United Under Fire

Semper Ferox

Jace and Zach were sparring while the brass duked it out with the DEA and CIA, Julian had him in a guillotine choke when Grey interrupted them. Command greenlit the operations but there was a catch.

Echo Team would be rolling out with the Afghan Army Special Forces and Sierra Team was going in with augmentation from Afghan ANCOP. This meant that the general was onto their suspicions of him.

The State Department insisted on joint operations with the locals to keep up the appearance that the U.S.'s efforts in Afghanistan were progressing.

Jace watched as Sierra Team departed with their Afghan counterparts, meanwhile, Echo Team was spinning up with theirs. When the Afghan Special Forces Team arrived the team commander told them that one of their team members was called away for a family emergency, and they had been given a replacement very quickly.

Jace didn't like this, the Afghan Team Commander, Major Lmar Gajani, said that they had never met him before. He had picked up on Jace's distrust, assuming that he suspected the new man or others were Taliban sleepers. He understood but was adamant on following through on the raid.

Echo Team and their local counterparts reached the LZ and made their way to the compound. They allowed the Afghan team to raid the quarters where Janan Kasana was sleeping while they secured the women's quarters. This was the most likely place where Megwhar was staying.

Jace had Reese stick with the Afghans while he and the others checked the women's quarters. They took out six guards along the way.

Echo Team used a halligan and sledgehammer to breach the door. They took out three guards and began their search for Megwhar.

Jace was running PID on a woman when Reese went on the comms.

"All Echo Stations, the FNG had been found dead, throat slit, over."

The new Afghan Operator wasn't the mole, any one of the other local soldiers could be in on it. Maybe even all of them if the new guy wasn't on the General's payroll.

A woman screamed in the corner of the room. Jace and the others found one of the Afghan Sergeants trying to choke Megwhar. Jace used his KABAR to stab his cervical spine, killing him almost instantly. Ward and Clarke secured Megwhar, hiding her amongst the other women when the Afghan soldiers came in. Gajanir stepped up, swearing in Pashtu.

"I knew this man for years," said the Major. "I knew his family! He murdered that other man in cold blood!"

"How do you want to play this? Your men, your call."

"Both died heroes," said Gajani. "Their families deserve the respect and reward."

The Afghans collected the soldiers' bodies and secured Kasana. Echo Team secured the women, and Ward and Jace never left Megwhar's side.

Back at the FOB, Grey and Rider interrogated her. She revealed that Zaryab Ghuman was working with the last GTNE cell as part of a deal that allowed Ghuman control of the opium trade in Afghanistan.

Kara called Jace, telling him that the DEA found that the General had been funneling black tar heroin from Afghanistan into Mexico.

"They're humiliated," said Kara. "They had Ghuman, Afghanistan's biggest heroin dealer, under their nose."

"The State Department is the one who should be embarrassed," said Jace. "DEA was protecting Lak and Kasana on their insistence and they've been shaking Ghuman's hands since he made office."

"DOJ isn't letting them forget it, they want Ghuman almost as badlyas us."

"Kara," Jace's voice softened. "When I get back I'd like to take some time off, just the two of us."

"I'd like that too."

Jace was called to a briefing and hung up.

Kara was at Jace's home, she had begun moving in the week before Jace deployed. She was making space in his bathroom when she found a velvet box in his toiletry bag. Her heart rate tripled as she examined it and finally opened it.

A wedding ring, the diamond rested on a platinum ring. The stone itself was a 3-carat diamond, clean cut. All high-end.

Kara guessed it must've cost roughly 10 grand.

She gingerly placed it back and stepped back as if she had uncovered an IED. Kara was excited, terrified, and over the moon.

Back in Afghanistan, the teams were waiting for JSOC and the CIA to greenlight the operation. Everyone was sleeping in their quarters when they were awoken by a call to the briefing room SCIF.

General Ghuman had been killed in a car bombing by the Taliban.

Echo and Sierra Team were spinning up to conduct follow-up raids to flush out the militants responsible. Their main HVT was Zarin Noorzai, the right-hand man to Pordal Mirza, the last leader of the Guild of the New Era. Their cell was all that was left of the terrorist group.

They finally had the intel they needed, Noorzai was staying in a motel preparing to leave for Pakistan. Sierra Team was going to flush Noorai out once the two undercover operators inside spotted him. Echo Team was going to conduct the takedown, but there was one catch, Noorzai always wore a suicide belt capable of taking out 5 city blocks.

The HVT was 6'6" and over 240 pounds. It would take two operators to restrain Noorzai's arms, a third to put him in a sleeper hold, and an EOD would handle the explosives on the belt.

Sierra Team's undercover gave the green light, and the rest of the CAG assault team breached.

Noorzai escaped through the back, and Jace, Reese, and Anderson chased him through the streets. Julian peeled off to cut ahead, he saw Noorzai trying to open a padlocked door.

Without a second thought, Jace tackled the HVT to the ground, pinning his arms down. But Noorzai's weight advantage through him off, but Jace kept his grip on the other man's wrists. Noorzai's left wrist came loose, and Julian punched him in the throat, distracting him long enough to regain control.

Finally, Jace, pushed Noorzai into the ground, using his right foot to pin the other man's left wrist down. Julian gripped his right hand with his own.

Reese and Anderson arrived in time, the former used the butt of his rifle to knock Noorzai out cold. Anderson got to work on the belt.

"Echo-One to TOC, Jackpot, HVT secured."