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Abruptly, Webb came over Priest’s comms. “Father, this is Spider. Do you copy?”

“Copy. Go ahead, Spider.”

“We are bugging out; the site is hot.”

“Copy that.”

“Father, one more thing?” Webb’s voice took a serious tone.

“Yeah, Spider?”

“I don’t know how to say this, but we lost two of our boys.”

“Shit!!!” Priest was silent for a moment, “Who?”

“We lost Bolin…” Webb paused “and we lost Bacardi.”

Priest’s face went flush. He was su

ddenly out of his mind, out of his body and trying to hold on to reality. “Bacardi?” he repeated.

“Yeah, brother, Bacardi,” Webb replied solemnly.

“Can’t be,” Priest thought. Suddenly he came rushing back to himself like falling off a cliff to a dead stop. Once he was back in the present, anger engulfed him. “Fuck, fuck, fuck!” he screamed while slamming his fists into the door pillar, denting it. This caused everyone to jump, and the helicopter swerved as it startled Doug.

“Holy shit, what the hell, Sarge?” Doc yelled.

“Shut the fuck up, Doc,” Shaw spat. He reached up with a gentle hand on Priest’s shoulder. “What’s up Sarge?” Shaw said in a peaceful tone.

Priest looked down. He had tears in his eyes. “We…. We lost Abarra.” Doc took in a deep breath but held it.

Shaw just muttered, “Mother fucker.”

“They lost Bolin too.”

“I’m so sorry,” came a small voice from the back. Priest reached back and gave Allison a reassuring pat on the knee.

“Thank you, but it’s not your fault.”

“But it is. If you guys wouldn’t have had to stay back and rescue us, then you would have been there to save him.” She broke down sobbing.

“She’s right, I am so sorry. I feel horrible,” Doug added.

“Look, we are Special Ops and everything we do is dangerous. We know we may not come back from any mission. It’s the way it is. We don’t deal with what if’s and maybes? We’ll deal with what is, so don’t think you had anything to do with it,” Shaw chided.

Priest nodded, “He’s right. We don’t deal with what ifs in our business. What ifs drive you crazy and leave nothing but an empty shell? We accept it and will get over it,” Priest added. He turned back around to the front. “Spider, this is Father. Do you copy?”

“Copy.”

“What’s our next move?”

“I believe we need to take what we have back to HQ, assess where we are and what we can do with the data we have. Regrouping to plan next steps is the best alternative right now.”

“Copy that. Hold on.” Priest turns and addresses Doug and Allison, “What do you guys want to do? Marshall Law wasn’t declared so I can’t make you come with us and we have no jurisdiction over you so, so we can’t tell you what to do. If you want my honest opinion, I believe you are much safer with us, but where you go from here is your decision.”

After a few minutes of silence tick by, Doug speaks up, “Hmm, I haven’t really thought that far ahead. I was accepting my fate because I thought I would die. Allison, what are your thoughts?”

“Well, from what I have been hearing, all communications are out because I even tried my cellphone and nothing. I guess our news station is no longer broadcasting, so there goes my job and career. It looks to me like going with Sergeant Priest and his men is our best bet.”