Chapter 1

Pointe Noire,

Republic of Congo,

Africa,

23:00 hours, 17th July 2008

SWEAT rolled down my face due to the hot, dense air that suffocated the night jungle; the light of the moon glistened through the clouds and tall jungle tree tops, providing a minor yet eerie source of light. Night insects and mosquitoes unbearably tortured my face leaving me seconds away from insanity. I stood there stiff as the bark of the tree scratched up against my neck, I glanced my sight left to the company of an African soldier enduring the same torture yet about to butcher anything that moved. He held his AK-47 firmly to his shoulder scanning the shadowy thick dense bushes that lay ahead. Any movement on my part would shift the ground scrub alerting the guard of my presence.

Three hundred yards north was a camp crawling with heavily armed senseless soldiers, alerting them would not prove the best position for me either.

He stood less than two meters away; it was quiet and dark so his awareness would be high. I slowly reached for my pistol, pulling it from the holster centimeter by centimeter; once the suppresser was freed I slowly raised my arm inch by inch until it reached his head. I took a breath and was about to tighten my grip on the trigger when distant bushes moved and mumbled voices grew louder from the direction of the camp; the soldier looked back in thought that he should probably return.

I held my aim stiff as I shifted my sight to the previous hostile that got in my way, he lay there limp concealed in bushes directly in front of the soldier; the shadows grew nearer and the voices became clearer. I held my breath in hope he would walk back and continue on with his patrol; turn back buddy I thought; instead, he walked forward bumping into the leg of my last client. It took him a moment to figure out what it was; I breathed in as he turned and took a deep breath for his alert; I jumped forward startling him but not giving him enough time to respond; I slammed my hand across his mouth cutting his breath short, pushing the silencer firm against the side of his head. I pulled him back behind the opposite side of the tree to the patrol; he breathed heavily into my hand as his eyes were tightly shut. His dark bald head dripped and stanched of sweat.

The patrol grew nearer, cutting the scrub away with their machetes. There were three men; one leading the way waving the machete around furiously, another keeping watch holding his 1911 Colt.45 automatic firm to his hip, and the third soldier keeping the party alive waving his hands around in gestures though know one seemed to be listening.

They stopped about five meters away from the tree, discussing where they would continue on. A soldier mumbled and pointed in a direction though I couldn't understand, I peaked around the tree still grasping the soldier tightly; a guard pulled off his sweaty blue singlet and rapped it around a small snapped off branch; he snatched a canister off another guard causing slight annoyance and confusion and poured the contents onto the singlet most likely a flammable solvent and pulled out a lighter. The branch breathed to light with a swift whoosh! Causing the jungle around to slightly glow orange, the shadows shifted swaying left and right from the steps the guard took; they continued on their patrol slicing through the thick scrub with their machetes.

The tension lightened as I let out a deep sigh; I wiped my face dry on my shoulder and took a deep breath. His grip on my wrist tightened as he tried to free his mouth, I lent forward and whispered into his ear "Now I'm going to release my grip on your mouth and you'd better keep it shut, one word and it might be your last. One nod is all I need." His breathing hesitated before he gave a slight nod. I slowly released my grip from his mouth expecting him to yell out; he didn't, instead he let out a deep sigh.

"Good, now what do you know about the crash?" I said scanning my eyes through the jungle.

"Crash, I… I… don't know what you're talking about…" he said nervously.

"Don't play stupid, I got a gun to your temple."

"Oh! The crash…" he said as I rolled my eyes to the back of my head.

"You catch on pretty quick; where'd it come down?"

"About, one mile east of here…" I shifted my head to the side and contacted the HQ "Grim, you get that?"

"Yeah, our satellite heat signatures have tracked the wreckage, sounds about right."

"Thanks." I focused my attention back on the soldier "Well done; now… what can you tell me about the crew aboard that helicopter?"

"I don't know, all we got told was that some of the crew went missing and that it was vital that we find them; I swear that's all I know."

"Thanks." I reached down and holstered my pistol then pulled out a dart from the holster, I pulled my arm back and slammed my fist hard against his head; he went limp in my arms before I laid him against the tree. I stabbed him in the neck with the dart which would keep him out cold for several hours.

I stood up and brought my OPSAT (operation satellite uplink) to my face; then inserted the coordinates and scanned east toward the crash site; the wreckage appeared as a flashing green blimp on the LCD graph display, in the bottom right hand corner of the display, the distance, altitude and radio interference was shown at my current position and that of which I am heading.

"Grim, they're on the run, how do I know where to find them?"

"We're working on it; hopefully they will switch their distress signals on, otherwise we're searching for them through satellite; which will take some time, the forest it crawling with thermal signatures, it's difficult to predict which ones are theirs."

"They can't have gotten far; can't you search a certain radius around the crash site?"

"Never thought of that… I'm on it." I walked forward and chucked the guard's AK-47 into the bushes; the trident goggles slid down over my eyes giving me a heads up display just like that of a modern fighter jet, it provides me with few of the same functions as the OPSAT, only that of altitude and distance to my objective and a small GPS in the bottom of the screen.

I switched the mode to Infra-red which provides me with a thermal reading of my surroundings; the cooler the color, the cooler the object, for instance blue; whilst the hotter the color, the hotter the object, red, and so on.

The forest glowed pink before fading down to a dark blue, the guard from before glowed red and yellow and the soldier in the bushes was a mere shadow to the background.

I cleared my surroundings before I started on.

I started jogging east hurdling logs and pushing through scrub, I wiped my face free from webs and dislodged leaves from my goggles. Wild night life shadowed across the tree tops, the moon shown in reflecting the sweat off my face and the dew off the jungle leaves.

I stopped by a stream and bobbed down to wash my face in the ice cold water.

I took a drink from my water canister emptying it dry, I filled it up once more and inserted a cleansing tablet to wash out any bacteria or germs that can cause serious or fatal symptoms.

The distance left was reduced to that of a quarter mile; I radioed in hoping for conformation of their whereabouts "Well, Jennifer?"

"Well, I guess it's better then nothing; the forest is hot, but we think we've tracked them down, the only problem is they keep moving and the thermal readings cut out, they need to be immobile to be tracked."

"Where was their last sighting?"

"Not that far from your position, that's all I can give you…" I squeezed the bridge of my nose and sighed.

"Playing hard to catch, I hate that game."

"You know if you…" A twig snapped from behind some bushes, I snapped my head up straight and un-holstered my pistol without giving myself enough time to blink;I cut Grim short giving my sub-dermal two taps for radio silence.

The sub-dermal is my communication ear piece implanted just under the skin behind my right ear. To receive communications the signal sent to my sub-dermal vibrates the sensors deep within my ear which will then be sent to my brain for translation; then for speaking I have to wear a self-adhesive patch located just above the Adam's apple, to speak I have to let out soft vibrations quieter then that of a whisper, a lot of my time training was spent perfecting my speech, and getting it to the right level of tone, it was like learning the alphabet once more. So, the vibrations get sent back to HQ where they're translated with a digital seismograph like reader, which is then digitally enhanced and spoken through their systems a split second after I've spoken; which in conclusion means practically silent communication. Though if the situation does not involve complete silence I can just talk as normal.

I stood up still aiming my pistol directly on the bushes; it was silent apart from the flow of water gurgling down the stream. I slowly reached up and switched to IR, the bushed glowed red and yellow and what appeared to be an extended arm holding a pistol, I stood in silence waiting on what would happen next. Thankfully it was in my favor, a bird fluttered off causing ruckus in a near by bush, the figure shifted, as did I; I sprinted quietly to the nearest tree and slid around it. In view the figure gained fear; he peered through the bushes looking up and down the stream. I raised my pistol and aimed it directly as his head and reached up and switched off IR. My vision was dark before it slowly focused on his uniform, on his shoulder was a badge reading 'U.S Air Force', I sighed in relief but kept my 5-7 pistol raised to his head; it provides me with a twenty bullet magazine and clip of non-lethal tranquilizer darts, it has a modular under barrel which also provides me with a laser sight and a camera jamming device, which cuts off all telemetry from that camera for a short period of time, causing what seems to be a mere malfunction.

I took a breath before I walked up swiftly sliding the pistol out of his hands with ease "Hold it…" he fumbled to his butt in surprise sliding until he came flat to a tree. "Stand down soldier…" I said as his eyes opened wide. "You're American!"

"Yeah, why not…Who are you?" I said reaching down before pulling him to his feet.

"I'm Lieutenant Dikes; I was in the Blackhawk when it came down."

"I'm glad to see you."

"Glad to see me? I'm glad to see you!"

"Well you made my job a whole lot easier, but what if I wasn't American?"

"I… I… I'm sorry it's just been a while that I've met anyone that doesn't want to kill me out here."

"Who says I don't want to kill you?"

"What?" He stuttered.

"Never mind, are you the only survivor?" I asked.

"No…"

"How many were aboard?"

"Nine, I think, yeah nine!."

"Where are the others?" I asked in a hurry.

"That way…" he said as he pointed east "Only six of them though… three reporters and three crewmen, one badly injured."

"Where are the other two?" I said crossing my arms.

"Not sure, there was so much smoke and our position was getting closed in on… I'm sorry I'm new to this, first time in this situation." I nodded my head.

"Its ok soldier, it's natural to be afraid. No ones doubting you. What were you doing out here?" I said as I arched my head back.

"Our long range communications were destroyed in the crash, this is all we had…" he said as he extended out his arm handing me a short range radio used mostly in the seventies and eighties; it consisted of a large extendable antenna and was covered in knobs used for adjusting radio frequencies.

"We needed to send a signal; every body was giving up hope of a rescue, so I decided to go."

"Nice move." I gave a chuckle to myself and let out a sigh "Boy, these look familiar… how far did you expect to reach?"

"I don't know sir, it was more of a comfort to the others, to make sure they stay in this, I didn't want to give up, not this early." I handed the radio back before pulling out of my pocket a smaller communications device which had a tracking device imbedded in it "Take this…" I handed him the device "Head back to the shore and switch it on, wait there and don't move, a helicopter will be on location soon." I brought my hand to his shoulder and looked him deep in the eyes; he appeared in his mid-twenties, I forgot how young they took them these days, especially for a Blackhawk Recon mission.

I patted him once before I spoke up "I'll make sure you get a medal for this son, keep out of sight."

"Thank you sir." My hand slid down brushing ash off his charcoaled uniform. He started jogging before I spoke up "Hey Dikes… What's your first name?"

"Mitchell, sir." I gave him a nod bringing a smile to his face before he continued on in direction of the coast, I looked back and sighed before I gave a slight grin can't believe he snuck up on me like that… I thought in disbelief.

________________________________________________________________________

Smoke covered the night sky where the moon was a mere faded shadow; I could see the glow over the trees from the wreckage of the Blackhawk and the slight cracks of light shimmering through the forest. I slowly approached a small clearing of the jungle, where centered in the middle was the remains of a stone hut, scorches and damage from bullets covered the walls, one wall remained upright and in one piece whilst the other walls were reduced to half all with a significant loss of stone bricks. The hut had been overrun with bushes and vines, the long grass made it difficult the see in, though it was possible.

I approached the out rim of the clearing staying out of sight within the bushes; I switched to night vision, the display in my goggles went fuzzy before it changed to a tinge of grey and green, my surroundings were significantly changed, from the darkness of night to the almost brightness of day.

I peered in looking for movement; at first there was none, then a small figure which looked like that of a foot, slid into sight just next to the entrance.

I started circling around the clearing which was about 50x50 in perimeter, staying out of sight and watching for movement; I was to the right of the clearing when inside I saw a figure lying up against the wall, his leg was straightened and wrapped in a bandage. I scanned the rest of the hut, to my right was what appeared to be a lookout soldier, I switched to IR and confirmed my theory; a yellow glow was what the two men appeared as. I circled around trying to find the last four, I also memorized the huts interior for cover, blind spots and defense positions. I wondered why the patrols did not check here; maybe they have but didn't check well enough, or they know their there but a waiting for them to make the first moved, I shivered and snapped my sight behind me scanning the forest with IR, it was clear, but the though of a bullet or machete to the back scarred me.

Continuous gun shots echoed in the distance, the soldiers straightened and looked around in curiosity, I hoped those shot weren't at Lieutenant Mitchell, I grew to like him.

I finished the cycle of the clearing but only spotted that of the two soldiers; then just as I was about to move on, to my right a flash appeared, then another, then once more. A signal I thought, then one flash came from the hut. The bushes rattled then a figure scurried out of the bushes, almost stumbling; he carried with him what appeared to be a wounded man lugged over his shoulders. He ran into the hut gently placing the soldier by the wall; he leaned over him keeping pressure on his wound I presumed was from the previous gunshots.

A glance of light approached the boarder, I stood up and sprinted close enough for me to receive an IR reading into the jungle; I stopped by a log and zoomed in on the light with my trident goggles, then switched to IR; A large patrol was moving quickly on the clearing, the barking of dogs grew loud.

I knew I had to act quick, other wise the butchering of good men will take place, including that of civilians.

I bolted to the clearing edge where the patrol would exit; they were fifty to sixty meters away and closing quickly. The leaders had with them dogs, they scurried through the grass with there noses to the ground. I reached to my chest pocket and pulled out a motion-sensitive wall mine.

The 'widow maker' wall mine is the NSA' latest gadget; specifically a preferred last resort for "stealth" operatives, the 'widow maker' emits a high explosive in a fatal radius of five meters by five meters. Its specialty is its design for the user to choose lethal or non-lethal, for the former it sends a blast wave filled with piercing projectiles and a lethal blow; the latter sends a powerful shockwave of energy causing a strong concussion to its subjects, though may be lethal. Its other specialty is the designers made it just for Third-Echelon operatives, they installed a dampener and who knows what to reduce the sound significantly by up to five times that of normal.

I pulled out the mine and placed it low on the tree, I set it to lethal and five second set time. I bolted back to my previous position, on thought of my options. The allied soldiers in the hut had no idea of the patrols presence, I decided to warn them. I stood up and swiftly bolted across the clearing then came to a small wall flicking my legs over and landing in a crouch; I quickly moved to a wall and stuck to it firm then swung my body around the corner.

I walked a few meters past the soldier with the wounded leg to the Major treating the un-uniformed man's wound and picked up the MP5 lying on the ground beside him. "Here you'll need this!" I said quickly, knowing it won't be long before the walls start to shatter. He jumped for his gun but noticed I had it, the sergeant that was on lookout jumped up in surprise holding the gun at my head. The private with the wounded leg became conscious and got nervous.

"I'm American, there's no time to explain!"

The sergeant walked forward "Drop the gun!"

"We are in danger if we stay here, we've got to move!" the sergeant shook nervously and cocked the gun. "You've got to trust me, I was sent here to rescue you… any second now a patrol is going to open fire, we are sitting ducks out here!" I yelled. They looked each other in the eyes trying to make a decision. "Now!" I yelled furiously. It was too late to warn them, the first load of bullets were fired, the walls shattered into thousands of pieces. The clearing edge lit up twinkling from the barrage of fire; I dived into the sergeant forcing him to the ground out of the line of fire, I looked back and chucked the MP5 into the hands of the Major, he pulled back the cog and let out a short burst of bullets into the tree line.

The shells covered the ground as each shot was fired, the sound was deafening. I pulled out my pistol and rapidly crawled to the private with the wounded leg; I helped him up and gave him my pistol then told him to keep down low and move out of here. Dirt flew around me as the bullets imbedded in the ground. The Major kept down fire with the MP5, though the air was too dangerous, so he let out a full burst of blind fire over his head. I crawled back to the sergeant with the pistol and told him to take the wounded man out of the firing zone and wait for further instruction. He jumped up and ran to the reporter lifting him onto his shoulder. "We'll give you covering fire!" I yelled.

A fireball went up and the tree came down in splinters, chunks of wood landed in the hut, showering us with dirt; cries came from the tree line as the mine went off. I pulled out my SC-20 assault rifle; it fires standard NATO 5.56x45 mm rounds, it is equipped with a modular under barrel attachment giving me a wide variety of options along with a flash suppressor/silencer giving me lethal yet stealthy options, the pistol is also equipped with a silencer.

I pulled back the hammer and swung myself on top of the stone wall, I aimed the sights into the bushes holding the cross-hairs centered on the twinkle of gun fire. I squeezed the trigger, the rifle coughed in my arms as the twinkle stopped. I changed target and repeated the process, the rifle bucked in my arm and the shell hit the ground. The fire became too strong and constant, precise shots took too long, I brought myself up again and switched the setting to rapid fire then held the trigger down doing a quick swift horizontal swing through the tree line. The recoil pushed me back; I stabled myself and finished the clip. I placed my rifle on the ground and pulled out a grenade; the pin slipped out easily before I chucked it over my shoulder into tree line. The ground thundered as the tree line shuddered in flames, dirt puffed up covering the surroundings once more.

I reloaded the SC-20 and signaled the soldier to run to safety, but I wasn't done yet; I was about to move forward before quick light prodding drew near; a Doberman scaled the wall and ran right at me, I jumped to my knees and pulled out the knife sheathed horizontally on the lower part of my back; it jumped forward in a pounce, though it caused no threat, I gripped its head and slammed it into the wall, it let out a light whine and laid there limp. The fire lightened as voices yelled out followed by thuds from their footsteps; I reached in and pulled out another widow maker and placed it on the wall beside me. In a low crouch I got up carrying the rifle in my left hand and stopped by a pillar pulling another grenade from my belt. The pin was unsheathed with a slight clash of metal; I lent out around the pillar and inserted a smoke grenade into the under barrel of my SC-20 then changed the degree of my aim just above where I wanted it to land. I pulled the secondary trigger on the under barrel; a deep clunk came from the barrel coughing the smoke just where I wanted it, landing it just by the clearing. The ground shuddered again as the night sky was lit by the fireball caused by the grenade; I waited counting on ten seconds after a small flash appeared then the hissing from the smoke grenade became clear. I stood up and bolted across the clearing, slight specks of gun fire appeared through the smoke and the occasional high pitched whistle of death past in front and behind me; I lowered my self before entering the jungle, then a thunderous explosion lit the hut bright, cries grew loud as the stone wall was obliterated sending dangerous shrapnel about. The smoked cleared before figures appeared running the clearing down, I had to give the U.S soldiers time to get away. I pulled the SC-20 to my shoulder and sprinted through the forest; I stopped and raised the gun homing in on the enemy soldiers. A slight cough sounded as the rifle jolted in my shoulder, the soldier shuddered back off his feet slamming to the ground. I changed my aim and then stumbled another soldier. The leader stopped by the wall and waved his hands ordering his men to halt. The gunfire ceased sending an echo of shots through the jungle; it all became quiet except for the nightlife and the slight crackle of fire by the hut. I shifted around the skirt of the clearing coming in line with him; he changed his clip and peered over the wall keeping his eyes focused down the barrel.

The patrol leader straightened his arm out pointing to one of the four soldiers that lay in the jungle; the IR reading showed a soldier jump up and run over to the leader stopping in a slide. They discussed their options quietly scanning the rest of the hut; the leader looked back to the bushes and gave two firm points before waving his hand franticly signaling a flank around the left and right of the hut.

I inserted a single LTL (Less than lethal) sticky shocker switching the power to low. Two soldiers headed in my direction with there heads low; I drew the rifle to my shoulder keeping the cross hairs centered on the soldier furthest away and switched to single shot. His head snapped back as he toppled forward onto his stomach, the soldier in front stopped and hesitated as he turned back and looked in shock. I stood up sprinting forward avoiding sticks and logs as I went. I brought the rifle in line with him and pulled the trigger as I went, it got him in the upper center of the back jolting him forward landing near the other soldier in a whine as he exhaled his air. I stopped by a tree and looked toward the leader, he had moved forward a few more meters into the hut; I zoomed the sights in on the soldier flanking from the right, he was running, with the crosshairs half a centimeter in front of his head, I tapped the trigger slightly as the SC-20 coughed once more in my shoulder. He snapped sideways rolling from his speed. The leader looked curiously in fear knowing he'd lost contact; I needed to get in quickly before he called for reinforcements. Jumping up I ran forward directly to the back of the hut where they started out, and bolted across the clearing avoiding the bodies from the fight stopping just by the wall a few meters directly behind the leader; not giving a second delay, I fired the sticky shocker into his neck. The captain stiffened spreading out straight dropping his KRT-99 assault rifle to the ground. I slipped the SC-20 onto the holster on my back before kicking his gun to the side; the sticky shocker would leave him thirty seconds to about a minute out cold; leaving me enough time to bind his arms and legs. His arms and legs twitched to the slight effects of the electrical current.

Dazed, he became conscious as he squinted his eyes in wonder, I helped him along slapping him across the face. His eyes widened in fear and he took a deep breath, I covered his mouth with my hand and kinked my head "You know that wouldn't be the best career move; so unless you wish to join the rest of your men, I'd keep it shut." The sweat rolled down my nose ending its path in his lap "Are you going to be quiet or do I have to introduce my knife? Nod if you are going to cooperate, for your well being I suggest you do." His appearance was Asian and his uniform backed it up, Chinese. He nodded once "Good. See? We get along fine… now what was so important on that footage that your country went a great length to get it?" I slowly lowered my hand from his mouth allowing him to answer

"You can get stuffed…" I placed my hand over his mouth again and pulled out my knife hovering it just in front of his eyes the moon reflected off it as he when tense.

"You're in need of a shave," I said as I slowly ran the blade down his cheek, I then held it firm to his neck before I spoke up "Don't make me… now, what's on that footage?" I removed my hand

"Ok… but when I tell you this I'm not lying. It's big, and is very important, the government has been working on some type of weapon enhancer, and we were ordered to retrieve it and bring it back home."

"Have you retrieved it?"

"Not yet, but won't be much longer." I took a breath and tapped my sub-dermal "Grim, Brunton, you guys get that?" James Patrick Brunton is my weapons coordinator and my long time friend. He was born in 1996 Chicago, Illinois though he has never been in the field, it always feels like his there for me. He provides me with my load out for each mission, which is none the less perfect. He stands at 5'7" and spends most of his time working on new gadgets for the field. As for Jennifer, born in 1974 Boston, Massachusetts, she found her work at the National Intelligence Agency when she was hired as a civilian computer and signal intelligence technician, proving field operatives, but mostly myself with technology and communications support. She'll hack anything worth hacking, from Korean embassy archives to the Presidents personal laptop computer, depending on the situation of course. If she's not busy furiously typing in keys she'll be making some comment on my age, or both.

The signal hissed in my ear "Ah… yeah, but I'm not sure what to say." Grimsdottir said.

"Grim?"

My boss, Lambert, interrupted "Well if this is true, they've done very well in keeping it quiet; there hasn't even been the slightest bit of intelligence revealed."

"Must be pretty important for this amount of secrecy,"

"Well, yeah… all the more reasons that we need that tape Sam."

"I'll get it."

I live alone in farm house forty minutes North of Charles Town, Virginia. If I'm not in the field, or doing anything else that involves work, that's where I spend most of my time; I find it… 'My sane time', I spend weeks renovating the place when I get the chance, I do it on my own and enjoy every bit of it. When not keeping to the shadows or preventing a war, I basically become a handy man around the house.

My name is Samuel Fisher, I'm 5'10" and have short black hair, and was born in Orlando Florida 1966; I got to my position when I was recognized in an early special Ops team when I took part in many raids; since than my rank has been rising.

I'm an operative in Third Echelon, the latest in the NSA' operation; I use the latest espionage techniques and gadgets to infiltrate sensitive locations to retrieve information and execute operations the U.S government cannot acknowledge.

I've been the front lines of espionage through several key decades of history, providing a major role to some outcomes. Not only have I survived but I've excelled in my work through hard work, curiosity and brutal honesty; I have little time for polite niceties and even less for lies. My personality is quiet and instinctive, I'm also known for my wicked and slightly dark sense of humor which I think keeps me alive.

I looked back to the captain and sheathed my knife "What else do you know?"

"I told you too much already, get stuffed…" I squinted and pulled out a tracking device switching it on and sliding it into his pocket.

"Thanks for your time." I slammed my fist into his forehead sending him limp as I laid him against the wall. I switched a switch on my OPSAT changing the frequency on communications to the Osprey and tapped my sub-dermal "Bird, I got you a pick up, sending you the signal." I held a button down on the OPSAT and the screen changed rapidly in the form of radar.

"Roger that sir, pick up in two." The frequency changed back as Lambert radioed in "Sam?"

"Sorry sir just thought you'd fancy a prisoner."

"Good thinking, now find that footage."

"Roger."

I stood up and changed my direction to the glow of fire into the trees, and started on in a sprint.

Colonel Irving Lambert is my boss; he makes the decisions in which I comply. The Splinter Cell operation wouldn't be operating if he wasn't here; he started out young and quickly rose in rank before starting up the basis of Splinter Cell operatives. His leadership has helped America in many ways; he became the executive producer of Third Echelon providing operations out of the radar. Not only is he my boss but he's also my friend, he's been there when I needed him the most, like when my daughter Sarah was recently killed after she was caught up in a terrorist warfare attack. A moment in time I try to erase, mostly because I watched it all happen.

He helped me through the worst mission of my life… prison. One of my last missions was blending into the background of a high security prison, in order to find information on international cyber attacks created by a computer mastermind known as Jacob Peitric. He was the only person capable of stopping one of the most devastating computer viruses known to man, wiping out vital top secret files kept safe from the out side world, it even almost launched missiles into sensitive areas nearly preventing World War III, not even the NSA' or CIA' most experienced hackers were able to stop the cyber attack, including Grimsdottir. I played a major role by convincing his organization that they could trust me, I eventually found out the ways of preventing the out break, leaving the world in the top of their seats.

Six months of my life I wish to forget.

The prison made me stronger mentally, it brought me back from the dead, in a sense it was a rehabilitation centre for my life.

My sprint slowed to a jog as I approached the crash site, the crackle of fire was loud and the heat singed my face and arms dew to them not being protected by my suite. The Blackhawk was nose down into the jungle floor; debris littered the ground, in smoke. The back rudder blade still spun in two second intervals echoing a loud hum through the forest.

I peered around looking for movement; my visions were useless, due to the heat of the fire. Scanning the surroundings I found nothing, before a few meters from the wreckage the sound of clashing metal and shuffling grew loud. A lone soldier shuffled through a crate of gear that the hawk carried, he dug deep on his knees, throwing away anything of low value. I check around before I moved forward slowly in a crouch, moving my feet slowly before treading. He exclaimed and pulled out a silver Desert Eagle pistol, examining it before tucking it in to his belt. I approached him cautiously stopping just two feet away, I unsheathed my knife and slowly reached my left arm to his head; I swiftly slipped the Desert Eagle out of his trousers chucking it aside whilst grabbing him in a lock with my arm around his neck firmly pressing the knife to the centre of his back. He fell back and gripped my arm, choking through the force.

Still in a crouch I walked backwards sliding his legs over the dirt into darkness, I looked around for presence, though there was none before I whispered in his ear "You were gonna pay for that?"

"What?" he stuttered.

"You do know looting against the law?"

"I wasn't…" I pressed harder against his back cutting him short.

"Shut up, what do you know about the men aboard the helicopter? Were there any survivors?"

"Umm…"

"Four men are missing, where are they?" I said gripping his neck tighter.

"Huh, looks like you're too late… they took two of them." I breathed in closing my eyes realizing the situation.

"Where are the other two?" I said in an angry voice.

"Check the cockpit…" I looked to the wreckage. "Damn!" I mumbled to myself.

"If either one of them was killed by one of your guys I'm coming back for you! Now did your people find what they were looking for?!" I said piercing past his uniform.

"What? I don't know what…" I pushed the knife harder causing him to exclaim.

"You know precisely what I'm talking about, the footage, do they have it or not?!"

"Yes, ok! Yes!"

"Where is it now?!"

"Don't know, that took it ages ago by helicopter; they've got the hostages with them too. I told you what you wanted, now let me go!" I pulled hard on his neck, cutting his air supply off periodically knocking him unconscious in a whine. I dropped his body to the ground and stood up "Lambert!" I said in worry.

"We've tracked the helicopter, no time to waste; your mission here is done get to extraction!" Lambert finished and I headed to the helicopter; I lent inside to see the co-pilot leaning up against the controls, helmet disheveled and a drop of blood from the crash on his forehead, the pulse was dead; I snapped the dog tag off his neck and shoved it in my pocket; I ran through his pockets and pulled out his wallet placing it into my chest pocket.

A cry came from out side, I stiffened and crept outside; the pilot lay there buried in wreckage, trying to free himself. He saw my shadowy figure and panicked raising his pistol; I jumped forward slipping it from his hands.

"Now Sam, there's no time!" I lifted the large sheet of metal from his chest revealing two gun wounds, one in his left shoulder, and another in his lower abdomen. "I'm not going to leave him here to die!" I said raising him to my shoulder.

"You're jeopardizing the mission; this won't get you a medal!" I stood up and ran into the jungle trying my best to smoothen his ride.

"A mans life is worth more than a medal!" the radio went silent as I trotted through the jungle. I grew closer to extraction occasionally doing an IR scan.

The hum of a helicopter hovered ahead; I exited onto the beach kicking sand from under my feet, there hovered the Osprey with Brunton standing at the door. He saw me and pulled a leaver, a stretcher descended down stopping by the ground; I ran over placing him on the stretcher shifting his legs into place. A rope flew down landing beside me; I reached for it and pulled myself up tying my legs around the rope, slipping myself up quickly. A hand reached out pulling me up onto the deck; I walked to the stretcher and lugged him to the bed. "Anna!" I yelled.

Anna is the co-pilot cross medic, she's kept me alive on many situations from bullet wounds, explosions, or even broken bones.

She ran over checking my well being "I'm fine it's him!" I yelled pointing to the pilot of the Blackhawk. The Osprey banked left than up as they took off in pursuit.

I slipped off my SC-20 and placed it on the seat, I dropped to the floor catching my breath, and I slipped of my goggles chucking them to the deck.

Brunton leaned down in worry, I signaled my being ok, and lent back closing my eyes.

I lost consciousness for a few seconds before waking up to the pat of Brunton's hand "Lamberts on screen." he said. I jumped up walking to the plasma screen in the cockpit; Lambert's face was on screen, as he looked at paper work. "Lambert?" I said leaning on Birds seat; Bird is the pilot of the Osprey, he's been here as long as I have, his real name is Frank Gordon, his serious nature is the type you need when avoiding enemy fire. He has also been along side me in the field during past conflicts, not only is he a good soldier but a good man.

"Sam, glad you made it." Lambert said.

"Glad we made it…" his face went quiet as he lent back.

"How is he?"

"He'll live, just." I said crossing my arms to my chest. There was a slight pause before he changed the subject "No time for debrief, you're in pursuit of an '99 T-Range' helicopter, we're tracking its position, we suspect it to be heading North East towards a small Island a few hundred Miles off the south coast of China." The screen changed and a map zoomed in, pixels on the screen focused before a small island appeared on screen. "That's your destination, once there your primary objectives are to retrieve that footage and attempt to rescue the hostages."

"Sir, the Chinese have taken two American civilians hostage, I'd take that as a threat."

"More of an act of war,"

"Tense… sir if I am able to retrieve the footage and bring the hostages back safe, then what happens? Forget this ever happened?"

"Not sure, but once we find out what is on that footage, we should have a fair idea." I lent against the wall and nodded "James," said Lambert "Sir?" he answered, "Insertion?" Lambert asked as Brunton typed furiously into his laptop computer.

"Working on it, I should have a strong answer once we get closer, but for now you'll be doing a drop off half a mile off the shore of the Island, I'll have more info soon." He sat down and went to work.

The pace slowed and the Osprey jerked hard, machinery moved and the pace quickened, the twin blades changed from vertical, to horizontal; placing the blades to the side of the cockpit.

The Osprey is one of the most advanced aircraft available, half helicopter, and half plane. It's got top of the line maneuverability and speed, perfect for quick insertions and getaways.

"Lambert, what's my ROE?" or rules of engagement.

"Non-lethal, we don't want to risk war against the Chinese government. The casualties from before were unfortunate, but we had no idea of there involvement; we're treading a thin line as it is already, no more casualties Sam!" the screen faded and the noise of the propellers took over.

I stepped over to Brunton and asked "What happened with the U.S soldiers?" He pushed back and spun round on his chair "The reporter didn't make," I pinched the bridge of my nose and exhaled "one of them was shot but should pull through, the major is fine but the private with the wounded leg lost a lot of blood, their working on him as we speak."

"Where are they now?"

"We dropped them off with an undercover fishing boat just near the shore. They were thankful Sam." I nodded my head.

"What about Lieutenant Dikes? How's he?"

"He's fine, rattled, but ok. He's also with the others." I stepped away and sat down on the seat, I reached for the wallet that I recovered from the pilot and opened it up. A photo of his family was attached to the front; I placed it on a shelf along with the dog tag; it read

Sergeant Dufraine, David

23/4/1974

Topeka, Kansas

1st division

U.S Air force

I squeezed the tag in my hands then place it on the shelf.

The trip would take two or more hours to get there; I sat back down, lifted my legs to the seat and closed my eyes.