Chapter 71: Battle Of The Mountain
The black and white live feed from the drone showed the layout of the runway. Today's target was special.
According to information the Lion apparently called in a couple packs of hyenas for backup and was also looking for a way out of the country. While he couldn't make the trip to greet his new soldiers, it might make all the difference for him but let's say if some problems were to arise, like say if the hyenas ran into an unexpected problem while disembarking in this country?
In the coming moments, the prey will face the predator that's been hunting the Lion.
Two groups of men sneak through the perimeter.
"Red team approaching, standing by for orders over" the male voice whispered "Shield 3-8 this is Sword 2-6 over".
"Go ahead 2-6" Shield responds "We have enemy forces disembarking the aircraft. Waiting for Red team to engage over".
"Red team, permission to engage is granted over" Shield gives the go ahead "Roger that" Red responds.
The visual switches to Red team. The first casualties in this operation would be two guards patrolling the perimeter. Two Red team members come up with knives and quickly cut their throats. "Sword 2-6 engaging enemy over" Sword replies "Roger that Sword".
A hellfire strikes the cargo plane. It explodes with great fury. The hyenas scatter as the explosions tear through the cargo plane. Red team starts to approach. In the confusion the hyenas wouldn't have seen it coming. Members of Red team open fire. The hyenas shoot back but it didn't make a difference as they were cut down. Another hellfire strikes a pack of them as they attempt to run. The gunfire doesn't stop as more hyenas get picked off. A third hellfire destroys a fuel truck and tank. A bigger explosion with flying metal debris fly everywhere. There was no sound to this feed but it would have like any other warzone in some far off country somewhere.
"This is Red team, all targets have been eliminated over"
"Uh Red team proceed to pull out over".
"Roger that 3-8 over and out".
"Sword 2-6 do one final sweep then pull out over" Shield ordered "Understood 3-8 over".
The drone circled around. The whole airfield was a runway of bodies and burning debris. The camera zooms in as there was a bit of life in someone. A badly wounded hyena was crawling on his stomach. The camera zooms in on his position. If they could see this person face to face then his face would be the expression of pain and a fear of dying. The hyenas crawl eventually stops and he lies still. The camera zooms back out. The damage is great.
The feed goes dark.
"This footage was from four days ago. These people made up the bulk of Shafyee's army" Pierce grimly states "We cut his forces in half with that strike". The three looked at him immersed that this target that Pierce has been chasing was so close to finally being hunted down. "So does that mean you have a location of this prick?" Chelsea asked "Wasn't easy but he managed to slip up, we traced his call around the western part of Mount Chiliad. The remaining men he has are dug in with him" Pierce pulls up an areial of the location "So I take it you have a plan?" Sunny studied the location with her eyes.
"We're going to take a couple of squads and we're going to end this; once and for all". The three looked at him when they heard that word "We?" Geraldine herself looked at him confused "I'm coming with you three". Sunny was bemused with herself "You want to come with us? I mean I know you want to kill this fucker but you're going to stick out like a sore thumb with that get up" she points to his suit "Yeah and plus I can't see you dodging rounds while those fucking things" Chelsea points to his loafers.
"It's nothing I can't handle and bear in mind I was in Special Operations with three tours under my belt" he says giving them his own resume. "All right, it's not like we can change your mind" Sunny shrugged "We leave in an forty five minutes, gear up and if you have someone then talk to them while you can".
The three of them select their weapons.
Sunny grabs a FAMAS. Geraldine selected of all things an AA-12 automatic shotgun. For Chelsea it was like Christmas shopping as she attempted to take everything "Chelsea it's not rocket science just choose something" Sunny tells her. If this was a catalog in a magazine she would choose something that suits her "This one" she picks an M249 "Yeah definitely missed using this when I was in the army".
They load their ammunition clips and prep their tactical vests.
"Reggie girl, it's me. Look when you got a minute I'd like to talk to you" Geraldine left a message for Reggie who was ignoring her after their fight. "Yeah baby, I know we should look into a liquor license and we got to hire a few bartenders, some cooks here to there and I don't know we probably hire some event planners for certain ideas" Sunny talked to Roberta "Well I have few things left to wrap up so we'll probably have to do a hiring spree when I get back. Right; love you too baby" she finished her call. "Hi mum" Chelsea greeted her mother "I'm doing fine, I'm just hanging out with a couple of friends. Yes mum Sunny is here with me. I know she's nice, listen when I get the chance to visit, would it be okay if I brought Sunny and another friend by the name of Geraldine to hang out there? Okay perfect! When we get there have dad bring out the barbie. Okay got to go, love you too. Say hi to dad for me. Bye".
Sunny and Geraldine head towards the entrance of the hanger "Shit where's Chelsea?" Geraldine wondered "Hang on, Chelsea" Sunny called out her name "Coming!" Chelsea finally comes on down. Geraldine burst out laughing as Chelsea ran towards them. She laughed because Chelsea covered her face in camouflage face paint, green and black tiger stripes. "Oh my fuckin' god!" Geraldine tried to stop laughing "Here! Sorry about the wait" she apologized "Don't you think you're a bit over dressed?" Sunny points to her face paint.
"What? This is an important mission and we're going to into a big fight" Chelsea summarized "I'll do your faces too, it'll be awesome". Geraldine continued laughing as she went towards the hanger entrance "Come on, we got to get going" Sunny tells her "Wait, I'll do your face really quick" Chelsea pulls out her kit "No we're going". Chelsea grabbed her wrist "Come on! You'll look so cool with camouflage!" Chelsea practically begged "Oh alright but only three black stripes across my face and that's it. You can do that when we board the choppers, now come on".
Sunny and Chelsea sprinted to the entrance of the hanger. There stood Pierce surrounded by a group of people, not soldiers per se, all of them dressed in civilian clothing with tactical vests covering their bodies. Pierce was wearing plain blue jeans with brown combat boots, he carried an AK-74. He still wore his sunglasses which still covered his eyes. He raised an eyebrow looking at Chelsea "Aren't you a little overdressed?".
"Why does everyone keep saying that? It's just fucking face paint" Chelsea groaned "For fuck sakes, has anyone have fucking good instincts of being ready?".
"I'm guessing these people are special?" Sunny eyed them "They're ghosts, shadows that do whatever it takes" he explained to her. Sunny couldn't tell but to her it was better not to ask questions "So what's the plan?" she wondered "We're going to go by helo, they're going to drop us off half way. From there we're going to hike to a small check point that they set up and the rest is up to us".
"All right, time to move out" Pierce orders. They board the choppers.
The choppers take off. Chelsea pulled out her kit and as she promised, Sunny sat still as Chelsea gently and carefully made her first tiger stripe onto her leaders face "You're going to look so bad ass" she smiled.
...
The choppers were specially built for these types of missions. It wouldn't be heard unless someone saw them. Everyone looked as they stared at Sunny's tiger stripes. "What?" she says to them "You act like you haven't seen tiger stripes before".
"All right" Pierce announces "We're coming near the LZ, prepare to disembark".
The choppers make it to the landing areas.
They land and everybody disembarks. They move out into the forestry. Stealthily they move through the forest. For Chelsea it felt like being in a sense of deja vu, she looked more alert "Hey" Sunny whispered "You alright?" she wondered "Yeah" Chelsea's eyes went left to right, as if she was expecting something to leap out of and attack her. As they walked through the forest Chelsea's mind wanders back to what happened back in East Timor.
Rifle fire explodes. Keegan is hit through the leg. He screams.
"Take cover!" Sergeant Ryan orders as everyone takes cover and shoots. Keegan keeps screaming.
The medic runs dodging bullets and manages to drag him to cover.
"OH GOD!" Keegan screams in pain. The medic quickly takes out his kit.
"Sir call in support!" Sergeant Ryan screams to the section commander "Goddamn it snap out of it!". The section commander hyperventilates as one of the militia members throws a molotov. Flames fly everywhere. "Goddamn it!" the sergeant shouts. Chelsea runs out of cover and takes aim at the first target who she see's and puts one through his head. She turns her attention to the others and starts shooting.
She nails several of them. One of her bullets strikes the crate of molotovs and it explodes. The militia starts to retreat. Chelsea picks off some stragglers. The gunfire ceases. The only thing that she is hears is the sound of her heart easing down "Oh my fucking god!" Keegan screams "Fuck! Fuck! Fuck!".
"Mitchell!" Sergeant Ryan screams out her name "Get back here! We have to help out Keegan!". Chelsea snaps out of her trance, she quickly runs back. "AHHH!" Keegan screams more "Hold him still, I have to take this out and clamp it down!". Keegan screamed and groaned as the medic proceeds to try and remove the bullet.
Chelsea goes outside and breathes. She tosses her helmet against the ground in anger. She's angry because someone she was friends with got hurt. "Lance Corporal Mitchell" the section commander says her name. Chelsea turned around "What you did out there; that was brave" he commended "I'll make sure you get mentioned for this, you'll get a reward for this".
Her nerve was shot. Let alone she wasn't in the mood after what happened.
"Sir; get one thing straight" Chelsea looks at him "If you mention me in any way whatsoever then I'll fucking leave you out there and let those fucking savages have a go at you" she gave a threatening looking "Are we fucking clear...sir?". The section commander was taken aback. A soldier warning him after his mistake nearly got them killed "Mitchell" Sergeant Bryan calls her name "Yes Sergeant" she looked at the NCO "Get back in there, they need to prep Keegan for evacuation" he orders "Yes sir" Chelsea grabbed her helmet and headed back inside.
This was a day that she wanted to forget but deep down she knew it wouldn't go away. It'll stay with her for a long time.
"Chelsea?" Sunny said her name. Chelsea snapped out of her flashback "What...?".
"Are you sure you're okay?" Sunny asked again "Yeah just Deja vu that's all" Chelsea said as she kept her guard up. They kept on walking through the forest. As they kept walking they hear voices. One of the squad members scouts ahead. The scout peers carefully. He observes four individuals with automatic rifles chatting amongst themselves. The scout observed them through his scope. It looked like a small checkpoint. Probably to keep them guarded or a first line of defense. He quietly sneaked back down.
"What did you see?" Pierce whispered "There's four of them, armed with automatics" the described "Not the main group, they're probably just a small checkpoint".
"What do you think?" Sunny whispered "Guessing Shafyee must be in further" Pierce deduced "We first got to take this one down before proceeding" Sunny suggested "You read my mind".
As the men at the checkpoint converse amongst themselves the ghosts who've been chasing them appear from hiding. One of them tried to run away. A rifle shot through his head stops that plan. "All right, line them up" Pierce ordered "Now we're going to do this the easy way or hard way" he looked sternly at them "One of you knows English and that someone is going to tell us where Reza is". Pierce upholstered his Ruger P85 "Now I'm going to ask nicely" he flipped the safety off "Where is Reza?". The guards stay silent.
Pierce points his gun at the first one he see's and pulls the trigger. The man falls onto the ground. "Anyone else has nothing to say?" he grimly asked. One tried to run but a shot to the head stops him. "I'm not going to ask again" Pierce points his gun towards the second person "Where is-?" "He's just up the road, a few yards inward near a dry bed" the third guard finally caved in and told everything.
"See, was that so hard?" Pierce sarcastically asked.
Then out of nowhere Pierce pulled the trigger and killed the one who talked. Then points his Ruger to the head of the checkpoint and shoots him as well. Then shoots the guy four more times in the torso, his body twitching. Just out of spite one would say. "All right, we go in carefully" he laid out his plan "Squad One" he points to Sunny "Will go towards the right, Squad Three will go towards the left" pointing to Chelsea "And Squad Two will up the middle" he points at Geraldine to complete the plan.
The squads go forward. Sunny noticed something about the men that Pierce had brought with him. They looked professional. Soldiers for whatever shadow group he belonged too? Black Ops maybe? Or maybe a more simpler term; mercenaries. After all they take money for the highest bidder and sure enjoy the work they do. To anybody doing the things that they've been involved in maybe it was best not to ask questions .
They snuck through as they finally made it to the dry bed "All right; remember" Pierce said as he got onto the ground "Squad One takes the right, Squad Three takes the left and Squad Two takes the middle". The three simply nodded. Steadily everyone went to their positions. As Squad Two advances towards the middle, something made a peculiar sound.
Click!
And like every war movie it starts with a loud noise.
Boom!
Blood and flesh fly across the bedrock as a man is literally blown apart.
"Shit!" Geraldine hits the dirt as does the rest of Second Squad. Rifle fire cracks from the bushes as the squad returns fire. "Fuck! Ambush!" Sunny yells as she returned fire. Chelsea fired her 249 at the flashes "Those bastards are in the bushes!" she yells as Squad Three themselves start firing. Another member of Squad Two returns fire and is hit through the chest. He falls on his back.
Click!
Boom!
His upper half is violently is separated from his lower half with it flying half way back to where Pierce positioned himself "Shit!" he cursed "Cease fire! Cease fire!" he ordered. Everyone stopped firing. Geraldine for a slight second could see some movement from a far. Shit she thought This ain't like those games.
Sunny and Chelsea crawled towards Pierce "Holy fuck" Chelsea breathed as her heart was racing from those shots. Pierce carefully peered over the area of the bedrock "Clever little bastards" he muttered "They booby trapped the place". Sunny herself peered over as she saw Geraldine in the position that she was trapped in "Geraldine!" she called out her name "What?".
"Listen, don't get up!" Sunny instructs her "They got the place rigged! Just stay there and don't move!". Geraldine looked at the men laying around her as they were more experienced with these types of situation. They looked calm or rather they didn't show they were in a shit show "We're going to figure something out; just hang tight!" Sunny shouts out "Shit, I got nothin' else to do man" Geraldine say under her breath. "All right, ideas?" Sunny looked at Pierce "Why don't we call in air support or something?" Chelsea gave an idea "It's a good idea but it's a little too close, last thing we want is someone getting hit by a shockwave" Pierce gave an assessment "Shit" Chelsea cursed "I really wanted to see some fireworks go off".
"That's it" Sunny hurriedly pulled out her phone "What are you doing?" Chelsea wondered "Calling Arnold, wondering if he has any extra firecrackers we can use" Sunny called and realized theirs no dial tone "And no fucking signal, fuck" she cursed. Pierce reached into his pocket and pulled out a phone that she hadn't seen before "Here" he tosses the phone "It's a sat phone, should do the trick". Sunny looked at the phone, it was unique that she ever saw one of those types, let alone she never used one of them. She dials Arnold's number "Come on, come on".
Finally it goes through "Arnold? Hey, it's me Sunny" she says her name "Listen, we're kinda in a bit of a situation at the moment".
Sunny doesn't say much but Arnold understood the word 'situation'. While it surprised him that they were near the mountains Arnold knew they were in a jam. He tells while they were far he wanted to try a new way to make a delivery. The drop off was at an unused trail that wasn't far from where they were.
Sunny and Chelsea hurriedly hiked towards the drop-off point, they take a couple of Pierce's people with them just in case something happens. Their package eventually is dropped off their package. All of things it was dropped off by drone. "Gotta say that's pretty genius way to deliver stuff" Chelsea praised "Yeah but it'll be the last time since the cops will probably try to take it down" Sunny says as she opened the cases. There lay in front of them two M72 rocket launchers with four separate rockets for both launchers. "Holy fuck, I cannot wait to shoot these" Chelsea eagerly grinned. Both grabbed the rocket launchers "Hey you know Arnold's gonna probably want extra for this".
"Yeah well he's reliable, he may as well get a fruit basket" Sunny remarked as she opened the 72.
They hiked back as fast as possible.
"You took your time" Pierce said as the two came back "Well it was a long hike, sue us" Sunny said as she slowly and carefully peered over to the dry bed. Her eyes scanned the area. Mainly the bushes where the rifle fire came from. "All right, we're going to take a couple shots each at a time" Sunny quickly formulated a plan "That'll draw them out, when they start to run for it; that's when you light them up". Amazed Pierce quickly signaled the soldiers to get ready. "I'll take the left and you take the right" Sunny tells Chelsea who simply nodded and grinned sadistically as she was getting her wish of fireworks.
Sunny lined up her sight. This was going to be different than those war movies that she seen; this was more real. Her finger goes to the trigger on top and pushes it.
Like a thunderbolt the rocket hits the bushes and explodes. She hears screaming and panic. Chelsea hits her mark next. Just like Sunny her rocket smashes into the bushes. They hear the panic in their voices. They reload.
A second shot hits the bushes. This time they hear more screaming.
"Chelsea" Sunny called out her name "Yeah?" she responds "We're going to hit that spot in the middle at the same time" she gave the order "Roger that". Their fingers push the triggers. Both rockets simultaneously fire and strike at the middle section. A loud explosion sends rocks and debris flying. A body suddenly lands on the ground. The bits of shrapnel were hanging out; still smoking.
"There they go!" someone yelled out as a group of men ran out from their hiding spots "Open fire!" Pierce ordered. Every rifle fired at them. They go down. Geraldine and Second Squad take their shots, payback from them for the trap that they fell into.
"Cease fire!" Pierce yells out as the last resistance is squashed. The enemy dead litter the ground. A couple of men from First Squad put a few rounds into them just to be sure they stay down. "Okay that lines been broken" Pierce looked over at the battlefield "Tell me there's no more surprises after that" Sunny looked at him "Don't know" Pierce said as he adjusted his sunglasses. "All right, I need three men from Squad One and Three to scout ahead, try not to run into any traps. You smell anything like over expensive cologne then shoot it" he orders "Don't take any unnecessary risks" he lastly mentions.
Sunny hands her 72 to one of the men "Just in case" she warns. The soldiers move out with a purpose. "Geraldine listen" Sunny calls out "You're going to need to come back the way you came in originally".
"What? You're crazy!" Geraldine shouts "In case you forgotten motherfucker, I'm in a goddamn minefield!" she reminded her friend "Look go one at a time, slow" Sunny looked at the blood splattered remains of their first casualty. "Just retrace your steps" she tells her "We could just leave you here and just finish the jobs ourselves" Chelsea jokes "Hey man! Don't joke about that!" Geraldine angrily shouts. Sunny elbows Chelsea in her side "Ow! What? Just trying to lighten the mode".
Sunny annoyingly sighed "Idiot".
"Look just walk slow, don't think about it" Pierce tells her "Man..." Geraldine worryingly sighed. She takes the first few steps. Geraldine walked as carefully as she could. She see's the splattered bits of the first casualty "Shit" all she could do was whisper. This wasn't a war movie where the good guys stormed an enemy position and lived to tell the tale. This wasn't that. She was almost there; just a few more steps. Geraldine see's the red innards of the second casualty hanging out. It made her sick to see that. Worse though, it started to smell. Already the small buzz of flies were heard. After one last step Geraldine makes it and breathes a sigh of much needed relief.
"Goddamn..." Geraldine looked visibly shaken. Sunny put her hand on her shoulder "It's okay. You're fine now". Geraldine was simply glad to have made it out. The rest of the men followed the same way she took and made it without a scratch. "All right, everyone do an ammo check" Pierce orders as he checked his magazine "We leave in five, we got more push to end this shit".
Sunny changes her magazine. She see's how Geraldine is still shaking as the adrenaline was wearing off "Hey, it's okay to be scared".
"Yeah, shit, I don't want that to happen again" Geraldine trembled as she checked her ammunition "Oh god" Sunny looked at her "What?". She carefully pulled a small piece of flesh from Geraldine's red hair "Oh fuck" Geraldine covered her mouth "Okay-okay" Sunny quickly tosses the bit of flesh away. Geraldine was nauseous after having a bit of someone else pulled from her hair "Just take a breather and drink some water" Sunny tells her.
Sunny walked towards Chelsea "Hey, what'd you find?".
"Well these guys are packing" Chelsea says as she overturned a bullet ridden body "Standard issued rifles but I think we could use a couple of these" she pulls out two RGD-5 hand grenades "You and your explosives" Sunny mused "Hey it helps to be prepared". Over in the distance rifle fire echoed. Sometimes a single crack to a few automatic shots "Guessing the scouting team must found a few more of them" Chelsea seemed to relish the sound of combat; it was mainly her favorite sound. "Looks like it" Sunny looked on into the distance "Okay, listen up" Pierce brings everyone into attention "As you heard from that sound the scouts picked off some stragglers. According to them we got the target in our sights, they're on their last breath. We go in and take this fucker out for good".
Everybody looked serious.
"All right, move out".
It took them a moment to catch up with the scouting party. The damage they did was like any other day on the job. Except bloodier. After what happened last time they were more alert and not going to hesitate to take down anyone that took a shot at them. "Hey" Chelsea whispered to Sunny "What?" Sunny kept staring ahead; mainly focusing on the mission. "You sure you weren't in the military? I mean you got the skills of an officer" Chelsea wondered as she kept an eye out "They wouldn't let me in with my record, trust me I'm not military material" Sunny shoots a look at her "It's just you got something about you that makes someone want to follow you into hell" Chelsea mused "Maybe I'm just being sentimental".
"Maybe you are" Sunny muttered under her breath. Pierce signals them stop. "What's going on up there?" she quietly whispered "Shit girl, don't like it one bit" Geraldine had her shotgun ready. Their breathing is the only thing that's heard. Suddenly a crack from a rifle shatters that silence. Pierce quickly takes cover behind a tree. Everyone starts firing. Four more sets of rifle come burst through the area. Chelsea hits one with a burst of from her 249. For her it felt like being back in the army.
Sunny runs and shoots at an enemy fighter. A couple of explosions from their grenades rocks the forest. An explosion hurls Sunny on her back.
She gripped her head as the sound in her ears were ringing.
Eeeeeeee!
Sunny could hear nothing. She doesn't know if she's wounded or if she's wounded and bleeding out and dying in this makeshift battlefield that she's on. She could hear her breathing muffled by the explosion she was caught in. Sunny opened her eyes, everything was blurry and confusing. This is it she tells herself My one way ticket to hell. If this was it then she might as well say something before her heart stops beating I'm sorry. I'm sorry for not listening to my mother. I'm sorry for acting like a brat and hurting her. And she thought of the two people who meant more to her than every bit of money in the whole world I'm sorry Roberta, I wish I could have given you more in life. I guess we won't go on that Italian vacation I said I would take you on. And lastly Linda, eonni (big sister), silmangsikyeodeulyeo joesonghago silmangsikyeodeulyeoseo joesonghabnida (I'm sorry for being a disappointment to you and I'm sorry for letting you down).
Come take me now she ready's to make her peace forever.
A blurry figure that strangely looked like her mother started shaking her "Sun Hi! Get up! Get up! Don't give up now! Come on! You're not going to die on me today! We need you...!" the figure kept shaking her. Her vision starts to go back to normal and see's Chelsea with a panicked look on her face shaking her to make sure she wasn't dead "Sunny come on! Get up! Please!".
She gasped as her lungs opened up for air. "Chelsea...!" Sunny kept gasping as the sound in her ears finally returns, the cracks of rifle fire ever so present "Holy fuck! Sunny you're alive!" Chelsea excitingly hugged her "Get off me...!" Sunny pushed her away "Are you alright?" she asked "I'm fine!" Sunny gets herself off the ground. Her head felt as if a bowling ball had been dropped on her. The rifle shots die down. The last shot is fired to end this firefight. "You alright?" Pierce asked as he loads a magazine "I'm fucking peachy" Sunny annoyingly sighed "Argh! Dammit!" Geraldine grunted. Sunny and Chelsea ran to her "Shit, are you hit?" Chelsea asked "Medic!" Pierce called "I felt somethin' hit me in the back" Geraldine took deep breaths.
The medic came and took off her vest. He saw something small and sharp sticking out from her right shoulder "It's a piece of shrapnel" the medic says as he pulls some items from his bag "It doesn't look too bad, you should be able to still move, might sting for a while" he gave his professional opinion "Can you still go?" Sunny wondered "Yeah, I just wanna get this motherfucker".
"This better be the last goddamn obstacle in the way" Sunny says as she checked her magazine "You and me both" Pierce looked on ahead. The medic wrapped Geraldine's wound. There was no way she was going to miss killing this prick she tells herself.
Another hike. They wanted to end this thing. No more surprises. No more playing games.
Machine gun fire rattles through the forest "Son of a bitch!" Sunny cursed as she and everyone else took cover. Pierce peered over carefully before nearly getting hit. Even with the shooting he hears a familiar voice giving orders "He's there".
"You sure?" Chelsea wondered "Positive, Shafyee is there".
"Well shit, what you gonna do about it?" Geraldine asked "I got something, just give me a minute" he says as he pulls out his sat phone. They couldn't hear whoever he was calling but whoever it was it probably was going to change this fight.
"All right" Pierce tells them "We got incoming help in a bit, when I say get down then get down" he says as if he's expecting something big to come "For now sit tight and make sure they don't try to flank us".
Everyone suppresses fire. It'd be a waste of ammo in another situation.
Pierce's hears something in the air. He knew what was coming in the next several seconds.
"GET DOWN! GET DOWN!".
Everyone huddled down. Whatever it was they knew it was going to be one hell of a surprise.
The ground boomed and lit up as if a ginormous shotgun round exploded. Wood, rock and dirt were torn up.
"Holy Shit!" Chelsea happily squealed "You're right about that" Sunny's eyes looked on at the carnage that took place in front of her.
Vrooooom!
Vroooooooooom!
Two vrooms are heard and the sound of a jet flying is also heard.
"Bloody fucking hell on a stick! Did you call an A-10?" Chelsea giddily wondered "Told you that money you took was for a good cause" Pierce quipped. "Hope this is the last one because I'm started to get tired of fucking around" Sunny pops a magazine into her FAMAS. They move into the torn landscape. Weapons at the ready. The sight looked chewed up. Like a sight from a World War I battlefield: blown to holy hell and everything torn to bits. They pass broken and shredded bodies. A part of a foot here and a severed arm down there.
A cough is heard. Pierce eagerly goes to the source of that cough.
There stood the Lion that oh so desperately had dodged Pierce. Shafyee was bleeding from a torn artery in his hip. Besides him were the torn bodies of captains. This Lion was on his last legs. He wasn't going to last; not with that wound.
"Well, well, well Reza" Pierce stared "Look at you now" he mocked "Nowhere to go and no army to help you". Shafyee tried to stand. He stared down Pierce. Angry that he finally is getting what's coming to him.
"Open fire!" he orders.
Every weapon fires into Shafyee. The shots echo throughout the forest. The clanging of the bullet casings is heard. Every round tears through his body like hot scalpels.
"Cease fire!" Pierce orders them to stop.
Just as every battle ended it ended with the enemy lying at the feet of the hero's who took them down.
The barrels of the guns were smoking almost creating a fog of gun smoke. For Pierce it was over. This elusive phantom finally was taken down. "Alright, that's it" he huffed "Mission accomplished".
They would hike to a rendezvous point about a mile away. This war, at least, was finished.
...
Geraldine lay on her stomach as the medic carefully pulled the piece of shrapnel from her shoulder. Even with the anesthesia she could still feel the piece moving around her shoulder. "Mm, fuck..." she was uncomfortable with getting stitched, it was something that never happened to her. Chelsea looked on as Geraldine was trying her best not to make a move.
"Don't you got somethin' else better to do?" annoyed Geraldine looked at Chelsea "What? And miss this?". Chelsey hated that she had to rub off all the face paint from her face. It was the one time she really felt at home with it. "Okay" the medic announces "Here comes the hard part". Geraldine held her breath. She could feel the steel being pulled from her shoulder. With one last tug the small piece is finally pulled out. The medic showed the piece to her. To think that was embedded in her shoulder amazed and shocked her. "Okay just got to stitch you up" the medic grabbed the suchers "Hey Geraldine" Chelsea gets her attention "Look on the bright side, you proved you're a bloody good foot soldier" she compliments "Man..." Geraldine shook her head "Shut up please...".
Sunny waited as Pierce was finishing his phone call to whoever it was he reports too. Her head throbbed. It still felt like her brain was in a vice. Pierce came out. "How are you?" he asked "I'm going to need more than bottle of aspirin to get rid of this goddamn headache" she remarked "So with Shafyee dead and his whole group dismantled, everything is in order and the problem was solved".
"Pretty sure his community going to call him a martyr assassinated by the regime or whatever" Sunny guessed "Fuck em'" Pierce callously states the obvious "Let them keep believing he was a hero, won't do any good not with the shit I gave a source in the papers. Should burn whatever clout he has left".
"Now" he brings the attention of the subject at hand "About you and your friends". She looked at him and was ready for whatever was going to come her way. "The operation was a success and with that you and your friends are being cut loose, you're all free to go".
Sunny stunned "This better not be bullshit, I'm too rattled after today"
"It's not. I got everything I needed and this was successful" he simply put "Will I see you again?" Sunny wondered "Maybe. Maybe not. When you least expect I might lend a hand when you need it; you never know". Pierce extends his hand as a 'Thank you for helping and see around the block' hand shake. Sunny carefully extends her hand and shakes his hand. It was very business like.
Her encounter with Pierce was like a story that would be told to her children (that's if Roberta wanted to start a family with her).
Sunny went over to collect Geraldine and Chelsea. The medic by then had finished with Geraldine's stitches "Come on you two, let's go home. We're done here".
"What? No more jobs for him?" Geraldine wondered "Nope, we are officially cut loose. Missions over" Sunny says as she puts her sunglasses on "I mean we worked a black ops on American soil, I think it was sort of the best job we did" Chelsea followed her compatriots "I'll drive" Sunny volunteered.
They sped away from the hanger. If they were too come back the next day every bit of equipment that was there would be gone. Pierce would likely disappear into the shadows. Like a ghost he would show up and take advantage of the chaos.
Back In Los Santos
Kimmy stood near the bike rack. She had gotten a strange text to come to the beach.
'A special surprise is waiting for you at Vespucci Beach'.
What kind of surprise is this she didn't know.
"Kimmy?" a familiar voice called her name. Kimmy turned and saw to her surprise who it was "Yuriko!" she happily cried out. The two quickly run into each other's arms and hugged. Their voices of happiness in being reunited made it hard to hear themselves talk to each other, Kimmy couldn't believe it. It was her best friend. All her tattoos. The same auburn hair. It was really her.
"How the hell did this happen?" Kimmy was still in disbelief "I don't know, I was in my cell when someone from the warden's office said that my record was cleaned out and any shit from before was gone. They said whatever that was there was gone. Just like that they let me go" Yuriko tells her friend everything "No fucking way" Kimmy couldn't believe it.
"It's crazy but it felt like someone pulled whatever it was to help out".
"No way...could she have done that...?" Kimmy whispered as she had a theory who helped Yuriko get out "Kimmy? Everything alright?" Yuriko looked at her "Uh yeah shit sorry, listen I got to introduce you to this girl. She's doing something against that punk that set you up". The mention of Kenny made her hungry for payback "She's in Blaine at the moment but when she comes back you'll get to meet her, she's got something planed to deal with that fucker".
Yuriko already had an answer "I know about it from some of the girls from the block, whatever's going on I want in".
"I knew you would" Kimmy happily smiled "We got a lot of catching up to do, come on there's a poke place not far from here". The two friends put their arms over their shoulders to catch up from the previous events and what better way then to have fun chatting and with a poke bowl added to the mix.
Chelsea's Trailer, Fifteen minutes til midnight
Sunny lay awake. Her head stopped hurting but she was restless. Chelsea and Geraldine were already asleep; both tired from the whole battle. Too much excitment as they would say. Chelsea was more happy to taken part in a firefight, anything to relive her army days. Geraldine was too spent, especially with having a piece of steel removed from her shoulder. Her cat ever so loyally cuddled next to her.
Earlier in the evening Sunny had gotten a call from Kimmy Yamazaki. She was excited that her best friend Yuriko Iwamoto was released from jail. Better yet her record of the previous charges were cleared for good. It was a part of a deal she had made with Pierce on that train job: once he took down Shafyee he would release Yuriko and give her a clean slate. It was also about having a soldier to help take back Little Seoul.
"Yuriko's back!" Kimmy excitedly says "I know it was you who got her out" she says her theory "I don't know what you're talking about Kimmy" Sunny happily denied "Suuure!" Kimmy laughed "Kimmy are you drunk?" Sunny chuckled "No!" she first denied "Yes...!" then happily admits while giggling. By the sound of it she sounded faded "And I'm guessing you two are a little more than that".
"Oh yeah, we had some edibles and I had some weed laying around somewhere" she gives a goofy laugh.
Sunny was happy that Kimmy's friend was back in her life. "Koibitoyo, watashi to asobi ni kite kudasai (Sweetheart, come play with me)" she heard who was probably Yuriko playfully begging for Kimmy to come back "Ato 1-bu, yūjin no Sanī dārin to no hanashi wa mōsugu owarimasu (One more minute, I'm almost done talking with my friend Sunny darling)".
"Am I interrupting something?" Sunny asked "Oh, well see I forget to mention. I had one of the biggest crushes on Yuriko and I found out she had a big crush on me. So we kissed for a while and now we're really naked!" Kimmy laughed as if she was on a cloud. Sunny laughed a bit herself.
"Listen Yuriko is so in with your plan" Kimmy hiccupped "When you come back, I'll introduce you to her".
"Sure" Sunny wrote a mental note of a time and place to meet Kimmy and Yuriko "Before I go Yuriko thinks you're so cool! She's grateful to you for helping her out!" she praised "Still don't know what you're talking about Kimberly" Sunny kept up her plausible deniability "Anyways thanks for the update with your friend-I mean girlfriend" Sunny says with a smile "Baby I want to play now!" Yuriko impatiently calls Kimmy "Duty calls" Kimmy tells her "Enjoy yourselves" Sunny says as she hangs up.
All day Sunny kept thinking back about almost getting killed in that blast. Finally she gets out of bed. She put on her shoes and heads out to get some air. She went over to sit on Chelsea's Fugitive. She looked at the emptiness of the desert. Even with the lights from nearby trail parks it felt like anyone could disappear into the beyond "Sunny?" Chelsea rubbed her eyes and yawned "What are you doing out? It's bloody cold out here".
"Just thinking" she looked out into the night "About what?" Chelsea asked as she took her place next to her.
"When I got caught in that grenade blast..." she shook her head almost if she was still shaken up "When I got caught up in that grenade blast, I actually thought I was going to die" she closed her eyes "I made my peace, said sorry to my mother; to Roberta; and too Linda. I was ready to finally accept it...when you were shaking me to wake up...I actually saw my mother shaking me to get up and keep going". Chelsea remembered the look Sunny gave to her as she was lying on her back after the blast "I was...I was scared..." Sunny starts to shake "I thought I had let Linda down and I wasn't going to see her again" and starts to sniffle.
"But you're still here" Chelsea says as she put her arm over her "If anything did happen to you then I would do everything to rescue your sister" Chelsea tells her "I was so fucking scared" Sunny wiped her eyes "It's okay to be scared" Chelsea hugs her "Thanks for being there" Sunny let out and cried "It's okay, it's okay".
"Come on let's get back inside, you're going to catch a cold or something" the two Queens go back inside
No battle is ever really won without a few scars to show for it. It's those who show them that are the real victors of war.
Location unknown, midnight
Linda kept herself awake. She felt something earlier in the day. Some type of feeling or a sense of something bad had occurred. It may have been her but it felt like Sunny had been in some sort of danger. It was a strange thing but her head in whatever type of situation Sunny was in started to pound as if a cinder block struck her.
For many there was a belief that twins had some type of psychic link to one another. If one were to feel pain then the other would most likely feel it too.
Even though Linda and Sunny were sisters, they didn't consider themselves twins by any sense of the word. They weren't born by seconds or minutes or even a day apart. They were born years apart. They didn't talk in unison and they probably wouldn't since it would be absurd let alone a bit stupid.
Yet their mother believed the both of them were interlinked in some way or another. Young Shin didn't mean they could read each others minds but could sense if one of them was in danger. The way it felt in her brain was as if she was feeling Sunny's pain. For a brief moment Linda couldn't breathe. It was like the air in her lungs has been drained, a moment later; she gasped. Precious air going back into her lungs. It took Linda some time to relax, She hoped that Sunny was all right.
Linda knew in her heart that whatever feeling she got, she knew Sunny was still fighting on. She wants her to burst through that door and save her. To be reunited with her. Nothing was going to stop her. Sunny was the type of girl that never backed away from anything.
Her hatred of Wolfe on the other hand is the one thing that keeps her going. It's the thing that keeps both of them going.
Linda carefully curled up in a ball on the floor. Her eyes were finally getting heavy as sleep was finally coming it's way.
"Anjeonhage jinaeseyo...jag-eun ai (Stay safe...little one)" one last wish before she falls asleep.
Chapter 72 is coming soon. Rate and Review.
