The Storm

Chapter Thirty

The Rescue

" W e made it to the clearing where Gunny and the chopper were waitin' for us. We hadn't been followed, because, apparently, there was no one left to follow us. Gunny was the first one to greet us, and as we rolled the wounded onboard, I yelled out to them, “'GOOD SHOOT IN' GUYS! THANKS FOR SAVIN' OUR BACON!' Everyone was too busy gettin' out of there to respond, and I didn’t care. I wanted out of there myself. I slapped my team on their backs and they just nodded back from exhaustion and stress. I felt safe as we lifted off of the jungle clearin' and into the night sky and out of there." "The jungle area was ablaze with fire, and black smoke was billowin' up from the kill zone. It looked like the area of a whole city block was on fire. Better them than us, I thought, and then we attended to our wounded with leg and shoulder injuries. None were life threatenin', as we had stopped the bleedin' with trauma packs in the jungle. Gunny came on the com headset, got my attention, and explained the situation." “Okay, here’s th e deal, Captain. Listen and listen well. You're dead. Your whole team is dead. We just killed you. Let me explain. The suits didn’t want you back, so don’t play hero and try to say that you are alive or communicate with anyone, or you and your team will disappear for real when we land. You could have died on the jungle floor back where you were, or you will die in prison at Leavenworth, Kansas, or some CIA

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