*I'm sorry I'm late, but life has gotten in the way so I haven't be able to write in this one, but I will continue. Thanks…

Part 3 – New Member

Ben awoke early the next morning to pack a bag to leave for Hereford, as his sister walked into the room, she saw her brother looking for his beret.

"You won't find it there," Sarah said as she stood in the door, holding the beret which she had cleaned.

Ben walked over, and took the beret from her hands, "Thanks," he said.

"Come home soon," Sarah said, "Ok?"

"I promise," Ben said as he kissed his sister on the forehead, "You take care of the farm so I have something to come home to."

"I'll have plenty of help," Sarah said, "You take care of yourself."

"Trust me," Ben said as he walked over to his bedside table, and pulled out his father's Vietnam-era Colt 1911, "You know my methods."

Ben got dressed in his fatigues, "Fits exactly the same," he thought as he walked downstairs with his bag over his shoulder to see his Nephews and Niece waiting for him.

Ben put his bag down, and walked over to them, "How long will you be gone," Kenny asked.

"I don't know," Ben said, "But I won't be gone long, I promise."

"Come home soon, ok," Ben's niece, Maria Malone asked as Ben moved on to her.

"Ok," Ben said, "I'll bring you back something nice."

Ben finally moved onto his youngest nephew, Adam Malone who was no older than four, "Can I count on you to pick up the slack around the farm," Ben asked.

"You know you can," Adam said, "Will you bring me back something?"

"You know I will," Ben said as he looked at his niece and second nephew, "All of you."

Kenny, Maria, and Adam hugged Ben as the dog started barking outside, "I think your ride is here," David said as Ben stood up to look at him, "You take care now."

"You know I will," Ben said as he hugged David, when they pulled apart, he spoke, "You take care of my sister and the kids alright?"

"Ok," David said, "Good luck, Sergeant."

Ben walked outside to see the Suburbans pull up, and Thermite stepped out, "I see you've taken our offer into consideration," he said as he held out his hand, "You in?"

Ben shook Thermite's hand, "You bet your ass I'm in," he said.

Thermite opened the trunk of the Suburban, and as Ben threw his bag in, he saw Valkyrie giving Ben a slight nod.

As Ben entered the Suburban, Valkyrie reached over the seat, and put her hand on his shoulder, "Welcome to Rainbow Six," she said.

"Thanks," Ben said.

The plane that was charted to take them back to Hereford was a C130 Hercules, it would be a long trip back to Hereford, Ben didn't mind, when he was in the Green Berets, he often spent long times on planes.

While sitting on the plane, he decided to clean his gun, his father's Colt 1911 was no ordinary 1911, primarily because the grips were carved deer antlers.

"That thing vintage," Ash asked as she sat next to Ben.

"Yea," Ben said, "My dad carried it throughout his entire career. I used a 1911 during my time in the Green Berets, just not this one."

"Those grips… deer antler," Ash asked.

"Yes," Ben said, "And your birthplace… Jerusalem?"

"How'd you know," Ash asked.

"Your accent," Ben said, "And the way you carry yourself. You carry yourself like you've been in the fight since you were sixteen, and I've worked with several IDF soldiers, and they all carry themselves exactly the same as you do."

"You should consider a career in the F.B.I.," Ash said, "You'd make one hell of a Profiler."

Hereford, England…

As soon as the plane touched down in Herford, Ben pulled out his Beret and slid it onto his head.

As the ramp on the plane lowered, a single open-cab HMMWV pulled up, a single British Private was waiting for them, "Ben Lovecraft," the Private asked.

"Yes," Ben asked.

"I'm under the instruction of Six to bring you straight to the central building," he said.

"Well met," Ben said.

Ben put his duffle bag into the back of the HMMWV and climbed in next to the Private, "It's not every day you get to sit next to a legend," the Private said.

The Private was male, about five foot eight, buzz-cut brown hair, and looked very innocent as if he had just joined the British Military.

"A legend," Ben asked.

"You do have the codename of 'Wolf' right," the Private asked.

"That was years ago," Ben said.

"They said you're second to none when it comes to shooting," the Private said, "And you could have taken an entire platoon from twelve hundred yards away."

"I was good," Ben said.

"They said you would be humble," the Private said as they pulled up in front of the main building, "Here we are, Six is waiting for you inside."

As Ben walked inside, there was a small congregation of soldiers running back and forth, most of them seemed to notice him, he probably saved some of them in Iraq or Afghanistan.

He was then greeted by a very beautiful German girl with blonde hair and brown eyes, "Ben Lovecraft," she asked.

"Yes," Ben said as he held out his hand, "Nice to meet you Mrs. …"

"Ms., I'm not married," she said as she shook his hand, "I'm Monika Weiss, but everyone calls me IQ."

"Let me guess," Ben said, "GSG 9?"

"Yes," IQ said, "You really do have an intuitive mind."

"I'm sure you have one yourself," Ben said, "I talked to some of your teammates on the plane. MIT and Caltech graduate? I look forward to seeing what you can do."

"Thanks," IQ said, "This way, Six is waiting."

Ben followed IQ down the halls before arriving outside the main briefing room, upon entering, Six was just getting off of a call.

"Yes, Mr. President," Six said as she looked up, and raised a finger, "I understand sir. It'll be taken care of. Thank you, sir."

As soon as Six hung up, Ben and IQ snapped to attention, "Ma'am," Ben said.

"At ease," Six said as she walked up to Ben and held out her hand, "Ben Lovecraft, it's an honor to meet you."

"I'm the one honored here," Ben said as he shook Six's hand.

"Please," Six said as she signaled Ben over to one of the chairs, "Take a seat."

Ben sat down at the end of the table, with Six sitting at the head, "I'll be outside if you need me, ma'am," IQ said.

"Thank you IQ," Six said, "Dismissed."

IQ snapped to attention before leaving the room, leaving Six and Ben to talk, "You'll forgive me if I don't really know why I'm here," Ben said, "I haven't spoken to Ghost in years."

"We need to know how he operates," Six said, "If Ghost is involved, we need the closest thing we can get to an expert on him."

"I'll assist in any way I can," Ben said, "It's why I signed up in the first place."

"Good," Six said, "We now have a Green Beret on the team. What do you need to start?"

"Identifying that it's Ghost," Ben asked, "I'll need to speak to the team you sent on the previous mission."

"Of course," Six said as she pressed on the intercom button on the desk, "Would you please send IQ back in?"

"Of course, ma'am," the receptionist outside said.

As the doors opened, and IQ stepped in, she stood at attention, "Lieutenant," she said, "Assemble the team that was on the Berlin job."

"Yes, ma'am," IQ said.

"And I'd also like to talk to the crewman that was injured," Ben said.

"Yes, Ben," IQ said.

"I think you have to call him by his code name," Six said as she pointed at IQ.

"Ok then," IQ said as he she lightly tapped Ben on the chest, "Come on, Wolf."

"Of course," Ben said as he stood up, then turned toward Six, and saluted her, "Ma'am."

"Wolf," Six said.

As Ben and IQ walked out, Ben looked over at IQ, and asked, "You think the team will accept a new wolf joining the pack?"

"I don't think the pack will mind," IQ said as they exited the building, and walked up to a parked Chenowth Scorpion, "Right now, so long as you help us catch Ghost, you'll be welcome in like you've always been here."

"Indeed," Ben said as the entered the Scorpion, "Is there a briefing on the mission in Berlin?"

"Right here," IQ said as she unzipped her vest, pulled out a small file, and handed it to Ben.

"Alright," Ben said as he opened the file, "Which member of the team was injured?"

"That would be Emmanuelle Pichon," IQ said as she pointed to Twitch's picture, "But everybody on Rainbow calls her Twitch."

"Ok," Ben said, "Who carried her out of the Embassy?"

"Mike Baker," IQ said as she pointed at Thatcher's picture, "We call him Thatcher."

"He also applied the tourniquet," Ben asked.

"Yes," IQ said.

Ben gave a small, "Hmm," before they arrived at the base's infirmary.

The area of the infirmary they entered was specially designated for members of Rainbow Six.

"IQ," Sledge said as he looked over his shoulder at her.

"You know, it's traditional to Shake the hand of a new member," IQ said.

"What… IQ," Sledge said before seeing Ben, "Oh shit. Here he is," Sledge walked over to him, and shook his hand, "Welcome to Rainbow."

"At ease," Ben said as he held up his hand, "It's a shock to me too."

Ben and IQ walked over to Twitch's bed where she was still resting, "Sir," she said as she saluted Ben, "Sorry I can't get up."

"It's alright," Ben said as he held out his hand, "Enchanté. Comment ça va?"

"Pas mal," Twitch said as she shook Ben's hand.

"And the leg," Ben asked as he pointed to the bandage on Twitch's thigh.

"Been better," Twitch said, "Doc says I should be on me feet within a week."

"Good," Ben said, "I look forward to seeing what you can do."

"We all look forward to having her back," Doc said as he walked up to them and held out his hand, "Gustave Kateb. Everyone calls me Doc."

"You're the one that stabilized her," Ben asked as he shook Doc's hand.

"Yes," Doc said, "Needless to say she was lucky. Shrapnel came within half an inch of her femoral artery."

"Joy and an honor," Ben said, "Can I see the shrapnel?"

"We threw it out after we returned, but I did make a 3D copy of it using photographs and the shape of Twitch's wound," Doc said as he walked over to a small drawer, and produced a plastic replica of the shard of metal he pulled out of Twitch's leg.

"Damn," Ben said as he took the plastic replica from Doc's hands, "That's a big piece," he then positioned the piece on the side of Twitch's leg to see the damage area, "Ok," he then looked back at Doc, "I'm impressed, thing was resting right against her artery. If your hand had shaken once this woman would be dead. Good work."

"Thanks," Doc said as Ben handed the plastic replica back to him.

"I need to see you, and the rest of the team on that mission in the briefing room," Ben said, "There are a few things we need to go over."

"You got it," Doc said as he went back to work.

Briefing room, twenty minutes later…

The footage they were watching was from the camera mounted to their guns, particularly, Twitch's FAMAS (for now). As they were approaching the corner that Valkyrie mentioned.

"I told them to stay aware of this corner," Valkyrie said, "It'd be the perfect place to set up an ambush as it's wide open, and easily defendable."

"Wise use of caution," Ben said.

After Twitch put her droid down, Sledge spoke up, "That little droid has saved our lives many times over."

"She built it herself," Ben asked.

"Yes," Sledge said.

"Color me impressed," Ben said.

As the team approached the door, Thatcher spoke up, "This is where it goes wrong."

Buck's Colt 933 caught the scene of Twitch diving on top of Thatcher, and the door exploded.

"Hold it," Ben said, the recording paused, "Run it back to before the explosion," the soldier operating the projector reversed the video until it was right before Thatcher reached up to the door, and the beeping started, "Right there."

"That beeping," Thatcher asked, "What about it?"

"I think this one can answer that," Ben said as he turned toward IQ, "You're the MIT and Caltech graduate aren't you?"

"Yes," IQ said.

"Go ahead then," Ben said.

"It was a trap from the get-go," IQ said.

"And Bingo was his name-O," Ben said.

"You know this how," Blackbeard asked.

"Because Ghost taught me a few tricks of his trade," Ben said, "There a mechanist here," Fuze raised his hand, "Tell me, the metal shutter was placed against the door, so where would the explosion come from?"

"The back," Fuze said, "I don't see where…"

"Tell me," Ben said, "1095 steel take a lot of heat to explode, so how come there was no damage to the door when it exploded?"

"Because it wasn't meant to damage," Fuze said before Ben motioned him to continue, "Because they didn't use c4 or semtex. PETN?"

"Ghost's favorite," Ben said, "Two pounds attached to an electro magnet designed to go off in case a breaching charge was placed over the steel."

"It wasn't meant to kill," IQ said.

"It was a message," Ben said, "He's daring you to come after him."

"He knows we're onto him," IQ said.

"Then we got after him," Thatcher said, "Fast and hard."

"That's the enthusiasm I like," Ben said as he turned to the team, "Let's give the White Hats a wakeup call."

How was that…

Translation:

Comment ça va – How are you

Pas mal – Not bad