Rainbow Six: Undercover

Act II

Chapter 23

"War is Kind"

– Stephan Crane

Taina walked through the down pour of rain to a small dilapidated brick building. It was a typical spring day in Hereford Base, England… raining. She pushed the heavy wooden doors of the brick building and walked inside. The brick building was the base's chapel located on the outskirts of the base. The inside of the chapel smelt dusty an old. The two rows of pews stretching toward a small alter looked worn down. Parts of the carpet were stained and torn up. The inside was dim due to poor lighting. Above the alter looking down on the pews was the crucifix of Jesus Christ, which was the only thing in the chapel that looked new and up kept. While some of the soldiers and workers were religious, they could never find the time for church due to their busy schedules, so the church never saw many visitors. In charge of the church was French GIGN/CBRN operator Olivier Lament. Olivier was a devote Catholic who had taken up the task of reviving the on base chapel.

Taina could see Olivier at the alter with cleaning supplies scrubbing the alter. He perked up from his work surprised to see a visitor.

"Taina?"
"Hey."

Olivier put down his cleaning supplies and approached her. Taina stood in the aisle between the church pews looking as if she were lost.

"Can I help you something?" Olivier asked surprised to see of all people.

Taina remained quiet.

"Here, take a seat." Olivier said motioning to one of the pews.

Taina took a seat in one of the pews in the center of the chapel. Olivier looked at the crucifix, gave the sign of the cross, and then took a seat next to Taina.

Taina stared at her feet. She felt as if she didn't belong. As if the church itself was rejecting her.

"Are you okay? You haven't been the same since you were held by the UN."

She looked up at Olivier. He was right. Ever since her torturous meeting with Overlord she's felt like a completely new person.

She's been her normal reclusive self, but she's been rejecting her handler's help. She's felt a heaviness in her chest that won't go away. She's taken numerous psychiatric and physical tests to find what was wrong with her. The psychologists mentioned something of a "breakthrough," but she didn't understand what the doctors meant, and they refused to explain it to her. She remembered Overlord mentioning something about being able to "fix" her through the electrical shocks he gave her, but she could barely remember. She was trying to forget those dark times then remember them.

Now its been months since Rainbow was proven innocent to the UN thanks to the involvement of Ding Chavez and the Grim Sky Urban Tactical Response team. But the heaviness in her chest still hasn't gone away.

"Olivier. I'm not okay and I don't know what to do." She mumbled.

Olivier nodded his head.

"Have you tried talking about it?"

"With psychologists. But not with anyone else."

Olivier shook his head in disappointment. He always disagreed with Rainbow's way of treating some of the operators like science experiments. Taina being one of them.

"Then talk to me then. What you say stays between you, me, and God."

"Olivier, you probably won't believe me when I say this."

"Try me."

"When Overlord hurt me, I saw Meghan."

"Okay and?"

Taina looked at him surprised at the fact that what she said hadn't surprised him.

"You're not surprised or weirded out by that?"

"No. Not at all. God works in mysterious ways and so do our loved ones who've past."

Taina looked up at the crucifix.

"What do you mean by that?"

"God and our loved ones can appear to us anytime they choose. People claim every day that they thought they saw God or a loved one. While to some it might be crazy, I believe them. Anyone can see God or a past loved one. Meghan appeared before you because she wanted you to see her. What did you experience?"

Taina tried to replay the image in her head.

"Everything around me was white. I was in so much before pain and all I wanted was to die. But Meghan held me tight and told me everything was going to be okay. When she touched me all of my pain subsided. I felt… okay."

Olivier smiled at Taina.

"Looks like Meghan was watching over you. Like a guardian angel. That's not anything out of the ordinary. Despite past loved ones being dead and gone, they are always with us and they can appear before us at any time whether your relationship with them was good or bad."

"Can the other operators see her?"

"I suppose. But only if Meghan wants to be seen."

Taina thought about Dominic. His smile. His blonde hair and brown eyes. His amazing sense of humor. His personality. His character. How he always put others before himself.

Taina looked down at her feet again. She felt warm liquid in her eyes. A tear droplet fell down her cheek onto the top of her shoe.

Olivier now looked at her surprised. He'd never seen her like this before. He thought sociopaths were "emotionless."

"Taina…"

"I miss them Olivier. I miss them so much."

Taina broke down into tears and buried her face in her hands. She never felt this feeling before. The other operators called it grief. She's never felt this way in her entire life. She assumed what she was feeling was grief and she didn't like it. The psychologists had told her when she joined Rainbow that she displayed sociopathic patterns and was unable of feeling raw emotion. She guessed this was the breakthrough they were talking about.

Olivier placed a hand on her shoulder trying to comfort her.

"I miss them too Taina. I miss them too." He whispered.

Olivier tried his best to comfort the damaged woman.

Taina felt embarrassed at the mess she was. She hated the feeling of emotions. She partly wished she was her old emotionless self again. She kept her face hidden as she cried and didn't realize someone else had entered the church.

She heard footsteps on the old carpet walking toward her. Olivier stood up and walked out of the pew leaving her alone. The new person took a seat next to her in the pew.

She felt an arm wrap around her and someone stroke her hair. She rested her head on the person's shoulder and removed her hands from her face.

She recognized the black sneakers, ripped jeans, and black and yellow striped jacket.

"Seeing you in a church is like seeing a unicorn. But seeing you cry? The planets must all be aligned or something." Dominic said smiling at her.

Taina couldn't help but laugh at his joke. She wiped the tears from her puffy eyes.

"Hey, listen to me." Bandit said picking up her chin with his finger. "I'm sorry for what's happened. I haven't been able to live with myself. It hurts me so much."

More tears ran down Taina's face.

"It's not your fault. It's not your fault…." She choked on sentence repeating it like a broken record.

"No, it is my fault. And I'm truly sorry Taina. Just known that I have your back forever now. I'm not going anywhere. I'll never leave you. But you have to carry on without me." He said cutting her off.

Taina wrapped her arms around Dominic. He felt warm and comforting but she could feel him fading away.

"Please don't go. Don't leave me." She begged to him.

"You have to continue on Taina. Do it for me."

"I don't know if I can."

"Yes, you can and I'm right her to help you. All of us are. Keep my memory alive for me."

Dominic wrapped his arms around her holding on to the moment for as long as he could before fading away from the mortal world until Taina sat by herself in the pew alone.

Olivier looked up at the crucifix from the back of the chapel where he stood.

"God really works in mysterious ways." He muttered to himself and did the sign of the cross.

…

Mike sat in the car in front of the house contemplating his thoughts. He twirled a piece of paper around in hands and pulled at his dress blues contemplating everything he's ever done in his life leading to this moment. Being in the SAS, joining Rainbow, fighting against Vanguard, fighting Overlord, retiring from Rainbow, and everything in between. Cars passed by his parked vehicle. Children played in the front yards of the surrounding houses enjoying the beautiful spring day.

Mike took in a breath and exhaled slowly.

"Be a fucking man Mike. Get a grip." His conscience said.

He stepped out of the car and walked up the driveway of an old rancher to the front porch. The grass was clean cut and the garden out front was covered in beautiful flowers. The air felt hot and humid.

He hesitated for a second before ringing the doorbell sorting his thoughts. Once he was ready, he rang the doorbell feeling impending doom, but he held his ground.

An old man answered the door.

"Hi, do I know you?" He asked.

Mike was unable to answer. The words that he had planned to say left his mind. He thought he was ready for this moment, but he truly wasn't.

The old man stared at him confused.

"Sir…" He mustered choking back his tears. "I have been asked to inform you… that your daughter… Meghan…" He cleared throat struggling to say her name.

"Meghan J. Castellano… has been reported… dead… in Ramadi, Iraq on November 26, 2017 at 18:17 hours in a surprise gas attack while fighting terroristic opposing forces. On behalf of the Secretary of Defense…. I extend to you… and your family… my deepest sympathy in your loss."

He handed him the piece of paper. The old man looked down at the piece of paper. He slowly reached for it and opened the folds.

Chief Castellano,

Sir, it breaks my heart to inform you that your daughter, Meghan J. Castellano, died gloriously on the field of battle on November 26, 2017 at 18:17 hours in Ramadi, Iraq.

I feel how weak and fruitless must be any words of mine which should attempt to beguile you from the grief of a loss so overwhelming. But I cannot refrain from tendering to you the consolation that may be found in the thanks of the Republic your daughter died to protect.

I pray that our Heavenly Father may assuage the anguish of your bereavement and leave you only the cherished memory of the loved and lost, and the solemn pride that must be yours to have laid so costly a sacrifice upon the altar of Freedom.

Yours,
Very Sincerely and Respectfully,

Director Six

Meghan's father let the letter slip out of his fingertips. The paper swayed through the air and landed at Mike's feet. Chief Castellano sat down in the door frame of his house speechless.

Mike knelt down placing a hand on his shoulder.

"I'm so sorry Chief Castellano. It was truly an honor to serve alongside her." Mike said softly.

A tear trickled down Chief Castellano's cheek as he stared at the children playing in front of surrounding houses in silence. Remembering when her daughter was about their age playing with her friends in the yard. Remembering when his wife was still alive. His daughter was all he had left.

Now he had nothing.

Mike felt eyes lay upon him from behind. He looked behind him to see Meghan leaning against the door frame. Her face was red, and she had tears in her eyes.

Meghan bowed her head and remained quiet as she watched the two men before her grieve the loss of her life.

…

"50 METERS AHEAD TURN RIGHT!" Zofia heard IQ scream from behind her as they sprinted down the tubular corridor of the double decker passenger jet. Bullets buzzed past them from behind as they ran.

Glaz looked through his thermal scope from outside the plane on a fully extended high reach he was using as a sniper's perch. He saw glimpses of yellow heat signatures flash onto his scope through the airplane's small exterior windows.

"Op For right is on your heels team 2." Glaz's voice said in their comms.

IQ and Zofia stopped and stacked up on a split in the corridor. IQ held her AUG in her right hand and looked down at her electronics scanner on her left wrist. It pinged the location of the electronic device they were looking for. It began to beep faster and faster like metal detector as they got closer to it.

"EAST CORRIDOR TEN METERS GO, GO, GO!" IQ said tapping Zofia's shoulder signaling her to push forward toward the designated room.

Zofia entered a large open area for first class. Bodies of NYPD and terrorists littered the floor. Two large bombs ticked away in the center of the room. Across the room was a doorway leading into another corridor. They could hear footsteps sprinting toward them from the opposite corridor as well as from the corridor they had used to enter the room.

IQs wrist scanner began to beep more rapidly as she approached one of the dead policemen. She rolled the corpse over revealing a bomb defuser.

"YES! GOT IT!" She said picking up the defuser.

Zofia moved toward the corridor on the opposite end of the room ready for the next wave of terrorists to attack. She could hear their voices and footsteps as they got closer to them.

"Glaz, package retrieved. Starting defusal. Cover us." IQ said on her comms.

"Roger that team 2. You're completely surrounded by Op For. I'll try and cover you the best I can."

A group of ten terrorists sprinted town Zofia's corridor coming into her view.

"Holy shit…" She whispered to herself and opened up with her LMG dropping one of them while the over wisely dove for cover and returned fire. One threw an impact grenade at her.

"Woah, woah, woah!" Zofia yelled taking cover from the incoming rounds and grenade. She felt a small wave of heat from the blast.

"DEFUSING!" IQ yelled as she opened up the small computer and began to type.

Zo heard a thunderous boom from outside the plane as Glaz began to open up with his high-powered sniper rifle from his sniper's perch. She couldn't see who he was shooting at, but it sounded like was doing damage to their unknown enemies.

Zo peaked the corridor she was covering earlier and returned fire at the advancing terrorists who were now a lot closer to her then before.

"IQ 3 SLIPPED PAST ME THEY'RE COMING BEHIND YOU!" Glaz screamed in the radio.

IQ stopped typing and turned around to watch a block of nitro sail past her.

It exploded knocking her off the defuser.

Zofia turned around to take out the three terrorists that had slipped past, but they were faster than her and immediately gunned her down. The rounds impacted her stomach and chest piercing her body armor.

She collapsed to the ground with pain shooting through her entire body. She heard three loud booms and watched the three terrorists fall dead from Glaz's deadly precision.

"Glaz this is Six. What the hell is going on down there? Zo and IQ's vitals just plummeted." Six's voice buzzed in his ear piece.

"Six, defuser plant is critical. Team 2 is down. I repeat Team 2 is down. We're not gonna make it in time."

There was a moment of silence on the radio.

"I copy your information Glaz." Six's voice came back. "Team 1 are you direct on the information?"

"Team 1 copies direct." Ash's voice said.

"Team 1 deviate from your original course and move to the bomb site to reinforce Team 2. We're counting 2 minutes till detonation."

"Montagne and I are a little busy at the moment with bad guys but we're oscar mike."

"Proceed with caution. They're under heavy fire." Six warned.

Glaz peered through his thermal scope from his sniper's perch at the large double decker Boeing 747 passenger airliner in front of him. Through the small windows he could see bright yellow heat signatures darting back and forth outside of the bomb site which was located in the center of the plane on the second floor. On the bomb site laying on the ground in the fetal position lay the lonely heat signature of Zofia Bosak and she wasn't moving. He couldn't find IQ.

"Zo, this is Glaz. Do you copy?"

Silence.

"Zo, this is Glaz. Do you copy?"

"Zo, can you hear me?"

"Damn it Zo."

"Fuck, fuck, fuck, fuck, fuck, fuck" Zo's mind raced as she lay on the ground clutching her stomach. Enemy rounds flew over her as if she were caught in a swarm of angry hornets. She could hear enemy chatter through the walls.

She could feel her trembling hands feeling sticky from the blood coming from her open wounds. She tried to move her hand away, but the pain was too much.

"Zo, talk to me. What's going on down there?" Glaz said sounding as if he were begging.

Zo gutted up and moved her hand off her wound reaching for the push to talk on her radio. She grimaced and grit her teeth at the small movement. Her wounds began to leak blood when she removed her hands.

"Glaz… I'm hit. It's bad… really bad." She whispered as if she were out of breath.

"Copy that. I have visual of you. You're still completely surrounded. I need you to stay low while I take these guys out to avoid accidentally hitting you."

"Okay."

"Do you see the defuser?"

Zo looked around the large open seating area of the plane she was in. The bombs next to her continued to tick away.

Off in the corner of the room was the brief case size defuser computer that would scramble the timers on the bombs preventing detonation. Next to the defuser was IQ. The right sleeve of her grey hoodie was torn and charred black from the nitro cell thrown at her. Other then that she couldn't see any life-threatening injuries externally. She wasn't reacting or moving to anything which worried her.

"Yes, I see it."

"Those bombs need defused. We're short on time."

"I see IQ as well. She looks hurt."

"Don't worry about IQ. Focus on the mission."

"I don't think I can make it to the defuser."

"We have no other options Zofia. Team 1 isn't going to make it to you in time. It's all up to you."

Zo perked up at someone touching her.

She looked over her shoulder to see her younger sister Ela behind her examining her wound.

"Timur is right you know. You're running out of time." She said putting pressure on her wounds.

"It'll be suicide if I go for the defuser. I have to wait for backup."

Ela grabbed her by her shoulders and shook her violently trying to shake some sense into her sister.

"So, you'd rather get blown up instead? Zo, you have a family. If you give up, then you're giving up on them and you're giving up on me."

Ela had a good point. She thought about her husband, daughter, and younger sister.

"Okay fine. We'll do it your way."

Zo took in a deep breath and began to move to her feet. She gritted through the immense amounts of pain. Ela tried her best to help her up.

"There you go Zo. You're doing it." Ela's said encouraging her.

Zo made it to her feet and squatted behind one of the bombs. She drew her side arm. She could hear the 9 remaining terrorists she fired at earlier about to enter the room.

Zo keyed up on her radio.

"Glaz."

"Yeah?"
"Cover me. I'm going for the defuser."

"Roger. Keep your head down." Glaz said zeroing his reticle on a terrorist's head.

He squeezed the trigger on his high-powered sniper rifle which responded with a thunderous boom. The rifle recoiled firmly into his shoulder. The round found its way into the side of a terrorist's head bursting it wide open like a smashed pumpkin.

He cycled to his next target which was staring at his dead teammate in shock. He squeezed the trigger landing another headshot. He kept repeating the action taking out one terrorist after another sending trying to buy time for his teammates by sending the enemy scrambling for cover.

He moved his sight picture to Zo who was crawling in the open for the defuser. He noticed a spot of yellow moving behind her.

"1 minute till detonation." Six's voice said.

"Zo, on your six." Ela said urgently.

Zo rolled onto her back and fired her pistol gunning down a terrorist entering the room from the corridor behind her.

Another terrorist turned the corner and Zo gunned him down too. A third terrorist ducked behind a group of seats for cover and began to shoot at Zo wildly. More terrorists began to crowd in the corridor firing at her.

"Glaz where's that damn cover fire? I'm getting lit up over here!"

"Patience Bosak." Glaz hissed as he lined up his reticle for a collateral kill. He fired killing three terrorists with one bullet.

"30 seconds till detonation. You need to start defusing. We're out of time." Six's voice said.

Zo made it to the defuser in the corner of the room and opened the lid. The computer inside the explosion proof box was still intact.

She looked over to IQ who still hadn't moved from her spot. Ela was squatting in front her examining her injuries.

"How is she?" Zo asked as she began to type on the computer.

"She's fine. Just worry about those bombs."

"15 seconds left." Six said.

"Ten seconds."

"Come on Zo." Glaz said squeezing off another shot downing a terrorist.

"5 seconds."

With a second to spare Zo typed in the last computer command. The defuser alarm began to shriek and flash as its defusal process halted the timers on the bombs.

"Defend that defuser Rainbow." Six said on comms.

The last remaining terrorists began to unload everything that had on Zo ripping the entire room apart with their rounds.

"GLAZ WHERE YOU AT?" Zo shrieked keeping her body low to the floor.

"Just hang in there…" Glaz said zeroing in another terrorist. He was about to fire but he heard rounds begin to skip over his head. He moved his body out of the way quickly but lost his balance and fell from the high reach crashing onto the hot tarmac below.

Zo heard a painful cry from Glaz's radio and then silence.

"Glaz?! Glaz?!"

Glaz didn't answer.

IQ began to groan and rub her head.

"What happened?" She asked looking around the chaos surrounding her.

"IQ keep your head down!" Zo yelled firing her pistol.

"Team 1 is on location." Ash's voice said.

Zo could hear someone rapidly firing a pistol followed by what sounded like Ash's R4-C. She peaked her head out from the corner to see Montagne, the French giant, pushing his way into the bomb site with Ash using him as mobile cover.

"GET BEHIND ME!" Montagne yelled as he positioned himself in front of the wounded Zo and IQ in the corner. The terrorists began to fire at Montagne's shield but their efforts at taking him down were fruitless. Ash rushed over to help her fallen teammates. She put pressure on Zo's wounds to stop the bleeding. From the way Zo's uniform looked she'd lost a lot of blood while trying to defuse the bombs.

"30 more seconds. Stay with me Zo." Ela said keeping an eye on the defuser.

One terrorist turned a corner into the bomb site and was dumb enough to rush Montagne while his shield was fully extended. The terrorist charged at the mountain in front of him with a rebel yell. Montagne retracted his shield back to normal size and drew his six shooter in one fast motion like cowboys do in the movies. He placed a round into the terrorist's cranium popping it like a grape. The amount of skill and precision Montagne had with his shield and six shooter gave Ela chills.

"I hate when Monty does that to us with his shield in training." Ela said staring at the dead terrorist.

Five more terrorists piled into the bomb site aiming their guns at Montagne's fully extended shield.

"Guys, we have a problem here." He said staring down the 5 enemies in front of him.

Then the diffuser stopped beeping and glowing. The bombs began to shut themselves down. The terrorists looked at each other shocked at their loss.

Six's voice came over comms.

"That's it we got it. Bombs are defused. Reinforcements are on the way. Touching down soon. FALL BACK! FALL BACK!" Six said over the comms.

All five terrorists pulled out blocks of nitro cells and primed them. They knew their plan was foiled but they weren't ready to give up just yet.

"Uh oh." Monty muttered from behind his shield.

Ash turned her attention from Zo to the enemies in front of her.

"What's the matter Mon… oh... you got a plan?" She asked staring nervously at the men with nitro cells.

"Yes."

"What's that?"
"Pick up your friends and run like hell when I give you the signal."

"What's the signal?"

"This."

Montagne threw down his shield and drew his six shooter. Ash lifted Zo into a fireman's carry and dragged IQ behind her and ran for the door.

Montagne held his six shooter at his hip and placed a hand over the hammer of his revolver. He began to rapid fire the revolver like Jordan Trace had shown him when they watched the movie Tombstone. He slammed the jammer down with his palm after each shot.

He dropped all five terrorists.

The operators began to rush for the exit of the plane unsure of how many enemies were left. Zo watched the world around her bounce up down as she was carried out of the plane. Glaz was waiting for them at the exit.

"Hurry. Let's get out of here." He urged them and began to limp after them.

They could hear footsteps behind them chasing after them. A terrorist turned a corner and threw an impact grenade at the fleeing operators as they ran through the exit. The explosion threw the operators forward tossing them head over heels down the flight of stairs leading to the tarmac.

A terrorist poked his head from the door and was about to fire at the downed operators laying on the hot tarmac, but Ash pulled her 1911 and capped him in the head. His corpse went rolling down the stairs and landed at Ash's feet.

Zo stared at the blue sky above her. Her skin roasted against the hot asphalt. Her sisters face appeared over her blocking her view.

"Hey sis." She said smiling.

Ela picked up her older sister's hand and held it tight.

"Good job out there. I'll see you at home. I love you." She said with a smile and her image began to disappear.

Zofia couldn't help but beam. She hadn't heard Ela say she loved her since they were little girls. The fact that her younger still loved her despite everything they've been through warmed her heart.

The end.

Authors Note:

And that's all folks. This story was an absolute joy to write and I thank all you for your love and support. I couldn't have done it without you. I'm not sure what I'll be doing for another story but if you guys have any idea I'd be happy to hear them. I'll see you in the next story! 😊