Chapter 8 - 17th - 18th June 2010 - Port Angeles. WA.

Chapter 8 - 17th - 18th June 2010 - Port Angeles. WA.

EPOV.

It was almost 8.30 when the alarm on my cell rang out, I groaned while rubbing my hands through my hair, all the travelling and intelligence gathering the past few days starting to take their toll. I'm 27 going on 90. Jasper was still snoring lightly in the bed across the room, that guy could sleep through an air raid. I rolled out of my bed and strolled, stretching to the bathroom, to freshen up and take a leak. After a quick shower I dressed and headed out to the hotel restaurant to grab some coffee, before calling in for my 9am conference call. By the time I returned with coffee, Jasper was up and dressed and the rest of the guys had assembled in the room, hogging the small couch and random dining chairs in our room. I glanced around at them before leaning up against the small desk, the only space not occupied by my team and dialled up Mclean and waited as General Garrett and Phil Dwyer came on the line.

"Morning Gentlemen, hopefully you've rested well from your travels yesterday," said Phil cheerfully.

A series of grunts and 'yes sirs' resounded around the room.

"Down to business then gentlemen," continued the General.

"The 'Bella Principessa' is docked in the north dock at Port Angeles, we've requested that customs do a routine search this evening, you'll be on standby at the docks should they have any problems. Master Chief, I'd like for you to arrange your sniper team to take a perimeter viewpoint, north and south side. They'll be tagged Eagle 1 and Eagle 2 respectively.  We'll need eyes and ears at all times, the last thing we need is a fire fight in a civilian port. We've been watching the docks over night and observed 8 containers loaded in the early hours of this morning, according to the port, the ship is not due to leave until the end of the week, in fact the crew is on shore leave until Friday."

"Do we have any numbers for how many crew remain on board, sir?" I replied.

"By all accounts there should be 4, an engineer, the captain, pilot and cook." responded Phil.

"What of the nature of the containers, any idea what's meant to be in them?" I asked.

"According to the logs, car parts, but that remains to be seen." added Phil.

"Ok Gentlemen, Edward will go over the finer details; however this is how we plan for this to go. Embry and Seth, we want you to head direct to the docks in the next hour, you need to get situated in your viewing points before the rest of the team arrive. Don't forget that this is a civilian port, so you need to blend in and not draw any attention to yourselves, this operation is black, so it should be as if you were never there. Jake and Quil, you'll need to take a customs launch when they do their routine inspection, we want you to inspect under the hull, the ships been sitting low in the water long before it was loaded, that means it was either not fully empty, or someone is playing games with us. Sam we need you to hook into the ships communications and monitor all traffic, we have very little useful intelligence on this, so you'll be the ears for this operation. Edward, Jasper and Emmett and Sam, you'll be the boarding team, in the event of customs coming across anything, you will be first and foremost back up and ultimately take control of the vessel." The General continued. "Be safe gentlemen and come home."

"Thank you sirs" I responded, "we'll be in touch this evening."

After hanging up the line, we gathered around the coffee table, and finalised the plan, I pointed out the choke points, boarding points and places of interest on the satellite image of the ship, Jasper briefed on weaponry and equipment and we all took a time out to prepare ourselves. Embry and Seth left soon after to take up position in the eagles nests, while we suited up, hoping that was all we'd have to do. At 6pm we loaded up the SUV's and drove down to the docks, it was still light out, so we were thankful for the dark tinted windows, the atmosphere around us was palpable, a mixture of excitement, adrenalin and a small shot of fear of the unknown. My guys are the best at what they do and that little shot of fear is what keeps them on their toes, I can only hope this trip was a false alarm, but the feeling in my gut said it was anything but. I don't know what we were expecting, did I think we'd find Swan, I had my doubts, but what I did know is that something was going on with this ship and Swan knew it long before we did.

The customs team arrived at the ship shortly after we had gotten into position, the Captain wasn't keen on them boarding, saying that his crew was on leave and that he didn't have any cargo at this time, yet we had seen the satellite footage of the eight containers being loaded. He finally acquiesced to the customs team and led them up to the bridge; Sam monitored both the comm chatter from the ship and also the mic's on the customs guys. Jake and Quil had completed their dive within 30 minutes of the customs boarding the ship, the hull was clear, no obvious tampering, although the forward hold appeared to be flooded, which lead them to believe that something was going on that they were trying to hide.

"Chief, this is Eagle 2, I have eyeball on our customs guys, and 2 xrays on the bridge, Xray 1 is Caucasian, 6ft 2, blue jump suit holding an MP4, Xray 2, 5ft 10, African American, black jump suit and also holding an MP4. Um Chief, the shit is about to hit the fan, they have our guys on the floor."

"Shit, copy that Eagle 2, keep eyes on and if you get the shot, take it." I replied.

I glanced back at the guys, they'd heard the message and cocked weapons ready, we nodded at each other and exited the vehicle, heading quietly along the side of the warehouse adjacent to the dock. Jasper took point and crouched at the corner, signalling to stop, before glancing around and darting across to the ship. Once he was in position he gestured for us to follow, I followed up the rear, as Jasper and Emmett slung themselves up over the bowline and climbed hand over feet to the deck of the ship, before taking up covering positions for myself and Sam. As we rallied behind a vent, we could hear shouting from the bridge, it seems the customs guys were really in the shit.

"Chief, this is Eagle 1; I have 2 Xrays, 20 yards on your left, both armed."

Jasper and Emmett nodded at me before they crept round the vent to the left, coming up behind the 2 guys silently taking them out. I signalled to them to take the port side and we'd meet at the bridge. Sam and I proceeded along the starboard side, taking care to be as quiet as possible, the plan was to get those guys out and take control of the ship. We met no resistance on our way to the bridge and soon we were in position on either side, preparing to enter.

"Chief, this is Eagle 2, the Xrays are jumpy as all hell, you need to take them out now"

I bleeped my mic in response so as not to alert those in the bridge, I heard the tell tale sound of a gun being cocked and we burst through the door, we were lucky, the element of surprise caught them off guard and we quickly took them out and freed the customs guys. While Jasper and Sam secured the bridge, Emmett and I went back on deck and lowered a ladder over for Jake and Quil to join us, we then split to thoroughly search the Ship.

We went deck by deck, cabin by cabin, and came up with nothing until we hit the forward hold, 8 containers sat in a line, each contained car parts, just as the manifest had said, however it was the last container that was the making for a really bad day. We'd cleared the whole ship and up to this point found nothing, apart from the four armed guys, however this last container really put the spanner in the works. I cautiously opened the container, the overhead lighting in the hold and my own flashlight, barely adequate enough to make out what was inside. I froze instinctively, everything about this one container felt wrong, not just wrong, very wrong. I drew my flashlight slowly across the inside of the container, for all intents and purposes it appeared mostly empty, but there in the back, sat my worst nightmare. I drew in a sharp breath when I saw it, running a hand through my hair.

"Shit" I muttered to myself.

This was bad, very very bad. The position of this container, paired with the 7 others full of car parts made it the perfect weapon, not only would its content blow us to smithereens, but in our attempt to escape we'd be shredded to pieces by flying parts.

"All teams, retreat, I repeat, retreat, fall back, get the fuck out of here." I called over my radio.

"What gives Chief?" Emmett called back

"Binary Liquid, Chemical Bomb, surrounded by car parts, it's a fucking over grown IED, now get the fuck off this ship,"

I slowly drew my flashlight across the container, pressure pads were positioned throughout and hooked into the bomb, thank fuck I hadn't stepped in there. The Bomb appeared to be on a remote detonator, so there had to be eyes on the ship.

"Eagle 1, Eagle 2, I need you guys to look around, possible bogey in your vicinity, look high." I called

"This is Eagle 1, I have possible eyeball on the bogey, they're on the communications pylon to the east."

"Take the shot Eagle 1 and don't you fucking miss, this bomb is remote," I replied.

"Chief, this is Eagle 2, I have eyeball on another bogey on a pylon to the west, shit, Chief you might want to run"

I barely had time to think before I turned on my heel and ran like my arse was on fire up the steps towards the bridge, I heard the tell tale sound of the remote activating on the bomb, the chugging sound of the two liquids merging and pushed myself harder, I'd barely made it to the door when an explosion ripped through the hold, sending me flying through the door. The last thing I remember was the sound of my guys calling me over the radio, and the screeching and groaning of burning metal coming from the hold.

My head felt woozy, my vision blurred as I slumped against the wall I'd been thrown against, pain, so much goddam pain, everything hurt, I felt like I'd been hit by a mack truck, I barely acknowledged the figure as everything slipped away from me, I was flying and I didn't care, weightless, painless, numb.

*******

EmPov

"All teams, retreat, I repeat, retreat, fall back, get the fuck out of here." the chief called over the comm.

What the hell made him call that?

"What gives Chief?" I called back, still bemused as to why he'd want us to fall back now, surely if he'd come across more xrays he'd call us in, I didn't get it.

"Binary Liquid, Chemical Bomb, surround by car parts, it's a fucking over grown IED, now get the fuck off this ship," he responded anxiously.

Shit! Holy motherfucking hell, I stood back on the deck of the ship, casting my eyes around, trying to see where he'd spring from, there was no way I was gonna leave him behind. Jake and Quil appeared to the side of me, both looking concerned, still no sign of Edward, we could hear him on the comm, telling Embry and Seth to cast eyes out and look high, we all did the same, they both responded shortly after with bogeys on pylons to the east and west of us. Jasper and Sam were down on the dock with the customs guys taking up defensive positions, I glanced at Jasper and he nodded as we began to fall back to the rally point. We'd barely made it to the vent, when the whole damn ship rocked and a huge explosion shook from below us, Jake lost his footing and fell forward, head butting the vent with such a force that he was knocked out, Quil staggered slightly but maintained his balance, before going to check on Jake. The bridge was now in flames and there was still no sign of Edward.

Jasper called us over the comm, Quil looked at me to respond while he tended to Jake. "Jakes down, Quil's attending, I'm good, still no sign of Edward, we need to regroup and go find him." I responded swiftly.

Jasper looked at me and shook his head as shots rang out from our sniper teams. "This is Eagle 1, East tower clear, I repeat East tower clear."

"Thank you Eagle 1, keep eyeballs east and on the bridge, we'll rally at the exfil in 20 mikes." Jasper responded.

"This is Eagle 2, West tower, multiple bogeys, 1 Xray down, I don't have a clear shot, 2 black SUV's in situ, request spotter."

"Sam’s coming to join you Eagle 2, you know what to do." Jasper stated clearly.

I glanced back at Quil and Jake, while casting an eye around the deck, the fire on the bridge was taking hold, I could only hope that Edward had got out and was hiding out somewhere with a dead comm. I could hear sirens gradually piercing the air and the flashing lights of fire trucks and police barrelling into the port as we cautiously left the ship, Jasper covered us from his position on the dock as Seth watched us from on high in his tower. Jake was starting to come round on Quils shoulder, a huge gash going from his temple down to his eye socket. I covered them as we slowly made it down the dock, taking no chances that we could be ambushed at any time.

Jasper stood and helped Quil get Jake in the back of one of the SUVs’, while I continued to scan the dock for any signs of Edward, he should've appeared by now, or at the least popped smoke, but there was nothing and I had a very uneasy feeling in my gut. I felt Jasper's hand on my shoulder and jumped instinctively, my nerves shot to shit, adrenalin still coursing through me; I lowered my gun and let out a breath, rubbing the back of my head.

"Sorry man, didn't mean to startle you, we need to fall back and let the police and fire guys do their thing." he said.

"I know, but I'm just kinda concerned that Edwards not back, shit he's not even popped smoke or anything." I replied.

"I know man, but we did what we were meant to do, we have to step back, it's a civilian port, and unless we get the go ahead, we can't go back in, as much as I really want to run the fuck in there and find him."

I nodded in response, shrugging my shoulder despondently, I glanced up at the ship, the bridge was fully alight now, flames licking across the windows and spreading out onto the deck. I knew instinctively that there was little chance that Edward had gotten out, I knew for sure he would've found a way to contact or make his presence known had he been able to and that feeling did not sit well in my gut at all. Me and Edward had been through hell and back together, we joined up at the same time, we went through training together, and faced every mission side by side, practically brothers, heck we even swapped letters for our families should something happen. Promised each other that we'd look after them. Dammit, how was I going to face his mom? I promised her I'd look out for him, just like he'd promised my Rosie.

I was pulled from my internal musing by a flurry of comm chatter.

"This is Eagle 2, the bogeys are at the water on the other side of the docks, they appear to be loading up a body into the trunk of an SUV, it's hard to make out who it is, possibly Swan, and holy crow that dude is massive."

"Keep eyes on Eagle 2, if you can get plates or anything that would help." Jasper called back.

The Fire dept were now fully ensconced and tackling the rising flames on the ship, the police had set up a series of blocks to prevent anyone coming in close, and Jasper had jumped into the lead SUV and was digging out the sat phone to put in the call he didn't want to make to Mclean. I watched him gesture wildly and rub his hair while he talked, before hanging up and shake his head, taking a deep breath he stepped back out.

"They want us to stand down and stay out of the way, unless the police or whoever find anything and call us in. Shit! They’ve already written him off as collateral, for all we know he's laying unconscious on that fucking boat waiting for us to go get him and those stupid fuckers have ordered us to leave him there." Jasper ground out through his teeth.

I grimaced at him, the guy never got emotional, hell he shouldn't even be on the teams, the guy was so laid back surfing was more his speed, I could just see him sitting happy on a beach somewhere, smoking dope and catching some waves.

"Fuck it, I'm going in, you coming?" he finally stated, grabbing my arm as he went to walk past.

"Hell yeah, they can bust my ass later." I responded.

We approached the Police Chief, more out of courtesy, that dude wasn't going to stop us regardless.

"Er fella's you can't go up there" he said to us nervously.

Jasper eyed him, hitting him with the gnarliest stink eye I've ever seen, the cop just shrunk back and told us to carry on. I smirked, damn that messy haired asshole better appreciate this. We casually boarded the ship and made our way towards the slightly smouldering bridge, the fire fighters had done a good job of clearing it and damping down, we passed a few guys as we made our way up the steps to the side entry to the wheel house. The air was smoky and hot, the walls were blackened with soot and the grey paint was peeling off in large chunks leaving exposed metal. The intensity of the heat must have been immense, the devastation of the bridge was incredible, and it was barely recognisable from the place we'd entered earlier. We headed slowly to the rear door that lead towards the corridor that went to the hold, Edwards last known position. As we stepped through the door, Jasper stopped, I crashed into his back, having no time to stop myself moving forwards in time. Barely 10 yards from where we stood, was the remains of the door that lead down to the forward hold, the burnt and buckled metal of Edward's MP5 sub machine gun, shreds of kevlar, a few wires that looked like they'd come from a comm set, a tattered smoking boot and blood  a shit ton of blood. No Edward, I groaned at the sight before me and Jasper cast his eyes between me and Edwards’s stuff, unsure of what he could say. I shook my head, nothing else could be said, running my hands through my hair I took a deep breath and sighed, "Dammit man, why'd you have to go and be a damn hero?"

Jasper grabbed my arm and motioned for me to head back out, there was nothing we could do here. We headed back down to the SUVs’ and the rest of the team, Seth and Embry had rejoined us, all of us silent in our own thoughts. Jake had slowly regained consciousness in the back of the SUV and was glancing around us warily; his face had a look of pain and confusion etched across it.

"Umm guys, where's the Chief?" he asked "I bet the General and that CIA dude is going to roast our asses when we get back"

"He didn't make it Jake." I mumbled, slamming my fist down on the trunk of the vehicle.

"Huh?" he responded.

"Me and Jas, checked out the last position, we found his gun, some tattered kevlar, remains of his comm set, a boot and boatload of blood, do you get it Jake? He didn't make it!" I bellowed.

"Shit" he hissed.

"Sorry dude, I'm just a bit out of it right now, fuck, I just want to get out of here and get drunk," I replied

Everyone nodded in agreement, we all felt the same, some of us more than others, we'd been a team for a long time and this shit hurt, we clambered back into the vehicles and headed back to the hotel, none of us wanting to be there, all of us wanting to go home. When we got back to the hotel, I moved my gear to Jaspers room and we sat for hours and talked, out of all of us, Jas and I had been with Edward the longest, we were the original 3 on the team, brothers in arms, and losing him like this hit us bad.

"I'll come with you Em, when we get back I'll come with you to tell them." Jasper said quietly.

We'd been sitting for the past few hours drinking beer and talking about all the crazy shit the three of us had done together, we'd both laughed like loons remembering the time in Singapore when we'd all staggered out of some dive bar, drunk as skunks and Edward had stolen a rickshaw and run us back to the base in it, followed the whole way by this little dude screaming at us for stealing his rickshaw, damn that little fucker was scary, threw his shoes at Edward when we got to the gates. We'd laughed our heads off at the barely 4ft little shit demanding compensation, then we spent the rest of the night and the following day locked up in the guardhouse for it. Was worth the roasting though that was some funny shit.

"Thanks man, I promised him I'd tell them, not have some suited up desk general spout off about shit he knows nothing about."

*******

We rose early the next morning, keen to get the fuck out of dodge, none of us spoke as we loaded up the cars and drove out of Port Angeles, we barely gave the place another glance as we hit the highway and headed out to Fairchild Air base. As we drove into our waiting C-130 I glanced at the rest of the guys, an uneasy silence surrounded us, none of this felt right, we'd arrived here two days ago, ready to hit the ground running, and now it's almost as if the ground had been stripped out from beneath us and as hard as we ran, we were getting nowhere. I chuckled darkly to myself, Edward would've brooded over this shit for hours if he was here, if he wasn't dead. I scrubbed my face roughly, stubble digging into my palm, I'd seen no reason to shave, maybe when I get home.

Home, the one place I needed to be, the last place I wanted to be right now. I wanted to turn the clock back two days and convince Edward that we shouldn't come here, but he would've come anyway, with or without us. Pig headed ass. We took our places in the plane, Jasper sat off to the back, gazing out through the small window as we taxied down the runway, shut off in his own little world, in a way, he was hurting as much if not more than me, he was married to Edwards little sister, Alice, I at least would be able to get away from it all once I'd kept my promise, Jasper would have to live through it, up close.

We arrived in the late evening at Andrews Air base and drove direct to Mclean for debriefing. General Garrett was surprisingly sympathetic, pissed as all hell that we'd had to open fire and take out some people, but by all accounts those who we had taken alive had given them some pretty useful Intel. Well at least it wasn't a total loss then. After the debrief, he held me and Jasper back, offering to go and see Edwards family and break the news, we both declined, we'd made promises and we were going to keep them. He stood the team down for the next two weeks, we were a man down now anyhow and they needed time to work through the Intel.

Driving from the CIA HQ at Mclean to Edwards’s parents place was both the longest and shortest ride of my life. Jasper and I were silent throughout, both of us trapped in thought, how were we going to approach this, could we tell them their son was dead, could we live with ourselves for not keeping him alive? Worst of all, how could we break his moms heart. I felt terrible, as much as I felt Edwards loss as a brother, I couldn't even begin to imagine what it's going to be like for his parents. No parent wants to bury their child. Hell they wouldn't even be able to do that, we didn't even find a body; the explosion had taken that away from us.

As we drove up the short drive to the large house, I was struck with memories of BBQ's with the whole team and the families here, playing football on Independence Day, setting off fireworks, laughing and joking and drinking and loving and fun and friendship. We pulled up behind Carlisle's town car and headed up the path to the front door. As we reached the door, it swung open and a blur sped passed me and knocked Jasper to the floor, Alice, she must've gotten a ride with Dr. C. Jasper pulled himself up off the floor as Alice clung to him like a limpet and we entered the house, she dropped from his grasp and run towards the kitchen.

"Mom! Dad! They’re back!"

Jasper cocked an eyebrow at me and I grimaced, shaking my head slightly. Not exactly how we wanted to do this. Carlisle and Esme entered the foyer, seeing me and Jasper standing there. I guess we looked kind of tired and bedraggled to them, as it didn't really register for a few seconds that Edward wasn't with us.

"Boys, good to see you back, I take it Edwards still back on base; I swear that boy needs to slow down..." Esme gushed.

"Mrs Cullen..." I started

"Esme dear, you've known me a long time now Emmett, no need to be so formal."

"Esme, Christ..." I mumbled. "I'm, God...sorry, I don't know how to do this..." I continued, running my hands through my hair.

Carlisle eyed me speculatively, his head cocked, Jasper tensed up beside me.

"Emmett dear, what's wrong, you're so nervous, and Jasper, why the worried face?" Esme asked, looking between us.

Alice glanced at Jasper, staring pleadingly into his eyes, as if they would tell her everything. Her hands went to her mouth, her eyes widened in a look of shock and total devastation, Jasper couldn't take anymore and drew her into his arms. Carlisle looked from me to Alice and Jasper, the situation suddenly dawning on him, the world crashing into flames in his eyes.

"Why don't we sit down Esme, then Emmett can get down to telling us what he's trying to say." He said quietly to his wife, walking her to the couches in the lounge area.

I followed, with Jasper and Alice behind me, my shoulders dropped, my heart aching at being the one to rip the bottom out of their world.

"Esme, Carlisle," I coughed slightly, "When we joined the teams, Edward and I, well Jasper too actually we all promised each other, that if something was to happen that we'd be there for our families," I glanced at Jasper, who was holding tightly to Alice, he nodded for me to continue. "Now I can't tell you what we've been doing, or where we've been, only that it was of national importance."

Esme looked at me, concern, panic, fear, hope crossing her features.

"We encountered opposition and during the mission, Edward called for us to fall back, unfortunately he wasn't in a position to safely do so his self. Needless to say we returned to the rally point, but Edward failed to meet us there. We attempted to get to him, but only after the situation had been brought back into our control was we able to determine what had happened to him." Christ this is hard.

"Is he hurt badly Emmett, God we need to get to the hospital to see him, what hospital did he go to?" Esme babbled barely coherently. Carlisle glanced at me, heartbreak stretched across his face as he tried to calm his wife beside him.

"Um, Esme..." I sighed, "We didn't find him, we found bits of equipment, some blood, but ma'am we didn't find Edward. Ma'am the explosion, the fire... Christ, we didn't find him. He's gone, I'm sorry Esme, I'm sorry, I'm sorry..." I sobbed the last bit.

I pulled Edwards letter from my inside pocket, I'd promised him that if he never made it back that I'd give it to them, and I keep my promises.

"Sir, Edward asked me a long time ago, to give this to you, should anything happen." I handed the letter to Carlisle, my hand shaking with emotion.

I stood then and stepped to Esme, who was sobbing uncontrollably on the couch. I gently touched her shoulder and waited patiently for her to lift her eyes to me.

"I'm sorry, I failed him Esme, I failed you and Carlisle and Alice, I failed to bring him home."

She stood then and engulfed me in her arms as we both sobbed her for her son, me for my brother and best friend.

"I forgive you Emmett," she whispered into my hair