AN1 The Deserters assignment concludes. Haven't read the previous chapter posted 24 hours ago yet? Please do. Leaving a review for it is totally cool too; just sayin'
Red Team, Mobility troop, G Squadron, 22 SAS
Callsign: Romeo-One-Zero-Bravo
Red One: Captain Richard Wallace
Red Two: Staff Sergeant Chris MacDonald
Red Three: Sergeant Cole Barker
Red Four: Corporal Chuck Bartowski
Red Five: Corporal Daniel 'Big Dan' Thomas
Red Six: Trooper John Murray
Red Seven: Trooper Jamie Hughes
Red Eight: Trooper Sarah Walker
Red Nine: Trooper Bryce 'Speedy Gonzales' Larkin
Red Ten: Morgan Grimes, Box 500
Command and Control
Gold One: Colonel Philip Wood
Gold Two: Chief Superintendent Smith
Who Dares Wins
Chapter Thirty-Three: Lockdown: Part Twelve: Deserters: Finale
Monday, 12 November, 2007
Hinkley Point
Nuclear Power Station
Somerset
07:30 hours
Red Team arrived in their two service vehicles at the security checkpoint entrance to the nuclear power station that the convoy they had been tasked with protecting was scheduled to depart in ninety minutes.
Staff Sergeant Chris MacDonald was driving the lead vehicle, while Jamie Hughes had control of the second.
Pulling their vehicles to a stop in convoy, SSgt MacDonald promptly identified himself to the guard at the checkpoint, and the team were soon cleared to enter the base.
Driving deeper into the facility, Chris and Jamie navigated their way towards the control room, which had been acting as the operations room for the SAS for their assignment, where the vehicles soon stopped.
The closely-bonded unit disembarked from the vehicles, formed into a pack, and headed into the control room together, where most of the police escort for this operation was already in place and waiting to be briefed on today's assignment.
As soon as the crack SAS unit entered the building, all chatter amongst the policemen and women stopped dead in its tracks.
The entire room turned to look at Red Team's arrival. Each police officer's expressions quickly began to fill up with confusion, with many brows narrowing, and multiple heads proceeded to nod other police officers towards the vicinity of Red Team's arrival.
"They look pleased to see us," Cole whispered quietly to his teammates, glancing at the boys in blue who were looking back at Cole and the rest of the team.
"Which is more than I can say for us about them, mate," Jamie replied, shaking his head in frustration, with those frustrations stemming entirely from this nightmare mission.
Red Team quickly nodded at their comrade's words, as none of the team was best pleased nor excited about having to transport some of the most dangerous materials that the world had ever seen in tandem with this police force, which already had one confirmed member of the workforce belonging to the very same faction that was looking to attack the convoy!
"I wonder how many of them are in bed with this lot who are gonna make a move on us today?" Bryce asked quietly while shifting his glance around every police officer standing or seated in front of him, while the police personnel were glancing back at Bryce and his teammates in kind, with many questions of their own.
"Fuck knows, fella," Big Dan said as he too was giving the eyeball to every police officer in his line of sight, "Let's just get this nightmare op over and done with and get back to Hereford in one piece."
Red Team nodded, and they moved to take seats inside the control room.
07:45 hours
"Good morning, ladies and gentlemen," Chief Superintendent Smith started the final briefing before the commencement of the mission, "As those in my force present inside this room are no doubt by now aware, during today's transport of plutonium to the Sizewell nuclear station, our force will have some extra company. I am sure that our finest hospitality will be shown to the soldiers who will be with you in this convoy, who will also have full command and oversight over the protective measures of the convoy."
Immediate groans in complaint erupted throughout the entire police contingent, totalling twelve men and two women.
"We can do our jobs without any extra help or babysitting!" a police officer complained and was met by loud agreements from the rest of the police force in attendance.
"I'm sure you can, ladies and gentlemen. We're here just if needed," Colonel Wood calmly defused the complaints.
"So much for them being here for training," another police officer complained.
However, the comments of this particular police officer were enough to irritate Colonel Wood, Captain Wallace, Chief Superintendent Smith, and his second in command.
"That's enough!" Chief Super Smith quickly rebuked his officer, "Plans change, deal with it," he paused, shaking his head briefly, still irritated by the conduct of his force in the briefing so far, which embarrassed the veteran police officer because it had only just started, "Now if there are no further complaints, then let us all show our army friends that this force is widely adaptable, and can cater to any mission scenario it embarks upon."
The room was now silent, and Chief Superintendent Smith nodded at Colonel Wood to continue the briefing.
"Mission details are as follows…."
A few minutes later
"Faced with the extremely high likelihood that an attack on this shipment will occur at some point today, air support for as much of the journey as possible has been arranged," Colonel Wood stated.
Red Team and the armed nuclear police contingent processed the remarks, although the elite SAS squad was already aware of that information.
"Unless the Chief Superintendent has anything to add, that concludes the briefing?" Colonel Wood asked, glancing at the Chief Super.
The Chief Super nodded at his army counterpart before turning his attention to the gathering of soldiers and police officers.
"All phones are to be handed in before everyone leaves this room, no exceptions," Chief Superintendent Smith commanded, with no room for negotiation in his tone.
The Chief Super's demands led to instantaneous voicings of complaint from his police contingent, who reluctantly rose to stand and proceeded one by one to place their devices onto a large desk at the front of the control room.
"They'll still be there when you get back," the Chief Super asserted, sensing the annoyance within the members of his force.
Meanwhile, Red Team remained in their seats, and they watched the activity in great amusement, occasionally glancing at each other with smirks, each feeling incredibly content with the frustrations of their police counterparts.
Neither the police nor the army had a great rapport or understanding. The police held a general contempt towards SAS units whenever a previous active situation required their presence. While the SAS units assigned to operations involving liaising with a police unit generally took issue with the stubborn mentality of a typical police officer who had too much pride to accept the expertise offered on an assignment by the SAS unit.
Today was no different, nor would any future assignment that had the SAS working with the police be. However, one key difference, at least during this assignment, was that it appeared that the police commander, and the SAS colonel, seemed to have a pretty remarkable understanding and rapport with each other, which was uncommon…
Once every phone had been handed in, a police officer turned to look at Red Team, who remained seated and watched on in glee.
"How come they don't have to hand theirs in?" the police officer asked with a substantial portion of resentment and bitterness.
"That's 'cause we left all of our phones at our base, which is our standard OPSEC, so we don't have any to hand in, mate," Jamie said.
Multiple police officers scoffed at Jamie's reply.
"Yeah, right," the police officer who made the initial comment replied, "And I'm not your mate."
Red Team instantly broke out with loud winces in a strongly ridiculing way.
"Touchy," Big Dan laughed before turning serious, "But my mate is right. You won't find any phones on us, and you can come and search me to find that out yourself if you want, fella?"
The police officer didn't reply to Big Dan's invitation.
John Murray could not resist provoking the police officers further, "Besides, we don't have the need to call anyone, fella."
"Are you implying that we do?" another police officer asked, giving John Murray a stern glance while the rest of the police officers were giving Red Team the eyeball again, which the SAS unit returned to them.
"Why else would you need your phones that you seem so reluctant to part with?" Cole Barker asked back.
"Gentlemen!" Colonel Wood suddenly interrupted the exchange between the soldiers and police officers, "So hard as it may be to believe, we are all on the same side, with the same goal, which is to ensure the safe delivery of this dangerous material from plant to plant-"
"Until some of them stab us in the back, and the shit hits the fan because of it," Bryce interrupted his CO, speaking under his breath but loud enough for everyone in the room to at least hear some volume.
The four senior officials of the mission gave Bryce a direct, sharp stare for his unwise intervention.
"Did you have something to share with the group, Trooper Larkin?" Captain Wallace asked, pointing unamusedly at Bryce in a formal reprimand kind of way.
"He said he can't wait to get started, Boss," Big Dan, who was seated next to Bryce, said, bailing out his teammate, as Red Team started to shake their heads and all of them except for Chris MacDonald attempted to hold in any form of laughter because there would be trouble if they didn't.
"That's what I thought he said," Captain Wallace replied as both officers continued to give Bryce the eyeball for his comments. If this carried on any further, there would be formalised verbal reprimands for the entire unit under their command.
"You have your orders. Dismissed," Colonel Wood dismissed the briefing before things did get out of hand.
Red Team finally rose to stand, and both teams began to depart the control room to prepare for their departure.
A few minutes later
Red Team and the police unit tasked with escorting the plutonium convoy for the two-hundred and eighty-mile journey had just finished their final weapons and equipment checks at their respective service vehicles.
The elite squad, minus Chris, began to walk to the police vehicles to inform them of their ready status and inquire about theirs.
Staff Sergeant MacDonald, meanwhile, had departed to inform the Colonel, Captain Wallace, and Morgan—of which the latter two would be part of the convoy—that his team were ready and that the convoy would be departing imminently, so their presence was required.
Arriving at the location of the police team, both units turned their attention toward each other.
"Ready when you are," Cole Barker declared as cordially as possible.
But it appeared that a police officer had taken offence with the chosen words.
"Excuse me? Ready when you are? It's not a race, but FYI, we too are ready," the police officer said.
Red Team instantly shook their heads.
The police officer had succeeded in getting under their skin.
"Fucking hell!" Big Dan complained unamused, still shaking his head, "Everything is always drama with your lot; every time, it never fails."
"We could say the same about you," another cop said, "Everywhere you go, it's gunfire and explosions, always making a scene and showing that you're better than everyone else."
Scoffs erupted throughout most of the Mobility troop contingent.
While Sarah pointed at the offending police officer who made those comments, and she said, "There's only one team here causing drama, and that's you."
Scoffs now erupted throughout the police contingent.
"Trust the woman on the team to make the biggest scene," a male police officer said, rolling his eyes at Sarah.
While another went even further and remarked while laughing to his colleague who had just made that comment, "But you wouldn't say no to, nor toss her out of your bed, Gary, you'd be a fool if you did," which caused some of the male colleagues of the police officer to find his comments very amusing, but the two female police officers, however, became slightly uncomfortable by the words of their colleagues.
"Excuse me?" Sarah said instantly, doing a double-take, as all of Sarah's teammates became seriously irritated by the comments.
"You heard," the police officer with the name 'George' on his chest plate said back.
Sarah suddenly began to step toward the two police officers that had made the untoward comments to her. However, she was immediately held back by Jamie, who put his arm on her shoulder to hold her in place, and cautioned, "They're not worth it, mate. You'll be put on a charge."
Sarah turned to glance at Jamie, and she nodded. He was right, so she puffed out a sigh and brought her frustrations under control. If they had been off duty when they made those comments… the story would have been different.
Shaking his head and still feeling very pissed off by the comments made towards his teammate, Cole Barker at least wanted to give some kind of response, and he said, "Like any of you even have a chance with her, you arrogant little assholes!"
"Yeah, and a woman she may be, but I'll tell you something: she's one of the best soldiers in our regiment, and by the way, making pathetic little comments like that, is it really the right thing to do when you have two women on your own team who have to put up with your macho, alpha-male bullshit?" Chuck asked, glancing at the two culprits who had just offended Sarah, "Can you not get it up without viagra or something?"
Red Team instantly snorted multiple times for a long moment to hold their laughter over Chuck's remarks, while even the two female officers smirked slightly.
The two police officers that had made the offending remarks towards Sarah now remained silent, having been embarrassed and called out by Chuck. Those kinds of people usually stayed silent once they'd been called out on their bullshit, especially if the person calling them out on it was a skilful, deadly, special forces soldier.
However, not content with ending the exchanges between the units here, Bryce took it further and said, "So, which one of you is gonna turn your guns on us then?"
This time it was the police unit's turn to become agitated.
"We could say the same about you," one of them replied, "Considering Sergeant Lewis came to us from the same military unit as the group of four who have gone AWOL."
Entirely ignoring the police officer's point, Big Dan looked at Bryce and said, "If any of them does turn their guns on us, fella, then I'll be putting one right here." Big Dan then opened his mouth, turned to look at the cops, and imitated a gunshot into his mouth to intimidate the police officers and any potential rogues within them.
Red Team smirked at Big Dan's comments, which did slightly unsettle several police officers.
However, neither unit had any chance to respond or continue any further because Staff Sergeant Chris MacDonald interrupted the proceedings, "Ok, that's enough of that! This isn't achieving anything except creating a rivalry, and we all have to work together, so let's embark in our vehicles and get this over with!"
The SSgt's commanding presence was enough to convince everyone to leave it there, and Red Team promptly turned away from the police unit, while the police unit likewise turned their backs on the SAS team.
The full complement of Red Team began to make their way back to their vehicles.
"What was that all about?" Chris asked his team, "You're lucky I wasn't Wallace. He's already pissed with that soft bollocks for his remarks earlier," he said, nodding at Bryce.
"It's just the usual police-military rivalry and exchanges, Chris, nothing more," Cole said.
Chuck, Sarah, Bryce, Big Dan, Jamie and John all nodded.
"Fair enough," Chris said, "So long as that's all it was."
There was a brief pause as the team leader checked his watch. "It's almost nine. Let's move out."
Red Team nodded, and they each restored their game faces after their exchanges with the police, and they got to work…
This is BBC Radio One with the news at nine-thirty. Overnight, we have received multiple reports of tension throughout the nation. If the deserters' intentions were to spark division and violence with their video statements yesterday, it would appear they have succeeded very much. Throughout the night, BBC News, with sadness, can report that a mosque has come under attack in Birmingham, with other flashpoints having taken place throughout the nation. Reports first emerged after 11pm last night of a disturbance at the main mosque of worship in Birmingham, which can hold more than 4,000 people. And I regret to inform you that there have been fatalities…
"Turn that off, fella. I've heard enough," Big Dan said to Bryce, nodding to the radio in front of him.
Bryce turned from his position in the front seat to look at Big Dan, and he nodded before turning off the radio.
"This nightmare never ends, fella," Big Dan declared, shaking his head, "It's been permanent ever since London, which was bad enough for us all who had to witness and confront it first-hand."
Jamie, Bryce and Cole Barker nodded.
"You're right. I can't take much more of it meself, mate. At least when we're out in Iraq or Afghan, we can tune out after we get things done. On counter-terror, though, we're non-stop reminded of it everywhere we look," Jamie said.
"Exactly, fella. Everywhere you look, it's in the papers, on the radio, on TV," Big Dan said.
Jamie and Cole nodded.
"I know, Dan," Cole said, "Which is why those lads were right in saying that the media are loving this and glorifying it."
Jamie and Big Dan nodded.
"Yeah, they're not innocent, fellas, far from it. They provide the platform that sows the divide," Bryce remarked.
Big Dan, Jamie and Cole all nodded while Jamie continued driving the convoy's lead vehicle.
The transport convoy had been rolling for thirty minutes now. Overhead as the convoy moved in transit was the police helicopter. It provided real-time updates of potential problems along the route in advance of the convoy arriving at the destination. Everyone part of the operation had to admit that having the presence of the bird in the sky was a massive help to the efforts to safely transport the nuclear material inside this convoy to its destination.
Ahead of the main convoy were six police outriders on motorcycles, each armed with pistols. While the convoy itself contained two police vehicles, each carrying four AFOs (Authorised Firearms Officers), the two vehicles carrying Red Team, including Morgan, who had volunteered himself as additional support, and in the middle of the convoy, were the two transport vehicles shipping the plutonium to the destination, with Captain Wallace and a driver inside the first, and Chuck and another driver in the second.
The convoy's orders were to not stop for any disturbance unless the path ahead was blocked. In this case, direct action would be required to resolve the obstruction and get the convoy moving again as quickly as physically possible. If a disturbance of any kind was to be encountered, the hope was for the outriders to resolve it if possible, with the lead vehicle of Jamie, Bryce, Big Dan and Cole Barker to rush ahead in support if necessary.
However, if the outriders came under armed attack, then they would retreat back to the main force, who would attempt to fortify their positions and call in the cavalry, which was being provided by Blue Team, who were back at Hereford and stood to on sixty-second standby for the whole duration of the transit. Additional armed support would be immediately dispatched by the respective constabularies of the districts the convoy passed through.
Chatter soon picked up on the team's communication channel, which was not shared with the police one, as each team was using their own comms, which was coordinated by Colonel Wood and Chief Superintendent Smith back at Hinkley Point.
"I have to say, I feel proud to have been given a number with you guys, and to be on the same team as you, even if it's just for a few hours, heh," Morgan Grimes said as he came on the net.
Laughter erupted on the com channel from most of Red Team, who had each become rather fond of the MI5 employee. They absolutely respected him for offering his help on this mission, even if they all knew inside that he wouldn't be of that much use to them, simply because he lacked the training necessary to fight highly trained British army soldiers.
"Just make sure you don't forget the number. You might need it, mate," Jamie joked.
"Heh, I could never forget it. I'll remember 'Red Ten' for the rest of my life because it's an honour," Morgan replied.
"Just remember, finger off the trigger, and-"
"Don't shoot us in the back. Yeah, I got it," Morgan interrupted Chris MacDonald, and he laughed.
Most of Red Team shared the laughter with the funny Box 500 employee as the warm spirits, and intensely focused minds continued.
"Gold One, this is Romeo-One-Zero-Bravo. Are there any updates?" Captain Wallace requested an updated status.
"Negative, all clear," Colonel Wood replied…
One hour later
"Romeo-One-Zero-Bravo, this is Control," Colonel Wood appeared on the com channel.
"Go ahead, Control," Captain Wallace replied.
"The police helicopter has discovered an apparent RTC (road traffic collision) directly on your route up-ahead. Police outriders are responding," Colonel Wood apprised his junior officer.
"Copy that, Control," Captain Wallace replied.
The OC (Officer Commanding) took a brief moment to compose himself from the status report before appearing on the team's direct com channel, "Heads up."
All of Red Team in their respective vehicles became alert to their OC.
"Our bird in the sky has a visual sighting of an apparent RTC on our direct path up ahead. Outriders responding," Captain Wallace informed the team.
Adrenalin instantly began to build amongst the entire team because often, an ambush was set under the guise of an RTC, and every tier-one soldier knew it…
A few minutes later
"Heads up," Colonel Wood came directly on the team's communications channel, "Police outriders have arrived on the scene at the RTC. The shout is authentic. They are attempting to diffuse an ongoing fight between multiple occupants of both cars. Both vehicles will be cleared of any potential obstruction to the main convoy."
Red Team processed the 22 SAS CO's update, and most of them relaxed slightly after a nervous-inducing several minutes without a status report.
"Um, guys, we've just had the soldiers' threats posted, and it's not good news," Morgan interrupted the silence, appearing on the team's communications channel.
Red Team waited patiently for the update from Morgan. Still, inside, each of the elite soldiers' guts started to sink because they had a general idea that the threats would be dire, considering they were about to attempt to hijack a convoy filled with plutonium, which wasn't exactly an ingredient used to bake cakes…
"I'll recite and relay it to you now," Morgan said.
"Get on with it," Staff Sergeant MacDonald commanded into the channel impatiently. There was nothing more the rugged team leader hated than having to wait around for someone to get to the point, whether they were friendly or not.
Morgan promptly started the reciting, "Unless our demands published yesterday are met within the deadline detailed, we, the Soldiers against Islam, will detonate a dirty bomb filled with enough radioactive material to turn the government quarter of London, and thus, most of central London, into a wasteland for the next thousands of years. If the government won't act against an immediate crisis and protect the lives of the innocent civilians it has a duty to protect, then they are unworthy of leading, and must be removed, by any means necessary…."
"Shit!" Chuck exclaimed into the comms channel on the conclusion of Morgan's status, and he slammed a fist into the cabin of the plutonium transport truck, which caused the driver to turn to look at him to query the outburst.
"That makes them terrorists now," Cole declared simply.
"Yeah, bang goes any sympathy I had for them, fella. If any of them makes one move on this convoy, I'll take them out without a second thought," Big Dan declared, shaking his head, and he puffed out a sigh, now feeling extremely pissed off.
"And me. Because those are not the words of soldiers. Soldiers don't do terror," Sarah instantly said.
"Yeah, I agree completely, mate. They sound exactly like the usual lot we get sent to fight," Jamie quickly said.
"They won't do it," Chuck stated into comms.
Most of Chuck's teammates instantly turned uncomfortable in their seats.
"Chuck, there's a time and a place for loyalty, fella. What they just said is indefensible," John Murray said.
"I know that, John. They will go for this convoy, and everyone can be sure of that. It's gonna happen, but they won't detonate that device even if they did make off with the plutonium, which they won't," Chuck said, sighing and outright refusing to believe that four people he served with and was friends with for several years, was capable of committing mass murder that would kill an untold number of people.
"We can't take that chance, fella," Big Dan said, "Just them making that threat makes them terrorists, and the kinds of people I can no longer sympathise with, nor relate to."
"I know…" Chuck said as he sighed once more.
"Heads up," Colonel Wood commanded on Red Team's communication channel, which caused the team to regain focus, as each member of the unit had been pretty zoned out for the past hour as they processed the threats of the renegade soldiers, and now terrorists, internally.
"Outriders holding traffic up ahead have reported suspicious movement in a blacked-out vehicle. They're unable to obtain identities of those inside the vehicle, but they find their movements inside to be suspicious and have requested additional support to move in on the vehicle in question."
"Received and understood, Control," Captain Wallace replied, "Red Seven, over to you."
"Boss," Jamie Hughes replied, and he instantly put his foot on the gas, and the convoy lead vehicle accelerated away from the convoy to resolve the situation up ahead.
Jamie, Bryce, Big Dan and Cole Barker arrived at the position of two outriders blocking traffic a few minutes later.
Wasting no time, simply because they had no time to waste on a time-sensitive operation such as this one, Jamie drove his vehicle as close as possible to the suspect vehicle in question. Arriving at the location, the four elite SAS soldiers instantly departed their vehicle, with weapons trained on the blacked-out Audi, blocked by numerous vehicles and the two police bikes directly in front of the car.
"BRITISH ARMY! PUT YOUR HANDS OUTSIDE THE VEHICLE, AND DO NOT MOVE THE CAR!" Cole Barker barked out as the small SAS unit cautiously approached the vehicle in question, where they came to a stop a few yards from the vehicle.
The occupants of the tinted-window automobile complied with the instructions, while by now, the two police outriders also had their pistols trained on the car.
"Driver, exit the vehicle slowly, with your hands in the air, the keys to the car, and only the keys!" Jamie Hughes commanded while training his long barrel assault rifle at the head of the driver through the windscreen.
The driver complied with Jamie's requests.
"On the ground, NOW!" Jamie commanded.
Once more, the driver complied.
Jamie turned his attention to the two outriders briefly. "Keep your eyes on him!" Jamie ordered.
The police officers nodded.
Jamie then turned his attention back to the car once more.
"Now the passengers, FRONT PASSENGER FIRST!" Big Dan ordered, training his own assault rifle onto the front passenger.
The front passenger complied and was quickly met with further instructions, "Get on the ground!"
With the front passenger soon out of the equation, the team turned their attention toward the final two passengers in the rear of the vehicle, who Bryce and Cole Barker had both had their sights trained on the entire time.
"And now you two in the rear, exit the vehicle, SLOWLY!" Cole commanded.
Both rear side doors soon began to creep open slowly, and two military-aged men exited the vehicle.
"On the ground, now!" Cole commanded them both, and they followed their instructions, with no choice but too because they were at gunpoint.
With the situation now secured enough, Bryce approached the blacked-out Audi and closely inspected the vehicle in search of intelligence and threat assessment. With his inspection of the inside of the vehicle complete in thirty seconds, he clicked open the boot and paced to the rear of the vehicle to ascertain the contents of the trunk.
With his vehicle inspection now complete, Bryce reported his status to his three teammates in his vicinity and the rest of the team and command waiting for an update on comms, "This is Red Nine, the armed intercept of suspect vehicle in question complete. Four occupants detained. Inspection of the suspect's vehicle uncovered significant quantities of drugs and two knives. Advise that this is just a group of criminals who spooked at the sighting of police and are no overall threat to the convoy. Requesting further instruction, out."
"Affirmative, Red Nine. The police command is already in contact with the respective constabulary, who will be arriving momentarily. Continue to detain the suspects in wait for the immediate response team, and on the arrival of police reinforcements, rejoin the convoy as convoy lead," Colonel Wood commanded.
"That's affirmative, Sir," Bryce acknowledged his orders…
"Well, ladies and gentlemen, three and half hours in transit have now been completed. We are still on a perfect schedule, so that leaves just ninety minutes until we arrive at Sizewell," Captain Wallace informed the team.
"And they've still not made a move yet," Morgan said.
"They will," Staff Sergeant MacDonald replied.
"It will happen once the roads narrow," Jamie said.
Red Team all nodded from their respective vehicles.
"How do you know that?" Morgan inquired.
"Because that's exactly where we'd ambush this convoy, fella. Any of us can give you the exact time they'll do it too, 'cause we've all been studying the maps intensely for the past few days and in the last hours," Big Dan said.
"Go on?" Morgan invited anyone to answer.
"An hour from now," Chuck declared simply.
"Bingo," Big Dan replied instantaneously.
"Yeah, an hour here for me too," Cole said.
"And me," Sarah added her two cents.
In the immediate aftermath of the deserters' threats a few hours ago, there was a sinking level of despair throughout the whole team, a lot of disbelief, and a substantial portion of anger and frustration that the deserters had stooped to that kind of low.
However, the armed intercept less than an hour ago had instantly helped to put the deserter's threats to the back of their minds, and the calming and composed approach to the elite unit's operations was now very much restored, and spirits were very high within the team once more, despite knowing that they were almost certainly less than an hour away from a firefight.
"So then, Boss, after this op is over, is there any chance of a vacation for all of us?" Big Dan asked suddenly into comms.
Red Team instantly voiced their agreement with Big Dan's suggestion, and the com channel turned loud.
Once the volume quietened, Colonel Wood appeared on the channel, "Which Boss?"
"Whoever wants to answer it," Big Dan replied.
"I'll take it?" Captain Wallace suggested.
"Be my guest, Richard," Colonel Wood replied.
With a few seconds gone without a reply, Jamie said, "So, about that vacation, Boss?"
"If you do your jobs well enough for the rest of the transit, I'll consider it," Wallace declared.
"If you honour that, Boss, then we'll finish this mission with nothing other than complete perfection," Cole stated.
Cole's words were met with immediate mutterings of agreement.
"So then, lads and Sarah, where will we all be off to?" John Murray asked.
"Paris, mate," Chuck said instantly, "What about you?"
"Scotland!" John Murray said with pride.
Loud scoffs erupted throughout the whole team. If anyone on the team didn't need to be asked that question, then it was John Murray, as he was a proud Scotsman, and everyone knew he yearned to spend as much time as possible in his homeland.
"Och, any more of those noises, and I'll be dragging you all with me!" the Scot threatened.
"Right, all of you keep your mouths shut because I have other plans with my holiday, and it's not Scotland!" Chris quickly ordered his team.
Intense, rapturous laughter erupted throughout the team because they all saw the irony in it, considering that Chris MacDonald was a Scotsman too.
Once the laughter calmed, Jamie said, "I'll be off to Tenerife."
"And I'll be joining you with Sophie!" Cole quickly replied.
Chuck soon came on the air, "I'm disappointed in you, Cole. You're supposed to be my best mate, but you're ditching me for Jamie."
"Sorry, Chuck. I've seen Paris enough, and I can't resist the wonderful Mediterranean-esque climate and the exotic beaches of the Canary Islands," Cole replied with glee in his eyes as his imagination started to drift off to him sitting on a beach, sipping on a cocktail with his fiancée at his side.
"Fucking hell!" Big Dan laughed. "He's got us all wanting to go to Tenerife now!"
Laughter erupted through the channel once more, and when it calmed, Chuck said, "What about you, Sarah?"
"How about a team getaway?" Sarah suggested as her reply. "In Tenerife."
Light chuckles continued amongst the team after the latest remarks while Cole said, "That depends on whether spouses are allowed or not, Sarah, because as much as I would love going on vacation with just the eight of us, Sophie would kill me and hang my body up as a trophy afterwards!"
The laughter strongly intensified among the team.
"Cole's right. If I even considered going away with just us, I'd be running and hiding from the missus for the rest of my life, so it's Kabul with the missus for me. Fuck it! I'm there every few years anyway, so why not?" Big Dan said, snorting before he erupted in laughter.
"He's trying to kill her first before she can kill him!" Jamie instantly said back with roaring laughter.
Jamie and Big Dan's comments caused the hysterics within the team to climax at an all-time high.
"I didn't even agree to it yet!" Captain Wallace suddenly interrupted the good spirits in a warm and friendly tone.
Scoffs emerged on voice communications.
"He's backtracking already," Cole said.
"We could always become private security contractors, and then we could do whatever we wanted," Bryce suggested, tongue in cheek.
"Look at him, he's only been in the Regiment five minutes, and he wants out already!" Big Dan instantly replied, snorting.
"I don't blame him," Chuck declared.
"Me neither, mate," Jamie said.
Captain Wallace promptly appeared back on the voice channel, "You have all earned yourselves a vacation."
The channel erupted with joy in approval as the lively exchange continued because everyone knew that they would never get a vacation while deployed on counter-terror; their best chance of a break while on the job was going to be during their training deployment; in a few months…
"Nice one Bryce, fella. I owe you a pint once this is all done and dusted," Big Dan said.
"Thanks," Bryce replied.
"Actually, Bryce, mate, you're the last one who hasn't said your plans. So, where are you off to?" Jamie asked.
Bryce took a moment in thought before saying, "I was thinking about maybe Blackpool?"
Roaring laughter erupted and filled the channel for a long moment once more.
"Fucking hell!" Jamie cried out as he attempted to stop laughing, "Blackpool! That's just killed me!"
"You and me both, fella!" Big Dan replied, attempting to stop laughing himself.
"He's a proper Mancunian," Chuck declared, smiling as if Bryce was in his presence. "And there's nothing wrong with it."
"Of course, there's not, Chuck," Cole supported his best friend's comments. "But we can't be having him going to Blackpool. Sod that, he's coming to Tenerife with Jamie and me," Cole declared.
Snorting to hold in more laughter, Big Dan said, "Or Kabul with me and the missus!"
The team shared a final few moments of close camaraderie before they focused on the job at hand once more and concentrated on the remainder of the mission.
At exactly one hour left until the completion of the assignment, the heavens suddenly began to open. And within minutes, visibility was almost nil as a torrential downpouring hit the area where the convoy was traversing.
"Romeo-One-Zero-Bravo, this is Control. The police helicopter has reported that conditions are identical all the way to Sizewell. They're struggling for visibility up in the sky, and conditions are reported as becoming dangerous for the flight crew to continue to operate in."
Red Team instantly shook their heads and drew a collective sigh in sync.
Trust their luck for this to have happened now…
"Control, hard copy, out," Captain Wallace replied.
A few minutes later
"Romeo-One-Zero-Bravo, this is Control. The police helicopter is abandoning its mission and returning to base. Conditions deemed too dangerous for them to continue to operate safely without risk to their lives," Colonel Wood informed the team.
Red Team shook their heads and drew out more extensive sighs off comms.
"Affirmative," Captain Wallace replied.
"A one-way road, with no chance to turn back now," Chuck declared in a slightly dispirited tone.
"And little advance warning either. We're sitting ducks," Sarah said as she started to grimace...
Twenty minutes later
With around thirty minutes left in transit, right about now had been deemed by the entire team as the perfect place for the rogue outfit to set up an ambush, and everyone knew it.
Tension had been building up drastically within the crack unit for nearly half an hour now, and the anxiety was just about peaking at its highest point, with everyone in the transport vehicles feeling on edge.
"Romeo-One-Zero-Bravo to Control," Captain Wallace suddenly said into comms.
"Control here," Colonel Wood replied instantaneously.
"Request immediate status of outriders up ahead. Visibility still nil," Captain Wallace reported.
"No response from lead four outriders way out ahead for the past two minutes," Colonel Wood reported with concern.
"Affirmative. Lead vehicle, decrease speed now," Captain Wallace ordered Jamie Hughes.
"On it, Boss," Jamie acknowledged.
"I don't like this, Boss," Chuck said into comms with concern, "I really don't like this."
"Neither do I," Staff Sergeant MacDonald concurred with his team member, his tone identical.
"Romeo-One-Zero-Bravo, I am taking no chances. Blue Team has been given the green light to deploy. ETA: forty minutes," Colonel Wood informed the unit.
"Affirmative," Captain Wallace acknowledged the CO of 22 SAS.
The convoy slowly proceeded up the one-way road at a snail's pace for a few minutes.
In the lead vehicle, Jamie Hughes could barely see where he was driving, such was the minimal visibility in front of him due to the present rainstorm that had been hammering the area for what felt like an eternity.
"Fucking hell!" Jamie complained off comms to Cole Barker, Bryce, and Big Dan.
He continued driving the vehicle for a few seconds when everyone in the lead vehicle suddenly heard a discharge of automatic gunfire, which was no more than a faint echo due to the storm's noise.
"FUCKING HELL!" everyone in the vehicle exclaimed because they knew exactly what they had just heard.
"Contact!" Colonel Wood quickly appeared on comms, "The two outriders just ahead of the main convoy have been ambushed up ahead. Status unknown of the first four outriders, potentially KIA, captured, or turned sides."
"Shit!" the entire unit exclaimed in unison.
"Affirmative," Captain Wallace replied as measured as he could be, although there was an undeniable element of panic in his tone.
"Are we going to go for it, Boss?" Big Dan asked his OC on comms.
Captain Wallace took a few seconds until he said, "I don't know," in hesitation and panic, it was clear that the uncertainty of how to respond to the ambush was freezing the OC.
"Boss, train hard, fight easy," Staff Sergeant MacDonald encouraged commandingly on comms to his OC.
"Let's fucking go for it, Boss," Jamie encouraged, sensing his OC was in temporary panic, as no one on Red Team would ever back down from a fight anyway.
"We can't turn back, Boss," Chuck said, appearing on comms, "the driver in this truck said it's impossible to turn on this narrow road, and I agree with him. The rain has turned everything into a sludge. We'd get bogged down and stuck within seconds of making a turn."
"I agree, Corporal," Captain Wallace said, as did the rest of the team.
"Romeo-One-Zero-Bravo, Blue Team and multiple police reinforcements are on-route. Fortify and hold your positions, and do not fire until we figure out what the hell we are faced with. Assume at least the primary four hostiles, but reports from the two outriders, who are retreating to your position, have been engaged by more than four," Colonel Wood apprised and ordered the team.
"Affirmative. You heard the Colonel. Take defensive positions, and keep your eyes on your surroundings and the two police vehicles already in the convoy until we know what we're dealing with…."
Two minutes later
Jamie's lead vehicle was now tilted at the front of the convoy to provide cover and protection. At the same time, the police vehicle that was second in line in the convoy had joined Jamie's. Together, the two vehicles provided significant frontline protection and adequate firing angles toward anything that approached the convoy's position.
Meanwhile, at the rear, an identical situation had been deployed in Staff Sergeant MacDonald's vehicle and the second police vehicle.
Every soldier and police officer was dismounted; thus, the convoy had two layers of protection, with a frontline and rear force positioned in wait.
An attack couldn't originate from the rear due to how long the road was. Also, before the police helicopter departed from the AO, it had provided a status multiple times that the road behind them was cleared entirely of activity and that the only traffic soon approaching from the rear would be immediate armed police responders just as soon as they could get here.
The soldiers and police officers remained in their positions. While Chuck and Captain Wallace each remained inside the plutonium transport trucks, just to ensure no funny business was attempted by the drivers of the vehicles.
The situation remained unchanged for the next minute until the frontline defenders were alerted to movement up ahead.
It took a further ten seconds until the group could ascertain that it was the two police outriders who had reported the contact and were rejoining with the main force.
The whole gathering trained their weapons onto the two police bikes as they approached the lead vehicles, where they dismounted.
"APPROACH OUR POSITION SLOWLY, AND WITH YOUR PISTOLS AND ANY WEAPON HOLSTERED!" Cole Barker barked in a hostile tone at the two police officers just yards from the first line's position.
The two outriders complied with Cole's orders, each going as far as to have their hands raised the entire time, and they soon passed through the centre between the two lead vehicles and took cover behind them.
"We need a status right now, fellas, 'cause we haven't got a fucking clue what we're dealing with here!" Big Dan said with strong concern.
"We approached the last reported position of the four bikes with the lead, and we came under automatic gunfire!" one of the riders reported in a distraught and panicked frame of mind.
"Numbers?" Cole asked.
"Impossible to tell. Visibility was shit, and rain too loud to accurately obtain levels of gunfire," the second replied, slightly more composed than the first one.
"Guess," Cole commanded.
"Between six to eight," the second rider said.
"And what about the four other riders?" Cole asked.
"Two were deceased close to their bikes," the second rider said as his gaze hit the floor.
"And the other two?" Cole asked.
"Unknown," the outrider replied.
Every soldier and police officer in the first line of defence processed the information and exchanged glances with each other.
"Sit rep?" Captain Wallace instructed the front positions, having just about seen the outriders approaching and providing status to his soldiers.
"Two outriders KIA, two unknown. Between six to eight hostiles, automatic gunfire confirmed," Cole apprised his OC.
"Affirmative. Standby…"
Two minutes later
The situation was unchanged when the convoy began to see two vehicles slowly approaching the frontline positions of the SAS and armed police.
"Romeo-One-Zero-Bravo to Control, two vehicles are closing in on us slowly. Request authorisation to fire?" Cole Barker requested calmly, his finger itching close to his trigger on one of the vehicles now in his sight.
"Romeo-One-Zero-Bravo, that's a negative on your request. They may have hostages. Wait and see what develops, but immediately engage if you are fired upon. Reinforcements fifteen minutes out, over," Colonel Wood ordered.
"Affirmative," Cole replied.
There was an agonisingly tense wait as Red Team, and the police unit waited for the two vehicles approaching their position at a snail's pace to stop, and once they did, they tilted their vehicles just like the defenders had.
With the opposing force's vehicles now in place, the doors to the vehicle soon opened, and a standoff began to ensue between the opposing forces.
The convoy defenders closely began to observe what was in front of them. They counted a posse of eleven individuals, four of them being the confirmed deserters, but more concerningly, three of the group appeared to be held at gunpoint.
One of the hostages was a police outrider, while the second and third were unknown and Middle Eastern of origin.
Even more worrisome to the defenders, the second missing police rider was with the group, but he was armed and not a hostage.
That meant there was now at least one confirmed turncoat.
The question for most of the defenders now was: was there any more?
"Sit rep?" Colonel Wood demanded.
"Multiple hostage situation, Boss," Staff Sergeant MacDonald apprised his CO, "Eight confirmed hostiles, the four deserters, three unknown hostiles, and a plod outrider has turned sides."
"Good God!" Colonel Wood said in shock, "Stall them for as long as you can. Reinforcements thirteen minutes out."
Most convoy defenders soon heard a sudden distant voice from the opposing position: "You know what we want! Give us the transports, or the hostages die!"
"That's not going to happen!" Cole Barker shouted back, "You know that can't happen!
"Then everybody here dies!" the voice shouted back.
"That's not going to happen either!" Cole shouted back with confidence, "We can still fix this! Nobody else has to die here!"
"Actually, they do!" a much closer voice suddenly declared.
Everyone instantly turned to look at the source of the voice, and it was an armed police officer who took out his pistol, quickly grabbed hold of another police officer in his person, and pointed his sidearm into his head.
Red Team and most of the police officers instantly trained their guns on the close and immediate new threat to the group.
"George?" a police officer asked, looking at the turncoat in disbelief.
"Sorry, Gary. I've had enough of it too. Paul Lewis was right; all of them are right," the turncoat said.
Gary shook his head. "No, George, it doesn't have to be like this. We're all on the same side."
"We're not on the same side!" George, the turncoat, snapped back, who was also one of the two who had made untoward comments to Sarah much earlier in the day, along with Gary, but that didn't matter anymore, "All of you here would fight and give your lives to protect people not worthy of being protected. It could just as easily have been your families butchered in their attacks on us!"
"It's the right thing to do, mate," Jamie said, shaking his head, "We're not monsters like them. Don't become one yourself. This isn't gonna end in any way except all of you being killed. Your cause is over before it even begins. Give it up."
"We are running out of time!" the distant voice suddenly shouted and took over the proceedings once more, "We know your reinforcements are minutes away, so if what we want isn't given in the next thirty seconds, then the hostages over this end are dead!"
Chuck, still situated inside the plutonium transport, had seen enough. He could hear almost none of the exchanges, but he didn't need to listen to what was going on to know what was occurring, and he may now be the only person left to prevent this.
Chuck quickly took the keys out of the engine to the plutonium transport, departed the vehicle, throwing the keys to the truck at John Murray as he then stormed with extreme purpose towards the front of the line, which caused Captain Wallace to appear with urgency on comms, "Corporal Bartowski, return to your position immediately!" to which Chuck ignored those orders because right now, he was unable to register anything other than his mission to try to resolve this, so continued until he arrived at the two vehicles at the front.
Now at his location of choice, he moved to stand between both of the vehicles to make himself visible to the opposing force.
"IAN, YOU DON'T WANT THIS!" Chuck screamed at the top of his lungs to ensure who he would attempt to reason with—because he knew that despite his three other former comrade's video statements claiming no coercion, Captain Ian White was still in command and control—could hear him.
"I should have known it would be you, Chuck!" Captain Ian White shouted back after a brief moment in pause.
"You can still stop this! You don't want this, Ian!" Chuck shouted to his former OC in the Grenadier Guards, "Neither does your wife, Natalie!"
"Leave her out of this, Chuck!" Captain White shouted in anger at Chuck.
Chuck shook his head. "I can't! You know she wouldn't want this, nor any of your kids! And the same goes for the rest of you and your families too!" he said, pointing at his three other former comrades at their positions in the opposing force.
"My fiancée's brother and his young son were victims in the attacks on London a few weeks ago! THEY'RE DEAD!" Guardsman Sean Miller shouted in extreme anger at Chuck.
Chuck's gut suddenly sank, and he swallowed a hard breath of caught air to process the sucker punch, bombshell revelation. He had not been informed about that; none of the team had. "I'm sorry!" Chuck shouted, his gaze dropping, and he felt tears filling his eyes, "But you should know, I was there! I was there on the ground in Borough Market, on London Bridge, with all of my team here, and with the rest of us in Hackney! We sent the bastards to an early deserved death!"
"It can't continue, Chuck! We can't take it anymore! It needs to stop!" Guardsman Ben Roberts shouted to his former comrade between the drawn battle lines on which both sides stood.
Chuck nodded as tears fell freely from his eyes. "We all feel the same as you, all of us! Their atrocities are abhorrent, but the solution isn't to become terrorists ourselves, 'cause then the jihadists win!"
"It's too late for that now!" Captain Ian White shouted back.
"It's never too late, Boss! Please, trust me, we can fix this together!" Chuck shouted, and he started to walk towards them rather foolishly; he was not even pointing his weapon at them, which was totally stupid because it was against all protocol, plus some of these hostiles Chuck didn't even know who they were. However, Chuck was too focused and in the most intense moment of his life in his attempts to defuse this situation without any further loss of life to register anything else.
"Chuck!" Cole cautioned his best friend in fear for his safety.
Chuck waved his hand dismissively at his best friend as he continued to walk toward his former comrades, "Put down your guns, and let's end this without killing anyone else!" Chuck continued to attempt to reason with four men who he once greatly admired.
"No more talk! Your time is up!" Captain Ian White declared before he lined up his rifle and discharged a burst at the two Middle Eastern men held in their captivity.
Chuck instantly froze in place, the barbarity displayed by his former OC and one-time friend crushing his heart and soul. "NO!" he screamed in anguish and rage, "FUCK! NO!"
Suddenly, gunfire erupted all around the location as things kicked off big time!
"ROMEO-ONE-ZERO-BRAVO, WE HAVE CONTACT!" Captain Wallace bellowed into comms, apprising control of the situation.
"Affirmative. Engage and neutralise the enemy," Colonel Wood commanded.
Cole Barker quickly rushed out of his position in cover. Arriving at Chuck's position, Cole dragged a completely stunned and shell-shocked Chuck back into cover because the convoy's position was now coming under serious small arms fire, while Big Dan, Jamie, Bryce, and some police officers began returning fire on the opposing force's position who had gracefully—if you could call it that, considering they had already executed two hostages, and killed two outriders in what felt like an eternity ago—released their third hostage, one of the police outriders. The outrider quickly scarpered himself to the side, away from the engagement.
In the meantime, Staff Sergeant MacDonald had dispatched of the turncoat police officer, George, with a clean headshot as soon as the opportunity had presented itself, which caused immediate shock and disbelief within a large contingent of the police unit, just like Chuck was now too experiencing.
"Right, everyone, get a fucking grip of yourselves right now, and return fire on the enemy, or I'll shoot all of you myself!" Big Dan suddenly commanded everyone who wasn't in the engagement as he glanced around at the pandemonium that had erupted within the police and SAS ranks.
Big Dan's remarks seemed to have the desired effect, as the whole group one by one slowly turned to their front, and the group members presently in crisis, including Chuck, took in multiple deep breaths, wiped their eyes before they rose, and engaged in the raging gun battle now ongoing with the eight Right-Wing terrorists.
"One X-ray down!" Jamie Hughes suddenly declared before promptly returning to cover because his position came under accurate small arms fire.
The opposing forces continued their heated exchange of gunfire when suddenly, an AFO at the front of the convoy's position got hit and went down.
"MAN DOWN!" a police officer at the front of the convoy shouted.
Almost instantly after, Morgan appeared on the team's communications channel, "I'm hit!"
From their positions in the rear, Sarah and Chris took a few seconds to observe Morgan's status, and Sarah quickly provided the rest of the team an update on the air, "He has an exit wound to his arm. He'll be fine!"
"One hostile neutralised!" a police officer called out.
Quickly followed by Big Dan, "X-ray down."
Returning to cover after having discharged a burst at the enemy, Staff Sergeant MacDonald glanced at Sarah and said, "Sarah, we need to move! On me!"
Sarah nodded before the teammates turned to face their front, stood up, and barked, "COMING THROUGH!"
The rear positions held their fire as Sarah and Chris broke cover, who bellowed "COMING THROUGH!" once more, until they had cleared the vehicles, and they dashed to join up ranks at the front.
At the same time, even Captain Wallace had long since abandoned his position inside the plutonium transport and had taken up a firing position in the rear line close to the wounded and out-of-action Morgan.
Guardsman Ben Roberts suddenly appeared at the front of the engagement in Cole Barker's angle of fire. With Cole's eyes starting to gloss and only the slimmest of milliseconds of hesitation, he discharged a burst from his long barrel at the dead centre of the former British soldier, who dropped behind the opposing force's vehicle.
"X-ray down!" Cole yelled into comms loud enough so that the police unit could hear him, and he returned to cover.
"Four X-ray's outstanding," Colonel Wood apprised the team.
"MAN DOWN!" another police officer called, observing an AFO, who had taken multiple small arms rounds and was now deceased.
Chris and Sarah soon arrived at the positions of their unit and the armed police squad after their aggressive manouvre to reinforce the front positions, and to enable further advance just as soon as the opportunity presented itself.
Chris immediately assessed the mental capability of Chuck, knowing if anyone on the team was not in the right place to fight this engagement, it would be Chuck.
Sarah, likewise, was doing the same thing.
"You good?" Chris whispered to Chuck.
Chuck nodded. "They need to pay, Chris. I'm pissed!" he said with pure aggression.
Chris nodded, and with his assessment complete, he turned to face the engagement once more, rose from his position, discharged a burst from his rifle at anything that moved, and returned to cover.
"X-ray down!" Bryce called suddenly, quickly followed by a police officer shouting, "One hostile neutralised!"
Now faced with just two remaining enemies, which would be easy pickings for a unit as elite and highly trained as the Staff Sergeant's team was, Chris immediately decided to attack.
"Assault team!" Chris commanded suddenly, "myself, Chuck, Cole, Sarah, we go in ten!"
The ten seconds passed slowly as the four assaulters prepared themselves for the advance.
At the countdown's conclusion, all four assaulters abandoned their positions, bellowed out, "MOVING!" and advanced on the enemy while the rest of the group covered their advance.
"X-ray down!" John Murray soon called out.
The four assaulting teammates quickly covered ground towards the enemy position when suddenly, Captain Ian White appeared in sight. The team steadied themselves to take the shot, as did Captain White, but Sarah was the first to fire as she discharged a burst from her MP5 towards the chest of the former British Army officer, but now turned renegade soldier.
Her volley connected onto her target, and the Captain slumped lifelessly back behind from where he had originated.
"X-ray down!" Sarah called out as the small assault team continued their final advance.
"All X-rays down! Check for wounded combatants, and search and clear accordingly," Colonel Wood commanded.
"You heard the Boss," Chris commanded his small assault team in a quiet tone off comms.
Chuck, Cole and Sarah nodded as they cautiously approached the combatant positions on the ground, with no further gunfire originating from this location.
Chuck had checked and cleared an unknown X-ray before landing at the position of Guardsman Sean Miller, Chuck's former comrade for several years in the Grenadier Guards.
The British soldier, who was the same age as Chuck, twenty-seven, was not deceased, but he had taken multiple rounds to his chest, and the guardsman was immobilised.
Chuck shook his head, glancing down at his comrade in disbelief, sadness, anger, disappointment, dejection, sorrow, anguish, and multiple other emotions running through his mind.
"Why did you do it, Sean, mate?" he asked, shaking his head as tears started flowing from his eyes.
Sean spat out blood, and he successfully managed to make eye contact with Chuck standing over him.
"Hello, Chuck," he said weakly, attempting to smile at him.
Chuck surveyed the deceased all around him briefly before looking back at his former comrade. "All these people dead, Sean, and two cops who didn't need to die up ahead, and some behind us back in my position, such a needless loss of life," he said in anguish, while the shock of everything that he had just been part of continued to take hold of and consume him.
"Needless for you, maybe, but not for us. I have no regrets, just disappointment that we failed our mission," Sean replied.
Chuck puffed out a sorrowed sigh. "You were always going to fail, Sean. This plot was always gonna end this way; you lost sight of reality."
Sean spat out further blood. "Maybe, but we couldn't sit by and do nothing for a moment longer."
"I can't accept that," Chuck said instantly, shaking his head dismissively.
"I'm not asking you to. I don't want your acceptance, Chuck. We each made our own decisions, and it's not for you to take that away from us. At least I'll be killed by a friend. I can accept the bullet from you. I don't want it to be anyone else," Sean said.
Chuck shook his head. "I'm not going to shoot you, Sean. It's over, mate," Chuck said soothingly, emotion still pouring from his face.
"You have no choice, Chuck," Sean replied before making a sudden weak lunge with his hand to his side.
Chuck followed the movements of his former comrade, and his glance landed on a rifle laid out on the floor in relatively close proximity to Sean, who was reaching for it.
"Please don't," Chuck begged, tears streaming down his face, and he started to audibly cry, "Please don't make me do this, I beg of you."
"There's nothing left for me, Chuck. My mates are dead, and I won't spend the rest of my life in jail knowing I was the only one to survive."
"You can get help, Sean. And I'll come and visit you as often as I can. Please don't make me do this!" Chuck said in deep sorrow as he continued to cry.
"It was an honour to serve with you and the three lads now dead next to me, mate," Sean declared as he looked up at Chuck for a final moment, the long-time comrades and friends sharing one last glance, before Sean faced away from Chuck, made a final lunge to his rifle, and attempted to take it into his hand.
However, he suddenly fell back lifeless onto the ground, as the sound of a single shot ruptured the air…
And that's a wrap! I hope you enjoyed the chapter. It's very long and took me a while to write. Please leave your feedback on the chapter. I want to know how I did.
The next chapter will be the aftermath of the deadly mission and will be titled: AWOL. I wonder who goes AWOL? Why do they go AWOL? And for how long? I'll give one clue: it's someone in Red Team!
See you all in a few days with the next update :)