Sequel to "Bound By Blood, Forged in Fire".
As the hunt for Bodnar continues, Jace and Ziva reach a defining moment in their relationship. In the aftermath Julian must learn to continue to go forward in order to stay afloat.
As the helicopter neared the JOC they saw three unknown vehicles approaching the base building. Their attempts to warn the CIA officers were met with static. Only one word came through to the operators through the noise.
"Fallen."
"The JOC's under siege," shouted Jace. "We gotta land at the third building over and ruck it."
The pilots followed through and dropped off the teams and set up overwatch. They went down the stairwell and cleared their way to the JOC. Jace relayed the situation to the CAG team.
Grey and Rider destroyed sensitive documents and anything that could lead to the Teams inside the Operations Center. The CIA officers worked to secure the site. Cole manned the monitors, alerting everyone of the six teams of two in the east wing.
Grey alerted Command of their situation and called for an extraction.
Cole kept track of overwatch until the security feeds went offline, someone had cut them off. She grabbed her Glock, making her way to Grey and Rider, on her way she encountered an armed intruder. She managed to fire three shots to the chest while under fire. Once the intelligence officer regrouped with the others, they reached the garage. However, they encountered four men rigging it to explode, during the firefight one of the enemy combatants managed to detonate the explosives.
From the street across the building, the SEALs had linked up with the Deltas, the teams proceeded to the target, leaving two CAG team members with each SUV. The operators bounded their way, they stopped once they saw an armed team of six working a perimeter, one of them was manning a technical. Jace motioned to Zach that they were going to for the left flank, he acknowledged and set his men to take on the right side. Julian dispatched the combatant manning the technical, Rhodes took out the driver, and they pushed down on the others.
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The Deltas commandeered the technical as the SEALs checked the bodies, no one found any form of ID, two had burner phones, all of them had radios, and most of them had gang tattoos. They were Serbian Mafia, they must have found out where the teams were operating and guessed that the devices were in the TOC.
As they closed in on the compound they heard an explosion coming from the garage, the operators made their way to the source, encountering four squirters going for their vehicles. Jace shouted for them to surrender, instead, they tried to raise their weapons. In turn, the SEALs immediately shot them down. Seconds after, the CIA officers surged through the door, weapons drawn.
"SITREP," requested Jace as the other TOC members exited the building.
"We torched everything related to the mission," responded Rider. "All the vehicles are wrecked."
"They killed the detainees," added Grey. "All we have left are the phones we confiscated."
"Take the Sedan, we got the technical, the Deltas are bringing in the SUVs with the Device."
Everyone rallied into the vehicles and made their way to the LZ, an airfield fronted by the Agency. A civilian plane would pick them up at a Forward Operating Base in Kandahar. Jace got in the back of an SUV, treating the wounded.
They were halfway to the LZ before they saw two SUVs tailing them. They quickly conducted multiple evasive and counter-surveillance maneuvers; Jace radioed the helicopter, and they relayed that the enemy vehicles were still chasing them. They floored the accelerator after they took fire from the rear, and Jace fired back, trying to take out the drivers.
They reached the airfield, and the operators set up a perimeter to ambush the combatants. Once the hostiles were within their range of fire the teams fired at the vehicles. Jace and Rhodes threw out fragmentation grenades, destroying the vehicles.
The plane was five minutes out, the EODs worked to secure the devices and prepare them for transport.
. . .
Jace had finished reading his daughters a bedtime story, his favorite thing to do after returning from a deployment. He sat in his office, looking at the photos taken during his time in the Sword and Shield Task Force. One, in particular, caught his eye, a picture of him with Ziva. It was after a body-snatch operation, they had captured a cartel boss in El Salvador responsible for killing U.S. Marines. She and Jace had posed as clients looking to smuggle poppy seeds from Afghanistan into the country. The Platoon cut off the bodyguards from their boss, while he and Ziva dragged the cartel boss into their SUV and made their EXFIL.
After returning, he stopped by a bar near the Navy Yard to meet with his dad, Tony, Tim, and the NSA Liason, Ellie Bishop. It was evident that she was new to fieldwork, but he was sure his dad would show her the ropes. Jace looked at his friends and was immediately overcome with guilt, they had been dealing with Ziva's separation as well and he had left them hanging. After everything they went through together, after everything they did for him, they weren't just his father's teammates, they were Jace's family too. The team had a new face, and Julian looked forward to helping Bishop rise to the challenge.
We are the damn few.
Sometimes it felt like the people he cared about were worlds away, whether by tragedy or by the progression of time, but some things were for the long ride. It was going to be one hell of a ride, and Jace had two good teams in his corner. He looked forward not only to the adversity but to being there for those standing with him.
As Kathleen has said before, it took a good crew to withstand a storm.
Let the storm come, I'm ready and I will go forth. I will fight and I will persevere through blood and fire.
Not for myself, but for those who would do the same for me. I will not fail nor will I quit.
