CHAPTER FIVE

 

 

“Prep for dust-off!” says Stephan into his headset.

 

He’s sitting next to a console of monitors that show bodycam footage of each Alpha Team member.

 

There are other readouts for medical information, and communication signals and other nonsense.

 

Men and their damn toys!

 

The other team members are geared up, and waiting for the back ramp of the cargo plane to open, so they can run out and get Om and Moms.

 

There are two Humvees in the plane, both with a huge machine gun on top, with this armored turret.

 

Oscar and Mike are behind each respective gun and Team Alpha is in the front Humvee, Team Charlie in the second.

 

There are four quad runners, each carrying one man.

 

That’s Travis, Karl, Al, and Walt.

 

William and Richard are almost invisible beneath their camouflaged suits.

 

They stand next to each vehicle, ready to run out and get into shooting position.

 

Each one carries a huge rifle, its ugly barrel barely protruding from beneath the camo.

 

The other men hunker inside the Humvees, waiting for action.

 

—————

 

I can feel the plane descending, we are getting close to the release point.

 

My heart is pounding.

 

Derek walks up to me, and takes me aside, or as much aside as one can get when surrounded by SEALs.“Rachel,” he says, trying to keep his voice low.

 

“Yes?” I ask.

 

I am looking into his wide eyes, which are gorgeous.

 

Derek is one hell of a looker.

 

Muscular and tall, and strong.

 

His short-cropped hair and stubble stir things in me.

 

His even, white teeth smile at me through those kissable lips.

 

“Megan is ok with what happened, just to let you in on a secret,” he says.

 

I feel myself blushing, and mortified.

 

Derek glances around and then steals a kiss.

 

He’s not very discreet about it, either.

 

“Oh, Derek, do I get a kiss for luck, too?” I hear Walt say, laughing.

 

All the other men chuckle and smirk.

 

Derek ignores them.

 

I like him a lot more.

 

I feel less embarrassed about the kiss.

 

So, I kiss him back.

 

This takes a bit longer than I anticipated and leaves me breathless.

 

“More. After the mission. I promise,” he says to me, and, with a wink, he steps away.

 

“Yoohoo! Derek! My turn, please!” I hear a male voice trying to sound like a girl as he walks to the back of the plane.

 

“You want a kiss? Kiss my asshole!” shouts Derek.

 

“Faces ON!” he shouts to his men.

 

“HOO-AH!” they all shout back in unison.

 

The Humvee doors open and close, as the plane drops into final approach.

 

I can hear the guns being readied, and then the plane tilts to the left, then the right.

 

I feel the wheels hit the ground, and within seconds, the door begins to lower.

 

The plane slows, and suddenly there are the pings and sounds of bullets hitting it!

 

“Three-two-one! Drop!” I hear Stephan in my headset.

 

The door is open and the two Humvees shoot through the opening, Oscar and Mike firing the big .50 caliber machine guns as they race out into the compound.

 

William and Richard exit, and just disappear, like magic.

 

The men on the quads shoot out the door, jumping past the startled guards.

 

“Rachel, get back here!” I hear Bone shouting.

 

I move back toward him, and there is a clanging on the bulkhead next to us.

 

Bullets ping off the outside and three come into the cargo bay and bounce off a fire extinguisher.

 

There is a lot of gunfire and screams.

 

Shouting and the squeal of tires, screeching and a smashing sound as one of the Humvees crashes through a chain-link fence.

 

I hear Stephan on the headset and the others.

 

I pray for all of them and most especially for Moms, and Om.

 

————

 

 

Travis and Walt ride their quads to the front of the building where the informant has indicated Om and his wife are being held.

 

The two Humvees careen around a corner of the building, one of them smashing into it and knocking loose a heavy steel door.

 

The men leap out and immediately come under fire from a tower.

 

A loud shot can be heard, and the tower explodes, the gunmen being blown out from the force of the blast onto the ground below.

 

“Nice shooting, Rich!” says a voice.

 

“That was Will,” comes the reply.

 

“Radio discipline, gents,” says Travis.

 

More gunfire and the men defending the compound are running around, trying to get to the plane.

 

“Not today, gents!” comes over the radio.

 

A door on the side of the plane opens and Rachel hears an enormous buzzing sound as the Gatling cannon opens fire on the enemies.

 

“Man, that’s so Ah-nold!” comes another voice over the headset.

 

“Primary targets found, and acquired, enemy has been neutralized, returning to Base, okay guys, head back!” says Stephan.

 

“Prime One and Two are going to need some medical,” says Derek.

 

Rachel’s heart drops as she hears him.

 

That’s her parents he’s talking about!

 

—————

 

“Vas ist dis?” said Om’s tormenter.

 

Om heard a plane on descent, barely, through the walls of his prison cell.

 

It got louder, then there were the loud and unmistakable sounds of a Ma Deuce fifty caliber opening up.

 

Om, using superhuman will and strength, stood up, and swung his chair around with all his might.

 

The three men surrounding him went down like duckpins, their legs or arms broken.

 

Om swung the chair again, and this time it shattered the hand of the man who had threatened his beloved wife.

 

The man howled in pain as Om jammed the legs of the chair into the face of the men on the ground, struggling to get up.

 

On the last thrust, the bindings holding him loosened, and he ripped free.

 

Bellowing like an enraged bull, he shouted.

 

“BARBARAAA! I AM FREE! I AM COMING FOR YOU, MY LOVE!”

 

Then, he sat down hard on the chair, forcing the leg into the brain of the last of the three men who had been next to him.

 

The man’s skull cracked from the force of the blow.

 

He stood up, pins and needles pricking his legs and feet and arms as the circulation returned to them.

 

Gunfire sounded all around him as he walked to the man who cowered in the corner of the cell.

 

There was a loud crash, followed by the heavy sound of a steel door smashing to the ground.

 

Men running, shots being fired.

 

Om ignored it all, his focus and intent on one man, the man who harmed him and threatened his wife.

 

“Nein! Nein! I shall kill you yet, swine!” the man shouted as Om approached him.

 

The man pulled a pistol from beneath his tunic, and Om felt a painless tug at one shoulder, then another in his side.

 

By then, he’d gotten hold of the man’s arm, forcing him to drop the weapon.

 

He barely heard the shouts of the Alpha Team’s men as they entered his cell.

 

Holding the bastard who had tormented his wife by the throat, he slowly increased his grip.

 

“Ach! Nein! Not this way! No!” the man got out as Om strangled him with one hand.

 

Om held him above his head, the Alpha Team members astonished at the sight.

 

“Die you fucker!” said Om.

 

He squeezed hard one last time, the man’s eyeballs bulging and his tongue sticking out as the life left his putrid body.

 

Om threw the man onto the floor, took a long step back, and then stomped directly onto the side of his foe’s head with such force that the man’s eyeballs popped out across the room, and his brains gushed from his ears.

 

The Alpha Team men, hardened and battle-proven to a man, grimaced and flinched as they heard the man’s skull crack and shatter on the stone floor.

 

Om, not even seeing them, stormed out of the room.

 

“Barbara!” he bellowed.

 

Blood flowed from his gunshot wounds, his face looked as though Mike Tyson had used it as a punching bag, and yet he staggered out of the cell, trying to get to Barbara’s room.

 

“Holy fuck, man!” said Mike 2 as he surveyed the remnants of the wrath of Om.

 

—————

 

Om walked to Barbara’s room.

 

He grabbed the locked door, and, using all his strength, ripped it from its hinges.

 

He threw it behind him, not caring who it hit.

 

Derek and Travis, both seasoned Alpha Team SEALs, ducked and looked at each other and Om.

 

“Holy shit, mon!” said Travis, with feeling.

 

The door was reinforced steel, and probably weighed close to five hundred pounds.

 

—————

 

Om looked into the room, searching for and finding his love.

 

She was seated on her chair, in the center of the room.

 

Two men were pointing guns at her head, one of them actually shoving the barrel of his pistol into her mouth as Om entered.

 

“Come no closer, mein Herr, or you will be killing her!” said the man with the pistol.

 

Barbara’s eyes were tearing, her anger visible and the cords in her neck sticking out as she gagged on the barrel.

 

She tried to kick and claw, but the restraints held tight, her naked breasts heaving from the exertion.

 

“Sir! Back off!” came a voice from behind him.

 

“Om! I’ve got a clear shot if you move, mon!” he heard a voice.

 

It sounded like maybe Travis.

 

Why would Travis be here?

 

He took a look at his wife and smiled.

 

“I love you more than life itself, my dearest Barbara!” he said, approaching her.

 

He could see her smile as she tried not to gag, her eyes looking at him with all the love in her heart.

 

She swung her head around and butted the man with the gun in her mouth.

 

A shot rang out, and the man jerked.

 

His pistol discharged, the bullet creasing her right breast as it hammered the floor.

 

Om, enraged, leaped at the man, his rifle barrel swinging away from Barbara’s head and discharging into the other man’s chest.

 

Om slammed him with a mighty fist, knocking him clear of Barbara, as her chair tipped and she fell onto the floor.

 

Travis, Walt, Derek and Karl opened up on the two men.

 

When they had finished, what was left looked like hamburger.

 

“Let’s get the hell out of here!” said Derek.

 

“Dad! Mom! Let’s go!” yelled Karl.

 

Om looked at Karl.

 

“Son, what the hell are you doing here?” he asked.

 

Then, he fell to his knees.

 

“Om! Cut me loose! Cut me the fuck loose! OM!” shouted Barbara.

 

“Karl, cut me loose! Hurry! Om!” she cried

 

“Karl, get your father! Travis, Walt, on me!” said Derek, as he sprinted to Barbara’s side.

 

“Om! Om! My love!” she wailed.

 

“It’s going to be okay, Mom! Dad, stay with me, dude!” Karl said as he lifted Om onto his shoulders in a fireman’s carry.

 

Derek and Travis cut Barbara free.

 

Ignoring her nakedness, she ran to Karl, her hands cupping Om’s bloodied face as Karl went down the hallway.

 

His head lolled on his neck, his eyes closed.

 

She heard him whisper her name, as she clutched at him, grazing his hair, as Karl ran to the plane.

 

She followed, watching Karl recede into the distance, numbly wrapping herself in a poncho that Walt offered her.

 

As Karl ran to the plane, she stopped.

 

She saw Derek and Travis approaching, and grabbed at them.

 

“We’ve got to go back,” she said, struggling to talk through her fear.

 

“What? Why?” said Derek.

 

“What for, Barbara?” said Travis.

 

“Come on, follow me!” she shouted, running deep into the prison.

 

The poncho fell away from her as she ran, and the SEALs could only marvel at what a woman she was.

 

—————

 

“Control, this is Derek, we have Primary One and Two, heading back now,” says Derek.

 

“All teams return to Base,” says Stephan.

 

“Dust-off in four minutes!” he tells the pilots.

 

The Gatling rings out again as another squad of men runs at the plane.

 

In the next moment, one of the Humvees and a quad come rolling up the ramp into the plane.

 

The fighters exit, taking up positions to defend the plane, firing at the Mandarin henchmen.

 

William and Richard take turns blowing out the lights, generators, vehicles and other materiel in the compound with the big fifty caliber Barretts.

 

Moving like ghosts, every time one of the Mandarin forces thought they have them in their sights, one of the SEALs gets them first, ending the threat.

 

“What do you mean we can’t leave, yet?” Stephan shouts into the microphones.

 

I can see all of the Alpha Team tapping on their headsets and earpieces.

 

“Sorry! What is sitrep?” he says.

 

“Are you fucking kidding me?” Stephan shouts.

 

He tears off the headset.

 

“Bone! Let’s go! Rachel, stay here and see to Dad!” he says as they run out of the plane.

 

“Bone! Stephan! No, wait!” I yell after them.

 

Three Alpha Team SEALs try to stop me, but I plow right through them.

 

 

—————

 

“It’s in here!” shouts Barbara.

 

“We’ve got to get it! Please!” she yells at Travis and Derek.

 

She runs to a desk and starts rifling through the drawers.

 

“Goddammit! Where did those fuckers put it?” she screams.

 

“What are we looking for?” asks Walt.

 

“My wedding ring!” she yells at him, tossing yet another drawer onto the floor.

 

“We’ve got to find it!” she tells the SEALs.

 

“Beggin’ your pardon, ma’am, but now is not the time for sentiment!” says Derek.

 

Barbara stands and becomes aware that she is totally naked in front of the SEAL team.

 

Walt reluctantly hands her the poncho, which she briskly wraps around her like a sarong.

 

Brushing her hair with a grimy hand, she continues to search the desk.

 

Regaining control of herself, she feels under the desktop, looking for a release or button.

 

“I know that, young man! It’s really a quantum storage device! It contains petabytes of data on the Mandarin Connection! It’s why Om and I are here!” she tells them, calmly.

 

“Shit! There’s got to be a release unless that fuckhole took it!” she says with a grimace of disgust.

 

“Back to the other cell!” she tells the men as she runs out the open door.

 

Travis, Walt and Derek stare at the broken hinges of the doorway as they follow her.

 

“Holy shit, dude! That’s fucking impossible!” says Walt.

 

 

—————

 

The dead torturer was on the ground in their former cell.

 

Barbara spits on him, on the remains of his head.

 

Then, she stands there, looking around the room, and then back at the corpse.

 

She notices something.

 

Barbara bends down.

 

“You nasty, sick son of a bitch!” she spits at the corpse.

 

She undoes his pants, just as the Alpha Team enters the room.

 

Travis is ready to say something, but Derek motions him to remain quiet with a finger to his lips.

 

“You sick fuck!” shouts Barbara.

 

“Derek, your knife, please!” she orders.

 

“Yes, ma’am!” he says, as he lightly tosses his Gerber to her.

 

She deftly catches it, and not even stopping, severs the penis from the corpse.

 

“Fucking stinking son of a whore! You freak! You god damned son of a bitch!” she yells at him.

 

Barbara kicks the corpse in the groin, causing a whoosh of fetid air to expel from his lungs and anus.

 

“Death is too good for you, you motherfucking piece of shit!” she yells, screaming and kicking it.

 

Finally, exhausted, she steps away.

 

She walks over to a sink and washes the ring in soapy, hot water for several minutes.

 

“Um, ma’am, I think we should go,” says Derek.

 

“What’s the hurry now, guys?” she shrugs, not looking up.

 

They look at each other and notice the silence.

 

“Control, sitrep?” says Derek into his headset.

 

“Control?” he says.

 

There is only more silence.

 

Barbara is finally satisfied that she has cleaned the ring thoroughly.

 

She slips it onto her ring finger.

 

“Going to need to take a long bath, probably in vinegar,” she mutters to herself.

 

“Ok, gentleman, now we may leave!” she says.

 

She walks out, into the chaos.

 

 

—————

 

Karl runs with Om, entering the plane.

 

“Rachel, Dad really needs some medical help, get Al, Walt and whomever else, pronto!” says Karl.

 

Without missing a beat, he turns and meets Stephan and Bone as they exit the plane.

 

The Gatling buzzes again.

 

It’s sheer pandemonium.

 

“Guys! Wait for me!” Rachel says.

 

 

—————

 

I run after my stepbrothers, afraid for a reason I can’t know.

 

As I catch up to them, I see them doffing their clothes.

 

This is insane!

 

Why are they getting naked in the middle of a firefight?|

 

Then, I realize my tattoo is glowing.

 

 

—————

 

“Karl, Bone…let’s do this!” says Stephan.

 

Hugging the other men, they then stand side by side.

 

Their tattoos are glowing.

 

—————

 

“Stephan! Bone! Karl! Wait for me!” I shout.

 

I strip off my battle gear, the weapons falling behind me as I run to them.

 

—————

 

“Stephan! Wait for me!” I yell.

 

“Rachel! No! This is too dangerous for you!” Bone sees me and shouts to me.

 

“Rachel, go back!” says Karl.

 

“Rachel. Are you sure?” says Stephan.

 

The other two look at him, then me, then each other, and finally to Stephan.

 

They both nod.

 

“Come on, Baby Doll!” they all say in unison.

 

I go to them.

—————