it won't change the fact that Meaghan died because you were incapable of protecting her.
"Meaghan and I were family. She was the sister that I lacked in my life. Are you sure you're not undermining me because YOU feel guilty for dividing our family. I mean, you're the reason why Zo and I are like this."
Her father didn't respond.
Ela stood up and walked to her door. She paused before she left and laughed to herself.
"Why do I even argue with you. You're dead."
Heath my warning Elzabieta, your goals for redemption make you a bloody fool. Killing Vanguard won't bring Meaghan back. You have no idea what pain and misery awaits you.
Ela left her room trying to escape her demon.
She stopped by Meaghan's door and stared at it. It was dusk, and operators were settling into their comfy clothes and preparing for dinner at the mess hall. She reached her hand out touching the door thinking about redemption for her friend.
Ela felt someone's arm wrap around her and a chin rest on her shoulder. The touch made her flinch.
Ela never liked physical contact from being smacked around by her father so much.
"Relax sweetie it's just me." A female voice said laughing.
Ela recognized the voice.
It was Elena Alvarez.
Elena was dressed in hoodie and sweatpants. Elena was a muscular woman like Meaghan but 2 inches shorter and a lot slender. Everyone in Rainbow joked that Elena was the Spaniard who found the fountain of youth because despite being 40 years old she looked like she was in her 20s.
Elena rubbed Ela's arm trying to comfort her.
"Como estas? (How are you?)" She asked with concern.
Ela didn't answer.
"I was worried about you after what James said to you at training."
Don't mind what he said Ela."
Ela rolled her eyes recalling at the event.
"James is hard on you because he cares about you Ela. He wants to see us all succeed."
"Yeah, James sounds a lot like my father."
Ela turned looking Elena dead in the eyes.
"I hated my father." Ela said coldly.
Elena wrapped up Ela in her arms hugging her.
"What's wrong Ela? This isn't like you. This isn't the Bosak Tempest."
"The Bosak Tempest is dead Elena. She died in Iraq with her only friend."
Elena only has a very aggressive demeanor on the battlefield to intimidate her opponents. But of all the women on team Rainbow, Elena was the most caring. She was like the mom of Rainbow Six. Any time an operator was down or needed help, Elena was there to pick them up. She helped Alexandr upgrade his turret. She supports her GEO teammate Ryad every step of the way in the hunt for his younger brother's killer.
Elena was an anchor for Rainbow on and off the battlefield.
"Excuse me. I hope I'm not interrupting." A British voice said from behind them.
Elena let go of Ela. They turned to see James.
"Hello Ela. Elena."
"James." Elena greeted him with a smile.
Ela didn't say anything.
"Listen Ela, I'm sorry for losing my temper. I'm just concerned about you. You haven't been yourself and we all want to help you, but you keep pushing us away. We're a family. Myself, Elena, Chul, and Massaru can't help you if you don't want to be helped. I'm afraid that if you keep heading down this path we'll lose you."
"I know you mean well James. I'm sorry for shutting everyone out and acting like an idiota. It's been a rough few weeks and I thought maybe getting into the swing things on my own would get my mind off of what's happened to me."
"Its okay Ela. Let us help you get back on your feet. You don't have to do everything by yourself. We're here to help you."
Ela nodded in agreement.
"Come have supper with us Ela. You'll feel better." Elena said flashing a smile.
Ela nodded again in agreement and filed down the stairs with Elena and the rest of the operators going to get supper.
…
Grace Nam, one of Rainbow Six's computer hacking experts, skipped past the operators walking down the stairs for supper. She looked at the doors as she moved through the hallway glancing at the operator symbols on the doors marking whose dorm room it belonged to. She eventually found the operator symbol she was looking for. The symbol looked like a power button for a computer with little lightning bolts coming out of the back.
She knocked on the door.
"Hey gramps! I have something you might want to see!" She said jokingly.
She heard footsteps walking to the door. The door opened revealing Mike Baker standing in the door frame. He looked a lot better since his return from his undercover op in Iraq.
"What's up Gracie?" He asked rubbing his eyes.
"Come with me!" She said grabbing his hand with an iron grip and jerking him down the hall toward her room. The gesture caught Mike way off guard.
Grace opened the door to her dorm and ushered the old man inside.
The South Korean dorms were much different from the other operator dorms. South Korea's dorms consisted of two individual bedrooms connected by one common living area in the middle. The particular styled room was given to the South Korean operators so Chul, Grace's handler, would have an easier time doing his job of staying in control of her and making sure she didn't taint their home country's honor. Grace didn't perform well on her psych eval showing split personalities and she possessed a very colorful history of rebellion from the South Korean military's formalities. Unlike Taina, who is very close with her handler, Grace hates Chul. She sees Chul as the spitting image of the controlling military structure she rebelled against in the past. Despite Grace's hatred toward him, Chul really didn't care what anyone thought of him. To him, less contact with people, was better. This is why he gets along with SAS operator Mark Chandler so well.
Mike stepped inside their room. Chul sat on the sofa reading a book.
Mike and Chul met each other's glances and gave each other a friendly nod.
Grace talked in Korean with a venomous tone at Chul for a reason Mike couldn't make out. Chul shook his head and kept to his book.
Mike followed Grace to her computer which looked extremely expensive. It was the crafting bench where Grace invented her signature gadget, the Logic Bomb. Meaghan's external drive was plugged into her computer. Six had given Mike permission to put Grace in charge of analyzing all of the data Meaghan had extracted before she died. Grace had been working day and night sorting through the documents hoping to find something on Vanguard's whereabouts.
Grace plopped down in her rolling chair and wiggled her mouse. Her expensive super desktop computer hummed to life. The screen showed a list of emails.
"I think I have a lead on our friend Vanguard." She said with a sly smile.
"Explain." Mike said leaning in behind her to read what was on the computer screen.
"Seems like your friend Vanguard was in talks with the media. He was sending emails to a reporter by the name of Jess. They were in talks of leaking secrets to the public and holding criminals responsible for their crimes. I still haven't figured out all of the details but I'm working on it. Jess's IP is coming from… oh my…"
"What is it?"
Grace's fingers typed a mile a minute on her keyboard as different windows appeared and vanished. Eventually a map of the Earth showed up on her screen. The image of the Earth began to slowly rotate and zoom in toward Seoul, South Korea.
"South Korea?" Mike look quizzically at Grace. Grace had the same surprised expression as Mike.
"Yes. That's where the reporter receiving Vanguard's messages IP is located. Right in Mok Myeok Tower."
Mike felt a presence behind him. He turned to see Chul looking over Mike's shoulder at the map of South Korea. Guess the mentioning of his home country was enough to attract his attention.
"These emails were sent a while ago, so God only knows what they've achieved by now. I just don't understand why Vanguard is relying so much on this reporter while trying to stay off the grid. I mean the more crutches you have…"
"The more it hurts when they get kicked out from under you." Mike said finishing her sentence and staring at the computer screen. He squeezed Grace's arm.
"Listen, you keep working on this. I think I have an idea on how we can find Vanguard." Mike said excitedly and left her room in a hurry.
He popped his head back into her room.
"Oh, thank you for all your help Gracie. Good day!" Mike said and rushed out the door again.
…
"Overlord this is Snake 6-6. Both Snake 6-6 and Snake 6-7 have visual on the compound and are in position. The clock is ticking. Do we have a green light?"
"Snake 6-6 and Snake 6-7, green light. Nonlethal measures requested by the men in charge."
"Copy that Overlord. All Snake units set your blasters to stun."
"Seriously dude? You had to say it like that?" A young male voice criticized.
"Shut up will you. We're approaching the gate." Another one said.
A guard approached the big white truck parked at the gate. A second truck trailed behind it. He knocked on the driver window and motioned to the driver to roll it down.
"Identification." The man said holding out his hand for some sort of ID.
"Yeah, got it right here." The driver said plunging a taser into his neck. The soldier yelped and collapsed to the ground.
The soldiers at the gate noticed what was going outside and rushed to help. Men in multi cam uniforms piled out of the back of both trucks armed for bear. They shot the remaining guards with darts from their assault rifles and hid their bodies in the guard shack hand cuffed.
The armed men moved into the compound with their weapons at the ready staying hidden in the shadows. It was late at night which meant security was down to a skeleton crew and the VIPs were most likely asleep.
"Those dormitories three blocks down is the target and it looks like the Kingpin is still in her building as well. We'll divide and conquer. Snake 6-6 will secure the dormitories while Snake 6-7 secures the Kingpin. Clear?"
The groups of men shook their heads in unison.
"Let's go let's get it done."
The armed men split up moving to their designated buildings.
…
Ela, Elena, James, Bandit, and a bunch of other Orange team operators filed out of the mess hall back to their dorms laughing and talking amongst themselves. It was the beginning of Winter now. Snowflakes danced in the night sky. A sharp cold breeze blew across the base. It was getting close to Ela's bed time. She yawned as she walked up the stairs with her teammates. When they made it to their floor they exchanged hugs and said goodnight before retreating to their dorms for the night.
Ela changed into a t shirt and shorts, went through her nightly routine before jumping into her bed. She fell asleep as soon as her head hit the pillow. Moments later she found herself in a dream.
She stood on top of a sand dune overlooking a dune sea similar to what she saw in Iraq. A figure sat in front of her looking out at the view not noticing Ela's presence. Ela approached the figure and realized it was her best friend Meaghan. Ela's heart skipped a beat at the sight and she smiled. Meaghan was dressed in her full battle attire she normally wore.
Ela approached Meaghan from behind.
"Hey you! Its me!" She said tapping her on the shoulder.
Meaghan turned around and the sight of her made Ela want to vomit.
Meaghan's body looked exactly like how it did when she died. Her skin was white as paper turning cyanotic. Some of the veins in her arms, neck, and face could be seen through her skin in a bluish color as if she had drawn squiggly lines all over her skin with a blue ink pen. She had dark circles under her eyes like she hadn't slept in months.
"Meaghan…"
"Ela, wake up." She croaked.
"What?"
Meaghan grabbed Ela by the collar of her shirt with both hands and shook her violently.
"WAKE UP ELA! WAKE UP!" She screamed in her face.
Ela sat straight up in her bed in a cold sweat and hyperventilating. She looked at her phone. It blinked 1200. Not much time had passed since she crawled into her bed.
She flopped back down on her bed staring at the ceiling. She closed her eyes and tried to fall asleep with no success. She crawled out of her bed and stretched cracking her back. She put on shoes and shuffled out of her room toward the common area in the middle of the building where the two hallways of the building met in the middle. Maybe one of the other operators was awake. Normally somebody was awake at this hour. To her surprise the hallways were completely dark and appeared to be a ghost town. She made her way to the common area and opened the mini fridge. She pulled out a cold bottle of water and broke the seal on the cap before tip toeing back to her room.
Out of the depths of the shadows Ela felt a cable slide around her neck. The person on the cord yanked back hard closing off Ela's throat preventing her from breathing. She thrashed her arms around violently trying to free herself. The cable around Ela's throat dug into her smooth skin cutting parts of her neck causing blood to trickle down.
Ela's fighting was no use. She couldn't break free and she felt herself beginning to pass out. In a last desperate attempt Ela kicked a nearby bedroom door as hard as she could. She tried to see whose door she kicked.
The symbol on the door was a gas mask suspended in a cloud.
It belonged to James Porter. Just the person she needed.
After what felt like an eternity of waiting, James's door opened, and he walked out slowly. A different person tried to knock him out, but James countered with ease and smashed the person's face into a wall. He could hear the person's skull crunch against the wall. Everyone in Rainbow Six agreed that James was the best CQC fighter in all of Rainbow having been a middle weight boxing champion and on plenty of CQC ops in the SAS.
James stood in the middle of the dark hallway alone in full combat uniform. He held one his toxic nests in his one hand and his M870 in the other with his smg 11 holstered on his thigh. Seeing him with a nest in hand meant things were about to get very bad for everyone.
Ela felt the cable around her neck loosen. The person who was doing the choking threw Ela to the ground and raised his rifle at James.
Ela put pressure on the cuts on her neck to stop the bleeding. She turned to get a good look at the intruders through the darkness. They wore multi cam, body armor, and were equipped with M4 carbines and pistols. There was about 20 of them in all.
They all look like…Craig. They must be Navy SEALs. Ela thought to herself as she looked up at the Blackbeard look alikes. She took a good look at the person who tried to choke her earlier. He had a very long beard and looked older than the other soldiers.
"Thought I heard some horseplay out here. Leave the girl alone and I just might let you live." James said tossing his cannister up and down in his one hand.
"You're under arrest. Drop your weapons. Put your hands in the air where we can see them, or we will use deadly force." One of the soldiers said.
"Under whose authority?" An English accented voice came from behind the squad of soldiers. The soldiers turned to see who was behind them.
Seamus stood behind the squad of soldiers in full battle gear as well with the same loadout as James. Seamus's gas mask wasn't tinted so Ela could see his eyes which were full of aggression. Mike, who also in full battle gear, stood next to Seamus with his L86.
"The United Nations. This is your last warning. Don't make this harder than it needs to be." The soldier sneered.
Ela looked at Mike with a look of doom. She didn't know what was going on, but Mike understood. Everything finally made sense to him. Grace's voice played in his head like a broken record.
"Seems like your friend Vanguard was in talks with the media. He was sending emails to a reporter by the name of Jess. They were in talks of leaking secrets to the public and holding criminals responsible for their crimes."
This was what Vanguard was planning. To expose Rainbow Six to the world on God knows what "crimes" to shut them down.
Mike looked down at Ela.
"It's Vanguard." He said to her sternly.
"Who the hell is Vanguard?" One of the soldiers asked.
The name cut into Ela's soul like a hot knife through butter.
Ela. Help me. Please. Don't let these men take you.
Ela hesitated at the voice begging in her head. It wasn't the voice of Ela. It was the voice of Meaghan and she sounded upset.
Ela balled her fists and with lighting reflexes she punched the SEAL closed to her in the testicles sending him to his knees. She rolled to her back and pulled the man down over top of her using the man like a human shield. His teammates fired at Ela but hit their comrade instead. James threw his cannister into the crowd of SEALs and lit the charge. The cannister exploded filling the hallway with gas. Seamus and Mike dove away from the cloud to safer ground. Ela could hear them screaming at the other operators in the dorms to wake up and evacuate the building.
"GAS, GAS, GAS!" One of the SEALS yelled. The SEALs began to don gas masks as the yellow gas cloud began to envelop them.
James walked partially into the cloud and pulled Ela out from the chaos. He helped her to her feet shoved her down the hallway toward her room.
Ela ran into her room choking on gas particles and changed into her battle attire. She grabbed her weapons and kit and ran out of her room.
James stood in the hallway waiting for his gas cloud to clear, so he could see the results of handiwork.
To his amazement, the 19 Navy SEALs walked casually out of the gas cloud unharmed by the gas with their weapons at the ready.
Ela took cover at the edge of her doorway inside her room looking down the hall at the image before her in utter amazement. No one knew what was in James's cannisters except for him.
This was impossible. Nobody breaths in his gas and makes it out alive.
"Well, well, well." Smoke said shaking his head. "Looks like someone knows what's in the cannister."
"Surrender or we'll use other means of sub doing you." One of the soldiers said zeroing in his rifle on James.
James looked back toward Ela. Ela stared back at James unsure of what to do. She couldn't fire her weapon because of risk of friendly fire.
"Ela, Rainbow needs you now more than ever. Don't let us down." He said confidently to her.
"James…no…." Ela muttered taking a step to run to his aid.
James saw her motion forward and shook head his signaling her to stay put.
The lead SEAL pulled the trigger. A projectile impacted James's shoulder. He stumbled backward dropping his shotgun.
James sank to his knees and crumpled to the floor.
"JAMES!" Ela screeched. She tried to run out to retrieve his body, but the soldiers turned to Ela and fired in her direction.
Ela felt a strong force knock her back into her room.
Ela grabbed her Scorpion Evo from the ground and aimed it at the figure.
"ELA STOP ITS ME! YOUR SISTER!" A voice said.
Zofia Bosak got to her feet and helped up her sister.
"I can't believe I'm saying but I'm glad to see you." Ela said as Zo patted her down making sure she wasn't injured.
"Are you hit?" She asked her.
"No."
"What's going on? I heard all the commotion. Who are these guys? What did they do James?" She asked loading a mag into her AK.
"It's the United Nations Zo. Looks like they're cleaning house and James was the first one to go. There's no time to explain. We have to get out here." Ela said moving back to the edge of the doorway.
Ela watched as the SEALs began to divide and conquer the halls of the dorms. They started kicking in doors to bedrooms trying to flush out operators that had barricaded themselves into their rooms. Ela watched as Elias Kӧtz, one of Rainbow Six's point men charged out of his room with his strobe lighted shield. He flashed an enemy with his shield and swung wildly at the SEALs. He clipped one sending him flying to into a wall cracking the drywall fell up against. Elias smashed another SEAL sending him sprawling onto his back.
"TASER, TASER, TASER!"
One of the SEALs got behind Elias and shot him with his taser. The barbs dug into his arm. Elias collapsed to the ground yelling pain. The SEALs ripped his shield from him and handcuffed him.
"ELIAS!" Ela heard a female voice scream.
Monika Weiss, GSG 9's other blue team operator sprinted toward the SEALs dragging Elias away. She wasn't armed. She was dressed in an old long sleeve shirt and sweatpants not prepared for a fight.
"MONIKA NO!" Elias screamed.
A SEAL snapped his rifle to Monika and fired hitting her center mass with a needled projectile. She grunted at the impact and fell face first in a heap not moving. The SEAL rushed over to Monika's lifeless body and dragged her over to rest of the fallen operators. Ela saw no sign of Dominic or Marius. They were probably holed up somewhere else fending for their lives.
The SEALs continued their push getting closer and closer Ela's room taking down the operators as they went. Soon Ela and her older sister would be shot captured.
"Ela this is madness. We should try and reason with them. This is the United Nations we're dealing with. If we stopped resisting, then maybe they'd stop hurting everyone." Zo said taking cover next to Ela.
Ela turned and put her hands on her older sister's shoulders staring straight into her eyes.
"Zo, listen to me. You're going to have to put whatever feeling you have against me aside and trust me. This isn't the United Nations. This is terrorism. We have to leave now. I'll explain later."
Zo took a breath giving Ela a troubled look.
"Okay. I trust you." Zo turned to Ela's bedroom window. "I think I have an idea."
Ela could tell what she was thinking.
"Zo I don't have repelling equipment and I'm no good at it."
"I'll rope you down Ela. You don't have to do anything."
"I don't know about this Zo." Ela said moving to her window. She opened her window and stuck her out looking down at the three-story drop.
"Ela, I'm trusting you on this, so you're going to have to trust me too. I can't buddy carry you down because the window is too small for us to fit and we're definitely not going out into that hallway."
Ela took a nervous gulp.
"Alright. Let's do it."
Zo made her rappelling system and tied a rope around Ela's waste. In the background they could hear the battle between the last surviving operators and the squad of SEALs getting closer and closer.
"Hurry Ela. We're running out of time." Zo said ushering her sister to the window.
Ela crouched on her window sill with facing her sister. She could feel the cold winter air rush up her back. She white knuckled the rope keeping her from falling to her death.
Zo did a quick check to make sure the ropes were secure.
"I'll feed the rope down which will lower you. You ready?"
"Tak (Yes)." Ela said looking down at the open air beneath her.
Ela carefully began to step off the window sill into the cold, snowy, night time air. Her foot slipped spooking her. Snow was beginning to accumulate making things slippery.
"There you go Ela. Take a step off the sill. Trust me. I won't let you fa…"
Her sister's voice was cut off by the sound of projectiles impacting flesh. Zo squeezed her eyes shut grimacing in pain.
"Starsza siostra (Elder sister)?!" Ela screamed.
Zo's grip loosened on the rope and crumpled to the ground.
Ela's weight went back backward falling off the window sill plummeting toward macadam below.
Ela screamed as she fell in an uncontrolled backward summersault.
The roped suddenly tightened. The stoppage knocked the wind out of her. Ela sat suspended one story above the ground. She looked up at her window. She could hear voices from the inside yelling, but she couldn't make out what it was. She wasn't sure how she managed to stop herself from falling to her death.
Ela pulled out her knife and cut the rope. She fell 10 feet smashing onto the cold snow-covered ground. She laid there grimacing in pain.
"HEY! DOWN THERE! ONE IS TRYING TO ESCAPE!" A voice said from her bedroom window. Ela turned to see a SEAL leaning out of her window with his rifle. He started firing but missed. Ela scrambled to her feet and ran as fast as she could trying not to slip in the snow. She sprinted as fast as she could across the base ducking and weaving through dark alleys trying to create as much distance as she could between her and the enemy.
A body close lined her as she turned a corner.
Ela feel face first into the snow. She was getting really tired of the constant sneak attacks.
She felt a body climb onto her back and cold blade against her throat.
"Who are you, seu miserável?" The figure said.
Ela could recognize that voice from anywhere.
"Taina! It's Ela! Get off of me!" Ela yelled trying to shake her off.
"Halt Taina! Get off of her!" A German male accented voice said.
Taina obeyed and stepped off of Ela. A black gloved hand reached out to Ela. She took the hand and was helped to her feet. She peered into the darkness and made out the figure of Marius Streicher. He was dressed in his usual green hoodie, jeans and sneaks beneath all of his combat gear.
"You good?" Marius asked.
"Ja." Ela said brushing the snow off of her.
"Gut (Good). I saw your fall. You're lucky whoever was roping you down remembered to install a safety. You would've been a red stain in the snow without it."
"Yeah that was Zo who was roping me down. Those SEALs got her too."
Marius sighed.
"Do you know if Elias and Monika made it out?"
"I'm afraid not Marius. I'm sorry."
Marius swore in German.
The three operators began to hear footsteps crunching on snow. Marius, Taina, and Ela hid behind some trash cans.
"Bleu auf bleu nicht scheiβen (Blue on blue don't shoot.)" A male voice called out in German.
Marius's body relaxed, and he came out of cover. In the shadows of the alleyway they could see Dominic, Alexandr, and Maxim walking with multiple figures behind him.
"I see you found more." Marius said greeting Dominic with a quick hug.
"Ja. I was able to find some remnants of blue team. How did your search go?" Dominic said motioning toward the silhouettes. Behind Dominic stood Mike, Jordan, Seamus, Eliza, and Craig all in full kit and looking exhausted.
"I was able to find Ela suspended 10ft in the air." Marius said nodding toward Ela.
"So, is this it? Is this all who's made it?" Mike asked.
"Ja." Dominic said halfheartedly. He wished everyone had made it out.
"What do we do?" Asked Eliza.
"We get out of here before your Amerikanskiy friends take us next." Alexandr grumbled to her.
"No. We can't leave yet." Mike interjected.
"Why? There's nothing left for us here. You saw what just happened in our building." Maxim argued.
"We need to rescue Six."
Everyone looked at Mike like he was crazy.
"It'll be no use Mike. Those special ops guys probably snagged her well before they came after us. She's more of a high value target than us." Eliza said.
"I saw Six's car when I was walking out of the mess hall earlier. She's still here. I'm certain of it." Ela jumped in defending Mike's idea.
"Listen, this isn't the United Nations. This is terrorism orchestrated by the White Masks. I can explain the details later. Right now, the only person who has a chance of saving Rainbow from the United Nations is Six and she can't protect us from inside of a jail cell. I'm giving you all the option. Stay with me and seek redemption for your fallen comrades or walk away. It's your choice. There's no shame if you decide to walk away. I wish you the best of luck on your journey but be aware that you all are now fugitives on the world's most wanted list. If we can save Six, we may just stand a chance and maybe, just maybe, we'll find Vanguard, the one responsible for all of this."
The operators stood quietly as they pondered what to do. The wind passed between the huddled group of operators. The snow fell gently from the night sky. The cold didn't bother any of the operators due to being used to operating in cold climates.
Well everyone except for Eliza and Taina who were huddled next to Ela shivering. Taina was not prepared for the weather wearing her short sleeve Bope button down shirt. Eliza lived in Jerusalem for most of her life and it never snows over there.
"I'm in." Alexandr said confidently. "They took Glazkov, Lera, and Shurat. Those yankees are going to pay for what they did to them."
"Soglasovano (agreed). I'm in. We have a score to settle." Maxim chimed in. Alexandr and Maxim exchanged a knuckle touch.
"Of course, I have your back brother." Seamus said patting Mike on the shoulder. Mike smiled underneath his mask. He could always count on his buddy Seamus with anything.
"I'm with you too Mike and so is Eliza." Jordan said nudging Eliza's shoulder.
"I'm… capable of… making my own… decisions… thank you." Eliza said through shivers giving her FBI counterpart a dirty look.
Jordan chuckled to himself. Eliza flipped him the bird.
"GSG 9 is in." Bandit said patting Marius on the back. Marius gave the group a confident nod.
"I'm gonna give Vanguard a fist full of lead when I find him." Blackbeard said with a devilish grin.
Only one more person left to decide. Everyone stared at Ela.
She reached into a second holster attached to her belt and pulled out Meaghan's Desert Eagle. She loaded in a magazine, cocked the pistol, and placed it back in the holster.
"I'm in. Let's do this." Ela said fiercely.
She had a score to settle with Vanguard.
Author note:
I once again would like to thank everyone who has been reading the story and sending me feedback. I really appreciate it Your feedback means a lot to me. I decided that instead of writing a separate sequel under a different title, I'm going to divide this story into acts. This is the end of act I. Act II will be on this story board so if you're interested in continuing to follow this storyline you can find it here. Act 2 Chapter 1 will be coming soon. Peace!