The World We Knew ~ Part 4
Links: part 1 part 2 part 3
cw: swearing lots of it !
The car comes to a stop I look out Ghost's window and see we arrived at some hillbilly farm on the outskirts of the forest, probably this is where he ran after we pursued him in the pueblo he was hiding like a coward.
“Graves, negative on Hassan! It’s a dry hole!”
“ Multiple vehicles approaching from the south.” A Shadow communicates, sounding like one of the numerous operators keeping an eye on you all. You could see a faint plane in the sky through the dense, green clouds if you looked up. It was both amazing and unsettling sense if you saw it, the enemies could all so see it.
Hiding for cover in an old shack building, A shadow radio ghost but my attention is not all there since it was preparing for disappointment if Hassan wasn't in this goddamn hillbily fucking farm I would fucking lose my mind. I just pray this bald-headed fuck is here and we can go back to base, oh how I would kill for a tequila shot right about now.
“Ghost, copy that. I need you out of the building, move north right now!”
“Go, go!” Ghost gave the order to evacuate the building. You heard the frantic footsteps of Soap and Alejandro not too far behind you as you hurried outside as quickly as you could in the direction of a really enormous tree that was close in a stretch of lush grass fields that were dried and not well taken care of.
“Graves, we’re clear! Drop that fuckin’ building now!”
Despite being so high in the sky, you rarely saw Shadow Company in action but weren't surprised after all we do need air support, so you weren't really sure what to expect from them. They truly had an impact on the stables. It only needed one big bomb to hit the building's roof for the entire structure to collapse like a house of cards on fire.
If the Mexican cartel had been oblivious of your presence in any way, they were most certainly aware of it by this point.
Around where the stables once stood, pieces of charred wood fell from the sky like confetti, leaving a large crater in the surrounding grass and dirt. It was impossible for any sight to miss the temporary mushroom cloud of thick, dense smoke that covered the sky.
“We’re pushing west to the greenhouse!” Alejandro announced as he directed his gaze toward the following structure, where Hassan might be. You had the impression that if you listened closely enough, you could hear the big plane's propellers miles over your head as it scouted the area in front of it in order to determine where the target may be.
All stations, there’s armed personnel in the greenhouse.”
“Check fire! Hassan could be inside!” Soap alerted into his radio.
There were additional cartel soldiers inside and around the greenhouse, as you had predicted. The troops who had hurried outside to see the stables being destroyed then started firing in your direction while hiding behind whatever they could find, be it their trucks or thick-lined containers carrying specialized gardening equipment or fertilizer.
“Ghost, keep your men back, we’re fixin’ to engage the greenhouse.”
The enemy huddled close to the small greenhouse as the Shadows above the sky began to fire downward at them. They were relatively small but hefty grenades, bigger than bowling balls, that packed quite a loud, harsh punch and almost completely destroyed the greenhouse. At first, you kind of expected much bigger bombs.
Even further, they attacked the convoys themselves, which some cartel members had been hiding behind in groups. The explosion from a single bomb hitting the trucks' roofs was enough to either throw the cartel back or instantaneously burn them alive.
It didn't take long until you were given the go-ahead to explore the greenhouse's remnants, which, to be honest, might have been easily inspected before to the explosion. This fragile frame and sheer, see-through walls were burned to ashes. Being your own personal opinion, Hassan would have died a long time ago if he had been even somewhat stupid enough to hide in the greenhouse.
From the bodies of those who, thankfully, were still alive, barely hanging to the threads of their existence, you could hear slight hacking and coughing. It was nearly unpleasant to go through the destroyed mess because you weren't sure if you were stepping on flaming wood, soot-covered steel, or charred bodies.
"Where is this fucker!" Soap stated through his radio I could hear his frustration at this point who wouldn't be pissed
“He has to be in that compound.” Alejandro was sure of it, staring straight ahead towards the promised villa in the far distance.
“Shadow-1, what’s the ETA on that convoy?” I asks Graves.
“0-7, convoy is six klinks out, advise you step it up and secure exfil .”
Alejandro communicates with Rodolfo while Ghost, using a small black wand he had strapped to his vest, tells Soap to mark the last compound with an IR laser.
A big, well-secured two-story mansion that resembled a castle in this agave farm and was enclosed by tall, bright white walls with subdued red trim was a clear indication that this was the owner's residence.
You weren't really sure if the farm's owner had been killed and the cartel had taken over his villa, but it was more likely that one of the cartel leaders owned it. Alternatively, this agave farm might have belonged to El Sin Nombre themselves, who might have permitted the farmers who were merely doing their jobs to continue so as to maintain appearances.
Before you could advance to the compound door, an RPG badly hits you luckily just your right shoulder, leaving your ears ringing from the close encounter. A piercing whistle then ripped through the sky. More cartel guys had emerged from the compound doors and were moving to take up position next to a big water tower.
Following Alejandro and Soap as swiftly as you could, you abruptly changed your course after hearing instructions for the Shadow company to attack the water tower to cool off.
Your knees crunched beneath damp, green grass and dirt as you swiftly found cover behind some metal crates, avoiding the bullets that started striking where you hid.
"s-shit im hit f-fuck."
"Y/N!" I could see Soap ducking from the raining bullets that fired over us, he crunched next to me and hid behind some metal crates. He Grabs a hold of your arms and helps you off the ground, You are conscious enough to stand on your own with additional support. Bullets punctured the ground around your feet.
Quickly getting hold of your rifle, you rushed ahead to get him behind a suitable cover. The last thing you heard was gunfire erupting from the opened doors of the compound, more cartels rushing out to avenge their fallen comrades.
“Where’d you get hit??” Soap checked your body for wounds as he brought you over to his hiding place, the man exhaling hard as he contained himself, sitting upright on his own.
"Right shoulder, check if the bullet when through or not," He examined your shoulder, there was a spillage of blood something that could be handled so he didn't panic, once coming across the bullet hole he could see where the bullet made its exit.
"It went through" you sighed in relief thank god the bullet didn't stay or else you would have been in so much fucking pain just to get it out. I reach for my rifle and check the magazine for more ammo, to your surprise there wasn't any more.
you feel Soap tap your shoulder, you turn around and see him holding a small roll of bandages to wrap around your shoulder, I give him a small smile and take the bandages to wrap around my shoulder, but before I could I wince in pain, Soap then takes the bandages from my hand and rolls it around my wounded shoulder.
"Thank you"
"no problem, mate."
As soon as the Shadows delivered the final bombs towards the enemies, a heavy blanket of tense silence polluted the air once more, barely enough time for you to hear the chirping of birds slowly fill the silence as they returned to the nearby nature all around.
“Affirm. Proper air support, mate.” Ghost said through the radio, giving the order out.
“ Roger that, 0-7. Be advised, you’re clear up to the compound, but the gate is blocked at this time.”
“Copy. Give us a way in, yeah?”
“ We’ll open the door for you, stand by.”
Just as was advised, large bombs rained down upon the bright red painted wood gate that blocked you from entering the Villa.
“Let’s go!” Ghost orders for everyone to get into position, eager to find Hassan dead or alive. dead will do for me since this bald fuck sends us for a wild goose chase which I'm wondering if he takes pride in or enjoyment.
When the back door of the building suddenly bursts open and a black, sleek jeep abruptly pulls off to the side of the road, Rodolfo barely manages to put his foot down on the brake pedal as Ghost quickly takes the lead towards the waiting vehicle. As Soap ran out behind you, pulling a bald, battered man in a filthy leather jacket, you and Alejandro followed behind, pistols up in anticipation of any unseen adversaries.
Particularly in his present condition, Hassan was one ugly son of a bitch. His only remaining protection was a lone cartel soldier holding him behind his back too bad he didn't make it far due to Soap beating the shit out of him for standing in his way which you didn't mind and found it hot.
Alejandro and Soap pursued him as he attempted yet another escape. you run as fast as you can running Alejandro and Soap despite your shoulder being wounded your arm wraps around Hassan's neck using your whole body to swing around him and using your legs to knock him out from under.
Alejandro and Soap watched as you swiftly knocked him out, with astonishment I mean they just got outrun by a Woman it a bit damaged their pride at the moment, but they had bigger problems to deal with this bald-headed fuck and the rucks he caused.
“I am a Quds Force Major! You have no right-!!“
“Shut the fuck up!” Soap grunted out in pure irritation while roughly forcing him off the ground and pressing Hassan up against the side of the jeep, the harsh impact silencing him instantly for at least a second or two.
“You will pay dearly for this.” The man sneered in his native language, but no one would’ve cared less to even listen.
"Yeah, Yeah whatever you say."
“Shove him in the back!” Ghost shouted while opening the Jeep's trunk door. Soap wasted no time in shoving the man inside, using his muscle to push him toward the rear. Ghost slammed the door, shaking the jeep as he hurriedly opened the right back door to enter. As Soap unlocked the door and ushered you inside, he swiftly entered and shut the door before you had a chance to object, leaving you crammed in the middle.
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The atmosphere was set by crickets chirping in the pitch-black desert night, which was soon followed by the faint cry of coyotes. The only lights any of you had to rely on were those left on by the jeeps with such gloomy skies devoid of any stars to be seen.
Several doors banged shut as two men dragged a shackled man in front of them who was still covered in the black cowl.
“On your knees." Hassan was prodded forward by soap as Alejandro swiftly removed the black cloth from his head.
Graves was tweaking the laptop screen to start up a live broadcast while squatting in front of an army green box while no longer wearing his stark black suit.
"Got a clear picture."
Crystal. ” Shepherd replied.
“All set. ” Laswell confirmed, exhaling smoke from the corner of her lips.
“Alright, we are live, folks.” Graves rose from the ground, turning around to stalk towards their bound hostage. Hassan watched Graves further approach from the corner of his eye, tilting his head up slightly once he got closer.
“Do you speak Arabic?” He asks.
“No.” Graves shook his head once.
“Farsi?”
“No.” Graves looked up once he noticed movement from the jeep, your boots crunching under dry sand and pebbles as you began to approach.
“But I’m guessing she can.”
You stopped next to Graves and knelt down to look at Hassan. You would have been more than happy to smugly defeat him at this game if he were to play some sort of obstinate card and decide to solely speak another language.
Unsurprisingly, He gave you one glance before turning his attention back to Graves, choosing to ignore you instead.
“A woman holding a weapon into war,” He gestured towards your rifle, “Is your country that weak that you hold a shortage of men to fight your battles?”
"Oh shut it, it doesn't matter who's holding the goddamn gun."You crossed your arms slowly. “The bullets still kill the targets. Looks like you speak good English, so let’s get right to it.”
“Of course,” Hassan replied, an obvious mock in his tone as he glanced at you. “I’ll gladly speak your bastardized Medieval English because you are all uneducated street dogs.”
“Ahh, see…” Graves sounded annoyed quickly, shaking his head at his distasteful words, “We’re really getting off to a bad start here, Hassan.”
“You are talking to a Quds Force Officer.” Hassan stated, albeit proudly with a sneer.
“You’re the commander of a foreign terror organization,” Graves retorted, not willing to put up with any silly antics or formalities.
“I can say the same to you.” Hassan further retorted with an additional dagger in his gaze.
“What’s your target, ‘Major’ ?” Graves states with a sarcastic etch in his tone.
“What was your target when they sent missiles to my land?”
“Oh well, wild guess... To nail your ass.” Graves replied with an unamused shrug.
“So insolent and foul-mouthed. You will learn to respect me when your nation sees fire.”
“Respect? Oh, come on, what you should be focusing on is mercy.” You took a step closer, forcing Hassan to glare up at you, spitting an insult in his native tongue.
“ You insolent whore, you will respect me!” Hassan announced, sitting up off of his knees. Graves quickly intervened, shoving the man back down with a shove to the shoulder.
"That's a new one," you smirk as You simply stared, showing an amused expression. It was so amusing watching men who had no current power to be talking out of their asses grow so offended in seconds.
"The last person who talked to me like that ended up getting eaten alive by my hounds, I dare you to say it again." Graves looked at you with surprise in his eyes he silently smirked to himself knowing that "his girl" was terrorizing this man, huffing out an audibly impressed huff before remaining close to Hassan, growing more serious once more.
“You are in bed with the cartel, Hassan. If you disappeared, no one would know where to look for the fuckin’ stain.”
Hassan huffed in amusement at the Commander’s irritable tone. “I have no doubt you’ll take pleasure in torturing me.”
“Who’d you get American missiles from?” Soap spoke out, growing fed up with the Major’s smug attitude.
“I don’t care who they’re from, I wanna know where they're going.” Shepherd interrupted the tense conversation, sounding rather impatient in your own opinion.
Graves peered about, grasping the armband of his tactical vest, whistling out at the sound when he could muster any remaining patience in his mind. Coyotes howled into the dark night skies.
“Take a look around, Hassan.” He gestured outwards to the darkness. “Now, you can either become part of the food chain,” he lowered himself down a bit, tilting his head, “Or you can start talking.”
“I’m a hostage here,” Hassan stated as he attempted to rise, immediately getting restrained by Alejandro’s hand on his shoulder. “This is illegal.”
Alejandro scowled down at him and said, "You are a prisoner of war," grasping his shoulder firmly.
"Iran and Mexico are not at war. I haven't broken any laws. He said, making a hand motion for Soap and you, "You men and whore are all law breakers." He even went so far as to turn to face Ghost, who was silently watching from beside the jeep's dark side.
“You and your beloved General Ghorbrani broke every-“
“Do not speak his name, you insolent whore!!” Hassan shouted at Soap, forcibly being held back by Alejandro once more. The topic of his lost general triggered him a lot more than anyone expected, watching the man thrash against his restraints.
he then began to shout in his native language which I didn't care that much because their all the same shouting about how God is gonna punish me for my crimes and send me to hell, well to bad I'm already there.
“I want this bastard in permanent custody or looking up at the goddamn grass!” Shepherd barked his strict demand through the broadcast.
“General,” Laswell quickly intervened, “Killing Hassan is an act of war, keeping him here is illegal. Right now, he is too hot to hold.”
As soon as he realized the serious situation they were all in, you could only picture the General slouching back in his chair and gripping tightly his hands. You would just kill him personally and be done with it if there were no repercussions to deal with.
“Tell me you’re getting something actionable, Laswell.”
“Working on it. Stand by.”
In order to quickly retrieve the laptop from the crate and place it on top of the car's hood, Graves abandoned his position in front of Hassan.
Graves started losing his patience, he just wanted to shoot this man and leave his body to rot in deserts let alone with vultures eating the remains of his body.
"Laswell is right, Without proof we need to turn him loose. See where he leads us. ”
“He’s right here. You can’t be serious!” Soap quickly approached Graves’s side, staring right into the screen.
“I’m afraid I am, Son. ”
Immediately, Alejandro pushed the black fabric back over Hassan's head, covering off the smirk on his face. You squinted your eyes down at the "Major," teetering on the brink since you could only see that he was grinning.
"Is that it, then? Are we simply returning him in that manner? You didn't intend for your voice to get that loud, but you really had no choice. Your patience had been tried, broken, and shattered all day and all night from this wild goose chase just for it to end with begin let go. There wasn't anything preventing you from being more reserved.
"That's all we can do; starting another war for the sake of this smug bastard is the last thing we need right now."
a low amused chuckle came from the hooded man that was still down on his knee, oh how bad you wanted to take off that hood and beat the shit out of him till he was all bloody and disfigured so that no one would recognize that motherfucker.
"A whore like you has no place here, just on your knees to please others not to fight men's battle."
Hassan's head was thrown back before he made contact with the ground when your fist made a hard contact with his left temple.
The men in your immediate surroundings all let out audible screams of surprise. Before Hassan's body touched Alejandro's feet, he hastily took a step back, his disbelief clearly visible on his face.
" oi, oi easy girl!" As he walked up to you, Soap instantly opened his arms to you and yelled with a mix of complete amazement and faint amusement. he to admit that was hot watching you sucker punch Hassan.
"Cálmate tranquilla!” Alejandro came around to your side and took a brief, amused look at Hassan's body before noticing the visibly upset expression in your eyes.
"That's enough!" from his position next to the jeep, Ghost roared. His voice stood out indescribably among the others you heard, causing your head to jolt upwards and drawing your focus to him at once.
Everything fell silent all you could hear is the crickets chirping in the distance and the silence, with the moon shining down upon you Graves, comes over to you and places a hand on your shoulder making eye contact with you, this was the last person you wanted to telling you calm down.
"Listen, as much as I wanna shoot this sonva bitch, don’t let him get to your head, understand?” Graves says to you, leaving you staring at him with a death stare.
Your breathing slowed as your shoulders sagged slowly, presumably alleviating the tension. Even though there was still a strong burning in your chest, your brows did soften just a little, giving him the idea that you were calming down.
"Atta girl" Graves pats your shoulder and gives you a small smile. it was warm but you had seen it to much especially when having sex with him.
Alejandro escorted the confused man back to the jeep after picking him up off the ground and confirming that he was awake enough to stand on his own two legs. Despite the unnecessary reaction he saw, he was hoping your attack would cause Hassan to sustain a painful bruise.
Before being taken away, Ghost slowly walked up and put Hassan's phone back in his coat pocket. When he turned to face you, he appeared unconcerned by the way you continued to hold your weapon solidly in your hand.
As you turned and headed in the direction of the closest jeep, Soap could be heard following you closely.
You slid into your seat after opening your door as you watched Soap come around to the open side and give you a worried expression while placing his palm on the inner of the open door.
“You alright, lass?”
"I'm fine"