As the days passed by quickly the more agitated Jade became to complete the mission. She tried her best to keep busy to keep her mind off everything, but when she found a moment to herself she thought back to the child, a causality of the war that broke her heart. How could a child so young be persuaded to commit such an act?

She tried not to let it bother her, but she was only human so she wept for the child's life she had to take and the family that no longer had a mother.

"Jade." She felt a hand on her shoulder and she quickly wiped her eyes before turning to the person behind her. When she saw who it was and rolled her eyes and stood up.

"I thought I told you to leave me alone." She said with crossed arms as she was about to walk away.

"Wait don't leave just yet please," Marcus said grabbing her arm. Jade felt tingles run up and down her arm and she tried to ignore the warm feeling that was pooling in her stomach. As much as she hated his guts she could not deny the sexual attraction that was between them.

"You feel it too, don't you?" He ran his hand up and down her arm causing the hairs on her arm to stand up.

"Marcus." She whispered as his hand travelled to her waist pulling her closer. She wanted to walk away, but her body was betraying her as she submitted towards him.

"I know you feel it. Your body is trembling and your heart races." He whispered in her ear causing her to shiver at his closeness. His lips were inches away from hers when she snapped out of the sexual daze that Marcus had put her body in.

She quickly grabbed his arms and used his body weight against him to flip him over and onto his back twisting his arm at the same time.

Marcus grunted as he hit the floor and looked up to Jade who was standing above him.

"You are an arrogant, selfish self-centred pig, Marcus. You played me like a toy. You used me and tossed me away when you had finished with me. You made me trust you enough to start to fall in love and you ripped that right from under my feet in one blow. Fuck you and fuck my feelings for you because I regret the day I met you. So Fuck off and leave me the fuck alone." Jade stormed out the tent her tent fuming and soldiers made way for her as she passed in a blazing storm.

She entered the tent where her men were sitting and they took one look at her and knew she meant business.

"We leave at dusk." She left to go get the final plans together leaving the men puzzled as they had planned to go in two nights.

"You think dick face had something to do with this." Corporal Tucker said and all the men looked at each other knowing that he most defiantly did. They knew they were just delaying the mission, but they were a tad worried that Jade wasn't all in her right mind.

"I'll go talk to her." Corporal Taylor said as he stood up and went to find Jade.

It didn't take him long to find the fiery woman who was sitting bent over papers and plans with a frown on her face. She looked tensed as her shoulders were hunched as if she was trying to carry the weight of the world on her shoulders.

"Still so much we don't know." She muttered to herself knowing all too well one of her men was in the room with her.

"We could wait a week and still not have any new information. We just want to make sure that you are okay because if you believe the time is right then we will follow you, but if you are doing this out of rage-" he didn't get to finish before Jade stopped him.

"I may be pissed, but I don't allow that to cloud my judgement. Plus, I received something that means we need to act now. They plan to nationally execute the Australian prisoner." Taylor felt his heart drop and knew why they know needed to act fast.

"I'll let the rest know." Jade nodded her head and looked at their plans. They were solid plans, but there were still so many unknown factors and Jade didn't like that. Her men filed into the room quickly and Jade explained the urgency of the mission and told her men to prepare just before dusk so they could use the darkness to their advantage hoping to catch the enemy in surprise.

Once her men left to prepare, she looked over the plans before rubbing her hands over her face. Sweat clung to her forehead and her shirt stuck to her back. The heat was almost suffocating and the lack of rain didn't help. She was hot, tired and could feel the stress that every decision she made affected the lives of her team. Men who had families waiting for them back home. She sighed and looked over the papers hoping to find anything that would give them an advantage and still found nothing.

Not only was this mission crucial to rescuing the soldier but also gave them the ability to stop a major player in the war who was not only a drug trafficker but a sex trafficker. If they could take out this ringleader, they would lose a large amount of income on the Taliban side.

She rubbed her head as she could feel a headache forming from going over statics trying to figure out if there was a better way, but there was none. They would go through the back and sneak in and rescue the kidnapped soldier and hopefully find the sex trafficker in the process and blow up the building once everyone was out and safe.

She knew she needed to get some rest, so she went back to her room and rested up for a few hours.

Marcus and his men knew something was going down as Jade's men looked ready to go into battle. The normally loud and rowdy group was quiet as they kept to themselves and she was nowhere to be found. Then abruptly around dusk they all got up and left. Marcus wanted to follow them to make sure Jade was okay, but thought better of it after what he did to her today. He saw his brother making his way towards him and the look on his face said it all he was in trouble for something.

Jade was startled awake and swung her fist at the thing that awoke her.

"Fuck." A masculine voice yelled out and Jade quickly looked around to see her men and Tucker clutching his nose.

"Oh, shit sorry." She blurted getting up. She quickly grabbed a cloth and tried to help him, but he grabbed it off her and did it himself.

"Remind me never to wake you again." They all laughed before they all became silent.

"It's time," Jade said, and they all filed out and made their way to the entrance where they were equipped with a tactical vest, heavy armour, weapons and anything else they needed. Once they were ready Jade quickly went over the plans once more before they all quickly and quietly left base with the little sun they had left.

There would take a tank, but that would cause too much attention so Jade requested a dropped off a mile from town and would go in by foot. As darkness descended, they put on their night infrared goggles so they could see.

They silently made their way through the quiet streets as Jade lead them directing her team where to go. The closer they got to their destination the faster her heart pounded away in her chest. Her body and mind were alert, taking in every step and breath she took. One wrong move and everything could go deadly wrong. Jade halted her men when she saw a truck passing by and quickly directed them into the shadows. Her gun was up, finger on the trigger, sweat ran down her face as her body shook in anticipation.

They all stood in silence and watched as the truck full of rowdy men sung as they passed them without noticing the Australian soldiers lurking in the shadows.

"Let's keep moving." She whispered into her headset as they went in blind with only one officer watching through their head cameras back at base.

Despite the nighttime descending the heat was still ridiculous, it was cooling down now that the sun was no longer present, but it was still disgustingly hot.

After walking for what seemed liked hours they had arrived at their destination.

"Everyone get into place." She watched as her men dispersed into the night. Jade got into place as she climbed onto the roof with Corporal Tucker. Sergeant Smith was with them setting up the sniper and getting the gas bombs ready for the front entrance.

Herself and Tucker would go in through the roof while Taylor and Mass took the back door. Smith was on the roof shooting anyone who out the front door in an attempt to escape.

If all went well, it would do them in less than 10 minutes. Jade had the floor map in her head. They would enter through the east side placing them directly below where they were keeping the hostage. Taylor and Mass would keep watch of the north side and if they were not out within 10 minutes, then they were to wreak havoc.

Her breathing picked up as she looked at her watch. She watched the minute tick over and sent up a silent prayer to whatever god would hear her.

"Everyone in position." She said through her headset and when she got 4 replies and nodded her head.

"We being in 2." Both herself and Tucker were almost bouncing on the balls of their feet while they waited those excruciating two minutes. She took one more look at her clock as they quickly sent in a camera to make sure there was no one where Jade and Tucker were dropping in. Once it was all clear they dropped a rope, and they quickly made their way into the building.

When Jade dropped to the floor, she started her clock watch knowing she only had 10 minutes to locate and rescue the hostage before Taylor and Mass pushed in and only 5 minutes before they blew up the place. Once Tucker was inside they made their way west where they quickly found a staircase. Jade directed Tucker to follow as Jade had a smaller gun ready in her hands with a silencer on it. When she saw the two guards she quickly shot one in the head while Tucker got the other.

They went down to the floor with a thump and Jade waited a few seconds to make sure no one else would come to investigate the noise. Those few seconds were the most nerve-wracking and when no one came, she put her small gun away and grabbed her assault rifle. They quickly and quietly made their way to the room and Jade singled there was another guard sleeping at the front of the room they needed to get into. While Jade kept watch, Tucker quickly pulled out his M9 Bayonet and sliced his throat and covering his mouth until he died.

Once he was slumped on the floor Tucker unlocked the door and they entered the room.

What was behind the door was not something she expected. It was an unknown piece of information that they hadn't received. But not only was their hostage there strung up in the middle of the room, but young girls and women of all nationalities all huddled together scared dirty and afraid.

"Fuck!" She swore as she looked around the room and say at least 25 young women.

"They knew we were coming." Jade looked at her watch and saw she had 3 minutes until Mass and Taylor stormed the bottom level. They knew they wouldn't be able to leave the girls behind when they came for the solider. So Jade swore again as her heart raced, as the seconds ticked by as she tried to devise a plan to get everyone out safe and alive.

"You get the Sergeant down, I'll deal with the girls. Remember, he is still the priority." She stated with a heavy heart knowing not all these young women would make it out alive.

She quickly got the younger children together thanking the lord a few knew English, and Spanish the only few languages she knew. If she could get the smaller children out first and then the older women who were no older than 25.

"Jennings, what's the plan?" Tucker asked anxiously. It was meant to be a quick in and out mission, but it had turned into something much more complex than the original plans that were given to her a few months ago.

"Go with the original plan we go back up and try to save as many lives as we can." Tucker went first carrying the wounded soldier and Jade quickly ushered the girls out the room and up a flight of stairs. She heard gunfire, and she quickly turned around at the base of the stairs and shot the man that was charging towards her. She swore as the sound echoed through the night and she could hear movement from the floors below. They were not to be in radio contact during the operation, but that single gunshot changed everything.

"We are going in." Mass spoke through the radio and all too soon the silent night turned into chaos. Jade quickly ran up the staircase and positioned herself in front of the screaming girls giving them a dead giveaway to where they were.

Jade quickly saw the ladder dropped and Tucker hurled up the injured soldier who was now awake. Jade knew both her and Tucker could not get all these girls onto the roof and keep watch at the same time.

"Tucker, you help the girls up, I will watch your back." Tucker gave her a look, but had no choice but to obey. As he helped up the women more gun fire sounded with yelling as the scent of death and smoke lingered in the air. Jade was ready for when the first man came rushing up the stairs and shot him dead before he could reach the top.

She quickly looked behind her to see only half the scared girls had made it up. However, that split second she looked away she missed the explosive that had been thrown towards them.

"Bomb," Tucker yelled quickly as he scrambled up the ladder. Jade knew she wouldn't make it in time so she rushed to one bedroom grabbing a small child with her as she barged in and dropped to the floor with the child under her to protect her from the blast.

When the bomb went off, there was silence after the blast as debris flew in the air and ringing had settled in. Smoke and burning flesh filled the air and Jade lost all time and direction of where she was. She got up slowly and looked around only to see smoke everywhere. She could see shadows, but couldn't hear a thing as the surrounding building started to collapse. She saw someone running into the room so she picked up her gun and shot still not being able to hear anything. She felt a tugging, and she saw the small child she had saved pointing to what looked like a small plank which connected the two building together.

She staggered to her feet and picked up the child and ran to the plank. She could see a tank pull up which was their getaway vehicle which she had to get to. She estimated she had 2 minutes before the tank took off back to base. She sprinted across the plank praying to god that they made it before the building collapsed. When they reached the other side Jade was glad it was abandoned as she made it down three flights of stairs before quickly pushing outside. With the child still attached to her and holding her gun up with one hand, she sprinted towards the car.

She could see someone gesturing her to move quicker, but it became harder as the pain she didn't know set in. She dropped the child on the floor knowing there was no way they would both make it at this pace.

"Run." She screamed, or she thought she did as there was still a ringing in her ear as the child sprinted ahead. Jade turned around and in time shot a man who was about to fire. She quickly grabbed a grenade from her vest and threw it in front of her hoping it gave her some time as the vehicle started to slowly move.

"Jennings Hurry!" Smith yelled above all the noise as he felt sick to his stomach. They all saw Jade go down, and a bullet hit her leg and they yelled at the truck to stop.

"Sergeant we cannot." The driver yelled. "We need to get out of here right now." Smith was about to yell something back as they saw Jade get up and started moving towards them.

"Let me get out I can grab her." He yelled, but the driver wouldn't budge.

"I can't I have my orders." He yelled and screamed for the driver to let him out and turn around, but there was nothing they could do as they drove off into the distance praying that would Jade could get away and find somewhere safe, until they came back with more men and rescue the woman who gave up everything to save a small child she didn't even know.