The gentle hum of the helicopter's blade was deafening compared to the silence in the cockpit. I had pulled rank on Kris, something I hoped to never do for the sake of our friendship, but she had given me no choice. My decision to rescue the boy had already been made and there was no time to argue about it. Hopefully she would forgive me.

My thoughts drifted to the boy that was secured firmly in my lap. His jet black hair had a streak of blond near his temple. I doubted it had been dyed that way, given he was being used as a human experiment, but it would also be odd for it to grow that way naturally. He was surprisingly well groomed. His nails were short and rounded, his hair had been neatly cut, and his pale skin was clean.

A bump of turbulence made the boy's head bounce on my shoulder. He was out cold. Whatever the Germans had done to him in that chair it completely exhausted him. I wondered how long he had been in that place. The metal framework imbedded in his spine didn't look new. His skin had healed around it as though it had always been a part of him.

"Captain, we've got company," Kris said. An armed helicopter appeared in the distance ahead of us. My heart skipped a beat.

"Stick to the shadows. We should be able to lose them in the darkness," I replied. Kris turned, changing course and headed towards the trees. Our helicopter was made for stealth. It would become practically invisible in the shadows.

The armed helicopter followed us, as if it new exactly where we were. There was no way they could see us though. If they had they would have opened fire already. Unless they weren't trying to shoot us down? But the only reason they'd hesitate to do that was if they wanted us alive? My heart raced. They must have been after the boy.

"Breaker, toss me your GPS bug detector," I said, removing my straps. The boy remained asleep even as I laid him down on the floor.

I scanned the boy's body with the bug detector. As I suspected there was a GPS tracking device implanted within the metal construct at the base of his neck. Fuck. How could I be so stupid. It was the first thing I should have checked for when I freed him.

Pressing my fingers into the back of his neck, I felt around for the device. When a piece of metal beneath the boy's skin moved I knew I had found it. The rest of his hardware was solid and unmoving. I pulled my knife from my boot and cut into his skin. Blood trickled down his shoulder, but he didn't move. How was he still unconscious?

I fished the device from his neck and was greeted by a flashing red light. Grabbing an end of the blanket that was still wrapped around the boy, I pressed it into his wound to stop the bleeding. He didn't stir at all.

"Take us as low as you can," I said to Kris. She nodded and began our decent.

We hovered just above the ground at the edge of a tree line. Opening the side door, I threw the device into the trees. With any luck our pursuers would go after it on foot and lose sight of us in the darkness.

"Get us out of here," I said.

Kris weaved through the trees as she took us up. I would've been throw about the cockpit had Noob not grabbed a hold of my shoulder. His hand steadied me as I kept the boy's wound covered. The helicopter leveled out, but my relief didn't come until Kris gave the all clear.

Lifting the boy, I climbed back into my seat beside Kris. I was careful to keep the blanket pressed firmly against his wound, he would need stitches once we got back to the base. Kris glanced my way, but didn't say anything. I could tell something was on her mind though.

"What is it?" I asked.

"Don't you think it's odd? We broke into a top secret base, stole project information, and destroyed what we couldn't take with us, but when they had the chance to take us down they didn't," Kris said. Her eyes fell to the sleeping boy on my lap.

I didn't say anything, but I knew we were thinking the same thing. Why was this boy so important to them? And to what lengths would they go to get him back?

The remainder of our journey back to the USAG Grafenwoehr base was quiet. It was nearly 4:00am when we landed in the hanger. We were the last squad to return and the others had already headed to bed. My men were tired so I dismissed them, but Kris stuck around. She went with me to the infirmary.

Cradling the boy in my arms I lead the way. When I ducked into the medical tent I found a nurse playing a game on his phone. It must have been a quiet night for him. He jumped from his stool and tucked his phone into his pocket when he noticed us.

"What can I do you for?" he asked.

"He needs stitches," I said as I laid the boy out on one of the open medical tables. There were four of them lined up in the middle of the tent, with cabinets full of supplies behind them along one side.

The doctor went straight to the cabinets. Grabbing what he needed he placed the supplies on one of the rolling trays and came over to us. I watched as he peeled back the blood stained blanket. In the bright light the dried blood nearly looked black.

"What am I supposed to be suturing?" the doctor asked as he wiped the blood from the boys neck. I stared in disbelief. The cut I had made in his neck to retrieve the GPS tracker was gone. It was as if I had never cut him.