Chapter 39

"How much further? Bam Bam is way heavier than he looks." Sonny pipped up as the team huffed back towards the saviour line.

"Can't be too much further; it feels like we have been hiking for hours." Trent laughed back. "Damn, this kid is heavy."

"Pure muscle. It has to be. I don't think I've seen Clay eat a fry without hitting the gym." Jason joked as he looked down at the blonde SEAL passed out on the litter, twitching softly.

"Except for when he eats tacos. That boy can scarf down ten in one sitting and not even blink an eye." Ray called out from the back of the line as he shook his head in laughter.

The team went quiet as they recalled Ray's comment and noted how often this taco buffet had been an occurrence when they returned from challenging missions. That was his go-to coping, shower, tacos with one of the guys, usually Sonny, Jason and Liz, and then meeting the rest of the team at the Bulkhead to drown their thoughts in beers. It was pretty scary how many tacos Clay could eat and not even have the idea of hitting the gym cross his mind, but throw in pizza or burgers, and you can almost guarantee to find him in the bases gym early the following day. No, Clay was not on a diet or cared about his physique, but he loved to work out and live on that adrenaline high, and the team felt that he used the 'bad food' as an excuse.

Everyone got into a comfortable chatter as they took each step towards the imaginary line to take a break and then sneak back towards their plane and get out of there and leave this suicide mission behind. But just as their senses muffled with chatter, knowing they had their boy and all their carried stress was melting off, Cerb stiffened and came to an abrupt halt. Causing Brock and Liz to trip over each other as they froze and lowered onto one knee to scope their surroundings. The rest of the team carrying the litter sank to their knees to draw up their weapons and scan the sides of their trail as Ray held up the back of the line.

One sharp, abrupt bark and the team winced and scattered towards the trees for coverage as bullets started to fly towards them.

"Where the hell did these guys come from?" Sonny hollered as he dipped his head down, dodging bark that flew off from a bullet skimming the tree a few feet above him.

"They came from the west; I think they were hunting for their missing man and Clay. From their pause, I think we caught them off guard before firing." Ray called out as he bent down, trying to help Jason and Balockburn pull Clay's litter further back and tuck it behind some rocks and tree roots.

Jason and Blackburn jumped forward with the cover from Liz and Brock to their right as Cerb ran towards Ray to help guard Clay from behind. Bullets were whizzing around their heads and started to come from two directions.

"They are splitting," Liz called out as she scanned the trees ahead of them through her scope, tracking every movement.

"3, 4 and 5, you take the right and keep them back. 2, can you cover them?" Jason called out

"1 I got them all hunkered down behind that pack of trees to your two o'clock," Ray called out as he scoped the area towards his right as he laid down beside Clay to get cover behind a bunch of roots and set up his rifle. "I can start to pick a few off, Son; you got the guys to the left of the trees?"

"Copy, Brock, let's move," Sonny called towards Ray as he nodded to Brock beside him behind the next tree.

"Now," Ray yelled as he opened fire along the whole line of soldiers to create a cover for 3 and 5 to move towards the trees flanking their left. 4 knelt and joined Ray in opening fire for coverage. "Trent, you are with me on the right."

With a sharp nod, Trent looked over towards Sonny and Brock, and once he saw they were settled, he converged with Ray to distract the Russians from firing upon him, opening up as many shots and angles for Ray to start to take them out.

"8 follow me; we are going after the group on the left," Jason called towards Liz as he saw her focus on the group still moving along the left, trying to flank them and get to Clay. The team did not know if they wanted Clay or just the man they saw injured and covered, not sure if it was one of their own as both men along the river were dressed in black, had the same body build and had dirty blonde hair.

Jason nodded at Blackburn as they crouched down and started towards the higher ground along a set of rocks to cut off the Russians heading left as Liz hurried behind them, catching up.

As the soldiers were too focused on the firing from the rest of the team, the three took advantage of their unknown position to set up an ambush, cut them off, and take them out before they even knew what hit them. All three set up along the ridges of the rocks and set up their rifles; they all focused on counting how many soldiers they needed to take out before their position was known.

Liz having the only accurate sniper rifle, called out her targets, aiming for the ones further away, allowing Jason and Blackburn to take out the front few. They were not deemed snipers but were not poor shots in a makeshift sniper role. They did not become leaders for nothing. The title did not matter when they could do it all, but they always requested allocated snipers on the team. Everyone had their purpose on Bravo, which made them a well-oiled machine, and everyone could dabble in each role as needed. But that being said, Jason and Blackburn were nowhere near as good as Ray, their main sniper and no one even compared to the wonder twins. Yes, they were backup snipers if they were even given that role to other teams, but that was more for their safety, as Bravo did not do well with anyone trying to poach their members. And, well, everyone wanted a sniper and especially one that held records. The wonder twins were never safe on and off the field.

"On three. Everyone call out their marks." Jason whispered as Liz and Blackburn noted their attended targets.

"One… Two… Three."

Within seconds the left side of the tree line lit up as the rifles shot off simultaneously, dropping their enemy mid-step.

"Right side clear," Trent called out as he scanned the area behind Sonny and Brock.

"Left side clear," Blackburn noted as Jason surveyed the rest of his team, and Liz took one more scan around them.

"Ray? Is the back clear?"

"Yeah, we are good here. No one…" Ray called out as he was cut off by the sound of branches breaking behind him and Cerb standing up with his heckles raised and teeth bared.

Before Ray even could inform the team what he heard, a body came slamming into him as another lunged towards Clay with Cerb hot on his heels.

The rest of the team had fanned out and were far enough away not to be there right away for backup as Ray rolled around on the ground with the man, fighting for dominance. Cerb had grasped the other man's arm dragging him down and latching on the arm holding the handgun. As Cerb pulled and lashed around, the man screamed and got a few shots off as his arm flailed around.

"RAY!" Sonny yelled as he barreled towards them, rifle up, but unable to take the shot as Ray was moving too much, intertwined with the man trying to take his life.

"Liz, do you have a shot?" Jason asked from the left as Liz stopped running back to pop herself down on her knee and peer into her scope.

"Negative. Ray and Cerb are in the way."

More bullets rang out as the team froze, heard a grunt, and then silence—Eerie silence. And bodies slumped over on top of each other and lying underneath Cerb.

As the team reached the scene, they all took in what they said and inhaled, noting blood. Lots of blood.

Blackburn and Liz took up posts along the team, scoping out for any danger.

"Ray?" Jason called as he and Sonny lunged towards the pile of bodies and ripped the body of the Russian off their brother, who was frozen, looking up at them but not blinking.

Where was all the blood coming from on his arms and the ground?

Brock called Cerb over to him as he knelt and started his once over on the hair missile to find the source of the bleeding. There were too many shots.

"Cerbs, ok. It's not his blood. Brock called out, and he and Trent went over to Clay to make sure he was still with them and had no new injuries being a bullet magnet.

"Ray, tell me where your hit," Sonny called out, snapping his fingers in front of Ray's face as they noted he was breathing, just seemed to be out of it. In shock, maybe? "RAY."

"What? Oh yeah, I'm fine; it's not my blood." Ray managed to get out as his eyes slowly came back into focus on Sonny and Jason leaning over him. "Got a good hit to the head, but I'm ok." Ray started lifting himself up with Jason's help and then sharply focused on the man beside him. "Clay? CLAY! Is he ok?"

"Tent?"

"Yeah, he's fine. He was awake moments ago, but he looks ok. Im checking his vitals now." Trent huffed out as he tried to focus on accessing Clay's body, a little scared of what he may find. Clay was breathing fast with a fast pulse but was slowly being pulled under into unconsciousness.

"He saved me," Ray mumbled as he looked at Jason as his team leader was fussing with the side of his head, trying to bandage the head wound from being slammed into the ground.

"What?"

"Clay. He must have grabbed my gun when it fell out of my hands in the scuffle. Jase crawled over and risked everything to help me. He got this guy and then took out Cerbs chew toy. He somehow managed to crawl up and save my ass because I was not paying attention. Trent, please tell me he's ok, and he did not rip anything open." Ray begged as he tried to get the words out and process his guilt. He was supposed to be watching Clay, and he was the one watching his six. Damn, if the kid was not loyal to a fault.

"Doesn't look like he ripped anything open, but his pulse is too fast and shallow for my liking," Trent informed the team as he focused on Ray. "He will be ok."

"How long till we can get him moving?" Jason asked Trent as he scanned over Cerb himself and the rest of his team for any hidden injuries. "I think Ray has a concussion but is mobile. Brock, can you get him? Liz, you're on the back."

"Two mikes to change his IV and more antibiotics and dressings, and we will be good to go."

"Copy. Everyone stay sharp." Jason ordered as he got up and made his way to check in with Blackburn on their time window and if he had any note from Davis.

"Jase, he's ready but burning up again. We need to get out of her now." Trent barked out, frustrated that Clay would not cooperate. Was he surprised tho? This kid never does what he's told.

"Let's move out. Double time."