CHAPTER 41

GODDAMN VENEZUELA

"I thought Delta would be called. It's their specialty, and they know the Venezuelan Death Squad tactics better than any other DEVGRU team" Sonny said in the briefing room, confused, to no one in particular.

The room was quiet for a second, and Blackburn answered. "Yes, you're right. But their latest op took a turn and they can't get out. And the CIA asset seem to have urgent intel, requiring immediate action to rescue the CIA agent held captive" he said, stern.

"Am I going alone? Or will Nick join me?" Dianna politely asked, standing up at the back of the room, next to Sonny. She was going as an interrogator and to assist the op there, she didn't plan the op, so she was getting her intel with the rest of the guys.

Jason snorted, but Davis ignored his grumpiness. "Nick is still caught at that other CIA mission. They have a CIA agent there to pass you the intel they have".

"Ok guys, that's it. Wheels up in 90 mikes. We're all going to Venezuela".

"Fucking Venezuela" Sonny muttered. The entire team seemed to be in a bitter mood that day.

"I thought Delta would be here" Jessica said, surprised, as soon as Bravo Team got inside the building they were using as the Command Center for that mission.

But Davis, Blackburn and Dianna were just as surprised to see her. "You're with Delta now?" Davis asked, politely. She knew Jessica wouldn't like them so much, since obviously Dianna took her place.

"I'm not linked to any group anymore, just assisting when necessary. I mostly deal with assets now" she explained, stern. "I like it" she added, cocky.

"Good for you" Dianna said, sincerely. "What have you got so far?"

Jessica sat down, to explain. "My asset is a British doctor that passed all the information we needed. The guys can go for the op immediately, if they want. And the sooner the better, because we're afraid that the Venezuelans will move our agent and we'd loose track of him. He was captured as an oil businessman, fortunately. But I don't know for how long his cover will last".

"Is our asset already here? Can I talk to him now?" Dianna asked. She needed to confirm the information, and it was the protocol. That's why she was there.

"No, he took his flight already. We were afraid that the Venezuelans went after him, so we couldn't keep him here until you arrived. Sorry, but his safety comes first".

"The agent told him something, or did he noticed something different lately?" Dianna insisted.

Jessica thought for a moment. "No. Just what I told you guys, really. He was really scared, so honestly I don't think he could have gone back there not even one more time".

Blackburn clapped his hands. "Well, that's that then. I'll tell the guys about the intel, we'll have a quick briefing, and probably Jason will agree to go immediately".

"Ray" Dianna called, almost whispering, just when Ray was leaving the briefing, and he came closer, stern. "I couldn't confirm the intel from the asset. That's not the protocol, and Jessica might have not gathered all the information necessary. Maybe she missed something", she stated, concerned.

"Are you saying we shouldn't go? Because we need more than just a hunch to cancel the op, Dianna" he said, a bit annoyed. He knew Dianna and Jason had some terrible fight almost a week earlier and they weren't even talking to each other, but these kind of things obviously she should tell Bravo One, and not him.

"I know, Ray. Just, be extra careful. Like, anything you can do to make it safer, or any extra precaution you can take, do it. Please".

Ray felt she was sincere and had a point, so he nodded. He'd have to convince Jason that anything like that was his own idea, though. He could never know that Dianna said something like that, he didn't even want to hear her name lately. Ray tried to find out what happened, but he didn't say anything and now the entire team was caught in the middle.

"I like wearing black. And the mask is cool" Clay joyfully said, when they finished putting on their gear and taking their weapons. "Ray had a great idea".

"True" Jason agreed, tapping on Ray's back. "It's an extra precaution, but since Davis told you she felt unsure about the number of soldiers guarding the agent, it's best to be safe, right".

So the guys went out for the op, all dressed in black and wearing masks on their faces, like the ones used by the Venezuelan Special Police, known as the Venezuelan Death Squad. From the intel they had, there were only a few soldiers in the building, and it wouldn't be that hard for them to rescue the CIA agent undercover, but since it was Jessica's asset, they were preparing for any surprises. They didn't trust her much anymore. Dianna said goodbye to the guys, as usual, but for the first time she didn't tell Jason to be safe or careful. He lowered his mask right when he was approaching her, so she ignored him too. Dianna felt her heart squeeze, and she didn't know if it was because of the op itself, or from the mask Jason was wearing. It gave her the chills.

Even Jessica seemed a bit anxious watching the guys leave, walking around the Command room and looking around.

"Fuck" Jason grunted, when they were received by a lot more soldiers than they expected. Fortunately, they passed the gate quickly because they were wearing the death masks, and inside the building the first soldiers also hesitated, mistaking them for members of the VSP, and they had finally reached the CIA agent and another prisoner they kept there, but it would be a hard way out of the building.

"One, this is HAVOC. I can see from the drone images that there are two black SUVs heading your way, possible from VSP".

"We'll have to run guys, come on. Four, do you have visual of the vehicles?"

"One, this is Four. Confirmed, I have visual, they are distant, approximately 2 mikes".

"Let's not get caught in the fire. We'll have to get out before they arrive", Jason said, as soon as they finally arrived back to their vehicles, and all of them got inside and shoved the agent and the other prisoner they rescued inside. They barely made out of the place before the SUVs were approaching, but Jason and the guys sighed, relieved.

"HAVOC, this is One. We passed Coburn. We're returning to Base".

"One, this is good copy", Blackburn said, on the comms.

"HAVOC, this is One. We're 10 mikes from Base" Jason said, but the comms were failing.

Suddenly they heard Blackburn's voice again, but it gave them the chills.

"Bravo One, this is HAVOC. You're in the blind. HAVOC's been compromised. I say it again, HAVOC's been compromised".

"Move, move. Move!" Jason yelled at Brock, desperate to get to their Base as soon as possible, and the two vehicles were making their way fast there, when Jason saw the second vehicle being hit by a black SUV, and they were ambushed by another SUV, too, obviously from VSP.

They merely got out of the car to fight the ambush, and they heard on the comms even worse news from Blackburn.

"Bravo One, HAVOC has fallen".

"Fuck" Dianna said as soon as she saw the security cameras being flooded with the soldiers from VSP. She, Davis, Jessica, Blackburn and another CIA agent were alone at the building, and had just watched Bravo's op almost go down the hill, but they barely felt relief when they got out of there, then Davis saw men around their Base. They immediately started to gather vests and guns, and Blackburn said they needed to destroy all computers, so Jessica immediately said she'd take care of that and disconnected the computers and gathered documents. Now that they saw the security cameras that there were a lot of VSP soldiers getting in, Blackburn let Bravo know they were fucked, and Dianna and Davis were still taking their guns when Dianna saw a missile being launched from the security camera.

"Incoming" she let everyone know, and hunched down, quickly. She was really disliking missiles lately.

The missile hit downstairs and everyone was ok, but the energy was cut and they had no security camera images anymore.

"HAVOC, this is One. We have troops in contact, and one of our vehicles is down. We'll get to you as soon as we can" Jason said, and now Dianna was concerned about the guys, too, but she had to focus, like they certainly were.

Blackburn estimated more than ten VSP soldiers surrounding the building, so he looked at Dianna and Jessica.

"VSP has us surrounded. We have to call it" he stated, and they nodded.

"Initiate Siege Protocol" Jessica declared.

Everyone geared up with vests, guns, grenades and weapons of all sorts, anything that they knew how to shoot, and Dianna was glad that she trained at The Farm and knew how to handle the heavier ones, if not, she'd be screwed.

Blackburn went with the CIA agent to the gate, while Dianna started to barricade some entrances, and Davis stood behind with Jessica to destroy the computers and intel. Dianna heard an explosion, and only Blackburn came back, making barricades behind him to impede their advance, stating that the agent was dead from the blast and that the soldiers blew up the gate and were coming in.

Dianna joined Blackburn to contain the wave of attack, and they put two grenades under a chair and a cabinet to impede the advance of the VSP soldiers. They kept waiting, but they didn't hear anything, not even the voices of the soldiers anymore. Dianna stared at Blackburn, from the corner where she was, and he was confused too, when all of a sudden she heard a low noise and Blackburn received a gunshot, apparently on his left arm, coming from the left side of where Dianna was. She hunched down, lost, and when she was about to turn to see where it was coming from, she felt a knock on her head, and it all went dark.

The guys from Bravo Team were impatient to get to Base, but they had to prepare an ambush against another two SUVs that were getting closer, so it took even longer than they thought. They arrived at Base and there were no vehicles or soldiers there, for their despair.

"Blue, blue" Jessica yelled, when she came out of a door, with her arms raised, so the guys knew she was friendly.

"What happened? Where is everyone?" Jason quickly asked her, his head exploding with tension.

Jessica sighed and said, with a shaky voice, "They're gone. They got them. They invaded and I managed to hide in the safe room, but I was the only one".

The guys were all in silence for a second, digesting her terrible words. "Where did they take them? Where?" Jason immediately asked.

"I don't know" she started to cry, "I can't believe they took them". And she was inconsolable, and useless to Jason like that.

"Think, Jessica, for God sake" Jason pleaded, now holding her arm, with Sonny next to him, and Ray behind, trying to calm Jason down.

"They took the girls" Jessica said, desperate, not even listening to Jason.

Jason now was on the edge of insanity. "What do VSP soldiers do to women? Huh. Tell me. Now" he dangerously asked, close to her face.

Jessica sniffed, trying to calm herself down. "Nothing like that. No. They don't touch them. Usually no", she stated, and Jason didn't know if he felt really relieved, but Jessica continued "But they do hurt them, yes", she said, blinking, trying to digest her own words.

"Jessica" Ray intervened, because Jason and Sonny were about to shake her until she thought of something, "please, tell us anything you know about VSP. Any place they could've taken them. Make an effort. You know these people. They saved your ass before" he pleaded, stern.

Jessica blinked again, nodding. "You're right. U-hum. I think I know where they could be. I think. I need to help them".

Ah, crap.

Dianna woke up inside an ugly room, feeling dizzy and with a headache. The room had peeled paint and ugly floor, with stains of blood in it, and she saw a laundry sink near her, under a window. She knew the methods of torture of VSP soldiers, and they were pretty blunt and efficient. She also knew they hated American military soldiers to their guts, and sold CIA agents to their partners, usually Russians, but most likely Hezbollah. So she had to make it clear to them that she was from the Agency, so they wouldn't torture her that much.

She also knew that they rarely sexually abused their prisoners, because that was frowned upon between their soldiers. But as in any place filled with men, nothing is guaranteed. So for that reason, she needed to make herself even more valuable.

She was still thinking when the room door was open and a guy came in and placed two chairs in front of her, forming a triangle. Then another guy dragged Blackburn and sat him on one chair, and Dianna tried to not show any emotion, but her heart shrunk when she saw that they already beat him up, because he had a bruise on his eye and was hunched, probably they punched his stomach, too. And his arm had a shot wound, that kept bleeding. Now she was concerned about Davis, too, and soon enough they dragged Davis, but she was still unharmed, apart from a cut on her head, probably they knocked her out too. They sat her on the third chair, and Dianna knew they'd beat the women in front of the man, to make him talk. Then they'd beat him too, to make the women talk. And so on. And probably, they'd pretend they'd rape the girls to make Blackburn talk. And he probably would, then. Dianna had to make sure he understood that they were only going to pretend to do that. But they'd beat them up, yes, she was very aware of that, and so was Blackburn and Davis, while the three of them stared at each other, stern.

Dianna knew that in the instant she said something to them, one of the two soldiers in the room would start to beat her to shut her up, so she prepared herself psychologically, because if she did that now, she'd prevent them from being tortured in worse ways, at least. VSP used a lot of ways of torture, far worse than beating.

Diana licked her lips and mumbled, in perfect and clear english, to them. She had to try.

"Don't tell them who we work for, they'll sell us to Hezbollah".

She barely finished her sentence, and barely saw Davis and Blackburn looking at her, alarmed, and she felt a punch directly on her cheek and nose. It took a couple of seconds, but that hurt. Her nose was definitely broken. She knew that because she had broken her nose before, more than a decade ago.

"Shut up slut" the soldier said, with a heavy accent. Then Davis moved on her chair, angry, and they hit her too. Blackburn grunted, and they punched him on his arm. It was a circle of pain. But the soldiers then stopped and looked at each other, and one of them left to talk to his superior, probably, about what Dianna said. The other one was alone, but the three of them were very well tied up, so the guy decided to try something else. He got a cloth and placed it on Dianna's face, holding her head back. Fuck. She hated that method, because it almost drives a person insane. But she trained for it, and it didn't break her, so she took a deep breath as soon as she felt the first drops of water falling. She heard the soldier laughing as he drowned her.

"Come on, what the fuck" Jason yelled at Brock to drive faster, as if he wasn't feeling enough pressure, and Sonny and Ray were with him in the car. Jessica stayed behind, hidden and waiting for the rescue, but told them about the building, because she had 'some' intel that could 'possibly' be where they tortured their prisoners. They were desperate, they had to try.

"Jason, I'm in charge. We'll get there in time, ok? We will" Ray told him, firm and a bit annoyed. Jason knew he'd possibly make terrible decisions to rescue the girls and Blackburn, so he said that Ray should lead this rescue op. But he still had to meddle, because he was terrified that they wouldn't make it in time and they were heavily tortured, or sold to Hezzbolah, or worse. He stopped his mind from thinking too much about it, because he'd go insane, and they finally arrived at the building. It was almost dawn, and they had to act fast to get there, but he'd kill everyone he had to. He'd protect his brothers, for sure, but he'd get to that room and get Dianna. Alive or alive. There was no other option, or he could never live with the guilt.

Dianna finally felt the water stopping, but she was already feeling her lungs, throat and brain burn, and suffocating to her limit. The cloth was removed from her face, and she barely threw up the water and another soldier, someone superior, it seemed, put his face close to hers, asking who she worked for, if it was CIA or what. With the corner of her eye, she saw Davis drowning, and Blackburn was watching, desperate. She barely heard the soldier, but they punched her stomach, taking away whatever oxygen she had left in her lungs. She passed out.

When she woke up again, she was slapped by the superior, and then slapped on the other side, with the back of his hand, just in case. She finally opened her eyes, and the superior held her hair up, showing to Blackburn, while she saw another soldier holding the hair of Davis up, too. They laughed as they started to graze their weapons on their breast, teasing Blackburn, who was shivering with anger, looking at them, and Dianna shook her head slightly, smirking, for him to not believe the scene. The superior saw it and slapped her again. They started to graze their weapons on her face and torso, now threatening to shoot her too, her and Davis, and Dianna just stared blankly ahead. There were a lot of screams at the same time. She wished she could find out how long it had been until they were captured, because it was almost dawn, from the window she could see. Bravo would have difficulties rescuing them during the day, she'd probably have to be tortured another entire day, she thought. That wasn't good.

She dozed off, like she did during her training, singing a song in her head.

There was one she was liking a lot lately, it wasn't new but the Spotify recommended. It was cute and melancholic. And contained irony in the end, just like the story of her life.

I think of the night in the park, it was getting dark, and we stayed up for hours

[Davis told the soldier to fuck off, and got another strong slap]

What a time, what a time, what a time

You clinged to my body like you wanted it forever

[The soldier stopped grazing Dianna with the gun and punched her ear with it. She stared back at the wall]

What a time, what a time, what a time

For you and I, for you and I

I think of the night in the park, it was getting dark and we stayed up for hours

[Dianna saw something splatter in front of her, from the left, and felt drops on her face]

What a lie, what a lie, what a lie

You clinged to my body like-

"Take the shot, Two" Jason commanded, behind Ray, but he was determined.

"I don't have it, One" he said, firm.

Jason couldn't stand this anymore. They got into the room and shot two of the VSP soldiers, but the last one quickly grabbed Dianna and took her with him, dragging her in front of him with his back against the wall. With a gun pointed at her head. The soldier knew he had the advantage there, and he had an exit rout just behind him. And was heading there.

"Six?" Jason pleaded.

"I don't have the shot" Clay answered, from his right.

And Jason didn't have the shot either, but he was terrified that the soldier would escape with Dianna or shoot her and leave, and he wasn't thinking straight. Because he could see Dianna had heir hair wet and her face with bruises. She appeared lost in a haze, but she finally seemed to notice them.

Suddenly Dianna smiled, and the guys thought she was insane, but Clay and Ray knew better. She was signaling to them, and she looked at Ray, who was right next to Jason, while she held three fingers on the side of her body, both her hands were tied behind her back. The soldier kept yelling to back off and dragging her, and she kept two fingers up, the soldier didn't see that. Then he shook her a bit, and she left one finger up.

Then Dianna suddenly bent her torso to her right, violently, opening the aim just a bit, for a second, and both Ray and Clay took the shot on a heartbeat.

Jason watched, horrified, as she fell to the floor, and he knew exactly what she did. She dislocated her left shoulder, maybe even ripping tendons with it, to be able to twist enough for the guys to take the shot, because the soldier was holding her arm close.

He ran to her, while Clay checked to see if the soldier was really dead, which he was.

"Dianna" Jason shook her, and she was just laying there, peaceful, and looked at him.

"Hi" she smiled, but only for a second, because the pain suddenly hit her, now that the adrenaline was gone, and she yelled, crying, and Trent ran to them.

Dianna grabbed Jason's vest with the right hand, with a pleading face. "Jason, it hurts. Give me something. I thought it would hurt less" she was crying, and it broke Jason's heart. Trent jabbed a needle with morphine at her leg to alleviate the pain, even though not completely, and she now was groggy and couldn't stand up.

The rest of the guys had already untied Blackburn and Davis, and they were standing up, while Ray and Clay had checked the roof and they were clear, but they had to leave immediately, because other VSP soldiers were definitely coming.

Jason carried Dianna on his shoulder, remembering when he did that at the cabin, right after she forgave him. But this time she wasn't laughing next to him. He only heard her quiet cry.

.