United Under Fire

For God, Country, and Team

Jace had been called to Dam Neck for a briefing, three UAVs had crashed in Iraq, they were one-of-kind prototypes being field-tested. It contained GPS and remote technology that allowed it to sync with fighter jets to coordinate airstrikes. The drones had been shot down near Mosul, captured by insurgents, stored in a stronghold, and at the center of a major conflict between ISIS and Iraqi Forces. In twenty-two hours the Iraqi Army would siege the fortress and completely lay waste to the town.

Echo Team had been tasked with retrieving the drones' operating system, however, due to the classification of the technology they were being accompanied by three STRAPs, the DIA engineers, and technicians involved with the creation of the drone. However, it was the third STRAP that caught Jace's attention, the programmer who designed the software and the drone's ability to avoid detection.

Timothy McGee.

He had been loaned to the DIA for the project and was now on his way to the airfield.

It wasn't the first overseas deployment Jace and Tim had been on together but this was different from their Task Force days. They were going into a hot zone during an active firefight between two forces to retrieve high-value technology covertly. This particular stronghold was known to be the hideout of, Yardan Awad, an ISIS bomb maker and engineer known for developing complex traps responsible for killing Iraqi, British, and American service members. He was labeled as the 'Jigsaw of Iraq'.

Jace was glad to work with Tim, but he would've rather been dragged to one of the latter's LARPing games than to drag him into one of the worst combat zones in the Middle East. He didn't doubt that McGee could hold his own, but the NCIS Agent was in the middle of getting accustomed to his new long-distance relationship with Delilah Fielding, who was now in Dubai on assignment.

But his personal feeling wasn't the priority, they needed McGee to recover the drone. If ISIS got ahold of the drone, the entire Pentagon fleet of predators and UAVs was at risk, and even worse the technology from the downed drone could be used against American troops.

The plane ride was a long one, Jace had taken the liberty of setting up a hammock and McGee was on the phone with Delilah. He figured that JSOC hadn't considered Tim's connections. This reminded him of the early times of his relationship with Kathleen, it was fortunate that her job was so time-consuming and detail-oriented, it emphasized the joy of the time they did spend together. However, given Delilah's access to sensitive DOD information Julian imagined that she wasn't going to have the same luck keeping her mind off of their mission.

"Relax, Tim, As long as we stay in the timeframe we'll be home before the weekend."

"Right, I ─ I'm more concerned about the drones, Intel said that militants had captured them, but nothing about their condition," said McGee. "It could stall retrieval."

"By how much?"

"Possibly fifteen, twenty minutes."

"We're HALOing in, we'll have roughly seven hours to get it done and get out."

"Parachuting did that once with Delilah, We were strapped together and I spent the drop screaming."

"Relax, the chute will deploy automatically." chuckled Jace. "You still getting used to being in a different timezone than Delilah?"

"Yeah, the bright side of going to Iraq, is we'll only be one hour behind Dubai time," joked Tim.

"Just do the job and we'll get home."

Tim relaxed in his seat and Jace tried to take a nap. Once they were less than two hours out they got ready for the jump.

Tim was in the same stack as Jace, once on the ground they'd ruck into the AO; each team had an EOD attached to them, Jace would lead a team escorting the technician to one drone, Reese would lead another escorting the engineer to the second, Hall was leading the third with McGee in tow. Their main concern was their lack of cover by UAV, due to the Iraqi's plan of shelling via aerial strikes the stronghold for the next hour JSOC couldn't send any drones into the area. Locals promised to steer clear of their operation, but that instilled very little confidence.

Jace checked McGee's chute before the jump, which went smoothly, and they managed to get to the stronghold in a little over an hour.

The drones were divided into three places, a garage located in the southeast, another in the northwest, and the third at the central compound. The third was the most dangerous, it was the hideout of Awad and his workplace.

As much as Jace would have preferred to be the one looking out for Tim, the latter was in good hands.

Once they were on target the teams divided up accordingly and made their way to the drones. Jace led his team to the southeast, bounding their way through the terrain, using M18s to conceal their movements. Once they reached their objective Jace set up overwatch in an adjacent building. He watched as the others breached the building, taking note of the surroundings. For the mission, Jace had brought an HK416D145RS with the standard setup, and a Vortex Razor HD Gen II-E Riflescope. Julian radioed the other teams about their status, the others were also on schedule. Afterward, he saw that the Iraqis had started their aerial assault on the neighboring city, an ISIS-controlled area harboring their most prominent training camp.

At the central compound, Hall led his team to the northern corner of the building, where the drone was being held. The EOD had to defuse some traps during the entry, but it was an otherwise clean entry. He readied his MP7A1 and signaled the breacher to come up. They entered engaging three combatants and two others working on the drone. The Hall and two others engaged the gunmen, the EOD struggled to detain one of the workers, and the second one tried to pull a CZ 75 only to be gunned down by McGee. Everyone cleared their spaces, and McGee checked his kill, securing the weapon.

"First time the new guy kills a high-value target," chuckled one of the SEALs.

Tim checked the face and saw that it was none other than Yardan Awad. He paid no heed to this and immediately got to work on the drone. The operators secured the garage as Tim pried the hatch open, The predator was most damaged on the opposite side and the ISIS mechanics hadn't taken anything. He paused briefly when the compound shook, the Iraqis had started bombing the town across from them.

All the more reason to work faster.