Chapter 3

“John Moon”, Hoth clarified. When he saw that the name didn’t mean anything to neither Nathan nor Smith, he added some more information. “He was on my yacht for a meeting when we were attacked".

“Son of a...” he triggered his com.

“Overwatch, this is Headhunter. Be advised, package one has informed us of a fourth package, one John Moon. Stand by for more details. Over.” He switched focus to Hoth. “Ok, the most important thing first. Where is John?”

“He started yelling and cursing at the guy in charge after they killed Charles. They gave him a real thrashing -broke his nose even- but he didn’t stop. In the end, they threw him in the hole. We could still hear him yelling the first day, but it’s been quiet for a while now.”

“And where is this hole?”

“Oh, right. It’s a hole in the ground covered by a grate. I think they use it to store live fish. It’s over by the dock,” he blurted while pointing in a south-south-western direction.

Nathan was a bit bewildered by this new development but tried to take it in stride. “Are there any guards or anything like that?”

“I don’t think so.” Hoth looked at Daniels. “Do you know?”

“They haven’t bothered with a guard during the day. At least not that I have seen the few times they’ve let us outside. Don’t see any reason why they would do anything different at night,” Daniels surmised. "But I can't say for sure."

“And you have not seen or heard John Moon for, what, two days?”

They both shuck their heads.

Nathan sighed. He had a bad feeling about this whole thing. “Overwatch, this is Headhunter. Package four is allegedly located in an improvised holding cell in the ground covered by a grate over by the dock, but no life sign seen or heard for 48 hours. If alive, he is expected to in bad shape. Please advise. Over”.

“This is Overwatch, stand by.”

They waited for a while in silence, every sound from outside making Hoth and Daniels ever so slightly flinch.

“This is Overwatch. We are seeing the grate on satellite photos. It is very close to two of the presumed barracks. Almost exactly between them and the docks. Wide open ground, without any cover. You would also need to move through or around the whole camp. We are running risk assessments, please hold. Over.”

“This is Headhunter. We will move to a safer location while waiting for risk assessment. Out.”

He turned back to Hoth. “Command is assessing the situation. In the meantime, we need to move to a safer location.”

“Shadow, Nightrider, how does it look out there?”

“All quiet, boss”, reported Rodrigez.

“Zero movement”, confirmed Sergei.

“Roger, we are moving.”

Nathan moved out the door with his weapon raised, took three steps forward, and went down to one knee while scanning the area in front of him.

Buck came out right behind him, towing the others. He immediately moved right around and behind the building. When he passed Rodriguez, Rodriguez confirmed this on coms, and Nathan moved after them. After passing Rodriguez by 20 meters or so it was Nathan’s turn to cover again, and he turned around and crouched while notifying Rodriguez. Rodriguez then pulled back past him again. They continued to reverse leapfrogging like that until they were close to where they left Sergei, at which point Nathan called for a short stop in a suitable location. Shortly after, Overwatch was back on the coms.

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“Headhunter, this is Overwatch. We have concluded that the risk and uncertainty outweigh the gain, and that package 1 remains the priority. You are instructed to continue to extraction. Please, confirm. Over.”

“This is Headhunter. Confirming that package 1 is a priority. Out,” he acknowledged. He didn’t like leaving anyone behind, even someone he’d never met. Perhaps there was a chance to... He sighed. No, best to continue as planned.

He walked over to Hoth and Daniels. “Sorry, but command calculates that the chance of John Moon being alive and we being able to successfully extract him being so low that it is too risky to try. He’s probably already dead, so-”

“No, you don’t understand,” Hoth interrupted. “You need to rescue Moon. He must return safely!”

Nathan let out a sigh. “Even if we could, you are the priority, and the order is to get you home.”

“No,” Hoth suddenly launched forward, grabbing hold of Nathan to emphasize his point. His eyes had a new intense look. “Listen, this is very important. Moon is a genius and a visionary. The man will revolutionize the way we live our lives. If he dies here, it will set the world back years. Decades even.”

Nathan chuckled uncertainly while removing Hoth’s hand. “Well, he certainly sounds like an impressive guy and all, but there is not much we can do. My hands are tied.”

“So are mine,” Hoth warned sadly. “I have done some unethical things in my life to get ahead, but I cannot in good faith let John remain here when there is even a chance that he is alive. I am sorry, but we refuse to leave unless John is with us, or confirmed dead.”

Daniels didn’t look like he totally agreed, but he was nothing if not loyal and, in the end, he stood up a bit straighter and nodded his head to indicate his support.

Nathan narrowed his eyes. “Let’s make one thing clear, you are not in charge here. I am. We will return you to the helicopter even if we have to tie you up and carry you all the way there.

“But let us be realistic here. I don’t like to leave anyone behind either, but it is what it is. However, just to humor you... Buck, Nightrider. You see any way we could make this happen?”

“We could sneak through the whole compound and try to break him out without waking up any of the 50 bloodthirsty tribal warriors sleeping next to him, or we could do a full assault, kill them all. The chance of success is pretty much the same. Slim to none,” speculated Smith.

“Yeah, I’m not even sure if we have enough ammo for a full assault, and I think we’ve already used up today's luck. I feel for the guy, but better him than us. I say we stick to the plan,” said Rodriguez.

“I could pay you,” Hoth injected. “Whatever it takes!”

“Money doesn’t help much if we’re not alive to spend it,” Buck said.

“You have to at least try. Please!” Hoth begged.

It was obvious his pleas were genuine, and he really seemed desperate to have them save Moon. Nathan was uncertain if he was dedicated enough to actively resist the extraction, but he didn’t really want to find out. He took a second to assess his options. None of them were good, so in the end, he decided to roll the dice. "Ah, hell. Can't say I'm generally inclined to leave anyone to die. And besides, I feel lucky today."

He started to talk into the mic, including both his team and the guys in charge. “Overwatch, this is Headhunter. After assessing the situation on the ground, I have decided to change the plan, as is my prerogative. Buck and Nightrider will escort packages one and two to the extraction. Shadow will stay in position to provide cover as long as he can, then double-time it to the helicopter. Meanwhile, I will do a close recon and investigate the status of package four. If he can be extracted, I will take him to the secondary extraction point to the south of the village. Over.”

The reply came immediately. “Headhunter, this is Overwatch. That is a no-go. I repeat, a no-go. Stay with the original plan. Over.”

“Negative, going for package four. Over.”

“Headhunter, you are given a direct order to-”

“This isn’t the army, boys,” Nathan interrupted. “You can’t order me to do shit. Headhunter out.”

Rodrigez walked over to him. “Jesus, boss. Always the hero, no? One of these days it’s gone go ugly. But not today, eh?” He gave way to Smith who also wanted a quick word.

“Are you sure about this? Perhaps it is best if we all go? We could ditch the deadwood at the LZ and pick up Goliath,” he said, meaning Brown. “With his SAW we could set up a killing field or two, perhaps add some claymores… You know, do a proper job of it.”

“No, we don’t have time before sunrise to walk to the helicopter and back, and if we don’t get these guys back in one piece…” – he indicated Hoth and Daniels with a nod – “Well, Overwatch will have my head no matter what, but if Hoth doesn’t make it back they might take it out of your skin as well. Besides, us against fifty? I mean, all it takes is a lucky shot. We are good, but not that good.”

“Sure we are!” Smith smiled before getting serious again. He gave Nathan a friendly tap in the chest before continuing. “Your call. Just make sure we’ll see you on the other side”.