United Under Fire

Falling or Charging into the Fire

Jace had everyone setting up ambushes at every possible entrance. The QRF wasn't going to arrive for another half hour, by then the Sicarios would have already begun seizing the church.

Cortés watched as Ward and Clarke took the priest back into the basement. The cartel soldier wheezed with every breath. Jace looked to Torres, he saw this too.

"You of all people are afraid of dying with your sins?" the undercover specialist laughed. "With all the blood on your hands, I guess you never thought about reaping what you had sown."

"I want Last Rites—"

"You're a terrorist by our definition!" said Torres. "You don't even have the right to a phone call, much less Last Rites!"

"You've killed countless men, women, and children," said Jace. "Infinite more have died on your orders."

Julian circled the dying Sicario, finally looking him dead in the eye.

"You made your bed, it's time to sleep in it. Keep in mind that confessions go a long way."

The building shook as the firefight closed in on them.

"Clock is running out, wanna bet on whether or not Vargas sent a priest or a doctor to save you?" Torres asked rhetorically.

"He has a manor house in the Baja countryside," said Cortés, desperately. Handing Torres a notebook. "And a hotel through a shell corporation, the latter is on the other side of town."

Torres nodded, helping Trevors carry him to the basement.

Jace took a position behind the altar.

Jace wasn't the most devout Catholic, but it pained him to have to take a stand in God's house.

The doors flew open, the hinges breaking off the frame, Jace took out the point-man and his shadow. The shock troops kept marching in, clacking off as many shots as they could. Jace felt the rounds fly past him, he ducked to reposition and returned fire.

"I'm Winchester!" Reese shouted as he transitioned to his secondary.

Jace threw a smoke grenade to conceal Miller's movement to his side.

"QRF's fifteen minutes out!" shouted the younger SEAL.

The windows were blasted out with an RPG; Jace checked ISR. They had no clear way out.

Ward called through on the comms.

"Echo Six to all stations, the priest says there's a tunnel that leads into the sewers."

Jace considered this, if it was a trap then they'd be fish in a barrel. On the other hand, staying meant being sitting ducks.

"All stations, fall back into the tunnels."

Jace covered Reese and Miller as they made their way into the basement. He made his exit, carrying the Colonel's body over his shoulder, and shut the door, barricading it with a sofa.

They piled through a vent, which was large enough for them to crawl through.

"Where's Cortés?" asked Jace.

"Dead," answered Torres. "Died before we could get him to the Padre."

Once everyone else was inside, Jace entered, sealing the hatch.

They kept going forward until they reached a sewage tunnel, Julian peered through a storm drain. The streets looked clear.

They opened a utility hole, Reese went first. Jace followed and the others waited for their signal.