Chapter Text
Night has fallen and the only sounds to be heard is the soft crunch of their boots against the harsh gravel, the soft flow of water from a nearby river bend, and the occasional sound of a coyote howling in the distance. Clay’s in the back of the group with eyes on the group’s six and high seven and five, the constant pressure of having to look out for the group’s safety is a nice distraction from the fact that the people he’s currently protecting would rather have left him at home than to have him with them. The mountains in front of them are rising higher and higher with every step they take, looming over them eerily.
“Six, you’re up top,” Jason’s clipped voice hisses and Clay goes without a sound, he climbs up a nearby hill and shuffles his way up to the very top, keeping his head low and his movements careful. Something doesn’t feel right to him and his hand twitches desperately to radio it in but something tells him his unfounded worries would be less than appreciated so he forces himself to stay still. He keeps his eyes on his team for a few seconds and watches them move into the cave before turning his gaze to his surroundings. As far as the eye can see mountains surround them with low valleys travelling between them, it makes Clay nervous to know that he might not be all alone in the mountains. A bush suddenly moves violently and Clay turns his gaze hurriedly to see why, the sight of a goat running across the side of a mountain is a relief, but it also manages to make him even more paranoid, he hadn’t seen where that goat came from, he doesn’t know if something spooked it or if it caught sight of something exciting. This time he goes with his gut feeling.
“I’m sitting duck here boys, wanna move it along?” within seconds Jason’s voice crackles over the radio, “stay put until I tell you to move” Clay tries to ignore the way the words sit like a bucket of ice in his stomach. Clay would like to think that had this been a month ago Jason would have taken his concern seriously, he’s never been one to worry excessively like Sonny so when he said something felt wrong the boss tended to listen. He’s about to radio back and ask that they at least give him a time frame of how much longer he’s gonna have to hang in there when suddenly a shot echoes through the valleys of the mountains and his radio breaks into pieces, one of the pieces embedding into his cheek. He presses himself closer to the ground, flat on his stomach, and tries to shuffle back away from the line of fire, one bullet manages to clip him in the leg and he groans in pain but doesn’t stop moving. When the bullets start to fly over his head and missing the ground he tries the radio desperately but he already knows it won’t work.
He can see black figures moving at the bottom of the mountain and immediately grabs his weapon and starts firing, for every man he takes down it feels like ten more appear, and he can’t help but notice that they don’t seem to be firing back, why haven’t they killed me yet? Clay can’t help but wonder as the men move closer. When he runs out of bullets he goes to reload but his time is up and just as he’s grabbing his second clip a hand covers his mouth and the world fades away.
Jason’s pissed. Mandy was sure that Abbar was in the cave but they’re at the end of it and there’s no sign of him, the place is completely deserted without any sign of anyone ever being there. No one likes a failed mission, but this feels like it failed before it even started.
“Mandy’s gonna be pissed,” Sonny mumbles in his usual southern manner. When Jason hears the first shot from outside he stills and waits for Clay to radio it in but when there’s nothing but silence he grabs his own radio to ask him what the hell is going on out there, he doesn’t even have the time to open his mouth before another shot sounds, and then another, and then another. “Bravo six give me a sitrep, now,” when he’s met by nothing but the sounds of gunshots continuing to fire he looks up at the men around him. Ray’s standing tight-lipped with a line in between his brows- worry- and even Cerberus senses something is terribly wrong. “Bravo one to TOC, do you have six’s location?”
“TOC to bravo one, standby,” Jason waits impatiently for the reassuring ‘yes we have his location, he’s alright, everything’s fine’ but it doesn’t come. Instead Davis’s anxious voice sounds over the radio, “there are five vehicles moving away from Spenser’s location and no sign of him on the mountain,” it doesn’t take a genius to read between the lines and Sonny punches the mountain wall with rage. “They fucking took him,” he curses and Cerberus whines with his head hung low.
“Bravo one, there are a dozen insurgents gaining on your position, you need to leave” Jason sucks in a breath, “and leave Spenser?” Brock asks incredulously but Jason’s already shaking his head. “There’s no use in going after them when they outnumber us greatly and we don’t know where they’re taking him, we’re not giving up, but we can’t follow them, not yet.”