Page 55 of SEAL's Patience
“Falcon 2 clear,” Lucky responded.
“Falcon 3, clear,” Doc said.
“Falcon 4, clear,” Josh answered.
“Falcon 5 and Whiskey, clear,” Ry replied.
“Head to checkpoint one. Falcon 5 and Whiskey take point,” Quinn ordered. He didn’t have to tell them it was the village or to be quiet. They were SEALs, and they were a very well-trained fighting force. Not for the first time, Quinn realized how proud he was of his team.
“Copy that, Falcon 1,” Ry replied. He and the dog disappeared into the darkness.
Only a sliver of moon was visible, which aided in concealing their presence. With their goggles, they could all see just fine, but the enemy wouldn’t detect them.
Lucky followed closely behind Ry, while Josh and Doc kept pace with Quinn. They made good time, and thirty minutes later they’d arrived at the village.
“Falcon 1, permission to infiltrate?” Ry asked.
“Copy that, Falcon 5. Falcon 2 and 4, do a perimeter recon. Falcon 3, you’re with me.”
Quinn and Doc creeped forward into the village, while Lucky and Josh checked the perimeter. Ry was ahead of them and already clearing the buildings.
“Falcon 5, any tangos?” Quinn asked.
“Negative, Falcon 1, nothing.”
Fuck. Where the hell did they go? Hundreds of people didn’t just disappear, even if that’s what it looked like.
Doc pointed toward the large brick building to their left, and Quinn nodded. They’d seen that in the drone images and figured it was the clinic or a school. The door was ajar, and he pushed it open with the butt of his rifle to make sure it wasn’t an ambush. No sounds greeted them at all, and they entered the empty building. Except it wasn’t empty. The smell was the first thing they noticed.
“What the fuck?” Doc exclaimed, pointing toward the rear wall.
Quinn had seen some horrific shit over his long military career, but seeing so many dead bodies piled against the wall almost made his heart stop.
“Falcon 2 and 4, come to the primary building when you’re done with the perimeter search. You too, Falcon 5, but keep Whiskey outside.”
Moments later, the rest of the team gathered at the building entrance. No one had words for the scene they’d walked into. It got worse as they moved in to check on the status, hoping at least one person would still be alive.
Examination of the bodies revealed no gunshot or stab wounds. No visible wounds at all. Then they noticed their eyes were empty sockets, and some kind of foamy residue surrounded their mouths.
“Looks like chemical or biological warfare,” Lucky hissed.
“Fuck. It sure does. Who would do this and why? And where is everyone else? This isn’t even half the population of the village. Glove up and put on your gas masks. We don’t know what this is.” Quinn wasn’t taking any chances with their lives since they didn’t have a clue what had caused this yet.
“Thank God we kept Whiskey outside,” Ry added.
“Copy that,” they answered one by one.
“Use your M256 chemical test. Let’s see if we can figure this out. Falcon 3, get a sample to bring back. Just be careful,” Quinn ordered.
“Copy, Falcon 1.”
The test came back negative for the chemicals. Quinn’s gut said otherwise, and he always trusted it when they were on missions. Too bad he hadn’t followed it when Patience had come to his house. What if when they found her, she looked just like these people? How would he live with himself? Tony’s words replayed in his head, “keep your head in the game,” and he would.
“Outside now and decontaminate. Make sure you wipe everything down, including your weapons.”
“Copy that.”
They made sure they were as clean as possible. Then they cleared the rest of the buildings. The rest of the village was empty—no bodies dead or alive. After going over the perimeter again, Lucky found tire tracks leading to the Karre Mountains.
