PART 2: The Mission After the Salute — Commander Collins Was Ordered Back Into the Field
PART 2: The Mission After the Salute — Commander Collins Was Ordered Back Into the Field
Three days after the hostage rescue, the atmosphere inside Camp Lemonnier had changed.
Not dramatically.
There were no ceremonies.
No speeches.
No medals.
The military rarely celebrated the people who prevented disasters.
Instead, it simply gave them another mission.
Commander Selene Collins was sitting alone in the Joint Operations Center when a classified folder appeared on her desk.
She didn’t touch it immediately.
She knew what a folder like that meant.
More work.
More uncertainty.
More names that might end up on a casualty report.
The door opened.
Lieutenant Marshall stepped inside.
This time, he knocked first.
Collins looked up.
“Come in.”
Marshall entered and closed the door.
His uniform was clean.
His beard had been trimmed.
The arrogance was gone.
He placed a cup of coffee on her desk.
“Black.”
Collins looked at it.
“You remembered.”
“I remember a lot more now.”
She gave him a small nod.
Marshall sat across from her.
“What’s in the folder?”
Collins finally opened it.
“Trouble.”
“That’s specific.”
“It gets worse.”
She slid a photograph across the desk.
A remote compound in the mountains.
Not large.
Not impressive.
But surrounded by natural cliffs.
Marshall studied it.
“Insurgent?”
“Worse.”
She placed down another photograph.
A communications antenna.
Then a third.
A satellite image.
“Someone has been transmitting encrypted military communications from this location.”
Marshall frowned.
“Whose?”
“We don’t know.”
“Local militia?”
“No.”
“Foreign intelligence?”
“We don’t know.”
Marshall looked up.
“You’re enjoying this.”
Collins gave him a flat expression.
“I don’t enjoy anything about classified intelligence.”
He almost smiled.
“Fair.”
Collins pointed at the image.
“Three days ago, an unmanned surveillance aircraft captured a transmission pattern.”
She tapped the screen.
“It’s using a frequency-hopping system that shouldn’t exist in this region.”
Marshall leaned forward.
“What kind of encryption?”
“Military grade.”
“American?”
“No.”
“Russian?”
“Not exactly.”
Marshall frowned.
“What does that mean?”
Collins closed the folder.
“It means somebody is using equipment they shouldn’t have.”
Marshall’s expression hardened.
“So what’s the mission?”
“We observe.”
“That’s it?”
“We observe before we shoot.”
Marshall nodded.
He had learned that lesson.
Then Collins added:
“And we don’t know whether the people inside are enemies.”
Marshall stopped.
“Then why send us?”
“Because someone else already went.”
She pushed another photograph toward him.
A burned vehicle.
A damaged radio.
Three bloodstains on the ground.
“No bodies.”
Marshall’s face tightened.
“Recon?”
“Yes.”
“How many?”
“Four.”
“Any survivors?”
“Unknown.”
Marshall stared at the photograph.
“When do we move?”
“Tonight.”
The helicopter dropped them sixteen kilometers from the compound.
This time there was no swagger.
No jokes.
No unnecessary movement.
Marshall’s team moved like professionals.
Collins came with them.
She wore a suppressed carbine, lightweight communications equipment, and a satellite tablet strapped against her chest.
She wasn’t there as an observer anymore.
She was going into the field.
Marshall glanced back.
“Commander.”
“Yes?”
“You sure about this?”
“I don’t send people places I won’t go myself.”
That answer satisfied him.
The team continued.
The terrain became steeper.
The mountains narrowed into a canyon.
Wind moved between the walls.
Cold air replaced the oppressive heat of the base.
Then Marshall stopped.
He raised a fist.
Everyone froze.
Collins crouched.
“What’s wrong?”
Marshall pointed.
A faint wire crossed the trail.
Collins moved closer.
“Pressure switch.”
Marshall nodded.
“Explosive?”
“Probably.”
She looked around.
“Don’t touch it.”
The team backed away.
Marshall whispered:
“Route?”
Collins studied the slope.
“Thirty meters east.”
“Climb?”
“Yes.”
The team moved.
Nobody complained.
Nobody asked whether she was sure.
They simply followed.
At the top of the ridge, Collins looked down through binoculars.
The compound appeared.
Three buildings.
A vehicle bay.
A communications tower.
And something else.
She lowered the binoculars.
“There’s a problem.”
Marshall moved beside her.
“What?”
“Too many guards.”
He counted.
“I see ten.”
“Look closer.”
He did.
His expression changed.
“Twenty.”
Collins nodded.
“Exactly.”
Marshall looked toward her.
“This isn’t a communications station.”
“No.”
“What is it?”
Collins watched the compound.
Then she saw a vehicle arrive.
A heavy armored truck.
Several men stepped out.
One opened the rear door.
A man emerged.
He was wearing a civilian jacket.
But the way he moved told another story.
Marshall watched him.
“Military.”
Collins nodded.
“He’s not the boss.”
“How do you know?”
“Because everyone else stopped moving when he stepped out.”
Marshall understood.
The entire compound was waiting for one man.
Collins pulled out her radio.
“Command, this is Collins. We have confirmation of a high-level presence.”
Static answered.
Then:
“Identify.”
“We don’t have a name yet.”
“Can you obtain imagery?”
“Yes.”
“Proceed.”
Collins turned to Marshall.
“Get me closer.”
He nodded.
The team moved along the ridge.
Slowly.
Silently.
Twenty minutes later, they reached a better observation position.
Collins set up a long-range camera.
The image appeared.
She zoomed in.
Then froze.
Marshall noticed.
“What?”
Collins didn’t answer.
She zoomed again.
The man’s face became clearer.
Marshall looked.
“Do you know him?”
“Yes.”
“Who?”
Collins’s jaw tightened.
“Colonel Adrian Voss.”
Marshall frowned.
“Never heard of him.”
“You weren’t supposed to.”
She closed the tablet.
“He’s former special operations.”
Marshall looked at her.
“American?”
“Yes.”
Silence.
“Then why is he working with them?”
Collins stared at the compound.
“He isn’t.”
Marshall’s expression tightened.
“Then what?”
“He’s running them.”
The information changed everything.
Voss had disappeared years earlier.
Officially, he had retired.
Unofficially, he had been investigating something nobody wanted investigated.
A network connecting weapons traffickers, military contractors, and corrupt intelligence officers.
Then he vanished.
Now he was standing inside an enemy compound.
Alive.
Armed.
And apparently in charge.
Marshall whispered:
“What’s the objective?”
Collins answered immediately.
“Capture him.”
“Alive?”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
“Because he knows who is behind this.”
Marshall looked at the compound again.
“That’s going to be difficult.”
Collins nodded.
“That’s why you’re here.”
The team prepared.
The plan was simple.
Observe.
Isolate.
Extract.
No unnecessary casualties.
No prolonged engagement.
They waited until after midnight.
The guards changed.
The compound became quieter.
Marshall’s team moved down the mountain.
Collins stayed behind initially.
She needed eyes on the entire operation.
The first team reached the outer fence.
A guard walked past.
Nobody moved.
The guard disappeared.
Marshall whispered:
“Go.”
The team crossed.
Then everything changed.
A light appeared.
Not from the compound.
From the mountain behind them.
Collins saw it.
A laser.
She immediately shouted into the radio.
“STOP.”
The team froze.
“What?”
“Someone is painting the ridge.”
Marshall looked around.
“How?”
Collins scanned the darkness.
Then she saw it.
A tiny infrared reflection.
A scope.
Someone else was watching the operation.
“Sniper.”
Marshall lowered himself.
“Where?”
“Upper ridge. Two hundred meters east.”
A suppressed shot cracked through the night.
A rock exploded beside Marshall.
The team dropped.
Collins shifted her optic.
“There!”
She saw movement.
One rifle.
One shooter.
But then another flash appeared.
Two shooters.
“No,” Collins whispered.
There were more.
Three.
Four.
The entire ridge was surrounded by counter-snipers.
Marshall keyed his radio.
“How did they know?”
Collins answered calmly.
“They expected us.”
“Because of Voss?”
“No.”
Marshall paused.
“Then why?”
Collins looked at the laser pattern.
Something didn’t make sense.
“They’re not protecting Voss.”
“What?”
“They’re protecting whoever came to see him.”
She looked back toward the compound.
The armored truck was still there.
The unidentified visitor had not left.
Collins zoomed in.
Her face went pale.
She recognized him too.
Not from combat.
From classified files.
From an old operation that had officially never existed.
She whispered:
“Marshall.”
“Commander?”
“We’re not looking at a weapons shipment.”
“What are we looking at?”
Collins took a breath.
“A command meeting.”
“Between who?”
She stared at the screen.
“Three former American intelligence officers.”
Marshall went silent.
“And one of them,” Collins continued, “has access to our current operational plans.”
That explained everything.
The missing reconnaissance team.
The communications system.
The ambush.
The counter-snipers.
Someone inside the American system had been feeding information to the enemy.
Marshall understood immediately.
“We have a leak.”
Collins nodded.
“Bigger than a leak.”
She looked at the compound.
“Someone is selling our missions.”
The firefight began twenty seconds later.
The counter-snipers opened fire.
Marshall’s team took cover behind rocks.
Collins coordinated the response.
“Two shooters on the eastern ridge. One behind the antenna. One near the vehicle bay.”
Marshall answered:
“Working.”
His team moved.
But Collins noticed something strange.
The enemy wasn’t trying to kill them.
Their shots were deliberate.
Controlled.
They were forcing the team into specific positions.
She realized what was happening.
“They’re herding us.”
Marshall looked toward her.
“Where?”
“Toward the ravine.”
“Why?”
“Because Voss wants us alive.”
Marshall’s expression hardened.
“Then let’s disappoint him.”
The team broke left.
The enemy immediately adjusted.
Collins smiled faintly.
“That’s what I thought.”
Marshall looked at her.
“What?”
“Voss is still thinking like an operator.”
“So?”
“So he thinks he knows what I’d do.”
She looked toward the compound.
“That means we do the opposite.”
She pointed toward the mountain.
“We’re going straight through the ridge.”
Marshall stared at her.
“That is the most heavily defended route.”
“Exactly.”
He understood.
“They’ll never expect it.”
“They’ll expect it.”
Marshall frowned.
Collins continued:
“And because they’ll expect it, they’ll move the snipers.”
Marshall finally smiled.
“Which gives us the opening.”
“Yes.”
They changed direction.
The enemy reacted.
Exactly as Collins predicted.
The snipers shifted.
The ridge briefly became exposed.
Marshall’s assault team moved.
They reached the compound wall.
Collins followed.
A breach was made.
The team entered.
Inside, chaos erupted.
Guards scrambled.
Lights came on.
Alarms sounded.
Marshall moved toward the main building.
Collins followed.
They reached the command room.
The door opened.
Colonel Adrian Voss stood inside.
He wasn’t surprised.
He was smiling.
“Selene.”
Collins raised her weapon.
“Adrian.”
Marshall looked between them.
“You know each other?”
Voss laughed quietly.
“Know her?”
He looked at Collins.
“She was one of the best I ever trained.”
Marshall’s eyes narrowed.
Voss’s smile disappeared.
“And the most difficult.”
Collins kept her weapon trained on him.
“You sold Americans.”
“No.”
“You sold missions.”
“No.”
“You sold names.”
Voss’s expression hardened.
“I sold information.”
Marshall stepped forward.
“People died.”
Voss looked at him.
“People always die.”
Collins’s voice became cold.
“Not enough for you.”
Voss stared at her.
“You still believe the system can be fixed.”
“No.”
She lowered the weapon slightly.
“I believe people can.”
Voss looked almost amused.
“You haven’t changed.”
Collins shook her head.
“You have.”
She gestured toward the armed men around him.
“You used to protect your people.”
Voss looked away.
For the first time, he looked old.
Tired.
Almost human.
Then an explosion shook the building.
Marshall turned.
“Movement!”
Voss smiled.
“You’re too late.”
Collins understood.
“What did you do?”
Voss looked at his watch.
“The operation isn’t here.”
He pointed toward a monitor.
A live feed showed Camp Lemonnier.
Marshall stared.
Their base.
Security gates.
Aircraft.
Fuel storage.
And moving vehicles.
Collins’s expression changed.
“This is a diversion.”
Voss nodded.
“You came for me.”
He smiled.
“Your real enemy came for your base.”
Collins immediately grabbed her radio.
“Command, this is Collins. Lock down the airfield immediately.”
Static.
No response.
Marshall looked at her.
“Jammed.”
Collins looked at Voss.
“How many?”
Voss smiled.
“Enough.”
Collins turned toward Marshall.
“Get everyone out.”
“And you?”
She looked at Voss.
“I have unfinished business.”
Marshall hesitated.
Then nodded.
“Yes, Commander.”
For the first time, Collins heard no doubt in his voice.
Only trust.
He disappeared through the doorway with his team.
Collins remained.
Voss slowly reached for his sidearm.
She raised her weapon.
“Don’t.”
He stopped.
For a moment they simply stared at each other.
Two veterans.
Two survivors.
Two people who had once believed they were fighting for the same thing.
Then Voss sighed.
“You were always the one who didn’t give up.”
Collins answered:
“And you’re always the one who thought giving up was intelligence.”
A faint smile appeared on his face.
Then the room went dark.
The attack on Camp Lemonnier had begun.
And Commander Selene Collins was no longer fighting to prove her authority.
She was fighting to save everyone under her command.
This time, the enemy already knew exactly who she was.
And that made the next battle far more dangerous.