A New Life for Dr. Mitchel Ch. 09

When Marsh opened the back door of the helo, Wolf jumped out and ran out to the tree he had adopted about ten feet from the back corner of the building. Wolf took his job seriously and went to that tree every time he came up to the base. After checking to make sure there had been no one else close to his tree, Wolf watered it and then raced to the Gulfstream stairway to welcome anyone who was going to be on HIS flight. Wolf had made friends with most of the ground crew here at the air base, so it was highly likely that he would receive treats from several of the people that were working in the hangar today. He was not disappointed.

While Wolf was checking "his" tree, and making his rounds with the airbase staff, Marsh tried to make sure that Marguarita and Trish were as comfortable as he could make them. Both of them were a little nervous. They each knew that Marsh and Becca were really good at what they were doing, and that the support staff all knew their jobs as well. All of that still didn't take all of the risks out of the operation, and they just couldn't quite feel comfortable with the possibility that someone they loved so much would be in harm's way.

The only two people Trish had ever really loved before now were her mother and Jimmy. Her mother had died of cancer, and Jimmy had never gone out on any of the dangerous missions that were common for other people in his company. Today things were different.

Marsh had been an emergency physician until Becky and Elise were killed. He had dropped out of site, and Marguarita knew he was still around in the area, but she never knew about the missions he participated in with the sheriff's department. They say "ignorance is bliss." Marguarita had never worried about him when she didn't know where he really was.

Today Trish and Marguarita were joining Marsh and Becca, two people who meant so much to them now, and flying to a foreign country, where they would interact with people that would rather kill them than let them do what they were attempting to do. They both understood that there was nothing to be gained by worrying about this mission, and they both knew it (the mission) had to be done. They just really wanted Marsh and Becca to be safe and return unharmed.

With only four people in the Gulfstream there were a lot of options as far as seating was concerned. Trish chose the navigator's seat in the cockpit, and Marguarita chose the crew lounge seat. Becca had been the first of the family to enter the plane, and she had gone straight to the pilot's seat, to started programing the flight computer. When Marsh was finished making sure everything and everyone was secure he made his way to the cockpit followed by Wolf. Wolf took his normal floor space under the navigator's seat, which today meant under Trish, and Marsh took his place in the co-pilot's seat, where he began to go through the pre-start procedure while Becca put the last entries into the computer. Becca secured the charts and notes she had been working from and helped Marsh complete the prestart checklist.

As soon as Marsh pulled up the stairway and closed the door, the ground crew towed the Gulfstream the rest of the way out of the hangar. When Marsh and Becca finished their prestart checklist they went straight into the start-up procedure, and were subsequently cleared to taxi to and depart from the active runway.

Becca taxied to the end of the runway and did her preflight run-up procedure before rolling the throttles to the max and releasing the brakes. There was nobody on board the sleek jet that either Becca or Marsh needed to show off to, so Becca simply let the Gulfstream take off when it was up to speed. Marsh flipped the switches to retract the landing gear, and four of the five known remaining members of the Mitchel family (Rosalea was out on Marsh's California ranch and was not participating in the current excursion.) embarked on what would become an eventful rescue mission.

The flight to San Bernardino was at best, routine. Becca called in her flight plan, set the cruise control, and the four family members visited for two of the two and a half hours it took to get from Marsh's new home airport to his old home airport.

Marsh intentionally waited to call Papa Victor until they landed at SBD. He didn't want his Martinelli family to have to wait in the hangar for him to go down into the bunker with Becca to pick out the weaponry that they would take with them.

Marsh's cache of weapons here in the underground bunker at his hangar was by far his most extensive supply of both traditional western style weapons and custom made weapons from the countries of Southeast Asia. Some of these had been crafted for Marsh by friends he had made during his summers in Viet Nam. Some he had commissioned in his last four years in the guerrilla warfare business he had participated in with the sheriff's SWAT team.

Becca was in awe of the selection and the quality of the knives, shuriken and corded weapons such as cat claw bolas, and kusarigama. Some of the weapons Becca had heard of but never seen and some that she had seen but never learned to use. Marsh had made a training room down in the bunker, here he spent a few minutes showing Becca how some of the weapons were used. Becca asked Marsh to bring some of the weapons home with them and teach her to use them. Both Marsh and Becca took a few of the weapons they thought they might want to use in the mission they were going into right now.

By the time Marsh and Becca returned to the hangar the Martinelli family had arrived. Mama Vicky was already expressing her anger at whoever had taken her daughter, to whomever she could speak to. She really didn't care who it was, they were just bad people, and she wanted Marsh and Mario to rid the world of these low life criminals. Marguarita and Trish were already conversing with her to try to calm her down. They pointed out that the rescue was in progress, and that there was nothing more anyone could do until they all got to Ecuador, which was about to happen.

Morgan had topped off the fuel tanks in the Gulfstream, and had turned it around for a quick, easy departure. He had offered to come with Marsh and Becca as a back-up pilot, as well. Marsh told Morgan "Thanks" but he would rather have Morgan here as a backup with Marsh's Falcon ready to transport personnel or equipment, if it was needed.

With all the equipment loaded and all of the Martinelli family onboard, Becca started the highly modified Rolls Royce jet engines, and prepared to taxi to the active runway. Marsh had taken care of retracting the stairway, and was still locking the front door as Becca released the brakes. Marsh took his seat next to her and finished buckling into his safety harness just at the point where Becca rolled the throttles up to full, and began the takeoff roll down runway 24. When Marsh called in to Ontario Center he was given his clearances and wished well on his trip.

Becca made a lazy left turn over the Pacific Ocean and rolled out on a heading of one hundred twenty five degrees. She climbed to flight level five one zero, and nursed the Gulfstream up to Mach one point five. She, Marsh, and Jimmy had gone out together on a test flight and had established that with its current modifications the souped up jet would actually climb to about one point seven five Mach, at which speed they noted that it was smoooooooth and quiet. At Mach one point five the trip would take just a little over three hours, with more than enough fuel reserve.

Jimmy had long held agreements with the US Southern Command as well as the several countries that Turner Companies did business with and within. Becca filed her IFR flight plan with the FAA which included notification to Southern Command and to the Ecuadoran government. Turner Air One would not be landing at any of the government controlled airports in Ecuador, but when the plane crossed into their airspace Marsh or Becca would need to call their radar control center to advise them of their identity, and their intended destination. This was done more out of courtesy from the pilots to the controllers than out of any legal requirements. Rick had "people" that handled the legal aspects of international travel.

When everything was set up to fly the Gulfstream to Ecuador, Marsh contacted the base in Nueva Loja where Lindsey Schultz was keeping current with what was happening at the FARC compound that the Turner teams would soon be invading. She told Marsh that Jimmy had arrived and had set up his mobile medical center. The attack helicopters were almost ready for the trip across the border, and Ron Reynolds had arrived and was doing a test flight in the Airbus AS-365 with Lucy Ramirez to make sure the shooting platform was set up for the snipers.

Mike Taylor and Jackie Wyatt had called in and reported that their transport would land in Nueva Loja in about three hours. That meant that Marsh, Becca, and the rest of the family would be there at about the same time as the rest of the invasion team.

Marsh pulled up connections to the surveillance satellite footage of the FARC compound that they would be visiting and showed Mario, as well as Papa Victor, Uncle Joey, and Uncle Tony, just where they were going.

All four of the Martinellis were impressed with the amount of information that the Turner Group had amassed. Mario asked Marsh some questions about the house they were going to breech and the number of defenders they could expect to encounter.

Marsh made the connections to the Turner communications system and had Mike, Brad, and Lindsey linked to them in just a couple of minutes. Mario loved the almost immediate access they had to information and live communications with the team members who were not in the same room. Mario had no questions about his own ability to participate with the professional soldiers. He had kept himself in practice, and he was in very good shape.

Uncle Tony and Papa Victor were able to survey the terrain they would be flying over and they asked questions and shared suggestions with Marsh and the other team members about routes and elevations for the approach and the departure from the compound. Brad and Mike were impressed with the observations that the "old" warriors made and the accuracy of their combat interpretations. These "old" guys were good.

Brad complimented the Martinelli brothers. "Damn you guys! I wish we had pilots like you on all of our missions. The kids that are coming out of the helicopter schools now-a-days are pretty good pilots, but they can't hold a candle to you guy's combat understanding. We're going to go in with a huge advantage."

"Thanks for the vote of confidence," Papa Victor responded. I'd like you guys to remember one thing. That's my daughter we are going in to rescue. There's several of us that are willing to not only fly in there, but we'll get out of the choppers and fight hand to hand if we have to. That girl is extremely precious to us. We're gonna give you the best support you've ever had."

"And we hear you, Papa," Replied Jackie. "I'd like to assure you that you've got a team of the world's best here and we're motivated just by being part of that team. I've seen what my bosses can do. Believe me when I tell you we are going to be accompanied by two of the world's highest level killers. Marsh and Becca could probably do this by themselves, and I know Marsh would go in after his sister lone wolf if he needed to. I sure am glad those two are with me and not against me.

"Jackie is it?" Uncle Joey queried.

"Yes sir!" Jackie respectfully replied.

"We don't know each other. I'm Marsh's Uncle Joey. I know you have to be really good, or my nephew wouldn't have brought you along. I have known Marsh and Mario since they were in diapers. I'd be honored to march into the front gates of hell with these two boys. The fact that they have a team of our finest is a real comfort to me and I think Mama Vicky would agree. Our Lizzy is gonna be just fine, and on her way home in a very short time."

Marsh heard the click of another comm sat connection as Lucy Ramirez joined the conversation. "Jackie, is Suzie Blanchard with you there?"

Suzie responded. "I'm here Lucy."

"Outstanding!" Lucy sang out. "Gentlemen, for those of you who don't know me yet, I'm Lucy Ramirez. Suzie Blanchard and I have worked together quite a bit in the past. I'd like you to know, Marsh sent us a helicopter pilot and a helo that is far and away the best mobile shooting platform I've ever been on. We're gonna clear a WIIIDE path for you guys. You may not even see any combat on this trip. Ron and I flew over the border and took a look at the compound you're going into. Suzie and I are gonna totally clean up over there."

"Shit!" Uncle Tony exclaimed. "Live recon already, I'm lovin' this operation already. Marsh, you put together an awesome team."

While discussion of the operation and the personnel continued, Mama Vicky got up and walked over to where Marsh was sitting. There was an empty seat on one side of her "son" and Mama sat down in it.

"Marsh," Victoria began. "When the girl from Doctors without Borders called me I was a God awful wreck. You have no idea how upset a mother can be when her only daughter is stolen. Your Papa tried to get me to calm down, but I guess you know how that worked. Marsh I've been almost a basket case since that call. The conversation on this airplane has really helped your old mama. God Bless you son. The team you have put together in such a short time has already given me a sense of comfort. I..."

Mama Vicky was interrupted by a shout from Papa Victor. "Holy Shit!" Papa yelled. "There she is."

Marsh and Victoria turned towards the large monitor where Marsh had brought up the satellite feed. Lindsey Schultz had zeroed in on the FARC compound. Lizzy Martinelli had talked one of the guards into letting her walk out in the compound to get some fresh air and some water from a fresh source, - the well. Lindsey brought the sat cam (satellite camera) in so that everyone that was watching could see exactly who was walking out of the house.

What they watched next gave everyone goose bumps. Elizabeth Martinelli lifted her face towards the sky and mouthed the words: "If anyone is watching, there are ten more of us Americans here, besides me and my two nurses. Please come get us soon. I think there's at least one of us that won't last a lot longer. She has a really bad infection."

Lizzy put her head back down as the guard turned around to see why she had stopped. The teams watching the live feed couldn't hear anything and with their heads down the satellite cameras didn't pick up the faces well enough to read their lips.

Lizzy told the guard that she was just basking in the sunlight. She had been kept inside for three days now. She thanked the guard profusely for letting her come out.

Lizzy only hoped that there was some military satellite tasked to somewhere near where she was. She had no clue that her whole family had just watched her plea for help, and that they were a lot closer than she could imagine.

Marsh's head swam, there's ten Americans in addition to Lizzy and her two nurses. That meant that these outlaws had kidnapped more than just a doctor. The whole operation had just taken on a whole new meaning. It was still important to get Lizzy out, safely. But now there were quite a few more lives at stake. Marsh was glad there were two teams and all the back-up personnel in place. He wondered who all the banditos had taken.

Marsh made a few new decisions. "Mike," Marsh spoke out now. "We are going to have to push up the timetable. We are getting live updates, and that one was a total shocker. When we get on the ground in Nueva Loja we are going to have to get right to bed, and try to get" ...Marsh paused then continued, "we need to try to get a couple hours of rest. Sleep if we can."

"I want to get Ron and the snipers over there and in place as the sun rises; tomorrow morning. Lucy and Suzie can use the backlighting to obscure their exact location and they can get off the first few shots before anybody has a clue what's happening."

"Our ground teams need to be at the edge of that coffee plantation so that when the girls have taken out the outside guards, we are ready to breach the interior and take out anyone that puts up any resistance in there. Let me remind all of you, we aren't taking any prisoners. We will just have to kill any and all of the opposition. They asked for it, and now we're gonna take it to them. I have no idea who they have in there besides Lizzy and her nurses, but she said they were Americans, and that's enough for me. We're going to get them all out and take them home."

Marsh paused for a minute to let anyone else add observations or opinions. He was not quite prepared for the next interaction.

"Marsh," Rick's voice sounded a little different. "I've got a call on a secure line from the Pentagon. Do you want me to patch it through?"

"From the Pentagon?" Marsh queried. "What the hell does the Pentagon want at this time of the day and who the hell wants into a Turner conversation? I'm not taking orders from the Pentagon. Who is it Rick? Did they identify themselves?"

"Actually, yes Marsh. He said to tell you it was the old fart. He seemed to think that was enough information." Rick sounded a little amused. Apparently Rick remembered the conversation Marsh and some others had shared at the resort in Hawaii.

"Awww Shit!" Marsh reacted. "Put that old coot through, Rick. He's probably in need of another vacation to Hawaii, but I'll take a minute for him."

Next thing Marsh heard was the voice of Admiral Jackson Davis. "Marsh, I know I've caught you at a bad time, but I needed to have a word with you. Please listen to me, and don't ask too many questions." The Admiral paused.

"First I need to let you know I came by my information honestly and I know for certain that it is accurate. I have some assets that coincide with some of yours. I just watched a video feed from a satellite camera that I know you just watched as well. Before you get all upset and think you have spies, let me assure you that I am the only person from the Pentagon that has the information you have, and I got it honestly. Let me regress. Your Uncle Randy is also up to speed. He ratted you out by hooking me up with Barking Sands, which is where I am as we speak, Marsh."

Without interrupting the admiral Marsh muttered almost silently, "Holy shit! This could bite us in the ass."

"Having told you that, I also need to tell you that I'm pretty sure that at least some of the ten Americans you just learned about are Navy personnel. We have been tracking some unfriendlies in Colombia, and we have been trying to work with the Colombian government to make some interventions. You know that I have to go through the channels, Marsh. I know that you are not. Rumor has it that you would rather ask for forgiveness than for permission. I like that, son. You are doing something I only wish I could do."

"Marsh I'd like to continue by telling you that you have the full support of the United Stated Navy. You may not think you want or need it, but if you do, you have it. We have an aircraft carrier off the coast of Ecuador and there are several squadrons available to fly cover for you. I want you to know that I wish I was a pilot right now. The next best thing I can tell you is that Admiral Randall Andrews will be there."

"Oh Fuck! Marsh breathed. Does the Colombian government know we're coming too?" Marsh asked with a sound of desperation in his voice.

"I don't think so, Marsh." Admiral Davis replied. "Truth be told Marsh; the US Navy doesn't even know. I'm sitting in a room with three of your analysts, and no other Navy personnel. The fighter pilots and their commanders have not been told what is actually going on. As far as they know they are in the region for some joint training exercises with the Ecuadorian Air Force. Admiral Andrews is on his way down to join them as an advisor. He knows why he's going down there. The Admiral will be on the carrier about the time you land at Nueva Loja. He's authorized to have planes in the air at any and all hours he wants to fly them."