United Under Fire

Long Live the Brotherhood

The trip to Paraguay was quiet, everyone felt like they were being watched. The SEALs were each equipped with seven 40-round magazines each, The Triple Frontier was the mother of all hot zones. On top of the guerillas and cartels, Hezbollah often took refuge here, benefitting from the drug trade and arms smuggling.

Bishop and Quinn were stateside, the former and Reeves returned to the Navy Yard a week before. Both were confined to desk duty with limited exceptions.

Jace carried his typical HK416D14.5RS with a Leupold scope and off-set red dot sight. The agents were carrying their standard sidearms, initially hoping for discretion but given the excessive guerilla presence in the area, Echo Team's presence was deemed necessary. Their QRF was an Army Special Forces ODA and a combined force of Navy SWCCs and Riverines would serve to secure their secondary extract.

Torres led everyone to a church where they found PO1 Dean hiding. The UA sailor revealed that he and his teammate went to Paraguay to save the son of the local man who saved his team the last time they were there.

After Jace wrapped the amputation site of Dean's arm, he tried to give him an injection of antibiotics and morphine. Dean resisted, wanting to participate in the rescue, but Reese and Trevors held him down until the drugs kicked in.

"You seriously don't have any objections to this guy being placed under arrest?" asked Torres

"He and his teammate came here against orders, making him UA, smuggled weapons and ammo across borders," said Jace. "As much as I sympathize for him I believe that he needs to be held accountable for his actions."

"Kids are about to be brainwashed and abused, that's gotta count for something."

"If he wanted to be Rambo, then he should've gone to a costume party," continued Jace. "His recklessness got his friend killed and now we're here cleaning up after him."

"He just wanted to help—"

"Bend the rules don't break them," replied Jace. "He broke them, and now it's up to the Navy to decide what to do with him."

"Jace—"

"He left his wife for this! He lied to her for years to cover his ass! His job wasn't just to save lives, it was to go home to the people who loved him!"

Torres finally saw what was bothering Julian, Matthew Dean put his need for adrenaline rushes and his ego above his wife. Julian lost his wife to terrorism and Dean might have tanked his marriage over his selfish reasons.

They approached the compound where the kids were being held, Jace, Torres, and Reese went for the kids while Tim and Gibbs placed the explosives under the enemy vehicles; the others provided overwatch. They got the kids out but the next crew of guards arrived early. The team made their way to the primary LZ, the Seahawk landed but it started taking rounds from the guerillas.

Torres and McGee got the boy into the helo but McGee took off to help Gibbs provide cover. Jace ordered everyone to the secondary extract as the Seahawk took off. The SWCC boats and Riverines provided cover while they loaded in, however, Gibbs and Tim were overwhelmed by enemy gunfire and separated from the others.

Jace leaped out of the boat despite the others' protests and made his way to his father and McGee, trying to get them to the boats only to be pinned down by gunfire. The boats were forced out by heavy machine gun fire and RPGs. Jace saw Reese and the others being restrained by the boat crew to keep them aboard.

"I'm sorry Julian," said Gibbs.

"Never say 'sorry'," responded Jace, he knew that his father would've done the same for him.

The three tried to flee to a turning point in the river to catch up to the SWCCs and Riverines. Unfortunately, they were cut off by an RPG, and Jace was sent flying back into the river. When he resurfaced he saw his father and McGee being loaded into a truck. He could only watch as they drove off, he checked his weapon. He had half left in the magazine and was down to three more for his primary. His pistol was untouched and fully loaded with three spare magazines. He tried his comms but they weren't working, and his radio was heavily damaged.

Jace followed the tracks to a dock house from there, he saw them load Tim and his dad into a riverboat. There were over thirty armed fighting-age males on the dock, even more on the boat. Jace saw a RHIB being loaded into the water, the men left it to retrieve more boxes.

Jace made his way to the RHIB and set off before the guerillas noticed. Thankfully his NODs were intact and undamaged by the water. He followed the boat but was forced to back away when they turned on the floodlights. He set up by the shore, the crew from the dock must've radioed the ship. He maintained his distance until the boat stopped in the middle of the river. He checked the crate the guerillas left on the RHIB, a brick of cocaine, a Bushmaster AR-15, ammunition, and a stack of unmarked bills.

He loaded his magazines and made his way to the boat.

Jace climbed up the aft ladder of the vessel, his rifle slung across his back. He boarded the ship, scanning the deck with his pistol before transitioning to his primary. He glanced at an old directory on the wall, the main storage room was on the lower stern of the ship. His best guess was that his father and Tim would be held there.

Arrived in time to see Tim and his dad being loaded into the room. He eliminated the second guard before taking out the one handling his father and Tim. He was about to use his pistol to shoot the chains but was knocked down by the stock of an AK from behind. The last thing he saw when the room went dark was his father and Tim fighting to break free.

Jace thought about his team, his kids, and the women he loved throughout his life.

One more day, I just want one more day.