Steele Promises

Fallen Hero

Chapter 4

 

July 8, 2011, Baltimore MD

Antonio Frost paced back and forth in front of the fire place in his house. He knew he should have been watching Cheyenne closer, but he’d gotten arrested the night after she’d seen him kill a disloyal employee. He’d meant to sweet talk her into accepting his way of life with gifts and lots of heavy petting; he hadn’t expected her to disappear. He knew everything about her, she had no family, very few friends and no one knew where she’d disappeared to. He wanted her back if only to make sure she didn’t talk. He’d known she would make the perfect wife, and in time he would have eased her into his world, but now he had no idea what the hell she was up to.

It’d been four months and he knew she’d come over to tell him something, but she hadn’t gotten the chance. She’d run from the house so quickly that he had only been able to threaten death if she told anyone what she’d seen.

“We still don’t have anything on her,” Romeo Tate said. Romeo was Antonio’s second and command. He was also the only one he trusted to bring Cheyenne back. He’d try to convince her to come back to him and if that didn’t work he’d have to dispose of her. It was a waste really because she was so beautiful and the perfect woman to bare his children. To raise his children as well, now he’d have to search for someone else. He’d even gone through the trouble of orchestrating a robbery so he could swoop in and save her.

“I don’t care what you have to do, who you have to hurt. I want her found now Rome, don’t disappoint me.” Romeo didn’t say anything else; he knew when it was best to be silent.

 

July 9, 2011, Somewhere over South America.

 

Jaxon watched Preston move around the air carrier that was going to drop them over their target. Each time in the past four months they were deployed Preston had been acting like he was hiding something. Every time they were back home, he blew Jaxon off, but when they landed on foreign soil and they went out together he wouldn’t give any girl the time of day.

“What’s her name?” Jaxon asked taking Preston by surprise.

“How did you figure it out?”

“You are always smiling and you haven’t hooked up with a girl in a while.”

“Bravo leader approaching drop point.”

“I’ll tell you all about her over drinks when we get home. There’s a lot to explain, but I hope you’ll be happy for me.”

“Of course I’m happy for you; I’m a little offended that you would think I’d feel differently.”

“We’ll I guess I’ll be buying the beers when we go for those drinks then huh?”

“Damn straight,” Jaxon agreed before launching himself out of the back of the carrier.

After running three clicks through dense jungle to get to the compound Jaxon and Preston scaled the six foot concrete wall with ease. They signaled with their hands that they were going to circle around and takeout all the guards. The rest of the team followed close behind until finally they reached the front. The idea was to all burst in at the same time taking the arms dealer Darwin Piazo by surprise. Their Intel said the only precaution this Darwin took was a safe room located in the basement. All they had to do was prevent him from making it there and get him to the extraction point. Then they would sweep the place for the nuclear weapons that were suspected on the premises.

Jaxon and Preston burst into the front door as the rest of the team burst through the windows of the main building. Alarms blared, but they ignored it as the surveyed the hallway in front of them. There was a room to the left and another one to the left, neither had windows so there was no telling what was inside.

“You take left, I’ll take right,” Preston said.

Jaxon surveyed the room at first not seeing anything but he wanted to be thorough. He scanned the room keeping his gun level and his finger on the trigger. Finally he lowered the rifle satisfied this room was clean but when he turned to leave he turned face first with a foot wide chest. He looked up and a fist came across his face and his back was flat on the ground. His assailant’s footsteps shook the ground and Jaxon tried to lift his gun but the man grabbed it and tossed it out the window. Then he grabbed Jaxon by the vest and it wasn’t until now that he got a good look at the giant. Jaxon had never seen a Brazilian so big, and never been so desperate for a gun.

“What the hell do you eat?” Jaxon screamed as the man threw him into a nearby wall. He got to his feet quickly and swung as hard as he could across the giant’s face which only seemed to make him angrier. The giant roared as he back handed Jaxon then kicked him in the chest so hard he flew ten feet across the room.

“Ow” He groaned as he struggled to lift himself up. “That hurt”

Jaxon could hear the giant’s footsteps getting closer; he had to make a decision quickly. He kicked as hard as he could hitting the Brazilian right in the crouch making him double over in pain. Jaxon followed up with an upper cut knocking him backwards and leaving him completely open. The marine charged as fast as he could, tackling the man to the ground then began pounding his face with everything he had. Jaxon could hear his face cracking underneath his fist, and blood was starting to pour out.

Just as Jaxon was thinking he had the upper hand, he was tossed aside and the Brazilian was back on his feet and looked even madder.

“Damn it!” The giant grabbed him by the throat and lifted him into the air. “This is . . . ridiculous” Jaxon struggled to say while he was being choked to death.

He jabbed hard into the giant’s throat making him release his death grip. Jaxon didn’t waste time and followed it up by a right hook square in his already broken noise. The Brazilian countered with a punch of his own but the marine managed to dodge it and send an upper cut straight into his rib making a loud cracking sound. The giant screamed in pain but was cut short when Jaxon pulled his arm back and swung as hard as he could and sent the giant flat on his back, knocking him out cold.

“Get up from that big ass mother f-”

Preston burst into the room gun in hand followed by the rest of the unit.

“Excellent timing boys.”

“Damn, Steele I told you to stay with the unit. What the hell are you doing running ahead without back up?”

“Sorry sir I’ll try to slow down for the rest of the unit next time.” He replied with a cocky smile.

Preston couldn’t help but smile. “Hoorah!”

The unit got back in formation and headed back down the hall leaving Preston and Jaxon behind.

“You alright?” Preston asked handing him a rifle.

“Never better” Jaxon said cocking it and smiling an arrogant smile that only a marine could pull off. “Hoorah”

Preston ran outside the building followed by Jaxon firing at any target they could find. Preston noticed Jaxon was favoring his left shoulder; he must have injured it he thought to himself. It did little to slow him down though. At one point he passed Preston and knocked a man out with the butt of his gun.

“Show off” Preston said while shooting down a nearby enemy. Before Jaxon could come up with a witty reply the sound of a grenade launcher stopped him dead in his tracks. He looked around desperately for the source of the noise but instead flew backwards as the missile exploded right next to him. Jaxon hit a tree with such force it knocked him out cold. The last thing he saw was his best friends burnt and mangled body, and the men surrounding him before everything went black.