Page 20 of Believe
“You let me worry about that,” said Matthew. “I’ll give you a list of names to take things to and I’ll take care of the rest.”
“Pops, this is a lot. Maybe we give some of it before Christmas Eve.”
“There will be some that we do that with but for now, just let me worry about that part of the plan. Right now, I need for all of you to take a trip with me.”
“A trip? Like, a trip trip?” frowned Ghost. Matthew laughed.
“A real trip, son. Evie is waiting at the chopper. Don’t worry, this will be one that you’re all going to enjoy and understand.”
Without question, twenty of the team followed Matthew. They had no idea where they were going or what they were doing. Three hours into the flight, they were still in the clouds.
“Pops?”
“Gaspar. Son. Relax,” smiled Matthew. “We’ll get there when we get there. Gabriel? Trak? Is everything prepared?”
“Yes, sir,” they said in unison.
Matthew only nodded, the others looking at them with a strange expression. Trak and Gabriel were sworn to secrecy. They would not say a word.
After another four hours, the men were beginning to worry. When they felt the plane begin to descend, they stared out the window. It was a land they recognized but couldn’t name. They’d been in lands like this on and off their entire lives.
When the plane finally touched down, Matthew ordered the men to place their stealth netting on. Doing as instructed, they all dressed in the stealth netting and followed Matthew into the desert-like land.
After walking for nearly thirty minutes, they finally stopped near an outpost. It was an American outpost with more than thirty soldiers standing around, dirty, tired, and injured.
“When is our relief coming?” asked one of the men.
“They were supposed to be here three days ago,” said their leader. “I think they may have been ambushed.”
“Damn,” muttered a man. “I don’t want to sound selfish but we’ve been fighting to keep this place safe for weeks now. But for what? There’s nothing here. There’s nothing that needs to be protected. We were scheduled to go home. My wife is pregnant and it’s Christmas.”
“Same,” nodded another man. “Maybe we attack them.”
“We can’t,” said their leader. “We don’t have the ammo to survive.”
Matthew pulled the men back a few hundred yards to ensure the others wouldn’t hear.
“Pops? What is this?” asked Jean.
“Those men have been out here for weeks, months,” he said. “On the other side of that ridge is the enemy preparing to attack them tonight and kill them all. They will not have the ammunition to win the fight and no one is coming for them.”
“We can get someone in to help them,” said Antoine.
“We did. We are,” smiled Matthew. “The plane is loaded with ammunition and explosives.” Matthew turned and grinned at his son, Pierre.
“Pops, are you going to make my Christmas?” he grinned.
“Son, I believe that I am. If you all can end this fight, now, here, tonight, you will save the life of a future engineer, a groundbreaking scientist, a senator, and so much more. You will impact the present and the future.”
“One last fight,” smirked Nine. “You know I’m good for that.”
“Same,” nodded the others. Alec looked around and frowned as Angel and Miller huddled together.
“Where did Trak go?” he asked.
“Trak is off doing what Trak does. He will have the intel you need in a few minutes. I will watch over those exhausted young men. Go. End this now so those boys can go home.”
Still under stealth netting, the men grabbed every ounce of ammunition and firepower at their fingertips. The enemy felt secure in their position and superior numbers but they had no idea there were additional men waiting for them.