Rainbow Six: Broken Arrow

Chapter 12: Jungle Jump

Archer knew he was dreaming, but it felt too real. He wasn't in Port Sudan, like in most of his nightmares, but he was in the C-130 that he had fallen asleep in. He was completely alone in the cargo bay. He looked out one of the windows and saw the empty night sky. When Archer turned around he was shocked to see and a figure opposing him. 

The scar, mustache, Flectar camo uniform. It was Caiaphas. "Hello, Archer." 

Archer immediately went for his pistol but was held back by an unknown force. "The fuck?"

Caiaphas laughed and approached Archer with his arms crossed. "You will never kill me, Archer. No matter what, you will always be haunted by the men lost in Sudan. You will be haunted by the fact that you will never avenge them." When Archer looked Caiaphas in the eyes, his face was different. It was Archer's face. 

Archer struggled against the unseen force that held him back. "THAT'S A LIE! I'LL FUCKIN' KILL YOU! I SWEAR!" 

Caiaphas let out a chuckle, "Oh, and one more thing. Keep a close eye on her, Archer. No telling what will happen if you lose her." Caiaphas lowered the ramp to the C-130 and jumped, leaving Archer in an awestruck daze.

***

The aisles of the C-130 were quiet, the 10 operatives just stared at the metal floor. While only one of them was sound asleep. Take a guess who it was. The quiet humming of the engines outside of the cargo bay had lulled the CIA Officer into a deep sleep.

Elena looked out the circular window but was unable to see anything outside. Looking for something to occupy her mind, she looked over to Archer who was laying on a waterproof cargo box, full of the team's high-tech equipment and gadgets. His face was scrunched up and his brow was drenched in sweat. He was probably having a nightmare. Archer had told Elena about his troubled past in the Pub in Hereford, and his seizure on the ride back from Syria was most likely the cause of PTSD.

Just as Elena was starting to wonder what he was dreaming about, Archer gasped awake and immediately started hyperventilating, with his sidearm in his right hand. Everyone jumped from the sudden sound, while Elena almost let out a yelp from his yell.

Archer slowed his breathing and holstered his Glock 17. He slumped down on his back on the crate and took a deep breath. "Ah... Alright, everyone, time for the pre-breathing period. We have to flush all the Nitrogen from your bloodstream for about 45-minutes unless you want the Bends." Archer sat down next to Elena and clipped the oxygen mask onto his helmet and took in a deep breath, in and out, in and out.

Archer heard Elena still fidgeting with her mask. Being unable to speak from the air-tight mask, he lightly tapped on her helmet and she let him clip it on. She nodded and started the breathing technique that Ding and Archer hurriedly taught all of the operators before boarding the plane in Britain. The pair had to give the quick 101 of how to jump from a plane, considering that some of them were just cops with extra training, but some of them like Maverick or Thatcher had already possessed the knowledge.

Archer flipped down the visor from his helmet and the Heads-Up-Display ran through some information and showed the allotted time until the pre-breathing period was over. The HALO TACOPS Helmet was of special make from the CIA. After doing inserting hundreds of operatives over the span of 50 years by HALO jumps, the CIA had invested in making the jump easier with a sci-fi-like guiding system integrated the HUD, heat regulation to keep from catching frostbite, advanced night vision goggles for nighttime jumps, and tons of other things less significant, but probably life-saving.

Moments later, the Loadmaster in his black flight suit and skull-painted oxygen mask, walked into the cargo bay. "Rainbow, three mikes to drop!" The Loadmaster yelled through the muffled mask and started rigging the cargo box's parachute. The lights in the cargo bay then switched to an eerie red.