A/N: A story I wrote very loosely inspired by Tears of the Sun. I know it's been a while and I am sorry for that. This story is complete minus a little editing of there, they're, their and it's vs. its. Yes I've read your comments, no excuse for that. It's simply bad grammar. I'll fix it as I try to get back into the other stories. After "The End" I'll explain where I've been and what's going on in the Raven Series. Enjoy this bit of whimsy.

Prelude

Deep in the jungle of western Africa.

"Get down!"

She was shoved almost face first into the grass. Gasping in pain she felt the hard slender body she'd ran with slam on top of her. A bright red flash passed dangerously close to them in its track to destruction. The rocket propelled grenade skipped off the ground ahead of them and exploded in the air. She felt the weight come off her and felt the soldier kneeling over her. Gunfire erupted over her head as the soldier brought her weapon up and fired into the medical camp they had just left. Hot brass casings fell next to her, but none hit her directly.

"Painkiller to Hawkeye." She barked into the night, "I caught the ball, but I need coverage from the Yankee's second baseline."

She listened to nothing for a second and nodded. "Copy. Fenway section three."

She looked down at her watch and turned slowly. Once she stopped she turned her dark eyes towards her. "Time to go, Doc. I need your best run or we're both dead and I for one do not want to have my corpse mutilated."

She scanned the area and rose to her feet in the night.

"Where did Dr. Cavanaugh go?"

"Worry about your own ass right now." She said as she pulled the beautiful doctor to her knees. "Her job was to get you to me. My job is to get you out of here. Now look at that mountain and run your ass off straight towards it as fast as you can and no matter what, run straight." She touched her throat. "Coming out of the dugout... Now!"

The soldier jerked her to her feet. "Go!"

She ran and heard gunfire behind her, not daring to look back she ran in a straight line directly towards the mountain and the tree line that was far closer. Trees that she had been told never to go near for fear of losing her to the dangers of the Congo. She heard more gunfire and several patches of nearby ground burst around her. A single shot cut through the night and she heard the bullet whiz past her, buzzing by like a large insect. A burst of automatic weaponry stopped. Again she heard a shot, a buzz, and another gun went quiet.

"Keep moving, Doc." Pop, pop, pop, "Almost there."

She was almost to the trees when a guerilla stepped out of the jungle and aimed an assault rifle straight at her.

Chapter 1

24 hours earlier.

Dr. Maura Isles sat down at her usual table in the mess tent exhausted from spending sixteen hours in the Operating Room of the Doctors Without Borders hospital camp. Weary and tired, she wanted only to curl up in her cot but forced herself here because she knew she hadn't had anything to eat in the last 24 hours. Dressed in dark brown medical scrubs and her luxurious honey blond locks pulled back in a loose ponytail, she looked like the walking dead with her hair disheveled from the surgical caps she'd been wearing all day. After stabbing at the mystery meat that lay on her food tray she decided that she really didn't want to know what it was since she was probably going to force herself to eat it.

A body plopped down on the bench next to her and she looked up through reddened eyes, expecting to see Dr Ian Faulkner, her ex boyfriend and the head surgeon at Camp 6, instead she found the thin framed Dr. Jordan Cavanaugh and her ever present satchel. Tall, thin and gorgeous with curly shoulder length hair and dressed in army camouflage pants and olive drab scrubs top, Jordan sat her dinner tray down on the table and slipped the bag off of her shoulder. She was actually Maura's tent mate though as a roaming physician she was usually up before dawn and came in again after dark. But she was also known to help out around the camp.

"Hey Maura. How was the OR?"

"Busy." She replied tiredly. "How was the village?"

"Burnt to the ground with no survivors. Same with three other villages to the south." Jordan stuck a fork in the grey meat and picked it up to examine it, "They can say it's veal all they want, but it looks like a monkey's shoulder to me."

Maura glanced down to the meat she too wasn't sure was actually beef. When she looked back up to Jordan, she saw the pretty doctor cutting off a chunk and shoving it in her mouth.

"I take it back," She said as she chewed, "It's monkey butt and I'd rather eat my shoes."

Maura glanced down at the military grade combat boots her friend was wearing as Jordan dug into her satchel and pulled out a bottle of hot sauce and doused the meat before taking another bite. "That's not much better."

Maura watched as Jordan attacked the entire meat along with the instant mashed potatoes and creamed corn.

"Mmm, disgusting." Jordan said with a heavy dose of sarcasm. "My contempt to the chef."

"If it's so bad, why are you eating it?" Maura pushed her tray forward.

"Because." She said with a mouthful. "This is the Congo. God knows what can happen out there or when I'll get my next meal. This atrocity that's laughingly called food could be the very thing that gives me the strength to get out alive."

Seeing Maura's plate untouched she dug into her satchel again. "Besides, I don't have time to find a python, let alone cook one."

Maura snorted at Jordan's joke.

Jordan smiled and pulled out two bananas and held them up. "These aren't from Whole Foods, but you can call them organic since they've never been touched by human hands until I climbed my ass up in the tree to get them."

Maura smiled at Jordan's thoughtfulness. "You didn't have to do that."

"You need to eat, Maura." Jordan said sternly, "I know you're picky about food and we Bostonians have to stick together."

Maura inspected the fruit. Found it acceptable and ate them both as Jordan poured more hot sauce over Maura's tray and chewed up the discarded meat.

With something good in her belly, Maura felt her fatigue catching up to her.

Jordan caught the doctor by her shoulders as she drifted. "C'mon Maura." She said as she slipped the satchel strap over her head "Our little cots await us. Let's go pass out for ten minutes."

"Sounds good to me." Maura replied.

They slept for no more than six hours before a young black girl woke them up. "Guerillas attacked villages to the east! The wounded are coming in!" Jordan and Maura raced to the OR Tent.

The wounded kept coming all morning. Maura worked feverishly in the OR to save as many lives as she could along with every other surgeon in camp while Jordan and a handful of medics triaged outside in the open air.

Despite the workload, every few hours Jordan pulled Maura out of the tent for a few minutes of rest, something that annoyed Dr. Faulkner. Though a few well placed words of what Jordan would do to his genitals if he didn't get lost had the Aussie learning to tolerate the brief absences.

Fourteen hours later, Jordan sat an exhausted Maura back at the table in the mess tent. The blonde doctor was nearly falling down. Jordan put a tray of food in front of her with a mango she'd pulled out of her satchel.

"C'mon, Maura." Jordan pushed. "I know you're tired, trust me. You have to eat something."

"I'll eat tomorrow." She murmured . "Too tired."

Jordan shook her head. "No. Maura, listen to me. You have to eat, you have to eat right now. Just trust me on this."

Jordan cut a piece off the mango and put it to Maura's lips. "Maura, please. Eat."

Had she not been exhausted. Maura would have heard the urgent tone in Jordan's voice. She did however open her mouth as Jordan fed her.

"That's it. Chew and swallow. I'll do the rest."

Jordan avoided the so called roast beef that looked oddly like the mystery meat from yesterday cut into slices and smothered in goo. She instead alternated the Mango with the canned peas, wishing she had more of that awful mashed potatoes. A bottle of water was then shoved gently into Maura's mouth. The blonde dutifully drank from it. Jordan sighed after she had given Maura enough.

She then set about her own meal. Scarfing it down as quickly as she could while Maura napped at the table. She'd let her sleep as long as she could. Ten minutes later, her watch beeped twice.

"Maura." She shook the doctor. "Maura wake up. We have to go."

Maura groaned, "Bed."

"Don't I wish." She muttered and shoved her again, "C'mon. Wake up we have to go right now—"

A shrill whistle echoed into the night air in a declining tone right before the OR exploded. The force of the blast could be felt across the camp. Jordan shoved Maura to the ground at the whistle and threw herself over her friend. The blast wave shook the tent. Maura was instantly awake.

Gunfire erupted to the east as screams rang out.

"Shit!" Jordan shouted and pulled the metal cutlery off her tray before flipping the table on it's side. Stunned by the blast and the screams, Maura watched as Jordan threw a butter knife at the nearest light. The bulb shattered plunging a part of the tent into darkness. She did the same to the other two lamps using her fork and spoon.

Shrouded in the dark Jordan crouched next to Maura. "Time to go." She took Maura by the arm and dragged her to the back wall where she took a folding knife from her pocket and cut a hole in the tent. She stuck her head out and then shoved Maura through the opening.

"Jordan! We've got to help them!"

"You go out there and you'll be helping them through the Pearly Gates." Jordan barked, "Sorry, Maura, but I'm getting you out of here."

They crouched next to the generator and Jordan reached over to the controls and shut it off. The noisy thing sputtered and died. Jordan glanced around in the dark and whispered. "Okay. No more talking. We whisper."

Maura opened her mouth, but Jordan clamped a hand over it. She put a finger over her own mouth and turned slowly. Her knife in her hand, Jordan rose up slowly and flicked her wrist. Her knife arched in the night and embedded itself in the throat of a dark man in camo.

He fell and Jordan rushed over to him. Maura watched as Jordan collected things from him including hand grenades. She broke down his AK-47 and threw the firing pin into the dark. His ammo she shoved into her satchel.

Jordan returned and hustled Maura away from the body.

"Who are you?" She whispered.

Jordan didn't even break pace as she put them next to a group of tents that housed the medics.

"Your best chance at getting out of here." She replied.

Once concealed, Jordan dug in her bag and pulled out her Thermos. She unscrewed the bottom and pulled out a black strip that she wrapped around her throat like a collar. She then tucked something in her ear. She pulled out a first aid kit and opened it to reveal a small black box that she hooked to her pants. Next, she took out a canteen and cracked it in half before assembling the pistol that was inside complete with a long black cylinder on the end.

She then touched her throat. "This is Patch. Anyone copy?"

"Patch to Strike 3, anyone copy."

She looked east. "I have India. Foxtrot, Tango and Delta were in the catcher's position when it blew. No sign of Romeo or Sierra. Looking for a way to home plate, asap."

Silence and Maura realized that Jordan was using some kind of radio.

"Copy that. Yankee Stadium Section Four."

Two men ran across their limited view. Jordan sighted and dropped them with two quiet coughs of her pistol. Maura shrieked at the deaths.

"Whoa there." Jordan covered her mouth. "No noise like that or were dead." She grabbed Maura's arm and dragged her away.

"Who are you, Jordan?"

"I swear I'll explain everything later." She kept a careful eye all around them. "For now, we need to get to the southwest edge of the camp. There are a lot of bad guys between us and where we need to be so stick close, don't make a sound, and we'll be having drinks at O'Brien's on Boylston before you know it."

Maura followed Jordan as they made their way around the camp. Twice more Jordan killed rebels they came across. Finally they reached the edge.

"See those wooden crates over there?" Jordan pointed in the dark.

Maura looked but could barely see them. "Yes."

"We're going to have to run for it." Jordan froze as a jeep rode at breakneck speeds around the camp. The guy on the back opened up the big machine gun.

"Hawk, this is Patch. I've got a runner at second. Need a tag out." Jordan said to no one. "Sure can."

Maura watched as Jordan pulled a round object out of her bag. As she gripped it, Maura realized it was a grenade, Jordan pulled the pin and slung her arm out. The grenade sailed away and dropped not far from the jeep.

BOOM! The jeep flipped over.

Three rebels recovered and started firing wildly in all directions. Jordan covered Maura with her own body.

Three cracks echoed through the camp from the hills and the gunfire stopped. Jordan eased up and looked around. Maura looked two. The three rebels lay in awkward positions, not moving.

"Nice pitch, Hawk." Jordan said and turned back to Maura. "Okay. Time to run. Ready?"

Maura nodded with frightened eyes.

"Go!" Jordan shoved her.

Maura took off for the dark silhouettes about two hundred yards away with Jordan right behind her. They made it about half way when a truck full of soldiers spotted them. With its brights on the truck stopped and the rebel soldiers jumped out shooting.

The ground around them exploded in small divots. Jordan pushed Maura harder.

"Patch, taking fire!" She shouted.

Something bright sizzled passed several feet above them before the truck was turned into a fireball. It was enough to where they made it to the boxes and crates. Only after they were hidden inside did Maura realize where they were.

The wooden crates were filled with bloody gauze, bandages, and clothes.

Maura cringed at the massive Biohazard of the camp's medical dump. The boxes and crates were scheduled to be burned next week. The stench of rotting waste was enough to make Maura want to take her chances with the rebels.

"This is Patch. I have the ball at third. Looking for a throw to home plate." The boxes erupted in splinters as several rebels opened up on their hideout.

"God damn it, Pain!" Jordan shouted. "Where the hell are you!?"

A dark shadow dove into the boxes at a breakneck pace. Maura almost screamed as the shadow rolled to its feet, brandishing a mean looking rifle. The sound was deafening as it sent automatic fire towards the camp. Ten seconds later the shadow fell silent and turned to them. Face painted black with eyes as black as night. Maura could just make out that it was a woman. Dark hair pulled tight beneath a black bandanna with white teeth when she smiled, "You called for a rescue?"

"Rescue, my ass." Jordan snorted. "When have I ever needed a rescue?"

The soldier cocked a hip and one handedly rested her rifle on it, "Hey, you're the one who called to be pulled out."

Jordan snorted. "Pulled out and rescued are two different things."

Someone shot at them. The soldier spun and sent a three round burst in return.

"So as nice as your place is, how about if..." Her voice trailed off as she tipped her head. "Copy Butch. I'll take her along the Yankee Second baseline."

Jordan snickered at nothing.

"Bite me!" The soldier barked.

"He's got your number." Jordan laughed.

"I got his too." She raised a heavily booted foot in the air, "My size nine straight into his twins."

Jordan snickered then tipped her head, both women looked over the boxes to the south.

"Copy that, Butch." Jordan said and turned back to Maura. "Hey, I gotta go see if I can save Dr. Scotten, but my friend here is going to take you out of here."

"Jordan." Maura protested.

"Hey, it's okay. My friend here is from Boston, too." She smiled. "Plus, I got more friends out there too, New Yorkers mostly, but I'll catch up."

She looked to Pain, and leveled a finger, "Not a scratch."

Pain pulled a stick out of her combat vest and held it up. "Alive and in good order."

Jordan took the stick and started rubbing it on her face, turning it black.

The soldier touched her throat, her husky voice was hard as stone, "Pain to Home Team. Line drive to Home Plate. Watch for the Visitors. I have the ball."

Jordan patted Maura's shoulder. "Do what she says and you'll make it out of this, Maura. There is no one better to keep you safe than my friend, Painkiller."

Before Maura could speak, Jordan ran away from the boxes at full speed.

She watched until she heard a loud click behind her.

Pain pulled a drum magazine out of a pouch and slapped it in place on her rifle. She racked the weapon and made a quick circle, "Okay, Doc, I was a champion marathon runner, all I ask is that you run like you're going to die if you slow down. Listen and do what I say and I'll have you out of here in ten minutes." She held a fingerless gloved hand out. Maura hesitantly took it. Pain pulled her to her feet and led her to the edge of the hideout.

"Southey. Give me the baseline." Pain said.

A green dot of light appeared on a box next to them. "Okay, that's my friend from Southey," she pulled Maura into the line. "He's marking the way for us with his laser sight. Remember where he's at because that's where we're heading. Got it?" She nodded to the dark and the dot disappeared.

Maura looked up at her. "If you get too far off the line, he'll shine you in the eyes. Run as hard as you can." Maura nodded as the soldier touched her throat, "Pain has the ball. Batter up!"

Maura ran harder than she ever had before. Every now and again the green laser hit her in the eyes and she adjusted. Suddenly more gunfire erupted around them, a loud hiss filled the air.

"Get down!" The soldier shoved her nearly face first into the ground.

* * *

"Keep moving, Doc." Pop, pop, pop, "Almost there."

She was almost to the trees when a guerrilla stepped out of the jungle directly in front of her.

The guerrilla raised his rifle but before he could shoot, an arm wrapped around his throat as a knife was plunged into his chest. The rebel was jerked into the jungle.

"Keep going!" Came the shout behind her.

Maura ran head first into the jungle. She made it ten yards before the arm grabbed her by the waist, Maura fought hard.

"Easy, Doctor Isles." A thick Irish brogue whispered. "You're safe now."

A second later, "She's not safe yet, Southey."

Pain stepped up next to them. While Maura was breathing hard, Pain hadn't even broken a sweat. "This is Painkiller, crossed home plate at Fenway 3. I have the ball." She listened. "Bruises yes, scratches no. Calm down Patch."

Maura had enough. "Who the hell are you people?"

Pain turned her head to the Doctor. "We're an American Special Forces team sent here to retrieve you from the warzone. You ever seen the A-Team? We're the real deal."

Maura sank to her knees.

"Oh no." Pain grabbed her by the shoulders. "No. We can't stay here. Those guerrillas will be coming here soon."

They both got that distant look again. "Copy. Moving out." Pain moved straight into Maura's face. "Hey. I know you're tired. Can you walk?"

Maura nodded in fatigue.

"Okay, that's good. Give me ten minutes at a good pace and I'll let you take a nap. Okay?"

Maura nodded again and Pain could tell that she was fading.

"Southey, help her up." The man helped get the doctor on her feet.

As the woman started walking Southey caught Pain by the arm. "She's got heart."

Pain nodded. "Yeah. But this is just the beginning of her day."

Pain gathered the Doc and led the way.

* * *

Ten minutes later they were looking out over the field on a small ridge. The camp was in flames, but the screaming had stopped. Pain parked Maura against a tree and pulled her pack off her vest. She dug through it and pulled out some kind of scope.

"Hawk, I'm set up." She said to nothing and looked through the scope at the camp.

"Yeah. No trouble seeing him. He's got more gold on his shoulders then the Pentagon. So one Commander, one Lieutenant, and a couple of Sergeants."

Maura watched in silence as her fatigue crept in.

"Okay. Last time she got two officers. I got a bottle that says Hawk can't take three on one."

Southey crouched next to Maura and pulled something out of his ear. He smiled and put it in the doctor's ear.

"Just make sure the mission takes priority over your wagers." A woman's velvety voice broke through.

Both in person and in her ear, Maura heard Pain's voice.

"Copy Butch. Primary is next to the mess tent, south end." She chuckled, "Their looking over Patch's work."

"I got him. Range is good. Expedite 3-2-3." Came a third woman's voice.

"Expedite." Pain said.

A crack in the distance and a groan from Pain.

"Oh! You bitch." Pain grumbled. "Sonuva. She got him, the second and a damn grunt too."

"Expedite 3-2-4."

"Take him." Pain said.

Another crack in the night. "There goes the sergeant. They're out."

"Copy that. Butch to Home Team. Bug out, rendezvous at the locker room."

Pain repacked the scope as Southey took his earpiece back and stuck it in his ear. He frowned as Pain pulled her parachute harness out of her bag, "You're not going to do what I think you are."

As she carried the harness to the doctor she looked up at him, "No I got it, I don't want to hear you bitch all the way up the hill."

"I bitch because I care."

Pain held her hand out to the doctor, "I need you to stand up."

The doctor let the woman pull her to her exhausted feet and frowned as the dark woman set the harness on her and began to strap her into it.

"What are you doing?"

Pain looked up at her as she latched the waist-belt, "I promised that you could take a nap, but we've got a long march ahead of us so I'm taking care of both."

Southey shook his head, "She's going to strap you to her back so you can sleep."

Pain nodded with a mischievous grin, "Trust me, I'm the best ride in the park."

Southey grumbled something indistinguishable as Pain strapped the doctor's legs along her buttocks.

Within a few moments, Southey attached the harness with the doctor in it to the back of Pain's combat vest. He grabbed Pain's pack and clipped it to the front of her. "I can carry this." He said

"Are you trying to fuck me up?" She griped, "I need the balance."

He nodded as she took two straps from the pack and looped them under the doctor's knees. Southey took the ends and latched them together through the hand loop on the top of Pain's rucksack. "Okay, you're good."

She nodded, and touched her throat, "Painkiller moving out."

Over her shoulder she looked at Maura. "So all I ask is that you use my shoulder, not my head as a pillow."

Even though she was exhausted, Maura looked at her, "How could I sleep like this?"

She smirked at her as they started off into the jungle, "It's easy, put your head on my shoulder and listen to my breathing."

It was only about five minutes before Maura was fast asleep.