CHAPTER 58

The hollowed out metal ring that pressed against his neck was enough to convince Hoop to stop walking. He did not put his weapon down though and, in fact, he did nothing at all. He just quietly said, “you going to pull that trigger or am I just that big of an idiot?”

Taylya pulled her weapon back and then slid down the root she had been hiding in. She was not happy when she landed next to Hoop, “you are that big of an idiot, why did you come back here?”

“I should be asking you the same thing,” Hoop protested and then pointed well to the east, “we are being followed but, the Orc war party is that way. Why are you here?”

“Because whoever is following us will have to come by here,” Taylya said quietly but, her tone said she might as well be screaming.

“But the Orcs are,” Hoop realized she was giving him an evil eye, “somebody else is following us? Oh that’s just fucking great, everybody wants to kill us now.”

As Taylya began to move out she quietly groaned at Hoop, in such a way as to spell out just how big of an idiot he was, “we already knew that love.” He didn’t follow and Taylya had to come back. Hoop was still in the same spot, still with that same look of disbelief. She slapped in the back of the head, “come on! The eLzee is not even a klick from here.”

Hoop did not really feel like moving and it was not because of being tired, scared, or any other reason a normal person might have at a time like this. Hoop knew where they were. He knew how close they were to the pick up. He knew what he was about to have to do and, Hoop just really did not want to have to do it. Instead of moving he made sure he had extra ammo where he could get at it. He took the extra safety’s off of his grenades. “You know we can still run.”

“Forgive me love,” Taylya told him, “but you are human and you don’t see it. There is no running from this.”

Now Hoop glumly walked past her as he commented, “I thought my flat ears is what turned you on missy.” Hoop back tracked his way to the point where he left Anders and Camiceau. He was not happy when he did not find them there. He saw the trail they left though and he nodded for Taylya. She knelt by it, checked it out, and then nodded to him. Hoop risked a question, “how many?”

Taylya was not so concerned, “three, why?”

“Goddamn it,” Hoop started along their trail, “that stupid ass Chinaman.” Taylya grabbed Hoop by the sleeve as he tried to pass. He made the hand gestures to tell her that Charlie had gone ahead to reconnoiter the landing zone. Taylya just shrugged so Hoop told her vocally, “he shouldn’t have come back.” Now Hoop was looking for anything as he walked, booby traps most of all. What he found was not what he expected though.

Taylya also saw the body but, did not approach. She found a place so that she could cover Hoop. She waited for him to do something but, he only looked at Anders laying there in the brush, one neat hole in his back and the other in the back of his head. Hoop really did not want to see the other side. Judging by the pool of fluids on the ground it was probably pretty nasty.

Taylya was now very concerned as she snapped for Hoop to look at her. Then she mouthed off the words, “where is Cami?”

Hoop no longer wasted the effort to be silent, “with Charlie.” He raised his weapon and said, “probably a grenade under Vinny there. I think we’re clear around. He didn’t have enough time to do much else.”

Taylya got up and began getting ready to fight. As she did she held back tears and said, “I don’t get it. He’s Chinese! I didn’t think Ian had his hooks in him. It doesn’t make any sense! I thought Anders was the mole!”

“We’ll move to the left,” Hoop said in a very unemotional tone, “better ground that way. Next time you see Charlie, bust a cap in his ass.” Before they walked off, Hoop made the sign of a cross out in the air and told the body, “via con dias brother.” As Hoop began his journey he was no longer marching for time or following a trail. Now he picked his path based on the best available cover he could find. It was also the best way to keep from walking in a straight line. It was slower, a lot slower, but it was also safer. Then, frustratingly, that did not turn out to exactly be the case.

The first sign of trouble did not come as a gunshot though. Hoop almost wished it had. Charlie yelled out at them and they scrambled for cover even before he finished saying, “I knew you’d come this way. I just looked at that ground and said, that’s Hoop.”

From a rut and root that Hoop found for cover he signaled to Taylya who was behind him and just below a rise. With hand signals he asked for a direction. Taylya just shrugged and, from her expression, it was clear that her inability to sniff out Charlie was alarming. Hoop then transmitted a new message but not by hand signal. It was written all over his face, “oh fucking great.” He yelled back to Charlie, “I’m going to kill your sorry ass. You did Anders in the back you piece of shit.”

From the tone in Charlie’s voice it did not sound as if he were particularly bothered by any of it, “just business Hoop. I mean I liked the guy and everything but, he signed his death warrant the day he reported here for duty. We couldn’t let him go back. He’d get debriefed and then that would truly be a mess.”

Hoop looked back to Taylya and mouthed off, “we?” Taylya only shrugged.

The lack of a response must have taken too long for Charlie’s taste. He called back out, “you and Tay can still live Hoop. All you have to do is turn around and go back to the Tylwythen Deg. You know we wouldn’t be able to follow you.”

Hoop had a response to the disembodied voice, “yeah right Charlie. If you couldn’t leave Anders alive, I damn well know you’re going to kill me. I wasn’t on the take.”

Why was Charlie laughing? Hoop let him and mouthed to Taylya, “we again?” Once more, she only shrugged but, this time she followed that up by checking their rear. Then she sent a hand signal telling him, “flanking us.” Hoop nodded to that and Taylya rolled out and began moving.

Now Hoop decided to do some distracting of his own, “Why you doing this Charlie? You don’t have no stake in this shit.”

“My name’s not Charlie dumb ass,” that response had a hint of anger in it.

“Ok,” Hoop yelled back, “Chan then!”

That damn laughter, “it’s not Chan ether ass hole. I’m not Chinese.”

“That’s funny,” Hoop dropped his extra gear and kicked it under the root, “you don’t look Jewish.”

“Always the clown Hoop,” Charlie yelled back. “You know I never really liked you. You always got on my nerves. I’d have much preferred it be you instead of Vinny. At least he was fun to be around.”

Hoop tossed his first smoke grenade. It popped and a purple haze began to gently flow to the west. Hoop ran to the east and he heard the shot, knew it was not aimed at him, and then found new cover. Once he figured he was safe again, Hoop yelled out, “don’t know what you thought you was looking at Charlie. Wasn’t me dickhead.”

“Clever,” Charlie called back and his next shot sparked off the big rock near Hoop. “How about now?”

Hoop had to admit, “ok that one was in the right direction.”

They could not keep this up for very long and Hoop knew it. The Orc’s would hear this shooting, even with the silenced barrels, and they were most definitely heading in this direction. Hoop realized that even if he took Charlie down, he had no idea if there was a chopper waiting for him over the rise. There was also the little problem of that chopper not waiting for him. More than likely it was manned by someone that was not playing on Hoop’s team. Charlie acted confident enough and did not seem to be in a great big hurry. Was he hoping to draw in the Orcs? That had to be it. Charlie could get the hell out of here and have a convenient way to explain Hoop and Taylya’s deaths.

The not too distant sound of shooting, mixed with the occasional explosion, made Hoop wonder. It was too far away to be Taylya and too close in to be comfortable. That was particularly true when Hoop heard the tell tale signs of staff weapons being fired. The real question in Hoop’s mind was, who was shooting back at them?

Charlie obviously heard it too, “hear that Hoop? Running out of time man. Why don’t you just book it on out of here while you still can. This doesn’t have to come to blood.”

Hoop replied but, not at a volume that anyone could hear, “course it does. You think I’m a moron you little cocksucker.” The only problem that Hoop was having was exactly how to make it come to Charlie’s blood and not his own. The question came down to how was he guessing Hoop’s every move? Then Hoop wondered, why didn’t Charlie shoot him when the smoke popped? The guy had a good idea of where Hoop was. He had obviously not fallen for the trick yet, he didn’t shoot him when he had the chance, why? “All right you stupid chink, think like you for a change.”

“Go for the chopper,” Hoop mumbled, “best option so…” Hoop spotted some good cover between him and the landing zone. That’s exactly where he would go so, that’s where he went after making a few special adjustments to his gear. A few bullets followed him on the way there, kicking up dirt at his feet. It kind of confirmed what he was thinking. He slid into the cover, between two thick roots but, did not go all the way in. Now came the hard part. Hoop went to a kneeling position and began spraying the area with wild fire, putting bullets in every spot that Charlie might be in.

Hoop only stopped shooting when Charlie yelled out from behind him, “HEY!!!” Lowering his weapon, Hoop took a quick peek over his shoulder and saw Charlie standing there behind him, ready to shoot. Charlie told him, “don’t do anything stupid Hoop, you may still live. Now drop your gear.”

Hoop did exactly as instructed. He tossed his weapon over the root, then let his vest slide off his shoulders and to the ground. As he raised his hands to his side he told Charlie, “well ain’t you a clever son of a bitch. More than me I guess cause I can’t even figure out why you don’t just go and kill me.”

“We need a fall guy Hoop,” Charlie said as he eased down off the root so he could get a better view of the vest, just in case Hoop had done something. He took a step closer as he told Hoop, “you know we tried to buy off Anders. Almost worked too but, then that stupid bastard had to go and fall in love with that little Elf. Too bad for him, I tried to warn him.” Charlie got a funny face and then asked, “I don’t get it, what is it with you Americans? Everywhere you go you think got to fuck the women there. Something wrong with yours?”

“Speaking of which Charlie,” Hoop said with a mild satisfaction, “Tay’s still out there. How you figure your story is going to work if she goes back and tells her Dad everything.”

“You really are a simple son of a bitch aren’t you,” Charlie told him before continuing with, “I always wondered how much of an act that was. I guess you really are a hick. We already took care of her.”

“Really? That wasn’t the shooting I heard Charlie,” Hoop told him.

“Oh you’re right about that,” Chan replied, “Jamie had to delay the Orcs a little longer. You guys took too long getting up here.”

“So Jamie’s the one that’s been following us?” Hoop asked.

“Would you knock off the S-2 shit,” Chan told him, “you don’t need it. Look, to save time, Jamie dropped off Avery and he’s been backing me up since we left the primary eLZee, satisfied? We nabbed that little Elf with the pig tails and Avery used that to take care of Taylya. She’s a lot easier to handle when her sister has a gun to her head. That just left you. Now take off running and don‘t look back.”

“Oh I will,” Hoop told him, “just as soon as you take your foot off that pressure mine you’re standing on.”

Chan rolled his eyes, “oh for the last time Hoop. You’re not as funny as you think you are. You didn’t have time to…” Charlie suddenly realized where he was.

Hoop then told him, “I didn’t plant it. You did, dumb ass, cause you figured I’d use this spot. Now, want to see how funny I can be, watch my Elvis imitation.” Hoop shook his hips and the grenade stuck under his belt fell down his pants leg. He then back kicked it at Charlie before jumping over the root to where he had tossed his weapon.

The grenade and mine went off almost at the exact same time. That was followed by a third explosion that Hoop had not expected. He figured that must have been another grenade. Charlie had probably booby trapped the mine with it. When the debris became little more than burning embers, Hoop got back up and began shaking out his head. His ears were still ringing so he began hopping up and down on one foot and shaking his head violently to the side. It always worked when getting water out of his ears after swimming. Hoop only had marginal success this time.

As the bells in his head slowed down to the occasional thump, Hoop stumbled back to the cover where he had dumped most of his extra gear. He pulled out his extra magazines, gave a quick eyeball to make sure the bullets were still in them, and hooked a few more grenades to his belt. All of his main stuff blew up with Charlie. He then looked around the forest and wondered where he needed to go next. What would Taylya have done? Hoop saw just where she might go.

Hoop had not expected it to be this easy to find her. He also did not expect to find Taylya duct taped to a tree either. Even from his distance and bad angle, Hoop saw the wires running under the tape and the blocks of C-4 taped to her chest. Hoop also saw a wire running from the tree and off into the bush. He lost track of it at that point and, besides, Avery wouldn’t be stupid enough to let Hoop use that to pin point his position. Hoop mumbled under his voice, “Jesus H Christ this day just keeps getting better.”

Then Avery called out from somewhere, “I know you’re out there Hoop. You want to save your pointed eared little freak, I suggest you get your ass out in the open. You know what’s going on. You also don’t have much time. Jamie only delayed those Orcs.”

Hoop yelled back, “oh so I just walk out there and you can kill us both? Is that it Avery?”

Taylya obviously knew Hoop was there as well. If anything, she probably smelled him coming up. Now she had a direction and she looked that way. Her mouth was taped shut but her eyes were pretty furious. Hoop knew what she was thinking and it was along the lines of, “are you a complete dumb ass?” Hoop didn’t think so as he yelled to Avery “you ain’t going to blow her up. You’d loose your only leverage!”

A shot rang out and Taylya’s screams followed. Her pain could even be heard through the gag in her mouth. Hoop looked back towards her and saw the wound in her leg. It wasn’t bleeding too bad so Avery had probably deliberately missed the artery. Hoop saw the game now but, Avery made it plain, “she can die slow and painful or real fast like Hoop, your choice.”

“Wrong move mother fucker,” Hoop yelled back as he trained his weapon on the direction of the shot, and then began hosing it down with his own fire. Hoop figured he must have been pretty close. The next incoming round struck the dirt in front on him and kicked up quite a cloud. It told Hoop that Avery must have a fifty cal sniper rifle with him too. It also told Hoop it was time to grab some new cover. He rolled ten meters to his right and then jumped another five. He began shooting back when another sniper round exploded the ground in front of him. Hoop had to admit that the bastard was better than he gave him credit for.

When Hoop tried to displace again, a hard kick to the back put him right back down. Then came the boot on his back and the sound of a selector switch changing positions on what Hoop figured, sounded like an H&K. That meant the person holding it was, “Jamie, you sorry mother fucker!”

“Don’t move Hoop,” Jamie replied calmly. “Don’t worry, this is all going to be over soon. Now I’m going to back up and you’re going to walk out in that clearing, real slow, with your hands on your head. Got that? Don‘t make me have to shoot you. I‘ll make sure it hurts.”

As Hoop slowly got up, with his hands out to his sides, he replied with scorn, “yeah you guys are big on that, ain’t ya?”

“Trust me Hoop,” Jamie replied, “this hasn’t been easy. You have no idea how hard it’s been.”

“Easy for you to say,” Hoop replied as he marched out to the clearing and the tree where Taylya was booby trapped. Avery joined them a second later. Hoop was not so thrilled to see him, so, at least one thing had not changed.

Avery looked at his two captives and then told Hoop, “did you really have to kill Chan? Oh boy, you have no idea how much trouble you’re going to be in if you survive this.” Avery considered and then added, “course you’re not so don’t worry about it.”

“Fucking figures,” Hoop said with scorn, “like if you was planning on killing me then why all the trouble?”

Avery waived it off, “I’m not going to kill you. The orcs are. Why do you think I went to all the trouble to lead them here.” Avery pointed to Taylya, “can’t risk a feud with her clan. They’re too well armed now.”

“Yeah,” Hoop replied, “bad for Ian’s business.”

Avery laughed, “what? You think that’s the sum total of my worth, Hooper? I’m a little offended to think I come off that short sighted.”

Jamie protested, “why are you letting him do this to you? What? You’re just going to tell him everything?”

Avery waived that off, “naaa, I don’t have the time.” Avery then pointed to Taylya and said, “just leave her like that. She can take a few Orcs with her. As for…” When Avery looked back he saw Jones pointing a pistol at he head. Avery got the words, “what the…” before Jamie pulled the trigger and put a pullet between his eyes. Jamie had the weapon back in his vest before the body dropped to the ground.

Hoop was still kneeling with his hands up when the knife buried itself in the ground in front of him. His jaw was hanging open when Jamie urged him, “cut her loose man, we got to get out of here.”

Hoop picked up the knife and then as quick as he could, he jumped on Jamie and put the blade to the guys throat. Jamie stood his ground calmly as Hoop said, “tell me why I shouldn’t kill you first?”

“Um,” Jamie licked his lips and said, “cause I just saved your lives, maybe?”

Hoop backed off and was disgusted, “you always got an answer for everything, don’t ya!” He stomped around in a circle and then in a very frustrated way he exclaimed, “why don’t we start by you telling me what the hell is going on here?”

Taylya growled into the gag in her mouth and then snarled at Hoop. He waived her off, “you always wanted to try that shit, you can wait.” He then pointed at Jamie, “what’s your real name?”

“Um,” Jamie was confused, “it’s Jones.”

Hoop blinked, “are you trying to tell me the only guy here with a real name is the guy named Jones?”

When Taylya furious growled again Hoop went to cutting her down. Jamie began quickly gathering gear as he explained, “I’m sorry I had to wait that long but, I was hoping Avery was going to tell me more than he actually did. As soon as it was clear he wouldn‘t, I ended it. Besides, I had to get him away from the detonator.”

As soon as Taylya’s hands were free she pulled at the tape on her mouth, the same tape that Hoop was in no hurry to remove. After a few grunts of pain from the adhesive coming off, she quickly asked Jones, “where’s my sister?”

“She’s safe,” Jamie said. He pointed up the hill, “I freed her. She’s at the chopper.”

Hoop picked his gear back up and started putting it on. He checked his weapon to make sure it was hot and then he asked, “so exactly what the hell is this all about? Why would Ian want all us dead?”

Jamie huffed and shrugged, “it’s not just Ian.” Jamie then looked to Taylya, as she was putting her gear back on, and he asked her, “why did they want your sister?”

“I don’t know,” Taylya sounded genuinely confused and still alarmed, “I was hoping you would!”

Now that Hoop had his gear on and his AK locked and loaded, he pointed it at Jamie’s head and said, “ok now answer my question ass hole. Who the hell are all you people?”

Jamie did not react to the threat. He simply rolled his eyes, “I’m SAS. Do we really have time for this right now?”

Taylya was now even more confused, “you’re British?”

“No,” Jamie told her, “I’m really Canadian but, it’s a long story, ok? I promise I’ll tell you guys everything but, that war party isn’t going to wait long.”

Hoop dropped his weapon and began walking towards the chopper. In disgust he commented, “don’t matter no way. You’re all a bunch lying dicks. Chan even told me I was annoying and not funny.”

As Hoop walked past Taylya she fell in step beside him and replied, “no dear, he told the truth then.”

Jamie agreed and Hoop just grunted, “fuck all you fuckers and the horse you road into town on. I’m hilarious.”