Chapter 111 - Rescue and Escape (9)

29 December, Terrorist Camp, South of City K

Flinging open the door, Joseph was both elated and shocked at what he was. They had located Matthew, who appeared to be unharmed, with a blanket wrapped around his waist. From all their intelligence about ISX, they had come prepared to find Matthew and provide him with a uniform. The woman, from the photo they had was definitely Lexi Yao. He had to even admit to himself, from the brief meeting with her over eigth years ago, she had not changed too dramatically, simply matured into a stunning beauty that she showed glimpses of then. She also was wrapped in a blanket. Behind her, in the corner was huddled another man.

Knowing that snapping a salute would not be the most appropriate thing Joseph, while he was obtaining from his pack the spare uniform for Matthew and something for Lexi to wear said "Colonel..."

Well aware of each of his three musketeers' faults Matthew replied firmly "Stow it Joseph. We have no time for formalities. We need to get out of here, as quickly and safely as we can, rescuing the captives and..."

"Sir David and three other men, are trying to get down one last corridor to check it but as you can hear they are engaged in a gun battle."

"And Ben?"

"On the surface with the team medic."

"We need to get out of here Joseph, as safely as we can. Pass the word, to rescue as many captives as we can, but the priority is getting out of here as safely as we can."

"I suspect we will have problems with that sir."

"And, they are?"

"The number of captives we have located. Most of them need medical treatment, plus Lieutenant Akur as injured earlier in another gun battle. He refused to head to the surface, and is currently guarding an area until we evacuate. We also located a computer room, that we believe has significant ELINT data and we have two terrorists ..."

"So, a potential HUMIT source to add to the mix, and we know that will not be easy to secure.." After a pause, Matthew continued "OK, give me a weapon. Let us get as many of the the captives as we can free, and get them Lieutenant Akur, the two captured terrorists, the imam and my wife out as soon as we can. We need to take down who we can that will make the evacuation as safe as possible."

Hearing those words, the Imam was worried. He knew that without the appropriate paperwork the marriage he had performed was not legal. He also knew, if ever asked, given what he had gleaned from talking to them, he would say that there was a ceremony, but it was not binding. Given what they had been through, they did not deserve to be held to something forced on them.

Lexi tensed at Matthew calling her his wife. She was not, it was simple a front to protect her and not legal. And even if there was a way to make it legal there was no way that she was ever going to get married again. Not after the hell that was her marriage to Richard.

Joseph looked to the other members of the team with him. They were stunned, wondering when the Colonel had gotten married as in all the time, they had dealt with him there was nothing to indicate that he was in a relationship with anyone.

Joseph however quietly wondered, was there something more to this than met the eye. He knew of the recent law changes, not only that dealt with same s.e.x relationsh.i.p.s, recognition of international marriages, altered some of the normal marriage laws but made significant changes to military marriages for all different ranks. Could it be, given the long-term connection between these two, that whatever has gone on resulted in a recognisable military marriage?

Regardless of the conflicting thoughts for everyone that his words had created Matthew continued "Joseph, your team needs to escort my wife, the imam and the victims up to Ben, taking your captives. The captives all need to be taken back to the base hospital and given a full medical check, with statements taken and they are to be sent to the appropriate hospital for any other treatment, when there is enough assistance on site to take them back. Tell Ben that he needs to stay on site with my wife until there is enough help from the base not only to deal with the medical site, but to assist us in here, and then he is to stay with her at the military hospital until I get there. Make sure he knows to care for the Imam as well and that they know when he has been checked out that he is to be take to the guest quarters on base for his protection. When you come back, someone needs to secure the ELINT, and the rest of you need to return to help deal with the terrorists in the other corridor, where I am heading."

Lexi moved towards Matthew, and quietly but angrily said "Matthew Rong, you b*stard. I am not your wife, just get that straight."

Matthew knew that this was not the time for the conversation that he needed to have with her, so he quietly turned and said "Lexi, this is not the place or time to argue. Go with Joseph, you will be safe."

Sneeringly Lexi replied, "Yeah right Matthew."

"Lexi, I am not asking him to do something he has not done before for you. You need to get out of this safely. Regardless of anything else, I could not face Chester, Andrew and Phillip if you were hurt after we have been located by our rescuers. That would be inexcusable."

.**Apologies for the technical terms. remember, Matthew is, in part, an intelligence officer, and when communicating with others regarding intelligence matters, so he will use technical language. ELINT, refers to electronic intelligence, which includes data on computers (which the soldiers previously located) and HUMIT or HUMINT is human intelligence as it implies is intelligence from people, in this case the terrorists that the soldiers incapacitated earlier.

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