Chapter 26

Early Thursday Morning

Nexus Ranch

Near Harborton, Washington

Ben’s ears were ringing and chunks of dirt were still pattering down about him as he jogged toward the pole barn. Dammit, that was a huge explosion!

“Gunny, I’m headed to the barn. You know the drill. Let’s go ahead and turn the exterior lights back on. Be sure we keep our sentries out and send a team for that last tango, if he’s still alive he might be friendly,” Ben sent via his throat mic.

“Roger that 6 Actual. I’m on it,” replied Gunny Jean.

Ben knew he didn’t have to worry about managing the battlespace with Gunny as his backup. He probably hadn’t really even needed to say anything. Like most senior NCOs she was nearly always way ahead of him. In fact, technically, he knew he should stay back and monitor the big picture, but his instincts said that he needed to be by the barn. He also had to do what he could for whatever was left of Billy and he was probably the most experienced at dealing with battlefield traumatic injuries.

Ben stumbled a bit as his feet neared the edge of the 3 foot deep crater that marked where the satchel charge had exploded in the soft dirt. A few yards further and he crested the lip of the same gently curving swale where the last 4 tangoes had sheltered. There, against the galvanized metal siding of the barn was a shredded bundle of rags.

‘Shit, Billy’ Ben thought as he approached the fallen figure. He fell to one knee, pulled his trauma kit from his tactical pack, drew off his glove, and began looking for a pulse. Incredibly there weren’t any obvious bleeding injuries and while checking Billy’s carotid he felt a strong steady thump. Somehow Billy must have managed to throw the satchel far enough to get it over the lip of the small ridge and it had absorbed much of the explosion. Shaking his head Ben thought: If they had weight classes for discus throwing in the Olympics, Billy would be a contender for the lightweight division gold medal.

From what Ben could tell the explosion had picked up Billy and thrown him against the side of the pole barn. He didn’t want to move him until he knew the full extent of his injuries. He did check to make sure that his airway was clear and removed the gear and torn battledress uniform as best he could.

“Gunny, as soon as we are secure send an escort for Kelly and get her out here,” sent Ben.

“Roger that,” replied Gunny. “Six actual, a team is on the way to take custody of the last tango near your current pos, and Kelly is already on her way.”

“Have them escort the tango here ASAP” replied Ben. He was hoping to get a little clarity on what had happened before he stood everyone down from alert.

Just then Kelly jogged around the corner of the barn followed closely by Eesha. Both had their body armor on and pistols at the ready.

Ben ran the gamut of emotions at the sight of Kelly. He was so glad to see her so quickly but was annoyed that she wasn’t following protocol. Of all of his girls, Kelly was probably the gentlest and he worried about her in these situations.

“Kelly! I...”

“Stop right there buster!” Kelly said, throwing up her hand. “I grabbed my body armor and Eesha is my escort. I felt that you needed me immediately, and made a command decision that the risk was acceptable. Tell me you wouldn’t of done the same!” she said with a frown.

Ben knew when he had been hoisted by his own petard and truthfully, the situation was in hand. Not to mention that Eesha was a formidable escort notwithstanding her delicate appearance. She was a rare natural pistol shot and was getting nearly as good as Ben and Ferg in their range sessions.

“Yes love, I just worry about you,” said Ben.

“I know, me too, about you. Now, let’s have a look at Billy,” Kelly said, kneeling down on the other side of the prone and still unconscious Billy.

Kelly’s goddess bracelets activated and began pulsing their amber glow as she carefully probed Billy’s skull and all along his body.

“Eesha, can you please lift and cradle his head for me while I send him some energy and work on stabilizing the effects of his concussion,” asked Kelly.

Eesha safed and holstered her weapon and knelt carefully next to Kelly. With Ben’s help she slowly shifted Billy’s head onto her lap.

“Ben, dear, no offense but we need woman energy here at the moment. Billy’s going to be okay. It feels like he has some cracked ribs, a concussion and maybe a broken arm but he’s going to be fine. So go take care of what you need to do, we got this,” Kelly said softly.

Ben knew when he had received his marching orders, so he stood and after giving Kelly a quick smooch on her forehead, turned to face the approaching cluster of security headed by Gunny Jean. Ben could tell they weren’t taking any chances as the captive had his hands flexi cuffed behind him and all his gear had been removed. A middle aged elf Ben hadn’t met and the dwarf Geofrey stood at either side, well away from the prisoner but with weapons at the ready.

“Geoffrey it’s good to see you again,” said Ben to the small mountain of a man with the gnarled hands and long beard.

“Aye, you as well sire,” replied the dwarf.

Try as he might, he could never get the Fae to address him as ‘Ben’.

“Okay who have we got here?” said Ben addressing the short, sturdy, dark complected man at the center of the group.

“Major Pieter Viktorovich at your service. You are Captain Clarkson, I presume?” said Pieter in lightly accented English.

“Ah, so you know something about us here?” said Ben coldly.

“Well the initial intelligence we received had some detail but I can see now, it was deliberately misleading,” replied Pieter.

“Is that why you were trying to stop the bombers?” asked Ben.

“I had just decided to call off the operation but the Chechen’s had their own agenda and apparently their own explosives. Our mission was to neutralize some terrorists that the FBI and Homeland security were reluctant to interfere with for political reasons,” replied Pieter. We were not supposed to be mass murderers.”

Ben was struggling with himself. This man’s team had put his people in danger and nearly killed one of them. But just from the way the man stood and looked him directly in the eyes he knew there was more to the story. Pieter’s demeanor felt like that of a professional soldier, not a psychopath.

“Can you tell me about the status of my men?” Pieter continued.

At those words Ben came to a decision. He was going to need Pieter’s cooperation to fully resolve all that had happened and this was exactly what his first question would have been had their roles been reversed. They may never be more than mutually respectful professionals but Ben thought that he could trust the man as far as he needed for the moment.

“First, do I have your word that you won’t try to escape or do us harm?” asked Ben.

“Captain Clarkson. Your team completely took down 17 highly trained, highly experienced professional soldiers, all from elite units without a shot. I’m not delusional enough to think that I could turn that around or suicidal enough to try. You have my word as an officer,” Pieter replied.

“Okay Gunny, go ahead and cut him loose,” said Ben with a gesture.

Gunny Jean with a skeptical look reluctantly stepped behind the Major and snipped his flex cuffs off with a pair of wire cutters.

“Alright Major, your men are all fine with the exception of course of the bombers. None of them have survived. The rest are a little shaken up, but none are harmed. They are being held in custody by our allies for the moment,” said Ben

“Ah yes, your allies. I assume that some of our misfortune tonight is due to their unique abilities?” queried a curious Pieter.

“Yes, you could indeed say that,” replied Ben with a grin.

“I have to confess, Captain, I am overwhelmed with curiosity,” said Pieter.

“I will tell you what I can about our situation here provided you cooperate as welI, but first, we have 17 in custody including yourself and 4 drivers with 3 KIA. Are there any more of your team about?” asked Ben.

“No Captain, that is all of us. There were 5 scum and their leader sent by the sponsors of the operation. They were supposed to follow behind us. Of them I have no knowledge,” replied Pieter.

“I don’t think we have to worry about those 5 any longer. I’m wearing pieces of what’s left of them,” interrupted Sarah as she strode up to the group under the lighting at the corner of the barn.

As she walked under the harsh outdoor light Sarah revealed herself as an avenging angel. Dark, almost black, ropy strands of blood and gobbets of flesh covered her. Her bright golden hair peeked out from the gore in a wraithlike halo. Her normally sparkling sapphire eyes were flat and dead. Ben was stunned, this apparition was not his Sarah.

“Sarah, love, are you okay?” said Ben as he took her into his arms completely disregarding the bloody mess she was covered in.

“Yes ... I think so, none of this is mine,” Sarah said, startling slightly and shuddering as Ben’s familiar arms wrapped around her. “It seems my Goddess mom thought that the Outlaw Demons should pay the cost of protecting us here from further interference,” she continued.

“Interference?” asked Ben.

“I guess there are, or were, dark ones powerful enough to fuck with us even under the protection of the warding spell,” Sarah replied.

“That explains our aerial scouts being blinded and how the Major’s group made it by the glamor traps,” said Ben.