"Come off to the left." McCord spoke as he looked down. "And head towards the FOB. Overlord, this is Dagger Two-Four. Returning to FOB Alpha Two Charlie."

"Uh negative Dagger Two Actual. Return to FOB Delta Four. Evacuations are a success, however Russian Forces are pushing hard and fast in that sector. We are diverting all combat operational units to Delta Four." Overlord replied, sounding stressed.

"Understood Overlord. Dagger Two Actual out." McCord looked down at the controls.

"What is it sir?" Perry replied.

"Change course and make way fast for Washington DC. Russian Forces are less than twenty miles away."

Thirty minutes later, the Blackhawk began to descend at a temporary airfield. Once the engine shut off, McCord stepped off to be greeted by all of Dagger Two. McCord looked around, "Davis. Silvers. Byrd. Wilhmer."

All welcomed McCord back, and welcomed Perry into the group. McCord motioned them to gather around a table. "Right now, Russians are at most twenty miles outside of Washington DC. We are being pushed back. We need to evac all civilians and wounded we can. This will be our turning point. Either America loses the war, or we push the Russians back. Everyone better act their best, or we'll regret it. I've already seen what their air defenses are like. Arcadia was luck."

Byrd spoke up, "After that, we regrouped with Reaper One. Reaper Two is the only combat effective unit."

Perry nodded, "Reaper Three was utterly destroyed in the early stages of the Virginian campaign."

Wilhmer begrudgingly stated, "Reaper Four was torn up. They tried evacuating the suburban areas of DC. Only several helicopters made it back."

"Then we'll have our hands full. We're mounting strong resistance. We should be able to hold for another day or two to get the rest of the civilians out of here." McCord looked up. "Let's do our job and do it right."

Others nodded and McCord dismissed them. He began to walk to his temporary barracks, when a young sergeant ran over to him. "Sir! The Colonel wants to see you."

"What for?" McCord asked dead tired.

"He needs to speak to you about Reaper Two."

"I'll be over, just let me set my stuff down."

Minutes later McCord walked into the Colonel's office. He stood at attention as the Colonel turned towards him. He was in his late forties, early fifties. His hair was already grey, probably due to the amount of stress. "Evening Warrant Officer."

"Evening sir."

"I wanted to talk to you about your job. As you know, Reaper is torn up. I sent Reaper Four out earlier today and only four helicopters made it back." He stopped and looked at McCord waiting for the information to soak in. "Have a seat. We have more to discuss."

McCord sat down and looked at the colonel, "Dagger did their job, if this is anything bad about what happened. It's not our fault."

"I wasn't assuming that Chief."

McCord let out a breath of relief. "What is it then sir?"

The Colonel smirked, "I need a unit for SOCOM operations. Overlord has instructed me to find our best. Therefore, Dagger Two is entirely being pulled out of Reaper Two. You'll be CASEVAC still, but now you're a higher priority."

McCord was stunned at what he was hearing. Had everything in Afghanistan paid off? "Thank you sir." He stood up and saluted and walked out of the room.

He walked into the barracks where Perry was sitting looking down. He didn't look up to even notice McCord. McCord sat next to him, "What's wrong?"

"I have a younger brother. He's been deployed to DC as well, apart of his Ranger unit. I'm worried about him. I don't mind dying, but he's young. Eighteen, has his whole life ahead of him." Perry let out a breath of disappointment.

McCord slapped him on the shoulder, "Your brother is a Ranger. He'll do fine."

Perry looked at McCord. "Something will go wrong. Whatever is going to happen this battle will change everyone. He will lose his innocence, and we will lose our humanity too."

"I believe we will do whatever it takes to win this war Perry. No matter what the cost is, we must perform and do our duty. We have five major evac zones, and we will do whatever it takes to get the civilians out of here." McCord confidentially replied.

"No matter the cost of our men?"

"No matter the cost."