HELP, Saved You The Apple & The Location

Isolated Warehouse Complex – Outside, Treeline

Bandar had walked the entire perimeter several times. His head was no clearer. He just could not go back inside yet. Daphne was sure to be waking soon. Then it would be too late to save either of them.

He sat on a tree stump a little ways into the trees. He needed a bit of privacy. Bandar lowered his head and let the sorrow he felt for the little boy release.

Winds picked up a slight sound and opened his eyes. He knew he had been resting far longer than he had planned. He wasn't quite sure how much time had passed but by the position of the sun he figured it was more than an hour.

He must have lost more blood than he thought but he also knew the sweltering heat was a factor. His head was throbbing, his muscles ached and he felt so tired. He needed to check out the sound so he shifted slightly and carefully looked out from his concealed location.

There was a man near the edge of the trees sitting on a stump. He was making sounds but he couldn't quite make out what he was saying other then he clearly heard I'm sorry. He was speaking English not Farsi like the others at the safe house. If he was lucky he could get the drop on the guy and if he was even luckier he would have a cell phone.

Winds rose quietly from his position. Dizziness made him hold a few moments before he crept from his hideout. The man did not seem to be aware of his approach. That is until the very last second.

He whirled around striking out. Winds blocked the hit with his left arm and pain shot up and down the whole arm. He launched himself at the man's midsection to take him to the ground. They wrestled back and forth, equally matched. Winds was tiring quickly and knew he had to get the right hold. He finally managed to do so and was applying pressure to choke off the man's air supply.

Bandar had seen but not registered the uniform the man was wearing until he focused on the sleeve of the arm as he tried to pry it from his throat. He needed air. He was having great difficulty, the guy was holding too tight. Bandar knew he was going to lose consciousness fast.

He had to act quickly. He was not sure if he would get the right response but he croaked out "Heavenwing, Heavenwing." His vision was getting fuzzy. He tried one more time "Heavenwing, Heavenwing."

Winds was so focused on subduing the man. Using all his strength to make his muscles do what he required them to do and to push past the pounding in his head that he did not hear the first words the man said. Then Heavenwing entered his head.

He should not do this, if he let go now he would surely not be able to regain control of the man, his strength was quickly flowing away. But he had said Heavenwing so Winds released the barest amount of tension only enough to allow the man a small amount of air. Winds replied "Heavenwing Eclipse."

The fuzziness that had been rapidly closing in without air abated slightly as Bandar got a little bit of air and he countered "Heavenwing Eclipse Lunar."

Winds maintained his hold still only allowing a tiny bit of air but he was dumbfounded. He responded "Heavenwing Eclipse Lunar Phoenix."

Bandar struggled to maintain consciousness with the minuscule amount of air that was getting through. He breathed out with difficulty "Heavenwing Eclipse Lunar Phoenix. Naked. Exfil Ops two."

He had completed the code for HELP, identified he was naked meaning working without backup. And that he required an exfil rescue operation to bring two people out of harm's way.

Winds was stunned as he released him and rolled away. He rose quickly to a ready position but was very unsteady. How the hell? Winds demanded "Name, service."

Bandar rolled and sat up trying to gulp air in. His prayer released to the winds had been answered. He had no clue how or why the fates chose to favor him but he was so glad, here might be the one percent option. "Naseer Bandar, covert ops. You?"

Winds shook his head trying to clear the dizziness. Whoa, he thought that was not a good idea to do, it made his head hurt more but he looked at the man and replied "Cousin, dark."

Bandar understood the term; he was Special Forces, JTF2 likely and would not identify his call sign or name. His unit was likely engaged in a mission so he was dark and no further information would be shared from him. He was breathing normally now, air restored he hesitated only briefly before saying "Urgent, need to exfil a woman …"

Winds interrupted him "and a boy. I know. Do you have a phone?"

Bandar was surprised he completed what he was going to say but reached into his pocket and withdrew the phone. He pulled it back quickly as Winds tried to snatch it.

Winds snarled and launched forward and pinned the man to the ground.

Bandar croaked out "Stop you need intel, dangerous, very dangerous. Let me explain first."

At that Winds pulled back and squatted on the ground using his good arm to steady himself on the ground "Tell me now and quickly."

This damned heat was impacting him, taking him way off his game. Winds couldn't afford this now. He focused on the man in front of him taking in his appearance, trying to judge who he was dealing with.

Damn that must have been painful the thought looking at the man's face. He noticed a hooded kindness in the man's eyes that did not jibe with the fact he was here with the bastards that took Daphne and Ben. He waited for the man to speak.

As Bandar sat back up that's when he noticed the state of the soldier. He was teetering as he squatted, trying to steady himself with one hand on the ground. He was barely sweating despite the muggy heat and his face was a mix of paleness and flushed. Bandar still felt warm where the soldier had touched him trying to grab the phone and the soldier had a blood soaked sleeve. Wow, the soldier was in bad shape.

Bandar motioned he was going to get his pack off. Winds nodded ascent. Then Bandar pulled his bag off his back and withdrew a sealed bottle of water and offered it to Winds. Winds shook his head no. So Bandar opened it and took a drink and swallowed showing Winds there was nothing wrong with the water, not drugged or poisoned. Then he offered it again to Winds. He accepted and drank the entire contents.

Winds looked fiercely at the man still trying to judge him but said "Thanks, talk."

Bandar delved into only the items he could tell not knowing or being able to verify the soldier's identity or security level. He told him that a woman operative and her boy were being held by a man named Mousa. That the buildings contained at least forty men all armed many with semi-automatic weapons. Bandar said that the woman would be tortured for information and that Mousa was planning on using the boy against the woman.

He explained that once Mousa had the information he was planning to clean house but the methods varied and he did not know which one he was using this time. Last time he personally shot them point blank one by one. Sometimes he slit their throats. Other times he hung them. But his favorite method was to blow up the building with them all in it, sometimes alive and tied up and other times already dead. But whatever method he used no one ever left alive except the core group and maybe one or two hand-picked middle level that had proved worthy. He provided the names of the core group.

Winds listened carefully; he needed to provide as much information as possible when he reported. This was bad, that was a hell of a lot of hostiles to get through to save them. He focused on his priority, Ben and Daphne. "I need the location of the woman and boy. Can you draw me a map?"

Bandar nodded. Winds realized he had nothing to write with or on. Bandar shook his head, he didn't either.

As Winds reached to the side to pick up a stick he lost his balance and ended up on his butt. Frustrated at his body he grabbed the stick and tossed it to Bandar. Then he cleared away the ground beside him. His eyes closed briefly but he forced them open as he thought damned heat.

Bandar quickly got to his knees and drew a basic map of the two buildings. Then pointing at the map said "This is where they are now on the first floor. This room locks. Mousa plans to split them up when he interrogates the woman. I believe he will likely take her here on the north side of the second level. It is the only room with windows and where he does all his tarp work."

Winds interrupted "Tarp work?"

Bandar sighed and explained what happened this morning and what had happened there several times over the course of the past nine months. So many men killed, Bandar hated to think of the number. Mousa had no regard for human life.

Then Bandar continued "But the boy I do not know where he will take him. She is unconscious now, or was when I left quite some time ago. When she wakes he will start to question her. He plans to kill the boy regardless."

Winds had flinched at the last statement as the slight odor of peanut butter wafted to his nose and an image of Ben appeared in his mind. He grabbed the phone.

Bandar stopped him from dialing "Choose your words carefully. I am the lowest level, unlike Yassin who has been Mousa's right hand man for twelve years. So Mousa has rigged my phone to allow only ten seconds if making a call out each hour. If he calls me there is no such limit. But if I try to make a call only ten seconds are allowed. So you have only ten seconds to convey information to whoever you are calling." Covered in sweat and exhausted by the heat Bandar sat down.

Nodding, Winds took a moment to decide what was most critical given the limit. He had a lot of information but only ten seconds. It was hard to think right now; he was doing all he could to force his mind to focus.

His headache had not abated, muscles were aching and he was so tired. It took him much longer than normal but he finally sorted it out. He needed to identify the packages, the location, number and firepower of hostile targets and his location and that he had more detail.

He was about to dial Blaze's number when he remembered that Blaze was down. He saw him get hit in the hip and it looked bad. It was unlikely he would have his phone right now. With only ten seconds he couldn't risk him not answering. Winds also could not call the normal line to report, authentication took longer than that.

Winds pounded the ground next to him with his fist several times. Who the hell to call? He stood to pace, he thought best doing that but his calf muscle cramped and he ended up back on the ground.

As he flexed his foot and rubbed out the cramp in his calf he tried to determine which of his unit to call; he did not know their status beyond Angus and Daniel were also down. Hal or Russ? Shit, shit, shit. If he called the wrong one he would have to wait another hour to call another person and he could not risk that.

His head would not stop throbbing and he switched to rubbing his temples to try and ease the pain. He had to think; he needed to call the right person. Winds stood again seriously needing to pace and think but this time dizziness over took him.

God dammit he thought as he crashed to his knees. Blackness was creeping in the edges of his vision. This fucking heat, he didn't have time for this. He knew the signs of heat exhaustion and he was experiencing many of them. He sat back on his heels and tried to bring his vision back to normal.

Bandar sat watching the soldier; he did not look good at all. He could not even stand and had fresh blood on the sleeve. It was likely from the hit he had landed earlier. Bandar grabbed his bag again took out another water. He always water because he never knew when or if he would have to leave and he needed to be prepared.

He crouched next to the soldier and said "Drink."

Winds looked to the man. He took it and downed half the bottle of water. Bandar then said "Let me look at the arm. I think you are still bleeding. Let me tighten the bandage, stop the bleeding."

Winds shook his head no.

"You cannot do it yourself. Too much blood loss. Let me tighten it please" Bandar said.

Winds pulled away from the man as he tried to touch him.

"You cannot save them if you bleed to death. Let me only tighten it. That is all" Bandar cajoled.

Winds glared at him. It galled him the man was right. He finally shrugged his left arm out of his jacket and let the man tend the wound. Bandar pulled the bandage tight causing Winds to wince in pain.

"I think that will be better now" Bandar said as he moved away.

That was all Bandar could do so he said "I have told you everything I can. I have to return. If I do not they will come looking for me and might find you. I've been gone too long."

He stood up "I will do what I can inside to keep them safe until you can come for them." With that Bandar left the cover of the trees and slowly walked toward the warehouse.

Winds downed the last of the water and put his arm back into the jacket. His vision was a little clearer now but not by much. The dizziness hadn't abated and he had little strength left, he had pulled so much from his reserves.

He sat down heavily on the ground. Winds mentally started running through his list of unit contacts dismissing one after the other for various reasons. Shit, who am I going to call?

Isolated Warehouse Complex – Small Locked Room

Daphne became aware that Ben was clutching her and whimpering softly. Her jaw ached badly and she was stiff and sore. She opened her eyes and took in the fact they were in a small windowless room. She noticed all the tape had been removed. She reached to Ben and pulled him closed to her as she whispered gently "Sssshhhh sweetie, hush now."

She managed to push herself into a seated position while holding him to her chest. Once seated, she adjusted him so he was sitting cradled in her lap with his head laid over her heart. She held him snug as rocked him back and forth as she softly cooed to calm and comfort him.

When he settled a bit she held him slightly away from her to look him over. She saw red marks on his cheeks, fat finger shaped bruises on both arms and legs. She saw the scuffed and bloody knees. He was missing one shoe.

She carefully lifted his shirt to check his tummy, chest and back. There was bruising there too. He had been roughly handled. Daphne raged internally that someone could hurt her little boy in such a manner.

But outwardly she remained calm. Daphne lifted the corner of her t-shirt and used it to lightly wipe away his tear streaks. She caressed his face as he looked up to her with big sad, fearful green eyes. Daphy gently asked "Sweetie, how did you get these?" as she pointed the bruises on his arms and scraped up knees.

Sniffling Ben said "The scary, bad men hurt me, pushed me down."

He started to cry in earnest again and reached down and picked up his stuffed toy that had fallen away when mommy had moved him. Ben clutched it close to him as he sobbed.

She pulled Ben close again and rocked trying desperately to sooth him and not lose her own composure. That would not help them in any way. She had to keep it together.

Daphne then saw the toy he held and said "Who brought you Donald Duck?"

Then she also saw the water and apple. She thought maybe they have a chance. Assaf would have risked himself to bring the toy and water to Ben. She wished he was here right now.

She should have listened to Assaf long ago. She could be so darn stubborn and reckless. Blaze had always warned her she would pay a price for it one day. She was devastated to realize he was so right and it was not just her that was paying the price.

Ben had not answered her yet so she coaxed again, needing to know if Assaf had brought it "Ben, can you tell mommy who gave you your toy and the water?"

The crying eased up and he hiccuped as he answered haltingly "The man with the big knife. He was scary looking but he was nice. He didn't yell or hit me like the mean, bad men did. He gave me cheese too." He pointed to the apple and said bravely "I saved the apple for you mommy. Unca Sam said we have to take care of mommies so I saved it for you."

Daphne smiled at his thoughtfulness, every day she saw more signs and behaviors in Ben that reminded her of Matt. Ben was so like his dad. She also wondered just what Sam had said to him.

She said "Thank you sweetie, how about we share it. You eat a little first." She reached down, picked it up and handed it to him.

As Ben ate Daphne was mulling over what he said about the man. Assaf was not scary looking. He had the kindest face and Ben knew him, played with him. He would have said Assaf. But if not Assaf who? No one Mousa employed would do such a thing. They were all killers. They would not care anything for a child.

So she asked "Can you tell mommy what he looked like? How did he look scary?"

He nodded his head, handed her the apple and cuddled closer to her "His face was all icky."

Ben didn't offer more of a description so Daphne prodded "Icky how?"

Then she took a tiny bite and handed the apple back wanting him to eat it all but making it seem as if she was eating too. She picked up the water and took a small sip conserving the rest for Ben. She had no idea how long they would be locked in here.

Eating several bites and thinking for a long time Ben finally said "Like Scar from the Lion King."

Daphne thought she knew who he was talking about but needed to clarify "You mean he had a long scar across his eye and down his cheek to his chin and another big scar on the other cheek?"

Ben nodded.

She then asked "Did he have long black hair and did the knife he had have a big red handle?"

"Yes mommy. I was ascared of the knife but he just used it to get off the tape" Ben replied.

Daphne was surprised. Why would one of Mousa's core do something like that for Ben? She had never spoken with him; he had only seen Ben a few times. Why would Bandar do that?

She handed Ben the water and ensured he took a long drink. She looked at the apple and was glad to see he had finished most of it before he handed it to her.

Ben wiggled in her lap remembering the scary knife and the bad men that hurt him and threw him down then whimpered "Mommy when can we go home? I don't like this place it's scary and hot. I wanna go home." Soft fearful crying started again.

Daphne set the apple core and water down then held him tight and rocked him "Soon I hope sweetie, soon."

She closed her eyes and sent out a silent plea for help. Blaze, please come soon we need you. Listening to Ben cry, emotion overwhelmed her as she thought about the cold-blooded killer she was dealing with and regret filled her completely.

She had been too reckless. Daphne could no longer stop the tears from spilling from her eyes and her body started to shiver. She was grateful Ben couldn't see her eyes and the shivers were covered by her rocking.

SRU HQ – Briefing Room

Russ, Pawn, Jules and Greg had rejoined the group and shared that Kamaal indicated that the pictures did indeed look like the interior of the warehouse. But he also said don't all warehouses look alike. He gave as much detail as he could but he said he had only been there for about three days. He had only recently joined.

He offered up that it wasn't just one warehouse that it was actually two warehouses. He told them that Mousa used the two story one for his command post and the single story one is where he kept all the supplies. He indicated both had basements and were connected by an underground tunnel via the basements.

With that detail Spike was working with Cameo to program search parameters for the aerial footage analysis program. Cameo was impressed by the speed at which Spike worked. He could learn a thing or two from this guy. He watched closely and asked some questions but not many. He didn't want to distract Spike from his work too much. This was too important and it had been a long time since they had arrived at the safe house.

Ed, Sam and Mason entered the room together. Sam handed the laptop back to Spike.

Spike looked up and said "Thanks, buddy did you …" then he saw the butterfly bandage above the eye "Geez are you using your face as a battering ram today or what?" that caused everyone to instantly look at Sam.

Ed stepped in before Sam said anything "Hit him with the door when I opened the conference room too fast."

Sam turned to look at Ed as did everyone else. It wasn't like him to offer up a fake excuse. He was grateful to have the attention pulled from him. But they would have to talk later.

Ed just stared at him and lifted an eyebrow that Sam read as 'what? you want me to tell them the truth?'.

Greg, Spike, Wordy and Jules did not believe Ed for a second. Something happened but Ed did not want to share it now. They wondered if it was with all of them or if it was the unit he didn't want to share it with. No one called him on it.

Wordy saw the look between Sam and Ed and wondered if they had butted heads again and if it had finally gotten to the point of a physical altercation. Both alphas, their arguments had become so heated sometimes that it felt that they were close to coming to blows a few times. But that had been long ago and mostly after Sam had returned from being shot and Sam felt Ed was coddling him.

He shook the thought away. No they wouldn't do that during a call. Then he thought again about the current personally charged situation and asked himself, would they? He filed this away to talk to Ed about later. Whatever it was he wasn't sharing with them had to be significant because Ed didn't lie.

Sam looked away from Ed and scanned the room. He cleared his throat and said "Guys, we've been discussing tactics for when we find a location. Ed and I are in agreement. Given the situation we are dealing with and the fact JTF2 has jurisdiction, the unit will take the lead to clear and secure the location. Team One will maintain a perimeter and assist if needed."

Startled looks crossed all of Team One. Sam continued "Sorry, you guys are the best but I have not received clearance for you to participate further than finding the location."

Sam looked to Ed and gave him a look that meant 'what's good for the goose is good for the gander'. Yep Sam just offered up a fake excuse too. He didn't need additional clearance to assist in that manner. But he really didn't want to argue with the team about it being too dangerous and explain about the mindset needed.

This time Greg, Spike, Wordy and Jules did not believe Sam for a second. It was his tone and the way he did not quite meet their eyes and how he glanced fleetingly at Ed. Something definitely was up and neither would share right now.

"So have we gotten any closer to finding the location?" Sam asked quickly trying to move forward away from the bomb he had just dropped on his team.

At that Greg brought the three of them up to date on the location and search Spike was conducting. Kamaal had been helpful in the layout puzzle too. As Greg finished Sam's personal phone rang.

Sam looked at the caller id, unknown and blocked, "Hello …" he stopped talking as he instantly recognized the urgent and firm voice on the other end.

["Sit-rep BH, DB exfil. Warehouse. Derry and Hartford. Forty heavy. Winds. North trees quarter click, additional." Winds said quickly said trying to get it all in within the ten second limit.]

"Copy" Sam said just before the call dropped. The room stilled. Sam looked to Mason. Mason saw the concentration on Blondie's face like he was memorizing something.

Sam went straight to the whiteboard and wrote out what he heard Sit-rep BH, DB exfil. Warehouse. Derry and Hartford. 40 heavy. Winds. North trees quarter click, additional.

Then Sam said "This is all Winds said before the call dropped."

Everyone studied it. All the JTF2 guys understood. Sam and Mason shared a look; this was going to be as bad as they thought.

Sam started giving out orders "Spike look for warehouses that fit our criteria near Derry and Hartford. Cameo get us a map, we will find Winds north of the warehouse a quarter click in the trees. Pawn work with Cameo we need a way to get to him undetected he has additional info we need before entering."

He turned to Mason "How much fire power did you bring?"

Mason shook his head "Not enough for what we are facing there."

Sam turned to Greg "Boss we need to take arms and ammo from SRU."

Greg wasn't exactly sure what the message said but inferred they were facing at least forty heavily armed men so he said "Wordy, Jules get whatever Sam needs."

Sam listed off what they needed and they headed out.

As he listened to what Sam requested Greg realized why Sam was not allowing the team to participate. This was truly a soldier scenario and would most likely end up like the safe house. Sam was protecting them.

Leah had heard Sam's request and was reading the message but was not sure exactly what it meant so asked "What are you facing there?"

Apollo leaned close to her and said "Forty armed targets with automatic and semi-automatic weapons."

Leah stared at him in shock "You six are going to take on that many?"

Apollo shrugged and replied "It's what we are trained for." Then he looked to Sam "Blondie, want me to go with and help get what we need?"

Sam nodded yes. Just as Apollo neared the corner Sam called out "Apollo tell Wordy to grab the riot pack."

That perplexed Apollo, what was a riot pack and why would he need it? But he simply said "Willco."

Spike piped up "Got it." He displayed the warehouse aerial photos on the large display screen for everyone to see and study. "Working on blueprints now. Will send both to PDAs in a second."

Sam, Ed and Mason studied the warehouse layout as the rest of the team geared up.

Within five minutes of receiving the call from Winds the team and unit were on their way to the location. Sam, Ed and Mason would make the tactical plans on the way since their ETA was nearly thirty minutes at full speed.

The warehouses turned out to be an old shoe factory and warehouse that has been abandoned for almost fifteen years. It was an isolated complex surrounded by dense woods on three sides. It had one narrow access road and the nearest buildings were over five miles away.