Chapter Text
HOPELESS * HOPEFUL
Venezuela, the location of Bravo’s Omega mission. The Washington cake eaters would consider it a remarkable success. It had ensured that the hostiles would not have a nuclear enriching facility in their part of the world.
The op sat heavy on Bravo’s brothers’ hearts. They were all affected, some more than others by events that happened on that South American spin up. Only time would tell how deep the emotional damage went and if their complete recovery as the number 1 DEVGRU Team with all Bravo members intact was possible.
The Team was more than ready to fly back to Virginia Beach as soon as possible. Flying home just like they flew into Columbia, on commercial flights with comfortable seats, snacks and alcoholic drinks.
Clay left before daylight, everyone was happy for him to be on the first flight out so he could reunite with Stella and baby Spenser. He had sacrificed enough, coming to help protect his brothers. It had worked as everyone was heading home to their families and friends.
Ray and Jase stayed up late, having a deep discussion about the melange of events that had happened during this op. And what steps needed to take place to continue Jason’s healing. Ray did not plan on letting Jase out of his sight after his TBI revelation and the issues it caused that had resulted in the team’s past injuries. They packed and left for the airport soon after Clay.
Trent wanted to get home quickly to see if he could attend, with Derek from Alpha Team, an advanced medic class on some updated ways to treat trauma in the field. Trent decided long ago that treating physical bodies was easier than treating emotions and right now Bravo’s emotions were where the major wounds were located and he had nothing in his med kit to fix them.
Brock was anxious to see how Pepper was doing with another trainer while he had been deployed. And they both definitely would need some outdoor trail time. Brock was normally a very taciturn person and there had been way too much noise and tension during those last few days.
That left Sonny and Davis flying out together. Davis was being the professional Navy Officer during the ride to the airport and boarding the plane, barely acknowledging Sonny’s presence.
Her window seat was eight rows in front of Sonny’s aisle seat so no reason to speak during the flight. Sonny just needed a drink, he had included two shots in his morning coffee from the whiskey left over from the last night. That was not nearly enough alcohol to endure the flight home with Davis, her icy stares alone were enough to chill his drinks.
When they got to altitude he pushed the call button and gave the stewardess a disarming smile. “Hi would you do me a big ole favor and bring me six of those little bottles of Jack and I won’t bother you again.” She smiled and said in a slight accent, “You didn’t enjoy your visit to my country?” Sonny replied, “Oh no darlin, I loved the people, the scenery was beautiful. We just had to deal with some out-of-town tourists who wanted to cause trouble.”
“Oh tourists,” she chuckled and asked, “Would you like a cup of ice to go with your drink?” Sonny said with a slight smirk, “No thanks darlin, straight will be fine.”
After the flight landed Sonny took an Uber from the airport as Davis went straight to the parking lot without speaking to him. Just a glancing look back at him when she exited the plane.
It was mid-afternoon when he arrived at his apartment. He opened the door, dropped his go bag on the bedroom floor. He called Uber for a ride to the Bulkhead, knowing the rest of Bravo had their family and friends waiting to re-connect with, so none of them would be there tonight. He could drink the rest of the day and night away and try to forget all the mistakes he had made over the last few days. Statements he said to Lisa blaming her for Hannah leaving. Actions he had taken that had put Clay in danger of never returning to his perfect little family. Jason hadn’t trusted him enough to tell him the truth about his TBI until it was impossible to keep it a secret. His thoughts turned dark, what did he have any longer that Bravo wanted or needed. His Bravo brothers, Lisa didn’t need him and his best friend might never trust him again. He really needed a drink.
After a few beers and several whiskey shots. A frog-hog offered him a good time in the storeroom but alcohol was all he wanted or needed tonight. Hours later he heard the bartender John shout, “last call” then he followed up with, “Hey Sonny you need me to call you a ride?” Sonny answered in a slurred voice, “Nope, got Uber on speed dial.” He just wanted to go home and pass out, as he was overwhelmed with the feeling of saudade for Bravo and Lisa.
Sonny woke up showered and dressed it was the late afternoon and he still had no desire to see Bravo. He called Uber to get a ride to the Boom Boom Room where he knew Candi, Tiffany and Lexie were waiting in the Champagne Room to entertain him, plus they were serving nachos and wings. He stayed until the closing at 3am and then his friendly Uber driver was there to drive him home.
Early the next morning Commander Eric Blackburn sent a text to the Team that they would be off rotation for 21 days. Sonny read this and knew he would rather be kicking in doors and fighting bad guys tomorrow. He was not happy with the down time especially after this South American op.
New day, new bar, well maybe not new, just not the Bulkhead. Sonny knew the place as one the local bikers hung at and Team guys avoided. Sonny hoped maybe drinks and fists would be the order of the night. He knew with his mouth and enough insults he could get the party started and he was correct. He had to call Uber from down the street after being thrown out. He definitely needed to put ice on his eye and knuckles. He thought maybe he could stop by Lisa’s and use one of her icy stares to make it feel better. But the days of Lisa and he being together even as friends might be over, especially after Venezuela. He went home and collapsed after grabbing a couple of instant cold packs.
The next day about noontime he woke and staggered to his frig. He noticed that the only items inside was an egg, bottle of Bar B Que sauce, and a half empty jar of Duke’s mayo. A grocery store run was certainly called for. It was late in the afternoon before he had recovered enough from the bar dust-up. Sunglasses should cover the black eye and the bruised knuckles weren’t too swollen so it was off to the store. He picked up one of those little baskets by the door and decided to get some breakfast items, eggs, bacon, cheese, biscuits and of course coffee and aspirin after all the alcohol he had consumed. He grabbed a dozen eggs, some cheese, headed for the bacon when suddenly a young man backed out of an aisle in front of him, the man was distracted from playing peekaboo with a sandy haired blue eyed baby girl sitting in the grocery cart. A young women standing in front was loading baby food, she said softly, “Honey watch out,” as she pointed to Sonny. The guy jumped a little and apologized for not paying attention. Sonny said, “No problem.” At that moment the baby girl looked up and gave Sonny the biggest smile, it tore at his heart as it reminded him how much he missed his LeeAnne.
Next thing he remembered was walking out of the store, no food, no basket. His eyes were damp and he was thankful that the liquor store was next door.
Next morning Eric sent Sonny a text to come in and sign off on the South American AAR’s. He replied that it would be later that afternoon before he could make it. He definitely needed to sober up before he saw the Commander. He rode there on his bike hoping none of Bravo was on the base, he did not want to hear about how they were spending their time and he certainly wanted no questions about what he had been up to.
A shower, clean clothes and sunglasses apparently weren’t enough of an improvement on Sonny’s outward appearance as Eric glanced up when he entered, “Looks like you have been celebrating the Team’s return. Have you seen Bravo since ya’ll got back?” Sonny answered with a smirk, “No, been too busy.”
“I heard Jason plans on working on drills soon, so maybe the celebrating needs to slow down Sonny.”
Sonny just huffed and said, “I’m always ready for hills and the O course.” He continued, “Your text said that the AAR needs my John Hancock.” Eric gave him a concerned look. “Yes, just look over Jason’s summary and see if you need to add anything, it being an Omega op the A.A.R. is condensed.” Sonny nodded and casually scanned the pages then signed the paper and laid it down on the desk. Eric was watching him the entire time and decided he needed to ask, “Sonny you OK?”
Sonny replied with a smile, “Fine Commander ready to breach some doors or blow something up.” Eric continued, “Son I know this op was difficult, if you need to talk there is always someone to listen.”
Sonny replied, “Thanks but talk is way over rated Commander, I’m good.”
Sonny walked out and headed to the mess hall to grab a bite because he wasn’t sure when he would return to a grocery store but the liquor store was a definite stop on his way home. He slowly walked in and stopped at the door to see if any of Bravo was there, he blew out a thankful breathe when he didn’t see any of his teammates. But there was Thirty-Mike, Beau and a couple of others from Charlie Team. He hoped to avoid them, but after getting his plate of food and a drink Sonny saw that the only available seat was at a table close to theirs.
He nodded at them and hoped they would just leave it but Thirty-Mike always had to say something. “Heard Bravo’s been working with the deep spooks, did you catch any ghosts or maybe just some smoke to blow up the brass’s ass.” Sonny held his tongue and said, “Same old Thirty got to listen to rumors and try to stir up some shit.”
Beau tapped Thirty’s shoulder to get his attention, “Hey you know the Team has more important things to discuss. Who are we going to get as a breacher for that op that should be green-lite in the next day or two? You know Terrell won’t be out of rehab for at least another two weeks.”
Sonny overheard them talking so he walked over to Beau and said, “I’ll go with ya’ll.” Beau looked up in surprise as Bravo and Charlie had some major bad history. Teams did borrow operators all the time according to injuries and various needs for ops.. It just surprised him that Sonny would volunteer to run with Charlie Team.
Beau asked seriously, “Sonny you sure?” Sonny nodded, Beau finished by saying, “Do you want me to inform Command?”
Sonny nodded again, “I guess I’ll be Charlie 6.” He went back to finishing his food. Sonny really didn’t like the idea of working with Charlie. But he knew if he didn’t get back to shooting bad guys and kicking doors, that the Navy might be showing him the door soon.
Maybe an op was what he needed to dispel the dark thoughts that had taken up residence in his mind. Sonny stopped by the liquor store on the way to the apartment as he didn’t know when Charlie’s op would get green-lite. He planned on drinking mostly beer with just a few shots of whiskey. While he sat on the couch sipping a cold one he thought about LeeAnne, his beautiful baby girl. Hannah had agreed that he could FaceTime with LeeAnne whenever he wanted to. As there was a two hour time difference between Va. Beach and Texas it was a little past 5pm inTexas.
He picked up the phone and Hannah answered with a smile in her voice, “Hello Sonny, your timing is perfect. I was about to give LeeAnne her bath, she just finished eating. Let me wipe her face and hands and set up the tablet. I guess you have been working as we haven’t heard from you in awhile.” Sonny answered, “Yeah it was a long op, how’s my baby girl doing?
“She is doing great I found a wonderful babysitter, an older lady who has a granddaughter about the same age, so LeeAnne has a play mate. Also your Dad watches her if I have to run errands and she loves seeing her papa. He seems to love spending time with her.”
Sonny forced a smile, ran a hand over his beard and said, “That sounds great, like you have everything handled and all that matters is that she is happy.” He forced a smiled because he didn’t want LeeAnne to see his terrible disappointment at not seeing her daily as he had when she and Hannah lived with him in Va. Beach.
“Here is your little princess, I think I wiped all the spinach off her face. LeeAnne say hi to your daddy.”
LeeAnne looked at Sonny and smiled, she started babbling toddler talk mixed with new words and DaDa for a couple of minutes. Sonny loved listening to her as she imitated a grown-up conversation. “Hey sweet baby girl, how is Daddy’s favorite little princess doing? So you have someone to play with and you love seeing your Papa.” LeeAnne repeated, “Papa” and giggled. Then she started to squirm and wiggle ready to get out of her PaperClip high chair, before she wiggled too much Sonny said, “LeeAnne baby I love you.” LeeAnne looked back at him, said Daddy, smiled and put her hand to her mouth and blew a big sloppy kiss in Sonny’s direction.
Hannah popped back into view and Sonny heard her ask someone, “Please take her out of her high chair and I’ll be right there to give her a bath.” Hannah in a quiet voice said, “Sonny I hoped you would call as I have something to tell you. You remember Jack Owens from school, he was a few years older than us. Well Jack and I have been dating for a couple months.” She took a breath and paused, “Sonny this may turn into something serious and I wanted you to know. Don’t worry it won’t change your relationship with LeeAnne, you will always be her Daddy with all the fun and challenges that entails.” Sonny was very quiet, after a minute Hannah asked, “Sonny are you OK, say something.”
“I know you have to get on with your life, I just wasn’t expecting it to be so soon. We can talk about it later. Tell LeeAnne I love her more than anything.” Hannah said, “I will Sonny, take care.” The screen went dark and so did Sonny. It took everything inside him to not scream at Hannah and ask how she could dare date Jack Owens, a skinny geek CPA asshat. Now Jack would be the one getting his baby girl out of her high chair and getting her ready for bed.
Sonny knew that if he wanted to have contact with LeeAnne again he had to pretend all was good while he was talking to her. The things that had given him so much joy when he was in Texas helping Hannah with LeeAnne and then when she moved in with him in Virginia Beach. Now another man would be taking his place.
Damn, damn son-of-a-bitch. Fuck the world. Sonny threw the empty beer bottles against the kitchen cabinet. He really needed to punch something so the nearest wall was his victim. Then the tears fell hard until there was nothing left, only sobs and his shaking body.
He thought to hell with slow drinking, a game was on, his phone was on the loudest ring and he was going to drink til he passed out. The whiskey burned all the way down his throat but it had a comfortable numbing effect that he needed after that conversation. If the op got the green-light tomorrow he knew he could sober up enough on the flight to do his part of the mission.
Thankfully Sonny’s phone didn’t go off til mid afternoon, he took a cold shower, checked his go bag and closed the door of his apartment. He left the pieces of broken whiskey and beer bottle glass, holes in the wall and clothes scattered on the floor. He rode his bike to the base, put the cover on it so Bravo wouldn’t know he was there. He was even lucky enough to get into Bravo’s cage room and retrieve his ruck sack, equipment and guns without running into Bravo. He ignored the group text he received from Jase as he knew he would soon be in the air and gone. He sighed with relief as he walked towards the C-17.
The sound of the C-17 motors humming, the guys talking shit, Beau and Thirty going over the mission briefing, all of that was comforting to Sonny, even though they weren’t “his” guys. This was safer than him being in Va. Beach by himself with his dark thoughts. He had talked Chris, their medic, to start a banana bag IV on him to help with his massive hangover and headache.
The mission’s objective was to go to Sudan, get Agar Suliman leader of one of the largest human trafficking rings in the world. Then turn him over to the CIA so they could find out how his group was able to get groups of women, young girls and boys into the U.S.A.. Rumor was he had a stash of drugs he used to bribe a Mexican cartel to allow Agar access to the U.S. southern border.
~~~~
Back in Va. Beach Jason was getting antsy, he had been to his favorite taco/burrito place, and had had a long visit with Emma and Mikey. He had one treatment for his TBI and made several future appointments. He decided that the team needed to meet at the Bulkhead for drinks so he could check on everyone, he sent Bravo and Davis a group text. Sonny did not answer, Davis responded that she had other plans, Clay replied that he would try to stop by for a few minutes, Ray, Trent and Brock said they would be there.
Ray was the second one to arrive and immediately asked Jason how he was doing. Jason laughed, “Ray, you have talked to me every day since we got back and nothing has changed. I am good, really good. Got several more appointments scheduled, I plan on getting them in before we get spun-up. I really appreciate everything you did for me on that op. Let me buy you a drink.” Ray turned to Jase, “It was just payback for all your help taking me to your doc after my capture, helping me to get my head back on straight. Naima and I really appreciated that and yes I’ll take a beer.” Ray gave Jase’s shoulder a quick squeeze and they took a moment to smile at each other knowing there was that tacit friendship and brotherly love between them. Jase patted Ray on the back as Trent and Brock walked in and they started catching up on what all of them had been up to during the last few days.
Clay walked in later and slowed at the door with a splinter of hesitation as he checked out the room to see who was there. Not seeing Sonny he breathed a sigh of relief and headed to Bravo’s table after stopping by the bar and picking up a beer, he noticed everyone was already several drinks down. They all turned and started talking over each other.
Trent laughed. “There he is, the sleep deprived Dad.” Brock said, “When are you getting a dog for the baby? Every boy needs a dog to grow up with.” Ray smiled, “Been there, done that and yes its worth every minute of lost sleep, how is Stella doing.” Jase asked, “How are you doing?”
Clay replied, “Yes, we are not getting much sleep with feedings every two hours, the dog will wait til the kid can at least walk, and yes Ray it is worth everything to have him home with us. And Jase I am good. Being home with Stella and Brian after that op was what I needed.”
“So you named him Brian, that’s good.” Jase commented with a nod and smile.
Clay answered, “It seemed like a perfect fit.”
All the guys, except Clay, kept casually glancing at the door hoping that their errant teammate Sonny would walk in. After another round of drinks and more shooting the shit about their recent activities Trent felt compelled to ask in a concerned voice, “Anyone heard from Sonny since we got back?” Everyone shook their head and looked at Jase for an answer. “He didn’t respond to my text.”
Ray said, “We all know Sonny’s way of decompressing is liquor and strip clubs and we know this op was rough so maybe he needed a few extra days to get his head on straight.”
Jase was concerned as he knew Sonny’s after op behavior included lots of alcohol and visits to the strip clubs and sometimes other bad decisions. “Hey, I was thinking we need to ease back into some half-days at the shoot house, doing drills and PT, no O course,” he laughed. “I’ll run it up the chain and see when we can schedule some things.” They all agreed to Jason’s plan as they knew down time was when Tier 1 operators were the most vulnerable for overthinking things and perhaps making bad decisions, so they got up, said their goodbyes and headed out. Ready to get back into their normal routine.
Ray walked out with Jase, “You want me to reach out to Sonny and see whats going on. Something happened between him and Clay. Clay sure seemed relieved that Sonny wasn’t here and he didn’t volunteer to check on him.” Jase nodded, “Yeah, that’s OK I’ll contact him again and run by his place tomorrow. I knew something was going on with him and Clay but with this TBI thing I got distracted. Now that I have a plan in place for that I can concentrate on the Team.”
~~~~~
Sonny had finished the banana bag IV, hung his hammock and got some sleep during the 13 hour flight. Before Beau came over and shook his hammock, “Hey Sonny its time to go over the final game plan for the op.” Sonny was glad Charlie Team had left him alone and only included him in the final briefing. Sonny chuckled as he got up, knowing the way the plan would be implemented. It would be done by “the” book and Beau would not take any suggestions, so no thinking outside the box like Jason had been known to do. Sonny just needed to be a good little sailor like the rest of Charlie, nod and agree with Beau and follow the plan.
It seemed the Sudanese leaders wanted to calm the political issues between the U.S.A. and their government, they needed money to help with their humanitarian efforts. So they turned their backs and let the Team play in their country to take down this warlord that funded terrorist factions in the Middle East.
It seemed to be a straight forward HVT grab and go. This HVT’s headquarters were located in a small village and Intel said he had just returned from dropping off twenty hostages in Libya so his security was light. But Sonny had been doing this long enough to know that most ops were never that easy.
The C-17 landed on an abandoned airstrip in the Northern part of Sudan, an area close to the Egypt/Libya borders. TOC would be run from the C-17 and a newly promoted Lt. Commander Stephen White would be in charge.
Sonny really hated new guys or that’s what he said, they needed to earn his trust, look how long it took for him to accept Clay. In his mind Ken Doll was still ‘the kid’ and his best friend. The big question, was that relationship lost forever and after what happened would Clay ever trust him again?
Charlie’s helo set down six klicks from the village that was Agar Suliman’s headquarters, it consisted of four buildings, some small houses and huts. The target building had two stories and a fence surrounding it, ISR showed five heat signatures inside the main building and forty-five people scattered about the village but ISR could not distinguish between military age males or captives made to work there.
They didn’t encounter any hostiles on their way to the target but the hair on Sonny’s neck stood up. It was too quiet for him and something was off. He voiced his concerns, “Hey guys I have a bad feeling about this, I saw lights flash over the ridge to the North.” Thirty replied, “Yeah Sonny you trying to jinx this op or just getting nervous and missing your guys, especially the kid.”
“Shut up Thirty maybe Charlie 1 should ask TOC if we should expect company,” Sonny added. Beau replied, “Charlie 6 I’ll ask TOC when we get closer to the village right now we are Charlie Mike.”
Sonny answered “Copy that.” They proceeded to the village and everything remained quiet on their approach. Their radios came alive when Lt. Commander White said, “Charlie 1 this is HAVOC, ISR doesn’t see any guards on the outside of the target building or any patrols at this time just five heat signatures inside, proceed with caution.” Beau answered, “HAVOC Charlie 1 copies, Havoc does ISR see any movement a couple of klicks to the North of our pos?”
“Charlie 1 there was a couple of vehicles moving through a small village two klicks to the North but they are now stationary.” Beau replied, “Good copy HAVOC Charlie 1 out.”
Thirty turned to Sonny and snickered, “Hey Sonny you happy now, or do you need me to hold your hand since Clay or Jason isn’t here?” Sonny turned and stepped towards Thirty squaring up on him when Charlie 4 and 5 stepped beside them. Beau said with an edge to his voice, “Charlie 6 stand down, you and Charlie 2 can put on gloves when this op is finished but now its time to go to work.”
Charlie Team approached the fence on the side of the building as Beau whispered into his coms. “Charlie 4 go high for over watch, let me know when you are in place.” Chris had already seen an empty building across the narrow dirt road that he could climb onto the roof to have a good view of the door the team was about to breach. They were wearing NODs so they had a definite advantage over the tangos. Beau gave more orders, “Charlie 6 open up the fence, 3 stay here to guard the opening, 2 and 5 will come with me.” Charlie Team nodded acknowledging the orders. Sonny quickly pulled the bolt cutters from his backpack and made an opening in the 6ft. tall chain link fence large enough for the Team to use to enter the property, he stepped through the opening, holding it for the others to come thru.
Before they took another step Chris came on comms, “This is Charlie 4, I am in position.” Beau answered, “Good copy Charlie 4.” Beau stepped through the fence with Charlie 2 and 5 close behind. Charlie 1, 2, 5 and Charlie 6 quietly and quickly made their way to the door. “Charlie 6 you’re up, get the door open then post security here to watch our backs til exfil.”
Sonny replied, “Copy that.” Sonny put the breaching charge on the door and everyone backed up and turned away before Sonny detonated it. Charlie Team made entrance and started searching for the HVT.
Sonny moved to the corner of the building, he had to step over several pieces of wood laying flat on the ground and behind some stacked wooden boxes. He wanted to see the door where Charlie entered and the back of the building that enabled him to defend against any hostiles trying to sneak up on the Team. Sonny heard gun fire coming from inside the building as Charlie searched for their HVT and eliminated tangos.
He heard Charlie 1 exclaim, “Jackpot, Jackpot we pass Ford.” HAVOC replied, “Great job, Charlie 1.” Sonny thought that a celebration was too soon, so Lt. Commander White must definitely be new to command, just another cake eater Sonny smirked.
The door breach and gunfire alerted Agar’s men in the village because Sonny heard gunfire coming from the narrow road outside the fence at the back of the building also from the main road in front. Charlie 4 alerted, “I’ve got eyes on five tangos approaching from the main road.
Charlie 6 do you have eyes on the rear.” Sonny replied, “I’ve got three Tangos coming up the back road.” Sonny engaged them and they fell as Charlie 5 dropped three Tangos by the front. “This is Charlie 4 two Tangos came through the front gate and ran into the building I do not have eyes on.”
“This is Charlie 1 we see the tangos entering the front, we’ll handle them.” Beau spoke to the guys with him, “Thirty take the HVT and proceed to exfil, Charlie 5 and I will handle the Tangos and be right behind you.” Thirty acknowledged “Copy.”
Sonny was watching the door and the road. Waiting on the Team to exit when he saw headlights of approaching vehicles at the same time the comms came alive, “This is HAVOC all Charlie elements ISR shows 2 technicals and 1 truck approaching from the North with at least 15 armed men.” “Fuck.” Sonny exclaimed. He saw Thirty exiting the building dragging the hooded HVT, followed a few seconds later by Charlie 1 and 5 just as the first vehicle stopped 150 yards from his position.
Sonny’s throat tightened as he dropped to one knee to get into the best firing position to attack the tangos and to protect his Team mates as they were making their exit through the fence. Charlie 1, 2 and 5 made it through the fence and were engaging the enemies as they moved. Also Charlie 4 was still on the roof and had eyes on the vehicles, he was engaging them.
Charlie 3 was guarding the fence opening, he was also engaging the new tangos. Suddenly Charlie 3 yelled and went down, Charlie 1 grabbed him and drug him behind a mound of rocks to temporary safety. Charlie 1 yelled over the gunfire “Charlie 1 to HAVOC we are taking heavy fire and Charlie 3 is down we need the QRF now.” “Charlie 1 this is HAVOC we have QRF spinning up they will be there in 10 mikes.”
Sonny and the others know 10 mikes can seem like ten years when you are under enemy fire, the only thing to do is keep fighting, not for yourself but for your brothers. Charlie 5 is treating Charlie 3 for a GSW to the shoulder. Charlie 2 is protecting the HVT and still firing at the tangos. Charlie 1 is engaging the tangos by firing his M14 and throwing smoke grenades to enable Charlie 2 and the HVT to move to another rock outcropping farther away followed by Charlie 3 and 5.
Sonny was continuing to fire at the tangos near the vehicles when he hears running and shots coming from the narrow road to his left. He glances around the corner and sees eight tangos coming from the village shooting at the tangos in the vehicles. Sonny realizes that they are rivals and they somehow knew about Charlie’s raid, probably a Sudanese leak. So they attacked at the same time knowing that the attack could kill their rivals, maybe even the leader Agar and the Seals.
Charlie 4 shouts over the coms, “RPG.” He fires his rifle and puts a bullet in the shooter’s head. But the RPG was already on its way and the wall next to Sonny exploded and quickly became a pile of rubble, with dust and dirt billowing into the air.
Sonny knows he is falling and the world is crashing in on top of him.
The sound of the helo coming in and the mounted M60 machine gun firing its rounds raining down upon the tangos. Tangos heard the helo coming and decided to leave or at least to shelter behind a large outcropping of rocks. So like roaches running from light, these tangos hide to fight . Charlie 1 anxiously asks, “All Charlie elements sit-rep.” “Charlie 2 here, I’ve got the HVT.” “Charlie 5 I’m good but Charlie 3 needs a Casevac, he has lost a lot of blood.” “Charlie 4 I took a GSW to the leg, got a tourniquet on it.”
“Charlie 6 sit-rep, Charlie 6 sit-rep.” Only silence. “Charlie 6 this is Charlie 1 sit-rep now.” Beau drew a heavy breathe hoping for a reply when Charlie 4 spoke.
“This is 4, I had a direct line of site to Charlie 6’s last pos, the RPG exploded close to the building 6 was next to, it collapsed on his position. I lost sight of him, we will need a rescue team to move the debris, Charlie 4 out.” Charlie 4 confirmed Beau’s worse nightmare, he had to compartmentalize this info for now, he had two seriously injured men, an HVT and a trapped brother that needed rescue.
“HAVOC this is Charlie 1 we have two wounded eagles Charlie 3 and 4 need immediate medical, Charlie 6 is down as a R.P.G. brought part of the building down on his pos, so where is the QRF?”
“Charlie 1 this is HAVOC, Q.R.F. is 5 mikes out and medical is aware of the two wounded eagles, rescue of Charlie 6 is on hold til the fighting stops, HAVOC out.” Charlie Team made their way to exfil after their QRF arrived as the two rival gangs continued to engage in a firefight around the building.
The helo landed with the remaining Charlie Team. Charlie 3 and 4 were carried off the helo on stretchers with IV’s as they were rushed to the waiting corpsmen on the C-17. The HVT Agar and his computers were turned over to the Intel officer and he was handcuffed to a wall rack in the upper level away from the Team.
Beau’s face was twisted with worry, immediately he asked Lt. Commander White, “When can we go back to dig Sonny out, no man is left behind?”
“I’m getting a team from the support personal to see what tools we have for an excavation and I have Lt. Perez watching the ISR, for continuing activity between the tangos. I can’t send anyone back there unless we have control of the area.” He continued, “Beau go get cleaned up and something to drink.”
Twenty minutes later a corpsmen approached the Lt. Commander, Beau sees him and returns to the Lt. Commander’s side. The corpsman said, “Lt. Commander, Sir, Charlie 4 needs immediate surgery, a bullet fragment is lodged in his femur next to his femoral artery, I have splinted his leg and given him two units of O neg. His injury has a high risk of complications. Charlie 3 is stable but may need surgery to check for nerve or muscle damage in the through and through GSW to his shoulder.”
Lt. Perez called to the Lt. Commander, “Commander you need to see this Sir, ISR is picking up a total of over 30 tangos engaging in the fire fight around the building where Charlie Team found the HVT. The new arrivals must have called in reinforcements after Charlie left.
The Lt. Commander looked over at Charlie 1 with downcast eyes, “I’m sorry, Beau, I need to contact Command and inform them of the latest developments and see what options there are to retrieve Charlie 6. It won’t be Charlie Team or the support team doing it. Not with the firefight going on between the rival fractions and the urgent medical needs of your men. Charlie has successfully achieved your original mission.”
Beau bit his bottom lip until he tasted blood, he knew that the mission was not a success and would only be remembered as an op that left a Tier One Operator behind. He took a long breath before going to tell the rest of Charlie Team that they would be leaving. The other members of the team were distraught with the decision to leave Sonny, dead or alive behind. Thirty Mike was especially upset after all the shit he had given Sonny over the years. He was at a loss for words and only put his face in his hands and shook his head at their inability to retrieve their brother.
Lt. Commander White, with a short hesitation, picked up the phone to contact Command H.Q. with this current information. As per chain of command he contacted Command Master Chief Blake to give his current status report of the Team’s injuries and the rival tangos ongoing battle.
The most important detail was that they had lost an eagle, Charlie 6 Petty Officer Quinn was either dead or alive but he was definitely buried under a massive amount of rubble and they could not retrieve him at the present time. Command Master Chief Blake, former Foxtrot 1 and friend of Bravo 1, turned to look at his Commander Eric Blackburn with a sorrowful look, he replied, “Good copy Lt. Commander White, what do you need?”
The Lt. Commander replied “HAVOC we need clearance to fly to the nearest Naval Hospital and for ISR to stay on station as long as possible to determine if and when it would be safe enough to deploy a Team for rescue or recovery of Charlie 6. Perhaps our partner forces could be of assistance.” He had to ask even though he knew the Sudanese would be very reluctant to become involved.
Commander Blackburn was on duty monitoring the progress of all the Teams currently on ops. The normally emotionally controlled Commander Blackburn was having a difficult time holding it together when he heard Sonny’s name. But he had a Command Center to manage and make sure it ran as smooth as possible in support of all the teams in the field. He knew everyone in the room was negatively impacted by the news of the possible loss of a Tier 1 operator.
Commander Blackburn cared deeply for and respected all the Teams. But members of Bravo held an extra special place in his heart. He had been their Lt. Commander for years and knew them as well as he knew members of his own family. Now one was injured or killed thousands of miles away from his Bravo brothers. And before rumors spread outside this room he had to tell Jason and the others what had happened. First he reminded everyone in the room that the info they had received must stay confidential until all next of kin were notified.
Chapter Text
CHAPTER 2
Sonny partially opened one eye and immediately realized something was terribly wrong. He was laying on his side in a hole and was in extreme pain. He remebered being in a firefight then falling. The first rays of daylight were peeking through the wood and dirt covering him. He heard a gun fight above but it wasn’t U.S. military issued fire arms.
He knew from Trent’s rants that the first thing you should do after finding yourself unconscious, was a self evaluation or mental checklist. Asking yourself was blood spurting from somewhere. He had lots of cuts and scrapes but nothing seems to be gushing. Next he tried to take a deep breath but winced as he knew some ribs were bruised or broken. Then he tried to lift his right arm to reach his radio but the arm didn’t want to co-operate and the severe pain told him it was dislocated or broken, that didn’t matter anyway. He looked down and there was nothing but wires sticking out were the radio once hung on his vest. His gun was missing, must have fallen off when he fell. He could wiggle his toes but he could not move his right leg as it was pinned under a heavy wooden beam. He really needed to close his eyes and rest for a little while. He was definitely concussed and thinking about anything had become extremely difficult. He let his headache and other pains take him into oblivion.
Next time he woke it was dusk, he heard moans, then realized that those were coming from him. He turned his head and vomited from the concussion. If only he could get to his med kit a morphine shot would be a welcome relief but his left arm was pinned under him and he was still covered by debris. The gun fire had ceased and he heard voices speaking broken English and Sudanese. His mind wandered, where is Charlie, did they leave me? No, No man left behind then why am I still here. Maybe they were injured or killed or maybe they heard rumors and just left fucked-up Sonny behind. He closed his eyes and waited for whatever or whoever came next.
It was dark with deep shadows from the flashlights shining down from up above and someone was digging him out.
~~~~~
Charlie Team sat in silence during the three hour flight to Italy. They were met at the airport by an ambulance to take their guys to the base Hospital. Charlie 4 was immediately taken into surgery, Charlie 3 was examined to see what further treatment he might need. The rest of Charlie were checked out by the medical staff for cuts, bruises and possible concussions. Charlie 4 injuries were serious, he was to remain there until he was cleared to fly home. Lt. Commander White was able to get the C-17 ready to return to Va. Beach quickly. The remaining Charlie team wanted to be on that flight to help in any way possible to rescue or recover Charlie 6.
~~~~
Jase arrived on base at 1100. As he was walking to Bravo’s cage room several Command staff passed him and only gave a quick nod as they passed. Even Master Chief Blake hurried into Blackburn’s office with barely acknowledging him with a nod in the hallway. Stepping around the next corner he almost ran headlong into Davis. She stopped just before colliding, “Goodmorning Master Chief, do you feel some weird vibes here today, everyone is giving me very short direct answers. It seems very solemn, like they don’t want to start a conversation with me. Do I have toilet paper stuck on my shoe or something.” She laughed and got strange looks from two Lieutenants passing them in the hall. They arrived at Bravo’s cage room door and Lisa said her goodbyes and proceeded to her office.
Jason entered and found Ray sitting at the center table surrounded by gun parts. “Hey Jase, I thought I would get the 416 ready before you schedule time at the Shoot House.”
“Hey, did you notice anything strange in everyone’s attitude today? I just ran into Davis, she and I noticed something seems off, like we are being left out of the loop on something.” Ray answered, “Not really but I got here early and there weren’t many folks around. Earlier I did see Blackburn and Blake coming out of Command they seemed to be in a big hurry.”
Trent, Brock and Clay wandered in a little later and they mentioned the atmosphere on the base definitely seemed off. Brock noticed that Sonny was absent again, “Sonny a no show again Boss.” Jason answered, “Yeah, I went by his place yesterday, his truck was there but his bike’s gone and his phone goes to voice mail. I left him a message that we would be starting drills. Six days of R & R was enough and we need to get back to training to be ready to earn our paychecks when the call comes.”
Clay looked concerned, remembering what a bad decision Sonny made in South America that almost cost both of them their lives and hoping his absence didn’t involve cocaine again. He laughed nervously. “You all know Sonny, strip clubs and whiskey are his down time go to. Hell, he’ll be back bitching about drills and everything else.”
Brock chuckled, “Yeah you’re probably right.” Everyone smiled hoping he was correct, then they got busy cleaning their guns and straightening their cages with the occasional glance at Sonny’s cage.
It was 1530 hours and Bravo was just finishing up when all their phones buzzed. Commander Blackburn ordered them to meet in the Team room in 30 mikes. They stopped and looked at each other as it was only the seventh day into their twenty-one day stand down. Jason stated in a slightly confused voice, “OK you know the drill, get cleaned up and head on over.”
“Guess we may find out why everyone has been acting so odd today, I’ll call Naima and tell her I may not be home for dinner.” Ray told her about the odd events of the day. She asked if he needed her to bring his larger go bag to the base. He said, “I hope not but will let you know. I love you.”
Trent laughed, “I guess Sonny will show up now with Blackburn doing the call-up.”
Brock questioned, “Wonder if we’ll need Pepper.” Pep was at the vet’s getting her shots and a check-up.
Clay added, “I’d better give Stella a call.” He gave her a head’s up that something was happening, but he wasn’t sure what but Blackburn had called them in.
Charlie Team minus two of their members, with Lt. Commander White and Lt. Perez arrived in Va. Beach at 1500 hours and immediately proceed to Commander Blackburn’s office. He greeted the men with a nod. “Lt Commander White, Lt Perez, Master Chief, Thirty, Darius,” he paused, “Brian I read your medical status you should have reported to the infirmary.” In a tired voice Brian answered, “I needed to be with Charlie when Bravo get the news about Charlie 6.”
Blackburn continued, “Men, you accomplished the mission by capturing Agar Suliman and saved many lives from becoming human traffic victims But we know every time a Team goes out there is the risk that not everyone will return,” he paused, “Now its time to go and inform Bravo about what happened.”
Bravo Team entered the Team room and they were confused and surprised when they saw Charlie 1, 2, and 5 standing at the back of the room. Charlie 3 sitting, he looked pale and was wearing a sling and all of them had cuts and bruises. Commander Blackburn and Lt. Commander White were standing at the front of the room. Lt. Davis was sitting at one of the side desks.
Commander Blackburn spoke, “Gentlemen have a seat.” He paused knowing that the next few minutes could become very volatile either physically and for sure emotionally. As they proceeded to take their seats Jason’s eyes never left Blackburn, trying to get a read on what was coming next, and the rest of Bravo Team’s eyes were intently watching Jason.
Jason asked, “What’s going on Commander?”
Blackburn cleared his throat and began by using Jason’s rank hoping he would pick up on the fact that restraint and military protocol was needed here today. “Master Chief Hayes there has been an incident on a mission that Charlie Team carried out in the past 24 hours involving a Team member.” Jason’s hand was running up and down his bouncing leg. The rest of Bravo had picked up on the mounting tension in the room and the fact that Charlie members had cast their eyes downward as soon as Blackburn started speaking.
Jason just couldn’t keep quiet, “Commander what does that have to do with Bravo? Do we need to complete the mission?” Commander Blackburn continued and he needed to say it quickly using Jason’s rank again. “Master Chief, the Team member involved is Special Warfare Operator First Class Petty Officer Percival Quinn.”
Bravo members erupted, Jason spoke first, “Sonny, why the hell was he running with Charlie, is he OK, where is he?” He gave Charlie 1, Beau Fuller, a man his Team and he had had issues with over the years, a menacing glare. The rest of Bravo were whispering among themselves and glancing between Jason and Charlie Team.
Lt. Lisa Davis sucked in a quick breath and bit her bottom lip trying not to cry out. She swiped at the tears filling her eyes as this room was not the time or place for emotions, not with the extreme tension already present.
Blackburn spoke, attempting to gain control of the room, “Listen up, you will be read in on all the details. The bottom line is Petty Officer Quinn is M.I.A. in Sudan.”
Jase jumped up and went straight for Beau and shouted, “You son-of-a-bitch you left him?” Brock and Clay were up and grabbed his arms before he could do something he would regret. Especially in front of the three Officers who were present. Thirty and Darius immediately moved closer to Beau to protect him, even though everyone could understand Jason’s emotions getting the best of him.
~~~~
Sonny tried to listen to the voices as they got louder and louder the closer they came to him, apparently they had heard his moan and the sound of his movements from trying to free himself. Dirt and debris rained down on him, so whoever was digging him out didn’t care if they caused more damage or pain. He heard a man’s voice screaming, “Hurry up, hurry dig faster. Is he one of Agar’s men?”
Finally he could see shadows of hands and arms thru his blood and dirt covered eyes, someone roughly grabbed under his arms and snatched him up, a loud groan escaped his lips.
The pain in his arm and now the new gash on his leg from them pulling his leg from beneath the wooden beam just added to his other injuries. He felt like vomiting and passing out but he took several deep steadying breathes as he needed to see the face of the man in charge. He was delivered up to more hands that were waiting at the top of the hole, then he was tossed on the ground like a sack of potatoes.
The ‘in charge’ voice laughed with excitement and said, “Be careful, a soldier, good good such a gift left behind by his friends.” His associates shouted with cheers of enthusiasm. “Good, good, his friends helped us defeat Agar and they left this American soldier behind.” He yanked Sonny’s helmet off, grabbed him by the hair, pulled him up to a half sitting position and shouted, “Such a wonderful prize, yes, yes I Mustafa Chol have taken Agar’s territory and I have an American soldier prisoner.” Mustafa laughed, then let go as Sonny collapsed from his injuries into pain free obliviousness.
~~~~~
Back in Va. Beach Charlie 1 took a couple of steps back from Jason and said, “I’m sorry, we will tell you everything that happened on the op.”
Blackburn spoke in a gentle voice, “OK everyone take a seat, we will listen to Charlie Team’s A.A.R. so we can make a plan of action for rescue or recovery of Petty Officer Quinn.” Silence, the words rescue or recovery were heard loud and clear by everyone in the room. Commander Blackburn would not, could not mince words because he did not know Sonny’s fate. The room became deathly silent.
Lt. Commander White broke the silence by telling them the objective of the mission, the Intel, the layout of the area and number of tangos shown on ISR. He stated that ISR had stayed on station until it had to leave to refuel but he requested it return and it should be back on station soon. Lt. Perez was in the Command Center monitoring it, he finished his report then left.
Charlie Team gave their P.O.V. starting with Charlie 1 and ended with Charlie 3. Bravo interrupted and asked pointed questions to each of Charlie’s members. Beau ended by telling them what Charlie 4 had said about the RPG and Sonny’s position.
Blackburn addressed the Teams, “If you don’t have any more questions Charlie 3 go to medical now, the rest of Charlie and Lt. Davis are dismissed.”
Davis went back to her office locked the door, closed the blinds slid down the wall and curled up in a ball as sobs racked her body.
After Charlie’s departure the room fell quiet again til Bravo 1 spoke with anger, “Eric when did you know Sonny was rolling with Charlie and why the hell didn’t I get a head’s up?”
Eric replied quietly, “Sonny requested it and Beau cleared it with Command, I didn’t know until they were in the air. I knew Sonny was struggling with some heavy shit, when he came in to sign the Venezuela A.A.R.’s he looked really rough and had been throwing hands somewhere. You know I always let Bravo handle their own issues. As close as this Team is I had hoped it would be handled inside the Team and not involve me or any other brass.”
Jason looked down and drew a long breathe. “Eric get us over there now, we owe it to Sonny for Bravo to go get him and bring him home.” The room became errily quiet as everyone processed this.
A knock at the door broke the silence, Trent opened the door surprised to see Lt. Perez, “May I speak to Commander Blackburn?” Blackburn answered, “Yes Lt. what is it?” She stepped into the room, “Sir Lt. Commander White sent me, as there is something on ISR you need to see.” Bravo were on their feet following Perez and Blackburn to Command, normally an entire Team were not permitted in Command, but nothing was normal about today. Blackburn turned and nodded to Jase and the others.
Everyone looked up as Bravo Team entered the room. They went to the screen with the Sudan ISR feed. Lt. Commander White said, “ISR picked this up10 minutes ago, activity suddenly resumed around the building where Petty Officer Quinn was last seen. There are twelve people and they have congregated in a very small area digging or removing debris. We are checking for any new heat signatures which may give us proof of life. It is dark and we can’t get a visual picture to identify a specific person.”
The room was quiet except for the necessary radio chatter from the other Teams in the field as everyone waited. Minutes ticked by, it seemed like hours. Lt. Davis entered, she saw the Team with their backs to her concentrating on one screen. She walked over and stood beside Clay, he glanced at her with sympathetic eyes.
After what seemed like forever, the thirteenth heat signature was there, everyone on Bravo counted the numbers again to make sure their eyes were not deceiving them. There were audible sighs and a few soft yeah’s in celebration of this very small victory knowing there was now hope.
Jason looked at Blackburn and sighed, “We’ll be in the cages getting ready.” Bravo members patted Lisa on the shoulder as they passed her because they knew she was extremely close to Sonny. Only Clay and Ray knew the true extent of their relationship.
Bravo entered their cages as each man went to prepare for one of the most important mission they had ever undertaken. Trent started making a mental list of everything concerning medical supplies he might need to treat Sonny once they rescue him. He did not or could not think about recovery being an option even though he knew that a body could have a residual heat signature for some time after death and what if Sonny had died while they were removing him from the debris. But now was not the time for those thoughts, he needed to gather items and get ready to treat Sonny to the best of his ability.
Brock was checking Pepper’s equipment if she was called on to help. Also he needed to get a personal item from Sonny’s cage for her to have his scent. When he finished then he would pack his ruck sack and be ready to retrieve his brother.
Ray felt regret for not confronting Sonny earlier about his and Clay’s issues from the South America op.. Something major must have happened to trigger him to run with Charlie, as much as Ray knew he disliked Thirty and knowing how Jase felt about Beau Fuller. Right now he needed to stay close to Jase and keep him grounded and front sight focused. He now understood how Bravo felt when he was captured and what they would risk to bring their brother home. He paused to bow his head to say a quick prayer for Sonny’s life and safety.
He stepped outside to call Naima, he knew that military protocol stated that he should not talk to her about Sonny til his family were notified, but THEY were his family. He told her they were leaving on a rescue or recovery op and he asked her to bring his go bag and the kids to the base as he really wanted to give them a hug and kiss before he left.
Jason was lost in his thoughts and feeling guilty for not reaching out to Sonny, perhaps he could have prevented this. His main job was always to keep his men safe. But for now he had to get into his three foot world and concentrate on staying focused on the job of bringing Sonny home. He knew Blackburn would convince the brass to green-light this as quickly as possible now that there was proof of life.
Clay blamed himself for Sonny’s drastic actions and they were drastic even for Sonny. All Clay could think about was that Sonny made the decision to go on that op because he couldn’t forgive him for putting him at risk of not being able to return to Stella and Brian. He had told him they were through being friends. Sure he was mad at Sonny but he was, is, his best friend. Clay’s eyes became glassy and he sucked in a quick breathe before he continued to pack his ruck. It took several sniper breathes before he called Stella, he told her they had to leave on an emergency rescue mission without giving any details.
Davis left the Command Center and returned to her office still in shock and disbelief. Lisa replayed her last conversations with Sonny, he had said some terrible things but she was a big girl and had given as good as she got. She did not speak to him the last day before their flight home and no words were spoken between them on the plane, she didn’t even offer him a ride to his apartment from the airport. Tears again flowed thinking how she had abandoned her BFF and the love of her life. She swiped at her already red puffy eyes.
There was a knock at her door, Commander Blackburn was standing there. “Lisa I’m sorry, I know you and Sonny have been friends for a long time. I have a question for you, I am working on getting this op green-lit and I am clearing it with the brass for me to go. I know you are not exclusively assigned to Bravo now but if you are up for it, do you want to be my Intel Officer? It would mean a lot to me to have someone I know and trust along, also you can help me keep Bravo in check and if things go badly they will need us.”
Lisa sniffled, “Commander,” pause, “Eric, thank you and yes of course I will go.” Eric gave Lisa’s shoulder a squeeze and a half smile, he then left to get everything arranged for the flight. Lisa returned to her desk, sat down and flipped her internal switch to bury her emotions so she could become the very best Intel officer and do her part in bringing Sonny home alive.
A short time later Commander Blackburn sent Bravo and Davis a text that they would be leaving at 2100 hours.
~~~~
Sonny was pulled from his unconscious state by a punch to his stomach and a head slap, with Mustafa urging him. “Wake up, wake up soldier, I have important questions to ask you.”
It took Sonny a few moments to realize that he had been stripped of his shoes, vest and shirt. His arms and legs were chained and shackled to a heavy wooden chair in a room in the target building. He answered Mustafa, “I really needed my beauty sleep, I don’t have any answers and I’m a sailor.”
“Oh he is a very funny sailor,” the guards laughed at Mustafa’s words, “We have no time for jokes and the joke will be on you soon if I do not get answers to my questions.” He paused and nodded for the guard to punch Sonny again, this time one hit him in the face and Sonny held back a grunt and just spit out a mouthful of blood and saliva. “Oh you are a big tough sailor a long way from water or friends, the friends that left you here.” Mustafa chuckled, “I need answers, where are the drugs Agar trades with?”
Sonny snarled, “Go fuck yourself.” Mustafa scowled, “I am tiring of this game sailor, I know many ways to make a man answer my questions. Agar has the answers and your friends have Agar so we will find out how much pain they will let you endure before they make Agar answer my question.” He motioned to the guards to take Sonny back to his cell while Mustafa went to set up a room for a live video.
It was difficult with the shackles on his ankles for him to walk so the two guards shoved and pushed Sonny. They took him down a corridor with multiple doors, an older women was coming towards them and she stood flat against the wall when she saw the guards. They tossed him into the last room and he landed on his already injured ribs and shoulder. The room was small, dark and smelled of excrement, there was a dirty blanket thrown in one corner and a bucket in the other. It took all his effort to turn over and scoot on the floor til his back was resting against the closest wall.
He checked his arm and realized it was dislocated and needed to be put back in place. He had watched Trent do it but doing it to yourself would be a real challenge. He needed a challenge to keep his mind off what Mustafa had in store for him. He held his arm straight out then grabbed his elbow and maneuvered his arm back into the socket, he felt the darkness from the pain overtake him as he fell onto his side.
He awoke later in extreme pain from the beatings and his other injuries. He immediately placed his arm across his chest, wishing he had a sling to rest it in. It did feel slightly better being back in place and he could move his hand and fingers better than before. He was cold, thirsty and in pain, the gash on his leg hurt and was swollen and leaking pus and blood.
He knew he probably would not be kept in this room very long so he needed to check it out for anything useful. He scooted over close to the blanket and when he moved it there was a container of water and some bread wrapped in a rag, he quickly consumed both. He decided it must have been left by the old lady that they had passed in the corridor. Sonny hoped that the info from the HVT Charlie had captured would help get revenge for the people who had been captured and abused. He knew Agar deserved a slow painful death for what he had done to them. He despised anyone who mistreated children or old people that weren’t able to defend themselves. Now another bad guy had taken his place. He would do his best to fight Mustafa so he could not continue the human trafficking activities.
Even with his hands shackled he tore off a strip of the blanket and used it and some water to clean his leg wound and he wiped the other cuts and scrapes. Then he pulled the rest of the blanket over his bare shoulders and propped himself into a corner to rest before the guards returned.
~~~~
The C-17 was at cruising altitude and everyone with coffee cups in hand milled around on the upper level. There would be little if any time spent in their hammocks as everyone was anxiously waiting for any Intel updates. Lt. Davis had made contact with her CIA contacts stationed in Sudan to make sure any new info came directly to her.
ISR had shown several men dragging someone inside the front of the undamaged portion of the target building. The bulk of the tangos, twenty plus were scattered throughout the village. They had gathered the villagers and put them in one building. Some of the Tangos then came out to search and patrol the buildings and surrounding areas. There were seven heat signatures in the target building and two guards patrolling the outside.
While Bravo was waiting for more info they went to the cargo level and sat on the equipment crates and speculated on what had gone through Sonny’s head that caused him to consider that running with Charlie Team was ever an acceptable option. After a few minutes of silence and several glances at Clay as they all knew there was something major going on between them from that last op.
Brock opened the conversation, “Those last couple of days on the op was hard on all of us but Sonny really shut down and the bottle seemed to be his best friend. I thought it was just post op chill time and that once we got home ….” his sentence trailed off and the silence was back.
Trent spoke next, “Being our unofficial medic you know I watch all of you keeping in mind that if I can help with anything physical, I am always going to make suggestions to keep you in fighting form. What is best for each of you keeps the whole team safe. That’s why I stepped down for a few months to have those couple of surgeries to “fix” some long overdo issues. But Sonny’s issues weren’t all physical. But we had watched him come back after the break-up with his “special girl” I was hoping that whatever this was he would snap back from quickly.” Jason, Ray and Clay sat listening intently to their teammates take on Sonny’s erratic behavior.
Ray looked at Jase, then around the area to make sure what he was about to say remained private within the Team. “I know that Jase’s TBI announcement caught Sonny off guard, he knew something was off, but only Clay and I knew the details and we were trying to work the problem without ya’ll or Lt. Davis getting involved. I think Sonny being 3IC, was pissed and disappointed that we didn’t trust him enough to read him in sooner.”
Jason looked around at each of his men. “I am sorry that I didn’t acknowledge my TBI sooner, maybe I would have turned down the South America op and we wouldn’t be here now. I was determined to ignore and override and work the issue myself.” The guys cast their eyes downward but reached over to tap Jase on the shoulder or arm, knowing that anyone of them would have made the same decision, as they had all denied injuries to be able stay on the job.
He continued, “But to keep you away from the brass, the decision to keep it quiet for the time being was the correct one. Till Clay, Ray and I could come up with a plan to help me and also keep the team safe.”
He took a slow breathe then continued, “We were so focused on that and to make sure the op was successful for Bravo’s future that we ignored his spiraling down. He had been in dark places before, what was different this time?”
Only one left was Clay, he took a couple of sips of cold coffee and cleared his throat. “I have the missing piece, I hoped I would never need to tell the whole story to anyone.” He took a deep ragged breathe before continuing, “A couple of days before we headed home, Sonny refused to hang with Brock, Trent or me, then he left by himself. Davis and I were concerned when he had been gone over 12 hours so Davis pinged his phone and it showed he was in a really bad part of the city. I went to retrieve our wayward boy. By the looks of the place, it was a low rent hookers hotel. I followed the music and noise, found Sonny and some “friends” having a party. I lit into Sonny about being there. He told me, “I paid cash, no cameras there and I needed a party. There were more things at this party than just liquor. Sonny had stolen some “blow” from a cartel member. I shut the party down, but Sonny was in no condition to come back to our hidey hole so I told him to go sleep for a couple of hours then we would leave. He did and we were just about ready to go when some of the cartel members busted in looking for their drugs. One put a gun to my head, if Sonny hadn’t come in when he did I would be dead.” Clay took a long pause reliving the moment. “We had to fight our way out and that’s why I had to contact Davis to get a ride. We abandoned the car, destroyed the phones. I told Sonny he and I were done.” He looked down at the floor before continuing. “His actions could have kept me from ever holding my baby boy and I could not forgive him for that. We didn’t speak when Jase and Ray showed up to give us a ride and only spoke to each other when necessary, then I flew home.”
The guys were speechless and had no idea that the rift between Clay and Sonny could have taken such a drastic turn. Their relationship had started out rough but over the years had grown into something similar to the one Jase and Ray had. Sure there were ups and downs but it was perceived to be unbreakable. Or it was till now. Was that the missing piece that caused Sonny to lose hope about his Bravo future and prompted him to run with Charlie Team?
Brock and Trent stood up to go refill their coffee cups, they needed time to process this new information. And to take a few minutes for introspect as how they were not there for Sonny or Clay. And how in the future they needed to be conscious of not just physical but emotional pain. That was not something they taught them in BUDS, SERE or in the Navy manual. They returned just as Davis climbed down the stairs. She was taking a break waiting to hear from the CIA. She picked up a bottle of water and walked over to where Jase, Ray and Clay still sat in silence on the crates.
Lisa said quietly, “Don’t let me interrupt, looks like a pretty deep discussion was going on within Bravo.” Ray gave her a half smile, “No just trying to figure out what Sonny was thinking, that he would agree to run with Charlie. Oh, do you have any new Intel?”
“No just waiting, always hurry up and wait.” She took a long pause considering if she really wanted to add any information on the discussion. “I had really hoped I wasn’t a contributing factor to Sonny’s decision. He said some hateful things to me about being the reason Hannah went back to Texas and I shot back at him that he needed to look in the mirror before blaming anyone.” She took a long drink of water then continued. “We didn’t speak again and I didn’t even offer him a ride home from the airport. I figured he would apologize and we would work it out as we have been friends for so many years. I just hope I get a chance to mend our relationship. You know I will do my best to help bring him home.” She said with glassy eyes, then she turned quickly to return to the upper level.
Bravo sat in silence trying to process all that had been said in the few minutes. It had finally started to make sense with hearing those revelations to understand the reason why Sonny made the decision to avoid them and go on an op with Charlie Team.
~~~~
Sonny had slipped into a semi-conscious state, he was suddenly jerked awake and back to the pain by a brutal kick to his leg from one of the guards. He felt the hands from a guard grab him under his arms and drag him to his feet, he held in a groan and started shuffling along as quickly as the shackles digging into his ankles would allow.
He was taken down the corridor into a room where Mustafa was waiting there bouncing with excitement. He was standing in front of a table where assorted tools, knives, belts and a whip used on animals was laid on a small table. In the same room there was a longer table with straps attached along the sides and a bucket of water.
Mustafa said in a venomous voice, “Oh good you’re here and look, Agar left in such a hurry thanks to your friends, he left all these toys for us to play with. Do sit down so we can see if your friends want to help you by helping me.” He laughed, “What do you think, will they help you?”
Sonny casually said, “My friends and I don’t play with toys or help slave traders.” Mustafa motioned for the guards to place Sonny in the heavy wooden chair, they used the chains to shackle his legs to the chair and the leather straps attached to the chair to secure his arms. Then Mustafa positioned the camera mounted on a tripod in front of the chair as he told Sonny, “You are the leading man in this movie and all the best sites will be showing this. I know your friends will find it quickly, if, they are looking.”
He chuckled, “We will wait for a few minutes before you read my questions.” Sonny glared at Mustafa “I’m not reading any damn questions you son-of-a-bitch.” Mustafa answered sarcastically, “Oh really.” He grabbed a cattle prod used on the local sheep and goats and stuck it into Sonny’s side and squeezed the trigger several times, Sonny flinched, bit his lip, moaned but refused to scream.
The larger guard struck Sonny in the side. Sonny only gave a yelp, the other guard sent a fist to his jaw knocking his head back and splitting his lip. He grunted then snarled, “That’s all you’ve got my grand-ninny could hit harder.” The guards moved towards Sonny again but Mustafa stopped them. “Wait, there will be plenty of time for fun later but let us see who is watching.”
Davis was in contact with Langley, Virginia. The CIA techies were monitoring all the dark web sites looking for anything connected to Sonny. She received a message to expect a video feed as it could be their Petty Officer. Davis turned and motioned to Commander Blackburn, she then called out in a strained unemotional voice, as she needed to prepare herself, “Bravo we may have something.”
Bravo ran up the steps to Davis and the screens. It was only moments later when the screen lit up with the picture of Sonny’s bruised and bloody body, strapped and shackled to a chair.
A voice off screen spoke in Arabic, he had planned on Sonny asking the question but he didn’t want to waste time. He wanted to save that for what he had in store for him. He needed to persuade Sonny’s friends to give him what he wanted.
“You have Agar and I have your sailor boy, I want you to ask Agar where he hid his drugs. If I do not get the answer soon, very soon,” he paused, “I will publicly kill your sailor and he will be begging me to do it. He is also very popular with your enemies and I could sell him to the highest bidder.” He paused then added, “You have three hours to give me an answer, contact me on Agar’s Sat phone, if you attack us we will kill your sailor and all the slaves.” Then the screen went dark. Sonny only knew a few Arabic words so most of what Mustafa said was lost to him. He did understand the Arabic word “kill” and “sell” so that was more than likely describing his future. Mustafa turned off the camera and walked closer to Sonny, roughly grabbed his hair and tilted his head back and said, “Now we will wait and see if your friends want you back alive.”
~~~~
Davis contacted Langley to ask if they could confirm the location of the video, they assumed they were still at the target building as ISR had not recorded any movement. Also did they know who this rival of Agar was and where his main headquarters were located. The CIA came back with no information on the identity of this person, there were several possibilities and yes they were still in the target building.
Jason and the rest of Bravo immediately turned to Blackburn, waiting for him to speak, hopefully giving them the green-light to carry out an attack on the village that night.
Blackburn took a deep breath. “You know I need to run it up the chain of command and convince them this is the best course of action. Davis will contact the CIA who is holding Agar.” He had been flown to one of their dark sites a couple of hours after his capture. “Perhaps they can get info on the drug stash. That may buy us more time so we can find out who has Sonny. Also the Sudanese authorities will need to be notified. I will do everything to make this happen as fast as possible.” Blackburn turned to confer with Davis and his other support people.
Jase stayed quiet because he knew in his heart Blackburn was right but it didn’t make waiting any easier. He looked at the guys and motioned for them to get everything ready to do the assault on the village.
Davis and Blackburn were immediately consulting with the Navy Brass, CIA and the State Dept. bringing everyone up to speed on the current situation. Blackburn was stressing that a Seal being publicly executed in Sudan would have untold regional and worldwide ramifications.
The CIA agents holding Agar were made aware of the info requested by this unknown rival and were given permission to bargain with him if he supplied any info about his drug stash. But dealing with so many agencies takes time, time Sonny did not have. Agar wanted more perks, money, freedom etc. than the CIA was prepared to give, so very little happened in three hours.
Jason and the guys were becoming more and more anxious and pacing in the cargo area. Jase called out to Blackburn, “We can’t wait much longer, we need a green-light now.”
The guys all nodded as this scenario brought back so many memories of Ray’s capture and the search for him. Blackburn understood, but there were limits to his authority, he was just as frustrated as Bravo at the delay.
They were able to get the Sat phone number and Blackburn dialed it when two hours and ten minutes had passed. He had Clay tell Mustafa in Arabic that they were talking to Agar and that they needed more time to get the information.
Mustafa laughed. “Maybe the CIA should use stronger measures,” in a menacing voice he continued, “I will show them how its done.” Ten minutes later a live video appeared with Sonny tied to an inclined table with a cloth over his face, his arms and legs were shaking. Everyone in TOC knew what was about to happen. Mustafa again spoke in Arabic, “See I will give the CIA a lesson, maybe this will open Agar’s mouth and the information will come out.” He gave the go ahead to the guards to pour water on the cloth covering Sonny’s face. Sonny sucked in a quick breath and held it as long as possible which was several minutes because he had been trained to do that in BUDS, but the guard continued to pour water in 10 second increments until he had to take a breath.
His head and body thrashed about as much as possible with him being tied tightly to the table. Then one of the guards held his head straight while the other poured more water until Mustafa finally motioned for them to stop and remove the clothe. Sonny was coughing and gagging, he spit out a small amount of water, his lips were blue, breathing was fast and shallow, his eyes were unseeing. Mustafa said “Call when you have the answer.”
Bravo was livid, they knew this was the worse kind of torture for Sonny, as he had drowned on the Washington submarine and was still haunted by nightmares.
Jason pinned Blackburn with a glare and in a threateningly quiet voice said, “Eric we either get green-lite now or Bravo will go without permission. Sonny is alive now. But for how long?” He turned and all of Bravo followed him to the lower level and finished putting their gear on.
Ray the level headed one spoke, “We know Eric is in a tough place, Jase. You just gave him an ultimatum, take a deep breathe, is this the best course of action?”
Clay spoke up before Jase could reply, “Ray, Jase and Sonny were willing to forfeit their careers to save you and I am willing to do that now to save Sonny.”
Trent added, “By Sonny’s looks if we don’t get to him soon it won’t matter. His breathing was shallow and he is at risk of pneumonia from waterboarding, the shaking could be from an infection and we don’t know how many other injuries he has sustained.”
“Pepper and I are ready to go get him now,” Brock finished. With solemn faces Ray and the others returned to jocking up.
Commander Eric Blackburn was between the proverbial rock and a hard place as Master Chief Jason Hayes told him Bravo was about to undertake an op with or without Navy Command approval.
Even though he might agree with them he had to do whatever it took to save them from doing something where they could end up in the brig and all their years of amazing work and sacrifice be turned into disgrace.
He placed a call to Admiral Keith David a former Seal. Eric and he had become friends while attending the Naval Academy and he hoped his influence would get this op green-lite. He explained in detail the dire situation to the Admiral and the urgent need for a decision to be made quickly before he had to detain a Tier One Team.
It had been over 30 minutes since the video had ended and Bravo was packed and anxious to go get their brother. Eric saw the electricity coming from Bravo and knew he needed to intercede before they walked off the C-17. He approached Jase and the rest of Bravo but still kept his Sat phone in his hand as he was waiting for a call back from Admiral David.
So in a soft but commanding voice, “Jase, I am doing everything possible and I have an Admiral who is sympathetic to our situation, I am waiting on a call from him or Devgru Command. You need to let me work the problem before you do something irreversible, you know Sonny would not want all your careers to end like this.”
Jase looked around at the guys and said, “You have 20 minutes then we are leaving.”
~~~~
Gasping, Sonny returned to a partially conscious state. The guards had unstrapped his arms from the table but they were still shackled with the chains. He was shaking and feverish, his leg and ribs were on fire. He could barely catch his breathe, his heart was pounding in his chest. It was similar to waking up on the U.S.S. Washington, except there he was surrounded by his brothers and he knew he was safe. Here he was surrounded by men who wanted to kill him. Maybe that was a good thing, what did he have to live for? It was not worth any of his brothers lives to save him. He was Bravo’s fuck-up and needed to die, this way was better than by his own hand. His baby girl, Lisa, his Dad and the Team would not be embarrassed by his death and he would get a Military funeral paid for by the good old U.S.A. taxpayers. When he died Mustafa might leave his body, it would be retrieved by a recovery Team and command would not involve Bravo.
Mustafa leaned down almost touching his face. “Oh there is our sailor, thought you were gone, but no you are still here, at least for a little while, I was not through playing.” Sonny gathered all his strength and grabbed Mustafa by the throat wrapped his wrist chain around his neck and pulled him down to head butt him as hard as possible. Mustafa screamed and was trying to fight back but his weak, skinny body was no match for Sonny, even in his present state. Hearing the scream the guards ran into the room, as they had stepped outside for a break, no longer having considered Sonny a threat to them or their boss.
They wrestled Sonny’s arms away from Mustafa’s neck and after hitting Sonny in the face and sides they were able to unwrap the chain from their boss’s neck. Mustafa fell back and struggled to catch his breathe, his neck had red and bloody spots and his broken nose dripped blood.
Sonny inwardly smiled as he hoped Mustafa would be mad enough to kill him and he was especially pleased to have made Mustafa suffer a little, payback for all the people he had abused. If Mustafa didn’t immediately kill him then maybe the hits from the guards would finish the job.
Mustafa was furious, scared and in pain, he shouted, “Go get someone to help me.” The smaller guard ran to the building were the captives were being kept to find a person to help. He asked the children who helped them when they got injured and they all pointed to the old lady sitting in the corner. He roughly grabbed her and ran quickly to the building where Mustafa was still whining loudly about his painful neck and broken nose.
She glanced around the room, saw a guard standing near Sonny who was laying very still on the table, eyes vacant and unseeing. As she started to approach him Mustafa shouted in Arabic, “Not him you stupid bitch, I am the injured one, help me.”
She turned and saw him standing in the corner farthest from Sonny partially hidden behind a chair with a wet clothe held to his face and neck, blood was trickling from his nose, down his chin onto his shirt. She covered her mouth with her hand and snickered slightly. She told him to sit, after he did she grabbed the bridge of his nose and set it. He screamed louder than anyone she had ever heard and then he slapped her.
She considered the slap worth it for her ability to cause him pain. She wished she could help the young man on the table. Maybe someone would come to rescue him or he would die before being tortured any more. She had watched Agar torture those who fought before being sold as slaves and probably the same thing Mustafa would do. She backed against the wall not knowing what would happen now that she had set his nose.
Sonny breathed out a low moan which brought Mustafa’s attention back to him. He ordered the guard, “Get the bastard up, he will pay for what he did to me, hang him on the wall.” The two guards did as instructed and hung Sonny on the wall by attaching the chain on his wrists to the lag bolts on the wall above his head so he was hanging by his wrists with his feet barely touching the floor.
The old lady was thankful that he was unconscious for the rough handling by the guards and for whatever was about to happen. The guards and Mustafa seemed to have forgotten all about her being in the room so she stayed quiet and backed into a corner.
Mustafa told the guard to hit Sonny as he would never get that close to him again. Sonny let out a moan and Mustafa took the animal whip and raised it above his head and brought it down with all his strength onto Sonny’s back, Sonny moaned louder and that seemed to excite Mustafa so he did it again and again and again. The lashes turned into little rivulets of blood now running down Sonny’s back onto the waistband of his pants.
Sonny went limp and silent as he succumbed to pain and hoplessness. His stopping any reaction to the whipping took the pleasure and excitement out of the torture for Mustafa.
He turned to the guards. “Get the van ready, we’ll leave men to guard the villagers, send two men to high ground and watch for the Americans, station some men in the hills around the village they can protect our departure, when the American soldiers come shoot them and after they are killed, our men can keep looking for the drugs.”
He pointed at Sonny. “Put him in the van, we will leave for Kerma.” The guard answered, “Yes Mustafa.” They took Sonny down from the wall and drug him out of the room. Mustafa wrapped up all the torture instruments and turned and looked down at Sonny’s blood on the floor, smiled and walked out.
The old lady stayed and decided she would go through the building after they left to see if anything Agar or Mustafa left behind might be of benefit to her friends and family.
Chapter Text
Thirty minutes had passed, Bravo was walking toward the ramp, geared up and ready to go. Eric was walking next to Jason with the SAT. phone in his hand. The support team was standing outside the plane ready to intervene, the air was electrified as no one knew what would happen next.
Commander Blackburn stepped in front of Master Chief Hayes. He spoke quietly but with authority, “Jason STOP. Admiral David has just given the green-light for the op, Bravo can go into the village and rescue Sonny.” He took a shuttered breath, “Now that the op is official I am sending six members from the support team with you to help secure the captives. ISR showed several hostiles guarding the captives, most are patrolling in pairs around the perimeter and five are in the target house. The Sudanese have loaned us a Mi-8T helo for the support team and Bravo has the Blackhawk.” Blackburn paused but pinned Jason with a look, “Master Chief.”
Jason had listened intently then looked directly at Eric “Copy, Commander, I know you had to call in favors to make this happen.” He took a long breath, “Thank you, I owe you a couple of bottles of that expensive Scotch you like.” All of Bravo nodded in agreement.
Bravo climbed into the Blackhawk, sadly the same one Sonny had flown in only a few days earlier with team Charlie. The six support team members going to the Sudanese helo.
Blackburn watched the helos rise into the sunset, he turned with a relieved but unhappy look on his face as he walked back to the C-17 and TOC, he sighed an took a deep breath, knowing he needed to have a serious talk with his Master Chief when this op was over.
Davis had been monitoring the ISR feed continuously until it had to return to refuel. Blackburn told her to take a break while they were waiting for ISR to get back on station. She hated leaving the area even for a few minutes, she had been living on coffee and no sleep and she needed to be sharp in this critical part of the mission. So she stretched out on the seats and closed her eyes, thinking of Sonny and Bravo praying for their safe return.
The helos landed 2 klicks from the village and Bravo and the Support Team hiked in the rest of the way. Jason used this time to finish briefing the them about their part of the op. Bravo had gone over several scenarios and they hoped it was going to go off like clockwork but they all knew that didn’t happen often.
ISR was back over the village, Davis was back at her screen, Bravo was making their way to the village, things seemed quiet except Davis noticed something had changed. “Commander.” Blackburn was immediately at her side “Yes Lt.” “Sir one vehicle has been moved to the front of the target building.” Blackburn replied, “Damn, hopefully they will not leave until Bravo arrives.”
“Bravo1 this is HAVOC,”
“HAVOC go for 1.”
“Hostiles have moved a vehicle to the front of the target building how copy.”
“HAVOC this is 1, Good copy we are Charlie Mike.”
ISR will keep watch, HAVOC out.” Blackburn answered.
“The hostiles are moving so let’s step it up guys.” Both teams quickened their steps and hurried to the target village. Would they be quick enough?
Sonny woke groaning from the pain as he was being tossed into the back of a van, his body was on fire from the beatings, burns, difficulty breathing from the waterboarding, the leg and now the whippings on his back. He longed for the peace of unconsciousness or even death. But before oblivion took him he heard the sound of U.S. Military M4 and HK-416 assault rifles.
Mustafa heard the gunfire and rushed outside and jumped into the passenger seat after smiling as he looked in the back at Sonny. He shouted at the driver “Hurry, go fast idiot they are here to get him.”
TOC informed Jase that two men on high ground to their East were spotted on ISR. Ray and Clay eliminated them quickly after locating them through their rifle’s scopes.
“TOC to Bravo1,” Davis called.
“Copy, this is 1”
“ISR is showing hostiles scattered on and behind the buildings you are approaching. There appears to be hostiles in or near the building where the captives are held. The vehicle at the target building is stationary.”
“TOC, we are Lima Charlie, Bravo1out.”
Jase had given instructions to the Petty Officer in charge of the Support Team to concentrate his team on the building with the captives while Bravo cleared out the other hostiles scattered through out the village. They would then go to the target building located at the other end of the village.
Jase found one hostile hiding behind a building and dispatched him with two shots center mass. Now that the firefight had begun all the hostiles were aware of the attack and so was Mustafa so speed was of the essence.
Bravo being the very best at their job and extremely efficient in taking down hostiles Brock and Trent eliminated two as they came around a corner running to the sounds of the rifle fire. Brock unleashed Pepper when he saw a hostile following Clay, Pepper brought the hostile down and Brock caught up and finished him.
Jason pulled his Glock from the holster and shot when he saw a hostile holding a young girl as a shield. Then he brought his rifle to his shoulder to terminate one on a roof of another building.
Clay climbed onto a wall to get a better angle on a hostile on the other side of a building. While there he saw one running to the target building and he took a head shot dropping him in pink mist.
Bravo with the help of the support team’s efforts they were quickly able to clear a path and head to the target building.
Commander Blackburn wanted to contact Bravo 1 but he understood that contacting him in the middle of a fire fight was not the best idea unless he could give them information that would benefit them in their efforts to control the site. Telling them that a vehicle had left the area might distract Bravo 1 into rushing a decision, putting him and the other team members in more danger. So he held his breath until he could see on ISR that they have advanced thru the village and were moving on the target building.
“Bravo 1 this is HAVOC.”
“Go for 1 HAVOC,” Jase answers in a clipped tone.
“ISR showed a vehicle driving away from the target building with four occupants inside.” Blackburn knew the forth person was likely Sonny.
“Damn HAVOC, how long ago,” Jase says in anger.
"Three minutes,” Blackburn answered, understanding Jason’s frustration.
Jason bent over then suddenly raised up and looked like he was ready to kill anyone within his reach. Ray quickly moved to his side and laid his hand on Jase’s shoulder to ground him. Jase took a quick breath and grabbed his radio. “HAVOC is ISR tracking the vehicle?”
“Bravo 1 ISR will gain altitude and follow the vehicle until its leaves the immediate area as ISR must stay on station to protect Bravo and the support Team from any additional hostiles.”
Blackburn contacted the support Team and asked for a sit-rap on the captives as he knew Bravo 1 needed a minute to take in this new information.
Jase turned to his Team, “We’ll check the building for any Intel about who they are and where these assholes might be taking Sonny. Brock and Trent see if you can find a vehicle, stay sharp.”
Jase, Ray and Clay ran into the building. Jase shook his head, “Damn this can’t be happening again.” Referring to missing Ray by minutes when he was held captive.
Clay spoke up trying to get Jason to stay calm and reassure him, “Jase we’ll get them and we’ll get Sonny, maybe they left some clues.”
Ray gave Jase’s arm a reassuring touch, then they went to search the rooms. They had made their way through the first floor quickly then met in the hallway of the second floor. There were only a few rooms left when they heard Trent, “Eagle, eagle” as he came to rejoin them. “Hey we found a truck, Brock is bringing it around to the front.”
Jase gave him a quick smile, “Good job.”They divided up, checking the last couple of rooms. Trent and Clay paused when they found the room that definitely was where the torture took place.They swept the room with rifles raised, they stopped on an area with a table and large chair. Clay commanded in Sudanese, “Come out, hands raised.” He shouted a second time, “Come out now.”
The rest of the Team heard him and came quickly into the room guns raised. As they entered an old lady slowly stood up with her hands raised from her hiding place behind the chair.
Everyone took a slow breath and Jase motioned for Trent to search her for weapons. Deciding she was not a threat, she told Clay her neighbors and other members of her family had been held as prisoners of Agar and made to take care of his men and the captives. Clay asked her about the American that had been there. “Yes she had seen him, he had been in that room a short time ago.” Her eyes went to the wall where he had hung and the blood on the floor. Trent and Ray’s eyes followed hers and looked at the floor and wall with sadness. Trent was looking to decide how much blood was there and Ray’s mind was flooded with memories of his own torture. She continued, “He was hurt bad and not conscious when I saw him.” Clay flinched and took a breath before relaying that to the others.
They were all visibly upset at this latest info. and it made the urgency to find any information that more important. Jase told Clay, “Send her to the Support Team, let’s go see if we can catch up to them before ISR loses the vehicle.”
Clay wanted to ask her more questions before he sent her to the Support Team. “Do you know where they were going or the name of the leader of this group?” As Jase and the others didn’t speak the language they were ready to leave and didn’t understand why Clay was taking so much time and continuing to talk.
She hesitated, “Kerma, that is where they are going and Mustafa is the devil who has him,your man fought Mustafa and broke his nose. I will pray to GOD to have mercy on your friend.”
Clay thanked her then told her that she and the others were safe and that she could go. He contacted the support team to tell them she was coming and not to shoot.
Jase gave him a impatient look as he thought Clay had delayed them from leaving as he headed for the vehicle.
Clay caught up to Jase, “Hey boss, don’t be pissed I asked her if she knew where they were taking Sonny and who has him.”
Jase slowed and glanced over his shoulder at Clay with irritation. “Well.”
“She told me a guy named Mustafa has him and they are headed to Kerma, a town on the maps about 23 klicks from here.”
Jase said less sharply,“Good job, let TOC know what you found and see if they are still tracking the vehicle.” Jase continued walking quickly to the truck with Trent. Brock and Pepper were already there getting the truck ready to roll.
Clay continued, “Jase, Sonny fought Mustafa and broke his nose.” The guys all smiled with the thought that Sonny wasn’t out of the fight.
“TOC this is Bravo 6, we have additional info.”
Davis answered with Blackburn standing by her side, “Go for TOC.”
“TOC we found a female captive hiding in the target building, she stated that the hostile’s name is Mustafa and they are taking Sonny to Kerma. Does ISR still have eyes on the vehicle?”
“TOC to Bravo 6, I will send the name to Langley to find out what info they have on him. Negative on the vehicle it left the ISR’s sight at 8 Klicks from your pos and we were not sure of its direction as there were several crossroads. Good job on finding their destination.”
“Good copy TOC, Bravo 6 out.”
Jase jumped in the passenger seat and indicated for Brock to drive as he had come in third when they did the race course with Austin Dillon, behind Jase and Sonny for speed.
In the second row it was Ray, Trent and Clay with Pepper at their feet. While Brock was waiting on everyone he had studied the GPS road map for curves, elevations and places for ambushes so he was prepared to mash the gas and go quickly.
The guys were quiet on the ride to Kerma, Ray was studying a map of the city to judge size and how many buildings and the street layout. Trent was going over how to treat Sonny’s injuries as he could have head and internal injuries since the old lady said he was badly injured and unconscious. Brock’s concentration was on driving fast and getting everyone there in one piece.
Clay was grateful for the old lady and her help. She saw him, he was alive and they knew what town he was being taken too, they were one step closer to bringing their brother home.
Jason was still blaming himself for Sonny being in this mess, if he and Ray had not been distracted by his TBI one of them could have intervened and Sonny would have stayed in VA. Beach. Right now he needed to stay front sight focused til they get their brother back.
Sonny was violently tossed around on the floor of the van. Mustafa and the guards were enjoying every groan and moan coming from him.
Mustafa laughed, “Oh I don’t think our guest likes your driving, too bad. His friends almost got the sailor man but Mustafa was too quick.”
He laughed and continued, “I’m not through having fun with him, with Agar gone I am the number one trader and I have this sailor man to trade, sell or kill.” He laughed again and the guards laughed with him. They arrived at a three story house in the middle of Kerma, the driver jumped out and opened a roll-up door then he got pulled the van inside a garage area.
Once inside Mustafa ordered the guards to take Sonny to the room with the cage. There were other people in the house, a couple of women and a small group of armed men. Mustafa smiled as he told the others, “I brought us a sailor man to play with. Now bring me something to eat and drink. Four of you go up on the roof and watch for the Americans.” He turned to one of his guards, “Call the men from the other houses to come here, bring extra ammo, if the Americans come we will kill them.” He knew that he would not be getting an answer to his question but he still had a bargaining chip with having an American military member captive. Or he could sell him to another terrorists group for money are drugs.
Jase motioned for Brock to stop the vehicle 2 klicks from town. He immediately jumped out as his nervous energy was about to explode. First he had to contact Blackburn.“HAVOC this is Bravo1do you have any new info? We are 2klicks from Kerma, how copy?”
“This is HAVOC Good copy 1, stand by.”
Davis got on comms as Blackburn knew her voice had a calming effect on the Team when tensions were extremely high, plus she had the info in front of her. “Bravo 1 we have ISR coming online over your location and our friends at the CIA have a known location for Mustafa Chol’s headquarters, he is a known drug and human trafficker in Kerma. I am sending the location to your body cams now.”
“Good copy TOC, Bravo 1 out.” Jason ended with a deep sigh as he was thankful for the CIA’s location info. he did not want to go door to door looking for Sonny but he would do whatever it took to find him. The Team had gathered around him to hash out an assault plan now that they could narrow it down to two locations and a picture of the HVT.
Ray was already checking the map for the location and for the best ways to approach and especially the best exfil options. With NOGS and ISR overhead they would have a tactical advantage.
After checking his M4, Trent then checked his medical supplies one more time. Brock pulled out the work-out towel that had Sonny’s scent on it for Pepper. She was circling and dancing around Brock as she got the scent and picked up on the anxiety emulating from her team.
Clay had the same nervous energy as Jase, anxious to get to Sonny now. Clay, with his perspicacious ability to see situations would normally add input to the conversation but today none of that mattered. Getting to Sonny quickly and rescuing him from the madman Mustafa. Then reaping vengeance on him and the other hostiles for everything they had done to Sonny was his objective.
After everyone had checked their gear and settled down Jason spoke, “Hey guys having ISR will help level the playing field and I know you are ready to go. It will be dark soon.”
He already knew the answers to the following questions as he knew his men, his brothers, better than anyone else on earth. “Ray you mapped our exfil routes?” Ray nodded affirmative. “Trent, you ready?” Trent dipped his head. “Brock you and Pepper all set?” Brock responded, “Ready to go boss.” He looked over to Clay and his face said everything that Jase needed to know.
“Bravo 1 to HAVOC.”
“This is HAVOC Bravo 1.”
“HAVOC, Is ISR on location and can assist with tango numbers and locations?”
“Affirmative Bravo 1, we have eyes on the location. A group of 10 armed men from the area are converging on Mustafa's headquaters.” Blackburn stated.
“Good copy HAVOC Bravo 1 out.” That info helped as they needed to know the hostiles numbers
Jason motioned for Bravo to move closer to their target building by staying close to the river which ran next to the edge of town. They only had a few hundred yards between them and the target building housing Sonny.
Mustafa was very confident that his men could defeat the Americans after how they and Agar’s men had seen Charlie Team leave the village quickly. But he had no idea the warrior’s hearts that these men had beating in their chests and their determination to rescue their brother.
Mustafa finished eating and drinking, told his guards to accompany him then proceeded to grab a half finished bottle of whiskey and went down to the hidden entrance to a tunnel and the room where the cage was located.
Sonny was moaning and writhing from the fever and severe pain he was experiencing. He was curled in on his side with his face looking up as he tried to take in short breaths thru his mouth as his face and eyes were almost swollen shut from the beatings and being tossed around in the van. Gasping, he rode the latest wave of pain and partially opened his eyes when he heard them enter.
His thoughts were so jumbled, eyes were clouded over, his ears ringing and heart pounding in his chest. His mind filled with a kaleidoscope of emotions, regrets that he would take to his grave.
He felt a tear slowly roll down his cheek as his exhausted brain saw blurred snapshots of each one of his brothers. Brock and Pepper, one quiet, the other yelping and excited to see everyone. Trent who put the health and well being of everyone before his own. Ray their glue and moral compass. Jase the Boss, who carried all the guilt of every failed op, injury and man lost. He had spent his life trying to keep his Team safe as possible. Then there’s Clay, the good looking smart ass kid, his best friend. He was honored to have been allowed to be on the same Team with these amazing men. His heart broken, he loved his brothers more than they would ever know.
Mustafa smirked and smiled at the fact that Sonny’s eyes were slightly opened slits and he would be able to feel the pain that Mustafa had in mind for him. He poked Sonny through the cage with the animal prod several times sending jolts of electricity through his already tortured body. After an extended long jolt he spoke in Sonny’s direction, “Hey sailor man, are you thirsty would you like a drink? I hear American sailors love to drink whiskey, this is the best.”
He chuckled, “Mustafa is smart and always gets what he wants.” He pushed the bottle thru the cage wires and poured a small amount into the direction of Sonny’s mouth, it caused Sonny to cough and choke but anything to wet his throat was a welcome relief so he licked his lips and swallowed the liquid as it burned all the way down to his stomach. Mustafa laughed, “Oh you like that sailor man, maybe I will show your friends that you will beg Mustafa for anything.”
Sonny’s eyes rolled back in his head and he succumbed to the pain, perhaps for the last time.
Chapter Text
CHAPTER 4
Jason looked at his watch as it was growing darker by the second, he calculated how long it would take them to reach the building where they were holding Sonny. It was time to get TOC on the comms one last time before they stormed the building. “Bravo 1 to TOC in 1 mike we will begin our assault what does ISR see.”
Blackburn immediately answered, “HAVOC to Bravo 1, ISR shows what appears to be 4 hostiles on the roof of the target building, 2 guards on the street side of the building and approximately 16 people inside the building. As it is multi-story ISR may not penetrate all the floors, that is the best we can give you. The helo will be on station and within 5 mikes of your call for exfil.”
“Good copy HAVOC, we are Charlie Mike, Bravo 1 out.”
Blackburn, “Good copy 1, God speed, go get our boy, HAVOC out.”
Jason slung his rifle into a snug position on his shoulder and the rest of Bravo followed suit. He quietly said, “Bravo and Sonny are the only ones coming out of this building alive tonight.” They all nodded in agreement, silently and quickly made their way to the target building. Jason used hand signals to motion Clay and Ray up to terminate the guys on the roof. Ray immediately found a building with an outside ladder that they could climb to get a angle on the roof.
Ray looked through his scope nodded at Clay and they immediately took the shots and eliminated those four hostile, since they had silencers on their rifles the shots were muffled.
Ray and Clay hurried back to the others and they headed for the single door next to the roll-up door where the van had entered. Jase and Trent took out the 2 hostiles guarding this entrance then Trent set a charge and seconds later they were in.
With Pepper and Brock leading the way they ran into the garage area, two hostiles popped up from behind the van. Brock had unleashed Pepper and she grabbed one hostile long enough for Brock to eliminate that threat. Trent took care of the other one with a double tap to the chest. Jase instructed Brock and Pepper to stay as a rear guard. Jason, Trent, Clay sprinted up the stairs as Ray opened the door wide enough for Clay to throw a concussion grenade into the main room.
Several women screamed, Bravo entered the room and 3 hostiles raised their weapons but were quickly put down by Bravo with shots to heads or chests.
Jase ordered Trent to stay there to guard their backs and to help Brock if needed, the rest of Bravo would clear the upper floor. There was a staircase landing so they had to be extremely careful that a hostile didn’t lean over the balcony and shoot them. Jase and Ray alternately fired shots up the staircase and when a hostile leaned over to shoot they timed it and shot him, he fell down the staircase and landed at their feet.
Clay asked one of the women who was hiding in a corner, was there another way up to the third floor? The women spoke, “If I tell you can we leave?” Clay nodded his head.
“There is a ladder outside the kitchen, it goes to a window.” He told Jase what she said then he told the women that they could go, they ran down the stairs and into the street. Jase gave the nod for Clay to go.
Ray and Jase proceeded up the stairs, glanced down the hallway as two hostiles ran out of a door. They did not hesitate to eliminate them. Clay opened his comms and said he was about to assault the window on the east side as there was a hostile with a rifle there. Jase acknowledged his call and he and Ray attacked the west side rooms.
Clay placed the ladder on the wall next to the window. He climbed the ladder, a barrel of a rifle was visible poking out of the window, he silently lowered his rifle and unholstered his Glock. He climbed til he was even with the window grabbed the barrel, reached around and shot the hostile holding it. He looked inside and saw no one so he climbed in and heard gun fire on the other side of the hallway.
Ray tapped Jase’s shoulder and they went into the first room, there was a hostile with a rifle which they quickly dispatched. Clay called eagle, eagle as he entered the room. They turned to find another room but they were becoming more and more concerned and anxious as they are quickly running out of rooms and no Sonny or HVT.
They cleared the last three rooms occupied by more hostiles and then rushed back to the main floor. Jase motioned to Trent and they all returned to the garage where Brock and Pepper were waiting. “Where is he? ISR should have seen something if he was moved,” as Trent's voice trailed off in disbelief.
Jason keyed his radio. “HAVOC this building is clear, all the hostiles we found are eliminated and no Mustafa or Sonny, what does ISR see. ”Blackburn replied, “ISR shows the non-moving heat signatures of the hostiles you eliminated and that is all. We did not see anyone leave the building or any immediate movements in the area.”
Pepper was really trying to be a good dog. She was whining and pulling on the leash trying to get Brock's attention. She had the scent of their teammate and she knew that was important as her humans were still agitated. She had accomplished her first job to attack anyone who would hurt her guys, but now she needed to find their packmate who always gave her yummy pieces of meat. The guys were so caught up in their individual thoughts and speculations about what was happening. They were looking at Jason for directions. They were unaware of Pepper until she yelped loudly several times and gained their focus. Being brought back into the moment Brock unhooked Pepper and gave the command, “zoek.” She went to an inside wall that had tools and boxes piled in front of, there was a tall shelving unit with a plywood back and smaller boxes piled around it. The unit had wheels attached so it could be easily moved. Pepper focused on that area scratching the floor and growling.
Mustafa heard a dog scratching and yelping near the entrance to the concealed opening to his underground tunnel and hidden room. He was surprised that they brought a dog who could find it. He told one of his guards, “Go through the tunnel and get the other van ready, we will be there soon after I take care of this.”
Clay quickly started moving the shelving unit and throwing things. They discovered the opening leading to steps and a tunnel. Clay threw caution to the wind as he was afraid any hesitation would cost them losing Sonny again. He let his rifle hang and drew his Glock to proceed down the steps. Jason opened his mouth but closed it as he knew nothing he said would deter Clay from moving forward.
Bravo moved down the tunnel with rifles shouldered looking and listening for any signs of Sonny or Mustafa when they saw an open area with dim lights and a cage pushed against the dirt wall. They heard soft gasping breathes as they approached it with their rifles ready. What they saw as they entered the area was Mustafa standing over Sonny with an empty whiskey bottle in his hand. He laughed,“Finally, look sailor man here are your friends.” There was a guard standing at the tunnel’s exit with a rifle pointed directly at Sonny. Mustafa spoke again, “Your friend was thirsty but I was kind and gave him a drink. You will let me go and you might have enough time to save him.” The other guard showed up and took his place next to the first one with his rifle at the ready. Everyone knew they needed to get to Sonny and it would be a small price to pay to let Mustafa go to achieve that. Also in this confined space Jase was not willing to risk one of his men being wounded or killed. Even though he knew his Team would come out on top because of their skill and training. Sonny was only a few feet away, within their reach. Jase could not choose the elimination of a madman over the life of one of his brothers.
He nodded to Mustafa and in a contemptuous voice said, “Go, go now.” Mustafa sneered, “Also don’t think of following me, I have a device under the cage that I will detonate if you come after me.” He smiled and chuckled before he turned and placed himself between the guards as they hurried down the tunnel to freedom.
Ray and Clay hurried to the tunnel opening and watched them leave. Brock pulled out bolt cutters to cut the cage’s lock. Pepper was dancing around so happy to have found their teammate, she wanted to get close to him and show her support. Trent had pulled his backpack off and was unzipping compartments where his medical supplies were stored. Jase stood still waiting for a report on Sonny from Trent.
Jase instructed Brock to let Pepper check for any explosive devices, she did and found nothing, Mustafa didn’t count on her also being a bomb detection dog.
They now had a moment to look at their brother and see his condition, the burns, dark purple bruises on his chest and abdomen, swollen eyes, lips and face, the lash marks on his back and his wheezy labored breathes. It was difficult for them to look at but they were extremely glad to have him in their care. Jase got on comms, “HAVOC this is 1 we have 3 I say again we have Bravo 3, he is alive. Four is assessing him.” They heard happy yells and clapping in the background. Jason had been focused on Trent during this time so when he turned he was surprised to see Clay and Ray were gone from the passage doorway. He was pissed and got on comms before he could hear Havoc's reply. In an angry voice he bellowed, “Bravo 2 sit-rep, Bravo 2 sit-rep, now.”
“One this is two, I am with six and we are pursuing the HVT.”
“Two, what are you thinking, get your asses back here now.”
“One I can’t leave six and he won’t come, we can see them with our NODS. Give us 2 minutes and I’ll drag six back.”
Jase was concerned and mad but he had the same thought that he did not want that SOB to get away after how he had tortured Sonny.
Thirty seconds later they heard muffled shots and Jase was again on comms, “two sit-rep.” Nothing for 10 seconds then Ray’s voice, “one this is two, 3 hostiles down hard, I say again 3 hostiles down hard.” Jase, Brock and Trent smiled and let out a long breathe at the fact that Clay and Ray eliminated that HVT and his guards from the face of the earth, he would never harm another humanbeing. Trent had already climbed into the cage and started triaging Sonny, he wanted him out of this cage as quickly as possible so he could do a through assessment. He talked softly to him as he checked for any broken bones, he covered him with one of the emergency blankets and in a couple of minutes he determined that he could be safely moved.
Brock spoke in a reassuring tone, “Sonny we got you.” As he and Trent moved him outside the cage and Trent took his vitals while Brock assembled the folded stretcher. Trent had a very concerned look on his face, he didn’t like any of Sonny’s vitals or his breathing which was very labored. Trent could only monitor vitals and start a IV. He knew Sonny needed more care and he couldn’t even give him anything for the pain as his breathing was rapid and shallow and his BP low. Ray and Clay came running back into the area, Jase was shaking his head and got in Clay’s face and in an angry tone says, “That was a really dumb ass move.”
Clay replied, “Jase, It had to be finished, the bastard had to die. For Sonny.”
Jase frowned but gave a slight nod, “Trent, he good to go? Let’s get the hell out of this shit hole.”
“Almost we’ll need help getting him on the stretcher.”
“HAVOC this is 1 we are heading to exfil now.”
“1 this is HAVOC exfil is 2 klicks west of your location, there is an open field, helo will be there in 5 mikes.”
“Good copy HAVOC, Bravo 1 out.”
A lot had happened in the last 15 minutes, now all the attention was on Sonny. So as Trent, Brock and Jase got in place to roll him onto the stretcher the entire team talked to him.
“Sonny boy we’re here, we got you,” Ray reassured him.
Jason, “Son your safe, we are taking you home.”
Clay, “Sonny we took out the man who hurt you. We’ve got you now.”
Brock, “Pepper is a smart pup, she found you from one of your sweaty rags.”
“Sonny hang in there for a little while longer, I’ll do everything to help take the pain away soon.” Trent soothed.
In a world far, far away Sonny heard voices, were they really here, speaking to him or was it random words spoken a long time ago when Sonny was a valued member of a top tier Seal Team. He didn’t feel like he belonged to that world any longer.
Then he felt hands turn and move his trembling body, he no longer had any control over it. As he had retreated deep into his mind to a place with no pain. There had not been a square inch on his body that had not experienced severe unbearable pain the last time he was conscious.
Trent was anxious to get Sonny to the helo to get him on the portable oxygen for the hour long flight back to TOC. He kinda hoped that Sonny would respond to someone on the team but deep down inside he knew him staying unconscious was probably the best thing for him until they returned to the C-17.
Clay and Trent carried Sonny’s stretcher as gently as possible. With Jase, Brock and Ray’s pulling security on the walk to the waiting helo.
The guys loaded Sonny carefully putting him in the center with as much space as possible for Trent to be able to minister to him. They sat around him close enough that each could reach out and lay a hand on him or lean over and say words of comfort and encouragement to him over the sound of the helo’s rotors.
As the helo approached the airfield Bravo could see Blackburn, Davis and the support personnel with a gurney awaiting their arrival.
An exhausted Bravo Team exited the helo with Clay, Ray, Brock and Trent carrying their precious cargo and Jason walking beside the stretcher. Several of the support team hurriedly came to them with the gurney and carefully placed Sonny on it. The guys walked beside him as the support team rolled Sonny up the ramp into the plane. Trent was immediately giving orders to the support team, some had medical training but most had not taken the advanced courses that Trent had. His medical curiosity had started as a teen and had continued when he joined the Navy. He almost went the Corpsman route but the Special Forces calling was louder.
Blackburn respected Trent’s medical knowledge but he did not want the weight of all of Sonny’s medical care to fall on Trent’s shoulders as he knew Trent would neglect himself and if Sonny died before they got back to the States Trent would never forgive himself. So he had pulled strings to get an SOIDC, who just happened to be between posts and temporarily assigned to their base Infirmary, to accompany them on this op as one of the support team.
Harry Lange had served aboard the aircraft carrier USS Gerald Ford strike force group after a post at Bagram Air Base in 2018. He had seen and handled just about every medical condition there was. He was 5’ 10” average built, not Seal material but you could tell he went to the gym regularly. With mousy brown hair and pale blue eyes that had a slight twinkle and a kind countenance to his face.
Trent would always have the final say until they touched down on U.S. soil as Blackburn knew how much Trent cared about each of these men and only had their health and best interest at heart but having someone with Lange’s education and experience to bounce things off of could not be a bad thing. He just hoped Trent would see it that way. Trent had watched the support team carefully lifting Sonny off the stretcher and placing him on the gurney, one of the support members seemed to be directing the others while Trent got the BP cuff, stethoscope, pulse ox and started taking vitals and hooking Sonny to the plane’s oxygen system
As the support team stepped back awaiting further instructions. Blackburn stepped close to Trent and said quietly, “Trent I hope you know how thankful we are to you and Bravo getting Sonny here and you will be in charge of his care.” He paused as Trent stopped and looked at him with a confused look. “Trent I want to introduce you to Petty Officer Harry Lange an SOIDC who has been on the USS Gerald Ford and at Bagram he agreed to come on this op to help. I wanted you to have someone you could confer with about Sonny’s care.”
Trent was totally confused and surprised and really not sure if Blackburn just told him he didn’t trust him with Sonny’s care or if he should be relieved to have someone with more knowledge than him to access Sonny and give him the best medical care.
Trent looked at Blackburn through exhausted eyes and said, “Yes sir, OK” Then he went back to taking vitals trying to absorb what just happened.
Harry nodded, “Petty Officer Sawyer, what can I do to help.” Showing respect by using his rank, then asking how could he help. Trent nodded back and answered, “Need his clothes off and start cleaning the cut on his leg then we can re-assess.”
Blackburn thought maybe this was not such a good idea, he certainly hoped he was wrong. He had not introduced Lange earlier because he didn’t know what condition Sonny would be in or even if he would be found alive. Trent and Bravo didn’t need that distraction before the op.
Bravo watched from the other side of the plane and they were concerned over the conversation happening between their medic and Commander, not sure if it was good, as Trent’s facial expressions showed both confusion and irritation.
Blackburn approached Bravo as he knew they would have questions about what just happened and he needed to explain. Plus tell them a job well done for getting Sonny there alive and ridding the world of Mustafa.
Lange immediately set to work getting Sonny stripped and the leg wound cleaned as it was infected. He was very gentle and made sure there was a sheet covering Sonny. Trent took notice of every move Lange made. He turned and asked Trent, “Do you want me to insert the Foley catheter.” Trent asked brusquely, “How many have you done.” Lange replied, “More than 30.”
Trent nodded as he was not looking forward to doing this to his friend and he had only done it on a practice dummy a few times. Trent checked Sonny’s IV and then went to the drug box for supplies. Sonny’s only response to all the movements and medical procedures happening to him were a few soft moans and groans that upset anyone within hearing distance.
He walked over to Lange. “His name is Sonny, he had a building fall on him then he was captured, beaten, water-boarded and whipped, he has a possible concussion, several broken ribs and the last vitals I took show there were crackles in his lungs. His BP is 90 over 60, H.R. 140 and irregular, temp 102.8, respiration 22 shallow and rapid I am starting him on nor-epinephrine and dopamine and amiodarone for the BP and heart issues also amoxicillin for the infection. I have not given him anything for pain as I thought it too dangerous with the breathing issues.”
Lange nodded several times then thoughtfully added, “If you are concerned about his pain, I have found that a low dose of promethazine works and it rarely affects breathing or the heart.” he continued, “Has Sonny been conscious at all since you rescued him?”
“No, which could be a good thing because of his mutiple injuries but I am surprised as he usually fights his way back to us even when he has been badly injured. Thanks for the promethazine suggestion, not sure if we stocked that.”
Lange answered with a soft smile. “Petty Officer I saw the videos of Sonny. I did add a few extra things to the med kit. Also I “borrowed” a couple of things that you might need, one an upgraded heart monitor. Would you like me to set that up so we have continuous monitoring of his heart rate and BP?”
Trent half-smiled, “I guess that SOIDC designation has its perks, I could never get that extra stuff.” Lange could see the exhaustion and concern in Trent’s face, a man who had barely slept in 30 hours. “Petty Officer Sawyer.” Trent interrupted him, “Call me Trent.”
“OK Trent, I will get the heart monitor on Sonny, record his vitals every 15 minutes and finish getting him cleaned up. Why don’t you get cleaned up too, maybe get something to eat and drink, if anything changes I’ll let you know.”
Trent looked at Lange knowing he was right, his head was hurting, his stomach growling and he needed coffee, he nodded and walked over to the guys. Lisa was coming with a plate of sandwiches. Trent pulled off his gloves, grabbed a water, plopped down on the web seats when Lisa offered him a sandwich. Everyone was quiet waiting for Trent to speak, he rubbed his closed eyes and dropped his head back against the side of the plane. Lisa couldn’t wait “How is he Trent?”
Trent slowly opened his eyes and said, “He’s holding his own for now but he’s got a lot going against him. Right now we are taking it minute by minute, his lungs are filling with fluid, he has an infection from pneumonia or the gash on his leg or all the burns and lashes on his back then there are the broken ribs and possible concussion. I don’t know guys, I just don’t know.” He paused, “I’m glad that we got him back and he is here with us.”
Jason looked over in Sonny and Lange’s direction. “Is that guy helping you? And what do you need from us?”
“I was pissed when Blackburn introduced him but he has credentials, he’s an SOIDC. You guys can take turns sitting and talking to Sonny as I am concerned that he has made no effort to wake up. I am going to clean up and get some coffee.” Then he turned to Lisa and popped the last bite of his sandwich into his mouth as he said, “Thanks.” He got up and went to the head.
Blackburn leaned over the upper rail. “Hey guys, wheels-up in 20 mikes.”
Lisa made her way to Sonny. She spoke to Lange as she stood close to Sonny and held his hand, “Hi, I wanted to speak to him before we take off, we have worked together for years.” Lange nodded and replied with a slight smile. “Of course Lieutenant, I’ll need to get him strapped down and take his vitals in 5,” as he stepped away to give her some privacy. She returned the smile then turned to lean down close to Sonny’s ear. “Hey there Sonny you are safe and everyone is glad you are back with us. I am so glad you are here, please fight to wake up and come back to us, to me.” She gave him a quick kiss on his forehead and a hand squeeze before going to strap in.
Lange secured Sonny to the gurney and the gurney to the plane. He saw Jason and Clay heading in his direction and he had the feeling that they would check his securing job. He nodded his head and acknowledged them, “Master Chief, Petty Officer.”
Jason and Clay nodded but still came over to double check that Sonny’s gurney was securely latched onto the plane’s load ratchet system, then they stood close to him with Clay touching his leg and Jason his arm.
Jason spoke softly, “Hey Son we are getting ready to take this freedom bird back to Va Beach, you will be fine, you are safe. Trent is taking care of you. You just need to relax and enjoy the ride but we would really like to see those baby blues.”
Clay added, “Yeah seeing those baby blues would make Jase happy.” But Sonny laid there with no movement, they were very worried about his unresponsive condition as they walked away.
The plane’s engines revved up as Trent made his way to strap into the web seats close to Sonny. Lange leaned over to show Trent Sonny’s latest vitals, Trent frowned and cast a glance in Sonny’s direction. After the plane made altitude the crew moved to different areas as they tried to leave room around Sonny for Bravo and the medical personnel.
Trent was conferring with Lange about Sonny’s latest vital readings, several had gotten worse.
Sonny continued to moan and now his shaking was more pronounced as his fever had increased to 103.6 degrees, his face was shiny with sweat and his eyes were sunken. Trent and Lange had turned him on his side and cleaned and treated the whip injuries to his back with still no reaction from him.
Jase, Clay, Ray and Brock with Pepper had gathered close to Sonny. Brock had allowed Pepper to give Sonny’s free hand a gentle lick as Brock reassured Sonny, “Hey Sonny we are heading home to Va Beach, no sharks, spiders or jungles just cold beer and pretty women.” Pepper casually walked to Brock’s pack and stuck her snout into it to retrieve Sonny’s sweaty rag and took it with her to her kennel before curling up for a nap. She was so glad her pack was back together.
Ray stepped up to Sonny’s side and grasp his hand, he bowed his head in prayer before he spoke, “Sonny it’s Ray, we know you have been through a lot these last few days even before this op went bad but we are your brothers and have always had and will always have your back. We need you to fight to come back to us as hard as we fought to come get you. Love you brother.” He gave his hand a squeeze before he covered it with a blanket.
Jase and Clay walked over to Trent while Ray was talking with Sonny, Jase asked, “How is he doing, you didn’t look happy after getting vitals and we noticed his shaking getting worse.”
Trent looked up from his seat, “Yeah things aren’t getting better, temp is up and his lungs have more fluid accumulating. Glad Lange finagled the monitor from the Va Beach’s Infirmary, that helps us keep an eye on his heart and BP but it is gonna to be a long ride back to Va Beach.” Trent slowly got up to swap out Sonny’s ice packs and give him more ibuprofen by IV.
Jason pulled a small crate up next to Sonny. He had the strong urge to sit with him to let him know that he was not alone. He placed his hand on Sonny’s arm and gently patted it as he softly whispered reassurances in his ear.
Clay watched and felt guilty because he was afraid that he was the main reason Sonny was laying on that gurney. He had no more words to say to him in an attempt to repair their friendship, at least none until Sonny woke up. Clay went to the end of the web seats past Brock, Pepper, and Ray and sat down heavily.
The hours passed slowly as everyone on the flight milled around occasionally glancing at the unconscious form lying on the gurney. Jase had moved from his place next to Sonny and was replaced by other Team members including Lisa and Blackburn. Each one offering their words or touch of support. Hoping and praying that Sonny somehow realized that they were there. He had made only soft groaning sounds and his body continued to tremble. Sometimes his limbs thrashed about and his head jerked from side to side as if he were caught in a nightmare with no exit, but still he made no indications of regaining consciousness.
Trent and Lange were on constant alert and monitoring ever movement, making changes in drug dosages or treatments, but nothing they did seemed to help. His condition continued to deteriorate and they were still four hours away from Va Beach.
Trent looked like a broken man at his wits end. He rubbed his hands over his face and his shoulders drooped in a defeated gesture as he and Lange went over Sonny’s latest vitals. Lange sat next to him with his hand on his shoulder. “Trent you have to know that we will continue to do everything medically possible to support Sonny and no matter how this turns out you have done the very best for your friend.” He paused as Jase, Blackburn, Lisa and the other team members walked up, then he continued talking, “Excuse me for saying this as I do not know Sonny but he has to help us and fight, we are doing everything medically possible. As I told Trent he has nothing to feel guilty about no matter how this turns out.” He was looking directly at the Team when he said the last part as he knew Trent would need all their support if the worse happened. Then he stood up and walked over to Sonny leaving them with their distraught teammate.
Sonny was in a dark, sorrowful, desolate place, maybe he was in purgatory. His mind had detached itself from his body to the point that he was not concerned with the pain and physical discomfort. Occasionally he heard “those” voices and felt “those” hands but then he sank back into the darkness with no desire to rise to the surface. He didn’t believe there was anyone or anything to return to that wanted or needed him after all his recent fuck-ups.
Four hours away from Va. Beach Sonny stopped breathing.
The alarm was loud and intrusive with the sound bouncing off the metal walls of this flying machine. Everyone was awake and looking in that direction with anxious eyes. Lange had turned around to confer with Trent who was finishing his last of way too many cups of coffee when the alarm sounded. Trent immediately grabbed the ambu bag, placing it over Sonny’s face after he checked for a pulse which was very fast and weak. He compressed it slowly and evenly to furnish oxygen to Sonny’s brain and organs.
Bravo was there in seconds standing near Trent who was so focused on his task that he had not even realized they had arrived. He had only one task, to squeeze the ambu bag. Blackburn and Lisa were standing a few feet away with Blackburn having placed his arm around Davis’s shoulder as he felt her lean into his side with tears running down her cheeks.
Lange had left the area and had gotten several of the support team to help him unpack another piece of equipment that he had “borrowed” from Va. Beach’s Infirmary. Trent’s arms were beginning to cramp and Jase stepped closer and said softly, “Trent we can take over, you take a break, we will do it until we land.” Trent finally ‘saw’ his teammates but he made no move to let Jase or anyone take his place as he couldn’t believe this was happening and right now he believed it was his sole responsibility to push air into Sonny’s lungs.
Even though he knew in his heart that bagging Sonny four hours would not be ideal. If he survived till they arrived in Va Beach, without the oxygen percent accuracy the odds of him having oxygen deprivation complications were extremely high. He glanced over at Bravo and wondered if he should just stop. What would Sonny want him to do? At that moment Lange gently but with purpose moved everyone aside and stepped beside Trent. “Trent I had hoped we would not need this, but we do.”
Trent glanced over his shoulder and saw Lange with parts of a portable ventilator in his hands and two support team members with other parts as they had already begun to assemble it. Trent’s eyes got glassy and after a grounding breath he turned to Jase and indicated that he would be thankful if Jase took over while he helped Lange get it set up.
Jase gladly took over keeping oxygen flowing into Bravo 3. He saw a tiny bit of hope return to Trent’s face at this new unexpected development.
Trent and Lange quickly finished assembling the machine. Trent looked at Lange, “Another borrowed item from Va. Beach? Thank you, as I contemplating something that I would have regretted for the rest of my life.” Lange understood and nodded in reply.
Trent with glassy eyes nodded a quick response before turning back to Bravo. “Guys can you move the gurney away from the center posts and clear out the area around Sonny’s head?”
Clay, Ray and Brock immediately unsecured the gurney from the loading system while making sure the IV’s and everything else stayed attached. All the while giving Jase room to continue bagging. Then they helped Trent and Lange get the machine plugged in and arranged everything so Sonny would be ready for the transfer from bag to machine.
Lange looked at Trent, silently asking if he wanted him to proceed to do the tube insertion. It only took Trent a second to nod as he knew he was too exhausted and his hands too shaky to attempt that procedure.
Lange went to the head of the gurney and got everything set then he gave a nod to Jase to stop bagging as he tilted Sonny’s head back and quickly with confidence inserted the tube and hooked up the vent and set the oxygen percentage.
Sonny’s chest rose in an even rhythm and the machine could be heard cycling bringing a steady supply of oxygen to him. Bravo stepped back and Brock went to the drink cooler and picked up three waters one for Trent, Lange and Lisa as Blackburn guided her to a seat.
Trent was ready to fall down as what little bit of adrenaline he had left was completely depleted, he collapsed onto the nearest web seat. Bravo gathered around him and stood or sat close by waiting on Trent to recover from this latest emergency. Jason sat next to Trent with his hand on his brother’s shoulder to help ground him as Trent’s eyes had that 1000 yard stare. Finally he looked over at his Master Chief, “Jase I almost gave up as I wondered if Sonny just wanted me to stop.”
“But you didn’t and Lange came through. From your looks he pulled another rabbit out of his hat with that vent.”
“Yep, another rabbit.” Trent agreed as he sagged lower into the web seat.
Lange changed out the ice packs several times and gave Sonny the max amount of IV ibuprofen every few hours but his temperature continued to rise.
Lisa sat quietly for awhile as she finally composed herself and was able to stand by Sonny and wipe a stray lock of hair off his forehead. Lange was taking his temperature when she said, “Thank you for everything. Is there anything I can do to help?”
“You are welcome and yes, changing out the ice packs every 20 minutes would be helpful. His temp has risen to 104.3 and we are trying to at least keep it from rising more until we reach the hospital where they have cooling blankets and other means of controlling the fever. “ We should be landing in less than 90 minutes.”
Lisa nodded her head and proceeded to place ice packs under his arms and on his neck as she whispered, “Sonny we’ll be home soon, you just need to hang on a little longer, we are here for you.” She let her fingers lightly grasp his hand.
Everyone on board was totally exhausted and ready for this bird to land, the flight crew and support team considered this op a success as the HVT was dead and Petty Officer Quinn was alive. Bravo, Blackburn, Lange and Lt. Davis could not agree with them. Not until Sonny was at the hospital awake and talking.
Blackburn sat down next to Lange who was writing in Sonny’s chart. “Petty Officer Lange I want to thank you for coming on this op and helping Sonny and Petty Officer Sawyer. I am glad you were here for both of them. Especially Sawyer, he is totally exhausted physically and mentally. I will be writing a letter to put in your jacket for you going above the call of duty on this op. Let me know if you get any blow-back on the items you “borrowed” from the base's Infirmary. Thank you again Petty Officer.” Lange answered humbly “Thank you Sir, anytime.”
Trent was about to take Sonny’s vitals again hoping and praying that this would be the last time he needed to do this and that his vitals would remain stable until their landing.
Lange stood up to help Trent when he saw Sonny’s muscles start to tighten and shake, they recognized the beginning of a seizure. Lange ran for the medicine box as Trent grabbed Sonny’s shoulders, the vent alarm sounded as his breathing became irregular and the machine was attemping to compensate.
Everyone stopped what they were doing to look at Sonny and hold their collective breathes. Clay was close by packing his rucksack so he grabbed Sonny’s lower legs trying to keep him from hurting himself, the straps he had across his legs and chest helped to restrain him. Lange returned with the Ativan and inserted it into the piggyback on the IV line. It took a couple of minutes for it to take effect, which seemed like hours for eveyone watching, then Sonny again relaxed onto the gurney motionless.
Trent pinned Sonny with a look and in a shaky voice, “You just had to scare the crap out of us one more time. My hair has already gotten a thousand more grey hairs. I’m going to get Jase to order you to run hills and the O course a hundred times with a dam full pack when you wake up.”
He turned to Lange who was standing next to him and awkwardly said, “Thank you, Sonny and I would not have made it without your help. A thank you is not nearly good enough. Do you drink? If so what’s your poison?” Lange replied with a smile, “You are welcome, you have one amazing Team and Commander. I am glad I was here to do a small part in helping. I don’t drink a lot but I do I like Oban 14 Year Single Malt.” He gave Trent a smile while hoping that if Trent contacted him in the future he would be bringing him good news about Sonny’s recovery not about the Scotch.
Trent nodded and then they went back to double checking Sonny and the equipment before landing.
Blackburn came to Trent to let him know that he had contacted Portsmouth Naval Hospital and told them he needed an advanced care ambulance as Sonny was on a portable vent. He had the E.R. doc on the line if Trent wanted to give him the basics of Sonny’s condition before they arrived. So Trent took the phone and gave a Dr. David Sanders Sonny’s latest vitals and the overview of his injuries.
The plane touched down and everything happened quickly. The support team came to help and with Trent and Lange’s supervision they got Sonny and all the equipment unhooked. With Trent walking beside the gurney they carefully rolled Sonny down the ramp to the waiting ambulance. Jase, Ray, Clay and Brock were trailing a few feet behind with their rucks slung over their shoulders.
Jase caught up with Trent. “We’ll see you in a few after we drop our gear and talk to Blackburn.” Trent gave a slight nod and hurried to the ambulance. It took the crew a few minutes to get Sonny situated and Trent aboard before they left for the Naval Hospital with lights and sirens.
Lange spoke to Blackburn then continued to the Infirmary to talk to the Colonel in charge about the “borrowed” items as they would need to be accounted for.
Blackburn spoke to Lisa, “Lt. you need to go home now. I am going to Portsmouth and I will let you know if anything changes but I do not want to see you for 12 hours, and that is an order not a suggestion.” He knew she was dead on her feet and cat naps were not enough for her to continue to function. She started to argue but Blackburn put his hands on his hips and gave her the “look” so any argument was a wasted effort. She grabbed her go bag and briefcase then turned and walked down the ramp meeting Bravo on the tarmac. She gave them a disheartened look and said, “Blackburn ordered me home for 12 hours. If anything changes I want, I need to know.” Bravo nodded and she headed to her SUV. Everyone but Jase headed to the cage room to drop off equipment and rucksacks.
Blackburn was exiting the plane and Jase was standing at the end of the ramp. Blackburn raked a hand through his hair, “Master Chief that was one rough op and flight, I’m glad for everyone’s sake that Sonny is still with us.”
“Yeah me too, don’t know if it will get any better til he wakes up. But yes Trent and Lange pulled out all the stops to keep him alive, now its up to the Portsmouth docs.” Jason paused “I am heading to the hospital, Trent will not want to stand down but he is past exhaustion.”
“I’ll be there after I give a brief report to the NSWG. Now that we are on U.S. soil I need to check to see who Sonny assigned as his Medical Proxy and see if Emmet Quinn was notified. You gonna send the guys home?” Jason rubbed tired hands through his hair and nodded his head. Eric left to go to his office and Jase headed for the cages.
Ray, Brock and Clay were standing around the table in Bravo’s cage room in anticipation of Jase’s arrival. “Eric and I are heading to the hospital. Ray and Clay go home, be with your families. Brock I need you to come to Portsmouth so Trent will have a ride after I send him home. We did our job and rescued Sonny, Trent did his by doing everything possible to keep Sonny alive.” The guys nodded and he continued, “Sonny will need us later after everyone gets some rest, Ok guys I’ll text you if anything changes.”
Jase left no room for discussion as he pivoted and walked out of the room. Brock and Pepper left next. Pepper was always a comfort to the guys when under a lot of stress and she might be of help to Trent.
Ray and Clay slowly got up to leave, Ray was thinking outloud. “I’m not sure how to tell Naima. Sonny has always held a special place in her heart and with his complications on the plane I can’t gloss it over but telling her the truth will be rough.” His voice trailed off as he walked towards his Jeep.
Clay shrugged his shoulders as he had no words. He too was not sure how to tell Stella what had transpired over the past few weeks. Clay opened the Nova’s door and plopped down in the driver’s seat taking a few minutes to arrange his thoughts before driving to their apartment. He sent Stella a quick text to say he was back and would be home soon.
Trent rested his hand on Sonny’s arm and watched the monitors during the 30 mikes drive to Portsmouth Naval Hospital. The ambulance crew left him alone in his thoughts as they were impressed with the care this man on the gurney had received.
When they arrived at Portsmouth they were met with a multitude of long white coat physicians and other staff ready to receive their patient. Sonny was unloaded and whisked away in seconds, Trent chasing after them as Sonny was taken to the E.R. trauma unit.
Trent had held tightly to the clip board on which he and Lange had documented every treatment, drug and reaction that Sonny had while in their care. Trent was so thankful that Lange was a very detailed oriented person and had recorded everything. He even made Trent’s writing legible as Trent was so exhausted towards the end of the flight that there so no way he would have been able to recall all of the events.
Doctor Sanders was amazed, after hearing Trent and seeing the written records, how they had treated every symptom as it occurred with the drugs and equipment they had available.
He expressed his thoughts, “Petty Officer Sawyer you did great work keeping your teammate alive for such a prolonged time considering the extent of his injuries and what you had to work with. But we have him now and will take over his care. So before you fall down, which looks like could happen at any moment. I will get one of the staff to take you to the trauma waiting area, its quieter and there is coffee and drinks there. I assume someone is on their way from Little Creek to be with you and Petty Officer Quinn?”
Trent’s eyes went back to Sonny immediately after giving his info to Doctor Sanders as he had only heard half of the doc’s words. “Thanks but SOIDC Petty Officer Lange did most of it. I’m staying and yes someone is coming,” he nodded in the direction of the man on the gurney and quietly said, “his name is Sonny.”
Chapter Text
Brock, Pepper and Jason arrived at the hospital soon after Sonny and Trent, they were directed to the waiting area with some serious looks at Pepper. Brock had put her training vest on so no one had the nerve to stop and question him. They walked in to see Trent sitting with his hands covering his face and his elbows on his knees looking totally exhausted. Jase glanced over his shoulder at Brock before moving closer and speaking softly, “Trent we’re here now.”
Trent looked up through blood shot eyes at his Master Chief, “Boss, Brock.”
“Have they told you anything yet.”
“No, they are running all the tests and labs we couldn’t, MRI, CT, sonograms and a complete blood panel, it will be hours before they are finished and have the results.”
“Since it will be hours before we get results,” using Trent’s own words. “You need to go home now, I’m staying and Blackburn will be here soon.”
Trent’s eyes shot up, mouth opened about to protest when Jase cut him off, “Bravo 4 that is an order not a request, Brock will take you home.” Looking at Brock. “You both need food and sleep NOW.”
Trent knew in his heart Jase was right but he couldn’t disconnect from wanting to stay and find out the test results. “Jase he needs to know we are here.”
“Trent he will know, now go home.” Pepper had laid her head on Trent’s leg. Brock walked over and stepped in front of Trent and offered his brother a hand up. Trent gave Pepper a light scratch behind the ears then took Brock’s offer and slowly stood up.
After a quick nod Jase said, “I’ll call if anything changes.” Then he walked to the coffee station, poured himself a cup and sat down to wait.
Eric Blackburn was on the road to Portsmouth. He had made some hard calls in his career and here was another one. He pushed the number for the Perry’s home phone.
Ray had arrived home and told Naima that he needed to talk to her about the op but not until the kids were settled and in bed. Naima knew it would be a serious conversation as Ray’s demeanor from the minute he walked in was sad and anxious. The kids were down and he got a beer for himself and poured her a large glass of wine. Then he started explaining as much as he could divulge, who and what had prompted the sudden op. She was shocked and was having difficulty absorbing this information even though she knew how Sonny could internalize emotions, but this was worse than she had expected.
A few moments later the phone rang, she was frightened when she saw the caller ID. Why was Eric Blackburn calling their home number. Ray answered expecting the worse. “Commander.”
“Ray may I speak to Naima?”
Now Ray was very confused, “Sure, just a moment.” He turned to Naima, “he needs to speak to you.”
Naima looked at the phone before taking it from Ray, she hesitated, “Eric what can I do for you?”
“Naima I am sorry to call you with this but Sonny has you listed as his Medical Proxy.”
Silence, as Naima just held the phone without speaking, she turned to look at Ray before she answered, “Eric what will I need to do and when?”
“I am on my way to Portsmouth now and I will list your name and contact numbers on Sonny’s input forms. As you know you will be responsible for all his medical decisions until Sonny is conscious and able to make them. I am listed as an alternate so I will gladly help you with anything.”
“I understand Eric, thank you, please call as soon as you have any news.” She leaned back on the sofa and took a large sip of her wine, all while Ray was staring at her with quizzical eyes. “Ray, Sonny named me as his Medical Proxy.” Ray knew exactly what that responsibility entailed. He had nothing to say so he pulled her into his arms as her tears flowed freely.
~~~~
Jase had stretched out in one of the uncomfortable hospital chairs with his feet propped on the small table in front of the him when Blackburn walked in with an over the shoulder satchel containing his computer as he hoped to work on the reports that had to be completed after the op.. Blackburn gave Jase a quick nod as he looked around the room “Any news?”
“No, Trent said they would be running a lot of tests, probably be a few hours before the results come back.”
“I guess you sent the boys home, Trent give you any trouble?”
“Not really, sent Ray and Clay to their families and Brock took Trent home. Don’t expect to see them for awhile unless something changes."
“Well you may see Naima and Ray early.” Jase looked questioningly at Eric, “Why?”
“Sonny changed his Med Proxy recently from Clay and Lisa to Naima and me.”
Jase let out a long breath, “Shit, so Naima will have to make decisions for him till he is capable of doing it, how did she take it?”
“You know Naima, she will do whatever she needs to for the team, because all of you brought Ray home safe to her and the kids. You know she has always been Sonny and Clay’s substitute big sister.”
~~~~
Trent didn’t speak on the drive back to Va Beach as he laid his head on the cool glass of Brock’s truck window and his hand gently stroked Pepper’s head. “Trent my apartment is closer so do you want to crash there tonight and I will take you to the base to get your car tomorrow after breakfast?” Trent gave a tired nod, glad that his brother knew he was too tired to even drive the short distance from the base to his apartment and would have probably just slept in his car or cage.
~~~~~
Clay arrived home to an apartment that smelled of baby lotion and a casserole in the oven. Stella knew something was up as Clay usually called when he got back. Also Sonny had not called, texted or dropped by once since the Team had returned and no calls before they were spun up for this “rescue” op. She had put Brian down when her weary husband opened the door and dropped his go bag on the floor. Then he plopped on the sofa bed as she walked from the kitchen with a beer for him and a bottled water for herself. He looked up at her with his sad puppy dog blue eyes that had completely lost all their sparkle.
Stella said, “Ok, whatever it is we will get through it together, take your time and tell me.” As she snuggled into his side, he drew a shaky breathe then proceeded to do just that with glassy eyes and a tear occasionally rolling down his cheek. He omitted the almost dying part as he could not bear to cause her more worry about his already high risk job.
~~~~
Five hours later a very tired looking Doctor Sanders walked into the trauma waiting area. Jason and Blackburn started to get up, when the doctor saw how exhausted they were, he raised his hand to halt their movements. They did sit up straighter and Blackburn moved his computer to an empty chair.
The doctor pulled one of the chairs over so that he was facing them as he gave them the detailed report of Sonny’s current condition. “Gentlemen let me first say that your medic did an outstanding job keeping Petty Officer Quinn alive long enough to get here. Now, we have completed and reviewed his MRI, CT, sonograms and extensive blood analysis. He is stable for now, but in critical condition. He is sedated and still on a ventilator, the tests revel he has a Grade 2 concussion, pneumonia that we are treating with high doses of different antibiotics, he has four broken ribs, a bruised kidney, a small tear in his spleen. The cut on his leg and the wounds on his back are infected, his dislocated shoulder was manually repaired in the field and they checked it for tendon or muscle tears so he is on anti-inflammatory drugs. A major concern is his temperature as it continues to fluctuate. So we are administering an antipyretic drug and cooling blankets to try to prevent another seizure. I wish I had better news but right now his outcome is dependent on modern medicine and his will to live. I assume his family has been notified, I am a believer that support during this time has a major influence on the outcome.”
Blackburn spoke, “Yes, he has a father in Texas but his family is already here, his Team brothers have been and will always be by his side. When can we see him?
Dr. Sanders nodded, “ICU visiting hours are 15 minutes every hour, just use the phone outside the unit to call the nurses station. I hope to have better news next time we meet.” He nodded and left.
Trent and Brock woke up tired but functional seven hours after their heads hit the pillows. Brock and Pepper in his bed and Trent on the sofa. After quick showers and coffee they headed to the base to retrieve Trent’s truck. They did stop by their favorite breakfast drive-thru for loaded biscuits and more coffee. Pepper was really excited to be given a sausage biscuit as that rarely happened.
As Brock parked and Trent exited the vehicle he said, “I’m heading to Portsmouth, you coming?” Brock answered, “Later, I’m going to run Pep through a couple of drills she needs to work off that biscuit then I’ll leave her at the base kennel. I’ll text you and stop and get some lunch for everyone, hospital food sucks. Text me if I need to come sooner.”
Trent gave him a weak smile, “I will, thanks for everything brother, see you soon.”
Clay woke and stretched when he realized that Stella had gotten up to take care of Brian as he heard her softly singing to him. He smelled coffee so he sat up on the side of the sofa bed wondering what today would bring, thankful that his phone did not ring during the night with bad news.
“Morning, do you want some coffee?” He asked Stella as he walked into the kitchen.
“Sure, we’ll be out in a minute I’m just getting Brian dressed, he woke up early and was finishing his breakfast.” She picked up a cooing Brian out of his Paperclip high chair and laid him in his pack and play with the musical, wild animal crib mobile.
“Thanks for letting me sleep, I need to shower and head to the base and do my A.A.R.” As he returned with two mugs.
“You’re not going to the hospital?”
“Not sure if there is anything I can do, I had to tell the guys what I told you so they may blame me for Sonny’s decision to go on the op with Charlie Team. And when Sonny wakes up I’m probably the last person he wants to see.”
Stella raised her eyebrow and in a strong voice, “Clay Spenser you are talking about your brothers and your best friend. The guys would never blame you for Sonny’s decision and I’m sure there were more reasons than one that made him decide to go off with another Team.” She paused, “Sonny loves you and you love him and when you are hurt or injured who do you want to see when you open your eyes? Your family of course. Bravo is as much your family as Brian and I. Also is this a good life lesson to teach Brian that when family members have a falling out we quit, give up and walk away?”
Clay listened intently then took a moment to remember when things got rough between Ray and Jase and when Sonny went after Ray for the Marsden letter but he would have given his life to get Ray back after he was captured.
“Have I told you recently how smart you are, I guess the A.A.R. can wait.” As he walked to the bathroom to get dressed.
“I’ll fix you a nice healthy breakfast as hospital food is terrible.” She smiled as she walked into the kitchen.
~~~~
Trent arrived to find Blackburn sitting in one of the chairs surrounded by vending machine wrappers and empty coffee cups. His computer in his lap and him hammering away on the keys. He looked up, then glanced at his watch, Trent still had tired sunken eyes but did look better than yesterday.
Blackburn said as he glanced at his watch. “Hasn’t even been nine hours yet.”
“Couldn’t sit around waiting any longer, how is he, where’s Jase?”
Before Blackburn could answer, Ray and Naima entered the area, they nodded and Naima hugged Trent and gave Blackburn a smile.
Ray gave Trent a side hug then asked the same question, “How is he and where’s Jase?”
Blackburn was relieved to see them as he wanted to give them an update on Sonny’s condition and had planned on calling Naima when Jase returned.
“I’m glad Naima is here as I was about to call you with the doctor’s update. Doctor Sanders came a couple hours ago and gave us the overview of his condition and their treatment plan. He is in critical condition, sedated and still on the vent.” He took a slow breath.
“He has pneumonia, a Grade 2 concussion, infections in his leg and back, four broken ribs, a bruised kidney, a spleen bleed, a repaired dislocated shoulder, his temp continues to fluctuate so they are trying to keep it under control to prevent another seizure. They are treating him with various drugs for the infections and fever. The doc implied medicine could only do so much and that Sonny needed to fight. Jase is with him now as they have allowed us to visit him 15 minutes every hour so we have taken turns to make sure he knows we are here.”
Naima leaned into Ray and glanced at him with tears in her eyes as an A.P.R.N. she understood too well what all these injuries meant and just how serious they were.
Jase came through the double doors from the ICU wing and was greeted by Ray with a nod, Naima gave him a hug, a fist bump from Trent. They all were waiting on the latest update. Brock and Clay came in and greetings around the room started again, after everyone settled down Jason got their attention by clearing his throat and Trent spoke up to tell the two new arrivals what was happening. “Jase has been with Sonny and was about to give us the latest update.” They all turned their eyes towards Jason.
“Nothing good, he had another seizure as his temp is still fluctuating, they told me it was a short one, whatever that means. His lungs still have a lot of fluid in them and he has those infections on his leg and back. They changed out some of his drugs trying new combinations. and they are hopeful the spleen tear will heal itself. He has not made any attempt to wake up yet. They still have him on some heavy sedation.” He went over and sat down close to Eric and with a short sigh let his head fall back against the wall.
Everyone was silently absorbing this latest bit of info when Blackburn spoke, “Ok Master Chief its time you go home, we will make up a schedule so that there can always be someone here. He will fight and he will wake up.” He started picking up his things, he and Jase cleaned up their corner of the area, he stood up heading for the exit. “You all know Sonny is one stubborn S.O.B. and Bravo is his life.”
Bravo really wanted to believe that but they knew more than Blackburn so they wondered if Sonny still believed it and would he fight for his life to return to them.
Jase said his goodbyes and told Naima to call him if anything changed or she needed him. Then everyone sat in silence, contemplating the recent info, just waiting for the next visiting time.
It was determined that Naima and Ray would be the next to go in. Forty minutes later it was time for Naima to see Sonny. She took several deep breaths and held Ray’s hand as they went into the ICU Unit.
The ICU room was quiet except for the humming and beeps of the machines doing their jobs. The overhead lights were turned down so the two occupants separated by curtains could rest. A nurse sat at the end of each bed and another nurse watched the monitors from a console in the middle of the room.
The nurse close to Sonny stood up and moved to the center of the room as she noticed them entering. Naima was very accustomed to all the machines and equipment attached to Sonny’s body but it was still a shock to see someone you cared about with machines doing much of the work keeping him alive.
She immediately looked at the readings on the monitors surrounding Sonny. Satisfied that most were in normal perimeters. She picked up his hand in both of hers as Ray went to the other side and laid his hand on Sonny’s arm that was in a sling across his chest.
She leaned over and said softly, “Hi Sonny, its Naima and Ray, we are here, we love you and you are safe. You are in Portsmouth Naval Hospital and the guys are here but the docs want you to rest so we can only stay a few minutes. You know I wouldn’t lie to you, you are very sick but you are getting the best medical care and we need you to get better so Jameelah and R.J. can have their uncle chasing them all around the yard at the next cook-out.” She squeezed his hand and gave him a light kiss on his forehead then she turned and realized that the nurse that had been behind the console when they walked in was now standing only a few feet away.
Naima recognized her, Marjorie Adams a nurse she had worked with several years ago. “Naima oh my, I am glad to see you again, just not under these circumstances. Is he a friend of yours and your husband? I knew he was on a Team by the Commander and Master Chief being here earlier.”
“Marjorie its good to see you too, yes he is a close friend and on Ray’s Team. And I am his Medical Proxy. This is the first chance I have had to see him.” She paused, “I am so glad you are here to take care of him, you are one of the most caring nurses I know. Sonny will need everyone’s help to recover from these injuries.”
Oh Naima, thank you for the compliment, I will do everything in my power to help him recover. Also you being his Medical Proxy you will have unrestricted visiting times, just use the phone outside the unit and give them your name, we will allow you and anyone you want to have access.” As she glanced over at Ray, who’s eyes were closed as he prayed over Sonny.
“Thank you Marjorie, his team is as much his family as his father. And at least one of them will be in the hospital at all times as he needs to know they are close by.”
Marjorie gave Naima a hug before her and Ray left to inform the others.
~~~~
The next couple of days were a whirl wind of activity. Lisa handled the schedule even including Full Metal and Derek from Alpha Team, so there was always someone there. With Naima’s unrestricted access, now two could visit Sonny for extended periods. Hannah came with Sonny’s dad Emmet for only a couple of days as they needed to return home. Hannah for LeeAnne and Emmet for a scheduled hip replacement surgery.
Lisa was is the waiting room when Hannah and Emmet came to visit. She greeted Hannah and Hannah introduced her to Emmet who was using a rolling walker in preparation for his surgery. Eric came out from being with Sonny and offered to escort Mr. Quinn to the unit so Lisa and Hannah sat down to talk.
Lisa asked with a smile, “How is LeeAnne, I know she has really grown over the last few months.”
“Oh yes let me show you pictures.” As Hannah pulled up a multitude of pics on her phone. “I’m so glad Commander Blackburn took Emmet back as I don’t think Sonny would want to be in the same room with me. On our last call I told him I was dating an old school friend and it might get serious. He was so quiet Lisa, which was really odd for Sonny. I hated telling him on the phone but I didn’t want to hide it from him and I knew he was back home and had you and his brothers near by.”
Lisa knitted her eyebrows wondering if this was another reason for Sonny’s recent actions, “True, being quiet doesn’t sound like Sonny but I am glad that you and LeeAnne are happy.”
“I told Sonny that he would always be LeeAnne’s daddy, that would never change. Maybe I shouldn’t go back there I wouldn’t want to upset him. They say people can hear you even when they aren’t conscious. Lisa would you do me a favor? I can send you pics and a video of LeeAnne and when Sonny wakes would you show them to him please?”
“Of course I will Hannah and yes it might be for the best if we do that.”
Hannah reached over and gave Lisa a sincere hug with tears in her eyes,“Thank you.”
~~~~~
The doctors were pleased with the small progress they had observed over the next few days. Sonny’s temp had finally returned to almost normal, the fluid in his lungs had decreased by the smallest of amounts and the multitude of wounds had begun to heal. Dr. Sanders and the other specialists had discussed lowering his sedation to begin the process of weaning him off the vent. Naima was more than excited by the prospect of extubation of the vent and his waking up so she would no longer have the responsibility of being his Medical Proxy.
Sonny no longer distinguished between reality and delusions as they had merged into one dreamy nondescript world. He did not know if this was perhaps the purgatory he had heard about from his mother. He could sometimes hear soft voices far away, of long ago friends. His arms and hands grasped by people he once knew well, Blackburn, Jason, Brock, Trent, Ray, even a word or two from Clay, Derek, Full Metal. He even thought he heard his Dad saying how proud he was of him. Then there were soft touches and words from Naima and Davis.
At one time all of the touching and urging from these people would have lured him back and given him the strength to fight his way up and out of this darkness. But for what? Here in this place there was no mental or physical pain, no disappointments, no longings for what could never be. That was all in the other place and no reason to go back there.
~~~~
The doctors started reducing his sedation drugs as they upped his pain meds. They knew when he became more aware his level of pain could increase. His temperature had stabilized and no more seizures had occurred.
The next day Naima had the day off from her nursing job so she and Ray decided to bring Jase and Clay beer and pizza for lunch as it was their scheduled time with Sonny.
Clay lifted his head from the book he was reading as he got a whiff of pizza before Naima and Ray entered. Jase was stretched out in his now familiar chair with his feet propped on the table with empty coffee cups nearby.
The atmosphere in this waiting area had definitely changed over the last few days, chuckles an occasional smiles had replaced worried downcast eyes, frowns, glassy eyes and even tears as they had received the reports of the continued healing of Sonny's body.
Ray spoke up, “Thought you guys would appreciate pizza from Planet Pizza and a couple of beers. How is everything?”
Naima greeted them with a smile and hugs. Clay answered, “Really appreciate the food and beer, we are good and Naima’s nurse friend said they are continuing to slowly decrease Sonny’s sedation meds.”
Jase added, “Hoping he wakes up soon so they can take the vent out. Thanks for the pizza. We had stepped out as they were running some tests and the nurse said it would be a few minutes.”
Naima turned to Ray, “Why don’t you stay with the guys and catch up while I go check on our boy.”
“Yeah, maybe I can get a slice before they eat it all.” Ray winked at his wife.
Marjorie was standing next to Sonny’s bed going over his vitals with another nurse when Naima entered.
Naima greeted her as she walked over to the other side of his bed and lifted Sonny’s hand, “Hi Marjorie, Clay said the doctors are decreasing his sedation meds, so how is our guy doing?”
The other nurse turned and stepped away and Marjorie motioned for Naima to follow her back to the desk in the center of the room. Naima immediately detected something was off. “Marjorie what is it?”
“Naima maybe nothing, but you have been a nurse long enough to know that when we get a gut feeling its best to pay attention. That’s why I had Denise check his vitals more often and even swapped out his monitor just to make sure it wasn’t malfunctioning. His sedation levels have been lowered to the point I was hoping for more spontaneous movement and awareness. It may be his injuries involved so many body parts and organs that it will take him longer to come around than we had hoped.”
“Has doctor Sanders scheduled an M.R.I. to rule out a brain issue and I know you are drawing blood and checking urine on a regular schedule to check for any additional infections or abnormalities?” Naima asked.
“Yes, as a matter of fact he did after I spoke to him earlier today. He ordered a MRI, C.T. and a sonogram on the carotids to check blood flow to his brain. I am sorry Naima all of this may be unnecessary. Sonny may wake up at any moment and we can laugh at being overly cautious but I had to tell you as his Proxy and a friend and colleague.”
“Thank you Marjorie I appreciate that and I will talk to Doctor Sanders. Lets keep this between us for now, the guys were just starting to relax a bit and have some hope.”
“He is lucky to have a great Team of people who love and support him, I see it every time they walk through those doors.” Then she gave Naima a hug and went back to monitoring her patients.
Naima walked over to Sonny’s bedside. She had wondered why when she had picked up his hand earlier it felt the same as when he had been heavily sedated with no attempted movement, not even a twitch. She bent over close to Sonny’s ear. “Sonny its Naima, I know you are very tired and its hard but we need you to wake up and come back to us please.” She briefly kissed his forehead before leaving.
She put on a smile as she walked back to the waiting area, she would not be the one to spoil their day, they deserved to hold on to the hope that their brother would wake up soon. Later that day after they returned home and Naima waited til Ray was occupied with the kids when she called Dr. Sanders to see if he had the results of the tests.
Doctor Sanders answered and got right to the point. “Hello Ms. Perry I’m sorry I should say Nurse Perry. Marjorie said you were at the hospital earlier and she told you I had ordered additional tests for Petty Officer Quinn. The good news is the tests came back negative for anything that would interfere with him waking up. The bad news we still do not know why he is not showing more signs of awareness. I would like to give him another 24 hours to see if things change. I do hope you agree that my plan on taking him off the vent to see if he will breath on his own even if he is not fully conscious. I know there are some risks that come with that decision but I know you understand that the longer he stays on the vent the more dependent he becomes on it and that can cause additional problems. My hope is that he immediately breathes and that the additional effort will wake him up.”
Naima was glad that he spoke directly about his plan of action as she knew doctors agonized over these decisions. Naima answered with sadness, “Doctor Sanders I do understand the difficult decision and I agree that there are only two options. My request is that I be notified before you do the procedure, so that I and the members of his Team can be there.”
“Of course, I will clear it with the staff that all his Team be allowed in the ICU. I can have him moved to an isolation room next to ICU as it has more privacy. Thank you, as I only want the best for him.”
“I know you do, as we all do. We will see you tomorrow.” Naima paused and sat in silence deciding on how to tell Ray and the others.
Naima decided to invite Jason over for dinner and then do a conference call with the others.
She would call Eric and Lisa as they would be at the hospital for their shift and she would ask Ray to call Full Metal and Derek. She waited til after dinner and the kids were in bed. She left the kitchen and stepped outside on the front porch where Ray and Jase had gone to have a beer and talk.
“Guys I need to get the Team on a video call and tell them the decision Doctor Sanders and I have made about tomorrow.” Ray’s head snapped around in surprise.
Jason frowned, “What is happening tomorrow Naima?”
“Jason it will be better if I speak to everyone at the same time, I already have the laptop set up on the dining room table.” They followed her inside and sat down, Ray looked curiously at his wife. Jase sat rubbing his thigh with his leg bouncing compulsively as Naima dialed the group. Clay joined first, followed by Trent and Brock, they all had surprised looks on their faces seeing Jason, Ray and Naima gathered around the table, Stella and Brian were in Clay’s background and Pepper’s head was resting on Brock’s lap as she watched the screen filled with her pack minus one.
“Guys, Sonny has not made the necessary effort to wake up, and the risks of leaving him on the vent longer are too great to ignore. Dr. Sanders is making arrangements so everyone can be there with Sonny when he removes the vent. Tomorrow he will give me a heads up so I will send out a group text with the time. Please remember Sonny is a strong warrior and he will be ok, we all need to believe that.” Naima gave them a slight smile before she shut down the link.
Ray and Jason sat there looking at Naima before Jase spoke, “So you believe this is the best plan of action for Sonny, that leaving him on the vent a little longer is a bad idea?”
“Yes Jase, he is becoming too dependent on it and they have reduced his sedation substantially but he is not making any attempts to become conscious. The plan is if he has to start making the effort to breath that may help wake him.”
“Do they have an idea as to why he isn’t waking up?”
“They don’t Jase, its a mystery, all the additional tests the doctor ordered came back negative and he is continuing to heal. He should be sitting up talking to us.” She paused with a sigh. “Ray if you would please let Scott and Derek know I would really appreciate that and I’ll contact Eric and Lisa.”
Jase was very concerned after learning this new info and left for home after giving Ray and Naima hugs. Ray soon went to bed and snuggled with his wife as he knew this had to have been a hard day for her to carry this decision on her shoulders. But she was one very strong woman as she proved once again.
~~~~
Tomorrow was a new day, full of hope and anxiety. Doctor Sanders called Naima at mid-morning saying he would be doing the procedure at 4p.m. He had given Sonny as long as possible to show signs of awakening.
Only absolute silence and stillness from the body of this once, vibrant, healthy, loving, wisecracking Sonny Quinn.
Chapter Text
CHAPTER 6
Naima arrived early and was already in the isolation room where they had moved Sonny. It was adjacent to the ICU but an enclosed room with sliding glass doors. Dr. Sanders had arrived and instructed Marjorie what equipment he wanted in the room in case Sonny did not initiate spontaneous breathing he would need to reinsert the vent and a crash cart was close by.
By 4pm a group of anxious, apprehensive Tier 1 operators and officers who had been in some of the most dangerous places and situations facing death around every corner were now filling the isolation room anxious to find out what fate awaited one of their own. They proceeded to move around the perimeter of the room leaving space for the nurse and doctor. All the machines monitoring Sonny’s vitals were blinking with numbers and graphs showing normal readings, all of that could quickly change, the tension in the room was palatable. Doctor Sanders positioned himself on the left side of the bed close to Sonny’s head, Marjorie a step behind him ready to assist in any way necessary. Naima was in the same spot on the right side of the bed with her hand on Sonny’s shoulder.
As the doctor checked the monitors one last time, Ray stepped up behind Naima and put his hand on her shoulder to show support. Jason stood next to them with his hand on Sonny’s arm. Clay was next with his hand on the bed rail, Brock was next to him. Full Metal with Derek stood at the end of the bed, then Eric and Lisa. Trent stood back as he needed some space to breath as he hoped for the best but understood what failure could mean.
Doctor Sanders quickly deflated the vent tube and pulled it up and out, then all the attention was on Sonny’s chest, hoping for a gag reflex and then a breath, there was a slight gag then nothing. No one moved everyone held their breath, seconds ticked by 1,2,3, 4,5.
Suddenly Full Metal grabbed Sonny’s foot on his uninjured leg and in his deep throaty voice commanded, “Sonny, Son of a Bitch, Bravo 3 BREATHE NOW Dammit.” On cue Sonny took a deep raspy breath, the guys smiled the girls let out held breaths. They all looked at Metal as he did a quick smirk when he and Derek turned and walked out. The others stood there in stunned disbelief that that had worked.
The doctor stepped back in relief and Marjorie raised the head of the bed slightly in a position to make it easier for Sonny to breathe. Jase turned to Ray and Naima, “Well damn, that was a surprise but it was what we hoped for, right. But he still needs to wake up?”
Naima nodded and smiled, “One step at a time Jase.” As she squeezed his arm, she understood these men who were accustomed to having control, hated having to wait for total mission success.
~~~~~
Sonny was shaken out of the darkness, part of him knew he was surrounded and crowded by beings, who they were or why they were there no longer mattered to him. They had disturbed his non-existence and he would do whatever to get them to leave. One of the beings demanded his body to breathe air so he did. Now he could sink back into the darkness of nonexistent.
~~~~
Naima stepped away to speak to Dr. Sanders as everyone crowded around Sonny and told him “Thank God,” “way to go,” “so happy you decided to breathe,” “now just wake up,” “who would have believed you would listen to Metal,” “Damn,” “an answered prayer.” After the entire group gave a sighs of relief they slowly left the room, so relieved that their brother was breathing on his own. Trent was glad that he and Clay were scheduled to stay so that he could watch over his brothers. He knew Clay was carrying a lot of unnecessary guilt and he hoped he could help with that during their time together.
Dr. Sanders drew a long breath before speaking to Naima in the hall. “One step successfully completed but we still have a ways to go. He needs to show more awareness or we will need to put in a N.G. tube, as the current IV’s do not supply enough nutrition to his body to sustain him. I will leave him in the isolation room as the ICU nurses will monitor and handle his medical needs and the Team can have 24 hour access to him there. We just witnessed his response to one of them, I believe their presence is vital. Also I am calling in a Neurophysiologist for a consult.”
Naima frowned slightly, “A Neurophysiologist, what are you concerned about?”
“I just want her to review everything, as all the previous tests have been negative, perhaps the psychological needs to be looked at and she can add a different dimension.”
“You think it may not be a physical condition preventing Sonny’s recovery, but a psychological one. I have been a nurse for almost twenty years and I understand our mind can influence our bodies healing abilities just never to this extent to prevent someone his age from waking up." Dr. Sanders nodded in agreement. “That’s why I want to call in Dr. Morris now.”
“Just keep me in the loop please.” Naima requested.
“Of course.” He said as he left to return to his office and make the call. Naima returned to the isolation room to check on Sonny. Marjorie was there with another nurse and Trent as they bathed and dressed all of Sonny’s wounds and administered his IV drugs. The nurses knew that Trent was the Team’s medic and had kept Sonny alive so they were thankful for his help as Sonny was still difficult to turn as he still made no effort to help or move.
After Sonny was taken care of and placed in a comfortable position with all his immediate needs met. Naima stepped closer to Trent to speak to him about what Dr. Sanders said.
Clay soon returned from saying goodbye to Jase and making a quick call to Stella to let her know the good news. He went to Sonny’s bedside and sat down with a book, smiling for the first time in days as he watched the rise and fall of Sonny’s chest. Having convinced himself that Sonny would soon open his eyes and they could have that long overdue talk.
Trent was surprised by what Naima told him, as being a field medic concerned with concussions and trauma wounds he had never considered the brain body connection.
Neurophysiologist Dr. Elise Rowan Morris received the call from Dr. Sanders as she was finishing up some paperwork. He filled her in on patient Petty Officer Percival “Sonny” Quinn and all the physical injuries he had endured and the treatments he had received. He assured her he would send over all the scans, labs and other tests that had been performed. But the elephant in the room was why he had not made any effort to wake up and laid as still and quite as when he had been brought in seven days earlier with multiple injuries.
Dr. Morris immediately had questions that would need answers and she definitely needed to see him in person as she might have an idea of what was happening but it was such a rare medical occurrence that if that was the case speed of action was of the essence. She asked, “Does he have family, wife, children, military brothers?”
“He is a Seal and his Team is his family, he does have an elderly father in Texas that did visit. That’s as much as I know, but his Medical Proxy is the wife of one of his Team members. She probably has the details of his relationships. I will text you her name and number, she is also a nurse over at Sentara in Va Beach.”
“Thanks David, I will be in touch soon, after I have an opportunity to review his medical records and visit with his team members.”
“Elise thank you. With your knowledge and background I really hope you can find some answers for why he isn’t conscious. He is young and of course was healthy before this happened and he definitely has the support of his Team brothers and family.”
“David, you know I will do my best to help a Team guy and one of our Nation’s warrior’s.”
Dr. Morris called Naima and the others to schedule times to meet and discuss Sonny’s relationships and personality to see if there were any other clues to account for his continued unconscious. She spent the rest of the day and most of the night going over Sonny’s medical tests and treatments.
Naima agreed to meet at Starbucks near the hospital. She asked if Ray could attend the meeting as he could address the team relationships. Dr. Morris wholeheartedly agreed.
Ray sent a text to Jase to let him know that he wouldn’t be meeting him at the base’s gym that morning. Naima and he were meeting with a new doctor to discuss, well he wasn’t sure what. Naima thought he might have information that the doctor might find useful.
Dr. Morris arrived early for their meeting and ordered a flat white. As she waited for her order she watched the people exiting their cars. There were several couples coming into the building, she immediately knew which one was Ray and Naima.
The body, walk, situational awareness and protective manner he had, screamed Special Ops. She was so familiar with military males as her father was a retired SEAL, an uncle a Vice-Admiral, a brother an Air Force pilot and an aunt works at the CIA. Elise had served six years active duty as a Marine and was in the Reserves.
She stepped up to them as they entered. In her soft Southern accent, “Hello, Warrant Officer Perry and Ms Perry I’m Dr. Morris but please call me Elise.” Ray answered with a smile, “Hi, I’m Ray and this is Naima.”
“It’s nice to meet you, I hate that it is under these circumstances and I sincerely hope that together we will be able to help your friend and teammate.” It was a lovely sunny, cool spring day so after getting drinks they decided to sit outside in a patio area where they could have their conversation in private.
Dr. Morris began, “Ray and Naima I have gone over all the medical records and tests results from Dr. Sanders. We had a long discussion about Petty Officer Quinn and what could be a possible cause of him not regaining consciousness. It does not seem to be a physical issue. Dr. Sanders brought me in as I have worked with the staff and patients at Walter Reed and other Military Hospitals on the psychological connection between brain and body and how it can manifest itself in various ways.”
Naima spoke hesitantly, “You believe Sonny’s mental state is preventing him from waking?”
Ray looked over at Naima with a frown before speaking, “I’m sorry, I just don’t see that causing Sonny’s problem. We are trained to compartmentalize and handle lots of stress and sure there are different ways we handle it. Sonny’s main downtime way is alcohol and strip clubs but he has always bounced back from multiple injuries and difficult ops.” Ray wondered if he had given this stranger too much information. He couldn’t believe that if injuries, bad ops and enemies couldn’t break Sonny that his own mind could.
Dr. Morris answered as if she had read his mind. “Ray anything you say to me is private and will not be put in his official medical records. I know it is hard to believe a Tier One Operator could be brought down by his own mind, but there is physical trauma and mental trauma and when combined, sometimes they become too much. The brain can and will shut down.”
Naima gave Ray a reassuring arm pat as she glanced over at him and then proceeded to tell Dr. Morris how Sonny was extremely loyal to the Team but would hide any deep emotional feelings by making a joke or some off the cuff remark. Also he loved children and always gravitated towards the kids when events were serious or scary for them, trying to reassure and comfort them. They continued to talk for a few minutes about Sonny and some of his strengths and other habits.
Dr. Morris asked if there was anyone else in Sonny’s inner circle that she needed to talk to as she did plan on talking to his Bravo brothers. Naima answered, “Yes, Lisa, Lt. Lisa Davis, would have information as she and Sonny had worked together for years. Also she said something to me at the hospital the other day about Hannah. Oh, Hannah is a childhood friend of Sonny’s and they have an eighteen month old baby girl together, LeeAnne. I met Hannah once, she seemed very nice and she and Sonny tried to live as a family after LeeAnne was born. Hannah even moved here from Texas but it didn’t work out. Lisa mentioned that when Hannah came with Sonny’s dad Emmet to visit, that Hannah didn’t go to his room. She thought Sonny wouldn’t want to be in the same room with her but Lisa didn’t go into any details.”
“Yeah, Lt. Davis would be a good person to talk to about Sonny, she knows him better than anyone.” He hoped Lisa would tell the Doctor about her relationship with Sonny because Ray would not disclose that info.
Dr. Morris picked up on Ray’s tone that she really needed to speak to this Lieutenant Davis as there may be more to that story.
Ray continued, “I know Petty Officer Clay Spenser is on your list. Sonny acts like an older brother to Clay, as he is our youngest Team member, their relationship was extremely close. I know you also plan on talking to Master Chief Hayes. He has known Sonny since selection when he joined Bravo. Sonny is the door kicking, have your back all the time guy with way too many phobias to list, he hates water, sharks, sand and jungles to name a few,” he finished with a chuckle.
Dr. Morris noticed that Ray used the past tense when describing Sonny and Clay’s relationship, could have been a slip of the tongue or something more. Ray and Naima paused to think if they had missed anything important but they thought not. So they looked at each other as wives and husbands sometimes do and Naima said, “Dr. Morris I hope that we helped paint a picture of our Sonny, who we love and want more than anything to help him recover from whatever is happening.”
“Naima, Ray, thank you so much and I believe the information you have given me helps fill in pieces of the puzzle of what makes the Petty Officer tick. I have appointments with the others, as I believe for us to have a chance of success we need to proceed quickly. After I speak to them I will be in touch.” She shook their hands as she got up to leave, as the clock was ticking.
Jason was the next Bravo she had scheluded to speak with. He was anxious to meet A.S.A.P. so she drove to the base to see him after his work out in the gym. He was a little surprised after she told him he didn’t need to call her in a pass and that she had cleared it with Commander Blackburn to meet in his office while Eric was at the hospital with Sonny.
She really wanted to wrap up these interviews today, if her suspicions were correct they only had a few days to turn Sonny’s disastrous downward spiral around before it would be too late. Elise entered the command building, immediately spotted Master Chief Jason Hayes 6’2” handsome alpha male. Everyone knew he was the one in control of any situation.
He watched her enter the building and was a little surprised to see an attractive dark haired woman with blue eyes in her early 40’s wearing military ID’s.
She walked directly to him as she put out her hand and in a soft voice spoke, “Master Chief Hayes I’m Dr. Morris, thank you for meeting me. I’m sure you have spoke to your 2IC and understand I am gathering all the info I can to help Petty Officer Quinn in order to develop a P.O.A.” They continued to walk to Blackburn’s office.
Jase answered as they walked, “Yes, Ray and I have talked. So you are military.”
“Yes ROTC in college, boot at Parris Island, then six years active in the Corp, still in the Reserves.”
“A jar head.”
Elise smiled and replied, “Semper Fi.”
They entered Blackburn’s office and sat at a small table by the window. “Master Chief I apologize for being in a hurry. But I want to commend you and Bravo for the rescue and efforts to keep Petty Officer Quinn alive and bring him home.” She paused.
“Thanks it was a Team effort, maybe if I had handled things differently we wouldn’t be here today dealing with this, at all.”
“Master Chief, I don’t believe just a single incident caused your 3IC to end up in this situation and I hope to be able to help him. Also I will tell you what I told Ray and Naima. Anything you tell me will not be included in Quinn’s medical records. Warrant Officer Perry told me you have worked with Sonny on Bravo since selection. So what attributes of his made him a fit for the Team? I know Team guys and he had to have something ya’ll were looking for?”
“Sonny is a door kicking, pipe hitting bad ass and one of the best breachers and loves things that go boom that I have ever seen. He is Team loyal to a fault, with a few quirks. Call me Jason.”
“Ok Jason, please call me Elise. Ray mentioned his coping mechanisms and Naima said he loves kids, sounds like he likes to keep things clean and simple. Kick it down, blow it up and no surprises.”
Jason smiled, “Sounds about right.”
“I bet he could be a handful sometimes, especially when he gets overwhelmed, doesn’t handle the emotional stuff well?” She paused, “So what happened on his last op with Bravo? I understand that Bravo was the rescue Team but he was running with another Team when he was injured.”
Jase frowned and ran his hand over his face. “Yes he could be, it was a long rough op for everyone, Sonny was left out of a decision. He and Clay, his best friend had a major issue. And I didn’t take care of him soon enough when we got back. I assume he felt abandoned and alcohol and the strip club weren’t enough this time to get his head back on straight. Then he left on the mission with Charlie Team without telling Bravo. ”
Jase got that thousand yard stare and Elise just waited for him to come back to the conversation. “In the past I have been able to catch most of his bad decisions before he went too far. I was dealing with some issues and I slipped up and this is what happens when I don’t pay attention inside the wire like I do outside the wire.” He looked at her with glassy sad eyes, he quickly blinked and frowned slightly.
“Jason I don’t know the Petty Officer but in my opinion it took several things to throw him into this tailspin. You may well be partially correct but I am not sure that you could have prevented this. You had no way of knowing that he would be physically injured on top of some mental anguish he was going through. So I believe a combination of things brought us to today.” She paused, “So alcohol and strip clubs were his go to fix, anything else?”
Jase looked at her wondering if he could trust her with more info, not sure so he shrugged, “No that’s pretty much it.”
That told her that there were more pieces to this puzzle, so she was wondering what Sawyer, Reynolds, Davis and Spenser would add to this.
Elise got up to leave. “Jason thank you for filling in more pieces of this puzzle.”
Jason wanted the P.O.A. spelled out now, so he looked at her intensely, “Ok, do you know what to do to get Sonny to wake up? Dr. Sanders seemed to have run out of ideas and I thought that’s why he called you in so what is the next step?”
Elise knew he wanted a plan now, but she didn’t have one, not yet. Not until she had all the pieces. “Jason I am speaking to the other members of the Team later today then I will formulate a plan. But any plan I devise is not a sure thing. I will present it to everyone involved tomorrow at the hospital.”
Jason spoke in his commanding voice, “Understood. At this point I’ll take any plan you come up with, the sooner the better I want my 3IC back.” They shook hands and walked out of Blackburn’s office. Jason left to run some errands then head to the hospital to relieve Blackburn and tell him about his meeting and the one tomorrow. Elise went to the mess hall to meet with Petty Officers Sawyer and Reynolds before Sawyer went to the hospital later to relieve Senior Chief Scott Carter. It was early afternoon and only a few people were there. She saw two men having coffee and pie when she entered so she grabbed a sweet tea and made her way to them.
They started to rise but she motioned for them to stay seated, “Gentlemen I’m Dr. Morris, please call me Elise. I will be direct, as I am sure you have talked with your Team members and know what I am looking for. Anything that can help me make a plan to help Petty Officer Quinn. First I want to thank you Petty Officer Sawyer for keeping him alive on the flight back. The doctors at Portsmouth were impressed that you were able to do that with your limited resources.
“I did very little, I had help from SOIDC Lange he was the real hero.”
“Still, It was a miracle and I want to thank everyone who played a part in bringing him home. I hope to have a P.O.A. that will help in his recovery, but I will need everyone’s co-operation. Also anything you wish to tell me will not be included in any official report. Now what can ya’ll tell me about Sonny and how he handles stress, I have already heard about some phobias, alcohol and strip clubs.”
Trent and Brock both smiled at that statement. Trent with sad eyes said, “Sounds right and when he didn’t think you were as loyal to the Team as you should be, anger and his short temper would show up.”
Brock added, “Don’t forget fists, another way he worked out emotions, remember when he broke up with his special girl he came in bloodied, bruised with a black eye. The thing that seemed to always calm him down and bring him pleasure was a Bar-B-Que he loves to cook for everyone and he’s really good at it.”
Trent nodded, “Do you have an idea of what’s going on with him? Have you seen this before and can you help him?”
“I have first hand knowledge of a possible similar case and the sooner we start working on a treatment plan the better. No guarantees but I hope to have him back cooking Bar-B-Que for ya’ll. We will have a meeting tomorrow at the hospital and I will present my plan. Can you think of anything else?”
Trent and Brock looked at each other and shook their heads almost simultaneously. “No, we just want him to wake up and come back to Bravo.” Trent answered. Elise finished her tea. “Thank you gentlemen I hope to see you tomorrow.” She still had two more people to interview before her work began.
She headed down the corridor to Lieutenant Davis’s office. She knocked and the very professional Lisa Davis with her military face on greeted her. “Lt. Davis I am Dr. Elise Morris, thank you for speaking with me today, as you probably know I am trying to ascertain what has caused Petty Officer Quinn to continue to be in an unresponsive state.”
“Dr. Morris I am more than willing to do anything to help “Son... Petty Officer Quinn recover.”
“Please call me Elise, I understand you and Petty Officer Quinn have worked together for a number of years and are very close. I will tell you what I have told the others, whatever you tell me will remain between us and will not go into an official report. I have been told about his phobias and his fixers of alcohol and strip clubs. Lieutenant I need all the pieces of this puzzle, so what can you tell me about him personally and anything that may have happened over the last few weeks to cause him to become despondent.”
Lisa hesitated, wondering where to begin and how much should she tell this stranger who was sitting across from her. But the real question was, will not telling her everything that she and Sonny are to each other prevent his recovery? She can’t risk that so she opened her mouth and began. “Dr. Morris, Sonny Quinn is the love of my life.” She paused and took a deep breath. “He has been my friend for over eight years, three years ago we became lovers but military rules said that is not allowed so we tried to make it work by my transferring. That didn’t happen, we broke up, then he was sent to Texas for some training. While there LeeAnne, his baby girl happened, so we both tried to move on with our lives. During Bravo’s last op he said some hurtful things to me about causing problems for him and his baby’s mother. I did not speak to him the last couple of days or during the flight home. I thought we would have time to work it out like we always had in the past. But he left on the op where he was injured. So I feel it is my fault he is not waking up and I would do anything to fix that.” She finished as tears slowly rolled down her cheeks.
Elise reached across the desk and rested her hand on Lisa’s arm. “Lieutenant I do not believe it was one single incident that caused Sonny to go down this road but an accumulation of things. So is there anything else that you know that has happened recently?”
Lisa blew her nose and wiped her eyes. “Yes, Hannah, his baby girl’s mother told me that she had spoken to Sonny right after he had gotten back from Bravo’s mission. She told him that she was dating a guy they knew from school and that it might become serious. Apparently Sonny became upset, she tried to reassure him that that would not change his relationship with his baby girl but she was concerned enough that she did not want to go into Sonny’s hospital room and perhaps upset him. Instead she sent me pics and a video of LeeAnne to show Sonny when he wakes up.”
Elise nodded, “Lisa I am finding that several traumatic emotional events happened to Sonny in a very short time frame, thank you for being so honest and open with me.”
Lisa looked at Elise with tear stained cheeks and asked, “Can you help him, we need him to wake-up.”
“Lieutenant I will do my very best to help Sonny recover. I have one more Team member to speak with, so if you will excuse me I need to leave. I will have a meeting tomorrow with everyone to lay out a POA.” Elise gave Lisa a quick hug as she got up to leave.
Now Elise was anxious to meet with Clay to hopefully get the final puzzle pieces. Clay opened the door within seconds of Dr. Morris’s soft tap, “Hi, please come in.” He was hoping this would be over quickly. He knew from talking with the others, who she was and what she was looking for.
Dr. Morris thanked him for seeing her and apologized for disturbing him at home. She knew he would have already contacted his Master Chief so this interview could be over quickly. Stella greeted her from the kitchen were she was finishing feeding Brian. She excused herself and said she needed to get Brian ready for bed. Clay watched her walking away as she carried Brian to the bedroom and closed the door after a reassuring glance over her shoulder.
Clay returned his focus to Dr. Morris. “Now, let’s do this doctor. I am positive that the confrontation I had with my best friend is the cause of whatever demons he is fighting.” He paused as he stared at a picture of his team sitting on a nearby bookcase, then he continued. “On Bravo’s last op when I became concerned with some of his actions and went looking for him, Sonny went a little too far in trying to cope with some issues and he almost got himself and me killed.” He glanced at the bedroom door. “When we were safe I told him we were finished as friends and we have not spoken since. Sonny and I were closer than many biological brothers and I broke that bond from fear that I would never see my family again. And now I may have lost my brother.” He got up turned his back and ran his hand through his hair before turning around.
“Petty Officer Spenser I must disagree with you, you were not the only cause of Sonny’s current issues. After speaking with the others there were several major emotional events that took place during and immediately after Bravo’s op. All of which I believed contributed to his present condition. I will meet with all involved parties tomorrow and I hope to have a POA, I hope everyone will agree to participant in my plan to help him. Petty Officer Spenser, Sonny will need you to be his teammate and friend, are you willing to do that?”
Clay answered in a raspy voice, “Yes, whatever plan you decide on, I’m ready to do anything that will bring Sonny back to us.” Dr. Morris shook his hand, patted his shoulder then left.
She knew she had a long night of research and planning to complete a Plan Of Action by tomorrow afternoon to help Sonny heal physically and mentally. She had taken notes and listened intensely to each person’s take on what had caused this Tier 1 operator to remain unconscious. Apparently his pain, physical, mental or the combination was so overwhelming that he could no longer compartmentalize them. Retreating inside his mind became his only option. They would not know all the reasons that that had occured, either consciously or subconsciously, until he returned to tell them. Even then he might never reveal all the reasons this happened. But tonight her job was to use all her knowledge, education and even medically unorthodox procedures to bring Sonny Quinn back to his Team and loved ones.
Chapter Text
CHAPTER 7 Elise contacted Dr. Sanders to ask permission to use one of the hospital’s conference rooms at 1700 to meet with everyone to discuss her diagnosis and the POA she would like to put in motion as soon as possible.
She arrived at 1600 with a rolling cooler filled with bottles of chilled water, she was still a doctor and knew sometimes people needed a break to absorb the information she was about to tell them. She also knew there would be questions after the presentation of her plan of action. After staying up all night studying case histories and conferring with colleagues, she had decided on a combination of ‘unusual’ treatments for her POA. She prayed the treatments would reverse Quinn's downward spiral.
Master Chief Jason Hayes arrived at 1630 followed soon by the rest of Bravo, also Commander Blackburn, Lt. Davis, Senior Chief Carter and Dr. Sanders.
After everyone had settled in their chairs Dr. Morris walked to the front of the conference table and looked out at the group of men and women who looked back at her with apprehensive and hopeful expectation. Hoping that she had the answers to return their brother, lover and patient to good health.
~~~~~
Sonny was becoming even less aware of the world around him and that is exactly what he had hoped for when hands touched him now they felt as if they were touching someone else’s body and the voices he occasionally heard were coming from farther and farther away. The darkness surrounding him was becoming blacker and more welcoming drawing him down, down, down where there were no emotions, no hurt and the end of all pain.
~~~~~
Elise started speaking in that tone of voice as if she were giving a lecture at a medical school to a group of interns. “Ladies and gentlemen I will begin by telling you that some things I am about to say may be confusing and perhaps upsetting as my diagnosis and treatment plan are not common in the medical field.” She paused, took a deep breath, “My diagnosis is Dysexistential syndrome or Psychogenic Death. In laymen’s terms I believe Petty Officer Quinn is slowly dying from giving up completely on his will to live. The reason for my diagnosis is because of events that have recently happened to him emotionally and physically. His prefrontal cortex is inhibiting the production of dopamine in the basil ganglia to well below its functional levels and if it continues for too long it can become impossible to restart its production.”
The room became noisy with chairs being shuffled back, mouths opened and nothing but sighs or muffled words coming out. Dr. Sanders nodded, while Naima, Trent and the others looked confused as they turned to look at each other.
Dr. Sanders spoke, “I have only read about this very rare occurrence in medical journals but I’m afraid it does fit his symptoms.” As he looked downward in silence.
Jason looked around at his team and immediately said in his commanding voice, “OK doc that’s the bad news now what is your POA to treat this and when do we start?”
All the eyes turned back to Dr. Morris for the answer. “I do have a plan Master Chief. Lets take a few minutes for everyone to get some water and process this info. I will need to speak to Dr. Sanders, Naima and Commander Blackburn before proceeding.”
By his expression Jase was not happy at the delay and his hand automatically started to rub his thigh. Ray put his hand on his shoulder, Brock and Pepper sat down on the other side of Jase while Clay stood behind him. Trent got some water out of the cooler and after sitting some bottles on the table and handing one to Lisa he moved closer to the corner where Dr. Sanders, Naima, Blackburn and Elise were in deep conversation.
Naima noticed Trent standing close by, “Trent please join us, I need your input as you kept him alive and brought him home which enabled us to get to this place.”
Dr. Morris needed Naima’s and Dr. Sanders permission to proceed with the treatments as most of them were unconventional and would be bending the hospital rules to say the least. Naima asked about the odds of success. Elise told them that there were no guarantees that out of thirteen confirmed cases in the last forty years only three had recovered. Dr. Sanders needed to know the number of days required for the treatments and when would they know if it was effective so he could inform the hospital board members.
Commander Blackburn stated, “Bravo is scheduled to be back on rotation in five days I may be able to delay it by a few days. Do you have any timeline when Sonny will wake up?”
“Commander if these treatments are successful we should see some improvement within seven days.” Blackburn continued with the follow up question that they were afraid to ask. “And if there is no improvement.” Elise answered with sad eyes. “He would be moved to a hospice facility to await the final outcome, which from previous cases would be death in a few days or week.” Shocked and sad faces looked back at her.
Elise answered all their questions, she then received Naima’s and Dr. Sanders approval. She walked to the front of the table again before she took a grounding breath. “My treatment plan will require everyone who wants to participate to be placed on six hour shifts that will include intensive hands on contact with Sonny. Not just being in his room but mental and physical stimulation in an attempt to bring him back into the present time and reverse his physical and mental withdrawal. Each one of the participates will be working on different scenarios which effect various parts of Sonny’s brain. In other words we may have to bring Sonny kicking and screaming back. And from how you have described him he can be a wee bit stubborn but I am counting on his love and loyalty to all of you to overcome that.”
Jason and the rest of Bravo smiled at that statement and were relieved that there was a plan. They were ready to get started on this new mission now that they had an objective. Bringing Sonny back to them a second time.
Before anyone else could speak, Full Metal spoke up, “I’ll take the first shift, remember I got him to breathe and he knows I will kick his ass if he fucks with me. Doc just tell me the physical limits as I’m not great on dealing with the mental stuff.” That broke the tension in the room as everyone smiled or chuckled at Elise and Metal’s remarks.
Elise was encouraged that Scott volunteered has she had hoped it would be one of the no bull shit guys to jump start these procedures. She assured everyone that she would be there to oversee and give detailed instructions.
Eric handed Lisa an I-pad from his briefcase to start a schedule then he told her to just put him in anytime as he needed to go back to the base and handle some things and request more downtime for Bravo.
Dr. Sanders excused himself after thanking Naima for trusting him in calling in Dr. Morris as a consultant and telling Elise that he would be in touch after informing the nursing staff to not to be alarmed at what was about to happen in the ICU.
While Lisa was handling the scheduling, Jason and Naima approached Dr. Morris. Jason spoke in his Bravo 1 take charge voice, “Ok Doctor how about some mission details now that we have the big picture of this op.”
“Ok Master Chief, the plans will need to be revised on a day to day basis. I do have most of the parts but we may have to improvise as things hopefully progress. Each of you interacts with Sonny in different ways so each person will play a different part in the plan, or lets call it a script. You are Sonny’s boss, Bravo’s authority figure and his friend so during your time with him it will be in that capacity when you are interacting with him. That is the reason I am limiting the time to six hour shifts. I know you and your men are accustom to long hours of intense stress but this will be of a different type. I also will be adding sensory items to enhance Sonny’s awareness with smells and music. Naima has a totally different relationship, a friend and maybe as a sister as Sonny is an only child. I spoke to his father today about Sonny’s relationship with him and his deceased mother. So you see each person’s part will be different but the mission objective is to make Sonny want to return to his brothers, family and friends. And for him to have the desire to deal with the mental and physical pain of healing.”
“And you will be there to explain this to each person before they take their shift so they understand what their responsibility is?” Jason asked.
“Yes, of course, as the way they relate to him is the core of this plan. But as I stated, he may not be able to or want to return as this is a combination of low levels of dopamine and serotonin and their production. Also add to the mix the physical torture and emotional pain he was subjected to in a very short period of time.” She paused for this information to be absorbed. “Now if you will excuse me I am going to speak to Senior Chief Carter so he can start his shift, time is of the essence. You have my phone number for any further questions.” It was now 1830 hours when Metal went to the ICU to relieve Derek who had been with Sonny while they were in the meeting.
Scott asked Derek, “Any change?” Derek shook his head. “Well if Alpha gets spun up you will be Alpha 1 as I’m staying in Va Beach to help Bravo.” They fist bumped and Derek left. Scott sat down close enough to the bed to put his hand on Sonny’s arm and with a gentle shake he said, “Hey Sonny what the hell brother you need to wake up, the Team is going to be pissed at you for them staying here and loosing time that they could be sleeping or drinking. I only volunteered to come here now because I don’t sleep, you remember that after last year’s little boat ride together...”
So the treatment plan had begun.
Naima invited Bravo and Lisa to their home to be together and collectively to take a deep breath and discuss what had happened over the last few hours. She ordered pizza and Ray stopped to pick up some beer. Naima was glad that the kids were staying with her parents for a couple of days.
After everyone had gotten food and drinks and settled around the table. Jason opened the conversation, “Well I certainly don’t have any medical knowledge to decide if the doc’s plan makes sense, maybe Naima and Trent have an opinion about that. But I am willing to try anything if there is a chance it brings Sonny back to us.” There were nods all around the table.
“I tell you all to never Google a medical questions as it usually comes back with lots of mis-information.” Trent added then he looked down then took several big swallows of beer knowing he had to speak the truth to his brothers.“When the doc gave us her diagnosis I went to some reputable medical sites, this Dysexistential Syndrome is extremely rare. It was written about extensively by a British Psychologist John Leach. Like the doc said there were only a few documented cases and no specific treatments were ever found to be effective.”
Naima looked over at Ray with sad eyes. “I spoke to Dr. Morris in depth about Sonny’s symptoms which go along with her diagnosis, withdrawal, apathy, akinesia, aboulia all of it is a neuro-chemistry response to loss of hope and will to live. She is flying by the seat of her pants as far as a treatment plan and I agree with Jase. She is our only hope as I don’t think another doctor would even attempt to treat Sonny. So whatever she has in her plan we should be willing to try and that’s what I told her when I gave permission for treatment.”
Jase added, “She mentioned that each of us interacts with Sonny in different ways and that should be the way it is during our shifts, also she talked about adding things like music.” Everyone smiled and moaned at the thought of six hours of George Strait.
Lisa swallowed hard, “Dr. Morris mentioned to me that she asked Hannah to send videos of LeeAnne talking and playing and Emmet just talking to Sonny as he can’t travel here for a few weeks while he is recuperating. She did not tell them how dire Sonny’s situation was.”
Everyone resumed eating and drinking as they settled back into the silence of absorbing all that had been said in the last few hours.
Brock got up and took his plate to the kitchen. “I’m next on the schedule, Sonny probably needs a little bit of calm after having Metal for six hours, I’m taking Pepper. Son complained about her name but he was always bringing her meat to the cages after a cookout. Thought he might enjoy her company.”
Everyone smiled at the Metal reference and they got up to give Brock a hug or fist bump before he left.
Jase spoke up, “Good luck just do whatever the doc wants and I’ll see you in the morning as I’m next up.” Lisa and Trent left next with hugs, pats and goodbyes expressing hope and reminders that if anything changed they would expect a call or text.
Clay who had been exceptionally quiet all evening walked to the door after thanking Naima and giving her a quick hug. Jason and Ray followed him out the door. Jase asked, “Hey Clay you Ok? What’s going on in that brain of yours?”
Clay swallowed jaggedly, “Jase I think telling Sonny our friendship was over was the first step on Sonny’s path to spiraling down this tenebrous well. How could I do that after all the times we saved each others asses. You remember him saying that whoever climbed down that 6 foot ladder that it was no one’s fault, I think he was wrong.”
He glanced over at Ray. “We all hope and pray that we will die quickly defending our brothers or accomplishing an objective during an op. Not slowly sinking into oblivion from hurt and pain inflicted by your friend. What a fucking horrible way for a Tier 1 operator to die. You would have thought that I would have seen it quicker after seeing Swanny go downhill. Stella even convinced me to ask Sonny to be Brian’s Godfather. How will I ever explain that I am to blame for him giving up on life and willing himself to die.” He hung his head and quietly sobbed.
Jason and Ray stood in silence feeling Clay’s pain as they too felt responsible for not seeing Sonny’s distress early enough to intervene. Jase reached over and put his hand behind Clay’s neck and pulled him in for a hug, holding him until Clay’s sobs lessened.
Jase spoke in a soft voice, “Clay listen to me we all have some responsibility for this situation. I am Bravo 1 and I was trying to protect my men inside the wire the same as outside but I failed Sonny. If I had checked on him when we returned from South America maybe none of this would have happened. But it did and now we work the problem. As long as Sonny is breathing we will not give up on him, you understand me?”
Clay looked up at Jase, nodded his head and wiped his eyes, “Thanks Boss I understand.” He turned and walked slowly to his car.
Ray turned to Jason. “Jase I don’t know if Bravo can recover from this if Sonny dies.”
“Me either Ray, it will be really bad for Bravo. We have to make this plan work,” he paused, “I’m heading home, we are not out of the fight.” His eyes met Ray’s before he turned and his shoulders drooped as he walked to his truck.
None of Bravo or Eric, Lisa, Dr. Sanders or Dr. Morris got much sleep that night as all were anxious about how the next few days would play out.
Early the next morning Jase received a text from Dr. Morris asking if he had access to Sonny’s go bag, if so, could he bring it when he came for his shift.
Brock and Dr. Morris greeted Jase when he arrived, he noticed no smiles so he didn’t expect good news. Sonny looked the same as the last time except they had inserted a feeding tube as he continued to lose weight.
“Brock how are you and Pepper this morning?” Brock smiled slightly. “We’re good, Pepper was great, slept with Sonny and snuggled up to him and even licked his arm. I talked to him about our ops all night til I’m hoarse.”
Pepper heard her name and knew that whatever was happening was not normal for her pack. Dad talked to uncle Sonny for a long time but uncle Sonny never said anything and he always talked a lot. Usually the pack laughed when he talked. Pepper smelled fear and sadness in the pack, she didn’t like that and she tried to wake uncle Sonny so the pack would laugh again and leave this place with its smells of sickness and death.
“I bet that took some effort as you are not the most talkative one on the team.” Jase said with a slight smile.
Brock gave him a half smile, “Very true boss. Well we’re heading out if anything changes or you need something.” He nodded at Jase and Dr. Morris.
“Morning Doc I stopped by the base and picked up Sonny’s go bag, they shipped everything home after that last op. Were you looking for something specific?”
“Not really, perhaps the smells of familiar things like his soap or aftershave or something with texture. I will tell you the same thing I told Brock and the others, if ya’ll know of something that had a really personal connection to him please bring it. Because on ops you live in close quarters, the things each of you use may help him feel your presence not just your voice and touch. Smell and hearing are two of the last senses to leave someone, people in comas often state that when they wake up.”
“Good to know, is there anything specific you have in mind for me to do today. Also he’s losing weight so you started the feeding tube?”
“Yes Dr. Sanders did the procedure earlier.” She paused, “Jase you are and have been a major part of Sonny’s military life so he will know your different voices and your physical touch as I assume you have had reason to restrain him and comfort him in your service together.”
“More than a few times on the restraining part.”
“I will place some of his soap and his aftershave close to his face, perhaps the smell will help keep him grounded.” She paused, “I also ordered brisket from Killen’s BBQ in Pearland Texas. His Dad said it was his favorite when he was growing up. The Team can have a picnic in his room, as I heard that was a favorite past time of Sonny’s. Jason you need to know I will try anything and everything to bring Sonny back to you and the team.”
“Thanks Doc I know you are giving it your best shot and we really appreciate it. Naima said as far as she knows there isn’t another doctor who would even attempt to help us. Hope we are successful as one on our Team is taking it really hard. I’m worried about the impact on the Team if this goes badly.”
“You mean Petty Officer Spenser, correct? I had noticed that he stood back and has not contributed much to the discussions but his body language and expressions have shown me that he is torn up inside.”
“I told him as long as Sonny is breathing we have hope and we will not stop trying.”
“True Jason, and I’ll be right here helping with all of you the entire time.” She gave him a slight smile and grasped his shoulder before leaving the room to return to her computer to see if there was any research she may have missed.
Jase sat close to Sonny after the nurse checked Sonny’s vitals and changed his position. He then made sure the items were close enough for Sonny to smell them. Then he grasped Sonny’s hand and held it tightly willing Sonny to hold on to him and stay here in this reality. “Sonny Quinn you and I go back a damn long way and I am not letting you go easily no matter how much you thought this was a good idea. How could you go run with Charlie? Beau Fuller the asshole and you hate Thirty Mike for always stirring up shit and boy does he know how to push your buttons. What happened that made you even consider such a thing? You have a lot of explaining to do to me and the Team when you wake up. I have saved your ass so many times I’ve lost count and here I am again because you want to leave us because you got your feelings hurt. The Team needs their door kicking, pipe hitting, breacher... Sonny I need you… Now let me remind you when and how many times I have saved your ass………….”
Several hours later Emma called her Dad and Jase knew that Sonny loved his kids and had grown even closer to them after Alana’s death so maybe hearing Em’s voice would be a good thing. Jase had told Em and Mikey that Sonny was in a coma. Emma was more than happy to talk to her uncle Sonny about school and how much she loved him and wanted him to get better soon. Jase thanked her and said he would talk to her again soon.
Ray came early to relieve Jason as he wanted to know if there were any changes. Jase told him not yet and he told him what he had talked to Sonny about and the conversation Emma had with him when she called. That gave Ray the idea maybe Jameelah and R.J. could do a video.
Dr. Morris walked in and they brought her up to speed on Jase’s and Emma’s conversation and about getting Ray’s kids involved, she thought that was a great idea.
“The BBQ I ordered will be here this afternoon. I know it is your shift Ray but from what everyone says Sonny loves a cookout and this BBQ comes from a restaurant he liked. I am sending out a text to remind the others. I will bring beer and water at 1700. Do you have any questions?”
“No I’m good I already know what I am planning to say to Sonny and I think the smell of BBQ and the guys being here is a good idea.”
“I’ve got a couple of errands to run so I’ll leave you and Sonny to it.” Jase gave Ray a fist bump.
Ray sent a text to Naima about the video and dinner, then he sat down next to Sonny. “Well Sonny its just you, me and God. I know you were in a lot of pain and I apologize for not being there for you and that you felt abandoned by your brothers. As humans we all fall short and sometimes disappoint the ones that mean the most to us. But if you will wake up I will promise to do my best to remind you that you are always part of the Perry family.”
He paused before continuing. “You know I believe in the power of prayer so for now I want to pray and read scriptures that have helped me in those rough times. Lets start with Psalm 91 The Soldier’s Prayer, the one I was praying when ya’ll rescued me after the parachute malfunction. One who dwells in the shelter of the Most High Will lodge in the shadow of the Almighty. I will say to the Lord, My refuge and my fortress, My God in whom I trust…… Psalm 34:18 The Lord is close to the brokenhearted and saves those who are crushed in spirit.”. .…. Later Naima sent him the video the kids made for Sonny. “Hey Son, Jameelah and R.J. made a video for you about how much they miss their uncle and can’t wait for you to take them to the movies and get ice cream again. I’ll turn it on, so if you want to open your eyes and watch it that would be great, if not you can just listen.” Ray put his phone up close to Sonny’s ear so he could hear them and Naima in the background.
Jase, Trent, Brock were the first to arrive for the dinner followed by Full Metal, Lisa, Naima and Clay. Eric was tied up at work and couldn’t leave. The aroma of the BBQ preceded Dr. Morris as she brought the food and drinks. She greeted everyone and told them to just act as if they were at one of their houses sitting around the backyard talking about everyday stuff.
Metal spoke up, “Well there will definitely be more beer for the rest of us with Sonny still being stubborn and refusing to wake up.” That brought smiles and soft chuckles. Everyone made a plate of BBQ, cold slaw, baked beans and rolls then settled down and found themselves a place to sit or a corner to stand in.
Most of the conversations were about shenanigans that had happened at previous cookouts and the crazy stories Sonny always entertained them with of his adventures growing up in Texas and how he had learned to cook his amazing tri-tip.
Everyone glanced over at Sonny on a regular basis and Lisa sat close enough to put her hand on his. Trent was laser focused on him and was closely monitoring the machine readings. After watching for a short time he noticed some subtle changes but he didn’t want to mention it to anyone until he spoke to Dr. Morris in private, so he waited, as the next shift was his.
Everyone slowly left, visibly disappointed that Sonny had made no response to all the activity in the room. He normally would have been the main attraction at such an event.
Trent was sitting next to the bed watching the machines with his hand on Sonny’s wrist to verify what the machines were showing, when Dr. Morris returned from saying her goodbyes.
“Petty Officer Sawyer I watched you looking at the monitors intently and yes I saw the slight increase in his heart rate and blood pressure.”
Trent turned and looked at her questioningly, “Call me Trent and what does your medical opinion say about that?”
“Trent, through his nasogastic tube I started him on high doses of vitamins and herbs, L-Tryptophan, D, Zinc, magnesium and some others hoping to increase production of serotonin and dopamine. I am hoping that has helped along with his brothers and friends being here. That these are the beginning of positive changes. Then I might be cautiously optimistic that these are good signs. Trent I know you will be very vigilant observing Sonny so if you need me for anything I will be here.”
“Doc have you left the hospital at all?”
“No Trent, and I will not leave here until this is over one way or another.” She left to tell Dr. Sanders the latest information.
Sonny felt something, smelled something familiar, soap for a body that no longer existed, food for a body that doesn’t want to eat, people talking about things that no longer mattered. No no no no, where did the darkness go I was happy staying there forever. Who do these hands and voices belong to saying they need me, leave me alone. Warm hands holding tightly and children’s voices telling me to come play. No no no, I won’t come back to the sadness and pain!!
Trent turned back to the monitors, “Sonny Quinn I am so fucking pissed at you right now. I know you and I were never as close as you and Jase and especially you and Blonzilla but Sonny we came and got you from that mess with Charlie and I was so fucking scared you weren’t going to make it back to the plane. Then son-of-a-bitch you stopped breathing and had a seizure while we’re at 35,000 ft and if I had not had help from Lange, we could have flown home the rest of the way with you in a box. In God’s name Sonny do you realize how your dying will affect this team, it will never recover because Jase and Clay both think it’s their fault you gave up on your life with Bravo and your family.”
He paused, “Bravo needs you to live for it to survive and LeeAnne needs you now and in the future. Maybe you thought no one would know you gave up, well sorry asshole but one doctor figured it out now everyone knows, YOU are a COWARD. You are choosing to leave instead of staying and fighting. You know your brothers have your back and always will…..”
Sonny’s heart felt like it is pounding in his ears no no no, leave me alone, I am alone I have no brothers, no no no.
Lisa came to relieve Trent six hours later and Dr. Morris was there. She looked at Trent with inquiring eyes and he raised his eye brows slightly.
“Hi Lt. are you Ok and do you have any questions?” Elise greeted her as she knew this was going to be difficult for Lisa to be with someone she loved and had been intimate with.
“No questions, after talking to Jason I understand what I need to do, thank you for everything.” She gave Trent a quick hug and went to sit down next to Sonny.
“If you need anything just text or call me.” Elise followed Trent down the hall.
“I got angry at Sonny and told him what an asshole he was, every time I raised my voice or talked about his brothers his heart rate changed as if he heard me, that’s good right?”
Elise smiled and took a deep breath. “I think that was another positive sign that he isn’t leaving us today, now if we can only keep it going in the right direction. Lets keep this between us for now.”
Trent nodded and walked out of the hospital with a lighter step than when he arrived.
Chapter Text
Lisa sat staring at Sonny for a few minutes before she gave him a kiss and pushed a stray curl off his forehead. “Oh Sonny, what have I done? You are my best friend and I got so angry at you that I didn’t speak to you and ignored you in your time of anguish. We have had some big fights, but making up was always the best part, especially after we became lovers. I thought we would do that again after our hot heads cooled off. You know people you are the closest to can hurt you the most. Sonny Quinn I love you and always will. My hope was and still is that we can be together as a couple one day. It is just so damn hard to see you all the time and not be able to reach for you. For you to take me into your arms and do the things to me that only you do. To lay next to you after making love and just watch you and wish I could wake up everyday next to you. Please Sonny come back to me so I can make things right between us. Please do not give up on us, on Bravo, on your brothers, on life…..” Lisa continued to talk to Sonny with loving and encouraging words.
About two hours before her time was up she was holding Sonny’s hand and rubbing his arm humming one of their favorite songs, suddenly she felt his hand move. It was such a surprise she jumped up from the chair and starred at his hand then looked at his face to see if there was any change but sadly nothing. His hand remained still so she thought she had imagined it. She kissed his cheek then sat back down and resumed holding his hand and rubbing his arm.
~~~~
Jason’s phone rang it was Clay. “Hey what’s up.” There was silence on the other end except for a jagged breath. “Clay what’s the matter answer me.” Then a soft voice spoke, “Jase I don’t know if I can go to the hospital, its my turn and I came by Sonny’s to get that stupid pink unicorn because he carried it on several ops and we had some good laughs. Jase his apartment.” He paused and took a long slow breath trying to calm himself.
“Ok Clay what about his apartment?”
“Its fucked up broken glass everywhere, holes in the walls, empty beer and whiskey bottles, clothes left where he took them off, the bathroom and kitchen a mess. He was in such a bad state of mind that he did this. Oh God how could I have ever called myself his friend. Friends don’t let this shit happen to someone they care about, Jase.”
“Clay we will do what we always do, we all screwed up, now we’ve gonna fix it. Go to the hospital and I’ll meet you there, we’ll work the problem together. We will find out why all this happened, Sonny will wake up and tell us and we’ll make it right. You hear me?”
“I hear you Jase, I just hope its not to late.”
~~~~~
Soft hands, soft lips touching him and humming a song, Sonny remembered these things from such a long, long time ago, seemed like forever in another place. But it was good no, no, that was part of the pain, better to stay in the place with no pain than to go back.
~~~~~
An hour later Dr. Morris came to check in with nurse Marjorie about Sonny’s latest vitals and test results also to see how Lisa was handling her time with Sonny. She quietly opened the door to Sonny’s room. “Hi Lisa, how are you doing.”
Jase and Clay walked up behind Dr. Morris about the same time. She glanced over her shoulder and smiled. “Hi guys I was just checking in with Lisa and nurse Marjorie.”
“Hi Dr. Morris, Jason, Clay, I am glad you are all here, I need to tell you something. While I was holding his hand, it moved, or I thought it did. It was so quick. A very subtle movement but the more I thought about it, I swear he did move it. Just the one time, nothing else since then. That’s a good sign Dr. Morris right?” Lisa waited for an answer, hoping she would agree that it was a positive sign.
“Yes Lisa, I would say that’s a good sign.”
Jase put his hand on Clay’s shoulder and gave it a gentle squeeze.
Lisa smiled then looked at Jase and Clay with a quizzical expression wondering why they both were there. “Clay isn’t it your turn on the schedule?”
Jase spoke up, “It is, we thought we might tag team Sonny today, you know two Bravo brothers are better than one.” He grinned.
Dr. Morris gave them a quizzical glance. “Ok, if you notice anything else please notify me and the nurse.” She left to send a text to Dr. Sanders, Naima and Trent, with their involvement, they needed to be informed of this new development.
Lisa looked at Clay directly. “You guys know you aren’t good at hiding stuff from me. Not after all these years of working together, so what gives, I noticed you have Sonny’s pink unicorn?”
Clay motioned for them to step out of the room and he closed the door before he continued then he looked at Jase before answering, “I went by his apartment to get the unicorn and he had really trashed his place before he left with Charlie.”
Lisa asked, “How bad.”
“Pretty damn bad I can’t believe that I didn’t see how hard he was struggling.”
“Clay wait a minute, I may have an answer to why Sonny did that. I looked at the timeline when Beau got permission for Sonny to go with them, later that day was when Hannah spoke to Sonny and told him she might be getting serious with an old schoolmate of theirs. I believe that was the last straw, apparently from what Hannah said the guy was there with her and LeeAnne when Sonny called.”
Jason had a look of unbelievable anger and sadness. “Fuck, Bravo disappointed him, he lost you and Clay as friends. Then on top of that he thought he was being replaced in LeeAnne’s life by another man. That’s not even counting the capture and torture he endured.” He paused “Fuck, fuck, all the alcohol and strip clubs in the U.S.A. could never fix that shit, no wonder he gave up and thought to Hell with this life, its better to just give up and die. This stays here. No one else needs to know all the pieces of this puzzle unless Sonny wants to share and we will not mention it to him ever, UNDERSTAND?”
Clay and Lisa nodded, and Lisa looked back at the door to Sonny’s room with tears in her eyes for the regret she had at mistreating her best friend and love when he was going through a most difficult time.
Clay walked into the room and picked up Sonny’s hand and held it with both of his, as silent tears fell. Lisa looked at Jase. “Maybe I should stay, I do have a report to finish for Eric while he’s been out with Covid and the deadline is 6pm today but this is more important.”
“Lisa no, I’ve got this handled, I’ll take care of both of them. Eric needs you to do a job and Sonny wouldn’t want you to get written up for not completing an assignment especially for Eric. He’s one of the few cake eaters Sonny tolerates and he has been here for Bravo and Sonny every step of way.”
“You’re right, but you will text me if he moves his hand or anything else, Ok.”
Jason nodded and gave Lisa a long hug before she walked away. He went back into the room and placed his hand on Clay’s shoulder. Then he settled in a chair on the other side of the bed, picked up Sonny’s hand, looked across at Clay and asked, “Well what do you think we should talk to Son about today?”
“Jase what if he really doesn’t want to come back to us and all this talk and other things we have tried aren’t enough, just bullshit.”
“Sonny is not out of the fight, Clay. We are not out of the fight. Right now the fight is inside his head. That’s something we have all had to deal with at one time or another. Sonny’s fight is a real cluster fuck, so much was thrown at him in a short time. Our job is to keep reminding him that his life is still worth fighting for. We are standing here fighting beside him every inch of the way til he opens those baby blues and decides to join us again.”
Clay gave him a half-smile, “Guess we could tell him he needs to wake up and practice being a godfather to Brian. Stella will be real pissed if we changed it to Metal or Brock, those two are definitely on opposite ends of the spectrum. Even though they are both quiet, just for entirely different reasons.”
Jase chuckled and shook his head so for the next couple of hours they talked about random ops and current events on the base. Suddenly Sonny’s arm twitched pulling it away and a small groan emerged from him. Jase and Clay looked at each other with a swirl of emotions showing in their eyes. Clay hit the nurse’s call button and Jase leaned over to Sonny, “Son we’re here and we’ve got you.”
Nurse Marjorie came quickly into the room and stopped, as she saw Sonny’s arms moving as if he were pushing something or someone away. A few moments later Dr. Sanders entered the room, “Gentlemen we need the room.” Then he proceeded to give instructions to Marjorie.
Jason’s anger came to the surface as he was not planning on leaving Sonny willingly and Clay was of the same mindset. Suddenly Dr. Morris appeared next to Jase, she touched his shoulder and quietly said, “Its Ok Master Chief, Petty Officer they are just going to help him, step outside and I’ll explain.”
Jase and Clay reluctantly stepped into the hall as Dr. Morris closed the door. “Jason and Clay I spoke to Dr. Sanders and we agreed that Sonny may wake up angry and emotional.
We do not want him trying to remove his feeding tube or catheter so removing them and checking vitals now will prevent him from being restrained which could be devastating to him after being chained and held captive. It will only take a few minutes so why don’t ya’ll contact the others and tell them we are hopeful that Sonny is waking up.”
Jase and Clay pulled out their phones to inform everyone about the unfolding current events.
Elise entered Sonny’s room to Dr. Sanders and Marjorie struggling with Sonny as his eyes were fluttering but not open. His arms and legs were moving as he tried to turn away from them. She quickly went to his back and leaned close to his ear with her hands on his head and shoulder and spoke with her softest Southern voice. “Sonny, Bravo 3 ya’ll can relax now you are in the hospital and Dr. Sanders is going to make you feel better. Just relax, your body is hurting but we’re here to help.” As he calmed down she continued to rub his upper shoulders and neck and speak softly as Dr. Sanders and the nurse finished up.
Dr. Sanders looked over at her. “Thank you, his vitals are at acceptable levels, I gave him 10mg of Ketorolac in his IV for pain.” She continued rubbing Sonny’s arms and shoulders until Jason and Clay returned.
They looked at her with anticipation and Clay asked, “How is he?”
“His vitals are stable, he hasn’t opened his eyes completely and he did not appreciate them removing the feeding tube or the catheter but he has calmed down now. Don’t be surprised if he is emotional when he becomes fully conscious. It may be a good idea for only the two of you to be here when that happens, as having more of the Team in the room could be overwhelming.”
She stepped back to the corner of the room near the door watching the monitors making sure Sonny’s vitals were staying in normal perimeters.
Jase nodded, “I’ll update the boys and Lisa and suggest they wait to come later.”
Clay showed no signs of hearing Jase as he had resumed his position by Sonny’s side holding his hand with both of his and watching Sonny’s face intently for any signs of his eyes opening and acknowledging them. Sonny made a soft guttural sobbing sound that had both Tier 1 operators almost loosing what little bit of composure they had left. Then his eyes slowly opened completely. He was still having a difficult time focusing on anything or anyone. Jason had stepped to the other side and gripped Sonny’s arm.
Clay spoke in a soft strained voice, “Hey Sonny, I am glad that you decided to come back to us, we,” his voice hitched, “I have missed you and I want to tell you how sorry I am about how things went down in Columbia. But you are my Best Friend, I don’t want you to forget that.”
Sonny’s face showed no emotion, it was frozen in place as he finally focused on and listened to Clay.
Sonny’s reaction surprised Jason as he knew Sonny could become emotional, especially when his younger brother was involved. Jase squeezed Sonny’s arm. “Son I apologize for letting you go down that dark hole alone because I was distracted with things. Being Bravo 1, it caused the Team to be distracted and I let you down. You know we are your brothers now and forever. Bravo needs you. LeeAnne needs you.” Jason paused. “I need, my door kicking, pipe hitting, breacher.” Jase reached over and rested his hand on Sonny’s shoulder. “Son we are never out of the fight.”
Sonny opened his mouth but nothing came out, Dr. Morris spoke up, “He just needs some ice chips.” Sonny looked past Jase and Clay to the voice. Nurse Marjorie had brought some ice chips in a cup and placed it on the tray table. Elise stepped forward to help Sonny as Clay had stepped back to take a deep breath to get a grip on his emotions after hearing Jase speak.
Dr. Morris wanted to introduce herself and give them a moment to gather themselves before Sonny responded and to give Sonny some positive news about his condition. Reuniting with his Team, friends and family could be overwhelming. She spoke in a friendly soft voice, “Petty Officer Quinn, you are at Portsmouth Naval Hospital, I’m Dr. Elise Morris one of the doctors overseeing your care and we are very glad that your are awake. Your injuries are healing and we expect your full recovery.” She rested her hand on his arm while she helped him take several spoonfuls of ice.
Sonny slowly looked over at Clay, shook his head then looked at Jase with a frown and said in a low hoarse voice, “I didn’t want to come back, I wanted to leave everything behind. There is nothing left for me here.” He paused and slowly with intention said, “I know ya’ll had something to do with dragging me back, I don’t know why you are here, we are through... Ya’ll need to get the Fuck out, don’t come back and leave me the hell alone.” His face glowered and his voice had a menacing tone, “Get...out...NOW.” As he threw the cup of ice against the wall and turned his head away from them and let his head fall back on the pillow and squeezed his eyes shut with a tremor.
Dr. Morris stepped back and watched the devastated look on Jase and Clay’s faces when ordered to leave. They were nonplussed to Sonny’s outburst. Clay opened his mouth but shut it, not wanting to aggravate Sonny more in his present state. They looked woefully at each other before slowly exiting the room.
She knew that a negative reaction from Sonny was a possibility for being coaxed back into this reality but she had prayed his reaction would not be this bad.
Sonny had shown by his previous actions that his close relationships mattered more to him than life itself. But in his despondent heart and mind he had come to believe that those relationships had been irreparably broken and were now hopelessly gone.
Even with Jase and Clay doing their best trying to convince him that was absolutely not true.
He did not, could not, would not believe them.
~~~~~
Epilogue:
Those relationships had to be reconstructed and brought back to life before Sonny’s recovery could be considered a success and his return to Bravo. Hopefully it would begin as soon as Sonny Quinn realized his Bravo brothers, friends and family deeply loved and cared about him. Will Sonny be convinced to rejoin his brothers and family or will he choose to continue to spiral down this path of self-destruction and leave his Brothers and Bravo.
~~~~~
P.S. I have written a sequel story in the HOPE series telling of a possible ending (not a death fic) but I was not sure if the Readers would like to read my version or just leave the ending to their imagination. Please leave a comment on which you would prefer. Thanks to everyone who took the time to read this story that floated around in my head for months.
RainaParker on Chapter 1 Sun 18 May 2025 12:19PM UTC
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RainaParker on Chapter 2 Sun 18 May 2025 08:48PM UTC
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PeachyGrl47 on Chapter 2 Tue 20 May 2025 11:19PM UTC
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RainaParker on Chapter 2 Wed 21 May 2025 09:29PM UTC
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RainaParker on Chapter 5 Fri 23 May 2025 09:42AM UTC
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