"You hid this. Why?"

General Shepherd kept his eyes averted as if he were afraid Price would reach through the screen and punch him in the jaw. "We all keep secrets, Captain."

"Why the hell wasn't I informed?"

"Consider yourself well-informed now, John."

The Captain's neck sparked with rage. This bastard dared to talk down to him and call him by his first name like they were colleagues? "Oh," he growled. "That's real fuckin' helpful, General. Thank you. But, you're a day late and a missile short. There's three of them, we only found two."

"Then point yourself in that direction and fix it."

The muscles in his jaw tightened. "And who fixes you, eh?"

Shepherd kept his head held high. "I don't need fixing, I'm a patriot protecting my country."

"You're just protecting your own ass."

"Captain- I do what needs to be done, and no one holds me down with a roll of red tape," the General growled back. "I know what's best for the cause."

Price chuckled, shaking his head as he paced in front of the monitor. "You've lost your mind, General."

"And you've forgotten what you're fighting for, John. To do good, you gotta do some bad; when we shit, we bury it, that's how it works."

"Yes, but we aren't supposed to bury each other, are we?"

"Son- you've gotta turn off that side of your head. Face down the real enemy."

"And you need to call off your Shadow."

Shepherd fell quiet, the hardness in the creasing of his aged face smoothing into confusion and surprise. "Graves..?" What about him?

"Yes, Graves. The real enemy, as you so put it."

The General chuckled, his voice lowering to a murmur. "He's a dog with a bone, and I highly recommend you don't try to take it."

Was he threatening them? Price was standing uneasily still as he stared down the screen. "... This is your last chance to change your mind."

"Or what?"

The Captain leaned in close to the screen and Shepherd leaned back into his chair. "Because when I'm done with him, I'm coming for you." A glimmer of fear brightened the whites of the General's eyes as Price closed the uplink and he sighed through his gritted teeth. Let the bastard stew.

"I must say, I'm a huge fan of your intimidation tactics."

He looked over his shoulder at the Sergeant leaning in the corner and his expression softened. "Lone... I didn't hear you come in. How are Los Vaqueros?"

She sauntered toward him with a nonchalant shrug. "I patched them up best I could. They won't bleed to death at least."

"How are our boys?"

"Well enough, but they've got a taste for blood; I don't think they'll be satisfied until a certain someone is dead."

John scoffed, stopping when they were standing a mere foot apart and squaring his shoulders to her. "Can't blame them. What Graves has done is personal. It can't be repaid in anything less than his blood."

"I prefer his head on a spike, personally, but no one asked my opinion."

He chuckled and inched closer, she, doing the same. "I like your opinions, but some other people might not."

"I shared some pretty strong opinions the other day with some people, I think it went well enough."

"Uh-huh," he mused. "I had to kill a dozen AQ fighters just to keep you and Kate from getting killed because of your 'strong opinions'. You and I have very differing opinions on 'well enough'."

Lone Wolf shrugged, averting her hazel eyes. "True, but it was worth every second of that night afterward..."

Their noses brushed and he froze, only his eyes moving to take in every detail of her face. Her scent was still fragrant under the tang of rubbing alcohol and sweat. She tilted her head slightly and her lips curved up in a devious smirk, and he found himself leaning in closer until his own lips hovered close enough to feel her soft breaths. "Jessica..."

"Yes, John..?"

"You can't remind me of that right before I'm about to rally men for a fight..."

She gave him a peck, smoothing both of her hands up his chest as his spine prickled with surprise. "Gives you something to look forward to..." His hands came around her waist and her eyes fluttered like the butterflies in her stomach. She teased the back of his calf with the toe of her boot and she pressed against him. "Unless..?"

Before his mouth closed in on hers, the hinges of the safe house front door creaked. Price stepped away from her and Lone Wolf turned away from the door smoothing a few stray hairs along her scalp.

Gaz stuck his head in, brows ceased. "Sir? What's the word?"

Price nodded firmly to him. "Get the others. It's time."

"Los Vaquieros! Listen up!" 

141 stood in silence as Los Vaqueros filed into the room, keeping their eyes on the bodacious presence that was Alejandro on the other end of the table at the centre of the room. Price met eyes with the Colonel and dipped his head, subtly but politely. "All right, here's what we're gonna do. We're getting your HQ back, we're going to get our prisoners, and we are killing Commander Graves."

"When?" asked Rudy, careful to guise his eagerness with a demure tone.

"Now. This is a fight against our own..."

"What used to be our own," added Lone Wolf quietly.

"So, we are not Task Force 141 and Los Vaquero anymore. We are one team." Ghost raised a sack up onto the table and turned it upside down to dump a pile of black balaclavas onto it as Price continued. "Ghost team."

Soap narrowed his eyes. "Jay-zuss, Ghost, are those all yours?" The Lieutenant shot him a look across the table and he sneered to himself. "Take that as a yes..."

Price set his hat on the table and met eyes with Ghost, nodding to him. With a deep breath, Ghost reached up to grab the back of his balaclava and pulled it forward, dropping it to the ground. He kept his heavy gaze on the Captain, knowing if he looked at Soap, the Sergeant might lose his mind. 

"Good to see you again, Simon." They exchanged a friendly nod, and Price looked down at the masks. "If you're in, grab a mask. If you're out, don't." Every man hurried forward to take a mask, and soon, all of them had covered their faces. Not a single man turned down the opportunity.

Simon looked at the mask in his hands heaving one more deep breath before sliding it over his head. As he looked at each face around the room, he couldn't help but grin seeing the same wrath and hunger in their eyes that had been in his the first time he wore the mask. 

And with it, they would devour Graves like a fire.