Prologue
Terrorism... such a dark subject to mention. Yet unfortunately it often happens, a subject I very much hated ever since I could remember and one I was determined to end. That was the very thing that caused me to join the military, for many years I was a soldier traveling across the world and "serving my country" as many would say.
Later on, I was offered a chance to join a unit within the CIA, switching from a full-out soldier to an agent-or operative as they often called it. I was joined with eight others, some who did their part on the field and others who worked behind the scenes.
I was always one for getting on the field and doing the dirty work-not neccesarily because I just wanted to see blood and bullets, but because I truly felt I was making a difference. I loved my team like brothers and sisters-though I never had any.
There was our "techies"-as I liked to call them, Royce Grant, Carl West, Alfred "Fred" Taylor, and Samantha "Sammy" Elbridge. Though I often referred to them as "techies" the four were capable of many things that us soldiers could never do and were always keeping us updated on what was going on.
And then you had the guys like me, well, mostly guys anyway. There was Ben "Hammer" Andersen, a guy who was all about making sure the job was done, however possible. Makayla "Kay" Henderson, a girl perfectly okay with running with the boys and loved to constantly prove that she could handle things without a man beside her.
Along with them was probably the most memorable of us all, Alex "Phsyco" Reed, who pulled some of the craziest stunts while in desperate situations, including knocking me into the raging water during a flood that happened within a certain city that was at the time under attack and the team happened to get split up, leaving Kay and the rest of the team on the other side of the town. Enemy soldiers found us,and we surrendered since they clearly outnumbered us and then it happened, Phsyco had thought it would be a good idea to push me, himself included, into the flood.
Luckily, we survived, by the skin of our teeth, I might add. And soon met back up with the rest of the squad. I guess he would've preferred to die by his own hand than someone else's. The thing that upset not just me, the entire team, in fact was that he would do something like of that sort and pretend like everything is fine. "It's all just some sick game to him." said Lance Quinn, our eigth team member of the squad as he removed his equipment from a mission we had got back one day.
"He doesn't realize he's playing with people's lives." Lance was the complete opposite of Andersen, and the two often bumped heads with eachother over which is more is more important-a team member's life or completion of the objective.
Then last, there was me. My name is Travis Grenier, I was very close to the team, just like my parents when I was a child. I was the last to be asked to join the unit and last to have any say in our plan of action, time and time again. However, this didn't really bother me, I was just happy to be cleaning the world of global threats.
Though I had never gave out any commands or orders for the team to follow or even made suggestions, Andersen often said he think I would make a decent team leader, "If anyone is on this team is to ever be killed, make sure you get the job done first, then mourn later." he would often say to us all.
Though I valued people over the mission, like Quinn, I did have a certain amount of agreement with Andersen's statements and motives.
The clashing of the two's priorities often reminds me of a recent mission the team had taken on. We had eliminated the team leader of some group of terrorist know as The Observers, however we got word that there were still some members roaming around in what we concluded to be a possible headquarters for them-at least was.
Royce suggested that we count the number of hostiles through UAV, but Andersen was a little arrogant and dismissed that thought, believing we could easily execute the mission without proper planning and tactics. Hammer went in almost knowing it would be just another day-yet he had made a mistake and the team payed the price for it.
We found the hostiles within an old abandoned warehouse within the states. The Observers were actually people from America, people who get a kick out of testing the might of their own country by slowly crippling it, some believed they had moles on the inside or somehow gained the access of secret documents, government funds, and God knows what else.
Though it was clear The Observers were or was in possesion of a group of computer hackers, they had the addition of firepower, and most of them had decent gun skill, and not just normal weapons that can be bought, but full tactical gear...the type stuff that we would use.
During the mission, the team closed in on the warehouse, Hammer, Lance, and Kay infiltrating from the south, where the front entrance was and Physco and I taking them from the north.
"What do you think these guys really have against the country?" I had asked Reed as we made our way there, still a couple miles from it.
"Absolutely nothin'." he answered, turning to me. "They just want to strike fear in the American people."
"Yeah, but what's the gain from all of it?" I persisted, hoping for a legitamate answer, but what was I doing? I was talking to Alex Reed, the fact that he has gotten this far in life without ending up in a prison or dead was the only thing that showed he was mentally stable-sort of, I guess.
He began to go through a series of silly hand motions and making the most animated faces while putting on a somewhat series voice. "They wanna burn it all to the ground. The police department, white house, CIA, Secret Service, all that. The just want to...BOOM! Blast all that in a million pieces...just to say they can and prove a point. And so all the all the ladies can be like (imitates female voice) Oh Charlie, you're so good at blowin' up and remodelin' countries...think you can do it for mine?"
Waves of laughter escaped me as I listened to Physco's rambling of nonsense. Man, the guy was completely random, after we made it to the warehouse with me being the follower, we stopped for a moment as Reed lifted his hand, signaling there were hostiles nearby.
Two men spoke lowly, we remained silent, trying to locate the where they were. We drifted over to to a nearby fence and place our ears against it. That fence was the only thing separating us, I took a few deep breaths out of my nose, trying to remain calm. But they were literaly right there! They could easily hear us like we could hear them, if we made any loud noises.
The two appeared within our sight, facing the direction we came from, I quickly raised my SMG, aiming for one of the guards, my index finger was about to pull the trigger, but Reed placed a hand on my weapon, lowering it and stopping me from firing.
"Alex!" I whispered in confusion. He placed a finger over his lips, automatically making me stop and listen as if he could control my actions. He then removed his hand from my weapon and took pulled a silenced pistol out of his holster about began to aim in the guards' direction.
"Time to kill two piggies with one axe." he chirrped.
"Don't you mean kill two birds with one stone?" I asked, waiting for an answer. He took this into thought and looked around as if he'd never scene the world before. After a long pause I figured even though he was thinking about it, he wouldn't answer.
Finally after what seemed like an hour he look back at my and said "No. I mean two piggies with one axe."
Reed now waited on the two men to do something...I couldn't figure out what. Then, the one on the right to a few steps forward, moved over and turned facing us. His attention was still on the other and he did not see the slightest hint of us.
Physco shot three bullets toward the guards, and managed to neutralize both guards. A double shot. I thought. Impressive. I was only thinking of taking one out, then the next after. But, of course it is always better to work smart.
Suddenly, a voice came on our headsets. "Front entrance is clear, we're entering now." the gruff voice of Hammer informed. Reed began to speak through the headset "Yeah, we'll be inside in a few. Make sure you save some guys for me in there."
We made our way inside the building, and scanned the area. Nearby a flight of stairs was the body of another guard that laid on the ground, lifeless. "Looks like they beat us up the stairs too." I said as we approached them. "We're still gonna have more kills than them. It's just a matter of when." Alex said with a smirk on his face.
Gunshots began to ring from the second floor. The two of us rushed up the stairs, then passing across a massive catwalk. "I think the shots came from there." I whispered to Physco as continued to advance.
Just then, Sammy patched in on our headsets. "Guys, you've got company outside! Forget this, you have a lot of heat on you right now!"
Physco and I rushed in the room, joining the the other three. The room filled with the fury of bullets and muzzle flashes. We took cover behind two metal crates, across the room were Kay and Lance, but where was Andersen?
We and the enemies continually popped up from cover, trading fire but no further progress was made. "Where's Hammer?!" I asked the others. Lance tilted his head to where the guards were positioned in the room. "Up there, somewhere!" he replied.
"Just get out of there! We need a new plan of attack!" Carl shouted over the headset. "We gotta find Hammer, first!" Hendersen shouted over the raging bullets, occasionally rising up just enough to fire a couple of round from her SMG in hope of hitting one the hostiles.
The ringing of the bullets began to intensify, we knew they were closing in on us, we had to do something before it was too late!
The shooting finally ended, we peered over the crates only to see Hammer standing nearby the bodies of the guards, looking at us.
"Well...are you guys coming?" he asked impatiently. We all rose up, walking toward him, still checking for any more guys that might be hiding.
'There's more of these guys outside, Ben. We gotta get outta here before it's too late." Reed tried to convince Andersen.
"He's right Trying to continue on is too dangerous." I said. "And if Physco is saying stand down, then you know it's risky."
Through the headset Royce's voice came "Listen to them, Hammer. They're trying to save you from a big mistake. I should've brought out the UAV anyway, even though you said don't."
Hammer began to look down at the unkept floor in thought. He knew it would be best to fall back so no ones life is at risk. It was obvious that we barely made it out of that firefight in one piece. He looked up to the team saying "But we're saying close. We cannot stop when so close to winning."
"Andersen, look at yourself." Makayla rushed in the conversation. "Valueing a mission over a person's life. If you continue this you will not like what you find. "That's it!" Hammer shouted. "I'm ordering you all to stick with me and finish the job!"
Last, Fred patched in on the headset. "Let me tell you something, it might be crucial to eliminate a threat but leading them into sure death isn't the way to go. And regardless of you being the team leader, you do not have the authority to ask of something like this! What good is eliminating this one threat if the very team whose job was to eliminate these kinds of threats is buried in the ground! Once again, you do not have the power to ask so much of them!"
"Let's just get this done, then we'll come right back. On me, team!" Hammer signaled for us to follow.
Though we could have easily exited, we decided to continue the initial mission. We went into a final room inside the warehouse, with Hammer opening the door, the anger and frustration in his face from the thought of us wanting to abandon the mission clearly showed.
He swung the door open, to find a large bomb laying in the middle of the room. A red light flashed on the top of it, indicating the device was set to detonate. It seemed like at that moment everything just stood still, was this really the ending in store for my team and I?
"Move!" Hammer shouted, turning the other way. We rushed through the rooms of the warehouse, then went down the stairs, trying to escape through the back door of the building, guards were in the front firing at us. Bullets whized past us and through the interior,
We all scramble behind the nearest cover we could find. Then Hammer contacted the rest of the team while everyone else fought. "Pick us up from the rear entrance!" he commanded.
"Kay, you get out first, we'll cover you!" Hammer ordered. "I can handle this!" she said. "I didn't ask that, just go!" he shouted over the gunfight. Kay hesitated for a moment, but then finally came to her senses and sprinted out of the building.
We continued to fight hard, enduring the pounding of bullets and switching cover. "Alright, Reed. You're next, get outta here!" Andersen shouted again. We continued to make a wall of gunfire for the enemy as Alex got out.
More time passed, then Andersen decided that it was my turn. "Alright, Travis. You're up! But wait for us outside!" I rose from my cover and strided through the door to the outside and ran up the hill into the trees, I then turned, watching the exit of the warehouse, reloading and readying my weapons in case any hostiles followed Andersen or Quinn when they would run out.
I figured they would come out in seconds, and was just waiting on them. But they had exceeded the amount of time they had taken to get evryone else out. Had they been killed? What was the delay about?
About twenty seconds had already passed, but still nothing.
I stood there and waited longer, wanting to hope that they were all right and it was just some hold up.
Thirty seconds.
Still no sign of them, I began to slowly walk back toward the warehouse, praying that they were still alive.
Fourty seconds.
Something was wrong, I had to go back, but then again, they've been within so many encounters, surely they were alright.
Fifty seconds.
I began to walk slightly faster toward the warehouse, knowing something was not right, had one of them been injured and and were trying to make it out? Or are they fine and just for whatever reason there's a delay? Or had they been killed in action?
Sixty seconds.
Hammer came rushing out of the door, nearly stumbling onto the ground and ran up on the hill beside me, but where was Lance?
Suddenly, the warehouse bursted into hot, enourmous flames. The two of us looked back in devastation, I could not believe my eyes...a team member, gone. Though I had been a soldier for a long period of time, it was never easy losing a dear friend to battle. That was the darker side of war, the most terrible thing about it.
"Oh, no. Lance." I said, though I knew that now there wasn't anything I could do to bring my old friend back to Earth. Just then, more hostiles came around the burning warehouse coming after us.
"Finish the job, mourn later!" Andersen shouted to me as he began running further up the tree-covered hill to our escape. I followed him, as hot tears filled my eyes and ran down my cheeks.
We were able to escape the conflict, but sat in complete silence and sadness, mourning over our good friend who unfortunately is no longer with us. We had for the most part defeated The Observers, but lost a greatly loved friend that valued what matters in this world...people.