A Shadow Company Tale

River Chase

Price motioned for the trio to continue pushing through the few remaining soldiers that were stubborn enough to hold out.

"Head for the tunnel! He's getting away! Shepherd mentioned Zodiacs...there must be river access nearby - let's go!" Katana shouted as she charged into the caves that led to the river. She jumped on one of the boats, motioning for the team to get on.

Price turned to Soap, "Come on, Soap, get on the boat!"

The radio crackled, "Be advised, we're dispatching RPG units on the bridges to intercept Price, Katana, and MacTavish. All bridge fireteams, equip RPGs and intercept any boats in pursuit of Gold Eagle. Little Birds are inbound. E.T.A. 40 seconds."

Soap jumped on the boat as the group began to sail forward rapidly, Katana kept her eyes on Shepherd's boat, firing upon the boat as Price opened on the soldiers on the river banks who replied with RPGs.

Arrow turned around, spotting Katana and raised his weapon. He placed the reticle on his woman and squeezed the trigger. The round missed, impacting water splashing Katana a slight bit. The soldiers on the boat returned fire as well, missing quite largely. Katana continued to open fire as the soldier next to Arrow was shot in the neck falling overboard into the water. She continued to aim in, sniping another who clutched onto Arrow attempting to get stability. Arrow quickly smacked the man with his rifle butt, pushing the wounded soldier overboard.

Katana narrowed her eyes as she could briefly make out Arrow's shoulder, D-12. She blinked and aimed, dumping her whole mag into the soldiers on the boat. She was infuriated Arrow was shooting at her, after everything he did to save her, he was attempting to kill her!

The driver on Arrow's boat was shot in the head and fell off the boat as Arrow took control, turning into the cave at the end of the narrow river. Price shouted, "Through that cave!"

"Gold Eagle, this is Kestrel Three-Two. We're over the reservoir. Don't have a visual, over."

General Shepherd reached for Arrow's radio who handed it to him, "Kestrel Three-Two, they're still in the caves! Hold position and continue to observe! Gold Eagle out!"

The boat cleared the cave finally, as Katana and Price spotted General Shepherd and Arrow. Price also looked up for a brief second, "Little Bird!"

"There they are. Engaging target."

"Cleared hot, danger close!" The Little Bird spun up its miniguns, strafing the position however Soap pushed the boat left avoiding the burst that would have proven fatal to the occupants on their boat.

"They're all over the place! I can't get a fix! These guys are really movin'! Gimme a minute!" The Little Bird flew back in front of Soap's boat.

"Take 'em! "

"Locked on target! Target in sight!"

"Cleared hot."

"Okay, I've almost got 'em lined up! Target acquired, engaging!"

Another radio transmission crackled as the Little Bird once again missed, strafing water near the boat. "Air-to-ground missiles online. Ready when you are, sir!"

"Cleared hot!"

"Roger, missile away!"

The missile missed, impacting water behind the boat, striking one of the trailing boats behind the Task Force's boat. "Avatar One, reacquire target and try again! Cleared hot!"

"Roger, UAV support available in 10 seconds. Fox-3!" The missile came arching down and impacted a nearby island, scattering small rocks everywhere as Katana was smacked with one which forced her to lay down to regain her senses.

"We can't let Shepherd escape!" Soap immediately pushed hard left as the boat pushed into a canyon still following General Shepherd and Arrow. "Rapids up ahead! It's going to get rough, hang on!" Katana immediately gripped onto one of the handlebars tightly.

"Avatar One, gimme a sitrep, over!"

"I have Warhorse 5-1 standing by. Pave Low's downriver, sir."

"Copy that! Warhorse 5-1, be advised, we're coming in hot!"

"Roger - droppin' the hatch - keep it above 30 knots and watch the vertical clearance."

General Shepherd snapped his head to Arrow, "Go son! Get us on that damn bird!" Arrow kept the boat straight and level, speeding up onto the ramp.

"Crew, Gold Eagle's on board. We're outta here."

Soap reversed the boat as they just reached the spot where Arrow and Shepherd were mere seconds before. Defeat came over Katana until Price shouted to Soap, "Soap! Hold it steady!"

The Pave Low pitched a little but immediately stopped as the sandstorm blew towards them. "Uhh crew we got a sandstorm at twelve o'clock. We're taking the long way around. Hang on."

"Steady, steady!" Price fired a burst from his M4 and quickly fired his grenade launcher which struck the helicopter. The grenade exploded, crippling the helicopter as Arrow was tossed to the cabin floor as the bird lost immediate control. "We're going down!" One of the pilots shouted. Arrow managed to grip onto one of the seats as the helicopter fell beneath the waterfall, with the Task Force losing visual of the helicopter.

"Back up, back up!" The boat however was caught in the current and soon went over. All three jumped from the boat, feet first into the cold water. Katana woke up on the riverbed, soaking wet. She inhaled but immediately coughed, choking on inhaled water. She heard the mechanical rattle as the Pave Low conveniently crashed next to the river, she pushed herself to her feet and limped over to the crash site looking for Arrow and Shepherd. Another cough and movement revealed that Soap also survived and pushed himself up.