"♪ Burn Notice ♪ The Fall of Sam Axe Original Air Date on April 17, 2011" "== sync, corrected by elderman ==" "So, February 1, 2005." "0800 hours." "This begins the inquiry into the mission herein referred to as "Operation Provide Support."" "Commander Axe, do you have anything to say before we begin?" "Uh, well, sir, it's actually more of a question than a statement." "Can I have a beer?" "You may not have a beer." "But you may stand up and raise your right hand." "Do you swear to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth, so help you God?" "Yeah." "Uh, sir, am I on trial here?" "'Cause I got the word about wearing the dress whites, and now we're doing the whole oath thing." "For now, this is not an official legal proceeding." "Think of it as an informal conversation to sort out exactly what happened here." "We've got over a dozen casualties, some structures destroyed, a few vehicles destroyed." "This little disaster is gonna take some serious sorting out." "I mean, that's why I suggested the beer." "I'll ask you not to waste my time, Commander Axe." "Now, can we begin?" "You're the boss, sir." "Let's start with how you first became involved in this operation." "Ah." "Uh, that kind of depends." "There's kind of the "official" beginning, and then the "unofficial" beginning." "You know what I mean?" "Right, well, uh, okay." "This whole thing began... in bed." "A couple weeks back," "I had just started seeing a lady by the name of Donna." "Great gal." "Thing is, we were still getting to know each other, and it turned out, uh..." "I didn't know her as well as I thought." "Pretty good." "You should come by and teach the teams a few moves." "You should teach my husband a few moves." "Wait a second." "Your husband?" "You're married?" "Oh, don't be that way." "It's fine." "Uh, well, no, actually, uh..." "It's not fine." "I kind of have a thing about that." "He barely looks at me now." "It's like he's not even my husband anymore." "He's just -- oh, my God." "He's here." "What?" "!" "I don't understand!" "He should still be in D.C.!" "That's your husband?" "You're married to Admiral Maitland?" "Just -- just go, okay?" "No, no, not that way!" "He'll see you!" "No!" "The bathroom!" "Well, it's been great." "Now, as a S.E.A.L.," "I've been involved in evasive maneuvers, but this Was an unusual tactical situation." "Hey, Donna?" "!" "What's the matter with Buster?" "He's going crazy out here." "I don't know." "Still, same principles apply in any hostile encounter when you need to get out clean without engaging the enemy -- identify an escape route..." "Ooh!" "...And blend seamlessly into the surroundings." "Wait, wait -- how exactly does this relate to the mission in question?" "Uh, I'm getting there, sir." "This -- this is important, I promise." "I just don't want to hear any more of your romantic escapades." "Is there a point?" "Okay, so, that night..." "...I headed out." "Now, with this type of problem, some men will duck and cover, others will turn to booze." "Me?" "Let's just say I have my own secret weapon." "I swear, every time I see you, you look different." "Comes with the job, Sam." "Hey, nice tan, Mikey." "Where you been?" "Someplace sunny." "Well, it agrees with you -- I remember how pasty you got when we were stuck back in Poland in '92." "Hey, how long you in town?" "A few days of debriefing at least." "We'll see." "So, not to impose, but you feel like advising an old buddy with a sticky situation?" "How sticky?" "Sticky like, let's get a table and a few more rounds." "Sam." "An admiral?" "It had to be an admiral's wife?" "Yeah." "Yeah, yeah." "So, look, what do you think I should do here?" "Go to Maitland and explain." "Tell him you didn't know who she was until things had already gotten out of hand." "In fact, call him right now." "Mike, that's not what I -- look, I was more looking for that super-spy advice on how to keep this quiet." "You remember that thing in Kiev with Misha?" "When he sold out the wetwork team on their way to Paris?" "Hell, yeah." "What about that?" "That's the kind of secret that stays secret." "Because if it comes out, people get sent to Siberia." "This will come out as soon as Maitland looks sideways at his wife." "Seriously, Mike, you know, I know you're a smart guy, but you've dated, like, one lady, and she was a frickin' psycho." "I'm just saying..." "You may not be the expert on this whole boy-girl thing." "My job is to know what people are gonna do before they do it." "Which is how I know you're not gonna take my advice and this is gonna blow up in your face, Sam." "I don't know." "I mean, how smart can spies be, right?" "You're always fighting on the side with no guns." "There are certain rewards to fighting on the side with no guns." "Tell you what, one day, you're gonna give me some spy lessons, deal?" "Deal." "Mm." "I got to go." "You gonna be all right?" "Yeah, I'll be fine." "Thanks for the beer." "Oh, and, Sam Be careful." "So, I have a few more drinks and head home, figuring that maybe it's best not to get relationship advice from a spy." "Thing is, turned out the spy was right." "Commander Axe?" "You need to come with us." "Says who?" "!" "You were in my house..." "In bed with my wife!" "And don't even try to deny it, 'cause I found your belt." "Does that look familiar?" "I talked to Donna, and she told me everything." "Admiral, I was unaware, sir, that she was your significant other." "You were unaware?" "You're a Navy S.E.A.L.!" "You're trained in battlefield awareness, and you didn't see my name on the mailbox?" "!" "Well, sir, I wasn't exactly in that frame of mind, sir." "A-as you can imagine, I was otherwise occupied, sir." "I'll stop talking now, sir." "So, I checked my docket for an assignment that would get you out of my sight for the foreseeable future." "And I think I found just the thing." "Oh, not Siberia." "Please not Siberia." "You're going to Colombia." "Tonight." "Oh, sir, with all due respect," "I'd need to pack, sir, and, well, uh " "Are you refusing orders?" "No, sir." "No, sir." "Of course not." "It's just that I -- well, it's been a while, sir." "And, of course, for a mission in South America," "I should really brush up on my Spanish." "Well, you got a 12-hour plane ride, so Brush up, amigo." ""Amigo." That's "friend," right, sir?" "Get the hell out of my office!" "So, like a good soldier, the next morning I was up bright and early enjoying a first-class plane ride down to Colombia." "Hey!" "What the hell are you wearing, brother?" "I got issued these." "You do know most of Colombia is green, right?" "Yeah, I don't think the guy who issued them wanted me to blend in." "Can you turn that crap off?" "You know, I was supposed to be takin' some Green Beret named Donohue down on this mission." "Heard he got drunk and set a tank on fire." "Guess you screwed up even worse, huh?" "Yeah, it would seem so." "What did you do?" "Must have been something crazy, man!" "Look, I don't want to get into it, okay?" "Suit yourself." "Good luck, big guy!" "Yeah, thanks." "I read over the mission." "Essentially I was going down to check on reports of unrest in the region." "Basically, a local Colombian official with connections in the states called in a few favors." "He needed someone to observe and report on a situation so he could scare up some U.S. military aid." "And I was the lucky guy who got to do the observing and reporting." "So, I read the file, but I was hoping you could fill me in on the basics of the situation." "I was dropped into this a little...suddenly." "This group, the so-called "Espada Ardiente,"" "has been staging serious attacks all over this countryside." "And the situation is getting only worse and worse." "We need help." "Espada Ardiente." "Is that some kind of homegrown insurgent group?" "Yes." "Actually, we don't know much about them." "There's someone I would like you to meet." "Will you follow me, please?" "Commandante Veracruz!" "Let me introduce Commander Axe." "It is a pleasure, Commander Axe." "Commandante Veracruz has worked before with American soldiers." "He is at your disposal." "I believe we have mutual acquaintances." "I trained at the school of the Americas in '92." "Well, hell, if you trained there in '92," "I knew every last son of a bitch that made you do push-ups in the mud." "Vick Rayburn." "No, no, no." "You mean..." ""The terror." That's the guy." "..."The terror." Of course." "So, what's the plan?" "We have intelligence that Espada Ardiente is planning to attack an international clinic run by a group called "Doctors For All."" "A hospital." "Seriously?" "Unfortunately, yes." "Until now, they have stayed clear of civilian targets." "The clinic sits in a strategic pass in the mountains." "We believe the terrorists want to use it to take control of that region." "Our plan is for you and Commandante Veracruz to get there before that can happen." "I trust we are in good hands?" "Of course." "Thank you, sir." "Goodbye." "Let's meet the guys." "Fantastic." "Please." "Hello, señor." "Whoa, oh!" "So it was the standard drill." "I met Veracruz's team." "And we headed out up the mountains toward the territory that this Espada Ardiente group was occupying." "Spent a couple days driving up and down mountains and getting carsick." "Not much to report, at least until we got further north and started seeing some of the places these guys had attacked." "It was mostly little stuff -- blown-up vehicles, burned campsites -- but it was enough to make me think we needed to get to this clinic asap, make sure nothing happened." "The clinic was conveniently located in the middle of nowhere." "After our long trek there," "I figured they'd offer us a beer for our trouble." "But they weren't exactly happy to see us." "Okay, this is -- this is just crazy." "Why would anyone attack the clinic?" "I'm sorry, doctor." "But our intelligence indicates there may be an attack." "And so what are we supposed to do, hmm?" "Uh, evacuate?" "That would be best." "We can give you until tomorrow to -- to -- to " "Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa." "Tomorr-- listen, I've got people in there too sick to move." "Now, how am I supposed to evacuate by t" "Okay." "Hey, guys." "Hey." "You know, let me handle this." "American to American." "I'm Canadian." "Uh, North American to North American?" "Look, you know, we're not trying to bust your chops here, but you're not gonna help your patients if you guys get shot." "Listen, sir, we don't have any problems with the Espada Ardiente, okay?" "Un segundo, un segundo." "Okay, please." "So -- so just tell me, how am I supposed to evacuate my clinic by tomorrow?" "Hey, Ben." "Hi." "Why don't you go and take care of the patient?" "And I've got this." "Yeah?" "This way, soldier." "It's, uh, "Commander," actually." "Sorry about that." "Yeah, what's his problem?" "He's a doctor." "It's his job to cure people." "You're a soldier." "It's your job to kill them." "Take a wild guess what his problem might be, bright eyes." "And you are?" "Amanda Maples." "I'm with the local food relief program." "We work out of the clinic." "Nice threads, by the way." "Really subtle." "Yeah." "It's a long story." "Ah." "So, you want to talk to your buddy in there?" "'Cause you guys could be in danger." "Yeah, I'll do my best." "For now, though, we'd all really appreciate it if you'd get lost." "'Cause if we weren't a target before, we definitely will be if you guys don't leave." "As a soldier, I can't just leave." "Sure you can." "You just -- you get in the truck." "And you turn the key, you put your foot on the pedal -- it's on the floor -- and you go." "What's going on?" "Who's the kid?" "She may be with one of the terrorists." "We caught her sneaking into one of the trucks." "Aah!" "Hey, hey." "Everybody just calm down here." "Geez." "Okay." "So, kid..." "Okay, guys, come on." "She's just looking for something to eat." "Let's not go crazy." "It's not our mission to rough up hungry teenagers, right?" "No." "Of course." "Of course." "Of course." "Here you go, kid." "So, look, I talked to the doctor and the lady from the food-aid program, but they don't know anything about an attack." "All I got out of them was a polite invitation to screw off." "We will make camp nearby." "If there is an attack, we will be ready." "Veracruz's camp was pretty remote." "But let me tell you, his guys were seriously well-armed." "I didn't know exactly who we were up against yet, but they had enough firepower to wipe them off the map." "So I decided I'd just keep my head down, do my job, and make my reports to H.Q. Like a good boy." "Commander Axe for Admiral Maitland, please." "Yes, sir, uh, no contact with any terrorists yet, sir." "We're a couple of miles from the clinic." "Good." "Carry on as long as it takes." "Sir, what exactly does "as long as it takes" mean?" "It means "next time, stay away from the wives of ranking officers."" "Uh..." "See you in a few months." "Roger that." "Hey." "Just calling to command to let them know what's up." "Fantastic." "Perhaps you would like to relax, eat some supper?" "My men and I are going to scout the area." "Oh, good." "Well, I'll go with you." "My gear's right in there." "Actually, señor, it is better if you stay here." "Whoa." "Stay here?" "I mean, I can't exactly observe and report from the inside of my tent, can I?" "Come on, I can handle a little night scouting, huh?" "I'm sure you can, Commander Axe." "But I am responsible for your safety." "If we make contact with the terrorists, we will come for you immediately." "This is where things kind of started to go sideways." "You might want to mark that down in your notes." ""Things went sideways."" "So, what did you do?" "I guess you could say I modified my orders." "Well, señor..." "Buenos noches." "So I decided to conduct a scout of my own." "I did a basic perimeter check." "Searched for tire tracks, signs of activity." "The only hostile forces I found was a nest of spiders as big as quarters." "And in the middle of fighting those little bastards off," "I hear voices." "I go in, check it out, thinking maybe it was the Espada Ardiente guys." "But what do I find instead?" "Veracruz, unloading a bunch of weapons from a hidey-hole in the mountain." "I listen in on their conversation, and guess what I hear -- they're planning on attacking the clinic themselves and making it look like the rebels did it." "And after I make my report..." "We destroy the clinic then shoot the American in the head." "Son of a bitch." "I bet lots of stuff go bad in an operations." "But finding out I was supposed to get killed as part of a plot to get U.S. military aid?" "That was a new one." "So I just stayed calm and made my way back to camp as efficiently as possible." "Wait a minute." "Wait a minute." "Wait a minute." "L-l-let's go back, here." "I'm confused." "Y-you're saying you did not make contact with Espada Ardiente at this point?" " Because our reports indicate " " Well, where did you get the reports?" "From Veracruz's paramilitaries?" "And, what, you think they were gonna announce that they were officially planning on putting two in the back of my head?" "What I really want to hear about is how you were kidnapped by terrorist forces." "Oh." "Yeah, well, that's not entirely accurate." "See, I couldn't let Veracruz know that I was onto him." "So I put together a little kidnapping scene for them to find and double-timed it back to the clinic." "Man, what -- what the hell are you doing down here, man?" "It's 5:00 a.m." "You and me need to talk." "Now." "Okay, so, I-I-I'm confused here." "Why would anybody want to attack us?" "Because it's a ploy." "If they can make this terrorist group look like they massacred a clinic and killed yours truly," "Veracruz can do anything he wants down here and get a blank check to do it." "Right, but here's the thing -- we're not political." "Okay?" "I've never even heard of the es-- w-what is it?" "Espada Ardiente." "Yeah." "Yeah." "It happens all the time." "I saw it when I worked in Africa." "Some military group needs aid, so they do something really terrible and blame it on their enemies." "The point is, you guys got to move fast, okay?" "So, in the meantime, I need your sat phone." "Yeah, okay." "Good luck there." "When we need to make a call, we have to go all the way to Santa Marta." "Seriously?" "You got nothing?" "Hey, we're not the Mayo Clinic." "And quick question -- how do you propose that we get out of here?" "On our -- on our Medevac helicopter?" "Or our fleet of ambulances?" "We are a tiny clinic in the mountains." "I'm not the one you're fighting here." "I'm just trying to lay it out for you." "And we appreciate it." "But this Veracruz of yours is looking for you, and we can't have him finding you here." "So...just go." "We can take care of ourselves." "He must have been kidnapped." "Did you hear anything else?" "No, nothing." "Sorry, Commander." "It's okay." "You still have an important role to this mission, señor Garcia." "When I tell the Americans what happened," "I will say you bravely tried to fight off the Espada Ardiente." "But sadly..." "You were killed." "Throw his body in the ravine and take pictures for the report." "And the clinic?" "With the American gone, there's no use waiting." "We will destroy the clinic ourselves and make the report." "So the bad news was Veracruz was making his move early -- a fact I learned when I ran into a familiar face on the road." "Oh." "Jesus, what " "You're the kid from earlier, right?" "The food thief?" "What the hell are you doing back here?" "I'm trying to get people out of the clinic." "Okay." "Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa." "Slow down a second." "Since when do you speak English?" "I used to watch "Full House."" "You know, Veracruz is coming!" "We have to go!" "Veracruz?" "How do you know he's coming?" "I was watching his camp." "You were spying on his camp." "I wasn't spying." "I was trying to steal food." "And they caught me, and then I tried again." "What do you care?" "!" "Veracruz shot one of his men for letting you escape!" "He's on his way here now!" "He's on his way here now!" "Hey." "Whoa." "Oh." "No, no." "Not you again." "I thought I told you to go " "Yeah, yeah, I remember." "I got a new plan." "We're gonna get everybody out of here." "Now." "Uh, c-commander, could you maybe -- can you slow down and then explain?" "Yeah." "This is not the time to slow down." "Veracruz and his men are on their way here right now." "And with these roads, we got about 30 minutes." "Hey, can you be a sweetheart?" "Grab these oxygen tanks." "Wait, I thought you said that Veracruz wasn't coming until later." "Yeah, he changed his mind." "Funny how that happens." "Okay, what are y'all doing with my stuff?" "Let me ask you -- do you have a secret cache of weapons around here that I don't know about?" "No, I don't have a secret cache of weapons." "Right." "I didn't think so." "Here you go, kiddo." "So, between, uh, these tanks and the fuel out back, we should have just enough to blow the place." "What?" "!" "No!" "Whoa!" "No, no, no!" "You're not going to destroy the clinic!" "Isn't Veracruz coming to do the same exact thing?" "No, Veracruz wants to destroy the clinic with the people inside." "I want to destroy the clinic to create a distraction to save the people." "Little bit of a difference." "Okay, this is insane." "No, you can't do this." "Look, guys, you can't really believe that Veracruz's guys are not gonna see everybody leaving?" "We got to cover our tracks." "He's right, guys." "It's the best way." "See?" "The teenage thief girl agrees with me." "Now, boys and girls, this is happening." "You stay here, you die." "You come with me..." "We live?" "Well, the odds are a little better." "So, look, let's do this." "Get the patients outside, load them in the trucks, and let me know if you see any bad guys." "I can't believe we're doing this." "What about me?" "You and me are gonna build a bomb." "Oh." "We're gonna build a bomb." "Okay, we got diesel, oxygen, propane out back..." "The whatchamacallit that's my defibrillator." "Right." "You wouldn't happen to have any nitrous oxide, would you?" "No." "We are a bush hospital." "Not a suburban dentist's office." "Look, what am I supposed to be doing here?" "Hold on." "Okay, great." "Take that." "This is your detonator." "Yeah." "That's gonna go -- okay." "Tape that right on top of that valve." "Okay." "Real quick -- the warning label says "keep away --"" "Yeah." "That's right." "We're building a bomb, okay?" "So you do the opposite of what the warning label says." "Hey, how we doing out here?" "My God." "She ran off, and she won't stop crying." "Hey, hey, sister." "Easy, now." "Now, I'm not an expert here, but I don't think that's how you get a kid to stop crying." "Sí." "Blech!" "Rápido, por favor." "Easy-peasy." "Let's get the hell out of here." "You set up everything like I told you?" "Yes, yes, yes, I did -- I set my tank by the support beam at the front just like you said." "Are you sure you got it right?" "We can only push this button once." "No, I'm not sure if I got it right." "How am I supposed to know if I got it right?" "Okay, people, the second I hit this, that thing goes, we got to be on the move." "It's the smoke and the fire that's gonna cover our escape." "Okay." "Here goes nothing." "I didn't mean it that way." "New plan." "A new plan?" "I got to trigger it manually." "What do you mean?" "Manually?" "No, no, no, no, no!" "Wait." "Wait, wait, wait." "Stay in the truck!" "No." "Maybe I can fix it." "Maybe I can " "I guess you fixed it." "What the hell did you do?" "I maximized the pressure." "Because you told me -- you told me to maximize the pressure!" "Yeah, I know." "I just didn't know you were gonna do it so well." "You got talent." "Wait a minute." "Wait a minute." "Wait a minute." "We're safe, then." "Oh, no." "We're a long way from safe." "Uh, sorry to keep you guys waiting." "Uh, sir, do you know that they locked me in my room last night?" "So I got to say, this is starting to feel less and less like an "informal conversation."" "Still just an inquiry, Commander." "Although after yesterday's testimony," "I wouldn't make any travel plans." "Thanks for the heads-up." "Now, amidst all the tales of your heroics, we seem to have lost sight of your initial mission, which is gathering intel on a terrorist organization known as "Espada Ardiente."" "Right." "I was just getting to that, actually." "So, after the unfortunate sacrifice of the clinic, we all regrouped a few miles up the road." "Well, they're not after us just yet." "I'm guessing that by the time they sort things out, we're gonna have about an hour head start." "An hour?" "All of that back there bought us an hour?" "Is that supposed to be good news?" "Look, I don't know what to tell you." "It's better than a minute, worse than a day." "So in the meantime, we got to get those folks someplace we can hide." "The closest town is Santa Rosa." "Yes, yes. ." "There's a clinic there." "Yeah, unfortunately, we can't go to the nearest town that has a clinic." "It's the first place they're gonna be looking for a bunch of sick people." "They need medical attention, okay?" " Why don't we just drop them off?" " Well, you might as well hand them over to Veracruz and save on gas." "Now, where else can we go?" "No place else." "All the other so-called villages are just a bunch of houses and a church." "I know a place." "A camp, nearby." "A camp?" "Whose camp?" "Espada Ardiente." "Oh." "Okay." "Do you remember back when you were just a hungry teenager who couldn't speak English?" "You said you'd never even heard of the Espada Ardiente." "I lied." "They can help us." "They can hide the sick ones." "You know what?" "I don't think we have any other choice." "Looks like we're going with little miss terrorist here." "Just to clarify, Commander -- you decided to join the group that you were sent to Colombia to investigate?" "Well, "join" is kind of a strong word, sir." "I mean, uh, we were in trouble, and there were not a lot of options in the area." "All right." "And this Beatriz you mention." "I have no record of her." "Well, that's not surprising." "She's a kid." "She's a kid who led you to a suspected terrorist camp." "What do you want me to say?" "I mean, she was a mystery to me, too." "This kid -- well, sir, you would understand if you met her." "Okay, so, um..." "Why am I the only one wearing a blindfold?" "'Cause I don't trust you." " You're a soldier." " Oh, that's why." "Do your parents know that you hang out with the Espada Ardiente?" " Don't talk about my parents!" " Okay." "Hey." "Easy." "You know, what I'm trying to say is this -- most girls your age are into, you know, makeup and stuff, malls." "Do you see any shopping malls around here?" "Uh, no." "You blindfolded me, remember?" "There are none." "So no more questions." "Okay, look, I'm not trying to pry." "I'm just curious how you hooked up with these guys." "They're my friends." "Okay." "So, how much longer till we get to your friends?" "I got to get my hands on their communications equipment and call in." "Uncover your eyes." "We're here." "You got to be kidding." "This?" "This is the Espada Ardiente?" "Yes." "Is there a problem?" "What -- well, this is, like, 12 guys." "I was hoping for some kind of army or something to keep us from getting massacred." "Look, Espada Ardiente is -- and what does that mean, anyway?" ""Flaming" something or other." ""Sword"!" "You don't understand!" ""Ardiente" means fearless, passionate." "We burn to defeat our enemies." "Right, okay." "I got it." "The "flaming sword."" "So what if they're small?" "We can fight just as hard as anyone!" "Look, I hate to cut your speech short, sweetheart." "But you know what?" "The size of your army matters." "Okay?" "It matters a lot." "I mean, you're not gonna win a war with a flock of sheep." "Look, it's all about firepower." "Do these guys have any equipment?" "Most of our men have hunting rifles." "Ammunition is low, but " "You're not making me feel any better, here, kid." "Or how about experience?" "Some of them were in the army." "And our best fighter is Luis." "Oh, the big guy there?" "No." "The one next to him." "Wonderful." "These guys took out a truck full of paramilitary troops?" "How do you figure that?" "Luis shot the tires out of their truck, and it went down the hill." "They killed his goats!" "His -- his goats?" "You're serious?" "Your best fighter is a goat herder?" "!" "Goat herders?" "Really?" "Ihola!" "Ihola!" "Ben." "Oh, no." "Is her cough back?" "Let me see." "Okay, so, I did a little recon, gathered a little intel." "First thing -- you really shouldn't call them filthy goat herders." "I didn't call them filthy." "And the only reason I called the one guy a goat herder is 'cause he has goats and he herds them." "Yeah." "They're farmers." "Anyway, seems their land is valuable as some sort of drug transport to the coast." "So someone paid off Veracruz to force them out." "They fought back, got lucky a few times -- and Veracruz thought they were bigger than they actually were." "Pretty much." "Okay, listen." "Guys, she's got malaria." "Okay, and without the right medicine, she could die soon." "Look, I'm tap-dancing as fast as I can here." "I'm just trying to keep everybody breathing." "Me too, man." "Me too." "The man wants to know why your pants are blue." "The jungle is green." "Please tell the man that I don't want to talk about it." "So, what's with Beatriz?" "She seems to have, uh, anger issues." "It's, uh, kind of par for the course when you see your father shot in front of you." "And she wandered into the Espada Ardiente camp the next day, and they took her in." "So she's, what, the mascot?" "Yeah." "Something like that." "Oh, uh, one more thing." "You have a new name in camp." ""La barbilla."" ""Barbilla." What's that again?" "Um, "barbarian" or something?" "No. "The chin."" "The chin." "Doesn't make any sense." "They train every morning." "It's the same thing they do in the army." "I'm pretty sure in the army they fire their guns." "You think that's funny?" "Are you laughing at them?" "No, I don't think it's funny, kid." "I think it's anything but." "But is is not an army." "They got no training." "Luis there is about 100 years old." "Don't even get me started on the big guy there." "They need weapons!" "And I know you can help them!" "I saw you back at the clinic, and you made those explosives." "They need more than weapons." "Trust me -- in a real fight, these chumps would get slaughtered." "Aah!" "Hey." "Just having a conversation here." "Nothing to look at." "Everything's cool." "Now, look, I'm sorry about your dad, okay?" "And I'm sure that your flaming sword buddies are very brave." "But believe me -- brave guys bleed just like everybody else." "What do you think?" "Uh, the truth?" "They need help more than we do." "A-and so what does that mean?" "Are we -- are we stuck here?" "No, it means I got to figure out a way to call back to my C.O., get him to shut Veracruz down." "All right." "We've been over this." "There isn't a phone for 200 miles from here." "Veracruz has a sat phone." "Yeah, but, wait." "You can't go back to Veracruz." "Well, why not?" "I mean, right now he thinks" "I've been kidnapped by our new friends there." "I'll just go back and tell him I escaped." "Oh, yeah." "And he's gonna be like, "oh, my God, it's so good to see you,"" "and hug you and shoot you in the head." "No, I doubt it." "He needs me to help him sell the story about the flaming sword." "Should be enough to call out." "Hey." "What if you're wrong?" "Well, then, I get shot, and you try your luck with the goat herders." "Try it!" "Okay, uh, better get going." "I want to get to Veracruz before he makes camp." "Before you go, I want to ask you something." "Are you really gonna do this?" "Are you really gonna go for help?" "Yeah, it's like I told you." " I'm gonna go back, make a call " " People say a lot of things." "Now, I just got everybody out of the clinic safe, didn't I?" "I mean, what does a guy have to do to get some credibility around here?" "I've been in hot spots all over the globe." "And when things first get rough, everyone's a hero." "And then reality sets in, and promises are broken." "And if you let these people down, I want you to know that I will personally find you and kick your teeth in." "Amanda, I'm not gonna let anybody down." "I may get my ass shot off, but..." "My teeth are safe." "Before we move on," "Espada Ardiente's leadership consisted of this man, Louis Mendez, of the Colombian armed forces." "His name was Luis." "And, yeah, that looks like him..." "About 100 years ago." "He looks good in uniform." "Did you gather any more intel on their command structure?" "They were farmers." "They didn't have command structures." "They had sheep." "Why do you think I was going to get some help?" "Okay." "Fine." "We'll come back to that." "What happened after you left?" "Well, I drove back toward Veracruz." "I mean, I knew his team's drill well enough to find a scout or two." "Once I got to the neighborhood, I ditched the truck, put on a little kidnapping makeup And hoofed it until I ran into a couple of Veracruz's scouts." "Oh, man." "It was horrible." "They were working me over, asking all kinds of things." "How did you escape?" "I was lucky." "They only sent a couple guys with me to el baño, and I managed to run off." "We searched for you everywhere." "When the terrorists blew up the clinic, we feared the worst." "It wasn't "the worst," but it was still pretty damn bad." "You know they were setting up to give me the car-battery treatment?" "These guys are frickin' monsters!" "Yes, they are." "Now you see why we need your help fighting this menace." "100%." "I say we track them down and light these bastards up." "Excellent." "Good to have you back, Commander Axe." "We need help." "Okay?" "Asap!" "Okay, Commander." "I understand." "But let me ask you this -- how the hell did this happen?" "!" "You're supposed to be down there observing and reporting, not starting some guerilla war!" "Well, I observed the sons of bitches trying to kill me and massacre hospital, and I'm reporting it." "All right, look, I'll make some calls." "But, Axe, if this is some cheap ploy to get yourself pulled out of there..." "It's not about me." "Now, you help these people, I will gladly let you kick my butt at a time and place of your choosing." "But, please, for the love of God " " I got to go." "Axe." "The men are ready." "We should start looking for the terrorists before they have time to move." "Yes, we should." "Time for a little payback, am I right?" "So, at this point, I was just trying to run out the clock." "I had to give the guys from the flaming sword enough time to get their truck off the road and back to their camp." "And I needed to keep Veracruz's men busy long enough for help to arrive." "Yep." "Pretty sure we're going this way." "But, no." "That's not -- that's not it." "Iperfecto!" "Iexactamente!" "Ah." "What is the delay?" "Uh, well, I was just talking to your boys here." "I was telling them that the -- the camp is pretty much up there." "See the tire tracks here?" "This is the same tread as their vehicles that they use." "Yes, I can see." "You are an excellent tracker." "You are also an excellent liar." "What the hell are you doing?" "I just spoke with Department Governor Perez." "His men intercepted your call an hour ago." "Ay." "I am hurt you think so little of me." "You honestly thought I would take no precautions?" "Hey, come on." "This is just a misunderstanding." "No." "No, I don't think it is a misunderstanding." "I think I understand very well." "Now..." "Show me where they are on the map." "You know, why should I?" "You're gonna kill me anyway." "I might." "And..." "I might not." "The question is whether you want to die here, or keep breathing a bit longer and hope you prove useful enough to save." "Show me where their camp is." "If you are wrong..." "I'll put a bullet in your brain, and maybe that will help you remember." "Uh, well, come to think of it, that -- that mountain range does look familiar." "So, how does it feel to be saved by filthy goat herders?" "Well, I owe you one, kid." "Let's go." "No, no, no, no." "Not until you promise not to insult them again." "Say what?" " Promise." " Oh, for God's sake." "Okay, I promise." "They're the greatest part-time farmer army ever!" "Can we go?" "!" "Geez!" "Aah!" "So, Veracruz saw through your plan?" "Oh, and it gets better." "Veracruz is looking around, and he's close." "He's gonna find us within 24 hours, tops." "Ok-- okay." "So what am I supposed to do?" "Because I got an old house full of sick people -- there's a CIA outpost about 50 miles away." "50?" "The pilot who brought me down here told me about it." "I think it's our best bet." "50 miles." "Are you on drugs?" "Do they do testing for soldiers?" "Because we can't get all of these people 50 yards." "I understand that." "Kid, can I talk to you for a second?" "What?" "I want to ask you something." "How did you end up with these guys, speaking English like you do?" "What do you care?" "Well, because we're in a tough spot, and I'd like to know who I'm dealing with." "My father was a journalist." "From El Espectador in Bogotá." "He was in this area, reporting on the situation with the farmers." "That's what got him shot?" "Yes." "I knew Luis from the interviews my father did." "I didn't know where else to go a-after my father died." "So Luis brought me to the camp, and he let me stay." "I'm glad he did." "I need your help." "I got to put this little army together." "But there's a problem -- those guys hate me, and I speak Spanish like a third grader." "But they like you, and you speak English like a champ." "So..." "Por favor?" "Talk to them." "And if I like what you have to say, I will translate it." "Esteemed gentlemen of the flaming sword..." "It's not "flaming" sword!" "Oh, God, forget it." "Just talk." "Just talk." "I know we didn't get off to a great start." "I made some mistakes." "You made some mistakes." "Then there was the whole goat-herd business." "It's not like it didn't happen." "But that's behind us." "Now, I'm a soldier." "And I've got all the training and a fistful of combat ribbons." "But today -- what?" "Stick with me." "Okay." "But today I damn near got my brains blown out." "And the only reason why I'm still breathing is because of you." "And that made me realize something." "If we're gonna save ourselves And give Veracruz the ass-whipping he so richly deserves..." "Was that what I said?" "The point is that we need to do it together." "So I'm standing here before you today to ask for your help." "Now, I've got a plan, but it is not gonna fly without you." "So I need to know right now Are you with me?" "!" "Espada Ardiente." "Espada Ardiente!" "Okay, now let's get training, 'cause, man, we got to get organized." "Wait right there." "Stop." "You're saying that you were training the terrorist group?" "Did you train them?" "Yes or no?" "Did you work with this man, Louis Mendez?" "Yeah, look, Luis was one of the guys." "He was on " "He was the senior operative in the Colombian military in the 1980s until he disappeared, presumably, to start this group!" "And now you're giving this man military secrets and training?" "All I can say, sir, is the only secrets I gave away were the secrets of the Analee High School" "J.V. football squad." "Okay, guys." "Listen up and listen good." "These are the plans for battle." "This first one here is called the nickel defense." "If things get rough The scouts fall back." "This last one is called the prevent defense." "Why is that?" "They've all fallen back." "What the hell's their problem?" "All of these plans are for retreating!" "The men want to know what's the plan for an attack!" "No, they don't need to know that one." "See, we're just trying to keep them in the game." "Mondo." "You're killing me." "Okay, I have a plan for attack." "It's called the "zone blitz."" "And it's all about disguise." "Let's hear you say it." "All together." ""Zone blitz!"" "Z-zone blitz!" "Z-zone blitz!" "Z-zone blitz!" "Z-zone blitz!" "Z-zone blitz!" "Z-zone blitz!" "Now let's just hope to God you never have to say those words again." "Next day, we moved out with the patients in one truck, and the flaming sword guys packed in the others." "It was only 50 miles, but when the whole country is a mountain, miles are kind of like dog years -- every one more like seven." "And, of course, there's the worst part of driving to a CIA outpost -- it's not gonna be on the map." "Quick update -- I didn't run away." "I went to get help, just like I said." "Yes, and you almost got yourself killed." "That should count double, then." "Uh, why would it count double?" "It only counts double if you actually come back with some help." "If you nearly die a senseless death, that counts as, like, half." "Okay." "Half." "Thank you." "You're welcome." "Okay, so, tell me something." "Do-gooder..." "Food-aid worker..." "I mean, why so cynical?" "If you're asking that, you probably haven't spent a whole lot of time around aid workers." "Okay." "Well, I mean, you get into this because you want to make the world a better place, and it turns out that there's a lot of people who want to make it a worse place." "And we're outnumbered." "By a lot." "By soldiers, you mean?" "Not just soldiers." "But usually, when there are people are going hungry, there's some guy with a gun making it happen." "Speaking of hunger, you haven't been eating." "Why is that?" "These guys need it more than me." "Believe me." "I figure it this way -- if we make it," "I got a head start on the 10 pounds I want to lose, and if we don't, well, dead guys don't get hungry." "You're not like the other soldiers I've met," "Commander Axe." "I'll give you that." "Call me Sam." "Sam it is." "I know that you want me to kiss you right now." " And, believe me, I would love to." " What?" "But I'm just saying, it's a bad time, is all." " No, no." " Any other time, I'd be all over it." "Oh." "No comprende." "Seriously." "I was just making conversation here." "That's what that was." "Yeah, just drive." "For the record, she wanted me to kiss her." "So, anyway, we keep going." "So, as we're getting to the main roads out of the mountains, I'm getting that itchy feeling, an itchy feeling that just keeps getting worse." "Oh, you've got to be kidding me." "Hey." "Uh, okay." "This is not good." "No, no." "This is just rain." "Okay?" "It doesn't take much to start a rock slide." "You always see fallen rocks and trees in the road." "Yeah, well, I don't see a lot of trees or rocks." "I just see this tree here right in the middle of a hard-to-defend position." " A hard-to-def" " Yeah." "What do you propose we do?" "Back those trucks up and proceed with caution." "Oscar can clear it." "Hold on a second, okay?" "I don't think that thing fell by itself." "The sooner we cut the tree, the sooner we can go." "It's fine." "It's fine." "So, while they're clearing this tree from the road," "I'm getting a real bad feeling, one of those "too quiet, I don't like this place, something weird is going on" feelings." "You, uh..." "You might want to stay here." "Now, I know, of course, that there's a fine line between caution and paranoia." "People tell you about gut feelings all the time." "But if you follow every gut feeling, you never get anything done." "Still, sometimes something feels funny for a reason." "They know we're here." "What?" "They know we're here!" "Prevent defense!" "Aah!" "No!" "Aah!" "Luis!" " Hey, help me with something." " Whoa, whoa, whoa." "Where you going?" "Look, those guys are just scouts, okay?" "They're trying to keep us here until reinforcements show up." "So we got to block that switchback down there before -- well, before that." "Yeah, here they are, right on time." "Come on." "Push!" "Push!" "Push now!" "Ivamonos!" "Aah!" "Yeah!" "Yeah!" "Yeah!" "Yeah!" "Very groovy!" "Come on, guys!" "Okay, go, go, go." "We got to go." "Got to go." "Now listen everybody." "We got lucky back there." "Those guys got excited, and they made a lot of mistakes, but it's not gonna happen again." "So we got to move, and we got to move fast." "Now, if this map is not garbage, we are close to a CIA outpost." "We can get there by nightfall if we hurry." "Understand, señor?" "All right, let's go." "Can we talk?" "Ah, listen, you know, about before, it's " "Oh, you're talking about " "No, I'm not talking about that, actually." "If you want to embarrass yourself with your fantasies, knock yourself out." "What I want to know is..." "Once we get there, what happens?" "Well, maybe you haven't been paying attention." "We get there, we get help." "Oh, so it's as simple as that." "Who said it was gonna be simple?" "So, we used what head start we had, but it was pretty slowgoing." "In those mountains, the good roads are bad, and the bad roads, well, they aren't really even roads." "This is ridiculous." "I can't even tell which way north is anymore." "You're sure that it's here?" " Yeah, it's around here somewhere, yeah." " Really?" "Because there's nothing on this map that says -- we are looking for a secret intelligence facility." "They don't put them on maps." "That's how you know they're secret." "Right, right, right, right, right." "But isn't it possible that this guy that told you about it is wrong?" " Because honestly " " Okay, there it is." "Right there." "Now, you want to check it out, or should we just chalk this up to my imagination and go home?" "But do -- do we just knock, or is...?" "Now you want to kiss me." "This isn't some kind of joke, is it?" "I don't joke about mass murder." "It's kind of a touchy subject with me." "So, guys, what can we do, here?" "You got any weapons?" "We got a couple .45s" "and a -- you know, and, like, a box of ammo." "Other than that, we've got, like, a lot of computers." "We got maps." "DVDs." "Some good movies." "We're an observation outpost." "Observing." "Yeah, doing communications support and..." "Not wearing night goggles going on raids." "We're not a fortress." "Okay, what about all the antennas on the roof?" "Can you call out?" "Yeah, yeah." "We can do that." "Well, get on it, then." "We need help right now." "What you got, medicine-wise?" "Yeah, we'd call that "not much."" "Okay, hold on, now." "It's better than nothing." "I told you, man." "It's just us out here." "I mean, its me, Gabe, and the donkey." "Donkey?" "The burro." "We take her into town for supplies and water, but, you know, the roads around here..." "Yeah, tell me about it." "This expired, like, two years ago." "What's up?" "I called in to the military base in Santa Marta." "And?" "Are they sending anybody?" "They said they need to see you, in person, and talk to them." "They said the base chief needs to meet with you." "I guess there's some confusion about your, uh, situation." "Okay, well, how the hell am I supposed to get to Santa Marta -- on the burro?" "On the chopper." "It's out back." "The chopper." "Why didn't you say so?" "Okay, now we're getting somewhere." "So, you really have to go?" "You can't just call them?" "No, they got reports that I was kidnapped, that I was killed, that I've gone rogue." "So I-I got to go out there and drag them back myself." "Who will you bring?" "Well, the Colombian military's been working with the U.S. on some anti-drug runs, so they got attack copters, troops." "Veracruz will find this place soon." "Yeah." "Probably sooner rather than later." "That's why we got to hustle." "Okay." "Let come." "That is out of the question." "We're overweight as it is." "We should go." "Listen, kid." "I'm coming back, okay?" "I'm not gonna let you guys down." "Okay, so, how well do you know these Colombian military folks?" "I've done some joint operations with them." "Well, 'cause I was thinking if they can run this up the ladder, it'd be good to get some embassy involvement, maybe arrange visas for some of these folks." "We can call Washington." "There's a refugee program we might be able to get them into." "Sounds good." "Here we go." " Hey, guys, how long is this gonna take?" " Hard to say." "As soon as we land, we'll find the foreign affairs officer, get the ball rolling on paperwork." "Paperwork?" "Yeah, for going back." "You know the drill -- authorization reports Duty orders." "...Debriefing reports." "Hang on a second." "You guys didn't mention anything about paperwork when we were down on the ground." "What are you talking about?" "It's protocol, man." "The CIA's not gonna send out a military tactical team without checking it out." "Why they hell didn't you mention that back there?" "And, uh, what, cause a riot?" "Hey, we got rules to follow, like anybody else, pal." "Those rules are also pretty clear -- when a facility's been compromised, you take the classified material and bug out without causing an international incident." "Keyword there would be "without."" "I thought you were on board with all this, especially with all that embassy talk." "Visas." "Guys, you promised those people down there." " I promised those people." " Grow up, man." "No way we could have ever given them anything near what you promised them." "Not unless U.S. personnel were under direct attack." "There's a point in a soldier's life where he's got to decide whether he's gonna follow the letter or the spirit of his orders." "So you can't do anything unless Americans are under direct attack, right?" "That's right." "What about you guys?" "Do you count?" "Land the chopper." "Now." "You held two CIA officers hostage on behalf of a suspected terrorist group?" "That's treason." "Do you think I wanted to?" "Do you think I had a choice?" "Sir, we were not gonna get help unless those guys told the brass that they were under attack." "I did what I had to do." "I see." "You had to kidnap them." ""Kidnap." Get out of here." "I was just helping them do the right thing." "Helping them." "With a .45-caliber pistol?" "Well, you know what they say, sir." "Guns don't help people." "People help people." "You are in a world of hurt, soldier." "Commander Axe, as we reconvene this inquiry," "I am obliged to ask you if you would like us to assign you a military lawyer." " A lawyer?" " I'd advise it." "I thought I was just making a report here." "Oh, we've gone beyond that, Commander." "Now, we've detained and questioned a few of the people that were involved in your little adventure, and there's quite a case building against you." "Wait, wait." "You're rounding people up?" "Yes, the farmers, the doctor, Amanda Maples." "Those are my friends, sir." "They didn't do anything wrong." "It's standard operating procedure, Commander." ""Standard operating procedure." Why don't you bite me?" "You're speaking to a superior officer!" "You're speaking to a superior officer!" "Stand down, Commander!" "Now, you've underestimated the sheer size of this fiasco." "And by all accounts, you are standing in the middle of it, dead center." "So, last chance -- do you want to exercise your right to legal counsel?" "I'm good." "You know what these proceedings could result in." "Yeah, me getting thrown into a hole for the rest of my life?" "Yeah, I got it." "I also know that a lawyer is not gonna make a damn bit of difference." "Now, sir, you want to hang this mess around my neck, you go for it, but leave my friends alone." "You're in no position to negotiate, Commander Axe." "Now I want to hear about what happened after you drew your weapon on two CIA field agents." "All right." "Fine." "After my "conversation" with the CIA boys, we went back to the outpost." "And let me tell you something, sir -- everybody was real glad to see me." " Change of plans." " That was quick." "You do know that the town is the other way?" "I thought you were going to get help." " Yeah, there was a little hitch." " What kind of a hitch?" "Turns out our CIA buddies were not such good buddies after all." "They were planning on leaving everybody to the wolves." "I disagreed with that plan." "What -- and they are...?" "Tied up in the helicopter." "Oh, that is not good." "Okay, so, um, now what are we supposed to do?" "Aren't you the one who said that we were going to get slaughtered?" "That's not gonna happen." "So you have a plan?" "Uh, no, but I know where to start." "Make the call." "I'm not calling in." "Do it." "You'll thank me later." "Yeah, I'm pretty sure we won't thank you." "Yeah, you will." "Because Veracruz is following our trail here." "And when he does, he's gonna wipe this place off the face of the earth, and you two yahoos with it." "What do you want?" "I want you to call your CIA buddies, tell them to get the Colombian military out here, the national police -- the works, everything they got." "You're gonna burn for this." "Yeah, but that's not the question." "The question is whether you're gonna make that call..." "Or if I'm gonna have to make you make the call." "Yeah, it's Gabriel Manaro out at station 412." "We got a situation here." "Some kind of rogue military force is attacking our position." "Just helping you sell it." "Yeah, yeah, that's -- we're firing back at them." "We need supp-- be more convincing." "Jesus!" "No." "No, I'm not talking to you." "We need help!" "We need support now!" "Send it!" "Send the help!" "Military support!" "Now!" "Help us!" "I am at station 4-1-2!" "Yes!" "Yes!" "Just hurry!" "They'll have a team here in three hours." "Three hours?" "Veracruz is just up the road." "He's gonna be all over us in three hours." "Yeah, well, they're coming from over the mountains." "That's what it takes, dude!" "That's the fastest they can get here." "It's not magic." "What's going on?" "Who's shooting?" " That was me just making a point." " Okay, what?" "Well, I got good news and bad news." "Good news is, help is on the way." "Bad news is, we're gonna have to hold out until it gets here." "Okay, señors." "Hey, look what I made." "That's a hell of a bomb." "Wow." "You got a gift." "Well, you know, I've been doing field medicine for a long time." "You learn to improvise." "Yeah, well, I've known a lot of field medics, but they don't have your chops with explosives." " Good work." " Thank you." "Where's the kid?" "Can I talk to you for a sec?" "What?" "You know, this, um -- this fight with Veracruz, it's gonna be rough." "We got to hold them off for a long time." "So I was thinking it would be a good idea if you just stay back here and watch the CIA guys." "Stay here?" "I'm fighting with the others." "Okay, okay." "Just hear me out here." "Now, you're still young, and you've done more in this fight than any kid should ever have to." "Those men killed my father." "I think it's safe to say if your dad was here, he wouldn't want you catching a bullet." "I mean, think about it." "What would he say?" "I don't know." "He's not here." "He would say a kid as tough and as smart as you is gonna have a big future." "He'd want you to grow up and see it, wouldn't he?" "He would want me to stay." "So you'll stay?" "No." "But thanks anyways." "You remind me of my father." "And I didn't listen to him, either." "Kids these days." "All right, mount up!" "We did a little recon when we got out to the road and we got some more bad news." "Veracruz's buddy Perez showed up, and he brought more guys with him -- a lot more guys, with a lot more guns." "Still, there wasn't much to do but stick with the plan." "We had our little explosive device cobbled together from some C-4 charges the CIA guys had in case they needed to blow up their computers in a hurry." "The way I figured it, if we could plant it at the right spot, we could block the road with a couple thousand pounds of burning truck wreckage then pin Veracruz down for a while." "You should probably go." "No." "No." "Do it." "That is, assuming we didn't blow ourselves up first." "Okay." "Let's go." "I know we were not expecting the reinforcements." "And the odds are, um, kind of against us." "But what the hell?" "You're the flaming sword, right?" "Now, look, they got to come from down there." "When that bomb blows, it's gonna be our job to slow them down." "'Cause if they get through here -- pbht!" " We are sitting ducks." "Pbht!" "Sitting ducks?" "It's an expression." "It's like ducks in a pond, ducks in a row." "It's easy to " "How bad is this?" "Oh, well, maybe we had a solid chance before that troop transport showed up." "But now..." "And how long do we have to hold them?" "Help comes in about two hours." "Veracruz and his men, give or take 90 minutes, so I think we got to hold out for about a half-hour." "Can we do that?" "Well, with the terrain on our side, maybe." "But it's gonna be a long half-hour." "But, hey, it could be worse, right?" "It could be raining." "Let's do this." "Now, at this point, we didn't have a whole lot going for us." "On our side, we had the high ground and the element of surprise." "On their side, they had manpower, equipment, body armor, superior weaponry, radio communications, and pretty much everything else." "Is he on it, or is he not on?" "He's not on it." "If he was on it, it would " "Luis, now!" "Ha!" "Flaming sword!" "Damn right." "Flaming sword!" "Attack!" "Zone blitz!" "Zone blitz!" "Good shot, Mondo." "The men are running out of ammunition." "Tell them to act like they're shooting." "Just keep looking mean, pretend like they have ammunition." "What?" "!" "Just do it!" "I pulled out every trick in the book." "But the thing is, at the end of the day, there's just no good substitute for bullets." "No!" "Okay, uh, I don't think they're buying it." "All right, look, game over." "Tell them to fall back to the trucks." "Old man!" "Let's go!" "No." "Wait." "W-what is he doing?" "He's covering us." "Let's go." "Let's go." "Espada Ardiente!" "I got to go back." "Ben." "I got one more charge, just in case." "We got to get him." "Aren't you full of surprises." "Oh, Jesus." "He's dead." "Are you okay?" "No!" "I'm shot!" "That's right." "Stupid question." "Okay." "Let's do it." "Get him inside." "Damn it." "Where the hell are they?" "Beatriz, they're coming." "Let's get inside." "Get off me!" "Don't!" "Please, kid." "I'm begging you." "They killed Luis, and I'm going to fight them!" "Look, I know that he meant a lot to you, okay?" "But he was a soldier." "He was protecting you." "Don't make his death meaningless by standing out here and getting yourself killed." "Please, if you won't go inside for me, at least do it for the old goat herder." "Where the hell are they?" "Call 'em again." "How much longer?" "'Ca-- 'cause we're running out of time up here." "It's -- the situation is getting urgent " "Yeah, is this the station chief?" "I got to know how much longer this is gonna take, and your numbnuts officer here can't tell me." "Who is this?" "Who is this?" "Who is this?" "!" "Deputy assistant intelligence director Chuck Finley." "That's who." "I'm down from NSA headquarters here doing a random sigint check, and I ran into this little disaster area of yours." "Now, where are these troops?" "They're 10 minutes away, sir." "10 minutes?" "This thing will be over in 5." "Get on it." "Chuck Finley?" "Yeah." "Made a lot of money betting on him back in the day." "I'm thinking it's a lucky name." "I guess we'll find out." "Between the flipped truck and the firefight, we bought ourselves some time." "But it wasn't too long before Veracruz was in position, and we were about to get creamed." "Keep everybody inside." "When the shooting starts, make sure they're away from the windows and down low, okay?" "I'm going out there." "You're what?" "I got to buy us some more time." "Sam, if you go out there, Veracruz will kill you." "Yeah." "Maybe." "But if I manage to die slowly, that'll put you guys just a little closer to getting out of here." "No, no, no." "You're at least taking your gun." "If he sees that I have a gun, he's gonna shoot me on sight." "Don't worry about it." "I got an idea." "No, no." "Wait." "I mean, they -- you can't -- ju-- if you just -- stay alive." "I'll do my best." "Still, you know, if we were gonna kiss, we should probably do it now just in case." "I don't want to..." "That is a lot better than a kick in the teeth." "Whoa." "Whoa." "Hey, guys, we need to talk." "What is there to talk about, Commander Axe?" "Oh, we got a lot to talk about." "I'm here to negotiate the terms of your surrender." "Our surrender?" "Is that supposed to be funny?" "How long before they get here?" "I don't know." "Soon." "They better get here soon." "Man, you just love doing that, don't you?" "How many are there inside?" "Believe me, y-you don't know what you're up against." "Yes, "Espada Ardiente." We know." "No." "No." "It's the flaming sword." "Believe me, you don't want to mess with them." "And why is that?" "'Cause I've fought all over " "Afghanistan, the Balkans, Southeast Asia." "I've never seen guys like this." "I count a dozen men with old rifle-- farmers, by the look of them." "Yeah?" "You think that's all we got?" "Then what am I doing here?" "I'm a commander in the Navy S.E.A.L.S." "You think I'm gonna be wasting time with a bunch of smelly farmers -- smelly, stinking, unwashed farmers?" "No, no." "You boys have made a grave miscalculation." "That's why I'm here with my one-time-only, not-to-be-repeated offer -- unconditional surrender right now, and I'll let you walk away." "You're bluffing." "What is he doing?" "No!" "Ohh." "All right, all right." "Because I am feeling..." "Generous and, uh, merciful..." "I'm gonna give you one more chance." "Surrender right now." "Okay?" "I'm serious." "What is he doing?" "!" "I'm telling you guys, you're just making it worse on yourself." "Ugh, we should finish him." "Wait!" "Let's see this flaming sword, shall we?" "I'm telling you guys, you're gonna regret it." "Aah!" "I've heard the old saying about soldiers praying in foxholes." "It's a natural response when your friends are dying and everything you care about is about to get destroyed." "But I got to say, in my experience, prayer is pretty iffy as a battle plan." "Aah!" "But I'll also say this -- when you need a miracle, there's nothing like it." "Hey, guys." "Say hello to my friends." "I call them the newest members of the flaming sword, you crooked son of a bitch." "Sam " " Sam Axe." "The good guys -- it's the good guy-- uh, Los buenos." "Los buenos." "So, you guys ready to surrender now?" "Aah!" "Man, that felt good." "Sam Axe!" "So, you gonna make it?" "Yeah." "Yeah, I think so." "Well, I got to say, if you ever reconsider the whole medical thing, you'd make a hell of a soldier." "Okay." "All right, I will " " I will, uh " " I'll keep that in mind." "Listen, Sam..." "Thank you." "Thank you for everything." "Back at you, doc." "All right." "Help this man up." "So, what happens now?" "Well, it's gonna take a while to sort this all out." "My guess is that Veracruz and Perez are gonna be going off the grid for their foreseeable lifetimes." "No, I mean, what about you?" "Oh, I'm probably gonna get spend some quality time at the nearest covert military facility." "Well, uh, good luck." "Thanks." "And, uh..." "Thanks for the kiss, huh?" "I mean, I know you probably only did it 'cause you thought I was gonna die, but " "Oh, my God." "Commander Axe..." "You need to come with us." "Señor Axe..." "And here I am." "That's quite a story, Commander Axe." "Thanks." "How does it end, sir?" "There's only one way it could end -- a court martial." "Well, sir, there is actually one more part of the story that you should probably hear." "I mean, I was saving it in case you decided to be a stand-up guy about all this, but I guess that's not gonna happen." "What are you talking about?" "Do you remember the little chat I had with Beatriz after Luis died?" "Well, there's something I left out." "He was protecting you." "Don't make his death meaningless by staying outside and getting yourself killed." "It's my fault!" "It's my fault -- all of this." "Now, the first half of the discussion went just like I told you." "It was in the second half, though, where things got really interesting." "Kid, don't say that." "This has nothing to do with you." "The flaming sword -- they knew what they were getting into." "There's no flaming sword!" "What the hell are you talking about?" "My father interviewed Luis for the newspaper, and I went with him, so I knew all his story -- that he was in the army and he went away to be a farmer." "After my father was killed, I went back to Luis." "I gave him the name of "Espada Ardiente,"" "and I convinced him to fight!" "Wait a minute." "So all of this was your idea?" "Everything." "I should die here." "Now, look, kid..." "This is not over, not by a long shot." "Now, we're gonna get through this." "And I've been around long enough to know when this is all over, there's gonna be hell to pay." "You want something to live for?" "You want to help your friends?" "'Cause I got a job for you." "You any good with a camera?" "So, I figured if anybody could get away clean after that little skirmish, it was a kid." "And a kid with connections at the largest newspaper in Colombia?" "Well, that could be mighty handy." "I had her grab one of the cameras from the CIA outpost and take pictures -- a lot of them -- of everyone and everything Then get herself down to Bogotá, and go back to her dad's old newspaper..." "Beatriz!" "...And once she got there, to talk to someone she trusted about putting together a couple of stories." "Now, one of these stories should be in today's paper." "In fact, sir, isn't there a piece on the front page today about Luis, talking about how he died under mysterious circumstances?" "There was." "Yes." "Oh, how interesting." "Why don't we all take a break?" "Yes, sir." "You don't really think that anyone's gonna take this girl's word over that of the United States military?" "Well, the girl did have extensive access to a covert CIA outpost, sir." "I mean, imagine what she saw and took pictures of." "Tell me, what happens when spies who are under official cover get their pictures in the paper?" "I mean, that can't be good, right?" "You wouldn't dare." "This is the sort of thing that you don't want revealed to the world, Admiral, and it's gonna be -- things that could end a guy's military career, and I'm not talking about mine." "What do you want?" "Thanks for asking." "First, you let my friends go." "Then you rebuild the clinic." "The flaming sword guys go back to their goats," "I get an honorable discharge, and we keep our mouths shut about this forever." "In the words of my buddy Mike Westen," ""this is the kind of secret that stays a secret."" "That's blackmail." "No." "Actually, sir, I believe this form of extortion is known as "graymail."" "It's much nicer than blackmail." "I believe we're done here, sir." "Agreement between commander Sam Axe and the United States military court." "Under the terms of this agreement," "Commander Axe hereby agrees not to discuss, reveal, or otherwise disclose his activities between January 22nd and January 31st of the year 2005." "He is to receive the following -- an honorable discharge with full pension, a change of clothes, first class air transport to the city of his choosing, and one ice-cold beer." "Executed February 20, 2005, by Rear Admiral James Lawrence, United States Navy." "Welcome to Miami, Mr. Axe." "Thank you." "== sync, corrected by elderman =="