CHAPTER THIRTY-ONE

"We'll be landing on the carrier here," said Nine. "Doug is offloading the submersible and all our equipment now. We'll take the boats and the submersible out here and come in behind her."

"It will be dark by the time we reach the yacht, but they won't slow down," said Ian. "We just have to get close enough to disrupt the signal on their systems, and we'll be able to shut everything down."

"Can I assume we won't be taking any prisoners?" asked Ghost.

"You can fucking damn sure assume we won't be taking prisoners," said Nine. "I want him stopped. Permanently. I just want a few questions answered first for my own benefit."

"Mine too," said Ian.

A few hours in sonic mode and the choppers were landing on the deck of the carrier. Men were coming out, staring at the bird and the array of men coming off of her. These weren't active duty. These men were something different, and they all recognized it.

"Admiral, we're making this a habit," smiled Nine. He laughed, shaking his head.

"On this one, I'll let you live here for free to catch this bastard. Some of those girls we had on board were in the worst conditions we'd ever seen. Venereal diseases that we don't even see any longer, that hadn't been treated.

"Not one of them could read or write, except a little French girl that was taken in the last couple of years. They were so confused by the sounds on the ship, the televisions, movies that we showed, everything. I was worried they'd all jump overboard before we could get them back to the States."

"I know," said Nine. "We got the men off the islands, and it was the same way. They're all trying to catch up on everything they've missed, but it's almost too much for them. We've got a team of people working with them, and hopefully, some will be able to go home soon."

"Do you really believe that?" asked the admiral.

"I don't have a choice," said Nine. He nodded at him.

"I wish I had your optimism. Those men will have a very difficult time fitting in with society again. It will be a miracle if they can do it, but I just don't have your faith."

"Here's what you learn where I come from," said Nine, gripping the young admiral's shoulders. "Faith is sometimes all you have. You hold onto it and don't let it go. Not ever. You squeeze it for all it's worth and pray that that's enough."

"And if it's not?"

"I don't know. I haven't had a situation yet that reached that point."

"Come on," nodded the admiral. "We've got your quarters ready and some food. Your pilot dropped off the submersible, nice little piece of equipment, by the way. Any chance I could get four or five of those?"

"Just order them through the DOD and G.R.I.P.," smiled Nine. "We'll get you as many as you need."

"That's what I was afraid of," he smirked. "Do you need anything from us? Equipment? I'm even authorized to send a few men if needed."

"We've got it," said Nine, nodding back toward the huge group of men towering on the deck.

"One day, Nine, you're going to tell me what you all eat. One day."

"It's no secret, brother. Just good southern cooking." They heard a disturbance behind them and saw Evie shaking a finger in a young sailor's face.

"Hey! Get away from my bird! Mine! You hear me? This isn't Navy property. It belongs to our team and me. I'm responsible for her."

"Ma'am, I was just going to wash it for you," said the frightened sailor.

"Oh. Okay. Go ahead." She walked away from him, passing Nine and the admiral. She gave them both a wink and smiled. "Gotta keep them on their toes."

"God help me," said Nine, shaking his head. "Children."

He found his team four decks below in the mess hall. Taking up several tables, he noticed that a group of sailors were staring at Alec, Tailor, Rory, Max, Titus, Skull, Zulu, Ethan, Noah, and Noa.

Each man had two trays of food in front of him as if he hadn't eaten in weeks.

"Did you save any for the fucking sailors?" growled Gaspar, slapping Alec's head. "Have some manners and leave some for the kids."

"Oh, it's okay, sir," said one of the sailors. "We were all just watching to see if they were actually going to eat all of that. I mean, what if you get seasick, sir?"

"Little man, we don't get seasick," said Tailor. "This ain't our first rodeo."

"Just leave some food for the rest of the ship," said Gaspar, shaking his head. "Finish your meal and hit the rack. We'll be notified when we're close."

Nine ate his own dinner, watching as the men slowly filtered out, heading to their own beds. As he and Gaspar stood to leave, they noticed Ian and Ghost standing on the fantail at the back of the ship.

"What's up?" asked Gaspar.

"Just thinking that if this goes wrong, we could all be dead," said Ian. "Maybe we leave some of the boys behind. We don't need everyone."

"What brought this on?" asked Nine.

"If he has all those weapons on that ship, we could all be blown to kingdom come. I just don't want to risk some of these younger men. We've done our time. All of us. I don't want to die, but I don't want to risk them."

"Too fucking bad," growled Jak, standing with Cowboy, Major, King, Clay, and Noa. They turned to see the younger men and frowned.

"It's not that we don't think you're competent. You're all the fucking best," said Ian.

"Ian. Stop now," said Noa. "I love you, but you're not leaving us behind. If anyone should be left behind, it's the four of you. You've done your time. This is no joke, and we know it. You stay and give orders from here. Let us handle it."

"No fucking way," said Ghost. "We're going."

"Then you know how we feel," said Cowboy. "We're going."

"Fair enough," said Ian. "We're all going, and I'll pray that some Belle Fleur luck is with us all."

"We don't need luck," said Major. "We've got right on our side. Right and faith. That's all we need. Right?"

His smirk made Nine want to smack him, but he reminded him too much of himself.

"Yeah. Yeah, that's all we need."