Author's Note: If you have any writing tips, please feel free to comment.

Again, I gratefully accept constructive criticism as a means to help me develop my skills as a writer.

--- --- --- --- ---

Chapter 24

The 141 and General Malloy started making their way to the building firing at the enemy along the way. There were explosions and trees falling down. It looked like the Ultranationalists were fighting hard and so were the Rangers and the Marines. The drug cartel was surrounded by dense, sclerophyllous woodland and the favelas were a few kilometers away meaning that there would not be a danger of civilians getting in the middle of the firefight.

"Foxtrot One, this is Overlord. Be advised, it appears that the section of the building found North-West of your position is surrounded by quite an amount of hostiles. I presume that there is where the POWs are being held."

"Copy that Overlord; will check it out," said General Malloy. "This feels strange replying back to base."

"It's been too long since you've been outside Chuck," joked Price. "I suggest we go through that building. We will reach our objective much quicker than going around it."

"You're right. Let's move."

They ran near the building and stopped abruptly as the plastic blinds which were swaying with the gentle breeze, were pushed aside and a man aiming an RPG aimed at them got out. The man dropped down instantly with a bullet in his head.

"Boom! Headshot!" said Archer in their earpiece. "That's 20 points for me mate."

"Yeah, I'll buy you a cookie when we get back," said Toad.

"Roger that."

"Let's proceed," said General Malloy exhaling.

They have entered into a large room with a high ceiling and rows of tables full of plastic bags and what is presumed to be cocaine in them. There were people sitting down hugging each other, frightened to death and crying. They were startled when they saw the soldiers pointing their weapons at them and hurriedly put their hands up.

"Please don't shoot!" a man implored. "We are forced to work here. Don't kill us!"

"We won't hurt you don't worry," said the General. "Don't move. Soldiers will escort you back to safety. Until then, stay here, understood?"

Everyone nodded and kept clutching each other, praying that they get out of there alive. The General motioned the team to move up and got out of the large room where they saw their objective in front of them.

"That must be the building," said MacTavish.

"There's Hunter 2-1," said Price.

"Foxtrot, we got your back. Continue to your objective. We'll cover you," said Sergeant Foley.

"Hunter, send us Dunn," said General Malloy, "we're going to need a medic with us."

"Roger. I'm sending Private Ramirez along to assist him."

"Copy that. Let's move."

They stood beside a metal door to breach. MacTavish, Ghost, and Ramirez stood on the right side of the door and Roach and the others stood on the other side.

"Standby," said MacTavish. "Go for it, Roach."

Roach stuck a breaching frame on the door and everyone waited for it to blast away the door. A large explosion sounded and MacTavish threw a flashbang inside.

"Flashbang out!"

"Breaching!" shouted Roach and they got in the room as they were trained.

The enemies were blinded with the large bang and flash in their eyes. The squad eliminated the hostiles in the room with ease.

"Status?"

"Clear!"

"Sir! There are stairs over here," said MacTavish.

"Ok gentlemen, night vision on," said the General.

They went down the stairs quietly and encountered two guards. They neutralized the hostiles and continued along the corridor. General Malloy observed that the stone was the same as shown in the video, wet with humidity and dark-colored.

"Let's clear each cell."

The first two were empty and they stood beside the third metal door to breach. Like the first two cells, this one was unlocked and they positioned themselves the same as before. Roach clutched at his USP.45 tightly in his right hand as he slowly opened the door. He entered the room fast and heard an ear piercing scream and someone lunge at him and hit him on his head. He was wearing a helmet so the hit did not affect him. He then gasped as he realized that the one attacking him was Collins. She was punching, kicking and screaming at the same time.

"Lainey! It's me, Gary!" yelled Roach frantically as he held her by the arms but she did not appear to have heard him.

MacTavish and Ghost grabbed her by the legs to immobilize her but it was all for nothing.

"Dunn! Do you have a sedative?" yelled Price.

Corporal Dunn entered the cell holding a syringe.

"Hold her still!" he informed them and stuck the syringe in her neck. Collins stopped kicking; her eyes rolled up and collapsed with Roach catching her just in time. After all that panic, they only just realized that there was someone else lying down in the corner.

"Mackenzie!" shouted Ramirez and rushed to her side.

"She lost a lot of blood," said General Malloy pointing out at her hand and wounds.

Allen was lying there out cold with her hand covered in blood where her finger was cut off. Dunn started treating the wounds and heavily bandaged her hand.

"Roach and Ramirez, evacuate Collins and Allen. The others stay with me," ordered the General.

"Shit, man," said Worm shaking his head.

"Ozone, take point and scout ahead," said Price.

Ozone walked slowly forward clutching his ACR and turned right. There was another flight of stairs. Out of nowhere more hostiles started shooting from downstairs.

"Contact!" he yelled and shot them.

However, he did not anticipate the flashbang which exploded near him, blinding him completely. He fell back disorientated and felt someone pulling him from his vest. When his vision readjusted he looked to his side and saw MacTavish and Ghost holding their weapons pointing at the stairwell.

"You're ok Ozone. Get up, come on," said MacTavish.

"Thanks, mates."

"On me," said the General and went down the stairs.

"Contact!" shouted Price.

There were more soldiers waiting for them downstairs but Price and General Malloy eliminated them with ease.

"Just like old times eh buddy?" chuckled General Malloy.

"You know it mate."

"Same procedure, gentlemen. Let's clear the rooms."

They breached into the first room and it was empty except for some objects which shocked them.

"Bloody hell..." said Ghost as he observed the battery used for shocking. He would know that it's his preferred method for interrogating terrorists.

"Water, towels... waterboarding," said General Malloy.

"There are also knives here, all covered in blood," continued MacTavish.

"Knuckledusters... this looks like these dungeons were used often," said Ozone.

"Looks like it," agreed Worm.

"We better proceed," said Price.

They moved on two the second room with Dunn gulping uncomfortably at what he just saw. They breached the second room and were blinded by a strong light. The General ordered to remove the night vision goggles as the room was well lit. Inside there were two soldiers strapped in chairs, blindfolded. One could not mistake the red flaming hair on the one person who was on the right side and the dark-skinned one on the left. They moved forward and removed the blindfold. Williams was unconscious and Red opened her eyes slightly.

"Positive ID on Red and Fox," said MacTavish.

Dunn rushed forward and started observing William's stab wound in her leg and started bandaging it. Price grabbed his knife and cut their arms free. As they were about to help Red up, she stopped them immediately.

"No! Don't touch me!" she said.

"What is it?"

She slowly opened her jacket and they gasped shockingly. A bomb was strapped on her abdomen and a timer showed that two minutes were left until detonation.

"Ok Soap, you're up," said Price.

"Price, I'm a demolitions expert, not bomb disposal!"

"I know that you can do it, soldier," reassured him the General. "In the meantime, Ghost and Worm take care of the Lieutenant. Ghost, inform the Colonel about her sister. Comms are not working well down here."

"Roger that sir," said Ghost carrying Williams in his arms.

"Go and save yourselves," said Red.

"No man gets left behind, comrade," said General Malloy.

"I have seen this type of bomb in Bellanger's and Marcoux's file. It's one of their bombs," said MacTavish wiping away the sweat trickling down his face. "What are you feeling Red?"

"Cold metal against the abdomen, I think," she said.

"Yeah, it is built to explode inwards and if we try to remove it, we might detonate it," he said. He inhaled and exhaled slowly and got out a small pair of scissors while he fiddled through the different colored wires. "I have to cut the Earth. Well, here goes nothing."

He grabbed the green wire and cut it and the timer stopped.

"I knew you could do it Soap," cheered Price.

Soap exhaled and wiped away the sweat again.

"Ozone, transport Red to safety," ordered the General. "We've got one last soldier to save."

They moved to the last room and breached it. In the middle of the room was someone strapped to the chair with a black cover covering the face. They removed the cover slowly fearing they might find another surprise but what they found was Malloy.

"It's her!" said Price.

"Lisa! Can you hear me?" asked her father slightly shaking her.

Dunn checked her pulse.

"She's alive... barely. She lost a lot of blood. A bullet wound in her shoulder sir," he said.

Malloy opened her eyes slowly.

"Wa...ter," she mumbled.

General Malloy grabbed his canteen and helped his daughter drink.

"Slowly, don't take big gulps."

"Let's get her out of here," said MacTavish and grabbed the barely conscious Captain in his arms. "We're Oscar Mike."

"Let's go."

They went out of the dungeons and into the sunlight. The firefight was still going on; enemy reinforcements were still coming but the Marines and the Rangers were managing to hold them off.

"Foxtrot One, this is Bravo Six, waiting for you to extract," said Colonel Williams.

"Bravo Six we're on our way with the last Angel," informed them the General.

"All callsigns, this is Overlord. Be advised; the place will be leveled down to the ground in three minutes. I suggest you get the hell out of there."

"No need to tell us twice Overlord," said General Malloy.

--- --- --- --- ---

St. Peter's Military Hospital was situated a few kilometers away from Fort West in New York. The soldiers were being taken care of and examined as the 141, Colonel Williams and General Malloy were sitting in the waiting room waiting for news. Captain Malloy and Lieutenant Williams were in surgery; the former had the bullet lodged into the shoulder and had to be removed and the latter because of the stab wound.

After what seemed forever, the doctor came into the room holding a clipboard. He had a head full of white hair and a naturally cheery face.

"General?" he asked.

"Yes?" he replied while everybody stood up.

"Both the Captain and the Lieutenant are out of surgery. The operations were both a success. However," the doctor said grimacing, "they both lost a lot of blood which resulted in them falling into a coma. Therefore, they are not out of the danger yet."

"What will happen then?" asked the Colonel.

"Only time will tell."

"Very well," said General Malloy. "What about the other soldiers?"

"Well, Sergeant Allen lost a lot of blood and is in a coma as well but she is in a stable condition; First Sergeant Petrov seems the most stable psychologically. Her wounds are treatable so there's nothing to worry about. Corporal Collins is the one who's worrying me. She's under sedatives right now and has been moved to the Psychological ward to be examined. I'll tell you more tomorrow."

"General," said a nurse who just entered the room, "we contacted the next of kin of the patients. However, we could not find one for Sergeant First Class Petrov."

"You won't be finding any," he said. "I'll take care of it. Thank you, Lieutenant, for what you have done."

"It's my job, sir," said the doctor. "I'll inform you if there are any other developments."

The doctor went out of the room leaving the soldiers a bit relieved.

"Did you inform Margaret?" asked Price.

"I had to," said the General. "She's going to kill me."

"Speak of the devil," whispered Price.

In the doorway stood a middle-aged woman, her hair dyed dark brown, slightly curly. Her small brown eyes were scanning the room and settled on her husband, General Malloy.

"Charles! Where is she?"

"She's being settled in honey."

"Don't 'honey' me!" she said angrily. "I was in the middle of operation at the hospital on the other side of town when I was called out to be informed about my daughter! Tamara, is everything ok darling?"

"I'm fine, don't worry."

"Hi Margaret," said Price.

"John you're both gonna get it," she said fuming.

Price was confused so she added, "I told you to convince her to get out of the military but no! You had to encourage her!"

"Margaret I knew that I was fighting a lost battle so instead I trained her to make her stronger!"

"And look where we're standing now!"

Price stood silent; he did not know how to reply. Margaret rushed out of the room to search for her daughter and found her in the same ward with the other injured soldiers. Her eyes fell on Red's puffy and bruised face, Allen's missing finger, Williams' unconscious body and finally her daughter. They all had pipes attached to them, heart monitors beeping away, countless drips. The first thing Dr. Malloy did, was to check out all of their boards to see their situation.

"Honey, what are you doing?" asked General Malloy who entered the ward after her.

"I'm analyzing their charts," she replied. "You know, their medical history, the meds they're on etc. So I can understand more what the hell happened to them."

"There's no need-"

"Yes, there is! Now please leave me alone with Lisa."

--- --- --- --- ---

The bar in town was buzzing with people socializing with each other drinking cocktails or beers. Some of them were amongst their friends catching up or on a date with their loved one. Then you find those who are there to drink because they just broke up with their girlfriend, lost someone close to them and are drinking to their memory or simply needed a pick-me-up after an exhaustive day at work. The three men sitting in the corner were part of the last group.

"Bloody hell what a day," said Ghost taking a sip from his beer.

"At least we found them," said MacTavish making the whiskey roll around in the glass.

"They wanted us to find them," said Roach clutching the beer in his hands. "What was the point in capturing them in the first place if they had no intention of killing them?"

"We knew why, Roach," said Ghost, "to torture them for intel."

"Nah mate it doesn't make sense. We're talking about Makarov here; he would have killed them instantly."

"Seems that Espinosa had plans of her own," said MacTavish.

"The way she screamed Captain," said Roach dreadfully, talking about Collins.

"Roach, stay frosty," said Ghost. "Don't let it get to your head. They'll be fine."

"No, you don't understand! I kissed her before we went on the mission and she reacted... well... in a not-so-good manner."

"I'm sure it's because she was a bit taken aback because it was a bit sudden lad," said the Captain. "Talk to her when she recovers."

"If she recovers," said the Lieutenant.

"You realize that none of them are eligible to go back to the military right? With their wounds and state of mind and what-not," said Roach.

"Aye," replied MacTavish sighing. "The only one who seems to qualify is Red and she's Russian. The first thing the Yanks will do is ship her arse back to the Motherland."

Ghost looked at his Captain as though he remembered something important and then looked back at Roach.

"Soap just answered your previous question mate. That was Espinosa's plan all along; to ruin them."

"And if she would just have killed them, well, where is the fun in that, right?" said Roach drinking the remaining of his beer.

"Lisa did say that she was a sadistic motherfucker," said MacTavish. "Plus! In this way, the Elite Task Force would have to be built from scratch. Therefore, a lot of time is needed to search for new recruits etcetera, leaving both Espinosa and Makarov time to carry out their plans."

"Let's just hope that they wake up and recover," said Ghost. "In the meantime, we'll continue looking for them. After this stunt, I'm suspecting that Espinosa is going to let her guard down."

"Too right mate," said MacTavish.

--- --- --- --- ---

A week later, good news started coming in. Allen woke up from the coma and Sergeant Foley along with Private Ramirez went to visit her and reported back to their friends.

"Ok everyone," started Foley, "just came back from the hospital. Sergeant Allen looks fine and she says she feels good."

"She also added that she's waiting for the presents," laughed Ramirez uncomfortably.

"That's Mac for ya," said a Ranger cheering.

"Feels good? After losing a finger and nearly dying?" asked Ghost under his breath.

"Cheer up mate," whispered MacTavish.

"You don't believe this load of bollocks, right?"

"No, I don't and I think judging by Ramirez's face, he felt it too."

"Have you seen Roach?" asked Ghost taking out a cigarette.

"He went to visit Collins at the hospital."

"I'm guessing he's feeling guilty after what he did."

"I did not expect him to just kiss her like that like a bloody teenager," said MacTavish.

"Yeah well, you know that he's a bit reckless sometimes."

--- --- --- --- ---

At the hospital, Roach walked through the Psychological wing searching for Lieutenant Walker the doctor taking care of the ETF so that he could ask about Collins. He was carrying a bouquet of flowers so that maybe he could cheer her up. As he was walking, he saw the doctor at the far end of the corridor.

"Lieutenant!" called Roach.

"Ah, Sergeant Sanderson," he said as Roach jogged towards him. "Coming to see how Corporal Collins is I presume."

"Any news?"

"Well, the bad news is she is suffering from severe Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder and her father came to visit last week. We did not give him permission to visit as we already knew about his bad temper and his relationship with the patient. Instead, he decided to start shouting in the corridor how his daughter was a useless soldier and how she should have joined the Navy just like him. The Corporal went berserk and started banging on her door trying to get to him."

"Wait," interrupted Roach confused, "her father is a sailor?!"

"Did not expect that right?" said the doctor shaking his head. "Chief Petty Officer Gordon Collins turned to the bottle after he retired. We keep a good eye on every detail about our patients."

"There is good news right?"

"Yes. Her mum stepped in and managed to soothe her. Therefore, in these past days, Corporal Collins kept calm and there was no need to use that many sedatives. Here we are."

Roach peeped into the glass window on the door and saw Collins sitting on the floor hugging her knees and her head buried in her chest. The room was quite pleasant and sunshine rays were flowing in from the window. There were other flowers on her bed stand and girly statues presuming that they were put by her mother.

"I have to warn you Sergeant; she may not recognize you due to the shock. I suggest you do not touch her since she was... well... raped," said the doctor gravely and Roach looked shocked. "If there is an emergency, push the button above the bed and we will come rushing to your help."

Roach nodded and Lieutenant Walker knocked on the door and walked in with the nervous Sergeant after him.

"Good morning Lainey. How are you feeling today?" asked the Lieutenant cheerfully.

Collins looked up looking miserable but her expression changed as she saw Roach near the doctor. She seemed happy and scared at the same time. Her hair was in a messy bun with strands of hair falling in front of her face. She did not talk; she just stared at him deep into his eyes making Roach uncomfortable.

"You have a visitor; you remember Sergeant Sanderson right?"

Collins hid behind her knees so that her eyes were only visible and nodded slightly.

"I'll come visit you later Lainey," said Lieutenant Walker and walked out of the room shutting the door behind him.

The room stood in an awkward silence with Collins looking at him.

"I heard you were opening a flower shop. Thought I'd umm... chip in," he said shaking the bouquet.

He grabbed a vase and filled it with water where he put the flowers in. He then walked near her.

"May I?" he asked motioning the floor.

He waited for a reply but Collins just stared at him so he decided to sit on the floor near her and smiled.

"It's a beautiful day, the sun is shining and there are birds chirping away. I love birds! Do you love birds?" he asked beaming.

She nodded in reply and her expression changed to confusion probably trying to understand the conversation.

"You probably think that I'm a moron," said Roach scratching his head, "and I won't blame you. But it's a thing for the English to talk about the weather you know? We can't help it."

Collins giggled.

"You're funny."

Roach's mouth stood slightly open.

'She effin talked!' he thought cheering in his head.

"Thank you," he laughed. "You like sweets, don't you?"

"Yes," she murmured.

Roach reached into his pocket and her eyes got bigger and she started sliding away, panicking.

"I'm not going to hurt you, Lainey! I have some sweets. Do you want one?" he asked extending his hand holding sweets of different colored wrappers.

She stood there staring suspiciously at the sweets.

"The yellow ones are toffee. I know how much you like them," he said smiling.

She grinned and took the sweet with the yellow wrapper. She took off the wrapper and popped it into her mouth. She started laughing and cheering and looked at Roach with a radiant smile on her face.

"I love toffees. Thank you, Roach."

"No problem Lainey," he cheered.

"Toffee gets stuck in my teeth but it's so worth it!"

Collins got closer to him and rested her head on his shoulder. Roach stood still not knowing what to do. Lieutenant Walker had warned him not to do anything rash so not to scare her but she put him in an awkward position.

"You're very comfortable Roach," said Collins.

"Umm... thanks? I guess?"

She wrapped her arm around him and hugged him. He did the same and squeezed her.

"I'll always be by your side, Lainey," he said stroking her head.

"I know," she replied. "After all, you like me, don't you?"

"You... remember?"

"Something like that stays imprinted in your mind whatever happens. You were in my mind during ... all that," she said and started crying.

Roach held her tight as Collins cried and shook in his hands and promised himself that he will work extra hard for her. He will do anything to protect her.

--- --- --- --- ---

Quick Author's Note: I hope you enjoyed it, comrades :) 

Did you love that chapter!? I hope you did! Show your support for the author by simply clicking the little VOTE button to the bottom left or top right of your screen! Have a wonderful day!

Votes and Comments/Feedback most enthusiastically welcome!