Robert was about to carry out a rescue mission, no easy task a special forces team would get weeks of prep time and even then things go wrong...like last time.

Reigistan Desert Afghanistan 2005

A sandstorm was underway this cold desert night, it's almost impossible to get your bearings and it makes defending a small military compound a nightmare at best. But luckily Robert wasn't defending it he was going to attack it head on with another elite solider Sergeant Macaleese and Agent Locke a senior intelligence officer.

The men were wearing lightweight body armour, not great for a full on firefight but perfect for an infiltration.They were also equipped with infrared/night vison goggles and balaclava's to protect their identities.

To remain undetected they had to travel miles on foot, the men were deep behind enemy lines so backup wasn't an option and if they were captured by the enemy they'd be tortured and beheaded, Y'know fun.

The three men had been on foot for days and their sleep deprivation was only getting worse,they were all suffering from hallucinations and were on the verge of developing hypothermia.Having said that they never talked to each other about it they simply pressed on.

"So let me get this straight we are going to break a KGB agent out of a prison occupied by Al Qaida all because command said so?" Macaleese said questioning Locke's reasoning for this black op.

"Yup we're soldiers not bloody politicians so yeah we're doing it coz command said so ." Thatcher said coldly.

"Always the iceman well some things never change." Macaleese said with a smile.

"Look the Russians haven't set foot here scince the 80's,I doubt one of their agents is still here." Macaleese continued.

"Command's sure a KGB asset is in that compound he hasn't left since the 80's,truth be told I'll be surprised if he knows the USSR is no more." Locke said

"Does the FSB know about him." Thatcher.

"Probably but they won't say anything." Locke replied

"You two just love keeping me out of the loop don't you, spare a thought for those of us that don't spend their spare time reading the spy jargon dictionary." Macaleese said

"Sorry the FSB are basically KGB 2.0 and Mac you've been in the regiment long enough you should be reading a spy jargon dictionary in your spare time." Thatcher said jokingly.

The team finally arrived at the compound they put night vision goggles on and sound suppressed their weapons they don't plan on being noticed.they moved in tight formation watching their corners, the further they made it in the compound the more dead Soviet soldiers they encountered. But......

"Can we go back now, I didn't come here all the way from London to stare at some fucking dead Russians, I came here to kill some mother fucking Americans!" The British Taliban member complained.

" Soon brother soon,traveling merchants use these roads and when they do we'll gun them down." The Taliban solider said calmly.

"Okay I get it we gun them down the Americans will here about it and they'll come over here instead of dropping bombs like cowards." The British one said with his finger getting closer to the trigger of his rifle.

"Alright on the count of three. One, two, three." Locke whispered from the shadows and then four bullets emerged from the shadows two of them hit the soldiers centre mass whilst the other two were placed perfectly between the eyes.

Macaleese looked at the two dead men with some remorse even though serial killers have more remorse by comparison, But still the lack of emotion shown by him or Locke pales in comparison to the straight up absence of compassion shown by Thatcher. The man has been serving in the SAS for about twenty years now so some detachment is expected but this was different. For the past seven years Thatcher had been leading teams to search for WMD's in Iraq, seven years, tedious searches and many dead commrades later Thatcher had nothing to show for it.

Not only that but Thatcher's marriage was on it's last legs. Northern Ireland,Bosnia,Iraq,Afghanistan and many others seem to be more familiar with him than his Belle. This story isn't uncommon though divorce is just part of military life, the divorce rate within the SAS has gone through the roof. Having said that Thatcher's done well to last this long, He's 36 and only on his first marriage.

Guess it was inevitable though, surely a marriage between a woman dedicated to peace and a man dedicated to war wasn't going to end well. But Macalese wonders if there's more to it than that, he heard down the grapevine that they were trying for a baby a few months ago but Macalease hasn't heard anything since.

He won't talk to Thatcher about it though because first of he's Macalese's superior and second if you just saw man kill with less emotion than a T-800 would you risk striking a nerve?

They approached a steel reinforced door.

"Mac,plant it." Macaleese planted explosives on the door on Locke's command.

"Ready Ali." Thatcher said

"Always." Locke replied (Boom) the door flew all the way to the other side of the room,the men entered faster than lightning.

"All clear lads." Locke asked

"Ali, Rob you gotta see this." Macalese said in shock

"Guess we found our missing agent." Thatcher said, the man was on a operating table in a coma.

"Great we can't move him like this." Locke said in frustration

"Wait I don't think he's in a coma, look at these syringes, someone keeps putting him to sleep, there's a clipboard with different dates too probably dates when they put him under." Macaleese was astonished

"It says his name is Yuri Kolcheck yup he's our man, according to the chart his last injection was three days ago if the FSB want deniability whoever they sent to put Yuri back in bed can't use an Ariel vehicle for their escape, so their probably still in Afghanistan and we can track their arse."thatcher said aggressively.

The man s rised rapidly like a zombie

"Help Me!" Yuri shouted his stomach started to glow Mac was the closest to him Robert acted fast and dived to push him out the way as Yuri exploded everyone was knocked back but Robert is now mortally wounded.

"Rob!" Locke shouted.The Taliban heard the explosions and are now converging on their position.

"Argh my leg!" Thatcher grunted

"Come on you can't lay down the Taliban are swarming like fucking bees." Locke said aggressively but with a hint of dark military humour

"C'mon sir they don't call you the iron lady for nothing." Macaleese jokingly calling Thatcher the same nickname as a former prime minister that he shares a surname with.

"You're a fucking bastard Mac, don't ever change." Thatcher said trying to ignore the pain Macaleese made a improvised cane out of some broken pipe work in the room. Thatcher climbed up it to get on his feet.

A sandstorm was underway outside the team could use it for cover. It was almost impossible to see but regardless the Taliban started shooting with the possibility that they could shoot their own men Locke, Macalese hell even Thatcher started shooting back it was a frenzy of sand bullets, blood was whisked up in the air along with the sand Robert was losing blood a lot of blood and he blacked out. Locke carried Thatcher on his shoulder, considering the fact Thatcher was 6 foot 3 and 215 pounds lifting carrying him around whilst engaging the enemy is no easy task.

Sergeant Macalese cooked and tossed several grenades at the enemy just before getting low to avoid rifle fire, after he heard the boom he jumped right back on his feet to cover

Locke continued to carry Warrant Officer Thatcher out of the storm, he drew a flare gun from his holster and fired it in the air.

Locke and Macalese took cover with the injured Thatcher but they were on their last legs. Macalese only had 25 rounds left and Locke had 15,these men are highly trained so they would never go on a fully automatic rampage, they fire in short frequent semi auto bursts and 90% of the time they'll hit someone. None of that matters though they're up against just over 80 fighters and more were approaching on trucks. It wouldn't have been this grim if their loadout was put together with a frontal assault in mind, but they needed to keep their load light in order to infiltrate the compound.

Everyone's attention turned to the sky when they heard a thunderous sound.

It was a Vietnam war era helicopter that's glory days were far behind

A man fired the choppers machine gun at the Taliban with total precision. His partner was piolting the plane,she was doing a great job dodging rifle fire and rockets from RPG's but it was only a matter of time before they were shot out the sky. She saw a brief opportunity to land and she took it. Macalese darted on and Locke Placed Thatcher on the chopper before getting on himself.

72 hours Later

Thatcher woke up in a tiny hut but with not enough energy to stand he could se a woman wearing a hijab carrying an Ak-47 but something was different, her skin was even more pale than Alistair's and her she had blonde hair which flowed in the wind, and she was wearing a grey tank top and desert camo cargo pants. She had a unusual wooden torch tattoo on her shoulder unlike anything Thatcher had ever seen.

"Where am I." Thatcher said aggressively

"Somewhere safe Robert." The woman said calmly whilst twirling a combat knife in her hand, Robert noticed her Russian accent immediately, the woman was either a member of the FSB or Alpha Group.

"how do you know my name." Thatcher said curiously.

"Alistair told me how else could've I identified you, your spec ops so you're not going to have dog tags on you,you even removed your wedding ring just to be safe, tell me does she live on the dark side on the moon with you?" The woman asked.

"Who are you?" Thatcher said with even more curiosity than before.

"You didn't answer my question." The woman looked at Thatcher with her hypnotic blue eyes. Her heavy but soothing accent somehow numbed the pain. " Probably because I have no clue what you're on about." Thatcher laughed despite the pain and The woman smiled. " Point taken, so is she a wolf like us or a sheep." She asks "A sheep but she's my sheep." Thatcher gazing at the baron wall. "For how long ? Like most she's content with grass but you crave something she'll never understand, you crave the hunt. " She said twirling her knife even faster. " I keep her out of this." Thatcher said defensively. " So tell me wolf what happens when she finally sees blood in your fangs ?" "Alright I answered your question,so who are you?" Thatcher asked abruptly.

"Anastasia,sorry about the bomb my, college doesn't like leaving a trail. Anastasia said with a noticeable pause when talking about her college.

"Ah really,how efficient." Thatchersaid sarcastically.

"I admit he can be quite...severe." Anastasia said with remorse

"Well that's one way of putting it." Thatcher said whilst staring at his phantom limb.

"You won't be able to walk on it for a few weeks so your stuck Here I'm afraid." She said staring through the window with her Ak-47.

"Where are Ali and Mac ." Robert said trying and failing to get back on his feet. "They took a jeep with my college to an old KGB safe house." Anastasia said with some envy. "Wait who's Mac I thought his name was Collin." Anastasia said curiously. "nobody calls him Colin, just doesn't feel right, Look I don't like being stuck Here anymore than you do but we might as well make the best of it ." Robert said grabbing a cane that was by his bedside and getting up to look through the window.

" The Taliban will come for you and the last time I saw some of them they were gathering reinforcements to kill you." Anastasia said whilst looking 100 yards out with binoculars but there was no sign of Taliban presence.

"Well we're dead if we stay here, the locals have probably grassed on us by now." Robert said looking out the window noticing a man staring at the small hut they were taking refuge in

"Alistair told me you prefer the Browning High Power but I'm afraid this will have to do." Anastasia said to Robert handing him a M9.

"Well it's still a pistol so it'll still get the job done, you wouldn't happen to have another rifle on hand would you." Robert said whilst checking the ammo inside the M9.

" Sorry Alistair, Colin and my college took all the other rifles and I'm not giving up mine." Anastasia said twirling her curved blade.

" It's nice to meet another Karabit enthusiast." Thatcher said looking at the knife.

"Well you won't find one like this, I forged it myself." Anastasia said throwing and catching the knife repeatedly.

"Look I'm sure you're board of the small talk too so how about you tell me why Allister lied to me and Mac." Thatcher said approaching her with a serious look on his face. "What do you mean?" She asked calmly. "You know exactly what i mean, It's obvious this op wasn't sanctioned by the British government so The three of us shouldn't even be here let alone working with FSB agents." Robert said.

"You're right the British government didn't sanction the operation, Henry Pine did." Anastasia replied

2015 Belfast

Robert woke up quickly he had no intention of reliving the events of that mission again but he has no control over such things."Alright Mac I'm coming." Robert said quietly to himself.