CHAPTER 69

HOW QUICKLY THINGS CAN CHANGE


When Dianna and Davis left Command Center, they cautiously made their way to the men's barracks, because they had no idea if there was a tango walking around there, or a jeep approaching, so it took them a few minutes, but they finally managed to get to Nick's cabin. They knocked on its door, hard, because the loud siren was still on. No one answered, and it was locked.

"Maybe he went to the safe phone and is still there" Davis said, and Dianna nodded, but didn't follow her.

"Sorry, I need to be sure" Dianna said, shaking her head, and turned and shot the lock of the door. It was so sudden that Davis couldn't even alert her to not be too close to the metal lock, because the bullet would ricochet. And it did, and almost hit Dianna on the stomach, it passed by inches of her waist. Dianna looked at Davis, stern.

"Don't ever tell Jason about this" Dianna said, ashamed and pale from the scare, and Davis pouted and nodded. Jason would never stop lecturing her about that, if he found out.

They recomposed themselves and got inside the cabin, and both gasped at the same time. Nick was in a pool of blood, laying on the floor, on his stomach. They quickly ran to him, and turned him on his back. He was pale, but as soon as Dianna pressed his chest, he whined a bit, he was still alive.

"Davis, call the medic, please" Dianna said, and she immediately did, and fortunately the medic area was close. "Nick, look, it's us. You'll be ok" Dianna said, anxious, pressing his wound on his chest, not even sure if she was doing a good job. Nick opened his eyes and his mouth, but didn't say anything.

"Dianna" Davis called her after she finished calling the medics, and pointed at a couple of bugs on Nick's desk. The same that were being glued to Jason's clothes. They weren't there because Jessica was bugging him, they were at plain sight. Davis looked at Nick, suspicious, and took a step back, but Dianna knew he wasn't this dumb.

"Jessica shot him and left the bugs, probably something else in here, too. She'll call the CIA on the safe line and alert them that Nick is a double agent" she concluded, and Davis frowned. "Nick wasn't in Venezuela, Davis. And those things she told Jason earlier tonight. Besides, Nick wouldn't be this dumb. It's her. But only we know that" Dianna reminded Davis, and she finally understood, nodding. Dianna turned to Nick, and he was licking his lips, trying to say something. "Jessica shot you, didn't she? She must have followed you" Dianna told him, and he closed his eyes and slightly nodded. The paramedics arrived and immediately walked to Nick, checking on him.

"He was shot on his chest, but the bullet didn't get his heart and went through, fortunately. But he needs immediate surgery, to stop the bleeding. Maybe his lung was hit too" they explained, and the girls nodded, anxiously walking with the paramedics outside the cabin. The siren finally stopped, the enemies were away or retreating.

"Hey, he's calling you, I think" one of the paramedic called the girls, and they ran close to Nick.

"The safe phone. White cabin. Navy blue door" he mumbled, breathless.

"Next to the prisoner building?" Davis asked, she remembered that cabin, a few CIA agents got inside there sometimes, they had some sort of computers there too. Nick nodded, closing his eyes again. The paramedics quickly carried him away, he was losing conscience.

Suddenly, they all heard a loud sound of explosion, and the girls quickly turned to look at it. A helicopter was exploding, right next to the exterior wall of Camp Larkin. It was obviously an enemy's helo, and not an American one, and the girls looked at each other, relieved.

"The guys must be close to that cabin. Let's run to Command Center and call them" Davis told Dianna, and they both ran as fast as possible to reach for the comms.


Brock was so confused about everything that was going on that night that he didn't realize, but he was walking and moving a lot faster than usual, pumped on adrenaline and distress. As soon as Dianna called Jessica a 'bitch' and said that she was 'armed and dangerous', and trying to get to the CIA's safe phone, he knew she must have done something and now everyone was suspecting that she did something bad.

Jessica wasn't perfect, he knew that very well, she could be very controlling sometimes, but she was affectionate with him many other times, too. Her eagerness to control Brock is what pushed him away and made him do stupid things, but he still cared about her, and knew she cared about him too. Some misunderstanding happened during that weird night, and Brock was desperate to reach Jessica and clear things out.

"Five, where the fuck you going? Stand back, she's armed" Jason dangerously whispered to Brock, because he was about to enter the cabin with the blue door. Brock hesitated, but stood behind Sonny, eager to get inside.

Jason looked at his team and nodded, and Sonny immediately opened the door with his hand, still holding his rifle, and the team poured inside the cabin, barely fitting into it. Jessica wasn't there, and they quickly glanced around for clues of where she could be.

"Boss, five o'clock" Trent loudly alerted only a couple of seconds later, and everyone ran outside and saw Jessica walking next to a big tent, trying to hide, but as soon as she saw that the team saw her and pointed their guns at her she raised her arms, alarmed.

"Hands in the air, on your knees!" Jason yelled at her, coming closer, and Clay and Sonny yelled at her too, both of them immediately believing what Dianna said on the comm. The others kept quiet but aimed at her. With precision.

"What is going on? Why?" Jessica yelled back, astonished, and unsure if she should really kneel down on the dirt. But she kept her hands in the air.

"You keep quiet and kneel down!" Jason yelled again, furious, wondering why Dianna said she was dangerous, and why the hell did she think Jessica had a gun. He wasn't seeing anything.

Jessica still hesitated, with huge eyes.

"Kneel down, now!" Clay yelled gain, coming closer to check her for guns, he also wasn't seeing anything. Brock was behind him, agitated but obediently pointing the gun at her too.

"I just came back from Nick's cabin, guys. He attacked me" she said, with her eyes filled with tears, and Jason blinked.

"What did you do?" he yelled, furious, and she shook her head. "What did you do?!" he yelled louder, livid, and took a couple of steps closer to her, with Ray following him close.

"He attacked me. He's a double agent" she said, almost crying. "You have to believe me. I had to shoot him. I already informed the CIA, I'll explain everything" she yelled, sounding extremely guilty.

The guys kept quiet while her words sunk in.

"You shot Nick?" Jason dangerously asked after those few seconds, with his head twitching to the side. "Answer me!" he yelled at her, firmly holding the rifle and aiming at her.

She started to cry, and finally knelt on the floor, nodding and looking down.

"I did. I'm so sorry. I had to kill him" she explained, looking up again and glancing at all the guys, then staring at Brock with a guilty look. He frowned and gasped, not sure what to think about it.

Everyone kept quiet, astonished by this new confession, and already mourning Nick, even though she said he was a double agent.

"Check her" Jason said in a monotone voice, not moving his rifle, and Clay immediately tapped her side and back and found a handgun under her belt, on her back. He showed it to Jason, who nodded. Then Clay turned to her, grabbing her shoulders to make her stand so he could check her body.

"I'll stand. I'm not the enemy here" Jessica said, indignant, still kneeling, and Clay hesitated.

"He's not dead" Dianna said in a monotone voice, not sure if it was true. Everybody squirmed but kept their eyes on Jessica. She turned to Dianna, surprised.

"What are you doing here? Stand back" Jason said to Dianna, annoyed.

But Dianna continued to walk to Jessica, very calmly, and Davis appeared too and crossed her arms, staring at Jessica with disgust.

"They tortured us" Dianna calmly stated to Jessica, and she didn't even blink. Dianna exhaled and with all her force she slapped Jessica, making her almost fall on the dirt floor.

The guys all gasped at the same time, surprised, but Davis didn't even flinch.

"She has a smaller gun on her ankle. Check" Dianna said to Clay, but not taking her eyes off of Jessica.

Clay quickly hunched down and checked, she had two guns, one strapped on each ankle, which was incredibly odd. Jessica was still recovering from the slap when she turned to Dianna, with an angry stare.

"Very armed to see a fellow agent, huh. You don't deserve a quick death, no" Dianna sarcastically said, because she saw how Jessica didn't want to stand up. She was going to shoot herself with one of her guns, she knew they were all suspecting of her and didn't want to stay locked for the rest of her life. Clay quickly went to Jessica's back and locked her wrists together with a ziptie.

"No. Use two or three, or do that thingy so she can't untie herself. She's a CIA agent and she was always bragging about how flexible she was, remember?" Dianna mocked, raising her eyebrows, and Clay softly chuckled and then took another couple of zipties to lock her wrists in the same way they do if they capture a soldier.

"I didn't do anything, you crazy woman" Jessica grumbled to Dianna, indignant. Her cheek was turning red really fast, and her impeccable blonde hair was disheveled now.

"You sold us to the Venezuelans, you psycho" Davis meddled, walking closer and ready to punch Jessica. Sonny blocked her with his body.

"What? Of course not" Jessica said, with wide eyes. "I was almost caught too" she said with puppy eyes, and her eyes filled with tears.

The guys squirmed, believing her a little, especially after what she told about Nick, But Dianna was unimpressed and Jason was sick of her already. But she was good.

"Shut up. You're coming with us" Jason grumbled, grabbing her arm and almost dragging her with him. Brock complained and asked him to let go of her arm, but Jason just gave him a killer stare, impatient.

"Hope I get to interrogate you" Dianna mocked behind Jessica, she couldn't wait. Although she was pretty sure they wouldn't allow her to do that, since she was one of her 'victims'. But she would definitely be behind the mirror wall watching, and hinting the interrogators.

Since J-Bad had just been invaded and the prison area was a bit destroyed, Jason handed Jessica to Command and they put her in a temporary cell, guarded by a couple of soldiers. Dianna used the CIA's safe line to tell about what happened with Jessica and Nick, and the bugs Jessica planted on Jason, but didn't get into details.

The Agency was already sending a 'specialist' and interrogators to find out when Jessica called, so Dianna had to 'stay put' in the meantime.


The CIA, Jason and the other soldiers and Officers were busy for hours checking around the Camp and collecting evidences of what could explain what happened, who escaped, who didn't, who were the people who died in the helo, and, mainly, who were the two guys that Dianna chose to stay in Camp Larkin, because it was too much of a coincidence that the Camp was breached with all that man power to rescue someone, and in the end witnesses also confirmed that at least one of those two guys was the one that was being rescued.

Dianna and Davis were between the people that also checked the events, and everyone in the Camp was running around busy, also rebuilding the wall that was brought down and reinforcing security. Many soldiers were sent from the Navy to Camp Larkin after the breach, coming from other military camps and bases nearby, and it was chaos. The other bases in Afghanistan were in high alert too.

The phones weren't working because there were just too many people in there trying to text and make calls at the same time, and Dianna didn't see Jason anywhere while she was working and gathering evidence, so when she was exhausted she went to his cabin, but only Ray was there and didn't see him either. She left a note, written on a paper, then she walked to her own cabin. And found Jason coming out of there right at that moment. He had a copy of her key.

Dianna suddenly felt a lump in her throat, all of the things that happened sunk in at the same time, and she walked fast to Jason. He still had dust on his clothes and a little on his hair, and his face was covered in gunpowder. A lot of it. He looked exhausted.

Jason walked slowly to Dianna when he saw her, and opened his arms when she came closer, receiving a cozy and strong hug from her, that brought tears to his eyes. They lingered in silence, just holding each other for a few seconds.

"What the hell is going on, Jason?" Dianna asked with a choked voice.

"They tried to rescue those leaders. That's all we know" Jason explained, with a shaky voice, still holding her.

Dianna kept quiet, she couldn't face him.

"It was my fault" she exhaled, and Jason immediately distanced from her, to look at her.

"What? Why do you say that?" he asked, concerned.

She squirmed, glancing sideways.

"I told the tangos that they would be kept imprisoned. That they should be watched out because they were 'big fishes'" she explained, looking extremely guilty.

"Ok. So?" Jason was confused.

She sighed. "They knew they'd be sent to the States. They got desperate" she stated, feeling awful. "I was cocky, and now soldiers were killed. Others wounded" she was on the verge of crying.

Jason shook his head.

"No, Dianna. It wasn't like that. This was something they had already planned in advance" he tried to explain to her, but she looked lost. He put his arm around her shoulders and they walked to her cabin, to talk in peace because there were people everywhere around them, and it was early morning now.

"I think they had someone inside to help them" Dianna said as soon as Jason locked the door. "So they passed some message to the others, something like that" she explained her suspicions. "Because they knew they'd be transported soon".

"Yes, they probably had someone inside. But I think that one of the guys that we freed told the organization what happened, and they noticed that those two didn't show up. It doesn't matter what you told them. The instant that they weren't freed, they knew that we suspected they were leaders, and needed to act instantly, before they were transported, because by then we'd know who they were and we would be guarding them with maximum security" he explained to her, anxious to calm her down. Dianna was still processing what he was telling her, not sure she was convinced.

Jason walked closer to her and held her face in his hands.

"Dianna, you weren't there, so you didn't see the offensive. They had tanks, jeeps, machine guns. They had a military helo waiting for them. This organization is big, and I'm sure at least one of the guys was incredibly high in the hierarchy ladder. Like the leader, his right arm. His brother, I don't know. Like, the top" he gestured with his hand, and Dianna blinked, finally understanding.

She finally breathed feeling less guilty and nodded, and Jason nodded too, serious.

"Did you get them killed? The prisoners" she asked, hopeful.

"I think so, yeah. I blew up the helo that was transporting them. At least one of them" he said, smirking. He felt great about it.

"Well done" Dianna smirked back at him.

Jason's smile faded slowly.

"Bumped into Davis earlier, she told me with details about what happened between Jessica and Nick. How is he?" he asked, concerned.

Dianna shrugged, sad.

"Alive. But not stable yet, from what they said. The bullet hit his lung and they transported him to that hospital on the other camp" she explained.

Jason nodded, stern, and exhaled. Dianna noticed how exhausted he was, and she was too.

"Look, we both have a long day soon, with only a few hours to rest. I'll shower now. Do you wanna shower here? It's faster than going to the public ones" she slightly smiled.

Jason smirked, shy.

"I don't wanna impose. I'm used to the other ones" he stated.

"No. Please come here" she said, a bit anxious.

Jason gave her a crooked smile, standing with his hands on his hips. He saw that Dianna was looking very insecure, or afraid. Anxious.

"Do you want me to sleep here with you? I know the bed is small, but if you feel better…" he offered.

Dianna licked her lips, still anxious, but uncomfortable.

"That's not necessary. Like you said, the bed is small, you'd be uncomfortable. Your body must be painful now" she said.

Jason glanced sideways and came very close to her.

"I don't mind. I'll sleep better knowing you're safe with me. Just in case there's another double agent or traitor around here" he said, reading her thoughts.

Dianna smirked and nodded, relieved.

"Ok then. I'd feel better, yeah. I'm afraid of that too" she admitted.

"Alright then. I'll get my bag with some clothes and come here" he stated, and walked to the door, then stopped. "Tomorrow we can move to a cabin with a double bed. If they have any vacant" he suggested, glancing at Dianna, and she smiled, nodding, and walked with him to the door.

Dianna leaned on the door frame and watched Jason walk away, all hunched and completely exhausted.


Jason got his clothes quickly and came back to Dianna's cabin, passing by other soldiers that didn't fight back the intruders and were more rested, and were now running to the crumbled wall that was close to Dianna's cabin, rebuilding the wall and watch tower, with the help of the rested soldiers that came from other Camps and military Bases.

Jason knew that the spot where the wall crumbled was now the safest place to be, because it was already guarded by hundreds of soldiers and jeeps, heavily armed all looking outside. No one would be able to come in from there without being noticed, for sure.

The soldiers all saw Jason walking around covered in dust, and Jason knew a few of them and he nodded, but most of them were running to the wall, with a couple of paramedics with them. Jason grumbled, they were obviously still finding victims there, he hoped they were ok.

"Dianna? I'm here" Jason called her, and walked to the bathroom when he didn't see her in the bedroom. "You should always lock the door" he lectured, already taking off his t-shirt. He frowned when he arrived in the bathroom, Dianna wasn't there. He looked around, no sign of her. He walked fast back to the door, wearing his t-shirt again, and checked around the cabin, maybe she saw someone hurt around the crumbled wall and decided to help.

Jason walked fast to where the soldiers were running to earlier, probably she found someone injured and alerted, she was there with them now. But when he arrived, there were only two soldiers there and some blood on the dirt floor.

"Hey. Was there a woman here earlier? A brunette. Maybe she spotted the injured" Jason asked, hesitant.

The soldiers looked at each other, confused, then looked at Jason with a strange face.

It immediately hit him what may have happened, and he swallowed hard before they even said anything.

"There was a brunette injured found here. Shot. The paramedics took her" one of the soldiers said, noticing how anxious Jason was.

His heart dropped to his stomach and he didn't even breathe before running to the room where the paramedics always gave the first aid, and he stormed inside.

"Where is she? Dianna" he loudly said to the first person that he saw, barely thinking. And breathing. He was confused but something told him that the brunette that was shot was Dianna, somehow.

"I don't… I'm injured" a soldier answered him, because Jason asked him. He had a bandage around his head. "I think they brought a woman just now. Like, a couple of minutes ago".

Jason barely heard him and walked fast to one of the areas with a curtain around it, and a nurse stopped him, since he was completely covered in dust and gunpowder. Not good for the patients there.

"A woman. A brunette, wearing a white top. She was shot" he could barely say the words. "I don't know where" he gestured to his body, getting more panicked by the second, and the nurse nodded, noticing his despair.

"Yes. I know who you're talking about. She was just brought in. I'll check that out for you, please stay here" the nurse gestured with her hand for him to stay put.

Jason nodded and waited, stretching his neck, agitated. He heard some urgent chatter that seemed to come from far away, probably from the end of the long room.

"Worst deployment ever" the injured soldier grumbled, close to Jason.

Jason blinked, breathing hard and anxious. He couldn't agree more.

.