Disclaimer: I don't own Bones but maybe Hart Hanson will hire me for my ideas /snort yeah right. I don't own Coming Undone Either that belongs to Korn. I just like it
Mlbrunell: You are running out of luck for more to read =( only three more chapters left. Then it's off for me to bury my head in the sand and write. Although I do have a one shot coming out as a birthday gift.
Angelbach: Hey all's fair in love and hide-n-seek. ;-) Had to get creative. Shower sex is getting waaayy over done. Yep brought him in but he's just passing through.
Jenheir1: Nope never played hide-n-seek like that. Tried at my sixteenth bday party but I seemed to be the only one who thought it would be fun. Lol I went all cheesey on that airport scene. Couldn't resist. Yeah they are creepy looking but I thought they'd be a good add for the whole military thing.
Aiya8: You're most welcome =D. I had to find an base close enough that they weren't traveling fooooreeeevverrr. I was debating and decided I liked the name =D gotta love how I pick stuff right?
Luckywynner86: Lol I'm not sure you'll be too happy then. There's nothing like the 12 DOC scene.
Loverofbones: Lol short, simple and to the point. Yep, I don't like him either and he is a jerk.
Yenyen76: LOL yeah I figured I'd throw a brick at him...I mean throw him a bone since he hasn't appeared since MiM.
Nertooold54: Yeah, he does but the question is...when does he tell her? /snicker
ArielBrennan: No need to apologize =D It's summer and the usually means travel. That's quite a bit of reading lol. Glad you're still liking it. Everyone seems to hate Stires.
Chapter 69 - Lessons for Life
Goodman, having seen Legates enter the encampment entered next. Walking to where Legates had left his pack, Goodman did much the same as Legates then walked to the edge of the jungle and disappeared. Stires and Maggs watched in silence as over the next half an hour the rest of the unit stepped into the encampment, dropped their packs, loaded their supplies then disappeared into the jungle. Maggs walked over to the hut and stuck his head in the door.
"Yo, Martinez, Legates and his guys just got here. They're already in the jungle," Maggs said.
"Good," Martinez grunted, "this will be over soon then. Legates is a Pathfinder."
Maggs walked into the room and flopped down on the other bed in the room. Stires stood in the doorway glaring at the men in the hut.
"Aren't you going to do SOMETHING?" Stires bellowed in frustration.
"Yep, wait for the Rangers to do what they do best. At this point it's more their game than ours. Our unit is standing by waiting for instructions. When they get back and tell us where they are, we'll watch to make sure we have the right people then go get the students," Martinez said.
Legates moved through the jungle and tried to avoid branches and large pieces of brush. Within minutes he found the area where the students had been working. Crouching down, he scanned the sight and noticed a broken and worn area where the scientists had obviously arrived daily. He turned on his feet and scanned the edge of the woods.
He spotted it low to the ground, a footprint sized piece of moss that was torn up. Reaching in his pack, he pulled out a camouflaged handkerchief and marked the spot then pointed it in the direction he was heading. He moved silently through the trees. Ten feet away from the direction he made a quick mark to let them know where he was heading.
Goodman followed the directions Maggs had given him and saw the dig site where the students had been abducted from. After several scans, he spotted the camouflaged handkerchief pointing in one definite direction. Legates went scouting that way so I'll go this one, he thought. He dug around in his pouch pulled out a green piece of duct tape made a small arrow indicating his own direction then left.
Each of the men took off in different directions at some point. After either following Goodman, Legates or Techie's original direction they would fork out from there scouting the area and finding local villages, encampments and suspicious places to watch.
Two hours later, Legates crouched in a thicket of ferns watching what looked to be a small village. Settling in he began his wait and vigil.
•◊•◊•◊•◊•◊•◊•◊•◊•◊•
Michelle turned the key and entered her apartment. Tanya stalked out of her room with her arms crossed and her eyes narrowed.
"What's wrong?" Michelle asked with a frown on her face.
"He's gone. Just gone. No message, no word, no nothing," Tanya said, waving her arms as she walked towards the kitchen. Michelle groaned and let out a soft sigh.
"Tanya, Martinez is a Green Beret. They get calls in the middle of the night, day, lunch, hell probably sex. They drop everything and go, it's what they do," Michelle said, leaning on the counter and looking at her friend.
"He could have told me," she grumbled. Michelle's brow furrowed as she looked at her friend.
"He didn't tell you that?" Michelle asked, confused as to why Martinez wouldn't have explained this.
"Well, yeah, he did but I guess I didn't believe him," Tanya mumbled running her hands through her hair.
"Josh, got a call this morning. He called while I was walking to my class. He's getting sent somewhere, he's not allowed to tell me where and he doesn't know when he will be back. I talked to Dr. Brennan and got some information. I saw him off at the airport. Technically, I wasn't supposed to know anything, but I found out."
"Can you ask her where Robbie is?" Tanya asked, looking at Michelle in a hopeful manner.
"Nope, I shouldn't have asked her about Josh and I won't do it again,"Michelle said, shaking her head. Tanya sighed and shook her head.
"So what do we do?" Tanya asked, looking at her friend.
"We wait. I've never been in this position. Last time we could call each other. This time he's completely cut off," Michelle said, shrugging.
"Why do I get the feeling you and I will be on the couch watching TV and eating ice cream til they come back?" Tanya said, glancing at her friend.
"Nope, the holidays are over. It's time to hit the gym and I have classes to study for. I think Andrea is supposed to be moving up here in the next two weeks so if they're not back we'll be helping her move," Michelle said.
"We will?" Tanya asked, raising an eyebrow.
"We will," Michelle said firmly.
Picking up her backpack that she had dropped in the hallway, Michelle walked into her room. Sitting down at her desk, she opened her books and buried herself in her work. It took Michelle almost four days to realize she was at the gym close to everyday and she had already studied her material before the teacher had lectured. Groaning, she pinched the bridge of her nose as she waited for the elevator to the apartment.
Looking down at the floor she saw a piece of paper. Bending over with a sigh, she picked it up. She scanned it and took it as a sign. It was a class for basic, intermediate and advanced cooking classes. Student discounts were offered. Smiling, she held onto the paper instead of throwing it away as she had originally intended.
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Legates sat for the fourth sunrise, his mind running a mile a minute. The village was not a normal village, he noticed the third day in that there were no men. Not less than a usual village there were zero men. If there were no men how were the women having children. He continued to watch and the days went by with no visual of any men. Something stunk about this village but not knowing the culture he wasn't sure if the stink was a weirdness thing or a they have the students stink.
Another three sunrises passed before he saw the first sight of a man. Whaddya know, he was pushing a very light skinned, blonde haired girl towards another hut. The girls ankles were hobbled and her hands were tied in front of her. Lifting his scope, he peered through it at the girl. He took a mental picture then waited for night to fall. He had no idea if these were the people they were looking for because they only had pictures of Jessica and none of the other girls that had been taken.
He waited and watched for more young women to come from the hut that the pale blonde girl had come from. When night fell and no more movement was seen, Legates quickly and quietly moved away from the village. He moved swiftly, almost at a run, on silent feet. Reaching the dig site, he turned and continued at that pace until he reached the edge of the encampment.
He found Techie and Goodman sitting at the edge of the fire. They got in a few minutes before him. He walked over to where Dr. Stires was sitting near the fire.
"I need pictures of all the missing students," Legates growled at Stires.
"My God man," Stires said, putting his hand over his nose and mouth, "go take a shower and we'll talk."
"No talk. When I get back from showering you will have those pictures," Legates muttered, turning he headed to where the camp showers were set up. Techie looked at Goodman who returned the look.
"He found them," they said in unison.
Now all they had to do was wait for the others to come in from their various locations. The other men had to be back in the next twenty four hours or a search party would be sent looking for them. They had set up three days in the field one in the camp until the hostages were found before they left California. Legates strode back into the camp in ten minutes. His face covered in a light beard.
"Let's see them," he rumbled at Stires.
"No need to be nasty," Stires mumbled as he went to gather the pictures. Legates walked to where Goodman and Techie were sitting and flopped down.
"Yo, Maggs, Martinez get your green hat wearing asses out here," Techie shouted. Legates saw the two men come out and amble towards the fire.
"Dude, you look like shit," Maggs said, smirking.
"Unlike your lazy ass, I've been laying in the jungle scrub watching a village for a week, eating every other day, sleeping even less. We don't even want to talk about bathroom breaks," Legates rumbled, looking at them through red bloodshot eyes.
"Almost everyone is back. Only one left out there is Perkins," Maggs said, crouching down.
"Did you see Jessica?" Martinez asked, glancing at Legates.
"No but I saw a very pale, blonde woman which seems a bit out of place around here. I want to see pictures of people captured other than Jessica," Legates mumbled.
"Stires, hurry it up," Techie barked, knowing that if Legates closed his eyes they wouldn't get their information for another twelve hours.
"I'm coming, no need to be all nasty, gentlemen," Stires said, reprimandingly.
"Except if Legates falls asleep we'll be in the dark for twelve or more hours," Techie said in a growl.
Stires walked over and thrust the pictures into Legates' hands. Legates waved his hand and Maggs dropped a penlight into it. Legates turned on the flashlight and scanned the pictures, flipping through them slowly. He paused and shined the light on the third to last picture.
"Her, I saw her," Legates said, pointing to the young blonde woman.
"Sandy, she's from France," Stires said, leaning over Legates' shoulder as he spoke.
"Paper," Legates said with a grunt.
Martinez pulled a small pad from his shirt pocket and a pen. Legates took it and scribbled GPS coordinates to the village. Then he sketched a map circling the building the man and the girl came from then x'ing over the one they went to. With a grunt, he handed the notebook to Techie and stood up. Without another word, he walked to the hut and fell onto one of the cots.
"How much sleep you think he got while out there?" Maggs asked, looking at Techie for an answer.
"Knowing Legates and I do, no more than four hours," Techie said, standing up.
Letting out a low whistle, Maggs waited as his guys gathered around him. Maggs stood behind Techie listening as he told the other men where he wanted them. Techie made a mark on the paper and then handed it to Maggs.
"After Perkins gets back and gets some sleep, give him this and tell him his position is the pound sign," Techie said. Maggs nodded and watched the men gather their supplies and slip silently en masse into the forest.
"Where'd they go now?" Stires bellowed, looking at Maggs in irritation.
"To watch," Maggs said, turning and heading to the hut.
•◊•◊•◊•◊•◊•◊•◊•◊•◊•
Michelle looked at her bowl and prayed as she mixed. She had messed this recipe up so many times that she was sure if she served hockey pucks to Tanya again her friend would kill her. The dough looked right, the timer was set, the cookie sheets were ready everything was ready to go. Putting the mixing spoon down, Michelle picked up the nonstick spray and coated two spoons.
Using the motions that Sadie had taught her Michelle balled the dough then dropped it on the cookie sheet. As she was sliding her cookie sheet in the oven, her computer beeped indicating a Skype message. That would be Sadie checking up on her, Michelle thought. Clicking on the screen, Michelle turned the laptop to face the kitchen.
"Hey, Sadie," Michelle said, smiling over her shoulder.
"Hello, dear. Have you mastered those biscuits yet?" Sadie asked, her eyes shooting around the kitchen. Michelle's shoulders slumped and her head swung back and forth.
"No, last time they came out hard as rocks," Michelle muttered a light blush spreading across her cheeks.
"No worries. It's not like you picked something easy like spaghetti to learn to cook. And I have heard you make a really good lasagna," Said said, grinning at Michelle. Michelle snorted and shook her head.
"That was a recipe. Instructions," Michelle added.
"Let's see your ingredients," Sadie said, peering into the camera.
Michelle pulled out the butter, flour, baking soda and buttermilk. Sadie pushed her glasses on to her nose and looked at the ingredients. Michelle jumped when Sadie clapped her hands.
"There's your problem," she crowed, "your flour has too much protein. Try using cake flour and less baking powder. Here in the south our all purpose flour is made with soft winter wheat versus yours which is not. Your all purpose flour has more protein." Michelle let out a frustrated growl and yanked the biscuits from the oven and turned the switch off. Sadie shot her a sympathetic smile.
"You didn't grow up learning to cook so there is no way that you would know that. So it's a learning experience," Sadie said, smiling. Michelle grunted in frustration and dumped the dough into the trash.
"Guess, I'll pick some up tomorrow," Michelle said, running a frustrated hand through her hair.
"Well-"
"Who are you talking to?" Tanya asked blearily as she came out of her room. She walked down the hall and into the kitchen.
"Sadie," Michelle answered.
"Who's Sadie?" Tanya asked, leaning into the refrigerator for a drink.
"Nice panties; is that a bunny on them?" Sadie asked, her voice full of laughter. Tanya jerked upright and looked over at the computer.
"Oh, um, Hi?" Tanya said, pulling her shirt down as she looked at Sadie.
"Sadie Jackson, meet Tanya Sabbatino. Tanya, meet Josh's mom," Michelle said, introducing them.
"Hi, Ms. Jackson," Tanya said, waving and moving from the kitchen.
"Nice to meet you, dear," Sadie called out with a huge grin on her face. Michelle snorted and shook her head.
"Tanya is my best friend and roommate," Michelle explained.
"Ahh, she seems nice," Sadie said, looking at Michelle, "tell you what. We'll work on your knife skills." Michelle nodded, walked to the refrigerator and pulled out a bag of carrots then walked to the knife block and pulled out a knife.
•◊•◊•◊•◊•◊•◊•◊•◊•◊•
Seven hours had passed and Legates jerked awake covered in sweat. The sound of the birds in the forest made him flinch.
"Don't like the jungle?" Maggs asked, wearing a smirk.
"No," Legates grunted as images of another time in another jungle crawled through his mind.
"I find them to be quite peaceful," Maggs said, looking out the window.
"You've never dug up a bunch of dead bodies, been shot at or rescued two people who were being tortured in one either," Legates grumbled, swinging his feet off the bed.
Leaving the hut, he headed to the bathroom then to fire for a cup of coffee. Legates sat drinking his coffee and staring into the fire when Stires approached from the other side of the fire.
"Shouldn't you be with the other guys?" Stires asked in a condescending tone.
"Nope, they'll do what needs to be done. I needed the sleep, I need this caffeine and I need to eat real food," Legates grunted.
Maggs walked over carrying a sandwich of unidentifiable substance. Legates wolfed down the sandwich and continued to sip his coffee.
"I don't understand why you big thugs aren't going in there and just taking my students back," Stires said, stomping over and flopping down across from Legates. Legates gave Stires a steady, flat stare, devoid of any emotion, across the top of his coffee cup.
"Upidstay, uckerfay," Legates mumbled into his cup.
Maggs barked out a laugh and shook his head. Techie had been teaching him pig latin over the last few months. It amused Maggs to know he could speak the language but no one other than Techie knew. Legates continued to drink his coffee, his mind churning over what he knew and what he'd seen.
After finishing his coffee, Legates walked over to his pack and reloaded everything he needed for the next few days. Picking up his rifle, Legates slipped into the woods again.
•◊•◊•◊•◊•◊•◊•◊•◊•◊•
Michelle stood over the biscuits cooling on the rack and grinned from ear to ear. She had finally gotten the hang of them and it only took two weeks. Now she had to learn about the gravy. Sighing, she sat down at the island in the kitchen with her laptop and began to google recipes that were within her skill range. Between the classes and Sadie, Michelle had become more than a little above average at cooking.
Tanya had been her guinea pig and sometimes she'd gotten lucky other times not so lucky. The biscuits had been a nightmare but after everything was sorted, they rose and acted as Sadie said they would. Chicken Parmesan had been another nightmare, Michelle thought rolling her eyes. But then the potroast had come out very well. The computer beeped and Michelle clicked on the link to open the connection.
"Hey, Michelle. How'd your biscuits come out?" Sadie asked with a knowing smile.
Michelle walked to the rack and plucked a biscuit from the rack. Carrying it back to the computer she held it up then split it in half.
"Very nice," Sadie said, shaking her head in an approving manner.
"So, now we start on the gravy?" Michelle asked, looking expectantly at Sadie.
"Yes, dear. But I have to ask, why biscuits and gravy?" Sadie finally asked the question that had been niggling at her for the last few weeks.
"Josh said I would spoil him by learning to make them," Michelle said, shrugging then taking a bite of her biscuit.
"Oh, honey. We need to talk about this before you make it for him," Sadie said, chuckling behind her hand. Michelle shot her a quizzical look through the computer.
"Michael loves biscuits and gravy but for some reason no one's are as good as mine," Sadie said, chuckling. Michelle's face drooped at Sadie's statement.
"My mother taught all of us to cook the same way, using the same recipe, the same ingredients and the same techniques. Which I also used to teach you and Michael to cook with," Sadie said. Michelle's eyes narrowed and her mouth fell open in surprise.
"Did you just say Josh can cook?" Michelle asked her voice full of stunned surprise.
"Yes, he wanted to be independant and I didn't want him eating those Ramen noodle things you young people eat," Sadie said, shuddering, "so I taught him to cook. Come to think of it, we started when he was young."
Michelle pressed her lips together and bit her tongue. Sadie looked at Michelle's face, put her hand over her mouth and chuckled.
"He didn't tell you he could cook, did he?" Sadie asked, her eyes glistening with tears of laughter.
"Nope," Michelle said, grinding her teeth together. Sadie shook her head and continued to chuckle.
"Well, we just won't tell him who taught you to cook. As I was saying, my mother taught myself and my sister to cook. Yet, when we eat breakfast at Jessica's he tells her that her biscuits and gravy are good but not as good as mine," Sadie said, laughing. Michelle burst into laughter at Sadie's statement.
"You got yourself a mama's boy," Michelle gasped out.
"Yep, he's my boy," Sadie said, nodding.
Michelle shook her head and froze as John became visible in the background. Sadie noticed Michelle's sudden stillness. It was as if she moved she'd be spotted. Glancing over her shoulder, Sadie saw John and sighed. Picking up her iPad, she carried it to the kitchen.
"He pretty much won't come in here. This is MY territory," Sadie said with a twinkle in her eye. Michelle nodded and Sadie started teaching Michelle to make sausage gravy.
•◊•◊•◊•◊•◊•◊•◊•◊•◊•
It was another five days before they saw the men moving women again. The women were being moved from building to building about every five days. So they knew that it would be another five days before they saw the captives again. Getting up, Legates silently moved through the jungle and headed towards the encampment. As he approached the encampment, he saw Stires pacing, yelling and throwing his arms around wildly.
Poor, Maggs, Legates snickered silently. He stepped out into the circle of light emanating from the fire and walked towards the hut. Dropping his items, he headed to the shower. Ten minutes later, he exited the shower and saw that Techie, Goodman, Addison, and Wilson had come out of the woods. They had twenty four hours then they had to be back into position so the others could come out.
Martinez and Maggs sat down and stared at Legates. Blinking, he realized the contacts were dry and gritty. Getting up, he walked to his bag and pulled out the case and solution. After taking out the contacts and dropping them in the solution, he put a few drops of artificial tears in his eyes.
Walking back to the fire, he sat down in a chair and gave a brief outline of the past few days. Maggs cocked his head thoughtfully and stared off into the distance.
"It's as if the village is all an act. The way you describe it-"
"The same people, the same motions, going the same place all the time. I don't think they live in that village," Legates said, catching onto Maggs train of thought.
"So we wait for the guys to come back and figure out a timeline. It's going to be another five days before they move the students again and we have no idea where they'll be going so we need to do this in the next two days," Legates said abruptly. Maggs nodded, stood up and walked to the hut.
"So you are just going to sit here and wait, AGAIN?" Stires bellowed in frustration.
"Look, Dr. Stires, they are not going to harm the students because they know if they do, they'll start a war. The US will come in here and blow the hell out of this entire area and kill everyone. What they're asking for is publicity and they're getting it with the constant news coverage. The students look a little thin but not sick or hurt. So we wait. If they'd been moving them around more, we'd have done this sooner," Martinez said, eyeing Stires with disdain.
Over the next few hours, Dr. Stires watched in astonishment as the elite of the elite of the US Army squatted in a circle, talked in hushed tones and drew in the dirt. Was that the best the US Military had to offer was men drawing in the dirt. Anytime he tried to approach the small circle of men, they fell silent and stared at him until he walked away. After fours hours of planning, the men headed off in different directions, pulled up a piece of ground, tucked their bags under their necks, dropped their hats over their faces and went to sleep.
Stires scowled, stomped to his tent, and growled as he zipped the door up. As Legates was drifting to sleep, he felt sweat trickle down his face. Sitting up, he turned, dug in his bag and pulled out a bandana. He didn't normally pack them but something indicated he should. He wiped the bandana down his forehead but stopped when it reached his nose. Inhaling, he smelled Michelle's perfume all over it.
His mind jumped to the only time he'd used it on her. With a grin, he laid back, draped it over his face, pulled his hat over his face then drifted to sleep wearing a smile. He tensed as he was woken by Perkins coming into the encampment.
"Choke, Choke again. I found my demons were my friends," Perkins sang under his breath.
"Get some sleep, ass monkey," Legates grunted from under his hat.
Perkins flumped down next to Legates and immediately began to snore. Legates pulled his hat off his face then the bandana. Folding the bandana carefully, he tucked it in his bag. Getting up, he ambled to the bathroom then took a shower. Coming back out, he walked to the kitchen area of the camp and started the coffee.
Maggs came out of the tent, poured himself a cup of coffee then walked over to where the chairs had been set up. Legates followed him and sat down, clutching his coffee cup.
"We going to get this done?" Maggs asked, looking into his cup.
"We always have. I don't know about ya'll but us, yeah we'll get it done," Legates said, sipping his coffee. Maggs grunted and glanced at Legates.
"You're pushing pretty hard," Maggs noted.
"Those students need to be got out of there asap," Legates grunted.
"They seem to look okay according to your guys," Maggs said.
"Looking okay and being okay are two different things," Legates grimaced.
Maggs nodded in understanding. The rest of the men ambled into the camp from the woods one by one. When everyone was back and settled into sleep. Legates stood up, walked to his pack, pulled out his notebook and wrote another letter. Maggs watched Legates writing and raised an eyebrow.
"He's writing letters to his giiirrrlllllll frieeennnnddd," Techie said, clasping his hands under his chin and fluttering his eyelashes.
"You're just jealous I'm not writing to you anymore," Legates muttered as he continued to write. Techine snorted and sat down next to Legates.
"He admitted he's in love," Techie said, smirking towards Maggs.
"Awww, Legates is in loooveee," Maggs crooned.
"Jealousy is an ugly thing, Maggs," Legates muttered, still writing.
"How many pages have you written?" Maggs asked, leaning towards Legates.
"Enough," Legates said, finishing his letter and flipping it closed. Maggs snickered and shook his head.
"I can't believe you...you of all people are in love. That's just funny," Maggs said, smirking.
Legates sat back and let a slow happy grin spread across his face. His eyes glazed over and Techie snorted. Leaning forward, Techie snapped his fingers in front of Legates eyes.
"If you let him, he'll spend hours in his happy place," Techie said, snickering.
"Keep it up and I'll have Michelle take Andrea to Secret Pleasures Boutique. I saw they were having a blowjob class," Legates said, his grin growing even wider. Techie's mouth spread into a leer as he considered several ways to keep it up.
"Come on, Legates. I nearly had a heart attack when she was here for Christmas. Edible body paint, hands free vibrators that kept her going and cumming and …" Techie trailed off. Maggs guffawed in laughter at Techie's statement.
"Oh don't laugh, Maggs. Michelle knows Jackie, you're up to your eyeballs in it too. Just you wait," Legates promised with a smile, "When is Andrea moving anyway, Techie?"
•◊•◊•◊•◊•◊•◊•◊•◊•◊•
Andrea stood in front of her house, hands on her hips, waiting for the tractor trailer that carried her household items. She stood wondering how the hell she was going to get the couch, freezer and all that food into her house with Techie and his unit gone.
She let out a sigh of frustration and almost stomped her foot in frustration. Wiping her hand down her face, she didn't see the truck pull up next to the curb behind her. She turned at the sound of car doors opening and smiled as Michelle, Dwayne, Tanya, and Jefferson got out of a car. They walked up and put their hands on their hips, mimicking her position and looked at the house.
"You going to leave it that color?" Tanya asked, trying not to snicker at the pastel blue color on the outside.
"For now. I just put myself into huge debt to buy the fucking thing," Andrea sighed.
Michelle turned at the sound of a large truck coming up the road. She grimaced at the two large pods on the back of the truck. The truck pulled to a stop and Andrea walked over to the man who had jumped down from the passenger's seat of the truck. An hour later, the pods were in the driveway and Andrea was unlocking them. She slid the doors open and Dwayne groaned at the sight of the furniture.
"Really? Seriously? Marble topped dressers?" He said in a fake annoyed tone. Andrea's eyebrow rose as she looked at him.
"You can always leave," she told him in a snarky tone.
"I was teasing, Andrea, jeez," he mumbled.
Jefferson laughed and smacked Dwayne on the back. Andrea looked over at Michelle standing near the door to the house.
"Michelle, what are you doing?" Andrea asked in amazement as she watched Michelle set up a video camera.
"We're taping it so you can rub it in Techie's face that some other man touched your bed," Michelle said in a sing song voice.
Andrea stifled her chuckle and shook her head. With a grunt, she hefted a box and headed towards the front door. Six hours later the five of them sat on the floor in what would be the living room eating dinner. The larger furniture was still in the pods but all of the boxes and most of the furniture had been brought in.
"I'm still a little confused as to how I got roped into this," Jefferson said, taking a bite of his pizza. Andrea leaned back on her hands and looked over at Michelle.
"Well, if you didn't help then I'd have Josh or one of the guys teach me to drive stick. If I drive stick who exactly do you think Josh would leave his car with? You or me?" Michelle asked, pulling a mushroom off her pizza and popping it into her mouth.
"Oh yeah," Jefferson grumbled, "but he'd never leave his Mustang with you." Jefferson smirked at her thinking he'd won that argument. Michelle moved around and pulled a set of keys out of her pocket and shook them at him.
"Are you sure about that? I mean he did leave me his truck. And as I understand it, not just anyone can drive his truck," Michelle pointed out.
"Busted," Andrea said, laughing, "Justin has been bitching about not getting to drive that thing for YEARS. Then Legates let him drive it after the Christmas Ball and he was like a kid in a candy store."
"And how long has he known Techie? Since basic I believe," Michelle said, putting a long string of cheese into her mouth. Andrea shook her head and laughed.
Through the years she had gotten to know some of the women that dated the men in Techie's unit. Nikki who was engaged to Brown, she had known Melissa but Oaks sent her packing after the incident at the mansion. But of all the women none had been adopted into the unit like Michelle had been. The men respected Andrea, they were nice to her but she wasn't one of the guys. She could now see why Michelle was. Leaning forward, Andrea crossed her legs, propped her face in her hand and wondered where Techie was at that particular moment.
•◊•◊•◊•◊•◊•◊•◊•◊•◊•
Techie lay in on the ground, Legates only a few feet away. Both staring through their scopes to get a better view. They watched the woman slowly make her way into a building on the far side of the village. It was the same woman that had walked the same path for the last two weeks.
She entered a hut six huts down from the one they had seen the students being led into. The huts surrounding the hut with the students remained dark and silent. The streets were empty and would be for the next five and a half minutes. The two men got to their feet and quietly made their way to the door of the building where the students were being held.
As they approached the door, Legates mouthed a curse. There was a padlock on the door. Slinging his weapon up on his back, he reached down into his pants pocket. Pulling out his kit, he knelt in front of the door. The popping of the lock echoed around the quiet village making Legates glance around. He saw that both units were behind him and he stood up.
Unslinging his weapon, he pushed the door open and swept the room. The room was the size of the entire hut on the inside and completely empty. No beds, no tables, no chairs, no students. Legates walked into the room and the rest followed him in. He scanned the room and saw nothing. He mouthed another curse and scanned more slowly this time. Goodman walked over to the door and closed it, making sure that the next person who would walk by wouldn't immediately notice the door.
Maggs bent down and laid his ear on the floor. Legates' eyebrows rose into his hairline. He watched as Maggs lightly tapped on the floor, disturbing the covering of dirt and uncovering wood. Straightening up onto his knees, Maggs looked at Legates and pointed to the floor. Rolling his eyes, Legates began scuffing his feet on the floor looking for the hatch. The other began to do the same.
Legates wanted to growl in frustration when they located two loops but the piece was so heavy they couldn't lift it. Glancing up he noticed a rope in the rafters of the hut. He followed the rope to the edge of the ceiling. Walking over to the edge of the hut, he reached up and untied the rope. It fell with a slithering noise between Maggs and Techie.
They turned and looked at Legates who was only visible by the lighter color of his teeth which were visible because of his wide grin. After threading the rope through the loops, Maggs looked over at Legates. Grabbing the rope, Legates began to pull. His eyes widened at the weight of the piece of floor. With a grinding noise the lid came out of the floor. The men pressed their mouths together at the sight of the two foot thick piece of stone.
Maggs swung the lid to the left and Legates lowered it to the floor. Maggs pointed to Legates and Addison then circled around the hut. Legates and Addison nodded then crouched down and settled into wait as the others dropped down the hole. Legates heard them moving around below them then he heard a low curse.
Rolling his eyes, Legates smirked at Addison who shook his head. Romero had a big mouth even when in the field. Legates cocked his head and heard several scraping noises then saw hands on the edge of the hole. Maggs head appeared as he pulled himself up from the hole. Turning, still in a crouched position, he reached down.
Legates watched as person after person was pulled up from the hole. Where had they come from? The captors had only moved the five students and there were three times that many coming out of the hole. When everyone was out of the hole, Maggs looked down and pulled out his phone. Techie scowled and Maggs held up his finger to keep him quiet. A few moments later they were watching through a crack in the door for the next pause in village traffic. Glancing down at his watch, Legates saw it was within the next few minutes.
•◊•◊•◊•◊•◊•◊•◊•◊•◊•
Michelle looked down at her watch and mentally grumbled. She and her lab partner had finished their labs and her day was almost finished.
"So when is your boyfriend coming home," her lab partner asked in a friendly tone. Michelle tried not to scowl and bite people's heads off when they asked this question.
"I don't know," Michelle said, shrugging.
"How long has he been gone?" She asked, her mouth gaping slightly at Michelle's previous answer.
"A little over four weeks," Michelle murmured. Four weeks, five days, twelve hours and thirty two minutes, she mentally screamed.
•◊•◊•◊•◊•◊•◊•◊•◊•◊•
Four hours, Legates mentally screamed. They had been sitting in this debriefing for four hours. How many times were they going to have to tell these people what had happened. After they hustled the captives out of the hut, into the woods and back to the encampment, they had waited.
The captives showered and the students shared their clothes with the other captives then they ate. Legates unit patrolled even though they were exhausted. Romero bitched about having to fly out from California for a three hour rescue mission. Maggs bit his tongue and wondered sometimes how the hell that little twerp had become a Green Beret.
They heard the low hum of the helicopter and had everyone gather their personal belongings. Stires yelled about the information and equipment. Martinez said he could come back with military escort to get it. A quick flight into Rio and a nineteen hour flight to California left them sitting here now.
"Okay, gentlemen, we are done here. Flights have been arranged for you to go home tomorrow. You've been given a week of leave effective immediately," the lieutenant said, standing up. Legates jumped to his feet and was out the door in a flash.
"Where's he going?" Jones asked his face awash with confusion at Legates abrupt departure.
"My guess, to book the first ticket out of here and back to DC," Maggs said, smirking.
The men filtered out of the room as Legates went back to their barracks and began to pack.
A/N: He's headed home. YAY! So tomorrow will be...plane hopping, suspicious eyes, warbling whistle, home, tall man, doors, a shave, reminders, sneaky sniper moves, ornery look, pork chops, study group, Simpsons, weird guy in her bed, a book, hole up, crap in a can, straightforward creatures, idiosyncrasies, drama, crumbs, and issues with pictures.
A/N2: So there's only three more chapters left. I'm working on both sequels and hopefully it won't take too long.
Please leave a review they help me write faster =D