Follow The Wind

A perfectly round small hole just above the ear. A tiny drop of blood ran down around the back of his face like ooze from an old ketchup bottle. The

force of the round had pushed all the tissue to the far side of his head where a nasty exit wound showed fragments of bone and wet sticky hair. Pro laid his muzzle in line with the entrance hole and fired two more rounds into the little hole without increasing its size yet causing more blood to splatter.

He said to himself, "Now I can rest with a job well done. If you're going to do a job, then do it right."

Pro slipped back into the vegetation that had provided him cover for the long wait that morning. He made his way quickly and silently through the jungle to his pick-up point. Pro watched the extraction pick-up man and decided to find his own way home. His pick-up contact was a local businessman and Pro did not trust anyone. Pro laid some cash on the counter and rode off on a rented motorcycle. He took every back road leading north and toward his LZ pick-up point.

The pilot looked at him with anger. "Why did you miss your extraction?'

"Cause he is local and I want to stay alive."

"You can trust him."

"I can trust the sun to set today and nothing more."

"You been in this business too long."

"This business has been in me too long."

They lifted off and the chopper took Pro back to base. Your unit leader said you are ordered to check in for a debriefing at 14:00 hours.

At 14:00 Pro walked into the tiny concrete bunker. He sat in a metal chair to rest his legs and waited, His debrief officer arrived late.

"Pro, how are you hanging?

"No problem. I got made mark clean and I came home,"

"The others we sent out with you are still pillaging and raping. That is the only reason they go out."

"They signed up for the extracurricular. I work by the book. Why does the US military permit the rat squad to act like rogue pirates."

Because they are good killers and we have a long list of cartel targets."

"Hell, I can't stomach bunking with these rats any longer."

"You've got one day until you bug-out so I'll put you in lock down until your exit flight."

"I would rather work than sit. I can't stand to sit."

"You got your orders. I can't trust your mental attitude in the field. You're on lock down. That is it."

Pro couldn't sleep that night. He kept listening to the rants of the rat squad members recounting their crimes against the local population.

Pro just kept to himself. He was not part of the group and they did not like him.

The next morning the rat squad left the barracks to get their hit orders. They each wanted to make a quick kill from the US military most wanted list and then join the worst criminals in the landscape and party hard with drugs, women, and black market business. As long as the rat squad was killing targets for the US military in support of the US backed cartel, the local government forces let them do anything they wanted. The rat squad had their own brand of military immunity. If they stayed in the territory controlled by the government backed gangs, they had a free hand. The US government strategy was just to maintain some sort of stability. Morality and justice were as foreign as another alien world. The US sided with a corrupt cartel because they were in control and "might makes right".