The sound of and explosion above ground shook the walls inside Sunflower. General Rey, who was sitting in the War Room pulled up any cameras to the outside to see what was happening. The view he got was unclear and he put a call out to the guards outside but go no response. Dash who was standing next to Rey also tried to call the outer guards for information. The response back was static filled.
"We're under attack!" the guard responded.
"Can you confirm enemy or friendly?" Dash asked.
"Enemy! Enemy!"
General Rey took over the transmission. "Return fire! Reinforcements are on the way." Rey snapped off the radio link. He turned to Dash. "Goddamn them!"
"Who?"
Rey's mouth turned a sly smile. "The Red Shadows."
Dash shook his head in disbelief.
"They are here. In this building, Duke is with them. Find them."
Dash pulled his side arm out of its holster and nodded an affirmative to the General.
When Dash left the room Rey turned to a solider at the panel and said quietly, "It's time. On my call."
The solider got up from the panel and assembled with four others and left the communications room, down the hall to the room the president was being held.
Alison grabbed on to Callum to steady herself as the base shook once again. They were walking down the halls to try and find where the president was being held. Duke was on the other side of the base with Zach trying to do the same. Destro's arrival had proved to be a good distraction. Most the troops inside had no real idea as to what was going on and even though the two had been spotted no one had the time or knew to apprehend them. Alison's com lit up.
"What?" She said into the mic.
"Where are you?" Conrad's voice came through.
"Corridor B. There's lots of confusion down here. Any luck on your end?"
"Corridor D is clear. Too clear."
Alison closed her eyes as she visually imagined walking down the corridor. She opened her eyes and shook her head. "It's mostly storage. We never did much with it."
Callum pulled her into a doorway and pushed her against the wall. She muted her com as five of Rey's troops walked past. "Something is going down."
"I'm sending Zach over." Conrad said. Zach nodded at him and backtracked down the corridor to Alison's location.
Conrad cautiously walked through the rest of the corridor. He stopped to look in an open room. When he turned his head back, he saw Dash storming toward him. Conrad didn't take a step back, he steeled himself where he stood.
"You son-of-a-bitch!" Dash yelled as he ran towards Conrad. Dash tried to punch Conrad, but Conrad deflected his fist.
"Dash…"
Dash wasn't about to listen to Conrad. "What the fuck? Trust you? I was supposed to trust you?" He threw another punch. This time it hit its mark.
"You got it wrong, man. You got it all wrong."
"The fuck I do. What are you up to?"
Conrad's com sounded off. "Duke! We need you over here." Alison said. "We found him."
Dash took a step back. He knew that voice; he would know that voice anywhere. He was in disbelief.
"Duke!" Alison's voice pleaded. "Duke come in!"
Dash took a deep breath and grabbed Conrad by the neck of his shirt and threw him up against the wall. "I'm gonna kill you! "You fucking bastard! You knew all this time!" Dash pulled Conrad away from the wall and slammed him back against it. "Where is she? Where is she?"
"Dash…" Conrad tried to get free of Dash.
"Tell me!"
"Let go of me…let go of me," Conrad said a bit breathlessly. "And I will."
Reluctantly, Dash let go of Conrad. Conrad's com sounded yet again.
"Duke! Where are you?"
"I'm on my way, Lady Jaye." Conrad turned to Dash. "Make your choice. Us or him."
Dash stood still, unsure of which path to go down. He looked down the hall in the direction he came.
"We don't have time, Dash. It's us or him. I did not betray you. It's all gonna come out in the wash. Make your choice."
The sound of gunfire erupted from the adjoining hall. Conrad turned away from Dash and started down the hall. "Your choice?"
Dash turned and started down the hall in the opposite direction.
Conrad made is way back to corridor B. His heart was a little heavy knowing that Dash had made the wrong choice, but there was no time for mourning over the loss of a friend. Alison and Callum were hunkered down in a doorway. In the far end of the corridor, there were a group of Rey's men standing near the doorway to an additional conference room with members of the secret service. Conrad had them hold still, he wanted to observe the situation before taking action. There were three of them, and countless more of Rey's troops. The odds right now were stacked against them. Conrad made a call into the Rock. They were going to need more backup then Destro could provide. After confirmation arrived that back up was on the way, Conrad turned to Callum.
"Can you fly anything?" He asked.
Callum chuckled. "Of course I can. That is my unit outside, I'm sure I can find something to get up in the air."
"Good. I want you to go down the hall and up through the emergency hatch. Find a chopper or something that will hold us. Commandeer one of Rey's if you have to. Take Alison's comm."
Callum hesitated. "I can't…"
"I'll be fine, Callum." Alison put her hand on his arm. "Conrad is here."
"You better be." He turned to go down the hall.
The attack above ground had become more intense. Flint was trying his best to keep things inside Sunflower under control, but he was quickly realizing that without General Rey he had no idea of which troops he had at his disposal. He went to find General Rey. Flint made his way through the maze of hallways past the room where the President was being held. He turned yet another corner his eyes caught Duke pushing a brown-haired female towards the emergency ladder to the outdoors.
Dash stormed back into the war room. The entire base was in chaos while General Rey sat in a chair as cool as a cucumber. Dash's instincts told him to take over the operation, get control of the situation, but he knew better than to try to relieve Rey of his command. He had never felt so conflicted. The entire last year of his life was nothing but a lie. Did he really trust General Rey? Did he really trust Conrad? Both of them had led him to believe that his wife was dead, Rey telling him every chance he could, Conrad not saying anything at all. Not once. Was Conrad the traitor Rey made him out to be? He was CIA after all. Was Alison really part of the Red Shadows, a mastermind behind the demise of GI Joe, the deaths of her colleagues and friends? He thought back to the last time he talked to her. He remembered her anguish over losing fellow JOES, her anger over General Rey. His heart told him the truth. Now it may be too late.
"Flint!" General Rey snapped. "What are you daydreaming about over there?"
Dash was through with the harassment. "I wasn't daydreaming, Sir. I was trying to figure out what the hell is going on here."
"Well, you are about to find out." Rey stood up and gestured for Dash to follow him down the hall. "Flint, I'm pleased that you decided to join us, unlike Duke," he paused, "and your wife, who turned their backs on their country. By the way, did you find them yet?"
"No sir, I have not." He lied.
"No matter," Rey waved his hand in the air, "there are more important things to deal with right now. Follow me."
The two walked to corridor B. General Rey stopped in front of the conference room. A posted guard opened the door and Rey walked in. He came back out with the President. The three walked a few steps down, towards where Alison and Conrad were staked out. General Rey turned to face Dash. "I need you to go outside, get a helo ready for us. I want you to fly."
Dash noted the concerned look on the president's face. General Rey dismissed it.
"Yes, Sir." Dash walked back towards the War room to the exit.
Conrad got a message to Callum that they were making their way topside and to be ready. Callum had a chopper secured, but didn't know how long he had before he could hold it.
Conrad looked over to Alison who was still looking down the hall after Dash's retreating form.
"You okay?" he asked.
She didn't answer him right away. "Yeah," she said quietly. "Yeah, I'm okay."
"He'll be fine. He'll come around. He's had all the information he needs…" Before Conrad could finish the sound of multiple gunshots filled the hallway.
"Oh Shit!" Alison yelled as both she and Conrad hit the ground.
"What the hell just happened?" He asked.
Alison saw General Rey quickly leading the president down the hall in the opposite direction. The group of his troops was standing in the open doorway to the conference room, weapons pointed in. It was obvious that the secret service agents had been killed.
"Rey is leaving. We need to follow him." Conrad told her. "Zach," he called into his comm. "Zach where are you? We need to evac now!"
"I'm holding just outside of the War Room. I'll stay until reinforcements from the Rock come." Zach answered back.
"The hell you will, get over here now!"
"I can't get through, the way it blocked."
"Damn it!" Conrad cursed. "Go out the main doors then." He snapped. Meet us at the chopper."
"Duke, how is he going to know which chopper we're in?" Alison asked.
Conrad was stone faced. "Why aren't you up that emergency hatch?"
Dash was halfway back to the war room when he heard the gunshots. He turned around and saw Rey with the president coming towards him. The hallway was even more chaotic that before and he could have sworn that he saw the posted guards shooting into the conference room.
"We need that helo now, Flint." Rey called out to him.
No matter what the real truth was, Dash knew with every ounce of his being that something wasn't right. His self appointed orders were to protect the president. Even if that meant that he would have to go along with what General Rey had planned right to the very end.