Brothers

Chapter 18

My first thought was, again? But when I felt hands wrap around my throat and not the tongue of a dog I opened my eyes to see an Afghan in my face.

His face was caked in blood and dirt. My hands were on his chest, trying to push him away.

"John!" Nick yelled.

I took my right hand and balled it up. I was just about to hit him when I saw a flash of black and gold from the corner of my eye. The Afghan was suddenly thrown off of me followed by screams and snarling.

I quickly stood up to see Rose wrestling with the Afghan. Then I saw something that made my blood boil.

With his arm over his face, to protect him from the sharp teeth of the dog, he slowly reached down to his waist.

He pulled a five inch long blade.

Before I  could register what I was doing, my gun was in my hands, pointing the barrel at the Afghan.

"Drop your weapon now!" I shouted at him. "Rose, release!"

She dropped his arm and went to stand by me, still on edge.

The Afghan screamed in Pashto and from his body language, I could tell he was angry at us and I knew we couldn't do anything to change his mind.

I'm not the one to kill people in cold blood, unless it's for survival, but if I kept him alive, he might get in  contact with Jones and we can't have that.

Without another word, I took a steady breath and took the safety off and pulled the trigger. I watched his body slump to the ground, the bullet finding it's mark between the eyes.

"Why did you kill him?" Nick asked.

"He wasn't switching sides and I didn't want him to report back to Jones." I simply stated, putting the safety back on the pistol and putting it back in it's holster. "Come on." I told him. "We have to keep moving."

He didn't say anything as he followed me through the destroyed city.

Most of the dust settled down. The air was mostly filled with smoke from the fires that were burning the buildings.

Throughout the walk back I tried to forget the lifeless body. I could still see his dark brown eyes staring at me in an accusing way. It was like he was cursing me to Hell and back.

Little did he know, I was already in Hell.

***

We get to the prison without any trouble. We didn't bother crouching low because I had the feeling that no one was around.

Rose walked by my side, making sure that I was always with her by looking up at me every so often.

When we reached the door I still looked around before opening it. Nick went in first followed by Rose, then I. Like always, the door softly closed behind us when we were through.

"Hey guys. Did you see Rose out there?" I heard Mariah asked.

"I've seen her run off somewhere, but I haven't seen her since." I heard Ryan respond.

By now, we were close enough to hear her sigh. Rose perked her hed up and bolted towards Mariah, making a sharp turn around the corner.

"I hope they-Rose!"

I could hear the relief in her voice and the whine of Rose as we rounded the corner and into the cell. Rose had her front paws on Mariah's chest trying to lick her face, her tail wagging uncontrollably.

Dante was trying to stand up to go over to the reunion, but was held back by Jason. If Dante moved, it would only worsened his wound..

As soon as Rose got down Mariah looked up at me.

"Thank you."

I nodded.

"Where was she?"

"I'm not sure." I shrugged. "When I got done talking to the Sergeant, she pounced on me. So I would assume she went back to the tent to wait for us."

She nodded and went to Rose, who was by Dante.

"You spoke to the Sergeant?" Jason asked.

I nodded and motioned Nick to come forward with the radio. I took it from him and sat it on the ground next Jason.

"Yeah. When we arrived at the tent he was calling for Mariah. I told him that once we get the radio to the cells that we would radio him back."

"The Sergeant called for me?" Mariah asked. She was sitting next to Jason with Dante and Rose between them, petting both dogs.

I nodded and set up the radio.

"What did you tell him?" she asked.

"I told him that you were fine and the situation that we are in." I told her, handing her the mic, the static filling the air.

She grabbed  it and pushed that side button making the static disappear.

"Sergeant Wood, this is Lieutenant Buchmann. Are you there?" she released the button and the static came back. She waited for a couple moments before repeating herself.

"Lieutenant Buchmann?" came the reply. "Are you okay?"

She sighed before pushing the side button.

"Yes, Sergeant."

"Lieutenant Jones reported back telling me that you guys are doing okay and that you guys didn't need him anymore and that he's coming back to the states."

"Shit." I mumbled when the static came back.

Mariah pushed the button .

"Sir, when did he tell you that?"

"Just a couple minutes ago. Lieutenant, is there something I need to know?"

"Sergeant, Lieutenant Jones was lying. He's coming back to the states to get to the president. You have to lock down the White House and make sure that every agent is blocking the doors, inside and out." she quickly rushed to explain.

There was a moments pause before the static disappeared and the aggravated voice of the Sergeant came on.

"I knew something was up. When did he leave, Lieutenant?"

"I'm not sure, Sir." she immediately replies. "We were all down in the prison when they left."

 I could imagine him nodding.

"Alright, Lieutenant. I'm sending two choppers down there now to pick you guys up."

"Thank you, Sir." she was about to put the mic on the hook when I reached for it. She gave me a confused look but handed the mic over anyway.

"Sergeant Wood, this is Lieutenant Wolfe."

"What is it, Lieutenant?" he asked, the surprise evident in his voice.

"How did you know something was up with Lieutenant Jones?"

"I never trusted him in the first place. I always had a close eye on him."

"Sir. Why did you call in when Lieutenant Jones told you that we were fine?"

"If Lieutenant Jones was coming back to the states, Lieutenant Buchmann would have to radio in and tell me herself. When she didn't do that I had suspicion that something bad was happening." there was a pause and the static came back before it disappeared again and the Sergeants voice came back. "I'll let you guys go. The choppers will be over there in a bit. Just hang in there."

"We will, Sergeant. Over and out." I released the button and hooked the mic. I looked at each and everyone in the eye. "It takes a while for the choppers to get here."

"So we sit and wait until they come, and then one of us would go up to see if they are there?" Spencer asked.

I nodded. We sit and wait until the choppers come and that's when the games begin.