Confusion
Forward Operating Base – Tactical Operations Center
"We will not abort this mission!" Carlson exclaimed. "One man for Nazeri is an acceptable price. Besides if he is a little sick, he should be able to run still. Don't they train for stuff like this?"
Mandy glared at her peer. She had worked with him one or two times before, but never realized he was this ruthless and uncaring. Words failed her at the moment. Davis grabbed her attention in the next instant.
"Bravo One, be advised, incoming. Six approaching the back of the building."
Mandy and Eric both stared at the monitor showing six, red heat signatures closing in on their team's position.
Carlson frowned. Dammit, they showed up too.
Inside Building Near Nazeri Residence
"Copy," Jason said. He turned to the others. "Trent, stay here with Spenser. The rest of you, we have unwanted company. Let's move." He hurried from the room heading down the stairs. This op just went from bad to worse.
Clay pushed up, resting against the wall, feeling like shit, his back on fire but peered at Trent. "Shoot me some morphine and hand me my weapon. You go with them. I can take care of myself."
"Not countering Boss' orders. I'm staying here." However, he did pull out the injector and gave Clay a partial dose of morphine to ease the kid's pain. "Only taking the edge off, don't want you out completely. How long have you been feeling like crap?"
The drug began to take effect, and Clay answered, "Had a headache when I boarded, the reason I crawled into the hammock after take-off. Got better and worse. Didn't feel this bad until we began trekking here."
"Should've said something on the plane," Trent admonished.
"Tried. Jason didn't want to listen." Clay's head lolled to the side.
Trent nodded and didn't ask more. Spenser spoke the truth. Jason had not let Clay get a word in edgewise on the flight. He stood and moved to the door, ready to cover Clay's six. The kid is in no condition to be handling a gun.
Downstairs, the four men and Cerberus prepared for the incoming hostiles as Jason instructed in a quiet voice, "We allow them to enter and take them down inside, quiet-like, so we don't give away our position."
Outside Building Near Nazeri Residence
Using hand signals, Blaze communicated with this unit, primed to enter and clear the location they would use to conceal themselves until they took out their target. Intel finally came down the pike identifying one of the men on his and Winds' personal hit list.
One of the animals responsible for torturing Blondie had shifted to the Hamood Network and worked for Sina Nazeri. This mission would net two things, a dead Yel Malik and a live Sina Nazeri who they would turn over to the US forces per an agreement Colonel Sutton worked out with a US counterpart.
Though this should be a joint mission, the CIA representative Sutton was in contact with became wishy-washy on whether his men could go per their timetable and decided to wait until next month's visit. Not wanting to allow this opportunity to pass them by, Sutton upped his unit at a moment's notice. They planned a strategy while in route and did a HALO jump instead of landing in Kandahar and then arranging transportation.
Winds opened the door and all six men slipped inside.
Inside Building Near Nazeri Residence
Four U.S. SEALs and one dog surrounded six Canadian JTF2 soldiers. Had any of them been trigger-happy a terrible incident would've occurred, but both teams being well-trained they ended up with guns pointing at each other, astonished as they peered at an allied force.
Jason said, "What the fuck?" as Blaze said, "What the hell?" when the two leaders faced one another.
The gagged and bound terrorist on the floor stared at them.
"Who the hell are you and why the hell are you in our AO?" Jason demanded.
"Could ask the same questions," Blaze responded as he lowered his weapon. "Didn't think the U.S. was sending a team to deal with Nazeri. Leastwise, that is the intel I have."
"You're here for Nazeri?" Ray asked as he took his cue from Jason who moved his gun off of the other soldier.
Winds noted 2B9 on the arm patch and realized the man speaking was second in command like him. "Yeah, and another bastard, though he won't be leaving here alive like Nazeri." He clenched his left palm which contained the thin white scar from his blood oath with Blaze to seek justice for Blondie.
Jason took control of the conversation. Well, at least for his men, as he spoke with the leader of the Canadian unit, a Captain Blain who preferred to be called Blaze. The two men shared details, and it became clear something smelled fishy.
Pressing his coms button, Jason said, "TOC, Bravo One. Hostiles turned out to be friendlies … Canadians. They are here for Nazeri too. We may be able to proceed with the mission after all, but there is some apparent miscommunication which needs to be sorted out." He relayed the information gleaned from Blaze.
"Copy," Blackburn said as he pinned his glare on Carlson. "Once you work out a plan, I'll make contact with Sutton, and we will coordinate from here."
Jason responded, "Copy."
Forward Operating Base – Tactical Operations Center
Davis made a call to the Canadian operations center and connected Blackburn to a Colonel Sutton. Then she sat back and watched as the lieutenant commander dealt with Sutton and Mandy went after Carlson.
"Why in the world would you tell them we would be waiting until next month?" Mandy demanded as she rounded on Carlson. "Are you that much of a glory hog you would risk the lives of all those men? Had someone opened fire, they could all be dead, and we would miss out on grabbing Nazeri!"
Carlson found himself backed into a corner as Ellis harangued him. He had nothing he could counter her accusations with because she nailed his motivations. He wanted to reap the rewards of being the one to bring in Nazeri, and they didn't need the Canadian team to do that.
Inside Building Near Nazeri Residence
Blaze sent Russ, his sniper to the rooftop of the building to take up overwatch and left Angus and Hal on the first floor as he, Winds, and Duncan went to the second floor once he learned one of the American's had been wounded and was ill.
Jason led the way into the room and said, "Clay's over there."
Shucking his pack, Duncan moved forward to the injured man. He took a knee and said, "My name is Duncan, and I'm a trained medic."
Trent moved to Clay, not liking someone he didn't know taking care of his teammate. "I'm a medic too. What can you do for him I haven't?"
Duncan stopped his visual assessment to turn to the other soldier. "No offense but according to your CO your main role is a shooter, and your training is first aid compared to mine. My primary role is medic and secondary I'm a shooter."
"Let him take a look, Trent," Jason ordered. He laced his hands on top of his head and stood observing.
"What symptoms are you experiencing besides nausea and fever?" Duncan asked.
His eyes opening a crack, Clay peered at the unknown man. Things appeared hazy and unreal as he tried to focus.
When Clay didn't answer, Jason moved in on the opposite of Clay and knelt next to him. He recognized he owned a part of Clay's current condition. His voice came out softer than it ever had when speaking to the rookie, "Spenser, talk to him. What are your symptoms?"
Turning his head, Clay reached out, wondering if he imagined this strange soft-spoken CO. Touching a solid mass, his face screwed up in confusion. "Real?"
"Yeah, I'm real. Not hallucinating."
Winds' snicker, earned him glares from Brock and Sonny. He put up his hands, palms out. "Whoa, I'm not laughing at him. He only reminds me of someone else."
Blaze smiled. "Blondie."
Sonny raised a brow. "Blondie? What kind of name is that?"
"An uninspired one, but we suck at naming. Hence, we gave up the practice. Blondie had terrible reactions to morphine and experienced some weird-assed hallucinations. The kid kept us on our toes for six years."
"Six? Did he …" Sonny didn't finish the question if he died, realizing that would be too personal and he really didn't want to know.
Blaze supplied an answer anyway, "He's with the Toronto Police Tactical Response Force now. Better place for him."
Clay gripped Jason's sleeve and twisted as a sharp pain stabbed his back overriding the minimal dose of painkillers.
"Easy," Jason moved closer to offer more support. Over the next ten minutes, with a lot of prompting from Jason, Clay described his symptoms which were not visible.
Duncan sat back on his heels and rubbed his chin with his index finger and thumb as he considered everything. "I'm not a doctor, but given what he's told me, I'm guessing kidney infection … especially since it came on suddenly, and the location of the initial pain in his back along with the vomiting, uncontrollable shivering, and fever.
"So what are we going to do, Jace? Hot exfil with Clay in this shape is a no go," Ray said. Though he didn't relish handing over the op to the Canadians or aborting it all together.
Blaze suggested, "How about Duncan and Hal on my team take him to the exfil location under darkness? We can rig explosive on Nazeri's house tonight too. My guys will take out Yel Malik while you guys snatch Nazeri. We will provide cover for you as you move Nazeri out, then set off the explosives as a diversion and exfil ourselves."
Sonny snorted. "And here I thought Canadians were all friendly."
Winds eyed the man, liking what he saw, someone not afraid to speak his mind. "Depends. Piss us off and were as bloodthirsty as Americans. And Yel Malik is one to those who made it to the top of my kill list."
"What did he do, kiss your mother?" Sonny joked.
"Tortured Blondie for three months, before we rescued the kid," Blaze said flatly.
Sonny drew in a breath. He recalled rumors several years ago of a Canadian Special Forces soldier who survived months in the hands of terrorists.
Jason considered the plan but was not comfortable leaving Clay in their hands alone. Spenser was his responsibility. "I agree, but your medic and Sonny will be the ones to take Clay."
Blaze nodded, fully understanding Hayes decision. He wouldn't just hand off one of his men to another unit either. He cringed as the young soldier began retching.
As Jason stood and the men made plans, Sonny moved in and held Clay as he continued to dry-heave. He was glad Jason assigned him to watch over Clay … something about this rookie got under his skin and made him act as a protective older brother.
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AN: I promise more Clay whump in the next chapter. I also couldn't resist including my OCs from my published books and FP FF stories, seemed a good fit to have them interacting with SEAL Team. The rest of the story will center around SEAL Team though.