1400 hours,

Unknown Muisca Ruins,

Deep in the Venezuela Rainforest

“Have any Kings?” Dylan asked, his eyes peering over towards Andre.

Andre looked up, his eyes trying in some small measure to hide the fact that he did, in fact, have a King. “What if I told you… the king was just an illusion?”

Dylan paused a moment with the look of pure bewilderment, “And what if I told you that my hand slapping your face was also an illusion?”

“Well, given the size of those hands… I doubt I could really see it as such.” Andre shot back with a grin across his features.

Though before anything more could be said, William walked up behind Andre pulling the King from his hand before passing it over to Dylan. “HA! I win bitch!”

“Way to ruin my physiological attack bro.” Grumbled Andre who threw his remaining cards on the makeshift table.

The blonde haired officer just shrugged while smiling. “Yeah, yeah. You lost the moment you went against Bull… guy never loses at any game when he has that hat on.” As he made his reply he pointed towards the hat that Dylan was current wearing.

Slumping against his chair, he had to agree, “True enough…”

Dylan grinned smugly while patting his lucky cameo cap. “No one can best the Bull when I wear the hat.”

The three men laughed aloud as they relaxed in their little home away from home. “Anything out of the ordinary up there Evan?” Will requested from his younger brother.

Far off to the small sniper nest which he had made, Evan keyed his earpiece. “Nothing so far…” Yawning in the mist of his report, he quickly tried to rub the exhaustion from his eyes before continuing. “Honestly, all I’ve seen is a number of unique birds.”

William nodded, “Heh… well keep your eyes peeled for anything out of the ordinary, god knows something about this whole job you got us into stinks.”

“Yeah, yeah. I’ll keep you posted. Out.”

With that, the elder Anderson stood silent for a moment as he tapped his fingers against the map that was now spread out over a table. All in all their little HQ was made up to look like a forward operating base… just less gear and staff. Either way, it suited the needs of the former rangers, more so as they had so far only been doing the job they were hired for, security. Dylan looked over at William for a moment seeing him nervously tap a map in thought. With a heavy sigh, and knowing he had to help break the silence he leaned back against his chair, before pulling out a pack of cherry flavored cigars from under his tactical vest.

Throwing the pack on the table to get his friends attention, “Man, I wouldn’t worry too much about it. The more you look at that map the more insane you look to the rest of us.”

“More insane?” William asked brow raised.

“More than usual, yeah.” Andre joined in with a slash of a grin once more across his features.

Dylan chuckled softly as he pulled a small cigar from his pack and placed it between his lips, “I take that back, you’ll look saner.” As he finished making his little quip he lit the cigar, sweet smelling smoke soon filling up the tent.

Rolling his eyes with a laugh, William pulled up a chair and sat down before grabbing a cigar from the pack and doing the same as Dylan.

Andre on the other hand just smiled shaking his head before pulling up his wrist to check his watch. “Well, time to make my rounds.”

Dylan and William both nodded in reply as they watched Andre get up from his seat, grabbing his MK18, and strapping his ops-core helmet on. “You’re on in two Shorty.”

Bull watched a moment longer. “Well, I’m on too. I’ll start patrolling the left side. You got comms Will?” Dylan asked patting his friend’s shoulder.

“Yeah, I’ll monitor things here until Andre returns then I’ll take up his post.”

Nodding in response Dylan grabbed his own kit, ensuring old faithful was strapped to his back, while he held his own MK18. “Kay sounds good bro.”

Within a few moments, both men were gone, leaving the former officer to monitor the comms. So as Andre made his way to conduct the routine patrol he found himself pausing a moment to look over at the work being done at the ruins, that were now starting to appear white in as the academics began to strip the vegetation and overgrowth from the stonework. Taking a glance down at two of the archeologists who were discussing something with Erynn, Richardson pulled out his water bottle, whilst letting his MK18 hang from its strap for a moment.

“So, how goes the excavation?” He asked as he crouched down.

Erynn was the first to look over at him before giving him a small nod in acknowledgment. “It goes. So far we’ve uncovered a few artifacts that seem to more or less answer a few questions… or well will answer.”

Richardson paused a moment, looking at her before looking over at the other researchers who tried to avoid his gaze as if they were hiding something. “Huh, that’s cool I guess. Any chance we’d be able to see some of these artifacts before the trips over?”

An honest question and one that would have often come with a yes, but sadly it seemed this whole trip was laden with a lot of silence and no’s as their employer raised a brow as if suggesting he should know the answer.

With an awkward laugh, Andre made his reply, “Right… Well, I’ll just get back to my patrol.”

“Mhm, thank you, Richardson.” Was all she said in reply before turning to oversee what the two archeologists were covering up.

As he pushed himself up he caught a glimpse of some kind of golden object, though he couldn’t make out the rest of its features as he had to walk away to avoid suspicion. “Fucking odd man…” He mumbled softly to himself before turning his attention back to his front.

Back at the overwatch position that both Lucas and Evan were stationed at, both men were watching all the possible entrances to the ruins. Lucas let out a small sigh in both boredom and annoyance as he looked through his Scope.

“This sucks~”

Evan looked over, taking a moment to rest his eyes. “Yeah, well no one said this job would be fun… hell, at least we’re in a shaded area.”

Lucas shrugged lightly, “Meh, whatever works I suppose. Though… gotta say, I miss my weed bro…”

“… Man, I still can’t believe how much you started to smoke once we all retired.” Evan said before looking through his scope once more.

Turning away, Lucas chuckled, “Well… it’s a great way to mellow out.”

“I suppose so.” As Evan replied he suddenly noticed birds come flying out from the jungle. “Shit… something’s wrong, look over there.”

Lucas squinted as he watched the birds fly away, a frown soon appearing across his face. “I’ll get the guys on the comms, keep your eyes on that area there.”

Evan didn’t need to be told twice, or rather he didn’t need to be told at all as he was already aiming his M110 down range. His brown eyes looking for any signs of activity near the area the place the wildlife was rushing away from.

“Scout to HQ. Possible contacts coming from our north, get ready to greet guests. How copy? Over.”

William quickly tapped his ear piece, “Solid copy. Thanks for the heads up. If they appear hostile rain some lead down on them. Over.”

Lucas looked over at Evan, patting his shoulder. “You have the go order to fire at your discretion. If they look hostile, you take them out.” He then keyed his comms once more, “Copy. Getting ready to provide covering fire. Out.”

William quickly rushed out of the large olive green tent, his head on a swivel as he looked for both Andre and Dylan, whom he was quick to spot come rushing towards him. “You guys get the report?”

Dylan and Andre both nodded, “Yeah bro. What’s the game plan?” Andre followed up quickly.

“First and foremost is getting those researchers to safety. Dylan, can you get our people to the vehicles? Once that’s done, I need you to rejoin us and help us prepare for possible contact.” Then turning to Andre. “Andre, you’re with me. We’ll start prepping our defenses.”

“Good thing we set some sort of barricades earlier,” Andre noted before looking over at Dylan who nodded in response before opening his mouth to reply.

“Got it. I’ll link up with you guys once I’m done.” Within moments Dylan was rushing towards the researchers, “Everyone, pack your shit, and get to the vehicles. Erynn, Katie, you’ll both need to act as their protectors for the duration of the emergency.”

All the OGL researchers looked up at Dylan, fear evident in their eyes as they saw their protectors begin to take up defensive firing positions to the north. “What’s happening Mr. Smith?” Erynn asked in a cold yet slightly anxious tone.

“We’ve got contacts coming up to our north, following our previous route. Anderson just wants to be safe, so he wants all of you ready to evacuate should the worst happen.” As he explained the reasoning behind the emergency he quickly helped Katie up who was climbing up.

Patting the moss and dirt off her pants Katie grinned, “Well, ‘bout damn time we got to have some fun.”

Dylan raised a brow for a moment, “Yeah… well, just be ready for whatever.” To help illustrate his point he undid his shotgun and handed it over to the brown haired pilot. “I’m sure I don’t need to tell you how to use old faithful there. Even you guys in the chair force had to take your yearly firearms test.”

Katie chuckled softly shaking her head. “Don’t worry, I’ll make good use of her.”

“Here, you’ll need these too.” Dylan then passed her his shotgun ammo. “Get them out of here.” Then with that, Dylan quickly rushed off to regroup with Andre and William who were quickly getting set up behind their makeshift cover.

“They going to be okay?” Andre asked as he brought his MK18 up, adjusting his sights.

Dylan shrugged as he leaned against one of the barriers. “Don’t honestly know. They got that one Air Force chick with them, and the scary employer of ours, so I think they should be good.”

“All we can do is make sure they don’t have to fight or need to drive away.” William said, joining in. “I’m pretty sure I don’t need to remind you gents to watch your sectors.”

“Pfft, bitch, that’s something we need to tell you.” Andre joked.

The three friends laughed, “True enough I suppose.”

Then as the three men got into positions, their Ops-Core helmets firmly atop their heads (save Bull who preferred to wear just his lucky hat over his helmet), they readied themselves for whatever was heading their way. Looking into the dense jungle they wondered who or what was approaching before suddenly the sound of engines could be heard.

“Jeeps…” Dylan muttered softly.

Looking over towards the overwatch position, or at least the general area of it, Will pressed his ear piece. “What’s it looking like up there?”

Evan and Lucas both frowned slightly as they saw a small convoy of silver jeeps come barreling through the jungle. Quickly both men spotted what looked like Mexican cartels, each looking as though they were spoiling for a fight rather than a peaceful meet and greet.

“Uh… kinda fucked, but looks like we got a bunch of Cartels heading your way, and they don’t look like they’re here to say hello either.” As Lucas made his report he looked over at Evan who was already taking into account the distance, the wind, grain of the powder, and the angle of decent.

William looked over at Andre and Dylan who both looked at him in return as if they were speaking with their eyes, telling Will to give the order to fuck them up. “If you have a shot… you take the fuckers down.”

A sick grin soon appeared across Evan’s face, one which Lucas noticed but decided to ignore it as he quickly returned to range finding and spotting for their marksman. “Copy. Will deliver the payload. Out.”

The jungle was suddenly silent, save the sound of the vehicles approaching at high speed. The former rangers each lining up their shots, each man ready for the coming battle. Despite having little to go on, the men chose to instead trust their guts that told them the people coming weren’t here to warn them or giving them a friendly greeting. After the report given by Lucas and Evan, it seemed a group of Narcos were heading their way spoiling for a fight and armed to the teeth… or well as well armed as they could be given the fact that they were more than likely untrained men. However, the thought that these men could be a trained militia was still a very real threat but given their past experience in dealing with the Mexican cartels… they tended to be untrained murderers who just enjoyed the act of fighting and killing. Nevertheless, each of the former rangers would give them the same respect they gave all their enemies.

Suddenly, from one of the clearings to the north they spotted them, and the men in each of the open topped jeeps began to stand up and aim their AK’s, or Uzi’s their way, basically clearing up any worries. And the sight was all Evan needed before he fired off his first round. The sound of the round whizzing through the air until… pop, it smacked into the head of the first jeep’s driver, his head blowing up in a gory mess of bloody paste before his limp limbs quickly sent the jeep into a turn and roll. The two men standing in the back having been promptly killed when the jeep turned over snapping and crushing their upper bodies that remained on the jungle floor. The passenger was also not so long as the bullet that had killed his friend traveled through and punctured his chest and lungs… he’d die quickly as his blood soon filled his lungs.

The other three rangers didn’t waste any time either as they each took calm concentrated breaths before popping off a few two round bursts as the second, third, and fourth vehicles. The cartels in the remaining jeeps quickly swerved around, before the remaining hostiles quickly climbed out trying to seek cover as they blindly began to fire towards the general direction of Dylan, Andre, and William.

The three rangers calmly returned fire, William turning to Andre and Dylan for a moment. “I count fifteen hostiles! Evan, even the odds a bit more!”

Evan began to bob his head as if he was listening to some sort of song in his head before he took his second shot. The sound of the round cracking past two of the cartels before it smashed into the left arm of another, the bullet stopping at his heart killing the man instantly as he collapsed lifelessly. Not stopping with his fire he fired off two more rounds, one missing, smashing into a nearby tree while the second splashed into the head of another narco, his headless body spurting blood onto his buddy who let out a small yelp before William spotted him. Squeezing the trigger, he sent two rounds into the screaming man’s torso. Reeling around, the once screaming man fell silent as he died next to the bloody remains of his friend.

“One-hundred meters, to your four Dylan!” Andre shouted.

Dylan quickly spun around, his hand gripping the foregrip tightly, his fingers feeling the hard plastic grip dig into his palms before he fired off a burst towards the forewarned opponent whose head snapped back as one of the rounds ripped through his forehead, killing him instantly. “Reloading!” Bull shouted, letting the others know as he slipped behind cover to reload.

“Copy, covering fire!” William barked as he began to lay down suppressing fire on the other narco’s who continued to try and return fire.

The Narco rounds cracked and snapped past their heads, but each of the three just ignored them, merely watching the direction and angle of the weapons being fired at them to get an idea where they were bound to hit, only popping into cover the moment they noticed the barrels point their way. And so the two sides continued to exchange heavy fire, though the five rangers were clearly coming out on top fairly quickly as the attackers continued to drop one by one, by a mix of assault rifle and sniper fire.

Looking at the dwindling numbers, William waved forward. “Let’s fucking murder these fucks.” He growled as he began to move at the fire ready along with his two other brothers whose eyes became as cold as ice, mercy no longer in their mind as the three continued to fire at the remaining five who were now huddling behind a tree, fear clearly displayed on each of their panicked faces. They had attacked the wrong group of people… and they were paying for their mistake with their lives.

As the three moved in, they fired at the fifth and four men, killing them instantly with shots to the forearm then to their necks and head. As their lifeless bodies dropped, the three came around seeing the remaining cartels throw down their weapons, their hands above their heads in surrender. It was then that the three quickly calmed down, their hearts still racing however as the closed the distance.

“We’re clear… nice shooting guys.” Dylan announced as he was the first to lower his weapon, while Andre kept his trained on the three men that remained.

The three cartel fighters were covered in blood, mud, and snot as hot tears streamed down their faces. The fear from seeing their entire group wiped out by such a small group having more or less broken them to the point they now found themselves in.

Looking down at the three William nodded for Dylan to restrain each of them. “Let’s get them back to camp so we can get some answers… I don’t like how random this attack was.”

Within moments the three men were restrained, their hands bound with zip ties. Pushing the three onto the dry dirt, Dylan pulled up a chair from one of the nearby tents before sitting on it. His eyes looking intently into their own swollen ones. As he did Erynn and Katie came walking towards the group.

“These the assholes that attacked us?” Erynn asked as she stopped beside William.

Will looked down at her then back at the three men on their knees. “Yeah… these are them. Didn’t take much to beat them. Hell… the Taliban were harder to fight than these asshats.”

Their employer just stared at the three men with an icy expression. “I see…”

As she looked at them three cartel gunmen saw her, and their eyes went wide in recognition. One of them opened his mouth to speak but before he could say anything, Erynn quickly drew her berretta 9mm and quickly pulled the trigger, executing all three with cold efficiency.

Dylan stood up throwing his hands up in the air, “What the fuck was that?!”

Andre just stood there, resting his arms over his assault rifle, whistling softly in surprise. “Damn girl… you’re quite the savage one, aren’t you?”

Will on the other hand just looked at her for a moment, his eyes shooting daggers into hers before he grabbed her by the scruff of her collar and slammed her against a nearby tree forcing her to let out a small gasp in pain and shock before William scanned her eyes with his own. His gaze was cold and murderous. Quickly Katie brought the shotgun up to try and get him to stand down but was stopped quickly by the crack of a round that smacked the dirt next to her. Dylan quickly brought his own weapon up, aiming it at the researchers cautiously, while Andre aimed his at Katie, who quickly lowered her weapon and gently dropped it on the ground.

“Want to tell me what you’re doing Mr. Anderson?” Erynn asked, her tone sounding as threatening as it could before she was abruptly silenced as William put pressure on her chest with his elbow.

“No, I think that’s something I need to ask you, ma’am. You want to tell me what the fuck just happened there?” He growled as he continued to put pressure on Erynn.

“F-fine… just… ease up.” She grunted in reply.

Easing up on her grip he slowly backed away, taking her pistol with him before turning it on her, the muzzle of the still hot weapon aimed directly at her forehead. “Now… are you going to tell me why they recognized you? And what we’re looking for here?”

His question was sound, and the petite woman frowned softly as she patted herself off. “No point hiding it anymore I suppose… not if you’re just going to put a bullet in my skull.” She said, knowing full well the look this man was giving her was the not the one of a bluffing man, but the look of a man ready to kill.

“First of all, I suppose I should answer your main question…” She continued as she glanced over towards the three dead Narcos. “These men were more than likely hired to hinder, kill, or kidnap our researchers here.”

Dylan looked at the three dead men before crouching down and looking for any evidence to back up Erynn’s story. Plus with her actually answering everything without putting up a fight he no longer needed to worry about Katie or any of the researchers who were still nervously watching from the side.

Looking up towards William he brought up a small piece of paper with some orders. “Found this on one bodies, not sure what it says, though… I don’t speak Spanish.”

Andre grabbed the sheet from Bull’s hand, “From what I can make out, seems like it matches our employer’s story. These boys were indeed hired to kidnap our civies.”

William’s eyes never left Erynn’s as he opened his mouth to reply, “Well, that’s one question answered...” He paused a moment, debating whether or not to lower the weapon, “Now, for the second.” With these words, he chose to keep it up.

Erynn sighed and shrugged as she cast her gaze to the ground before she pulled out a small notebook from her cargo pants pocket. “Everything you need to know is here. Though I can tell you now, you may not like what it says.” Her warning fell on deaf ears as Dylan walked up and grabbed the notebook.

“We’ll be the judges of that.” Will replied calmly as their team mechanic began to go through it.

As Bull read through the notebook, his eyes began to grow wider and wider, “The fuck…”

He was in utter shock, it was as though they had stepped into a spy movie by what he was reading, secret organizations fighting a shadow war, lost civilizations, treasures with the power to destroy whole nations… It sounded incredibly odd and highly improbable. Though Dylan just shrugged it off as he continued to read on, trying to figure out who it was they were fighting. As he continued to read on, there was one name that stuck out, one that gave him an eerily familiar shiver upon seeing.

“Andrew Reynolds…” Whispering the words back to himself he tapped the name with his right index finger.

It was then that he popped up looking at Andre who gave him a puzzled look, “Andrew Reynolds!”

“Who?”

“That CIA fuck that sold us out back in Afghanistan.”

Andre and William’s eyes both went wide in shock for a moment. “Wait, how the fuck?...”

Dylan shrugged, “Says here that that asshat is the one leading a group of other assholes hell bent on collecting lost treasures… much like the Nazi’s were before and during the second world war.” As he explained he shook his head with a small chuckle, “Sounds like something straight out of an adventure novel man.”

Andre raised a brow before he lowered his weapon. “Well shit… so, looks like we get to an answer to our prayers.” Looking over at William who also lowered his weapon, he gave a reassuring grin. “Finally got a shot at getting the fuck that sold us out.”

Erynn just stared at the three men, giving an unsurprised look as if she knew what they were talking about before she crossed her arms over her chest. “Yes… well… now you know, and now you know why we also hired you.”

The three men paused for a moment before each of them looked at her. “What? You think it was by mere chance that we hired the five of you?” She questioned, a small grin growing across her scarred face. “Believe me, that ad we sent you was not some random help wanted advert… no, rather it was sent to you specifically, and the reason why?”

“Was because we’re the only five outside the military and government looking for this guy…” William answered.

“Correct.”

Dylan narrowed his gaze, “But that still doesn’t explain how you knew of us… or even how to find us.”

Erynn let out a small laugh before shaking her head once more, “Really? Do you not remember what your former CO told you? I believe he said something along the lines of, ‘I’ll handle things on my end’, correct?” She didn’t actually need them to answer it, the look on their faces was enough of an answer already. “That’s right, your former Commander, Sigismund is a member of our little organization. So when you five left the army claiming you were going to go on the hunt for Reynolds, we quickly began planning the current expedition you’re now a part of.”

“Oh shit! So… you mean, the reason we couldn’t land a job anywhere, was because you fuckers blacklisted us?” Andre asked.

Erynn nodded, “Precisely. Well done Sergeant.”

Andre felt his anger swell up for a moment but quickly stowed it, knowing full well how pointless it would be for him to be angry.

“Then how did I land a job?” Dylan quickly followed up.

Erynn turned to Bull and gave a small shrug. “People need experienced mechanics I suppose.”

Dylan just nodded knowing full well that was the best he was going to get.

William closed his eyes for a moment as he raised his hand to silence any other questions. “First… I want to say sorry for the way we treated you there, and second… thanks for finally answering our question. But, we still have one more question.”

Raising a brow, “And what would that be?”

“What is it we’re searching for?” Dylan interjected as he pushed William aside as if saying 'you’re not my boss’.

Stumbling for a moment as Dylan pushed him aside, “What he said.”

“Well… as you more than likely read there Mr. Smith, we’re looking for artifacts. Lost treasures said to hold the powers of myth and legend.” She replied smoothly before suddenly the elderly expert walked up and rested his hand on her shoulder as if telling her that he would take it from here.

The greying old man looked at them with tired eyes, the fear of the previous battle long since gone. “I believe I should answer any more questions related to what we’re looking.”

William waved his hand in a circle as if motioning for him to get on with it.

Coughing away his annoyance at the gesture the doctor continued. “Well, as you may have guessed these ruins we’re examining are NOT your average set of ruins. Rather… these ruins you’re seeing now are actually the ruins of the lost ‘white city’, as you can plainly see by the white walls which surround the site.”

Whistling in amazement, Andre walked up to rejoin his two friends; his anger now gone. “So, what you’re telling us is… we’re some of the first people to walk among a site no one’s been too in centuries?”

The doctor nodded, “Indeed, four-hundred to be exact.”

“Not going to lie, that’s fucking cool.”

Dylan pursed his lips and nodded, “Yeah… almost makes up for being shot at.”

“Pfft, you can’t lie to us Shorty, we know once you heard that you forgave all.”

“You wanna be bitch slapped Tyrone, for my pimp hand is strong?” Joked Dylan who raised his hand.

“"Yeah well my duck is strong. How about that?"

Dylan paused a moment, “Damn… you beat me this time Tyrone… this time.”

Both men laughed and William just sighed before a small grin formed on his face. “So, what is exactly that we’re trying to find here then? I can’t imagine you guys came to this ruin to the standard excavation.”

The old man nodded while running his hand through his grey beard. “It’s as you say, we’re not here to document and or look at the ruins as they are… we’ll leave that to other scholars. No, what we’re here for is a clue… a clue that will hopefully lead us to the fabled city of gold.”

As he named the location they were looking for the three friends didn’t know how to respond, with Andre and Dylan pausing in a mid-slap fight to stare in both shock and amazement.

“Wait… what did you just say? I don’t think I heard you correctly, did you say the city of gold?” Dylan asked, quickly breaking the silence.

Andre raised his finger up to point at Dylan, “What he asked.”

William did the same, pointing to Dylan.

Smiling for a brief moment the aging doctor Linville gave a slight nod, “That’s correct, I said the city of gold, or as it’s famously referred as… El Dorado.”

The rangers didn’t know how to respond, they couldn’t, and just the name alone was enough to have all three think the same thing, ‘Fffuuucccckkkk~’. Despite sharing the thought, none of them voiced their thoughts on the matter, just remained silent and still.

It wasn’t until William looked back at his two brothers in arms with a worried expression plastered across his face, “We gotta tell the others.”