Searching

Bravo was awake, fed, and ready to move out when the chopper carrying Alpha from the closest landing base arrived. As expected, their fellow tier one operators, partner team and longtime brothers were ready to go when they hit the ground. When Alpha exited their transport in full gear, it was clear to every man on Bravo that Alpha One and his men were all business.

Walking toward the humvees where Bravo was anxiously awaiting their arrival, Metal led his team which included their dog, aptly named Hunter, and their support team who along with Bravo's support would be searching alongside their brothers. They had been briefed on the plane, and after a short meeting led by Blackburn and Jason, with tech support from Kevin, Bravo, Alpha and their support teams would be headed out together with a shared, singular objective - bringing their youngest brothers safely home.

Jason took the remaining members of Bravo along with the dog handler from Team 3 and his dog Max to do a preliminary search of the area where Clay and Brock were located when the storm first kicked up. Blackburn had the second dog and handler flown in with Alpha to aid in the search. Max was given a scent item from Clay's bag, while Hunter was given Brock's scent item.

The consensus was that the rookies would have hunkered down in the immediate area to wait out the storm before moving on to the area Kevin felt was their best long term shelter option. Bravo wasn't expecting them to still be there, but Jason knew they needed to check it out on the off chance that one or both boys were injured and they were unable to move.

Trent felt it was possible that their boys may have left behind some kind of indication where they were headed. Jason and Ray agreed.

"My gut tells me Kevin is right that Brock would go to this area once they were able to move," Trent said when Kevin had pointed out the series of caves and caverns in the rocky hillside. "When we passed by that area last week, Brock pointed it out and told me it reminded him of the caves the boss walked him through during his first mission in Syria."

"You're thinking Brock will expect you to remember and make that connection?" Ray had asked.

"I am," Trent said with confidence. "I know my kids. They're thinkers. Brock knows I remember everything he tells me. He'll be thinking we're going to look there. And I listen when the runt talks too. He gave me a detailed retelling of a book he read about a missing soldier during World War II who was eventually found by his unit. Clay told me if he was MIA he would pull a Hansel and Gretel so we could find him. I wouldn't be surprised if they tried to communicate with us in some way."

Metal took Alpha and the two support teams ahead to start searching the area Kevin believed was the kids' best option to evade capture and wait for rescue. The plan was for Bravo to search where they believed Bravos Five and Six likely holed up the first night before joining their brothers at the secondary location. Metal divided the men into three man teams to fan out and search the expansive group of burrows, holes and caves tucked into the rocky, desert hills.

"He's got something," The handler from Team 3 called out to Ray who was searching a midsize cave a few hundred feet away.

Climbing up a steep incline, Ray joined Team Three's guy and the dog who was sitting in the center of the large hole indicating that he had picked up Clay's scent.

"Your boy was definitely here at some point," The handler assured Bravo Two. "Max knows his shit."

Ray radioed out to his brothers and it wasn't long before Jason, Trent and Sonny had joined them outside the hole.

"The dog is sure they were here?" Jason asked.

"Clay was definitely in this hole," The handler confirmed.

"The ground was disturbed when we got up here," Ray added. "And look at the sand compared to this hole."

"There's significantly less loose sand on the ground here compared to the other openings we've seen," Sonny said, crouching down and using his flashlight to get a better look at the floor of the hole. "I'd guess they covered the opening to keep out the blowing sand."

"Look at this," Sonny said, shining his light on a dark spot in the center of the hole's floor.

"It's blood," Ray said calmly. "The dog indicated blood."

Trent crouched down next to Sonny to take a better look.

"It's not a significant amount," the medic said, looking up at his brothers. "One of them is definitely wounded, but it's contained in this area. If there was significant bleeding, there would be more left behind on the ground. But it's enough to suggest a deep cut that was bleeding a good amount. It would have definitely required aid."

"Somebody got stitched," Sonny said, holding up a small piece of the suture thread the men all recognized as being from one of their Navy issued kits. "And they were obviously able to relocate, so Trent's right. It couldn't have been a major wound."

"No," Trent said seriously. "But caked in dirt and sand as it likely was by the time any stitching could happen, infection is almost certain. We need to find them asap."

"And we will," Jason said firmly.

"You're the smallest," Ray turned to look at the dog handler. "Take your light and look around in there."

"What am I looking for, sir?" The kid looked up at the senior members of Bravo while he dug out his flashlight.

"Anything at all that looks out of place," Jason said. "It's possible they may have tried to leave some kind of indication where they were going. But they're smart enough not to leave anything to tip off enemy fighters who might also come looking. It would be something that would mean something to us."

The kid signaled the dog out of the hole to make space to move around before crawling in himself. "It's definitely tight in here," he called out. "There's a piece of dirty material sticking out from under some loose rocks in the wall. You want me to pull it out?"

"Go ahead," Jason said. "See what it is, and look around that area. If it came from our boys, they left it for a reason. They've been trained not to leave anything behind from their equipment."

"It looks like a piece of an old sock," The young handler said, crawling back to the opening. "And it's got fresh blood on it."

The handler put it down on the ground in front of the dog who sniffed it and barked to indicate the scent.

Jason picked it up and looked at it more closely. "They left this purposely," he said. "This is from the heel of one of Sunshine's nasty old, stretched out socks he's emotionally attached to for some reason. I've told him multiple times to toss them out, but they keep coming through the wash. They cut off a piece and left it behind. Clay knows I'd recognize it."

"And Brock would know we'd bring a dog," Trent agreed. "If they left this, there is probably something else in there. One of us needs to go in. The kid doesn't know them like we do, we're more likely to recognize something subtle that's meant for us."

"Give me your light, Son," Ray said, dropping his pack and helmet. "I'm the smallest. I'll look."

"Where exactly did you find this?" Jason asked, turning to the younger man.

"It was in the back of the hole, on the left side," He said. "It was tucked up under some loose rocks. I pulled it out, but I didn't move the rocks at all. It looked like they've been recently disturbed. You might find something there."

Ray had been in the hole for a few minutes when he crawled back out holding a dirty piece of paper that had been folded into a small square.

"Well," he said smiling, "The Hardy Boys definitely left something. But I don't know what in hell it's supposed to mean." Ray handed the paper over to Jason.

"That mean anything to you, Boss?" he asked.

Jason looked at the paper, shaking his head. "It looks like the back cover ripped off an old book. And what the hell are these drawings all about?" Jason turned the ripped cover over to look at both sides before handing it to Trent.

Trent shook his head. "He is so fucking smart, Jase," he said. "If his loser father hadn't abandoned him and that kid had any sort of normal life, he could have been anything he wanted to be. It pisses me right off."

"It pisses us all off, Trent," Ray said. "But what is this all about? Because clearly the rest of us are at a loss here."

"It's the back cover of Frankenstein," Trent said.

"Like Frankenstein the monster movie?" Sonny asked, confused. "What the fuck, Trent. Just translate what this is supposed to mean."

"Clay has been carrying Frankenstein around in his bag- the book," Trent clarified for Sonny. "It's a special edition they put out around Halloween. I bought it for him because he had a copy he borrowed from Corey in his cage a few months back he was reading. He really liked it, but he had to give Corey's book back because it came from school. This is the back cover from that book. He must have ripped it off and used the other side to leave this message."

"Do you know what these drawings are all about?" Jason asked.

The five men stared at what looked like simple drawings of people, houses, and other random places like McDonald's and a playground. It definitely appeared to be directions, but they were all people and places from home. Nothing that you would find in the Syrian desert.

"It reminds me of the drawings from the graphic novels I used to read when I was a kid," The kid from Team Three said. "It's like Diary of a Wimpy Kid stuff."

"I'm lost," Sonny said, frustrated. "Someone needs to explain this in adult fucking English."

"It's definitely pictures of people and things from home," Trent said. "Look Sonny - that's you standing in your living room."

"And you know that's me because?" Sonny asked, looking confused.

"You're wearing a cowboy hat and boots," Ray deadpanned, pointing. "You're holding a beer, and there is an S above your head. I'm pretty sure that's you."

"It looks like directions from Sonny's house to this place," The kid said, pointing to a building with a flagpole in front.

"It's a school," Ray said. "There's a playground in the back. And kids. I think it's an elementary school."

"We need Josh," Trent said, suddenly. "Obviously, they were here, and they moved out at some point. This is somehow letting us know where they are heading. And I think Josh might be able to figure it out."

"How the hell would Josh know anything about this?" Jason asked.

"We've seen drawings like this before Jason," Trent said. "Remember a while back on base. We were eating with Alpha and the kid was rambling on to Josh about some pictures he was drawing in a notebook. He wanted Josh to bring them home to JJ. It was about some game or something they had going. It was just after Clay spent the weekend with Josh and his kids at the cabin. When Brock was sick at my place. Boss, you remember, you told the kid to put the drawing away and save it for home because he was supposed to be actually eating and not bothering Josh?"

"Vaguely," Jason sighed. "I do remember him pestering Josh about the drawings and it being some code or game going back and forth between him and his other two partners in mayhem."

"And you think Josh will know what the fuck this drawing means?" Sonny asked.

"I think he knows more about it than we do," Trent said. "And I think both Brock and Clay are on the ball enough to know that Jason would only want Alpha to back Bravo up on this search. Our boys know that if the boss got his way with Blackburn, which we all know he usually does, then Alpha would be arriving soon. And that means Daddy Josh would be here. And Clay knows that at least one of us would remember him having this game or whatever it is going with JJ."

Jason immediately got on the radio to Alpha. Thirty minutes later after clearing the hole of any signs of human life, Bravo was on the way to meet up with Alpha at what they hoped to be their boys' current location.