American Resilience

Michael "Jigsaw" Evans is a part of a secret special forces unit called "The Rodeo". Throughout this story, he and his team will have to battle a terrorist set on revenge and tragedy here at home.

   American Resilience

This story is dedicated to all those affected by the recent tragedies

 in the US, to all those who have been misunderstood, and to all the brave men and 

women who serve in the US armed forces and intelligence services. 

    

 Chapter 1

     “He’s bleeding out!” a soldier screamed.

     “Help me, Jigsaw!” pleaded another.

     Calls came over the radio like waves over a reef. Michael “Jigsaw” Evans was the combat medic assigned to the secret special forces unit nicknamed “The Rodeo”. They were going to raid a compound believed to contain intel on a terrorist hideout when they were ambushed en route to the compound. Now, they were pinned down with two of their members critically wounded. Jigsaw had to act quickly.

     “I need cover fire!” Jigsaw hollered. His teammate and brother Yankee, answered the call with a burst of fully automatic fire from his suppressed M4. Jigsaw took off towards his wounded comrades. By the time he reached his team leader, codename Bucky, and dragged him behind a nearby rock, he was already assessing his condition. “You got shot in the leg. The femoral artery is nicked. I have to apply a tourniquet.” said Jigsaw

     “I know I got shot, I gotta radio for close air support and exfil!” snapped Bucky, “Pull the others back, this whole area’s gonna be lit up like a Christmas tree in about 3 minutes.”

    Jigsaw signaled for cover fire again and immediately ran to his other wounded teammate under heavy fire and dragged him behind cover. It was his friend, Moose. Shrapnel had punctured his vest and entered his chest cavity. Jigsaw knew that he had to insert a large hollow needle, called a chest dart, into Moose’s chest to release the pressure on his lungs from the air entering his chest through his wound. “Come on Moose, you need to breathe. I'm gonna stick this in you to relieve the pressure. It's gonna hurt,” Jigsaw screamed over the deafening roar of the gunfight. Jigsaw felt for the space between second and third rib and inserted the needle. He felt a blast of air escape from Moose's chest through the one way valve on the chest dart. Suddenly a C130 Spectre gunship rained down 20mm explosive shells on the enemy position and a Blackhawk helicopter landed behind him. He dragged Moose to the chopper and climbed in himself. The rest of his teammates followed suit and dragged the other wounded man to the chopper.

     The Blackhawk lifted off flew out toward their Forward Operating Base. Toward safety.

Chapter 2

     It was the standard operating procedure for the members of the Rodeo to go over their after action reports with their team to figure out how to improve for the next mission, but this time was different. They were describing their only failed mission directly to the President.

     Jigsaw and the team had flown out of the hot zone and back to the FOB. From there, they flew out of Afghanistan back to the US. Now they were standing in front of the resolute desk.

      “What the heck happened out there. First, you tell me that you’ve received intel on a terrorist hideout. Then, you tell me that you found a compound holding God knows what. Then, I gave you permission to hit the target. Now you come back with two injured men and nothing to show for it.” stated President Peterson with an icy stare directed at every man in the room. Jigsaw looked at his Commander, Robby, for help and Robby started to speak up.

     “Sir, we got ba...,” he tried to say before the president cut him off.

      “I want to hear it from him,” President Peterson barked, staring Jigsaw straight in the eye.

     “You said it right. We rode in on the electric bikes, then we started to go to the house when there was an explosion. We started taking heavy fire and some of us got hurt. I triaged the wounded and we pulled out. Everyone is going to be okay.” Jigsaw explained.

     “Well, isn't that just great. Everyone is going to be okay while killers are still out there planning to attack on who knows what!” President Peterson shouted.

      “Sir! That's enough!” Robby snapped, “We got bad intel. We missed the target. It happens. We won't let it happen again. There's no need to attack our boys. It's not their fault.”

    “Remember who's the President, Commander! Remember who holds the power here. Now get out of my office, find the threat, and kill it,” President Peterson growled.

Chapter 3

    

Back at the ranch, the team took some time to relax and enjoy the time between missions. Now I know what you're thinking, “Who are these guys? Ranch? Rodeo? Are these guys cowboys?” Well let's take some time to get acquainted with each other.

      The Rodeo was a top secret special forces unit that, like other black ops units, did things that the US wanted done but don't want you to know. Its headquarters was located in what looked like an old abandoned barn on a huge ranch outside of San Antonio, Texas. It had plenty of room to train, relax, fight and do everything tier one operators had to do. On paper, “Hidden Glory Cattle Ranch” was a working cattle ranch. It actually did raise cattle, but only enough to convince people that they were a typical ranch.That's how “The Rodeo” it got its name. In reality it was far from the simple, homegrown farm. Its members came from all branches of the US military and intelligence services, most of whom were native Texans. Other units did this and many of the same things as the Rodeo, but a few things set it apart. It got approval for its missions from President Peterson and Commander Robby. Nobody really knew if “Robby” was his real name, but they did know that he served as a green beret for over twenty years and had forgotten more about tactics and strategy than most people will ever know. On top of that, he had shown leadership skills and integrity unmatched by any other commander the country had to offer. Under him was, Bucky, the team leader who called the shots when they were in the field.

     And there's another thing, it has an autistic operator, Michael “Jigsaw” Evans. Now, I know you must be asking, “How does a person with a mental handicap join the military? Don't they have rules about that?” Well the truth is that he wasn't officially diagnosed until after he was discharged from the Army. Ever since he was a kid, Michael was different. He struggled with understanding emotions and social interaction. Anything that wasn't clearly logical wasn't easy for him. That's why he was drawn to the Army. It was the discipline, logic, and structure that he needed. He managed to hide his condition from the Army and all it's evaluations until there was an incident and he was psychologically discharged. But that's a story for a different day.

          As the team medic and brother of a fellow operator named Yankee, Jigsaw was part of the glue that held the team together. He was a man of average build at five feet eight inches and his body wasn't overly muscular like Hollywood would have you believe all special forces commandos are. He was toned with freckles on his pale skin and short black hair on his head. His face was long with an expression of determination often confused with anger by the average person. But average, he was far from.

     Robby looked exactly like you think he would. He was a big guy at six foot five and weighed in at 255 lbs. He had a high and tight haircut and an dramatic farmer's tan on his pale skin.

     Jigsaw had met Robby when he enlisted in the Army nearly ten years ago. Jigsaw’s drill sergeant, whom everyone referred to as “Drill Sergeant”, was especially hard on him because he didn't understand his situation. He was high functioning and could do more than any other soldier could, but nobody seemed to accept him. That was until a huge army green beret came along named Robby.

    Chapter 4

When Robby pulled up to the pond, he found Jigsaw sitting on the tailgate of his truck. That was where he always was after a mission, let alone one where his friends were wounded. Nobody really knew why he did that, maybe it was the water. Robby thought that it relaxed him. After the tongue lashing he had taken from the president earlier, Robby thought that it would be good to see where Jigsaw’s head was at.  

           “Remember when you were in boot camp and Drill Sergeant yelled at you for just about anything?” Robby asked Jigsaw while sitting down next to him on the tailgate of Jigsaw's 1982 Chevy Silverado. Jigsaw moved his focus from the whetstone he was sharpening his knife on, to Robby. Jigsaw had always seen him as a father figure. He always trusted him.

           “Yeah.”

           “Remember how Drill Sergeant tried to make you better than you were?”

           “Yeah, I hated it then, but I appreciate it now.”

           “That's what President Peterson was doing, so don't take it personally. With that being said, I wanted to…”

Jigsaw and Robby’s phones started to vibrate. They were getting the call back to the state of the art operations center affectionately referred to as “The Barn”.

           Jigsaw and Robby arrived to see Yankee holding a tablet and Bucky barking orders at him. “What's up?” Robby asked the two men working on the several computers and tablets around the room.

           “Raptor surfaced somewhere in Miami, but we don't know why or for how long!” Bucky described while sitting in his wheelchair.

            Raptor was the codename given to the leader of a small but dangerous international terrorist organization. All that was known about him was that the Rodeo had killed his brother when he was trying to detonate a suicide vest in the middle of Bourbon street during Mardi Gras. The Rodeo was just starting out at that time but made a big first impression in the special forces community. Raptor hated Americans and wanted to avenge his brother by killing a mass amount of Americans. Now he was in Miami but the reason was unclear.

          “Well, Bucky and Moose are still in no shape to fight, and I have to stay here to communicate to the President, so it looks like the brothers are in for this mission,” Robby ordered.

          “That's only two men. It's barely enough to begin to assess the threat. Who else do we have?” Yankee argued.

“Gator and Squid are in Galveston at the John Deere dealership looking for a tractor. I'll have ‘em meet you in Florida. Yankee's the field Commander for now,”Robby blurted as he pondered the predicament. Bucky glared at Robby and he noticed.

“Relax, it's only until you can run without tearing your stitches and leaving a trail of blood right to your location,” Robby assured him.

“Roger, we can take the Falcon and get the kit down there,” Jigsaw suggested.

    “Fine but you're only authorized to watch Raptor and assess the threat. You don't have lethal authority yet, we don't know what he's doing.” Robby commanded.

   The Falcon was the codename of a cessna 441 that could have passed for any crop dusting plane, but the Rodeo had loaded it full of hidden weapons and gear. They used it to get their gear into and out of places where they didn't have permission to have it. Now it was gassed up and ready to go.

Chapter 5

    “Why are all the signs in spanish? Isn't this still America? Raptor muttered under his breath while driving to the meeting location. He was over an hour early and had plenty of time to scope out the location, but he was getting frustrated. It was hard enough to speak english, let alone spanish. Being born and raised in Syria, arabic was his first language but if he wanted to cripple the infidel in his own home, he had to adapt. He was supposed to meet some Colombian drug smugglers to make a deal.

After getting his bearings and parking his car in a public parking garage, he got out and walked to a small open air cafe. He looked around and took mental note of all exits, sightlines, people, and vehicles. Then he ordered a Cuban coffee, sat back and waited for his contact to arrive.

    It was about an hour later when two sunburnt latino men approached the cafe where Raptor was sitting. One of the men spoke to him in a thick hispanic accent and said, “ I love the sunrise off South Beach.”

      Raptor responded by saying, “It’s lovely this time of year.” Then two smugglers sat down at his table next to him.

     “I assume you know what his meeting is about?” Raptor asked watching the tourists stroll down the street.

     “Yes. You want a way to get something out of Colombia and into the US. You've selected the right people.”

    “That's right. But there's a small change of plans. I want a map to my package and the route back. A route the Americans won't see coming.”

     “That wasn't the deal. Where's the money?”

    “What money?”

     “The ten grand you owe us for showing up and negotiating.”

     “I'm not paying anyone anything until I get the map.”

      “Well then, I'll just have to take your head as payment,” the smuggler snarled as he pulled out a fillet knife under the table and tapped Raptor's knee with it. Raptor knew from the very beginning, that these men were dead from the second they sat down. He simply drew his suppressed CZ 75 from the appendix carry position and knocked it against the chatty one’s knee under the table. When he looked down to see what it was, the gun coughed twice,and the chatty smuggler instantly went limp in his chair. Raptor turned his head towards the remaining smuggler.

    “Draw me a map or end up like your friend here,” Raptor ordered. The remaining smuggler quickly scribbled something down on the back of the paper placemat and slid it over to Raptor. He took a glance at it and put two suppressed 9mm rounds from his CZ 75 into the man's heart, threw some money down for the coffee, pulled the smugglers’ sunglasses over their eyes, and walked off toward his rental car. Nobody ever knowing that a double homicide was just committed before their very eyes.

    

   Chapter 6

    Jigsaw landed the Cessna 441 on the runway at North Perry Airport in Pembroke Pines Florida, about an hour away from Raptor's last known location. The rough landing from the plane instantly brought him back to Boot camp.

     He was a recruit at Fort Bliss in Texas. All of the people in charge seemed to be really angry all the time. They were constantly yelling at him and forcing him to do push ups all day long. He was beginning to think that he had made a mistake, but his twin brother had joined and he wasn't going to be separated from him. The nights were even worse. The other recruits seemed to hate him. They would shake his bed really hard in the middle of the night and scream names like Retard, Psycho, Stupid and the list goes on. His brother could only do so much to protect him. Boot camp was hell. He cried himself to sleep on his rack most nights.

  “Jig, you okay?”  Yankee asked catching his thousand yard stare. Jigsaw came back and just nodded as he climbed out of the aircraft.

   “There's a Enterprise not far from here. We should go before Raptor knows we're here.”

      “Okay, I'll put the Falcon in the hangar and unpack it while you do that,” Yankee responded. Jigsaw jogged off the runway and headed to get the rental car.  

       Meanwhile, Yankee hopped in the Falcon and taxied it to the hangar. Once in the hangar, he took out all of the concealed gear and weapons. He stuffed them into black duffle bags and called Gator and Squid. He let them know that they had landed and where to meet them.  

 

Chapter 7

     Raptor sat at his desk in his hotel room. In front of him was the map he had taken from the smugglers. Next to that was his laptop with Google Earth pulled up. He was trying to find the route from the map on satellite images, but all he saw was trees. He knew where he was now but he couldn't find the location of his package.

    Okay, the truth is that it wasn't his package yet. The package was a supply of radioactive medicine that was owned by a small hospital in the jungle of Colombia. The hospital was run by mormon missionaries from the US. He was going to steal it, and well, you can figure out the rest. A jihadist with radioactive material and explosives. That's right, he going to make a dirty bomb and his plan right now is to detonate it with all of the “Cowboys” present. Yes, the same people who killed his brother would die in their home along with lots of other Americans by a single jihadist. Why else would he expose himself in public like he did. It was more than just politics and religion to Raptor now. It was about revenge.

     But first he had to find the location of the clinic and how to get the radioactive material back to the US. He had a contact in the South Florida area who was sympathetic to the cause. He used to be a intelligence analysis for the US secret service until his son was killed by a US drone in Afghanistan by accident. He knew how to turn a hand drawn map into a satellite image. All he had to do was give him the map and have him get a satellite image. But right now, he had to get out of this hotel. The Cowboys had to be on his trail and would be coming for him soon. He gathered his things, walked out the door to his rental car and drove off.

Chapter 8

 

    “Two men were found in Miami Beach this evening sitting in the Cafe de Cuba. Each man had been shot twice in the stomach. Witnesses said they thought that they had been sitting for a few hours until pools of blood were found under their chairs. They also say that they saw a white male with an slight build sitting at that table with those men. He is considered the prime suspect by MB PD. Miami Beach Police are asking people to call 305-471-TIPS if you have any information regarding this case,” reported Weldon Fulton on the channel 7 news station in south Florida.

    “Wait? Rewind? What happened?” Yankee asked Jigsaw as he watched the TV in their hotel room that was serving as a temporary intelligence center and sleeping quarters.

     “You think that Raptor did it?” He asked while rewinding the news report.

    “Yup. I don't know anybody who could pull of a double murder in broad daylight like that. I mean it was in public with all kinds of witnesses.”

     “Squid! Gator! Come here please,” Jigsaw hollered.

    Both men walked into the bedroom from the adjoining suite wearing nothing but green drawstring gym shorts. “What's up, man?” Gator asked. Jigsaw pressed the play button and showed them the news report.

     “What do you think? Was it Raptor?” He asked.

     Both Gator and Squid had concerned looks on their faces. Squid rubbed his beard, looked around the room and instructed Jigsaw to call Robby.

      “I want to talk to him when he answers,” Yankee added.

    “What's the latest, Jig?” Robby said as he answered his phone.

    “We think Raptor killed two men in Miami Beach but we don't know why,” Jigsaw answered.

     “Okay. Put your brother on the phone.” Robby instructed.

     Jigsaw did as he was told and handed the phone to Yankee. Yankee gave Robby the situation report and the intel was passed along to the analysts in The Barn.

   Yankee put the phone on speaker and let Robby address the whole team. “Okay, listen up. You still only have surveillance authority, but he's now armed and dangerous. If we take him out now, his attack could still be executed. You know how guys like him are, all about martyrdom. But if he attacks you, you have authority to do what is necessary for survival. Is that understood?” He explained.

     “Yes sir!” Everyone responded in unison.

      “You heard the man,” Yankee stated, “Protect yourselves.” Jigsaw read between the lines and passed out suppressed Smith and Wesson M and P’s to each man. Each of them grinned as they shoved them into the Alien Gear IWB holsters and set them on their jeans to be ready to go.

  

  Chapter 9

     “Assalamualaikum,” Raptor said as he greeted John, his ex secret service contact. He was a little surprised that John was home. Raptor had shown up without warning and it was 3:15 PM on a Tuesday. But it was a good surprise.

      “Mualaikumsalam,” John said as he shook Raptor's hand.

      “I have a favor to ask of you.”

      “Anything brother, Whatever you need to fight the good fight.”

      “I need you to make me a better map,” Raptor requested as had handed him the smuggler's hand drawn map.

      “Oh, boy. This is gonna be a little difficult. I mean there's almost nothing for me to go off of. But let me see what I can do. Please, come in.”

    Raptor entered John's house and it was like any house in America. It had one story, a living room, couches, TV, everything any other house has. Raptor took a seat on one of the couches as John took a seat at his desk. “This may take awhile. But for now, my house is your house. Make yourself comfortable and let me know if you need anything,” John hollered to Raptor from across the room.

     “Thank you,” Raptor responded. He sat back in the couch, turned on the TV and took advantage of the brief time he knew he was safe.

Chapter 10

     Jigsaw jumped when he felt his phone vibrate in his pocket. It had surprised him because it had slid from his outer thigh to his inner thigh in his pocket when he sat down to drive the truck. It didn't help that Squid decided to play a little prank on him when he turned the vibrate setting all the way up. Everybody in the cab of the truck saw his reaction and exploded with laughter. He checked the phone and saw that Bucky was calling.

     “What's up, Bucky?” Jigsaw answered.

     “We got a hit on Raptor's car. We got the license plate number from the security camera attached to the parking garage a few blocks away. We managed to track it to a house in Miami Gardens. I'm sending you the address.” Bucky responded

       “Good. We’ll take a look at it.” Jigsaw answered.

      “Who was that?” Yankee asked.

      “Bucky,” Jigsaw answered.      

“What's up with him?”

       “The guys at the barn found Raptor's car. I'm waiting for the address.”

       “Okay,” Yankee turned back to look at Gator and Squid in the back seat, “Get the parabolic mic, little drone, and camera out. We got his location.”

        Jigsaw pulled into the neighborhood and parked about ten houses passed the target. His job was to drive. He was great at a lot things but reading people wasn't one of them. Yankee had the mic pointed at the target house, and Squid flew the little drone around for pictures of all angles of it. Gator was the listener. He, unlike Yankee, Jigsaw, or Robby, was not a former member of the US Army. He was a retired CIA field agent. He had lots of experience in this type of work. He did thousands of stakeouts over his CIA career and had interrogated just as many people. He was an intelligence pro. He was also the only African American in the group. It wasn't because the Rodeo was a racist group. They were all color blind and he knew it. It was purely by chance that there he was the only black operator in the team. He was the second oldest member of the Rodeo at 39 years old. Robby was the oldest at the grand old age of 47.

     Soon, he heard something in his earpiece from the mic. “I got something. There's two voices. One sounds american, but the other one has a thick accent. It could be Arab or Israeli.” He paused for several seconds, listening. “There's an argument inside. The American is talking about satellites. The Arab is saying that it's taking a long time. The Arab is saying that the American is trying to stall him. He thinks he's working with…” His face went white. “He mentioned Cowboys and the Rodeo. He thinks the American is working with us.” All of a sudden two unsuppressed gunshots resonated in his earpiece following by two muffled coughs that sounded like they could have been gunshots. Then a man ran out of the house and jumped in his car. It sped off but Jigsaw saw his face. He was sure of his identity. It was Raptor.

     “It's him! Raptor!” Jigsaw exclaimed. He had just about started the truck when Yankee pulled the keys out of the ignition.

     “We don't have lethal authority. We have to let him go.” Yankee ordered. Gator grabbed a radio and called The Barn. Bucky picked-up and Gator gave him the sitrep.

       “What do you mean he's on the run? Do you have the drones with you?” Bucky questioned.

      “I mean he got in the car and drove off, and yes, I have the drones,” Gator reported.

       “Launch both of the drones and keep eyes on him. Get into the house and see what happened. We don't know if the American is alive but if he is, he might have Intel. I'll let Robby know.” Bucky ordered

         “Squid and I are gonna launch the drones and keep eyes on Raptor. Jigsaw and Yankee are going to breach the house and see if he left any Intel behind.” Gator explained.

       The entire team dismounted from the truck. The shots had been quick and relatively quiet. The odds were nobody else paid attention to them. They certainly didn't want to draw attention to themselves and cause a scene by going into the house guns a blazin’. Each man calmly did their job in as an inconspicuous manner as possible. Squid put on a neon orange road safety vest and held out the large drone. If anyone asked he was going to claim to be a city worker taking a aerial survey for maintenance. Gator continued to control the small drone. They were following Raptor with that one but it only had a short battery life and it had been in the air for a few minutes and was already low on juice. Gator set it to follow Raptor's car while he grabbed the controller for the large drone. It looked like a large RC plane and that's basically all it was anyway, but it had a camera attached to it. Squid threw it and Gator started the engine. It took off and headed to Raptor's car. At which time, Gator pulled back the little drone which looked like a helicopter with four rotors.

        Yankee and Jigsaw approached the target house. Jigsaw went around the house to the back. Yankee stayed in the front and waited for the signal.

        “In position.” Jigsaw whispered.

        “Breaching.” Yankee responded as he turned the door knob. “Its open, must be my lucky day,” he said to himself in a nervous banter. Both men entered their respective doors with their suppressed M and P’s in hand. Yankee sweeped the front living room, kitchen, and master bedroom not seeing any threat. “Clear!” he shouted to Jigsaw. Then all of a sudden he heard Jigsaw shouting. He ran to see what was going on.

        “Hands up! Don't even think about it!” Jigsaw ordered. He had found a man in one of the bedrooms that had been converted into an office. The man had a Hi-Point pistol laying next to him. He started to reach for it when Jigsaw shot it and sent it skidding across the carpet. Jigsaw rushed over to him and forced him onto his stomach. He pulled his hands behind his back and secured them with zip ties. He began his search and assessment of the man when Yankee finally found them. He found Jigsaw kneeling over a man and both of them were covered in blood.

        “I guess this was the guy that Raptor shot. Jigsaw only nodded his head and ran to the bathroom. He grabbed all the toilet paper, gauze, and tape that he could find. The man was shot twice in the abdomen and was quickly bleeding out. Even Jigsaw knew he wasn't good to them dead. He packed the wounds with all the gauze and toilet paper as he could. Then he tapped over the entrance and exit wounds. Meanwhile the guy was screaming his head off. Yankee silenced him with a mean right hook across the temple. He was knocked out cold. They had Squid pull the truck up to the house and loaded the mystery man into the cab.  While Gator was still controlling the drone, Yankee ransacked the house of any and all papers, computers and Intel he could. He loaded it up into bags and then the bed of the truck. And just like that, they drove off nobody the wiser.

Chapter 11

      

     “Dang it John! Why'd you make me do that?” Raptor cursed to himself while driving away. Everything was going so well when he had heard John talking on the phone. He tried to ask him who he was talking to but John refused to answer. Raptor let it slide but then, John started to talk about satellites and Raptor knew he was working for someone else. He confronted him and they entered into an argument John had vehemently denied that he was working with anybody let alone the american infidels. He claimed that he was one of the true believers and would never do anything to disrupt an attack on them. Raptor didn’t believe him and took his gun out to threaten him. John saw red at that point and responded by drawing his own pistol and firing a double tap at Raptor. Raptor had no choice. He had to defend himself. He responded with his own fire and ran out of the house. He barely remembered to grab his hand drawn map. And now he was on the run with whom he believed was the Rodeo on his tail. Things were going bad fast, but the good thing about men like him is that they have nothing to lose. Nothing is going to stop him from avenging his brother's death. His plan was still in motion.

     Now he was at square one. He had to find the location of the clinic and how to get the radioactive material back without being stopped. The only person he knew that could find it with this map was dead. Or so he thought.

Chapter 12

   “Oh, look who's waking up. You have a good nap, Sunshine?” Gator joked as their new prisoner began to regain consciousness.

     “Who are you? Where am I? What's going on?” John asked as he struggled to comprehend the situation.

     “None of that matters right now,” Gator responded, “What really matters is: who you are and why you had a known terrorist with you in your house. Care to share your thoughts on this matter?”

      Bucky had ordered the team to transport the mystery man to a safehouse that they had in the area. Gator was in charge of the interrogation and had put this guy behind a steel table and chained his hands to it. His feet were tied to the metal chair and the lights had been shut off except for one lamp pointed directly into his eyes. Jigsaw stood against the wall, out of view, just in case this guy decided to get a little rambunctious.

      “I want a lawyer.” John barked.

      “I'm sorry, but we're not the police and we’re fresh out of lawyers. So let's start by telling me your name.” Gator responded. He pulled out his Ruger LCRx and opened the cylinder, so their prisoner could see. He then produced a single 38 caliber bullet. He held it in front of the man's eyes and proceeded to put it in the gun. He spun the cylinder and snapped it closed. He pushed the pistol against the man's private area and cocked the hammer.

     “Who are you? I’m a free American citizen. You can't do this.”

       “Well, you may be an American citizen, but at the moment, you don't seem to be free. Besides you haven't even told me your name. How do I know you're free or American for that matter?” Gator pulled the trigger and the hammer dropped on an empty chamber, producing a click. The man recoiled and looked shocked. Gator looked him straight in the eye and pulled the trigger again. Nothing happened, just a click. They repeated the procedure twice more and again the hammer fell on an empty chamber. “Last chance, Bud. There's a bullet in the next chamber and if you don't talk, your nuts are coming off.” There was a pause.

       “Fine. My name's John. John Baker. Ex Secret Service.”

      “Okay John. If you're Ex Secret Service, explain to me why there was a known terrorist with you.”

       John thought about this. He hated the infidel but, someone who was supposedly on his side just tried to kill him. He was torn. He was a part of this country once. But they killed his son. In the end, his heart filled with betrayal won out.

        “We fought together in Syria. My son was a Marine. He was killed by an American drone strike. I was in pain and he recruited me into ISIS. He filled me with the glory of the jihad. I owed him for showing me the light.”

      “What's his real name? How‘d you try to repay him”

      “I think it's Abu al Shereen. He showed up at my house and asked for me to convert a hand drawn map into a satellite image. Something that he could use.”

        “A map to where?”

        “Somewhere in Colombia. I didn't get a chance to look at it when the phone rang. It was my satellite TV provider and he must have overheard the conversation. He got really angry and started accusing me of betraying him. He started to say weird things like I was a Cowboy with the Rodeo. He thought that I was trying to interfere with his attempt to avenge his brother. Then he threatened me with a gun.”

         “What happened next?”

         “I pulled my Hi-Point out from my desk and shot at him. I think I missed. He shot back and he connected.”

        “Why talk now if you loved ISIS so much?”

        “You threatened to blow my balls off! And I know realize what the drive for revenge does to someone. Even if he was a true believer, he went crazy trying to avenge his brother. I put everything I had into protecting the President. Then, the same country that I had devoted my life to, killed my son. I wanted revenge so I joined ISIS. I see what revenge did to him and I didn't want that to be me. I don't want to be in ISIS anymore. I know revenge won't bring him back,” John sobbed as he confessed.

       “You wanna know something?” Gator asked him.

        “What?” John sniffled. Gator pointed the pistol at John's head and pulled the trigger. The hammer fell, but nothing happened.

      “The gun’s missing the firing pin.” Gator revealed. John cursed himself for being so weak. Jigsaw dragged him to a transport vehicle to be put in a black site prison for aiding a terrorist. He would never breathe America's free air again.

      The team felt like they had hit the jackpot. They had a huge lead. They were all a little touched by John's story except Jigsaw. He didn't understand the feelings behind his story. Emotions weren't his strong suit but he was grateful for the Intel.

     “I'll call Robby.” Jigsaw informed the group, “We have to give him a situation report, return the prisoner, and ask permission.” The entire team took a moment to absorb the lead that they had just gotten. They had finally had a lead that Raptor wouldn't want them to have. They might be getting ahead. They always made sure to appreciate the little things, because little things can make big differences.

     “Yee haw!” Squid hollered as he broke the silence. The entire team busted out laughing.

     

Chapter 13

     “All seat belts must be fastened for landing,” ordered the flight attendant as the Boeing 747 started it's descent.

       Raptor had to get out of the US. He had slightly underestimated the speed of the Rodeo’s reaction. Not to mention the fact that all he'd had was a hand drawn map of the general location of the clinic containing the radioactive material. He also had no known way back to the US without them knowing. But at least he kinda knew where the clinic was. So that's where he was headed. Colombia. Then he felt the plane jerk as it touched down.

        “Welcome to Bogota international airport. We trust that you have had a good flight and we wish you luck in your journey here in Colombia. Please remove your seatbelts, gather your belongings and calmly exit the aircraft,” the flight attendant said over the intercom system. Raptor did have much luggage, just a small knapsack and a bad attitude.

        Raptor walked down the aisle and into the airport. He got to the front and flagged down a cab. He told the driver that he wanted a cheap hotel. The cab driver replied to him in spanish. Raptor could only imagine that the cabby could only be asking where he wanted to go. He racked his mind for what little spanish he knew and leaned into the front of the cab from the back seat.

        “Un barato hotel por favor,” Raptor said.

        “Si senor,” the cabby responded as he drove to a nearby inn. Raptor got out and paid for the fare. He walked into the hotel and rented a room. The room was, in fact, cheap. It costed him $20 American a night and would not pass the health department standards in the US. But it was enough. It had a twin bed, shower, sink, TV, and met Raptor's needs.

     After he set his stuff down in the room, Raptor decided to take a walk. He had just sat through a long flight and wanted to find someone who knew where the clinic was. He got his map and went to a local bar in front of the hotel. He sat at the bar and ordered some food. He didn't understand what it was but he saw the picture and thought it looked good. It was a plate of yellow rice with chicken and peppers mixed in. It tasted good, but it could have been the fact that he was hungry. Anyway, he had to remain focused on the mission. When the waitress came back to refill his drink, he gave her the map.

         “De donde es el hospital de americanas?” He asked in his worst spanish. When she replied in english, he was both shocked and elated.

         “Excuse me. I didn't understand what you said.” she replied

        “You speak english. Great. Do you know where the American clinic is? I’m the new doctor and all they gave me was this hand drawn map,” he questioned.

        “I don't know off hand but we can try to figure it out,” she responded as she pulled out an actual map of the area. She slid the hand drawn map over to her. “Well, this drawing shows a place in the middle of jungle. I know that the indigenous people live around this area. The Americans would probably want to be around there. The only road runs through here,” she explained as she dragged her finger across the paper map.

        “You really know the area,” Raptor commented, “Will you take me there? I have cash and I can pay you.” He saw the wheels turning in her head. She was thinking about it and would probably go if there was more incentive. Raptor pulled out a wad of cash and handed it to her.

       “We will leave at dawn tomorrow morning. Get a car and meet me in front of this bar,” she instructed as she snatched the cash from the table. Both of them smiled. Little did she know what she had just gotten herself into.

Chapter 14

  

        Jigsaw sat up in his bunk back at the barn. Robby had ordered them back to help analyze the data from Florida. But now Jigsaw's part of the work was over and he was tired. He tried to sleep but he couldn't. He had always thought that the hardest time of day was the time when a person is trying to fall asleep but can't. The time when it's dead silent in the room and absolutely nothing moves. The time when a man is left alone with his thoughts and nothing to distract him. All he can think about is what he has to do in the future, all he has done in the past. Going over every little thing that happened that day. All of the things that he has seen. All of the things he has done. What he could have done better. The faces of his enemies and friends. Everything that haunts him is brought to light in the darkness. Then, by nothing short of a miracle, he falls asleep and all of that goes away until the next night when it starts all over again.  

        For Jigsaw, it was his teammates that he couldn't save. It was memories of his Dad beating him and Yankee in a fit of alcohol induced hallucinations. The memories of all the bullies that tortured his childhood. His inner frustration of him being socially awkward. His difficulties understanding emotions and things that normal people can do. He wished that he wasn't like this. He wanted to be different than he was. Then, by some miracle, he fell asleep.

       He was awakened by his alarm clock. It was 4:45 am. It was his turn to feed the horses and gather the eggs from the chickens. He got up, got dressed in his brown overalls, got in the John Deere Gator and headed to the real barn. The one that had the horses and chickens, not the operations center. He poured a bag of feed in each of the horses troughs and entered the chicken coop. He reached under each chicken and grabbed it's eggs. They had about a dozen today, a good haul for 9 birds. He brought the eggs to the ranch house and scrambled them for the rest of the team. He retrieved the bag of bacon from the fridge and cooked all of it. The house of 7 soldiers went through a lot of meat. Then he grabbed the box of pancake mix and made half of that. It produced about two dozen pancakes. The smell of the bacon gradually brought in members of the team. Yankee was first, followed by Gator, Squid and Robby. Bucky hobbled in on his crutches and Robby helped to haul Moose into the kitchen. He was doing better, but the shrapnel had bruised his spinal cord. He was going to be okay, but it was hard for him to walk. They all sat around the table that they had made from 10 thousand spent rifle shells. They glued them upside down and side by side so that all of the primers were facing up. It was a sight to behold and had taken 3 years to complete. Then they thanked Jigsaw for the meal and ate together. They discussed the operations around the table.

        They knew that Raptor was in Colombia, but they didn't know what he was doing. Being that they had just followed him to Florida and we're hardly the wiser, they decided that they wouldn't chase him to Colombia right away. Just think about it. A bunch of fit white guys in Colombia wearing cowboy hats and not speaking any spanish wouldn't exactly fit in. If they went, Raptor might find out and get desperate. He could do something worse than what he had originally planned and the Rodeo couldn't have that. They decided to play the waiting game and see what he did.

      

Chapter 15

      Even at dawn, the humidity was horrible in Colombia. Raptor was waiting in front of the bar with a vehicle for his bartender slash guide as he had been instructed. She was late. Not very late but enough to make it inconvenient. But it's not like Raptor knew where he was going anyway, so he just sat there and waited. Then he spotted her. She was walking towards the car from behind the building.

        “There you are. I was beginning to wonder if I had been stood up,” Raptor laughed.

        “What? You think it takes two minutes to look this good?” She joked in response.She had a certain spunk to her and Raptor kind of liked that.

        “You know I never got your name,” Raptor commented.

        “Fine. It's Paola. Paola Sanchez. What's yours?,” she replied.

        “My friends call me Raptor,” he said as he smiled at the irony.

        “Raptor? How'd you get that?”

        “Oh you know. I cut claw marks into the chests of the people I kill.”

        Paola laughed at what she thought was another joke. “Well, we better get going,” she suggested.

         “Alright, I'll drive and you tell me where to go,” he countered as he pulled out of the parking lot. The car made a lot of clunking noises. It was a 1972 Jeep Sahara with over a hundred and fifty thousand miles on it. The interior was all torn to shreds and reeked of marijuana from the last renters. But it ran and it was cheap, so it would do.

          Paola had directed Raptor to the main road. The place where they thought the American clinic which was over a day's drive away. And because Paola didn't want to sit in silence for over twenty four hours, she struck up a conversation with Raptor.

          “So, what do you do for a living?” She asked him.

           “I told you last night, I'm a doctor. That's why we're going to the clinic.”

           “Oh right. Do you have a wife?” she blushed

           “I did.” Raptor replied. It had been over two years since his wife had died in childbirth. She was the one thing that the Americans didn't take from him. The truth is that he had never really thought about romance since then. He had dedicated himself to Islam and ISIS. Now that he was thinking about it, he wasn't opposed to the idea. It had just worked out that way. He found Paola attractive with her long black hair, brown eyes, and womanly curves. She wasn't tall at about 5’2” compared to Raptor's 6’4” frame. He liked her tan complexion. He was suddenly brought back to reality when he heard Paola clapping her hands.

       “Hello! I asked if you had a girlfriend,” she shouted.

        “Sorry. No, I don't. Why?” he apologized.

        “No reason,” she digressed, turning away in a bashful manner. She found him attractive. His pale white skin, the long brown beard, and the muscles. She loved the muscles. She tried to cover up her embarrassment with a new question.

         “Where are you from?” she asked, “Turn left here.”

          “Charlotte, North Carolina,” he lied as he made the left turn onto a dirt road.She continued to ask him questions as he kept driving. About twenty minutes passed when a man armed with an AK-47 stepped out from the jungle and onto the road. He held out his and shouted at them in spanish.

       “He’s ordering us to stop. I think he's part of the Los Rastrojos cartel. Do as he says,” Paola explained and pleaded. Raptor did as she said.

       “Gringo! Out!” The man ordered as he shoved the muzzle of his rifle into Raptor's face.

        Raptor did as he was ordered. Paola screamed at the man from the car but he ignored her.

         “Money! Keys!” The man shouted at him. Raptor remained silent and still.

          “El stupido gringo!” the man shouted again. Now he forced Raptor to his knees. Paola screamed even louder and this time the man turned to look at her. Raptor seized his opportunity and drew the man's knife from his boot. He dug it deep into the man's thigh. He screamed and dropped to his knees. Raptor retracted the blade and drove it into the man's throat. Blood erupted out from the carotid artery. He fell backwards and Raptor moved in as he cut the man's shirt by instinct. He then pressed his blade against the dead man's chest and cut three deep gashes from the man's left pectoral to his right abdomen. Paola shrieked a shook in fear. Raptor grabbed the AK and all of the ammo the man had on him. He wiped the blood off the knife blade on the corpse’s pants. Then he got in the car and continued on his way.

         “Who are you?” Paola cried.

         “Raptor. I told you,” he responded.

           “You told me you were a doctor.” She claimed.

         “Okay, I may have spent some time in the military.” He lied again.

         “Let me out! This isn't what I agreed to.” She negotiated

         “What are you talking about? I just saved us from a drug dealer who was trying to steal our car. He deserved what he got. He was going to kill us if he got the chance.” He tried to explain

“Let me out!” She shrieked again.

“No. You've seen too much,” He replied,  “From now on, we're staying together. Once I get to the clinic, you can go. We'll never have to see each other again.”

        Paola just sat there, afraid of who sat next to her. “What happens if I try to escape?” She asked timidly.

         “The same thing happened to him.” Raptor replied in his real voice, revealing his Arab accent. Paola noticed but didn't say anything. She was currently trying to focus on who was sitting beside her. She determined that everything he told her was a lie, but the location that he was trying to get to. Her only chance of getting away was to get him to the clinic and escape while he was busy inside. She had to believe so at least. If she lost her mental focus, she could lose her physical health. So she sat back and did what she said she would do, guide him to the clinic.

     

        Chapter 16

        Squid sat on the couch in front of the TV. The PBR, that's professional bull riding not Pabst Blue Ribbon, Championship event was on. Squid was the only member of the team that had had a Rodeo career. It was when he was a teenager and a young man. His dad had let him climb on their dairy cows when he was a boy. Squid loved it and started to ride bulls as he got older. He actually got pretty good at it. He had done a few local competitions and done well. From there he started to travel and do bigger competitions until that last ride. It was at Rodeo in El Paso when he got on a relatively easy bull named Horrible Humboldt. It had started out as a normal ride when the bull took a huge buck out of nowhere and tossed him twenty feet in the air. His head hit Humboldt's horn on the way down. It had fractured his nose and skull. He never rode another bull again. That's how he got his name, after the bull that almost killed him. After recovering from the accident, he joined the Navy. He had never planned on becoming a Seal but it just happened. One thing lead to another and four years later he was a part of the Navy’s seal team two. After he served a few years as a special forces operator, he retired. He got bored rather quickly and started drinking. He went to the same bar every day until a weirdo walked up to him and asked him to join a club. He didn't know what it was at the time but, like everything in his life, one thing lead to another. That weirdo, that walked up to him in the bar, was Jigsaw. That club that he offered to him was the Rodeo, the one with special forces, not horses and bulls. The best Rodeo he had ever joined. He owed everything to Jigsaw because if he hadn't recruited him, God knows where he be now. He probably be dead or homeless or in prison.

         Just as the event started, Jigsaw came over and sat next to him with a bag of popcorn.

         “Who’s winning?” Jigsaw asked.

        “It just started.” Squid replied.

         “Did you know any of those guys?”

         “No I’ve been out a while. I never competed in pro Rodeo. Just amateur.”

         Both men shifted their attention from the TV to Robby as he entered the room.

          “I spoke to the President and he’s happy we got Intel but he isn't happy. With our response. He thinks that we should chase Raptor to Colombia.” Robby explained.

          “Did you tell him that chasing him when we don't know what he's doing, could spook him away. Then we really wouldn't be able to stop him because he'll be underground somewhere where we can't find him. Besides, we've already notified every American establishment in the country to be on high alert.” Squid replied.

          “Yeah. I did, but he's insisted that we follow him. He's all concerned that an attack is imminent. He thinks that we’re being lazy.”

          “So? Are you saying that we're going to Colombia? Jigsaw asked.

          “I'm saying to be ready to go. We may be having to go but, as of now, we don't. Pack your stuff and have it ready. If he orders us to go, we'll have to.” Robby replied.

          “Daggum it,” Squid mumbled as he picked up the remote and hit the record button. Then he and Jigsaw got up and went to the bunk room. They were greeted by Yankee and Gator already packing their gear. Each man went through their stuff and pulled out clothes, armor, weapons, surveillance equipment, electronics, cans of Copenhagen, and whatever else they thought that was necessary. They put it all into bags and boxes and hauled it out to the Falcon. Then they meticulously packed all of the gear into the bird and went inside. Squid and Jigsaw got back on the couch and resumed watching the PBR finals.

        They had been watching it for just over 15 minutes when Robby entered the room with a frustrated look on his face. Everybody knew what that meant.

         “God dang it! What's a man got to do to watch a daggum man ride an angry bull for eight seconds!” Squid cursed. They knew that they were going to Colombia and not a single word was spoken.  

       Chapter 17

       The roads in Colombia were bumpy. It didn't help that they were on a backroad in the middle of nowhere. The Colombian jungle was beautiful. Confusing but beautiful. Paola hadn't put up a fight since Raptor had killed the cartel soldier. She was on her best behavior. So far she had given him directions and everything had gone smoothly.

        “The clinic should be about seventy kilometers from here,” Paola informed him. Raptor just nodded and kept driving. He had six gas cans in the back because he knew gas wasn't going to be available in the middle of the amazon jungle. Having already used two and about to use a third, he had to conserve. He had to have enough to get back.

       Raptor pulled over and pulled the third can from the trunk. He began to pour the fuel into the Jeep when a bullet impacted the dirt to the rear of his feet.

       “Not again. I'm so tired of these stupid pipe swingers,” he thought to himself. He ran to the driver's side and pulled Paola out of the car and grabbed his AK-47. Bullets continued to hit the ground and car while he loaded a mag into the rifle and racked a round into battery. Raptor peeked from around the back of the vehicle. Bullets greeted him as he snapped his head back behind cover. He got low and crawled under the car on his stomach. Paola threw him the rifle and he let loose a burst of fire. The gunman paused for a short period then resumed his unrelenting barrage of fire.

          “Where are you?!” Raptor yelled, not expecting a reply. He watched the brush in front of him carefully for any sign of the enemy. The fire seem to be coming from the same area. The gunman’s first mistake

         “Your nightmares!” a voice answered. The gunman's second mistake. He emerged from the jungle firing a Vietnam era US M60 from the hip like Rambo. Raptor could not believe what this guy was doing. The massive amount of bullets forced Raptor to recede deeper under the Jeep. He wouldn't make it out if the shooter kept it up. The machine gunner made his third and final mistake when he shot all of his ammo and missed Raptor every single time. The M60 stopped shooting and the shooter got a grave look of fear across his face. He pulled the trigger again but it was no use, the gun was out of ammo. Raptor exploded out from under the Jeep. He grabbed a hold of the gunman's neck and pushed him all the way back against a tree. He whipped out his knife and shoved it against the man's thigh.

        “Who are you? Why were you shooting at me?”Raptor demanded. The gunman just gurgled something unintelligible.      

        “Wrong answer!” Raptor threatened. He dug the knife in deep, severing the man's femoral nerve and crippled him. Paola screamed and ran over to see what Raptor did. She recognized a branding on the man’s left forearm.

         “He’s Los Rastrojos.” She told Raptor.

         “Oh. Really?” Raptor replied. He grabbed the man’s arm and cut the flexor tendons right underneath the brand. The man screamed.

          “Stop torturing him!” Paola pleaded, “Why don't you just kill him?”

         “Because he's our way into the clinic.”

Raptor said. He then proceeded to deliver a huge right cross to the man's head, knocking him out cold. He dragged him to the bullet riddled Jeep, threw him into the back and started the final leg of the journey to the clinic.

      Chapter 18

       “Wait? What's up? There's been a shooting in Sutherland Springs? In the church? That's right next door!” Yankee asked as he tried to figure out what's going on.

       “Yeah, that's what the news report is saying,” Robby explained.

      “Do you think that it's Raptor?”

       “I don't know, but Bucky and I are going to check it out and see what we can do.”

       “I'm telling Jigsaw to turn around. We'll be there in a few hours. We're about to fly over Cancun.”

      “No. You have to continue to Colombia. As far as we know Raptor's still there. Bucky and I can handle things here. We'll have Moose in the silo with a rifle watching over the Ranch. He’s doing better. He's just not very mobile.”

      “Roger. Keep us posted.” Yankee replied

       “Will do.” Robby acknowledged

           “What's going on?” Jigsaw asked.

       “Somebody shot up the church in Sutherland Springs,” Yankee answered.

      “Do we have to go home?” Jigsaw asked.

       “No Robby and Bucky are checking it out,” Yankee informed

        “When's the last time Robby's been operational?” Squid asked

       “He's forgotten more about operating than you'll ever know?” Jigsaw replied.

        “Sorry man. I know you're close. I was just joking. He's a great operator.” Squid apologized. Jigsaw nodded, acknowledging that everything was cool.

        “Next stop: Bogota international airport.” Gator hollered to ease the tension.

        A few hours had gone by and Jigsaw approached the runway. Everyone woke up as the plane landed with a jolt as it touched down. When it came to a stop, everybody knew their job. Jigsaw put the Falcon away, Gator got a truck, Squid unpacked the Falcon and Yankee coordinated with the Rodeo back home in Texas.

         Yankee hung up his phone and waited until his teammates were all together. “I just got off the phone with one of the analysts and he said that the Colombian Army found a dead drug dealer with three cuts across his chest and his carotid artery severed,” Yankee updated.

        “Sounds like Raptor's calling card,” Gator assessed. Yankee nodded. Then his phone rang. He answered and the team waited for the update.

       “A man matching Raptor's description just brought another man into a clinic run by American missionaries. The man he brought in was cut to shreds but alive. It's over a day's drive through the jungle but there's a landing strip behind the clinic for supplies. It also has radioactive medicine used for cancer treatment. I think that Raptor plans on stealing it and making a dirty bomb. Regardless of his intention, that's where we have to go.” Yankee explained. Without another word, the team undid what they just completed and got ready to fly to the American clinic.

       Chapter 19

        When Robby and Bucky got to the massacre site, they were met by chaos. Families were crying, paramedics were treating the wounded. Police were securing the area. News crews were talking and filming. It was horrible.

        Bucky grew up here and was horrified by the wreckage. He had joined the Marine corps to protect his country and his home. South Sutherland was a town with a population of about four hundred people. It was a typical small town in the middle of Texas. Nobody would ever expect that a shooting like this would ever happened here. The sheriff came back and Bucky recognized him. It was his uncle.

       “What happened?” Bucky asked him.

       “Buck! What are you doing here?” the sheriff exclaimed.

       “I saw what happened and got leave,” he lied, “I brought my CO. We thought we could help.”

       “We found a car with the dead shooter in it. He killed himself. We ran his name from his ID. We think he was an airman with a record and a discharge for bad behavior,” The sheriff explained, “ He fired off a few mags in the church. The kill count is up to twenty six.”

       “God damnit! Where's Mom and Dad?” he asked afraid to know the answer.

       “They're okay. They only skip a few services a year and I'm glad they missed this one,” he replied. Robby walked over to them and hugged Bucky. Bucky may have been a Marine, a special forces operator, and an all around badass, but he was still a human. He was still a 32 year old kid who loves his family. He still has emotions and thinking that you've lost your family when all you've ever done was try to protect them, would shake the nerves of even the hardest men. For some reason, the good Lord spared Bucky's family. But many others weren't that lucky. Twenty six people didn't go home that night, more than half of those were children. Countless families were destroyed. It was horrible.

       “What can we do, Sheriff?” Robby asked.

       “Well, I suppose you can help notify the families of the wounded and dead. We'll have to confirm the identities first. The FBI'S gonna take charge soon. After that, I won't have much authority. If you see anything that needs to be done, do it. Like I said, I won't have much authority soon.” The sheriff explained. Robby and Bucky ran toward the crowd of crying families and began the work that nobody else wants to do.

       Meanwhile, back at the ranch, Moose was still in shock. Robby had told him that there was an attack on the church in South Sutherland. They didn't know who did it or why. They had to figure out if Raptor was involved, so he was the only one on the Ranch at that point. He had grabbed the M14 and all the ammo he could fit in the seat of his wheelchair. Then he limped and stumbled his way to the silo which was really a sniper hide disguised as a grain silo. Getting up the stairs was tough but if it meant saving the Ranch, he had to do it. When he finally got up to the platform, he loaded up his rifle and stared through the scope. He could see the church and all of the people there. He couldn't believe that this had happened. They spent their lives fighting evil all across the world, but this happening at home was failure. This hurt more because America was taking a beating. The hurricanes Harvey, Irma, and,Maria. The shooting at Las Vegas. The fires in California. The terrorists running a truck though a bike path in New York. And all of that was within two months. America was in a bad spot. It hurt because he spent his life protecting the country that he loves and he couldn't prevent it from these disasters. It hurt even more because a member of the US military had caused this latest one. A man that Moose would have called a brother in arms committed the attack closest to home. Then he killed himself like the coward he was because he was afraid of the police. He was once told a saying like, “God will never give you more than you can handle.” Moose believed in it, but this was getting very close to getting more than he can handle. On top of all this, Raptor was still running around somewhere planning another attack. This was getting tough.

Chapter 20   

 

       Raptor pulled up to the gate of the American clinic. A local mercenary who the Americans had hired to guard the clinic, approached the vehicle.

      “What do you want?” he asked.

      “Help! My friend got attacked by a Jaguar and is in really bad shape!” Raptor pleaded. The guard walked back to his booth and opened the white wrought iron gates. Raptor smiled inside and thought, “Step one: check.”

      Once inside the clinic’s compound, nurses rushed to the bullet riddled Jeep.

      “He’s in the back!” He yelled trying to act like a concerned friend. The nurses quickly got the wounded drug dealer onto a stretcher and wheeled him inside. Raptor followed them in and Paola sat in the car. She thought for a minute and realized that it was her chance to escape.

       She looked in the direction that he had gone and in every other direction. Now was her chance and she took it. She opened the door of the bullet riddled tin can that used to be called a Jeep and took off toward the gate. The guard had fallen asleep in the booth and Paola didn't have time to wake him. Her only option was to climb and climb she did. She scaled that gate in a speed that would have made a monkey jealous. Raptor heard the clanking of the gate moving and rushed out to see what was going on. What he saw was the back of Paola's elbows and bottoms of her feet as she sprinted away. He screamed for her to come back but his screams fell on deaf ears.

       Paola heard Raptor screaming at her but ignored it. She had to run as far and as fast as she could. She had to give it everything she had because anything less than that could cost her her life.

       Raptor didn't bother to follow her. She was of no use to him now. He had gotten to the clinic and he still had the Jeep and the AK-47.  All he needed now was… . The hum of a small plane approaching interrupted his thoughts. There was a small airstrip in the back of the clinic for supplies. He assumed that it was their latest delivery of medical supplies being delivered. Raptor had learned over the years that things that seem ordinary, usually are. Overreacting to those things because of your own paranoia will blow you cover. Just to be safe he went inside to get out of direct view of the plane. There was no reason to take unnecessary risks.

Chapter 21

      “I've got eyes on the target,” Squid announced from the back seat of the Falcon.

       “Roger, approaching the landing strip. Prepare for a hot infil.” Jigsaw responded. He touched the Falcon down and brought it to a stop. The entire team dismounted already in their full combat kit. Yankee had relayed the information back to the Rodeo and Robby had notified the President. President Peterson had given them lethal authority. Each man was armed with suppressed a HK 416, a suppressed Smith and Wesson M and P, and their dragon skin ballistic vest loaded with ten mags for each gun. Each man also had specialty tools like Jigsaw's med kit, and Squid’s breaching charges. Gator had a compact grenade launcher used in Vietnam affectionately referred to as the Pirate gun. Yankee had a rope and compact grappling hook. They naturally drew some attention from the clinic's staff.

     “We are Americans and have reason to believe that there is a known terrorist in this compound. Where is your radioactive medicine?” Yankee explained to the nurse without hearing her argument. Finally she realized that they weren't going away so she finally gave up the location.

       “They're in building five, upstairs. It’s all the way on the other side of the compound. There's a sign on the door of the room they’re in.” She directed. Just as she said that, fully automatic burst of fire from an AK rang out from inside the clinic. The screaming of the patients and staff could be heard outside and the team split up into two, two man teams. Yankee and Jigsaw rushed to secure the radioactive material while Squid and Gator followed the sound of Raptor's gunfire. Gator peeked in one of the windows of the main building and was met by a 7.62 by 39mm round shattering the glass and barely missing his head. Squid fired into the room while Gator broke the window of the adjacent room and climbed in. He open the door and took a knee facing the direction Raptor was in.

      “In position!” Gator said over the radio. Squid followed Gator’s path through the window and joined up with him. They swept the hallway in both directions and started to clear each room. They saw dead bodies in hospital beds, each with bullet wounds in their heads. They got to the end of the hallway and it turned right. A nurse lay wounded behind the desk and tried to crawl to them. She kept slipping on all the blood on the already slick white tile floor.

     “Leave her! We gotta get him!” Gator ordered Squid in a loud whisper.

      “If we leave her, she dies.” He responded.

      “She's dead anyway,” Gator relied in a very quiet whisper to keep her from panicking. Squid ignored the order and reached out to drag her back. Just as he got to her, Raptor fired a burst from his rifle. Squid fell over backwards and remained motionless for a few brief seconds.

     “Crap!” Gator yelled as he emptied an entire magazine in Raptor's direction. Raptor got hit in the hand but ran towards the building holding the radioactive material. Gator rushed over to Squid who had begun to stir. He had been hit in his vest. The kinetic energy of the bullet had stunned him and knocked him over.

      “Well that felt like he hit me with a sledgehammer,” Squid laughed.

       “It's not funny.” Gator scolded. “Raptor's heading your way. Squid got hit in the vest. We're in pursuit.” Gator said over the radio to Yankee and Jigsaw.

        “Roger, we’re approaching the storage room now,” Yankee replied. They rushed toward building five of the clinic. Jigsaw took point while going up the stairs, and Yankee secured the rear as he followed Jigsaw. There was one door that appeared to be kicked in and it had a sign with a nuclear symbol on it just like the nurse had mentioned. Yankee pointed his rifle at the door while Jigsaw pulled out a flashbang. He pulled the pin and lobbed it into the room. Both men stood flat against the wall for 5 seconds and waited for the non lethal grenade to explode. When it did, they rushed into the room. An spooky smoke lingered in the air from the flashbang’s explosion. The two men searched along the walls for a container holding the radioactive medicine and Jigsaw found it first. When he did, his face got whiter than Carrie Underwood's teeth at the CMA awards.  

        “You’re gonna wanna to see this,” he mumbled to Yankee. Yankee approached the container and found it empty.

        “Raptor got the radioactive material. He’s running, but I don’t have eyes on him.”

        “Roger, we're approaching the building,” Gator responded. Squid was walking backwards with his back facing Gator. He was making sure Raptor didn't ambush them from behind. Gator walked forward towards the building holding the radioactive material and scanned for any sign of Raptor. They approached the building from the rear and arrived at the middle of the back wall. Squid took the left side and Gator took the right.

       It was predetermined that, if it was possible, Gator would clear any corners that turned to the right because a left handed person can clear it with the minimum amount of body exposure possible. The same goes for a right handed person on a corner that turns left.   

      Each man cleared their side of the building while Yankee and Jigsaw rushed to the roof to scan for Raptor. Raptor was smart. He had run out of ammo and time. He had to escape or the plan would be totally destroyed. The only way was to get himself in a position where he couldn't get shot at because of what he had. He already had the radioactive material but he needed a hostage. He had hid against the wall in front of the building where it was invisible from the roof and rear of the building. As soon as Gator had turned the corner to the front of the building, Raptor ambushed him. He leapt out and slammed Gator in the chest. At this extreme close range, his rifle was useless. Gator used Raptor's own momentum to counter the attack and rolled him onto the ground before he hit it himself.

He had done exactly what Raptor had wanted. Now, the other members of the team couldn't shoot at them because they would risk hitting Gator. Raptor reached behind him and grabbed Gator's pistol and rotated to face him. Gator was now straddling him while Raptor looked him in the eye. Gator reached around for his pistol and found it in the hands of the man in between his legs. He reached for his knife to end the fight but Raptor was faster. Raptor put two rounds into Gator's vest from point blank range. Gator was Raptor's ticket out of here. Gator grunted at the pain and fell back off of Raptor. Raptor immediately rushed to him and put the gun against his head.

       “Give me the keys to the plane or his head is coming off!” Raptor ordered.

      “Hold on now. I have the keys and you can have them, but who's gonna fly the daggum thing? Poor old Gator there doesn't know how. I'll do it. Let him go.” Yankee said slowly stepping forward with his hands raised.

      “Don't come any closer. I'll blow us all up with the radioactive material and all. There are still living civilians here. Do you want to be responsible for their death?” He shouted dropping the pistol. He pulled out a grenade and pulled the pin while holding the spoon in. He shoved his hand in the bag containing the radioactive material.

        “Easy, I'll give you what you want. I just need you to let my man go and take me instead.” Yankee negotiated. Jigsaw figured out what was going on and looked at him with a horrible look of sorrow on his face. “It's okay Jig, I'll be okay. You know what to do.” Yankee assured his brother as he walked towards Raptor.

         “Stop!” Raptor ordered.

         “He didn't kill your brother. I did!” Yankee taunted. When Raptor heard that he immediately let Gator go and motioned for Yankee to come towards him. As soon as he got there Raptor punched him hard in the mouth. Yankee spit blood and Jigsaw raised his rifle.

        “It's okay, Jig. I know you're gonna find me and make this idiot pay. I love you Buddy.” Yankee soothed and immediately got hit again. Raptor forced him into the Falcon and Yankee took off. Then Raptor dropped the grenade out the door and it blew up a pig pen outside the walls of the clinic. The remaining team members immediately searched for a vehicle to get out of there. They found Raptor's bullet riddled Jeep and hopped in. There was enough gas to get to the airport and fly home. They were sure that somebody in the hospital called for help and the Colombian authorities would soon arrive to clean up the mess. Given the fact that they weren't supposed to be there, the huge gunfight and their immediate need to track Yankee, escape was their only option.

     “Why did Yankee go with Raptor. He knows he is going to get tortured. I could have killed him right there. I had a shot.” Jigsaw thought aloud.

       “Because he's a daggum genius!” Squid blurted.

       “Jigsaw, call the Barn and tell them to activate the tracking devices in the Falcon and Yankee,” ordered Gator as he drove down the dirt road in hopes of finding civilization that they could to the airport from.

      “Oh, I get it!” Jigsaw realized, “We can track him now!”. He obeyed and made the call.

       What Raptor didn't know was that Yankee wasn't just being a hero to save Gator, he knew that by going with him, the team could track them with the device implanted in the head of every Rodeo operative. He also had the tracker in the Falcon. All of the devices were encrypted and nearly impossible for anybody but the Rodeo operatives and analysts to access. You see, Yankee knew that Raptor was like a starving bear, on a mission and desperate for food. The only way to catch a desperate bear was to lure him into the trap with a little bait. Raptor had blinders on and failed to see that the predator was becoming the prey. He took the bait when he kidnapped Yankee. Like a starving bear, he was walking into the trap, he just didn't know it yet.

      Chapter 22

      “So, you are the one that killed my brother?” Raptor snarled. He had forced Yankee to land the Falcon on an abandoned air strip near the Mexico-Texas border. From there, he put a hood on Yankee and put him in a car. He then drove to what Yankee believed was some sort of terrorist safe house. He couldn't hear any other people in the house and he was now in a dark room strapped to a wooden chair behind a wooden table. Raptor removed the hood and Yankee could see that there was no other furniture in the dirty room with a dirt floor. A sheet of tin foil covered the only window and a single light bulb hung from a cord on the ceiling. Raptor sat across from him and waited for an answer.

      “Yes, I am,” Yankee responded.

     “Okay. Who was he?”

       “His name was Abu malik al Rahim. He was a jihadist who had just about to set off a dirty bomb in the middle of New Orleans. He was going to kill lots of innocent people.” Yankee recalled.

      “How did you kill him?” Raptor enquired.

      “We had set up an invisible perimeter around the festival he was trying to blow up. We saw him come into the south entrance. He was wearing a black coat and he had somebody with him. We ignored him and Gator followed him into the bathroom. He readied the bomb in there and he emerged wearing the suicide vest under his clothes. He went to the middle of the crowd and started shouting. I was in an overwatch position and I got a shot. He turned in my direction and I put a bullet through his head. It went in his nose, hit the medulla oblongata and exited out the base of his skull. He was dead that instant and the bomb was disarmed by one of the police EOD techs.” Yankee recalled.

        “Now try to remember who was with him. What did he look like?” Raptor pressed.

        Yankee's eyes got wide as he realized what Raptor was getting at. “It was you, wasn't it? You watched your brother die right in front of you. I'm sorry but…” Yankee tried to say before Raptor cut him off with an uppercut to the jaw.

       “That's right I was there. I saw my brother's brains explode out of the back of his head while he was trying to spread the word of Allah,” Raptor explained.

        “He was trying to kill innocent people. If I didn't kill him, he would have killed hundreds. Is that what Allah wants!” Yankee yelled directly in Raptor's face through his bloody mouth.

         “Shut up! You don't know Allah, but you're about to find out how I got my name.”  he snarled back. He drew a pocket knife from his jeans and brought it to Yankee's bare chest. Yankee braced for the pain.

     Chapter 23

“What happened now? You let a known terrorist get away with radioactive material, the Falcon, and Yankee? And he shot up a ton of people in a clinic run by Americans in Colombia?” President Peterson clarified.

“Yes sir, that is what happened, but we have a tracker in the Falcon and inside of Yankee’s head,” Robby responded.

           “Well, do you know where they are now?” President Peterson asked.

“As of about one hour ago, they were somewhere near the Mexico-Texas border. It appears that the plane has landed and that Raptor has holed up somewhere with Yankee,” Robby explained.

“Do you know where the radioactive material is now?” President Peterson asked.

“No, but I doubt that Raptor would let it out of his sight. I believe that it is with them,” Robby suggested.

“Do you have a plan?” President Peterson inquired in a nervous tone, afraid to hear the answer.

“We don't want to go do a massive raid on a house that Raptor could leave by the time we get there. Besides, even if we seize the radioactive material and Raptor gets away, he could still blow something up without the dirty part of the bomb,” Robby elaborated.

“You know if you didn't put trackers on everything, I would be a lot madder right now. But we know where the Falcon is and where Yankee is.” President Peterson recalled and slowly shook his head. He thought a little before he spoke again.

“You know what will happen if we fail again. We might never get another shot. We might not stop a terrorist with a dirty bomb who is dead set on revenge. If that happens, the Rodeo is over. My presidency would be over. It would be game over. There would be no restart button either.” President Peterson explained.

“I understand. If I've learned anything over my life it's that history repeats itself. Last time we stopped the attack. If we did it then, we can do it now. We won't fail.” Robby encouraged.

“I hope so. I really do. Dismissed.” President Peterson ordered. Robby left the oval office and walked out to his truck.

He had an apartment in DC because he communicated with the President so much. He opened the door and took a seat on the edge of his bed. He had gone through a lot of operations in his career but this one was starting to get to him. He'd been shot twice, stabbed three times, caught shrapnel in his legs and back. He been tortured by the enemy, lost friends in the line of duty. He'd done some things in his life and a few of them haunted him, but this one was starting to get to him. The same thoughts kept repeating in his head.

“How could one man do all of this? How could we miss him twice already? Aren't we better than this? How could we let him capture one of our men? Are we losing it? What is going on? Why?” He thought. Then his computer started going off snapping him out of the trance. It was a secure video call from the Barn. He answered and saw Bucky's face on the screen.

“What's the latest?” Robby asked.

“We managed to zero in on Yankee's location and we discovered that the house has an active phone line. We were gonna call it to see if we could negotiate Yankee's release, but we wanted your approval first.” Bucky explained. Robby thought it over and then he came to a conclusion.

“Don't do it. Raptor doesn't know about the trackers. If we call, he figures it out and then he'll probably kill Yankee and detonate the bomb. We can't show our hand just yet.” Robby ordered.

“Yes sir!” Bucky acknowledged.

“We wait until he gets to his target, then we intercept. Is that understood?” Robby asked.

“With all due respect, Isn't that a little risky? If we don't stop the attack in time, lots of people die,” Bucky countered.

           “Well, what do you think about it? What should we do?” Robby asked.

            “I would suggest an ambush while they're in route to the target. That way if things go bad and the bomb detonates, the casualties are limited to us and him, no innocent civilians. But we won't be part of the casualties of course because we will stop it before detonation.” Bucky suggested.

            “Alright, fine do that,” Robby replied.

            “Sir, are you alright? You seem very out of it. You aren't critiquing little details of the plan like you normally do.” Bucky noticed.

            “I'm fine. It's just this op that's messing with my head. How could we miss him twice? How could he capture Yankee? How did his men almost kill the entire team? Are we losing it? Why is this happening to us?” Robby asked. Bucky had been part of the Rodeo since it was founded. Robby had always been the strongest leader Bucky had ever had. All of the others would agree. He had never seen him like this. It was shocking, sad, and confusing. Robby had always been a father figure to all of the men under his command and he had always been there for them. Now it was Bucky's turn to do the same for him.

           “What? Would you rather all of this happen to someone else?Then you’d have the blood of lots other people on our hands. Innocent people.Why not us? We're not losing it. We're having a hard time finding and killing one of the smartest terrorists in the world. That combined with all the crap we've taken lately with the shootings, the ambush, Yankee's capture, Hurricane Harvey, and the fact that a terrorist is about to detonate a dirty bomb on US soil. We're all worn ragged. But we have to get up. We're the only ones who can stop the attack and in order to do that, we have to be on our game. You need to get back here where you belong. I think the big city is messing with your head too much.” Bucky encouraged. When Robby laughed he knew he was going to be okay. Robby was embarrassed that he needed a pep talk. He had never needed one before, he was usually the one who was giving them out.Bucky was right though, he needed to get up. Failure to do so could cost the lives of a lot of people.

  

     Chapter 24

             Paola had heard about what had happened at the clinic back in Colombia. It was her fault. She could have killed Raptor before he even got to the clinic or better yet lead him into the middle of the jungle where he wouldn't find his way out. It may have costed her her life but that would have been better than what had happened. The blood of hundreds of innocent people was on her hands. There was no worse feeling. But that's why she was here. In front of an abandoned house on the US-Mexico border.          

          Oops, I must have forgotten to tell you that Paola was the daughter of a US trained guerilla fighter in Panama. Her father grew tired of that life and moved his family to Colombia to start over. He taught Paola everything he knew about warfare from hand to hand combat to surveillance. She had never had to use it and she didn't want to. But this time was different, the deaths at the clinic were her fault and now she needed to make it right.

          The road to redemption lead her here, to Raptor's safe house. She had tracked the Falcon by hacking into the on board tracker. It was something that was nearly impossible and it tested all of her hacking skills. She knew that Raptor was in possession of an American soldier and nuclear material. Doing a one woman raid on the house with an old Colt M1911 would almost certainly get all of them killed. Her only option was to watch and wait for when he was most vulnerable. She was starting to figure out when that might be. Raptor let the American out once a day to defecate in a hole near the house. Raptor didn't go out while he did it but he tied a barbed wire leash around his neck. If she could sneak to him and cut the wire quickly, she could get him out of there before Raptor knew what happened. It could work but it had to be lightning fast. She settled on that plan and waited for the American to have to poop.

          She had watched the house the previous day. She noticed that the american emerged at 11:00 PM. It was now 10:58 PM. The American would soon emerge. Then she would commence her plan. She walked up to the house from the west side. Tin foil covered the windows on that side and made it easy for her to just walk up without Raptor's knowledge. She looked at her watch and read 10:59PM. It was almost game time.

           The door finally opened up and the American stepped out. Paola reacted and came up behind him. She cut the wire with one hand and a pair of tin snips while covering his mouth with the other hand.

            “I'm here to rescue you. Don't make a sound. We're going to run to my car,” she ordered. The American obeyed and they took off towards her beat up sedan. About twenty seconds later, Raptor pulled on the barbed wire leash and discovered that it had been cut. He exploded out the door seeing Yankee and a woman sprinting towards a beat up Camry. He drew his pistol and fired several shots hitting the side of the car. Yankee dove into the back seat and Paola got in the driver's seat. Raptor continued firing but it was all in vain. The car sped off but Raptor didn't chase it. His plan did not involve the American. He simply wanted to torture him for revenge. He had the nuclear material.The plan was still on but his timeline had been moved up a considerable amount. It was now or never.

Chapter 25

         “Who are you?” Yankee asked this mystery woman who had grabbed him while he was about to poop.

          “Paola Sanchez, and you are?” Paola introduced herself.

          “Yankee. Why did you rescue me?” He asked. Paola gave him the whole story about taking Raptor to the clinic, seeing the deaths and feeling bad about it. She also told him about her background. “Okay, I believe you but I need your phone to call my men. They’ll need to know that I'm out. We have to stay close to Raptor. My men were tracking him through me. Now that I’m out, we’ll have to track his movements.” he explained. She obeyed, handing him her phone and circled around to watch Raptor’s safe house from a different position and a safe distance.

“Hidden Glory Cattle Ranch. How may I help you?” the receptionist on the other end of the line answered the phone.

“This is ranch hand number 007. A blue longhorn escaped from the orange barn. I repeat a blue longhorn escaped from the orange barn.” Yankee responded.

“Please wait while I transfer your call,” the receptionist replied. Moose picked up the phone.

“What happened, Yankee?” Moose asked

“I’m out. Some chick just rescued me. Did you send her?” Yankee asked.

“No. What chick? Are you okay?” Moose answered.

“I’m fine. Some chick named Paola came by and cut me out of the barbed wire Raptor tied me up with,” Yankee said.

“I'm going to get the team and you're going to walk us through what happened to you,” Moose ordered.

            “Whoa! Since when do you have authority over me?” Yankee somewhat joked.

            “Since he's acting under my command and my command applies to you,” Robby replied. “Okay Yankee, tell us what happened,” Robby asked.

            “Well, after we took off, Raptor held his gun to my head the whole time. He pulled out a map and told me to land in a random area of the desert he pointed out. Then, once I landed, he put a hood on me  and forced me to walk for about ten miles. You can check all of this on my tracker, by the way. Then we got to an old building and we went inside. I heard voices and livestock. He sat me down in a chair and strapped me to it. He left for a few hours and eventually came back. He started to talk about the op we did in New Orleans. He talked about watching his brother as I shot him. Then he started to torture me. He cut my chest with a rusty old Buck knife. Then he tied me up with barbed wire and gave one bathroom break a day. He didn't feed me and beat me at random times. Then, this chick, Paola came while I was in the middle of defecating and cut the barbed wire leash Raptor had around my neck. We made a bolt for the car and Raptor shot at us. He missed. Now we're watching the house. We don't think that he moved, but we're not sure. That's where we are at the moment.” Yankee described.

           “Who's this girl that rescued you?” Bucky asked.

            “I don't know. I've known her for about ten minutes, but I don't know who would rescue some random American in the middle of a tiny Mexican farming village in an abandoned house. She said she hacked into my head tracker and followed us here. She seems to have skills. Honestly, I don't care who she is. She saved my life and that's all I know for sure. I trust her.” Yankee reported. Moose looked around at one of the computer analysts who confirmed that there had been a breach in both Yankee's and the Falcon's tracking devices.  

            “What do you need? You know the most about this attack. What's your opinion?” Robby asked.

             “From what I can tell, Raptor wants to finish what his brother couldn't. He seems to be driven by revenge and will probably do everything he does symbolically. If I'm right, he's going to detonate the bomb in New Orleans. He's going to try to draw us into the kill zone and kill everyone. He wants to wipe the rodeo off the Earth. We can't let him get to New Orleans. We have to do an interception while he's in transit. He's bedded down here pretty well, he's got the edge. In transit, we've got the edge. We can have motorcycles and trucks but he has a beat up old Toyota Tacoma. That's what we have to do.” Yankee figured.

              “Okay, I trust you. For the rest of this mission, it's your team,” Robby authorized, “Don't screw it up.”

Chapter 26

         Jigsaw stared at the road ahead of him. His mind, like his old Chevy, was racing. He was on his way to the location Yankee had ordered him to be in order to execute the mission. Yankee is his biological brother and his best friend. Every member of the Rodeo considered each other brothers. He imagined what Yankee had suffered at the hands of that demon Raptor. His mind jumped back to the SERE training that all Rodeo operatives went through in training.

           He was locked in a dog cage for several days. He was taken out periodically to be interrogated. They beat him and asked him about a fake operation. If he revealed information regarding it, training would automatically stop, he would be given a bus ticket, and he would fail to become a member of the Rodeo. He desperately wanted to be part of it, so he kept his mouth shut. The training continued and at one point they had taken him out of his cage, dumped a bunch of ice water in him, stripped him of his clothes and had a bunch of female role players laugh at his shrunken privates. He was waterboarded, and abused mentally and physically but he didn't give in. He passed the training and graduated to join the Rodeo. He knew Yankee had undergone the same thing and that he would never crack, but he couldn't help but feel a deep sense of rage building in his soul. Raptor was going to pay for what he did to Bucky, Moose, and most importantly Yankee. He hadn't been the one to kill Raptor's brother, but he would be the last face Raptor would ever see. That he could guarantee.

Chapter 27

         Yankee waited patiently for Jigsaw and Gator to arrive and relieve him. They were supposed to leave him a different vehicle, a special vehicle, at his future position. He had to go with Paola to the first interception position. He had designed a plan that required four teams of two people. The first team, comprised of Squid and Robby, would assault the house and flush Raptor out. The second, made up by Paola and himself, would follow him as he passed their position. The third, containing Moose and Bucky, would block the road in front of him. The fourth, with Gator and Jigsaw, would come in from the side and block Raptor from escaping to the right flank. The first team would then come back from the house and block the left flank while the second would pull up behind him and block his escape from the rear. Once he was trapped, Raptor would either give up or fight it out. It was totally up to him. Either way was fine with the Rodeo. It was just like herding cattle. All of the vehicles in play had been modified to withstand gunfire and explosions.

            Yankee had watched Raptor's safe house for about thirty six hours now, and had seen Raptor going in and out. He knew he was there. The whole situation reminded him of the story of the sheepdogs. See, all of the people in the world could be compared to sheep, wolves, or sheepdogs. The sheep were the people who went through life with blind ignorance. They were incapable of violence and paid no attention to anything around them. They were totally innocent. The wolves were the people who preyed on the innocent. Their only goal was to kill and burn and cause pain to the sheep. The sheepdogs were a bit different from both of those. They protected the sheep from the wolves. Both the wolves and the sheepdogs had teeth but the sheepdogs used theirs for good. They fought the wolves and knew the truth about evil in the world. It was hard for Yankee to not feel like a sheepdog about to fight the wolf.

               It was then when Jigsaw and Gator pulled up. Jigsaw got out and hugged his brother. It was only when he released that he saw Yankee's condition. He had large lacerations across his body and bruises all over. He got out the med kit and dressed the wounds as best as he could while still allowing him enough movement to be able to fight. Upon completion, he noticed Paola standing there.  He didn't think about embracing her, he just did it.

“Thank you. You saved my brother's life,” Jigsaw cried, “I owe you everything.”             

.          “You're welcome,” she replied. Yankee and Gator watched in awe because Jigsaw hardly interacted with strangers, let alone hug them. This mission was an all or nothing op. Nobody knew what lied ahead and they wanted to have their affairs in order. What they were about to do was extremely dangerous. Everybody on the team was more than willing to sacrifice their lives for the greater good of the country, but it didn't make the fear of losing a brother, either by blood or otherwise, any less real. They never knew what was going to happen. Then, Yankee and Paola got in their car and drove to their staging point to switch vehicles and wait for the the wolf to walk into the trap.

Chapter 28

          Raptor took one last lap around his safe house. He made sure that he had all of his gear. He took a look at his radioactive material and wondered what he should do. He had gotten the explosives, called ANFO or Ammonium Nitrate Fuel Oil, detonators, AK-47 and all the ammo he could carry from his contact in the Los Zetas cartel shortly after he had arrived at the safe house. He had a few options. Should he assemble the bomb now and risk early detonation but have it ready if the Cowboys tried anything, or leave it disassembled and eliminate the risk of early detonation. The choices that terrorists have to make. You know they're just mind boggling sometimes. He chose to assemble it. The Cowboys were always up to something, you never could count them out. He had to hand it to them, they were persistent little things.

          He walked outside and looked for any indication that there was anybody watching him. He saw no cars or people trying to blend into the small village he was in. From what he could tell, the American that he had captured, escaped. He didn't know anyone stupid enough to escape and turn around to do surveillance on the house he was just tortured in. That was even crazier than the Cowboys were capable of.

            So he poured the ANFO around the radioactive material, rigged the detonators, slipped the whole thing into a duffle bag and loaded it into the cab of his truck. He took one last check to make sure he had everything he needed and drove down the road towards the US border.

Chapter 29

           “Raptor’s moving toward you. The bomb appears to be in the cab of the truck. I repeat, the bomb is in the cab of the truck,” Squid reported over the radio.

           “Roger, change of plans. Don't assault the house. We don't know if he rigged it to blow as soon as we breach. It's no use to us anymore. Wait until he is a safe distance away and begin your pursuit. Under no circumstances are you authorized to shoot anywhere near the bomb. If you hit that, we’re all dead,” Yankee ordered over the radio.

            “Roger,” Squid acknowledged. He waited for a few seconds and Robby gave the signal. Squid drove forward and officially started the operation. Robby was in the backseat of the Chevy Silverado in full combat gear with his rifle pointed in the direction of Raptor's truck. Everyone was in full combat gear. This would be the defining op of their lives or the one that ended them. Either way, they were going to be ready for anything.

            Raptor drove past the fields of crops lining the sides of the road. Each field was about two feet lower than the road in order to prevent flooding. He admired the amber colored fields of grain. He hadn't taken the time to appreciate the beauty of the simple things in life, but what better time than right before you attack on an infidel’s city. He noticed a beat up old Chevy truck on the side of the road with a woman working on the engine. He wondered what she was doing and how a woman could do a man's work. To his amazement, he could see the truck start in his rear view mirror and move along the same road he was on. The driver of the truck was the american soldier that he had just tortured and the passenger was Paola. He gunned the engine and sped down the road hoping to outrun them, but they did not match his speed. Something had to be up.

            “Raptor just passed us, we're starting to follow. He must have recognized us because he just accelerated for no apparent reason,” Yankee announced over the radio.

            “Roger, I'm in position,” Gator replied.

            “Roger, so are we,” Bucky informed over the radio.

“I’m about two minutes from the take down point. Is everything going to plan?” Squid asked.

“Yup, other than the fact that Raptor is now traveling at approximately sixty five miles and hour down a road that should be driven at twenty,” Jigsaw replied.

           “Okay, Moose, deploy the speed strips down each side of the road and in front of you position in case he decides to take this thing off road,” Yankee ordered over the radio.

“Roger,” he replied. Moose exited his fortified Chevy suburban which was parked behind Paola’s beat up camry, which was serving as a roadblock. She had parked it perpendicular across the road. The idea was that Raptor would hit it and disable his own truck. That was just the idea, but what happens in one's head is a lot different than what happens in reality.

            Raptor knew if he continued on this road, he was going to get caught. He knew that if he'd had any chance of escaping to strike a blow against the infidel inside his own home, he had to do something a little crazy. Some people would call it insane, but most would call it dangerous. His truck was already traveling at about sixty miles an hour but he decided to push the gas a little harder. He saw a car turned sideways across the road and a suburban behind it with two men pointing rifles in his direction. He saw two trucks and two motorcycles speeding towards him in his rearview mirror and he knew it was now or never. He turned the wheel and went flying off the road at about eighty miles per hour.

            “Raptor just drove off the road and is speeding through a wheat field. I'm in pursuit,” Jigsaw called over the radio. He didn't even wait for a response before he gunned his Indian motorcycle and took off towards Raptor. Gator followed suit and drove his bike off the road.

          Raptor kept his foot on the gas and leaned out the driver's side window with his rifle in his hands. He let loose with a burst of fully automatic fire towards the two men.

          “Shots fired! Requesting permission to use deadly force!” Gator hollered.

          “Denied! If you hit that bomb, we're all dead!” Yankee ordered. At that moment, one of Raptor’s bullets struck Jigsaw’s tire and sent him skidding across the through field. Robby was not going to hold fire anymore and opened up with his Barrett fifty cal. Moose followed with his M14. Armor piercing rounds rained into Raptor's engine. Everytime Robby shot, Moose shot. It was a technique called talking guns and the cowboys had practiced it extensively. Raptor's truck started smoking from underneath the hood and slowed to a stop.

          Paola drove up to the disabled vehicle and Yankee got out with his M4 pointed directly at Raptor's nose. Squid and Bucky arrived a second later and pointed their M4 and SAW at the vehicle. Gator had his MP7 trained on the target as well. Moose had his crosshairs leveled on  Raptor's left ear. Robby trained his Barrett on Raptor's heart. If all of them fired at once, they could have easily cut a telephone pole in half within a matter of seconds. They saw Raptor trying to move around inside and everybody knew it wasn't good. He emerged holding a duffel bag in one hand and a deadman switch in the other. Robby shifted his aim from Raptor's heart to his hand.

           “It's over, Raptor! You aren't going to walk away from this!” Yankee shouted.

           “Really? Because if you shoot me, I let go of this detonator. If I let go, this thing explodes and all of you die!” Raptor called out.

           “Look where you are! You're in the middle of a wheat field in Mexico! You're not finishing anything your brother started. You detonate that, we die. We are all willing to sacrifice our lives for the greater good. Your mission never makes headlines. You cause never gets attention. Face it! It's over!” Yankee argued.

              “It ain't over ‘till it's over! Allahu Akbar!” Raptor screamed at the top of his lungs. He dropped the deadman switch. The entire team braced for the explosion, but it never came. A look of horror and confusion came over Raptor's face as he picked up the detonator and pressed and released it over and over. He felt a sharp pain slice through his leg. Jigsaw burst forth from underneath the truck and buried Raptor's face in the dirt. He pulled his hands behind his back and zip tied them together. He looked up with a huge smile on his face and the entire team rushed to him. What they saw shocked and elated them to their core. It was a pile of about fifty pounds of granular ANFO.

            “It's always good to have a sharp knife.” Jigsaw laughed.

            “You cut the bag and drained the ANFO?” Gator asked as he secured the radioactive material.

            “Yup!” Jigsaw replied as he put a tourniquet above the stab wound he just inflicted to Raptor's leg, “You didn't think that I was just going to let this sorry excuse for a cow t**d just die a painless death, did you?”

            Robby Gator pulled Raptor to his feet and dragged him to the Suburban. It had taken them three times, but Raptor's threat was finally eliminated.

           

Chapter 30

            Jigsaw dragged Raptor into the barn to see the doctor. Jigsaw was a medic and had managed to stop the bleeding from Raptor's femoral artery, but he was no doctor. The medical staff took him into surgery and examined the leg. The tourniquet had been on for over ten hours. The leg was dead and they made the decision to amputate. Jigsaw didn't care. Raptor wasn't human, he did things to people that made it impossible for anybody to believe anything but that. He only cared that Raptor was no longer a threat. Once the surgery was complete, he wheeled Raptor to a cell to await some blackwater agent who was taking him to a black site prison where he would never see the light of day again. He wouldn't even get that far. Jigsaw put him in the cell and closed the door behind them. A look of terror crossed Raptor's face. Jigsaw was enraged. He pulled Raptor out of the wheelchair and and handed him a scalpel.

           “Fight!” He ordered Raptor.

           “Are you serious, I'm missing a leg!” Raptor barked.

           “This is your only chance,” Jigsaw snarled. Raptor thought about it and lunged at him with the knife in hand. Jigsaw reacted and threw him into the wall. Raptor tried to knock Jigsaw off his feet with his remaining leg. Jigsaw caught it and shattered the femur. Raptor screamed and tried to slash him with the scalpel. Jigsaw saw it coming and got his body inside of Raptor’s arc. He wrapped his left hand around Raptor’s wrist and hooked Raptor’s elbow with his right and pulled. The elbow bent the wrong way and shattered. Jigsaw rotated Raptor’s knife hand around his back and plunged the scalpel into Raptor’s spine with his hand still gripping it. The scalpel plunged deep into his flesh and Raptor did the only thing he could do, scream. Jigsaw got a handful of Raptor’s hair and pulled his head back. He looked him deep in the eye and said, “This is for Yankee, Moose, and Bucky.”

“Go ahead, take revenge. It will only eat you up like it did to me,” Raptor snarled. There was a pause as Jigsaw thought about it then he spoke.

“I’m not taking revenge, I’m delivering justice,” Jigsaw replied. He raised his fist up high and brought it down hard on Raptor’s throat, crushing his windpipe. He let Raptor go and watched as he suffocated to death. He had followed through on his promise to make his face the last face Raptor would see.

           Jigsaw walked to the ranch house where the rest of the team was celebrating. Moose had put a couple of pork shoulders, a few racks of ribs and a couple chickens on the smoker. Members of the Rodeo weren't the smartest people in the world, but they were the best at three things: hunting bad guys, taking care of each other and making barbeque. The whiskey was flowing, the radio was blaring, and the stress was off. This op had meant more than others because of the time it took place and the cost of it. Raptor had masterminded the attack that put a bullet in Bucky, almost killed Moose, and undermined the reputation of the Rodeo. Raptor had tortured Yankee, shot up an American clinic in Colombia, and shaken morale of the team and its leaders. It had happened when America had been beaten to its knees with tragedy here at home. From the unrest in Charlottesville, the shooting at Las Vegas, the fires in California, the attack in New York, Hurricane Harvey, Hurricane Irma, and Hurricane Maria to the shooting in Sutherland Springs, America had seen more than its fair share of tragedy. The american people needed a victory. This was the Rodeo's victory.

           The entire team had begun to eat. They sat down at their table made entirely of spent shells and relaxed for the first time in a long time. Robby raised his glass for a toast.

            “Here's to our brothers, our country, our victory, and our new sister,” Robby announced. Paola looked confused. She had been wondering why they had asked her to join them for dinner. She looked at Yankee with a puzzled look on her face.

            “You wanna join the Rodeo?” He asked.

Author's Note

All characters and events in this story are completely fictional and are meant for entertainment purposes only. Any actions performed by the characters are not meant to be duplicated. Any similarities between the characters of this story and any person, living or dead, is purely coincidental.