Wildlands (rskde & BurningWillows)

Al laughs and gets up, changing into the clothes she had given him quickly before folding his nice clothes and leaving them on the table, walking back to the bed and laying down next to her. He faces her and chuckles.

"It's a lot better with you here, if it were Derulo we'd be joking around the whole time, probably'd get us killed." He says with a quiet laugh.

He hesitantly puts his arms around her, exhaling as his eyes start to grow heavy. "We just gotta.. Gotta keep our heads in the game here, in and out.." He says quietly.

She blinks twice, surprised at his brave touch as his arm's hangs over her back before settling into his embrace, turning onto her side as his one arm lies under her head and the other moves to her waist, pulling her in.

Exhaling with him, she tries to cast the butterflies from her stomach, her heart pounding for a whole new reason. I swear to god Katerina, if you don't get us both out of here alive so I can get that damn drink with Alex I will hurt you.

She nodded, agreeing with his words, "As long as we don't slip up, we will be fine."

He nods, relief flowing through his mind as she accepts his touch, hoping he wasn't being too forward, rejection is hard even for a Special Forces operator.

"We should get some rest." He says quietly, enjoying the feeling of them together, his body against hers.

He closes his eyes and exhales, his forehead resting against hers as he falls asleep. He dreams peacefully of home, what it was like to wake up in the morning and be normal, not waking up and fearing your chances of survival the next day.

In the morning he wakes up, not wanting to move and wake Emberly.

Katerina's heels clicked down the hallway, finding the door to their room locked and slipping into hers, before using the adjoining door to get inside.

"Lovebirds," she sighed, smiling at finding the two of them sleeping together, "Al, Ember. Time to get up."

Waiting and watching them slowly wake, Kat took a seat on the empty bed, "Brunch ended early. Something happened and Narcos had to leave. I'm to stay and have dinner tonight with him. Which is pretty much what my life around here was. A pretty thing to have in his mansion, to hang off his arm and show off."

Crossing her arms, she waits until they are both awake enough to listen, "Ready to play body guards? I want to wander the compound, see how things have progressed. Hopefully get new intel. You two just need to stick close but stay behind me, keep silent and act deadly.

Al sighs when he hears Katerina. "Five more minutes.." He mumbles, blinking tiredly. He listens to Kat ramble about the Cartel members. "Where'd they have to go?" He asks her, yawning loudly.

"I'm pretty sure we have deadly in the bag." He says with a quiet chuckle, still not realy wanting to move from Ember's side. He finally gives in and removes his arms from around her, sitting up and rubbing his eyes.

"I'll be ready in two mikes.." He says before grabbing his folded blazer from the table and walking into the bathroom, taking care of business and getting dressed.

He walks back out and places his pajamas on the table in place of the clothes he now has on, he leans against the wall and waits for the two ladies to be ready.

Emberly yawned, stretching her arms before snuggling more into Al. But Katerina's voice was insistent, prompting them both to get up. Groaning, Em rolled over and off the bed, stretching and yawning as her feet touched the cold floor.

"I'll be ready in five," she sighed, rubbing sleep from her eyes as she gathered her clothing and waited for the bathroom.

Once Al was done, Emberly got her chance to dress and brush her teeth, and comb the knots out of her wild mane. Returning to the bedroom she smiled at Al before turning to Katerina.

"Lead the way."


An hour later they were walking down the street, after Kat had shown them the rest of the mansion and then began touring them around town. As they turned a corner they caught sight of three men, one pinned to a wall while the other two were yelling.

"Hey dipshits," Kat yelled, catching their attentions, "There a problem?"

One of the men scoffed, "Beat it lady. This is between us and this rat."

Katerina's eyebrow rose. She was wearing a loose white shirt and black leather leggings with knee high boots. Pulling the glock from its place on the back of her corset, she didn't hesitate as she lifted the gun and fired a shot at the closest man's knee, sending him sprawling.

"Watch your fucking mouth," she snapped, hearing both her "guards" pull their weapons and aim at the remaining two men, "Now is there a problem?"

"This guy's been stealing coke," the man holding the guy against the wall replied, looking nervous, "We caught him smuggling it out. Selling it under our nose's for a profit."

"Really?" Kat's eyes turned on the pinned man, "Any truth to that tale?"

"T-they are lying," he stuttered, trying to look astonished but she could see it in his eyes.

Tilting her gun to the right she fired again, smearing his brain's along the wall.

"Take out the other two," she ordered, dropping her arm and waiting for the two shots, knowing Al and Em wouldn't mind.


Em shot at the man on the ground, her bullet hitting the artery in his neck, blood spraying the ground. She felt a moment of content, killing one of the many bastards in the cartel. She'd love to shoot a few more down, but that might blow their cover.

Al wastes no time firing two shots into the last man's shoulder and one into his chest, watching him fall to the ground coughing and wheezing. He walks up and kneels down, spitting on the man before pressing his gun to his head and blowing his brains all over the pavement.

He stands back up, brushing off his knees before looking back at the two. "If they don't fear death, they fear a painful death." He says before sliding his Glock back into his waistband. "Let's keep moving Ms. Bec-whatever."

Before he goes he kneels down and grabs some money from the man he had shot, the cartel member was loaded with cash. Al chuckles before pocketing it. "We could eat somewhere nice with this padre's coke money." He says to the two of them.

Watching him pocket the money she raises an eyebrow, "Its Miss Beccerra to you Miller. Remember that or else."

Her eyes implored him to stay in character, knowing there were ears listening everywhere.

"Keep the money. Use it as you please," she added in a lower voice, "It's not as if I need it."

Striding forward, she looked around the corner, seeing three guys walking towards a building.

"Hey!" Katerina yelled catching their attention.

Luckily these three recognised her, practically tripping over themselves. While she didn't hold any real power, she was notorious for killing people without warning, something that helped earn her loyalty in the business. That, and one word from her to Skull Face and they'd be facing quite a torturous death.

"Clean that up," she snapped, pointing into the backway where the three bodies lied, "And find out how much that rat was stealing from us. We got ourselves missing coke, which missing lost money. You have till nightfall, or I'll be adding three more bodies to the count."

"Pearson! Miller!" she continued to snap angrily, storming away, "At my heel!"

Katerina didn't stop her fast, angry pace until they were back in Pablo's mansion, locked in her room.

"Fuck," she swore loudly, kicking her heels at the wall and dropping onto her bed, "Now I have to deal with this mess. Al, I'm sorry for snapping, but you were too friendly for hired pay."

"And yes," she added before either could respond, "You two can share the cash you got. If Pablo asks I'll say it wasn't on the body. I don't need any of it. I have a few million in my bank account already."

Em cringed at Kat's orderly toned, but bit her tongue, trying to remain in character. As they followed the angry blonde back to her room, Emberly started to wonder if it was just an act, or if Katerina was actually furious. But as they locked the door the woman sighed and relaxed, looking more upset that they'd almost blown their cover then angry.

"How much cash did he have Al?" Em asked, looking at him before her eyes got wide and her head snapped towards Kat, "A few million? How?"

Al shuts up and nods, following the woman until they get into the hotel room where he sits down on his bed, counting the cash.

"Four hundred seventeen U.S. dollars." Al says after counting up all of the money. He splits it in half and hands the other half to Em, pulling his Glock from his waistband and sliding out of the magazine, leaving it on the table.

Letting them count money, Kat decided to calm down but stay inside, waiting until she was called upon for dinner. Giving the two of them the night off, she spent it with Skull Face, taking the chance at dinner to ask him about the Bermejo district. It wasn't odd for her to ask about work, something she been doing for years due to gaining intel. She wasn't too surprised with his answer, and after dinner she stayed with him for drinks while he handled some business. As the night went on the three goons came with answers, and the lost coke.

"I found a rat," she explained to Skull Face, after listening to their stories, "Thank you men. You can go."

Staring at the two crates of coke sitting in the sitting room, she pressed a finger to her lips.

"This wasn't a one person job," she stated, seeing him nod, "someone thinks they can make money off your dime."

"Not for long," his voice was cold, and angry, "Meet me in my quarters tonight Kat. I have some business to attend to now."

Being dismissed, she wandered back to her room, changing into red lingerie before wrapping a silk housecoat around her lean frame and sticking her head into Em and Al's room.

"I won't be sleeping in my quarters tonight," she exclaimed, her face giving no emotion away, "Stay indoors. Skull Face is in a mood to kill, and poking your nose around wouldn't be wise. See you both in the morning."

With that she left, leaving for Pablo's room.

~~

Katerina woke with a jolt, a screeching alarm filling the room.

"Narcos," she yelled over the sound, rubbing his arm, "Get up! Something's wrong!"

The sound continued to screech, the siren wailing throughout the compound. Narcos was up in seconds, pulling clothes on as Katerina picked her own discarded robe from the floor, pulling it on her naked body.

"Get to your room and lock the door," he ordered, not even looking at her, "Do not come out until I come for you."

Her heart stopped, realizing what he was not saying. Instantly her ears caught the sound of gunfire, the night exploding as shots rang out along with the wailing alarm. She flinched, knowing she was too vulnerable here.

Grabbing her arm roughly, he dragged her out of the room, pulling her down the hall until they needed to split. While he pounded down the flight of stairs she rushed to her room on the other end of the hall, hair and robe billowing behind her, slamming it open before kicking it shut and locking it.

"Em! Al!" she yelled, ramming their adjoining door open and waking the sleeping two, "Get your vests on quick!"

She cringed as gunfire sounded downstairs, far too close, "It's all out war! Fuck! Lock everything! Just lock every, fucking, thing. And be ready to fight our damn ways out of here!"

Al wakes up with a jolt, jumping out of bed and quickly grabbing his clothing, throwing it on and pulling his bulletproof vest on underneath. He grabs his Glock from the table and loads it, cocking back the action before lifting up the table, propping it up against the main door of their room before locking it.

He runs over to the windows and closes the blinds, taking up a position behind the master bed, his gun resting on the bed itself as he aims it at the door.

The night had been going well, he was excited to be alone with Em again, but now he is tired and still has no idea what to expect from downstairs in the mansion.

Em jolted up, throwing Al's arms off of her as she jumped up and grabbed her vest, throwing her tank top off and her vest on, not even caring to throw a shirt back on as she ducked with Al, her pistol aimed at the windows.

"You got to be kidding me. I am not fucking dying tonight," she snapped, watching the blinds, "Where the hell is Kat?"


Katerina was back in her room, scrambling under her mattress for a laptop. The shots were getting closer, and she didn't have time to change into anything more than her corset, and black leggings, throwing boots on as she grabbed her a black laptop case. Bagging her laptop, she ran back to the other two, staring at them.

"What are you doing?" she snapped, "We are getting the fuck out of here! C'mon!"

Showing them to the balcony, they all looked down at the long drop, then at the wall.

"We need to reach the top of that wall, " she spoke quickly, "This is better than any other time to get the fuck out of here."

"What about your cover?" Em asked, confused.

"I got it planned! We need to focus on not dying here! Al! Any ideas on how to escape?"

Al looks down at the concrete, they are at least three stories off of the ground. "Follow my lead." He says before climbing on top of the railing and jumping to the left side, his boots connecting with the small outreach outside of the window to the left of the balcony.

He places his shaky hands on to the outreach, pushing himself off and hanging from where he had grabbed before swinging to his left, jumping again and hitting the balcony on the floor under them.

He jumps again, grabbing another handhold before jumping another time, to the last balcony, his arms burning.

He lets go of the last handhold and hits the top of the tree below him, expertly scaling down the tree before his boots connect with solid ground again. He raises his pistol and looks around for any contact.

"Take the laptop," Kat thrusts the bag at her and Em takes it, slinging it over her shoulder, "I haven't done this before, it might be safer with you."

Watching Al, Em follows his lead, landing a minute afterwards beside him, placing her hand on his shoulder to let him know she's okay before whipping her pistol out.

"Wait...where's Katerina?" looking up Em pales, the blonde missing, "Fuck, we can't wait for her! The gunfire is getting closer."


As she leans on the railing to follow the sound of a door crashing open behind her freezes her, Kat's head whipping back. In a split second she has to choose: try to run and risk them all, or let them go.

Moving back into the room, three burly men burst in, guns cocked and waving as they search for her in the dark. It only takes seconds for them to see her frame, but it gives Kat enough time to put one bullet through the man on the right's head. The other two cock and aim their own gun's.

"Stop!" she screams as the shot echoes around them, the bullet catching her left knee.

The second gun fires, hitting her bare shoulder, sending her crashing to the floor in pain. Her wounds bleed profusely onto the floor, the alcohol in her system from dinner thinning her blood. Bowing her head, Kat wait for the delivering blow of death, but instead hands grab at her arms, dragging her along the floor and out of the room. Blinking in the harsh light, Kat bites through the pain, feeling her blood smear the hallway as they drag her roughly down the stairs.

"Tie her up in the dining room," one snaps, "She may proof useful."

Great. I'm wounded and kidnapped. Fuck, I hope Al and Em make it out.

Al looks around before jogging over to a dead cartel member, grabbing his AK 47 assault rifle and walking back to Em.

"We have to go back for her." Al says, checking the AK's ammunition. "She's important, she's got that laptop, who knows what is on that thing." He explains to Em.

"We're gonna go in stealthy, see if we can't get the jump on them, then grab Kat and shoot our way out, alright?" He asks the redhead.

"I have the laptop," she breathed, pulling the bag around her backside to her front to show Al, "She handed to me...fuck she did this purposely."

Em smacked her head, then flinched as she heard gun shots above them, "Fuck Katerina!"

There was a second gunshot and Em flinched again, "Al we got to go! Those shots are in her room. We can't go back."


Her knee throbbed and her shoulder burned as they tied her to a chair, both of them arguing in Spanish. Kat held her tongue, knowing they wouldn't listen to a word she said. She couldn't tell if they were cartel, Bolivian government, or a whole new faction. All she knew is they would kill her eventually, once her usefulness expired. If they thought she was bait for Pablos, they definitely were underestimating him. The man wouldn't risk his life for a dame, even if she was his mistress. He'd expect her to go quietly into death, without fear.

But Kat had other plans.

The minute she was left alone, the woman shifted and shuffled, moving so her back faced the table. The table itself had sharp corners, something she had complained about until now. Propping herself, she worked slowly and stiffly, rubbing her bound wrists against the corner until the rope broke. Then her fingers worked quickly on the knots tying her ankles to the chair, ignoring the searing pain lashing through her from the two gun wounds.

Freed, Katerina almost laughed as she slipped out the back door, unguarded. They are under trained and unorganized. No wonder its such a mess, thankfully for me. Now to get out, and find the other two.

Her options were slim though. Her corset was damaged, she was wounded and weaponless, and the fighting was still near, the whole compound a roar with noise. If Al and Ember had found a way out, they'd be long gone by now, not sticking around for her. And she knew she should do the same.

Moving to the right, Katerina fell along the wall, sneaking in the shadows as she moved further from the mansion and deeper into the compound. Narcos had made a emergency escape route as she remembered, but it went through the mountain, at it was almost impossible to find. It was a tiny cave, hidden by the wall with a shrub in place in front of the slit that led to the cave entrance. Once inside it led to multiple more caverns, like Casper Main, and eventually out the other side. If she could make it out alive, she'd be lucky to find a nearby town before she starved, fainted from blood loss, or died from dehydration, but there were few other choices.

Please say Al and Ember got out. Fuck sakes, please say they got the hell out.

Al clenches his hands around his gun. "Go, I'm going back." He says to her, putting the assault rifle over his back before beginning to scale the walls again. He reaches the third floor, spotting the two men who had shot Katerina.

He slips in behind them, grabbing his Glock from his side, he bashes one upside the head with the butt of his pistol and grabs the other, snapping his neck in a clean motion before going back to the unconcious man, quickly grabbing the cable ties from the dead man's belt and securing the unconcious one.

He slips out of the room, Glock in hand, searching around. He finds a corner and peers around it, immediately withdrawing as he spots a four man patrol moving down the hallway.

He pulls the rifle from his back, turning the corner and unloading his magazine into the patrol before throwing his weapon away, ducking into a room and firing another shot, another man dead on the floor.

"Al," she pauses, wanting to say more but he's already past her, scaling the building.

Em stands there indecisive. If she follows him, she could lose the laptop and their lead. But if she leaves him, she's abandoning her team mate. A sudden flash of movement catches her eye and just as soon as its there, a blonde head of hair ducks into the shadows.

Kat?

Moving forward, Em joins the shadows, following silently a few paces back to make sure it was truly her comrade. As the figure pauses, she does too, watching and waiting. Then the blonde turns and Katerina's eyes lock to hers, widening then nodding.

"Em," she whispers, beckoning her closer, "Where's Al?"

"He went in to save you," she hissed back, her stomach dropping, "He didn't?"

"No I saved myself," she replied, one hand on her bleeding shoulder while the other rubbed her wounded knee, "I did a shitty ass job of it, but you two were supposed to leave. Fuck...what do we do?"

It was on the tip of her tongue to say go back for him, but now Em not only had a laptop with information on it, but an injured team mate to watch over. Swearing again, she wound an arm around Kat's waist, letting the woman led her to the shrubbery hiding an exit out.

"Can we just wait a minute," Emberly whispered, continuously glancing at the house, "He might come out this way. I just...please."

Kat nodded, watching the back yard, "But we need to go if anyone but him show up."

He curses quietly as voices echo from down the hallway, expressing cries of alarm at their dead teammates. He takes the assault rifle from the man he had killed, taking cover by the door before blindly spraying at the men down the hall.

A man screams and he knows his bullet has found an owner, he throws the rifle from his cover and flips around, a hissing sound flies past his ear before four bullets are flying from his pistol, each one meeting one man.

Al watches the men fall over, each of them crying out in pain. He walks over and finishes them off, taking a spare pistol to do the job. He walks into the main room, all of the hostages are here, each one with a bag over his or her head.

The rest of the guards are out, he slinks through the crowd, checking around for Kat, and not finding her. He looks over at the table and notices an ammunition stock, he pulls his shoe off, knowing that everyone in here was or still is a criminal.

He grabs the tiny bit of plastic explosives from his shoe, each Ghost has one in case they are captured or need some emergency putty. He takes off one of his socks and unravels it, creating a long string. He sticks the string into the putty before placing it on to the ammo stock, the stock is full of explosives and other deadly ordinances.

He slinks through the crowd again, searching pockets until he finds what he is looking for, a lighter. He jogs over to the putty and lights it, running out of the room and jumping through a window, still two stories above the ground.

The building behind him explodes in a massive column of flames, propelling Al forward until he is rolling on the ground again, his ribs exploding in pain, but he has to keep moving. He makes it to the jungle before collapsing.

Minutes pass and Kat is begging her to move on, before they are caught. Then, before her eyes, the entire mansion explodes. All she can hear is screaming, and it takes her several seconds to realize its her.

"C'mon," Kat's voice is hoarse, her hands shaking as she pulls the red head through the shrubs and into the cave beyond, hiding them, "Emberly come on."

"He's dead because of you!" her voice echoes around them, assaulting Katerina from all angles, "You and your stupid mission. Just to save your ass."

"You two were supposed to leave me!" she argued back, continuing to pull them deeper into the tunnels, even as Kat's limp grew worse, "You two were supposed to make it out."

"But he went back for you!" she snapped, angry over losing a comrade, and torn up over losing someone who could have meant something to her, "He risked his life for you, and now he's dead."

"And I feel awful!" Kat whipped around, looking just as torn as Em's heart felt at that moment, "I said you'd be safe and now he's dead, and if we don't make it out of this cave, we are too. I'm sorry you lost your boyfriend, but we have to keep moving."

"He wasn't even my boyfriend!" her voice broke, her body shaking, "I didn't even get that far."

Her broken voice turned into a cold chuckle, the emotion draining from her as her Ghost training kicked in, "I thought I could have one nice thing out in this death hole of a country. One thing that made my life matter just a little. But I can't even have that."

"Your life could still matter. We can take down Skull Face, and the tainted government and-"

"Who gives a shit?" Ember snapped, passing the bleeding woman, "Don't talk to me Katerina. Not now, not for the rest of this. When we get back to base, YOU can tell Shrake what you've done."

He hears footsteps all around him, and he doesn't move. They eventually go away, the compound around him is in blaze, everyone is dead.. Except for him. He checks the radio device Em had given him, pressing his finger into it before speaking.

"Anybody copy?" He asks, coughing after he did so, the black smoke above him not helping his situation. He begins to crawl through the jungle, leaving a trail of blood in his path as he crawls into a small cave, propping himself against the wall before checking his pistol, noticing a piece of shrapnel the size of his fist had gone through the barrel, centimeters away from hitting his hip.

He throws the useless pistol away, running a hand through his hair before coughing again, drool hanging from his lips before he falls into unconciousness again.

It was the poor kid's lucky day. Red had been doing survelliance on the compound for days now, watching the entire battle explode from his vantage point on the next nearest mountain, using his sniper to take a few of the bastards out. Then he caught sight of one man escaping the burning mansion, impressed by his boldness, and his will to survive. Watching him disappear into the trees, Red watched the compound burn a little longer before packing up and making his way into the jungle, hoping to find the man that escaped. If he was an enemy, then Red could interrogate him. If he was an ally, maybe he could help a comrade.

It took him a few hours, starting from where he saw the man disappear and finding a blood trail. It soon led to small cave, where he found the man unconcious. Searching his stuff, he found a military grade glock thrown aside that was broken, and with further research noticed more little hints that the man was military, not thug.

Building a campfire, he kept it small as to be undetected, then dragged a thermos blanket over the man, warming him as the temperature in the jungle dropped. Settling in, Red decided to wait until the man woke to question him, finding a comofrtable spot on the opposite side of the cave and keeping his own pistol cocked and ready, resting on his lap.


Emberly led their cave expedition, only glancing back now and then to make sure the blonde hadn't collapsed. She was still furious, and hurt. Refusing to talk to Katerina whatsoever. If they made it out alive, Kat would have Shrake to answer to.

Al begins coughing as he wakes up, spitting to his side as he looks around, he didn't remember starting a fire.. He sees the man near him and is taken aback, obviously surprised.

"Who are you?" He asks, his voice ragged from the smoke of the fire that had been raging across Skull Face's mansion for the last three hours.

He starts coughing again, resting the top of his head against the wall and letting out a breath, trying to calm his ragged coughing.

"Name's Red," he replied, lifting his gun, "The better question is who you are."


As they reach the end of the caverns, the morning light is already peeking over the horizon, and Katerina feel like death. Her shoulder and knee are caked in dried blood, still throbbing. All night, all the blonde could think about was how she let Al down, and how screwed she'd be if she made it out alive. But as they reach the exit cave she feels a sigh bubble up, a little more hopeful of living, even if everything else seems bleak.

"There's a town another ten clicks from here," she breathes, her body shaking, "Down the mountain side, to the left."

"You gonna make it?" Em asks, cold and cut off from Kat, refusing to even look at her.

"Probably not," she sighes, wincing as her shoulder screams, "But I don't have much of a choice but to keep moving."

Together the girl's continue out the cave, silent and tired, needing medical help, sustenance, and transportation.