G Hopf: The Long Road

“Roger that,” Sebastian said; he still had Gunny’s hand.

“If you find your brother, and I hope you do, tell him Smitty says hello, okay?”

“Will do, Gunny.”

They stared at each other for another brief moment before Sebastian turned and walked onto the helicopter. Packs with rifles were lined up on the webbing on both sides of the chopper. By a rough count, he totaled a dozen. This gave Sebastian some encouragement; he hoped he could convince some of them to come with him. He located the pack Gunny had mentioned and sat down next to it. Picking it up was not easy; the pack had to weigh sixty pounds. He wanted to see what surprise Gunny had for him, so he opened the pack up and started digging around. Inside he found the familiar tools of the Marine trade. MREs, a tent, can opener, matches, tarp, poncho, extra bootlaces, extra set of clothes, rope, compass, two flashlights with spare batteries, a Ka-Bar knife, extra boxes of 5.56-mm ammunition, two boxes of 9-mm ammo, and four grenades, two high explosive and two smoke. He just assumed that the grenades were the surprise, but then he felt something in the bottom of the pack. He pulled it out and knew that these would come in handy: night-vision goggles with spare batteries. Hearing others coming on board, Sebastian repacked everything and sat back. He checked his rifle and put on his shoulder holster for the 9-mm while the others boarded.

As each one boarded and sat down, he tried to see if he recognized them. No luck, he didn’t know one of these men; not that it mattered, he just wanted in some strange way to have a familiar face with him. Once everyone was aboard, the crew chief came on and raised the ramp. As the turbines of CH-53 chopper began to spin, Sebastian thought back to his time in the Marines. He loved the Corps, and the way he was leaving it made him sad. When the chopper lifted off the flight deck, he said his typical prayer, this time with meaning. Finishing, he looked over his shoulder at the ship below. He wished the best for the Marines of his battalion and hoped that wherever they ended up they could find peace. Settling into his seat for the short ride, he thought about what he might encounter on the ground in San Diego. He couldn’t lie to himself; he was anxious, but knowing he’d be able to complete his long journey gave him solace. He just hoped that Gordon and his family were still alive.

Cheyenne Mountain, Colorado

“Nothing? Nothing is not an answer! It’s an excuse! It’s a cop-out!” Julia screamed at Cruz and Dylan.

“Mrs. Conner, please understand that until we can get some more intelligence, there’s nothing we can do,” Cruz tried to explain with a cautious tone.

“You listen here, Andrew, you’re my husband’s best friend and his vice president. You need to have men out there every second of the day looking for him,”

“We don’t even know if he’s alive, Julia; you have to understand,” Cruz said, defending himself.

“All you have are excuses. I want results!”

“Mrs. Conner, if you would just listen to the vice president,” Dylan attempted to interject.

Waving a finger, Julia scolded him. “Don’t even tell me what I should do. I’ve listened long enough. It’s been three days and nothing has been done. You all just sit here and talk. This is exactly what Brad hated about this group. You just sit around and talk all the time.”

“Julia, we have limited manpower, we can’t have them going door to door,” Cruz said.

“Yes, you could. I’m not asking for you to search every building from here to where he went missing, but you should have teams going door to door there.”

“We tried, but we were repelled by a superior force,” Cruz exclaimed. “We even sent two-man teams; neither team has come back.”

“Don’t we have any resources here to do something? Are we that helpless?” Julia asked. She was getting increasingly frustrated by this back-and-forth.

“We have more men coming soon, and when they arrive, we will have a plan.”

Julia looked tired and frustrated. She finally sat down at the table. The waiting was wearing on her physically and emotionally. It had been three days since Conner had disappeared. Cruz had sent a team to find him, but when they attempted to conduct a search, they were fired upon by the locals. Cruz had requested support from the handful of military installations that still had operations. But with only two aircraft, it would take some time before they could have those men on the ground.

“Julia, believe me when I say that if I could go get Brad I would, but we are vulnerable now. I’m making my decisions based upon what I think Brad would do,” Cruz said. He sat down next to her.

Lifting her weary head, Julia responded, “Thank you for saying that; you’re right. Brad would look at the big picture, and if searching for someone would jeopardize the greater good, he would not do it.” She reached over and touched his hand. Cruz responded by placing his hand on top of hers.

Gripping her hand a bit tighter, he said, “I will not rest until we find him, please trust me; I will find him.”

Barstow, California

Haley screamed; she didn’t move but was stiff with fear. Each swipe and lunge the man made caused her to scream even more.

“Come here,” the man barked again.

When his hand touched her shoes, she finally reacted by kicking at him. She looked into his dark eyes; his unshaven face was smeared with grease and dirt. Sweat poured off of his brow, and the smell of the many weeks he’d gone unwashed wafted over her. Knowing he was only inches away, he forced himself farther into the small opening.

“Come here, damn it!” the man ordered. His voice echoed off the walls of the culvert.

Haley continued to kick and moved away from his grasp. The man stuffed himself farther into the culvert and made another lunge for her; this time he was successful. He grabbed her ankle and pulled her toward him. Haley fought back by kicking him, but his grip was too firm. Tears of utter fear ran down her face as she drew closer and closer to him.

Suddenly his grip loosened, and without notice he was forcibly pulled out of the culvert. The absence of his hulking body allowed the sunlight to cascade across Haley. She scurried away from the opening and watched as Nelson plunged his knife into the man’s chest.

Nelson stabbed the man over and over. As he pulled the knife out and swung his arm up, blood sprayed over the man and Nelson. He thrust the blade again and again.

“Die, you son of a bitch!” Nelson screamed.

Haley just stared at Nelson, clearly in shock. Her trembling had become uncontrollable.

Someone then appeared at the entrance of the culvert. Haley couldn’t make out who it was. Her eyes were trying to adjust when the sound of a familiar and comforting voice bounced off the sides of the culvert.

“Come here, baby. It’s Mommy; come here, honey.”

Haley hesitated briefly, then crawled toward Samantha, who grabbed her and yanked her out and into her warm arms.

Samantha held her tight and whispered, “It’s okay now, honey, it’s okay.”

Haley buried her face in Samantha’s shoulder and cried. She lifted her head for a second to see Eric hovering over Hunter, who was still unconscious. Then another welcoming and secure voice bellowed over everyone else’s.

“Hunter, Haley!” Gordon yelled.

“Here!” Samantha responded.

Gordon tore over to them in a sprint and hugged them both. Then he saw Hunter lying motionless on the ground. He pulled away from Samantha and Haley and went to his son’s side.

“How is he?” Gordon asked Eric.

“I’m not sure. We just got here and he was lying there.”

Gordon bent over and placed his ear against his son’s mouth. The faint warmth of his breath tickled his cheek. He then looked over Hunter, first noticing a dark bruise on his forehead. From there he examined his arms and chest. He couldn’t find anything. When Gordon carefully rolled him onto his side to look at his back, Hunter moved.