"And when he gets to Heaven,
To Saint Peter he will tell;
'One more SEAL reporting Sir,
I've served my time in Hell.'"

---Declan's POV---

The moon provided our cover through the night, since it was just a slip of silver hovering in the air. The desert floor was bathed in shadows and pools of black as we all rushed away from our drop-point to the village a few mikes away. We moved as fast as we could without making a sound, especially when we neared the village.

The Commander, or Mother as we coded him, gave us the sign and we quickly slid closer to him, looking over his shoulder towards the village. The village was silent, completely covered in darkness as the wind slowly moved through it. I looked up when Echo snorted, shaking his head in thoughts.

"Looks dead to me Mother. You sure that your boy is going to be there?" He asked, tilting an eyebrow as his voice was laced in a hint of sarcasm. The place didn't sit well with me neither but the thought of an informant sticking us up was a bit too far fetched.

Mother didn't take his eyes of the rooftops as he scanned them for any suspicious movement. Without replying to Echo, he reached his hand up to activate the small transmitter in his ear, so we all could stay in contact with the other team that has been dropped here.

"Wolfpack, this is Neptune. Mother and the kids are in position." We all smirked to each other as the Commander called the other team up. Ever since we had coded him as Mother, he was taking revenge for the name by referring to us as his kids every time he made contact with the others.

I smirked even wider when I heard a familiar voice chortle slightly through the earpiece. "Neptune, this is Wolfpack, Viper speaking. Come to play with the kids Mother? Playtime's over though." We all glanced at each other when he added the last part; that meant trouble.

Mother nodded to himself as if confirming something before he said, "Play safe boys. Anything to report?" While he was saying that, I used the scope on my MK 11 to take a view of the village. Seemed perfectly calm to me...but that was the problem; it was too perfect.

"Had a little hustle with some contacts up North; compound is crawling. We picked up a lot of chatter on the local radios Mother. Either they're on our tail or you got a babysit. Go in silently Mother, Foxtail and I got your backs."

"Doesn't sound too good." Echo muttered, rubbing his thumb over the stubble on his chin while he scanned the village. Mother nodded and replied, "WILCO. Mother out." He sighed and rubbed his head for a second before turning towards us. His glacier-blue eyes gleamed in the darkness as he scanned all of us.

"You heard it, we're going in silently. Reduce the noise; contacts are taken out silently and hidden when able. Echo, you take Colt and get to the Eastern gate. Dusty, you're with me."

We all split up and Colt, true to his name, gripped his favored Colt M4 and nodded once to us, clutching the black dog-tags dangling from his chest. I nodded to him as I heard him say in the earpiece, "Don't wanna go to base with three tags fellas!"

Mother shook his head but I saw the slight smirk on his lips as we saw the blond head of Colt and the brownish black hair of Echo disappear in the distance. Mother glanced at me before looking at the gate. He sighed and started to move.

"Mother, we're at the gate, no targets spotted over." We heard Echo state over the radio after a few minutes as Mother and I made our way through the empty streets and tight corners. "Ten four. Our boy's at the church; try to locate him. Over and out."

My heart was thumping steadily in my chest as I held the Colt M4 closer to my chest. The sniper rifle wouldn't do me any good in close combat. I saw movement in de distance and murmured, "Mother, Target on the roof, 2 o'clock." He glanced and nodded before looking in the distance.

"Take him out Dusty."

I looked through the scope and held my breath for a moment to get a clean shot. The sound was minimal and the target dropped down and didn't move anymore. I released the breath I held and followed Mother in his footsteps before we arrived at the church. A man was peeking out of his window from across the church and quickly opened the door before waving us in.

Mother slipped past him and I followed, knowing that Echo and Colt were just up ahead in the street, judging by their whistle and I knew that Viper and Foxtail had their eyes on us. Mother looked at the balding man, who was muttering something and spewing curses as he searched between books and in cups.

Finally, he smiled and came back up, holding a USB drive between his fingers, a victorious grin on his face before he started talking in a mesh of English and something else.

And that's when shit hit the fan.

The window shattered in a spray of deadly glass while Mother jumped back. The informant's victorious grin made way for a shocked and pained expression before he slumped to the ground in a puddle of blood.

"Fuck! Multiple targets on route!" Echo snapped through the radio before we heard shots being fired outside. My heart was thumping wildly in my chest as I quickly changed the settings of my gun from single shot to full automatic and slid over the ground to take cover.

"Fuck! Dusty, take them out." Mother snapped before he lunged past me and snapped the USB drive from the ground, the bullets whizzing past my head at his movement. "Four four, you up?" I asked through the link as I fired at the enemy, pulling back behind the wall to reload and take a breath."

"What the hell happened? This house is a setup!" Colt cried out as Mother made his way to the door and peeked through the crack. We heard the loud crack of riffle fire before Viper sarcastically added, "The whole town is a set-up. Mother, get yourself and the kids out of there, the place is swarming with bad guys."

"I smell a rat." Echo stated, making my heart freeze at the thought before I dashed behind Mother out of the house and jumped behind the walls of the house. "If that's the case than we need to get the fuck out of here." I snapped, shooting a target down when he was aiming at Colt. "Two, four, get your buts moving and off that roof before you get shot!"

At my warning, Colt and Echo started moving, sticking close to the walls and firing when they were under fire. I shot down as many targets as I could before I had to pull my head back, or it would have been blown off.

"Mother, Dusty we got your six. Two four is waiting at the houses on your eight, so you better get moving before we need to collect tags." Viper said through the link as another shot rang through the air.

"Thanks Vipe, we owe you one." I said from the bottom of my heart as we rushed out. We regrouped with the others and were nearly out of town when Mother stumbled and choked. My eyes widened while my ears burned with the loud screeching whistle that kept ringing through them.

My mind wasn't focused on that though; I saw Mother look up at me as he stumbled down, a mixture of shock, pain and a hint of fear on his face while blood started to dribble from his mouth.

"FUCK! Mother's down! I repeat, Mother's down!" I shouted through the link, shooting the bastard who shot Mother in the back down, growling in anger when I heard distant rambling and footsteps growing closer.

"Viper, we need extraction ASAP! Mother's down and out!" I snarled in the link, taking over command. After all, I was the Lieutenant, second in charge of this team. Echo and Colt were already there, heaving Mother on their shoulders and dragged him with us.

"Dusty, move to the LZ, they're on their way." He said at the same time that I was radioed, "Dusty, this is Mark. You've requested extraction?" I looked up as a thanks that to whoever was looking out after us that there were troops close by.

"Affirmative Mark, we need CASEVAC, Mother's shot and it doesn't look good." I replied, switching with Colt's place to carry Mother. He was completely limp and blood was slowly soaking his gear. No, this can't be happening...he had kids waiting for him back at home.

"Roger that, get to the LZ guys. Mark out."

Colt shot the last visible man down and snarled through his teeth, shaking his head and cursing constantly. "This is fucked up man. Wait till I get my hands on that rat!" He hung his gun over his shoulder and heaved Mother's legs on his shoulder. "You better have our six Viper!"

"I'm a bit busy at the moment!" He replied, gunfire sounded in the background before he shut the link off again, leaving us in complete silence except for our breathing, the thudding of our hearts, our footsteps on the floor and Mother's ragged breathing.

"Dusty, Dusty this is Mark, CASEVAC is on its way to the LZ. Estimated arrival in two mikes." Colt growled in annoyance and spat in his earpiece, "Mark, this is Colt. Those fucking birds better be there cause Mother's bleeding to death as we speak! More than that, Wolfpack seems in a tight spot so you better radio them to check if they need back up!"

I shot him a glare but what's done is done. We were ambushed, the informant was KIA and Mother was shot. All we could do now was hope and pray for a miracle.

-----

The door closed behind me, swinging a few times as my feet dragged me to my team. Colt and Echo were sitting there against the wall, medics passing them as they rushed towards Viper's team. They were brought in a few hours after our team arrived back at base and they were in pretty bad condition. One of them was already KIA when they loaded him on the bird.

Colt noticed me and shot up, staring straight at me as he awaited what I was going to bring; paradise or perdition. Echo slowly stood up beside him as Colt worthlessly begged me to answer his plea. Slowly, I shook my head.

"The first bullet went through his spine, bounced back and clipped his artery. It tore before they could get to it. The second one pierced his lung. They were too late to..." I managed to croak past the lump in my throat as Colt widened his eyes and Echo's eyes became tearful.

"No.....no, no, no! This isn't real! Tell me you're joking Dusty? Please!?" Colt begged but all I could do was shook my head and dig my nails in the palm of my hand. We lost our commander, our leader and one of our best friends.

All thanks to a rat.

We got out with a few cuts, bruises and small clip wounds from passing bullets. My shoulder was bleeding from the bullet that had grazed over it but with all my worries for Mother, I never felt it until now.

What seemed like hours later, we were called to the office to debrief, the medics that worked on Mother waiting in the office with his tags, the USB drive and a sealed envelope in his hands.

"Before we sedated him, he woke up long enough to say that he had a letter in for this scenario. It's addressed to you sir." He stated softly before giving me the Commander's belongings and left the room so we could be debriefed.

I couldn't focus on who was in the room nor what they were saying. Mother's letter was weighing down in my lap and I knew that whatever was in there, whatever he would ask me to do, I would do it.

"Goodbye Mother."

Sooooo, what do you guys think? This is my first military book, ever :p

For those who have Navy Seals or anyone in the army, don't kill me if I done something wrong. This is fictional so I can make a few minor adjustments in the book but I don't want do disrespect the soldiers.

Lots of love,

Me ;)