Chapter Nine

"Shut up!"

"What? I'm not doing anything!"

"Eagle, if you start humming one more time, I'm going to castrate you with this spoon!" growled Wolf. Their flight from Heathrow to Newark had been hellish so far, to say the least; after a delayed takeoff from Heathrow, they had spent seven hours on the cramped, Continental plane. Snake and Wolf were content to sleep and watch movies, but Eagle was simply too hyper to be cooped up for mor than ten minutes without the need to bounce around.

"What? Everybody loves 'Call Me Maybe!'" Eagle's retort was drowned out by Wolf's loud and murderous glare. It was safe to say that Wolf's glare was enough to shut him up for the last ten minutes of their flight to Newark.

After they landed, Snake discovered that their late departure from Heathrow had made them miss their connecting flight to El Dorado in Bogota, Colombia. Again, Wolf's displeasure was made known through a very detailed explanation of what he would do if he ever found whoever was at fault for their delay at Heathrow.

"Wolf," Snake muttered. "You realize that you just ruined at least five childhoods of some kids back there? Sheesh..."

"I don't give a crap! Now I gotta call Jones and tell her that we're gonna be fucking late!" Wolf fumed. He was pacing, and the glare on his face was strong enough to make passersby fear for their lives.

"Is anybody else hungry?" offered Eagle. "The food on the plane sucked..."

"Eagle," Wolf growled. "Shut. The. Hell. Up."

"So -" Director Morrel began. "The Brits already have an agent in-country, and they have another one on the way. He'll be there later today."

"Have we worked with him before?" asked Jenny.

"You've worked with the one that's arriving later today," Morrel nodded. "His name is Ben Daniels. He was an SAS intelligence officer before he was appointed to a Special Operations unit. While you guys were in deep cover in Baghdad, he was part of your QRT* team if the shit had hit the fan."

"Good, good..." sighed Jackson. He had worked with other, less capable agents, and he was glad that this one at least could hold his own. "What about the one who's already there?"

"Ah -" Morrel smiled; "I think I'll let Ms. Jones handle that introduction."

"Good morning agents," said a voice behind them. Startled, they whirled around to be met with the Deputy Director of MI6.

"Holy freaking pineapples -" Jenny almost drew her sidearm - she hated surprises.

"I'm very sorry Agent Knox," Ms. Jones sounded more amused than sorry though. "I'm filling in for Mr. Blunt - he was called in for an emergency meeting at Downing Street."

"As you know," she began, both agents immediately alert and ready; "You are leaving at noon to meet up with other agents and a QRT team in Bogota, Colombia. You will insert via commercial airliner - the Colombian 'Avianca,' and you'll rendezvous with my agents and your QRT team at the American Embassy in Bogota. Any questions?"

"Er-" Jackson hesitated - he didn't want to seem overly inquisitive - "what's the mission exactly?"

"Good question Marx. You'll be briefed by at the embassy. But now you lot best be leaving! Your plane leaves in half an hour."

With that, Jones signed off and the agents were on their way. Meanwhile, Ben Daniels was waiting at the front gate of the American Embassy in Bogota, eager to meet up with Alex again.

He had been declared the unofficial "Agent in Charge," and thus was allowed to know the identities of everybody on his team. After finding out that Alex was going to be assigned to this particular detail, he had been worried and happy at the same time. He had managed to arrange for Jack to stay at the Waldorf in Florida in order to take her mind off of her young charge, at least for a while. His other worries, for Alex's safety, were assuaged mostly by the fact that he wasn't planning on letting him out of his sight.

"Welcome to the embassy of the United States, how may we help you?" Daniels's musings was interrupted by the speaker next to the gate which had crackled to life moments after he rang the bell.

"This is Lucas Simmons," Daniels always used whatever codename had been assigned to him while in-country, even before the mission began – one can't be too careful.

"The Ambassador is waiting for you. Please enter, and enjoy your stay!"

Captain Alec Pierce had never been fond of flying - he hated the uncertainty, the feeling of having his life and that of his team in the hands of a third-party. After two and a half hours, Team Six's flight from Miami Dade International Airport was getting on his nerves. They were on an Air Force C-130 cargo plane; it wasn't exactly comfortable, but his men were used to it.

"Hey Mike," yawned Cpl. Ramirez.

"Sup man?" Mike essentially shouted through the thunderous roar of the C-130's engines.

"Remember the last time we were in Colombia?" Mike snorted, and Captain Alec rolled his eyes.

"How could I forget?" he grunted - their last trip was still vividly embossed in his mind. "I'm never going to let you try to wrestle anything bigger than a meerkat baby. That anaconda *almost* took your head off!"

The group laughed - that was the only good memory they had about that trip. Their five-man squad had been ambushed the day after the "anaconda incident," and while none of them were killed, three of the five were honorably discharged due to loss of limb. Hopefully this time would be different.

"Ladies and men with no balls, this is your Captain speaking," a metallic voice came through the plane's intercom. "We are approaching the beautiful airport of El Dorado in Bogota, Colombia. It's been a pleasure trucking your sorry, lazy asses for the past three hours, but we're about to land. So hold on to your lunches!"

The three Green Berets shared a smirk - the fly boys loved to make fun of their Army cargo - but it was all in good fun. After they landed and started off towards the Embassy however, all humor was forgotten as they prepared to get down to business.

Ladies and gentlemen, I'm alive. It's been more than a year since I last updated this story, and I am so, so, sorry. I could use my crazy Junior year as an excuse, but I honestly just lost my writing mojo. It's summer now though, and I'm a very happy camper!

I'm going to try to update at least once a week during the summer, but no promises. Just note that I have not forgotten or abandoned this story! It's been on the back of my mind for the past thirteen months, and I do love it a lot. To all my readers who still remember this story, thank you for giving me another chance! :)