Hector casually went over to the packs and grabbed the maps, shoved them inside his shirt and then made off with
protein bars, going outside, looking for all the world like he was bringing Mike a snack. Once outside, he glanced over
his shoulder, all clear. He pulled out the maps and slid them to Mike.
"I really hate SAS. Never watching another James Bond film as long as I live." Hector remarked, opening up a protein
bar and snapping off a piece of it. "Okay, is the GPS given to us aligned with any of the groups geographically?" He
asked, since Mike had the maps. "I don't see any of them standing for the other invading their territory."
"I can't watch the new ones anyway." Mike commented in reference to James Bond movies, flicking on his flashlight as
he settled down in front of the maps. "Spend the entire time thinking 'that would never work in real life'. And 'that's not
how I'd do it at all'. Kills the fantasy of it for me. You know, Baker's going to go for you one of these times you nail
him. And you're either going to have to KO him or hurt him very, very badly to stop things. You break your hand on
his jaw, you're not going to be much use with a gun." He issued the warning mildly but he was deadly earnest. Baker
might be full of hot wind and ego but he wouldn't be SAS if he weren't one of the best. Delta and SAS methods were a
lot alike, even in some of their fighting styles. Hell, Delta had originally been fashioned after the British SAS though it
had mutated into its own thing by now. Mike didn't blame Hector. He just though he should warn the man that, if it got
ugly enough, it might put Hector out of the running no matter who won. "And something tells me you're just dying to
get up close and use your fists on something anyway."
When you absolutely, positively had to feel the utter satisfaction of beating someone personally...
Mike gestured to an area on the map.
"Okay - here's the business man. And here's the warlord with the witch doctor. Crazy guy's way over here. Reports
say that lately the warlord with the mojo's been starting to home in on the business man's territory. Taking slivers of it.
They're warning things are going to get ugly. Think the warlord's pushing because he's finally strong enough and the
business man's holding back until he's sure he's fortified all his positions. The village we want is right here." Mike had
traced the coordinates from the edges of the map to the position. Nothing more than a dot to indicate a village so
small it didn't even have a name to the people living in it. Mike's eyes narrowed as he thought. "Must be a post stop.
Something that was set up back in the day. Probably a single building with a single phone for the entire village and
surrounding area. Andi's parents hike themselves to one of those places once a week for her calls." While he talked
he used a pencil to measure out distances and make marks that presumably made sense to him. He rubbed his jaw
at the end.
"So here's the deal." He tapped the village. "Up until last week, this spot was owned by the business man. Now it
belongs to our warlord." He looked up at Hector. "Andi was never there. You don't bring your prize to a hot spot." His
eyebrows went back down and he looked at the maps again. "You keep her out of the war zone. But you keep her
close enough that you can send your wounded back to her." They were basing a lot off the assumption that Andi had
been taken for her medical skills. If not, his guesses were entirely off. But all the signs pointed to that conclusion. "Its
possible the business man snuck some men across the line and sent the fax. Chances are that's the closest active
wire in a wide area. He might do that if she's nearby and he wasn't going to risk, or take the time, of sending it from
his main camp which is probably deeper into his own territory. It was sent at night which might mean he had to be
sneaky." He looked up at Hector. "But I'm going to put my money on the warlord. He might have taken that spot with
just this in mind. Its good strategy. So is finding a doctor if you're about to make a big push into your enemies
territory. And I seem to remember hearing something about how he liked to work at night. Scaring the opposition with
his mojo and all. But shit," he rubbed his jaw again and shook his head. "You ever seen Andi around a witch doctor
before?"
"Noted." Hector said about Baker. And he knew it would be a pretty even fight, if it came down to that, far more deadly
a fight than even Hector and Mike. But the guy just took great pleasure out of rankling him....he shrugged off that
idea and exhaled. "I'll save it for the people who really deserve it."
He would really try to stop going after Baker, but right now he wasn't the most level headed person, and when he was
presented with an opportunity to blow off a little steam, he was going to take it.
Might be why Baker wasn't attacking back, though Hector and everyone else knew very well he could. He might not
like Hector and his brash American ways, but he just might understand the reasoning underneath it all.
Or maybe Baker was just an idiot, Hector hadn't decided yet.
"No, I haven't seen Andi around a witch doctor. Should I be worried for the witch doctor or more so for Andi?" Hector
asked as he traced a few lines on the map with his fingers, plotting out points he wouldn't mention until they made
sense in his head.
"Witch doctor." Mike chuckled. "I think she's got family history in that area or something. They always seem to take
each other very seriously. I have no idea what she says to them but let's just say, before her, I had no idea what a
curse or ugly little scary doda even looked like." Which worried him enough in a Red Cross camp. Really worried him
thinking of her in an enemy camp with an influential mojo dealer as an enemy. He didn't know if he believed in their
'magic' but he knew the people did. And that was powerful enough 'magic' all by itself.
"I hope she's remembering to eat." He muttered to himself, rubbing a hand across the back of his neck. Getting hit
with that 'inside' tired again now that things had slowed down enough for it to catch up. He took another swallow of
water and glanced up at the night sky. Choppers should be here soon.
"So what are you thinking?" He asked the Delta next to him.
"I'm thinking we should send air recon in over head." Hector said. "Find out where the most activity is and then go in a
semi circle around it. even with the narrowed down border, its still a good stretch of land to cover, and I'd hate for
them to get wind and be one step ahead of us."
He looked at the map again. "A quick fly by should do it. Maybe jets...I’ll see what everyone can spare."
Mike nodded. It was a sound plan. And it would mean, while the fly boys took a look with those amazing cameras of
theirs, that the rest of them would get a chance to sleep. He didn't want to sleep. He wanted to be out there doing
something. But since that wasn't an option, sleep was a wise fall back plan. Once they had their heat and their
infrared and their detail pictures, it would be time for someone to put them all together and then it would be time for
the team to be up and moving out again. They were so much closer to Andi than they'd been. And still too far away.
"Shouldn't get too much argument out of SAS over that." Mike agreed. Air recon and then they'd go in and do the
ground work. "Mountains should be a nice change from desert."
At least he wasn't going after drug runners this time.
Jet looped over with Swanson at his side.
"Choppers coming." Jet announced and true to his word, less than a minute later the sound of those rotors was filling
the night. William was the first off and Baker moved over to give his report.
Hector straightened up as Baker gave report to William, just imagining what he was telling his superior about Hector
from the looks William shot him. He gave Baker kudos on restraint. God knows he was barely showing some
himself. Swanson passed him some coffee and Hector nodded his thanks.
“They’re big into recon. They’ll go all over it like flies to honey.” Hector said, about the air recon.
“Means someone or two someones will rest a bit?”
“Like who?”
“You and Mike. You both look like hell.” Swanson said with a shrug. “Grad the sleep you can. Because if you two
are the first thing Andi sees when we find her, she might go screaming back to the other side if you don’t.”
Mike chuckled at that, rubbing a hand across the back of his neck.
"Wouldn't say no to a shower either." He commented.
"I wouldn't say no to you taking a shower either." Jet agreed with a wide grin and Mike shot him a look. William walked
over.
"Can't say that your methods are clean." He commented mildly. "Or sane. But we've got a point and we're going to
send recon overhead first. See if we can find any large clusters of activity. We think Sefu Wekesa might be behind
this since the point's in a section of some of his newly acquired area but we're still checking into Gwandoya just in
case since its his lost territory."
"Go over the stuff on her list." Mike suggested. "We think she might have been trying to say something."
William arched a brow but nodded. "I'll get someone on it." He stated. He hooked his thumbs through his belt. Looked
down at the two men who hadn't bothered stand during the conversation. "Look, we're going back to base. Some of
my boys are going to interrogate the prisoners." He shot Hector a look that clearly stated he wasn't invited. "I'll like
you four on the first chopper back and I'd like you to all take some downtime and sleep. I'll wake you before we go out
again but frankly, I don't want you active with nothing to do on your hands." The look included Mike but was mainly for
Hector's benefit. "Go, crash, I'll wake you before we move."
Hector frowned and bit back a reply, since he had no problem with William, and the man had been more than fair,
bending over backward pretty much to include him. And he should take a shower, at least wash the grease off his
face before applying more. Not to mention shower..food....but it all seemed like a giant waste of time without Andi.
"I got it. Don't want the crazy Yank near the prisoners. I think they've seen enough of me anyway." H e said with a
chuckle and standing up casually to stretch. "Fine, we'll go back to base, rest up." He was counting on William holding
to his promise, or there would be hell to pay.
He headed off to the chopper, stooping to pick up all his gear as he walked.
The chopper took them back to base and, especially for Red Cross, the camp was surprisingly subdued. Suz waited
close to the landing, down wash from the rotors sending her hair flapping around her drawn face. Mike swung his legs
over the side of the bird and went out to meet her before it had finished touching down, bowing his head low to be
heard over the noise. The discussion was brief and then Suzette was moving off in one direction and Mike was
rejoining the others.
"Showers." He gestured. "Suz says she's got the food covered and'll bring it over." He'd almost suggested some
tranques for Hector's drink but refrained. Andi's bed would probably do the trick a lot quicker and with less of a
kickback. He glanced over at Hector as they walked. Added quieter: "Her folks are here."
Hector sighed and nodded. "I should go see her folks before I do anything else." Hector said. Before sleep, food, and
shower, he had to at least assure the Whites they were doing everything possible to find Andi, and that Hector would
tear apart the world if he had to in order to return her to safety, and go through whoever he had to. Well, maybe he'd
leave that part out.
"I think you should sleep first." Swanson said. Hector shook his head. "Okay." He said, trying not to argue and push
matters. When Hector finally blew, he didn't want it to be at him.
Mike shook his head.
"Dude - shower. Seriously." He stated. "Suz says they're keeping themselves busy over with the kids in the infirmary.
And you just look scary as hell right now."
"I do not look scary." Hector replied. Then shrugged. "Okay, maybe a little. Fine, I'll shower and make myself look
human again, and then go see the Whites." And eat on the run. Sleep could wait for a bit. He felt like he was already
running on empty, running on adrenaline and need because he had no other choice. Too many balls in the air, too
many people counting on him. He'd known pressure before, but not like this. One misstep...and the price was far too
high.
"Okay, I'll go shower." Hector said and ambled off to the shower in a distracted way, stripping as soon as he hit them
and stood under the water, not really caring if it was scalding or freezing as he scrubbed down.
Mike watched him go. Yeah the anger was there. But there was a lot more than that. And the 'lot more than that' was
starting to catch up to the Delta. Mike didn't envy him that. Because at least you could give the anger an outlet.
Everything else just got to tear you up inside while it rolled.
"Let's give him some time." He suggested. And Swanson wasn't going to disagree. Worried about getting something
thrown painfully at him if he pushed his luck.
"Think he'll be okay?" Swan asked, following Mike over to the sinks to wrestle with the grease paint.
"Sure." Mike's voice was steady and he didn't look at Swanson. "He'll be all right once we get Andi back." Or he could
at least start clawing his way back toward 'okay' then. But Mike didn't add that part. Mark and Suzette joined them
about then, Suzette with a plate full of sandwiches, Mark carrying the drinks. Mike nodded to Mark.
"Give it some time and when you hear the water stop bring Hector a change of clothes and some of the grub, okay?"
Mark, silent, just nodded.
Hector scrubbed and showered, he was more than clean when he finished, he was damn near sterilized. And slightly
pink. But it was fading quickly underneath his tanned skin as he shaved with quick, automatic movements, tapping the
razor against the sink as needed absently. He was surprised he hadn't gouged himself, or taken off huge chunks of
skin to make him bleed to death in this bathroom, but somehow he managed it. Then he picked up his uniform.
Completely crusted over with sand, and dirt, and sweat.
He grumbled about that and was about to put it back on (the only other option was greeting Andi's parents clad in
nothing more than a sorry excuse for a towel...) when Mark poked his head in. "Hey man, dug these up for you. You
can wear these until we get your BDUs cleaned up and dried." He said, handing a pair of sweat shorts and a white tee
shirt to Hector. "You'll have to go barefoot."
"My toes could use the air." Hector said, pulling on the clothes distractedly as Mark gathered up the dirty BDUs into a
pile to take to the laundry. Surprisingly, Sam had said whatever the Deltas needed, they could get. He seemed to
trust them more than the SAS and UN. Probably because one Delta in particular had a lot riding on it and refused to
fail. Mark pressed a sandwich into Hector's hand. He was glad to see Hector starting to eat it, at least admitting his
body needed that, even if he wouldn't budge on the sleep part yet, as Hector walked out in his new outfit and no
shoes towards where he knew the Whites were.