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_Black Op_
The lightning cracked all around illuminating the two Humvees parked on the dark deserted road 100 yards from the Greek- Yugoslav border.
"Looks like were going to get wet sir," the driver in the first vehicle said. She was staring up at the star less sky.
"Yeah, perfect night." The passenger replied. He glanced over at the driver wondering how long she had been a Special Operations COMmand operative. She had to be one of the first. Pressure from women's groups and the changing times had forced the government to allow women into all combat arms' branches of the military.
They were known to their immediate superiors as numbers only. His was 6, hers was up in the 20's. Their real identities were buried deep at the pentagon in Washington DC. For this trip he was Captain Blake, she Lieutenant Vansen.
"Five minutes," Blake said, looking at his watch, 05:25 hours. It would be dawn soon. "Tell the others." he ordered.
Vansen exited immediately, and walked toward the second vehicle. Inside, were two more Special Operatives. He did not know their numbers, but had worked with them before. It was highly unusual for these many of them to be together, it was probably because the situation across the border was deteriorating rapidly. It was the same old story, America would support one side, Russia the other, 'Unofficially' of course.
"Three more minutes" thought Blake, "Transfer the weapons and equipment and were out of here."
He was reaching for a cigarette when Vansen returned.
"There ready."
"OK" he replied, putting the cigarette back. He pulled back the slide on his Beretta 93R machine pistol, loading a round.
"Stay sharp." She nodded once, doing the same with her Glock 19. "If we don't get any orders to the contrary, we'll be home free." Only Headquarters could break radio silence and change their orders now.
"There coming." Vansen said quietly.
She had donned night vision goggles and was scanning the ridge above them for the last few minutes. The lightning had increased to the point that it was overloading the accumulators. Vansen ripped them off.
"Too bright." she said. The lightning was ruining their natural night vision.
"I see them." Blake replied, peering through a pair of steiner binoculars. The lightning was so bright Blake could see the whole hillside. He was sure the figures on the hill could see them too.
"What the" Blake started to say, the uniforms were all wrong, "There Russians!" he growled.
"Battalion strength at least." Added Vansen. Blake dropped the binocs.
"Get us out of here now!" he ordered. He swung out of the doorway.
"WE ARE LEAVING!" he yelled back at the other Humvee.
As the General Motors diesel roared to life, he could hear the unmistakable sounds of AK47's. Vansen had the vehicle in drive and mashed the accelerator down hard. The Humvee's tires were spinning, trying to get the overloaded vehicle moving. The Russians were getting the range now.
"Captain." Vansen yelled, pointing. He looked out the Humvee's windshield to see the lightning striking the road in front of them.
"What should I do sir" she yelled. Bullets were striking their vehicle now, and he saw the tell tail smoke trails of RPG's.
"Don't stop, steer around it." he yelled. They both braced themselves as they drew nearer to the curtain of lightning. "Some choice." Thought Blake. "Get shot or electrocuted."
They were doing 50 mph when the Humvee hit the wall of light. It was blinding, he could smell the ozone.
"Hold on." he yelled. He was tingling all over, he couldn't talk or move. As Blake blacked out he had the sensation of falling.
2
_ Questions_
Blake opened his eyes. He was staring up at the brightening sky. "Dawn." he thought, looking at his watch. It had stopped at 05:31:32. He realized he was hanging out of the Humvee that was leaning precariously to the right. He extracted his 6'4" frame from the vehicle and stood up, his gray eyes immediately scanning the hillside, "It should be swarming with Russians." he thought. He looked over at the driver's seat. Vansen was gone.
"Lieutenant." he called out, "Where are you?" Silence.
He walked around to the other side of the nearly overturned truck searching. There she was, sitting against a tree, holding her head. She had been thrown clear.
"Are you all right Lieutenant?" he asked. She looked up at him,
"I think so sir."
"Let me have a look at you." They were both lucky, just scrapes and bruises.
"What happened?" she asked.
"Well, he replied beside losing the other Humvee and the Russians, I have no idea."
"How long was I out." she asked looking up at the brightening sky.
"A few minutes."
She removed the cover from her watch and was staring at it with a frown.
"Sir, she began, My watch must have got damaged, it stopped."
"So did mine."
Blake was scanning the ridge and listening for any signs of the Russians or the other two agents. He turned back to the Humvee. It was wedged between two trees, almost lying on its right side. Except for the left front tire being flat, there was no serious damage.
"The others, were behind us right?" he asked turning toward Vansen.
She shook her head, "I'm not sure." she answered looking around.
"OK, lets do a sweep, you go left 180 degrees." he ordered. She nodded once. He would go right.
"Where the hell is the road." he asked himself.
Their sweeps had turned up nothing. "We must be on our side of the border." he thought. There were no signs of the Russians anywhere. They had completely retreated. Looking at Vansen he said,
"Break radio silence, call it in." She nodded and pulled the radio out from behind driver seat. "Let headquarters figure it out." he said to himself. They both saw the hole left by an AK round at the same time. If it hadn't been for the radio, Vansen would be dead or seriously wounded.
"OK." he said looking at her, "We walk out."
"We need supplies for two days." he said walking to the back of the light truck and pulling back the first tarp. "Get up there and see what we have." he ordered.
She rummaged around for a minute.
"Grenades, LAW tubes, MRE's" she started calling back.
"What's that over there." He pointed with his left hand.
Vansen uncovered a long wooden crate and opened it, and handed Blake a rifle.
"Colt M4A3 assault rifles, with 3 shot burst, the latest and greatest from Hartford, Ct." he said matter of factly. It had also been fitted with a Rangefinding telescopic sight.
"I'm all set." Blake looked up she was holding a Heckler and Koch MP5A3 9MM submachinegun.
"We'll need MRE's (Meals Ready to Eat), med kits, and full web gear." he said. She found the needed equipment quickly and piled it up Humvee's tailgate. The last thing she pulled out was a large olive drab aluminum case. "
"Sir." she asked "Do you have the key to this case?" Blake studied the case for a moment, "Where have I seen this before." he asked himself.
"No, break the lock." he answered. She did so and lifted the lid. I was all coming back to him, A Heckler and Koch PSG1 308 sniper rifle lay nestled in special padding. Blake lifted it out carefully, opened the caps on the Henstoldt 6X42 battery powered scope, took a peek. A tree 200 yards away appeared to be just in front of him.
"Ever shoot one of these?" he asked, looking up at her.
"No." She shook her head, "It looks brand new."
"We won't be needing it, we'll leave it." he said regretfully.
They donned their equipment quickly. Blake pulled out 3 tubes of face paint and threw them over to Vansen. She raised her eyebrows questioningly.
"Standard Operating Procedure." he said. "No contact with the locals, we have to find a police station or other government facility and make contact with the base. "They can get a UH60 Blackhawk up here in about 20 minutes."
"Do you need gloves?"
"Yes." she replied, as she started to apply the face paint. They checked each other over. The last thing Blake did was activate the locator beacon and arm the self destruct mechanism on the Humvee. If the Russians did come back, they would get a deadly surprise.
"You take the point" Blake ordered, "We go east." She turned and started walking down in the direction he indicated. He followed about 15 yards behind. This had been the first time he had the opportunity to study the young woman. They had just met 30 minutes before the ill fated OP. She was close to 6', short dark hair, dark eyes, "pretty girl" he thought but, "she doesn't belong here." She was in superb physical condition and at the very least his equal in training but, definitely not in experience. He would have to help her over the rough spots.
3
_Contact_
They had been walking through the semi tropical bush for about 10 minutes, seeing and hearing nothing. Blake had checked his compass that was still working several times. He was sure they were heading in the right direction. They were long past the point were the road should have been. Up ahead Vansen had stopped. Holding the MP5 in her left hand, she was signaling with the other. Something was up ahead. He moved up quickly. She had found a road. Checking in both directions, they stepped out cautiously. The road was little more than two narrow tracks through the grass.
"Its been traveled recently." she said.
"Yes." he agreed, "More so in that direction." Pointing to the right.
"That's south, the direction we want to go in right?" she asked.
"Affirmative Lieutenant." She started off again, he followed at patrol distance. "We should hit a village pretty soon now." he thought to himself.
Blake heard it coming up behind him. He stopped and listened. "Sounds like a musical instrument." he decided and it was getting closer. He got Vansen's attention with a low whistle. She stopped and looked in his direction. He dove into the underbrush. She did the same. He could hear it clearer now. A figure came into view. It was a young girl. She was playing some kind of flute. He froze as she passed by him. She looked mid twenties, blonde, blue or green eyes, he wasn't sure. She was about 15 feet from where he lay, when she stopped suddenly, looking down at the ground in front of her. She put the flute away. Bending over she picked something up and was turning it over in her right hand. She let the staff she had been holding in her left fall to the ground. Holding the object up to the early morning light with both hands, Blake could see it now.
"Dam." he cursed silently, recognizing his zippo lighter. It had fallen out of his shirt pocket when he had dove for cover. The girl was staring at the Special Forces insignia.
"De Oppresso Liber." she said slowly. After a minute or two, she put the lighter in a bag she had slung over her shoulder, picked up her staff and started walking toward Vansen's position. He realized he had been holding his breath and let it out slowly. "Be cool Vansen." he said to himself. The girl had stopped again. This time she was moving her head slowly back and forth as if listening. A few minutes went by and she was moving again disappearing around a bend in the road.
"What the hell was that she picked up?" Vansen asked walking toward him. He had the map out and was unfolding it.
"I couldn't see." he lied. Bringing personal items on a mission was strictly forbidden.
"Let's take a break." he said changing the subject, "I want to take some compass readings."
4
_ Bad Decisions _
"I can't believe this." Vansen thought to herself, "My first mission, a simple delivery, and it's all screwed up."
"Sir?" she asked.
Blake looked up at her.
"What is it Lieutenant?"
"How did the Russians find out about the mission?"
"The usual way I suppose." he said looking back at the map.
"Oh sure." she thought, "Don't tell the broad, why should she know."
Blake's stone face expression betrayed nothing, but she knew he was less than pleased to be teamed up with her. It was nothing new. Vansen had heard the snickers and remarks back at the base, things like, "She'll probably shoot herself in the foot or faint the first time she sees a snake." She had bit her tongue. It had taken her too long to get to this point. She had been one the first women to become a Navy SEAL. They had never really accepted her though. She was always on standby. They never sent her on a real mission. She had never been invited to any of the local SEAL hangouts. No, she stayed in her room and studied or worked out in the gym. It was a lonely existence. When the chance came to join Special Operations, she jumped at it. Her commander signed the transfer papers without a word. He was glad to get rid of her. Now it looked like Blake was going to give her the same treatment. He was probably Special Forces, "Just another men's club." She thought to herself.
"Maybe I can help, I DO know how to read a map." She offered.
"Help yourself" he replied throwing her the map, "Explain to me why we haven't run into one thing on it! There should be road signs, telephone poles and this road is paved, according to that map. It doesn't make sense."
Vansen studied the map for a few minutes.
"We should have reached this little town 'Idomeni' 20 minutes ago, it's right on the border."
"No shit." he replied.
"We must have traveled further than you thought, were too far east."
"Maybe we should have asked the girl, she probably lives around here." Vansen said, still looking at the map.
"The girl?" he asked sarcastically lighting a cigarette, "She looked like a runaway to me, did you see the way she was dressed?"
"Well, then what are we going to do?" she asked, "Go back or forward?"
Blake thought a moment. "We go forward. This road should take us to 'Fanos'. I don't feel like humping cross country to route E75."
A little while later they were preparing to move out when Blake looking back the way they had come saw a figure run across the road about 50 yards away. As he walked by Vansen to take his turn on point he whispered, "Somebody's ghosting us."
5
_Rescue Mission_
"Who could be tracking us?" she asked herself while moving the MP5's selector from safe to 3 shot burst. "Can't be the Russians, they would have tried to capture us ." she thought.
They hadn't walked long, when Blake froze and then went prone. He motioned for Vansen to move up. When she had joined him, they silently low crawled through the underbrush along the side of the road.
Vansen heard the voices and spotted the wagon at the same time. It was sitting in the middle of the road. Using her binocs Vansen could see four men standing on the left side. Blake confirmed this by pointing in their direction and holding up four fingers.
"Move a little closer." Blake whispered.
Vansen nodded her head and they both got to within 30 yards of the group. They were both glassing the scene when Blake said,
"That looks like the girl that passed us."
"Sir, is she tied to the wheel?" Vansen asked.
They got there answer a few seconds later when one of the men backhanded the blonde, sending a stream of blood flying from her mouth. He then picked up some kind of whip, turned around, and ripped the girls top off.
"What the hell ..." Vansen swore and started to get up.
Blake grabbed her by her collar and pulled her back down.
"Where do you think you're going Lieutenant?"
Vansen turned her head toward him, Blake could see the anger in her eyes,
"To hell with S.O.P., I'm not going to lay her and watch that bastard whip her." she said through clenched teeth.
"Neither am I, we are going to do this together." Blake shot back.
"Listen to me, we are going to come up on the right side of the wagon, you go around the front at the same time I go around the back."
"You let me do the talking, and if any of them makes a move, you just disarm them, understand Lieutenant?"
Vansen nodded once. They moved around to the other side of the wagon. While they were taking off their web gear, Blake could see the girl, she was hanging by her wrists against the large wooden wheel. When Vansen was ready he nodded to her. They came around both ends of wagon at the same time.
The one with the whip had been joined by another man who was leering at the half naked girl. Two more of their buddies were standing about 10 yards back. All four froze at Blake and Vansen's appearance. Blake leaned against the wagon, pointing to the one who had hit the girl.
"Good news" he said "You guys have just won the 'Scumbag of the Year Award." The two in front exchanged glances, the two in the rear started backing slowly away.
"This is none of business stranger." said scumbag #1, looking Blake up and down.
"Well, I'm making it my business." Blake shot back angrily.
The man looked over at Vansen and then back at Blake.
"Talmadeus isn't going to like this." He said.
"Screw Talmadeus. Now why don't you and the rest of the Storm Troopers take a walk." Blake said menacingly.
Blake knew instantly they weren't going for it. The one closest to him pulled a knife from his belt and lunged at him. Blake easily side stepped to his right and grabbed the man's wrist with both hands. He twisted hard, forcing the man to drop the knife and breaking the wrist in the process. The man was screaming and cradling his limp hand as Blake double fisted him hard under the chin. He went down, out cold.
Blake looked over at Vansen just in time to see her knock her man to the ground and jump on top of him. She had her M9 Buck fighting knife out and raised it above her head. The slimeball's eyes were fixed on the Bucks wicked saw tooth blade.
"Lieutenant." Blake growled. The knife came down and for a moment Blake thought she might kill the man, instead she plunged it into the ground along the left side of his face. Releasing the blade, Vansen grabbed the man by his collar and hit him once, knocking him out.
Blake walked over, bent down and felt the man's neck for a pulse. He looked up at Vansen, she was breathing heavy, staring at the man.
"Do you have a hearing problem Lieutenant?" I said "Disarm" not "Dis-figure." Blake said, examining the man's bleeding cheek.
Vansen had regained her composure, recovered her knife and sheathed it. Looking at him she replied, "It was an accident."
"It better have been." Blake said in a hard voice.
She didn't reply.
Blake turned, there was no sign of the two. He then knelt down next to the girl.
"Well, she's unconscious, go get the med kits." he said looking over at Vansen.
When she returned, Blake had cut her bonds and was fumbling with the girl's green top, trying to cover her nakedness. She knelt down next to him and pushed his hands away.
"Sir, let me do it."
"Fine" he said opening a med kit.
"They did a number on her." The girls right eye was almost swollen shut, and her mouth was a bloody mess among other things.
"You start fixing her up, I'm going to hide the two sleeping beauties." He returned quickly.
"Let's get her off the road, we are too exposed here." Blake said looking around, "The other two might be bring back help."
Vansen picked up the girl and followed Blake to a clearing he had spotted about a 100 yards in. He had tried to carry the girl himself but, she had insisted. He carried their gear and weapons along with the girl's bag he had spotted under the wagon.
They quickly treated the girls wounds the best they could.
"Do you have any more gauze?" Vansen asked Blake.
"No, that's it, I've got a extra shirt, here, cut it up." And threw it at her.
When she had finished, she sat next to the girl and cooled her brow with a damp cloth.
"What could she have done to deserve this kind of abuse?" she said. There was anger in her voice.
"You better get used to this and worse Lieutenant." Blake replied."These kind of thing happens everyday out here. Your not back in the states. Where women have rights."In a lot of the Asian and third world countries women are 2d class citizens.Don't you remember what happened in the Gulf? The Arabs complained because our female soldiers were walking around without veils."
"And another thing." Blake said in a hard voice. "You took what happened back there personal, the mission comes first, nothing else matters, you forgot that. We've got two missing agents and possibly a battalion of Russians running around out there looking for us. We don't have time for this."
Taking out her map Blake said, "I want you to reconnoiter Fanos, it should be just down the road." Keep your head down and no contact, understand? I'll meet you back at the wagon in 30 minutes. I know it's going to be hard without a watch, just take you're best guess."
Vansen nodded, taking the map and putting it in her back pack.
"No more screw ups Lieutenant, I'll baby sit blondie here." Blake said pointing to the girl, "And keep an eye out for our tail."
When Vansen had started back to wagon, Blake checked the girl and then sat down against a tree.
"She's not going to make it." He thought, watching her go. "Too high strung, too sensitive."
Blake pulled out a cigarette and suddenly remembered his lighter was in the girl's bag. Grabbing it and reaching inside, his fingers closed on something. Holding it up he saw it was several sheets of thick paper rolled up and tied with a string. Carefully he untied and spread them out.
"Looks like it was written with a paint brush." he said to himself.
Lighting a cigarette, he began to read.
A few minutes later he tossed the sheets on the ground, reached inside the bag and brought out the next roll.
The girl had a hell of an imagination, giants, amazons, warlords, and some psychopath, named Callisto. The last sheet seemed more 'personal'. The girl was trying to express her feelings about somebody. The same name appeared several times on the sheet.
"Zeena, no, that's not right." he thought.
"Xena" that's it, "Xena, Warrior Princess."
"What kind of drugs is she on?" he wondered, glancing over at her.
He put the sheets with the others, got up and walked over to the girl. He rolled his sleeves up, "Getting hot." He said to himself.
Blake started to check the girl's dressings. "A little makeup and a hair do, she wouldn't look half bad. A little too hippie though." Blake thought to himself.
The girl was waking up, he could see her eyes trying to focus. She was staring at his right forearm.
"I just want to check the dressings, don't be nervous, I'm not going to hurt you."
He was picking up the bottom of her top to check one particularly nasty wound when he heard a cold voice from behind him say "Get away from her right now!"
Blake stood up and turned around quickly.
6
_ Complications_
Vansen had found where Blake had tied the two slimeballs, about 100 yards off the road. They were still out cold. She checked their bonds and returned to the road and started walking toward Fanos.
Blake's words were still ringing in her ears. He was right of course, she had taken it personally. When she had come around the front of the wagon and saw the girl's wounds, she had lost it. The cut on the cheek was done on purpose but, she would never tell Blake that. He went by the book, and would look for any excuse to get rid of her.
"I've got to stay cool." She thought to herself.
Fifteen minutes later Vansen was lying in tall grass at the edge of a clearing glassing the Town.
"This can't be it" she thought, "It's just a bunch of wooden huts."
She pulled out the map and checked Blake's compass readings, they were right on. Picking up the binocs again she started scanning left to right. There appeared to be some kind of public building near the center. People were coming and going every few minutes. Vansen could see a large tripod set up in the center that had people around it holding buckets. "A well?" she asked herself. She continued to scan and use the Steiner's range finding mode to plot the town. Vansen thought she had seen one of the two men that had run away back at the wagon but, the distance was too great, she couldn't be sure.
Five minutes later she was heading back to meet Blake. She like Blake kept looking at her watch, forgetting they were inoperative. Suddenly Vansen saw a bush on the right 10 yards away shake violently and heard someone sneeze. She brought the MP5 up automatically.
"Show yourself." She ordered. When there was no response, Vansen approached the bush cautiously. Using the MP5's barrel, she carefully moved a branch aside revealing a figure. Vansen realized it was a young girl. She was sitting with her knees up under her chin. Upon seeing Vansen she put both hands on her head and started to cry softly. Vansen quickly slung her weapon behind her back and went around to the other side of the bush to get a better look. The girl had light hair and brown eyes and couldn't have been a day over 16.
"Hey, hey, it's OK, I'm sorry I frightened you." The girl flinched when Vansen touched her shoulder but, didn't pull away.
"What's your name? Where did you come from?" Vansen askd. The girl looked up at Vansen, fear showing in her face. Vansen smiled, "It's OK I'm not going to hurt you. Are you lost?" The girl shook her head slowly. "Well, I'm Vansen nice to meet you." She said smiling again and holding out her hand.
"My name is Kalja, I used to live in Korona."
"How did you get here Kalja?"
"I escaped with the others, this morning."
"What others?" Vansen asked.
"There were 12 of us, being taken to auction, and then the blonde girl came along and cut the horses free and told us we could all go and I ran but I have no place to go and...."
"Whoa, hold it a minute." Vansen stopped her. "You were being held captive, by who?"
"By the slavers, Talmadeus's men." She answered.
Vansen was confused at first but, in the next few minutes she got the whole story. Kayla and 11 other girls were being transported to Athens where they were to be sold at an auction. Vansen shook her head and wondered what had caused the girl to concoct such an incredible story. She wanted to question the girl further but, she had to meet Blake.
"Kalja, you better come with me." Vansen said, grabbing the girl's hand and pulling her up. "We have to hurry."
The girl fell into step along side Vansen. Soon the wagon was in sight. Vansen froze. She could see white smoke rising above the treetops where Blake and the injured girl were.
"Kalja, you wait here." Vansen ordered as she started to run.
7
_ The Woman in Black_
Blake was face to face with a tall stunning woman, dressed in black. That's all he saw before she head butted him, sending him into a tree. He quickly recovered, springing to his feet. The woman had positioned herself between him and the girl.
"What did you do to my friend?" She asked angrily, slowly drawing a sword from behind her back.
"I can explain, this isn't what it looks like." Blake replied.
"Yes, it doesn't look like you beat her and now your not rifling through her things." She said as she started twirling the sword slowly.
"I hope I don't have to shoot this bitch." Blake said to himself eyeing the sword. The look on her face left no doubt in his mind as to what she wanted to do with that 3 foot museum piece. He started to reach for his Beretta. Suddenly he got an idea and reached for a smoke grenade he had been saving to signal a rescue chopper. He held it up in front of him. She froze and eyed him warily.
"I don't have time for this honey." He said as he pulled the pin. Blake started to move to the left. The woman countered raising her sword. Then he changed direction quickly to the right, getting a clear shot. He threw the grenade quickly seeing it land 3 feet from the girl who was trying to sit up.
"Xena? Whats happening?"
The woman looked at him, at the girl and back at him just as the grenade started hissing white smoke.
"Gabrelle" she cried and rushed over to her. She first tried to move the girl but, the smoke was filling the little clearing fast. The last thing Blake saw as he turned to leave, was the women holding the girl in her arms and looking at him with hate filled eyes.
"Better luck next time baby." He yelled back over his shoulder.
He quickly gathered his equipment, sure that the woman wouldn't follow him. She was the girls friend. "They are never going to believe this back at the base." He thought and started back toward the wagon. He saw Vansen running toward him.
8
_Confusion_
"Where is the helicopter." She asked.
"There is none."
"You popped white smoke, that's the clear LZ (Landing Zone) signal." Vansen said looking around.
"Where's the girl?"
"With a friend. Let move."
"You left her behind!" Vansen said angrily.
"I told you, she's with a friend, now move out, double time, Lieutenant!"
They had gotten about 60 yards down the road, when suddenly a figure came out of the bushes at Blake. He brought M4 up instinctively and aimed.
"NO!" Vansen screamed, deflecting the M4's barrel just as Blake pulled the trigger. The three rounds kicking the dirt up in front of them. Blake stared at girl, who had fallen to the ground in fear.
"You just can't follow orders, can you Lieutenant?"
"I couldn't help it," Vansen replied, "She was hiding in a bush along side the road."
"Look, we don't have time for this. Did you check out the town?"
"Yes."
"Then lets move out, bring the girl."
They were soon back at the spot where Vansen had done her reconnoiter. Blake glassed it quick, deciding to take cover in a barn on the outskirts of the town. When they were all inside Blake sat down, rubbed his eyes and reached for a cigarette. Searching his pockets he realized he had left the lighter back at the clearing. He looked up, Vansen was staring at him.
"Are you going to tell me what happened back at the clearing." She asked.
Blake stared back, not sure what to tell her.
"I was attacked by a woman swinging a sword, and dressed in black leather." He said lighting the cigarette with a match.
"Oh fine, don't tell me." She snapped.
"It's true Lieutenant, I hardly believe it myself but, that's what happened.
"Maybe I'm suffering from battle fatigue." He thought to himself.
"I see, and you left the girl with this sword wielding leather clad woman?" she said sarcastically.
"They were friends. They knew each other's names.
"Which are?" Vansen shot back.
"The blonde is Gabrielle and her friends name is, are you ready? Xena the Warrior Princess." Blake said with a laugh.
Vansen was getting angrier by the second, she was sure Blake was lying and had just left the girl there.
The girl tugged on Vansen's sleeve.
"That's the blond girl that set us free." She said in a whisper.
"I don't believe you, I'm going back to the clearing." Vansen said.
"At ease Lieutenant." Blake said through clenched teeth, "You are not going any where, that's an order! The girl is being taken care of."
She sat back down, glaring at Blake.
"What the hell is your new little friend talking about." Blake asked in a hard voice,looking over at the girl.
"She has a name too, it's Kalja."
Vansen told him the story. His reaction was the same as hers.
"All right, I've had enough of this. There must be something in the water, everybody around here is crazy." He said standing up.
"Here's what we are going to do. Ask your little friend there if she would get us some of the local garb. We can disguise ourselves, get into the town and find a phone."
Kalja was afraid of being spotted by Talmadues's men but, reluctantly agreed.
While she was gone Blake went over his plan with Vansen. They would wait until dark and head for the large building. Blake would find the phone, make the call. They would head back to the barn immediately after and wait for the rescue chopper.
After they were through, Vansen started to pace and look out the door every few minutes.
"Something's happened to her, I just know it" she said looking at Blake, " I should have went with her.
Blake estimated it was about 15:00 hours when the girl returned. She had brought more than enough clothing. They made up outfits and tried them on.
"OK, that's it for now. Eat something and get a little rest, I'll keep an eye out." He said moving toward the door.
"Are you hungry?' Vansen asked Kalja handing her an MRE.
The girl took it and was staring at it in confusion.
"Here, let me help you." Vansen said tearing the top off. "Chicken with Rice, it's not that bad."
Blake and Vansen watched as the girl downed three MRE's and two bags of water in about three minutes flat.
The sun was just setting as they finished removing the paint from their faces and donned their new outfits. Both wore loose fitting tunics so they could conceal their weapons underneath. Except for spare ammo and med kits, they hid everything else in the barn.
"Let' do it." Blake said looking at Vansen. "You stay close to us." He said looking at Kalja .
They made their way silently to the town and entered. Most of the people had moved indoors, nobody took notice of them. The large building was almost in the center of town on the right. Blake signaled Vansen and the girl to stay behind him as he approached the entrance. Taking a deep breath, he pushed on the door.
9
_Reunion_
"Gabrielle, are you all right?" Xena was frantic. She could hardly see her friend through the thick white smoke. Gabrielle started to cough.
"Xena? Thank the God's." She said as the smoke started to dissipate.
"Don't talk." she answered, touching her friends swollen mouth. It was difficult to control her anger as she examined her friend's wounds. There was guilt also.
"I never should have left her alone." Xena thought to herself.
"Did you see him?" Gabrielle asked.
"Who?"
"The man in green, he was here a minute ago." Gabrielle said looking around.
Just then, there was a strange loud noise that came from the direction of the road.
"He's gone. Gabrielle please lay down, you need to rest." Xena didn't want to tell her friend she had almost killed the man. It would have been a mistake. He had dressed Gabrielle's wounds with salve and bandages she had never seen before. She rubbed a bit of the salve between two fingers and sniffed. "Strange, no odor." She said to herself.
Suddenly, there was a rustling sound behind her. Xena sprang to her feet, sword drawn and turned.
"Whoa, take it easy!"
"Joxer. Where did you come from?" Xena asked sheathing her sword.
"I heard from Ephiny that Gabrielle was traveling alone, so I thought I would follow her and keep anything..." his voice trailed off as he saw Gabrielle lying on the ground. Joxer walked over and knelt down next to her, taking off his helmet.
"I guess I didn't do such a good job." He said looking up at Xena with a pained expression on his face.
"She's going to be all right, it wasn't your fault." She said touching his shoulder. Xena knew how Joxer felt about Gabrielle.
After a few minutes, Joxer stood up.
"She was only out of my sight a short while. I should never have stopped." He said in a low voice.
"Why did you? Xena asked
"I was watching these two strange people they were dressed funny, like the forest, and spoke in a strange language." He replied.
"Start at the beginning."
Joxer sat down, and told Xena how he had been following Gabrielle since she had left Amazon territory on Ephiny's insistence. Gabrielle had stopped only once to pick something up, he couldn't see what. Right after that two figures came out of the brush. They were dressed in green and hard to see. One was tall, a man and the other was a woman. He followed for awhile losing them when they went back into the forest. He waited awhile to see if they would reappear. When they didn't, he continued on until he reached the abandoned wagon.
"After that I just followed the white smoke here." He finished, looking up at Xena.
"This is all very strange." Xena said looking around. "When I found Gabrielle the man was here but, not the woman. Keep an eye on Gabrielle, I'm going to have a look around."
A few minutes later she was walking around the wagon and stopped when she saw the cut ropes and the whip. New anger washed over her, Gabrielle had been tied up here. Xena knew she would eventually run into those responsible. There was a blood stain and she could also see something or somebody had been dragged into the brush. Xena followed the trail. She heard voices and saw two men tied to a tree.
"Oh, thank Zeus." The one facing her said, looking up at the sky. He had a nasty cut on his left cheek.
"What happened to you two?" She asked circling around to get a look a the other man.
"It was terrible." The first man began, "We were set upon by bandits and robbed!"
"Look at what they did to Talo's cheek!" the other one chimed in.
Something was bothering Xena but she couldn't put her finger on it. She pulled out a knife, bent down and cut the men's bonds.
"Oh, thank you, thank you, nice lady." Talo's exclamed, getiting up quickly.
"You better let me have a look at your cheek." Xena said putting away her knife and standing up.
"No, No, it will be fine. We'll just be on our way." He replied. They both started to run towards the road.
"Wait, can you tell me who did this?" Xena called after them. They kept running.
"Do you know who that was?" Talo's asked his friend as they ran.
"Xena." The other answered. "Talmadeus is gong to be very upset."
End of Part One
