I had people saying that I needed to answer a few questions. Mostly about Tabor and his story. I also figured I owed some closure with came to Amy. As I said in the first story; I despise Leonard and Amy. But I love the actors. So lets just say that I also gave some closure to that. And yes, there will be character death; Also, adult language and theme. And again, if you don't like Shenny, don't read. They is no Lenny and there won;t be any Shamy.

I don't own BBT. Yes, there was Kemper Military School. Yes, I went there. Any similarities to anyone else is just that.

It has been 9 months since James and Missy's wedding and Leonard's defection.

OPERATION: FLASH

LOCATION: CLASSIFIED

They had been at this for four days. Slowly moving so to leave no trace. Four men carrying everything they would require and then some. They finally reached the point on their map where they thought would be a good over look for what they were there for. Luckily their intelligence was right, and they had a commanding view of the valley with the walled compound.

They would get no closer until they were sure. But that didn't mean that they wouldn't know what was going on. As the four soldiers went about their tasks, one open a small case and removed what looked like a dragonfly. In fact, that was its code name. There was a total of 6 in the case.

Opening a laptop he entered commands and the dragonfly took off. The green computer screen was hard to see even six feet away, but the operator has no problems controlling his small drone. Thankfully it was night, so the small drone was nearly invisible and totally silent. They had been warned that the occupiers of that compound also had night and thermal vision optics. Had the four-man spec op team gotten any closer they would have been discovered before their mission even started.

Maneuvering his charge, he flew it to an open second story window. No one inside was worried; they had 30 men inside the walls to protect them with weapons and modern technology. And yet there was always someone else who had more modern and better tech.

The small intruder sat there and slowly scanned. With the external mics cranked up, listening for any sound or word, the controller heard, nothing. Though he was three miles away, through science and technology, it was like he was there at the window sill.

Letting out a breath he didn't know he was holding he softly said to his companions, "Breaching inside." The probe went further inside. This room held a bed, dresser, a slowly spinning ceiling fan, and something that no one would ever think to find in a desert abode; a harp. Luckily the inside door was open, so the small spy winged its way deeper inside.

A variation of this reconnaissance went on for 6 days and nights. They had lost 2 drones from the weather conditions; heat and sand don't do well for microprocessors. And one, strangely enough, from a bird. They were down to their last three, when they got the word. The op was a go. There would be a Hellfire Missile attack from a UAV on the walls. Then two Apache helicopters would rain death and destruction from the sky while a V-22 Osprey would set down and a squad of Marines would take up positions and bring the compound under fire. All of this was a diversion to keep everyone's attention focused to one side, while the 4 spec operators would silently penetrate from the other. Their mission: secure biological and chemical data and eliminate the money man and any scientists that were found inside. There were no non-combatants inside. Anyone inside was connected with causing harm to the United States or their allies. The attack would start at 0330. The Marine's attack would be with the sun directly into the eyes of the defenders.

The four spec op soldiers moved to within a mile of the walled compound and waited. At exactly 0330 explosions ripped the outer wall to pieces. The choppers didn't have to be silent, and with their weapons, chewed up defenders. The spec operators didn't have time to take in the simplistic maneuver of keeping an enemy occupied while they were being breached from behind. Any noise they made was covered by explosions and weapons fire. It was light enough, so night vision devices were not needed. They knew that the Marines had orders not to move inside the building, thus eliminating any friendlies being hit by their fire.

They made their way inside to the deserted kitchen. Turning right they came to the keypad locked door. Thanks to their little friend they had the code, so they didn't have to blow it. Making their way cautiously downstairs, they kept their balaclavas on. On the very slim chance that something happened to them, there was no way anyone could tell who these men were or where they were from. All they carried were instruments of death and destruction. Their high-tech toys had been left behind; rigged to explode in 12 hours if they weren't recovered.

The first man downstairs was the smallest of the group, armed with a silenced pistol. He was followed by the tallest of the group, carrying a silenced rifle; that way he could fire over his friend if he had too. They could never get one of the drones down here, so all of them were on high alert. They could hear in their ear pieces the battles with the Marines and their air support. It was almost over, and they hadn't even seen Mr. Money Bags. Could he have been upstairs? No. He usually stayed downstairs; it was cooler down there and better defended.

Turning a corner, the small man bumped into someone. He immediately fired three times, center mass, the sounds no louder than someone coughing. The big man pushed his mate to the side and caught the dead man falling before he could hit the ground and making a lot of noise. This was not who they were looking for. He had probably just been one of the rank and file, acting as a body guard.

The temperature was almost cold down here, but the four men were sweating. Making their way through a kitchen area with a table and chairs, they saw no one. Moving through some plastic covers they could see a large room. One side was set up as a lab, while the other had monitors displaying battle scenes from upstairs. Well, a couple of monitors did, the rest showed static; obviously they had been destroyed.

His back was to them. A well-dressed suit, expensive shoes and a fashionable haircut. The honorable thing would be to let him turn around. Maybe give him a chance and go for a weapon. Yeah, that wasn't going to happen. Three red spots appeared in that tailor-made suit; 9mm slugs tearing through soft flesh, expanding and tumbling making a mess. Pieces exploding out the front, and what was left tumbled out breaking a couple of the monitors that sparked and smoked.

A scream and then a cacophony of excited animal noises in cages, erupted from the lab section. Four gun barrels turned toward a small woman wearing a white lab coat. The eyes behind her glasses were as wide as her mouth probably was, if it could be seen behind her mask.

Finding her voice, she ordered, "You need to leave right now. You don't belong here!"

The four looked at each other and wondered if she was touched by the sun. The tall man slung his rifle, moved towards her while reaching for some flex cuffs.

The battle was over.

Men from the CDC had been brought in to look over everything in the lab. Military Intelligence was going through hard files and what computers that were operational. The Marines were setting charges to blow everything up. They were happy as they had been given a lot of explosives. The order was not to leave two stones together. And they were very good at following orders.

The four men had commandeered a back room. The team leader was the tall man, and he had been told they had 42 minutes before they had to di di mau out of there, unless they wanted everything that was above them to fall on their head.

He had secured the woman to a chair with plastic restraints on each arm, with a hood over her face. He would be the one to interrogate her and then decide what to do with her. Finding a working light, he had it shining on her head. Melodramatic, but effective. He reached up and jerked off the black hood.

They had removed her mask but let her keep her glasses on. She blinked a few times and then said, "You have no right to hold me, I'm an American citizen and I demand to be taken to the American consulate."

The tall man looked at her, "Incorrect. You are a terrorist; thusly you have no rights. You are working for the enemy of the United States and at the very least are a traitor."

At the sound of his voice, the woman gasped. She tried to look at him through the glare of the light.

"Sheldon?" Came from her dry mouth.

No expression came over the tall man, but he could feel sweat drip further down his back. It couldn't have been a coincidence. It was not a common name. What the hell had his brother got to do with her?

39 minutes. He stood still. He had left his rifle with his mates and only had his pistol and a knife for weapons. She still blinked due to the light, trying to seek him out. She hadn't said anything else since that one word.

He moved the light off her face, and only got close enough so that she could now see him. He pulled out his knife. The movement caused her to gasp. He moved slowly around her in a big circle. Coming up, she held her breath as she felt him bend down behind her. Visions of being raped ran through her mind. Then she felt the knife cut one of the flex cuffs off. He then returned to the side of the light, all the time watching her.

With her one free hand, she flexed her fingers. She glanced down at her other bound hand, but he simply shook his head.

"Who are you?" He said.

"I am Dr. Amy Farrah Fowler."

Now it clicked. Now he knew. He wanted to strangle the bitch. First, for consorting with the enemy. The CDC had told him a bit of what she was working on here. It would have made the AIDs virus seem like a cold. And then what Sheldon had told him about her. It was one of the few times that he had ever come to his big brother with questions. When he found out the manipulation she was doing to Sheldon; granted Sheldon was no saint, but still. He was glad that the two of them had parted ways. And he was especially glad that Sheldon had taken up with Penny. After Jackie… And that brought it back here. This piece of flesh was working with people who would think of nothing of sending kids with bombs strapped to them and blowing up. Or sending airliners into buildings. Or releasing a plague of biblical proportions.

He slowly reached down and pulled out his pistol. Unlike his comrades who preferred the 9mm, he was old school. He carried his father's M-1911, .45 caliber. No silencer wanted or needed. Amy swallowed as she watched him cock it.

"Doctor Fowler, what you were doing; was it for the money? Or did you believe in what your 'fiancé' was doing?"

"Fiancé? Look. He just helped me with my work. Science has no boundaries or politics."

"Seriously? Are you really that dense?" Some of his Texas twang was coming out as he couldn't believe this woman was so naïve.

"Sheldon, this isn't funny. Now cut me loose this minute!"

With that he laughed. "Thank you, Doctor Fowler. You have just helped me with something I was wrestling with." Reaching up and pulling off his balaclava he moved his face into the light.

"Sheldon! I'm serious. This isn't funny!"

"Wrong Cooper."

Amy stared at the man. He was as tall as Sheldon and had Sheldon's face, except that it was much tanner. He had no hair on his bald head. As she gazed over his body, it was much more muscular than Sheldon.

She blinked a couple of times as she processed all that she saw. Then she looked up into his eyes. His grey eyes. Sheldon's were blue. "You're Sheldon's brother."

Smiling a smile that held no warmth, "Staff Sergeant G.W. Cooper, Silver Wolves."

The haughtiness returned, "Then you need to release me. I don't think your brother would take kindly you treating his girlfriend this way."

The smile turned into a full toothy grin, "I am sure Sheldon is treating Penny just fine. In fact," he made an overtly elaborate 'looking at his watch' gesture, "he should be proposing to her about now."

"You lie!" Amy bellowed. "Sheldon and my bestie?!"

"Sheldon is not your boyfriend and Penny is not your bestie. I don't know what fantasy world you live in," and he looked at his watch quickly, "but it won't be for much longer."

That comment went totally over Amy's shocked head.

"Look," and he softened his tone, "I just need to know if there is any more of what you were cooking up in here, out there." He paused as he could tell she wasn't really listening. "I mean, I wouldn't want Sheldon or Penny to get hurt by it."

She blinked, "Just what's here. We were preparing to move it to the border. But never got the chance."

He let out a breath; they had gotten it all. He stood up straighter, glancing at his watch again; 7 minutes to spare.

"I can't wait to get out of here and prove you wrong about Sheldon. In fact, I am going to make sure that the world knows the atrocities that you perpetuated here. You had no right to…"

Bam, bam, bam.

In the close space, the three shots deafened him. He could tell the door opened and feet rushed in, but stopped when they saw him still standing. He felt a hand on his shoulder, and turned to see Barton, one of his men.

"Sarge, you ok?"

Sighing heavily, "Yea. We're good. They never got the chance to move the stuff."

Barton nodded, "Ready to go?"

"Yeah, go on. Get the rest of the guys and meet me upstairs in a minute."

Nodding, the trooper took off.

He looked back at the body of Dr. Amy Farrah Fowler. He purposely aimed low, not wanting to hit her in the face. He got his phone out and took one picture.

Sheldon had asked the question and Penny said "yes!"

They were packing up their apartment and were going to move to a house that was closer to the college. It was time. This house would be theirs to start new memories with no shades of the past to bollux up their future.

They had found a ranch-style house that had been totally refinished. The upstairs was perfect for Penny's style. Kitchen, master bedroom and other bedrooms that could be turned into a nursery. The downstairs was going to be Sheldon's. He turned one of the bedrooms into his office. A large screen TV, couches, chairs, bar/kitchen and places to display his action figures and other items; so he was happy.

She let Sheldon pack up his comics and other sciency and fantasy stuff. She started on a book case when she came across a book that she was a little surprised Sheldon had. It was like all of Sheldon's books, in almost new condition. The dust jacket had barely any creases in it. As she opened the front cover she was surprised that there was an inscription.

"To Sheldon: Never give up! MSG Ramon Tabor. P.S. Please pass on my best to your father George, I hope he is well."

Penny immediately realized that this was the book that Sheldon got after The Fire. Well, she'd just innocently ask him, "Sheldon, who was Master Sergeant Ramon Tabor?"

Sheldon stuck his head out and looked at her holding a book.

Touching his top lip with his tongue he slowly walked out the bedroom to her. He looked at where she had read the inscription, and a sad smile came across his face.

"He was a Medal of Honor winner I met while at Kemper. It was right after the fire. Remember I told you that story?"

Penny slowly and carefully closed the book and set it down as she hugged Sheldon. She had never told Sheldon she knew the rest of the story from Missy. She felt now was the time to come clean.

"I know the story Shel. You told me it, but Missy…well, she filled me in."

Nodding and smiling, "Yes. I'm sure James filled her in. I do seem to be some people's favorite topic of conversation. But there is more to it. As Paul Harvey used to say, let me tell you 'the rest of the story.'"

Viet Nam, Republic of

West of Loc Ninh, 1968

1st Infantry, 11th Infantry Brigade

"We're paratroopers, and I know we're supposed to be surrounded. But this is ridiculous!"

"Bob, shut the fuck up, will ya? There is at least a battalion of NVA. That's about a thousand of those little fuckers. And then there is us. The twelve of us and nine 'Yards."

"Yeah, so?"

"So, they need to go back and get some more men!"

It was a stupid joke, but it helped. Bob Leone looked at Tabor, "Sorry you had to get caught up in this."

SSG Ramon Tabor looked over at the team leader and said, "It was my choice. You need a medic. I'm the one who jumped on the chopper. No one forced me too. I just thought you guys were having too much fun up here without me."

Tabor had been at the base when he heard the call come in. He grabbed his medical bag and jumped on the Huey that was heading there to medivac the wounded.

"MEDIC!"

"Gotta go Bob; save my place!" And with that he was out from behind the berm and heading for the voice.

Sliding into the water behind another mound of dirt, Tabor saw a big man manning a M-60 machine gun. With their backs to the dirt were two men; one had wounds to his face and neck, and he was pressing a bandage haphazardly to it. With his other hand he was pressing a blood soaked bandage onto the side of screaming man laying almost in the water.

"Sorry Doc," the man manning the 60 said without looking at him, "but I'm a little busy to help patch them up." He fired another long burst before stopping and reaching for a small can of ammo to reload.

Tabor could tell the man with the wounds to the face was in better shape than his partner. He reached down, pulled on the man's web gear to get him more out of the water. He had stopped screaming and was now just moaning.

"Whats his name?" Tabor asked to either man.

"Carl. He got hit bringing me more ammo. Hope you can do something for him." The gunner said watching for any sign of the enemy.

"Oh yeah. He'll be fine." Tabor lied. He didn't know if he would or not, but there was a better chance now that he was there.

"Anderson's face wound just makes him better looking. You should have seen what he was like before." The gunner cracked.

"Don't listen to him Doc; he's married, so he's just jealous." Came a muffled reply.

Tabor glanced at the other wounded man. There didn't seem too much damage, but that white bandage that he was holding to his jaw was still getting brighter with blood. He had wrapped Carl's wound and gave him some morphine, marking his forehead. He now turned his attention to the other man. "Let me see."

The man raised the bandage. His whole left side of his face was marked with small shrapnel wounds. He was also bleeding from his left eye and part of his nose was just gone. He couldn't believe that the man was able to talk or function.

"Keep pressure on that; I'm going to put another one over it."

The 60 had been silent and Tabor thought the gunner must have bought it. But then a short burst proved him wrong.

As he was finishing up, he heard splashing. Turning he saw a North Vietnamese soldier raise an SKS rifle with a bayonet on it and stab the gunner in the back and then turn toward him. The only thing he had was his combat knife, which he pulled out. The NVA soldier then stabbed him in the left side. Closing up his arm, he caused the rifle to be stuck in him. With his right hand he slashed at the NVA.

He was rewarded with blood and the contents of the soldier's stomach. Suddenly there was a shot and the NVA body fell onto him. Tabor had to worm his way out from under.

"Aaaaugh!" Tabor screamed as he pulled out some sulfur, sprinkled it over his wound and tied a bandage tight around it

Moving to the machine gunner who had also been bayoneted, he had slumped over his weapon, so Tabor slide him to one side. Amazingly, he was alive.

"Doc, slap a band-aid on it and let me get back to my pig. We're not out of the woods yet."

"Well if you can move and talk, he must not have hit anything too serious," he said shaking out a bandage out and getting it onto his wound.

"Still hurts like a son-a-bitch!" The Texas in his voice was evidence.

Looking over at the body of the dead NVA, the gunner said, "What'cha use?"

"All I had was my knife."

"Here Doc. Next time use this. Unless you like that up close and personal stuff," he rasped.

He shoved the .45 he had used to shoot the NVA into Tabor's blood and grime covered hands. "Won't you need it?"

Shaking his head, "Nope. Got this bfg, and Anderson can fire his pea shooter if it comes to that."

"I'm not suppose to be armed. I'm a medic."

"I won't tell if you won't." And his face twitched.

"Ok, I need to get back to the CP; see if we can get a dust-off. Get you guys out of here."

"MEDIC!"

"I'll be back as soon as I can. You gonna be ok?" Tabor said as he shoved the .45 into his belt.

"Go get 'em Doc. Don't forget us here."

Shoving everything back into his pack, "No chance. And thanks." Before he low crawled over the berm he asked, "Hey, I never even got your name."

"Cooper; they call me Coop."

"So they served together?" Penny asked when Sheldon had paused.

"Not exactly. Tabor wasn't even part of Dad's unit. He had just jumped onto a chopper that was headed there."

"So when you met him at Kemper…."

"I didn't know the story until I gave the book to my father. I remember that conversation very well. It was one of the few times that my father talked to me as an adult. He then handed me back the book saying he had lived it and didn't need to read about it."

Sheldon looked at the book, picking it up and holding it reverently.

"That encounter is documented in the book. Tabor's Honor citation read that he 'distinguished himself by a series of daring and extremely valorous actions... and because of his gallant choice to voluntarily join his comrades, who were in critical need, to expose himself constantly to withering enemy fire, and his refusal to stop despite numerous severe wounds, saved the lives of at least eight men.' My father was one of them." Penny stood there as Sheldon continued. She knew to let him talk it out.

"After the battle, he was evacuated to the base camp. When it was all over, he had seven major gunshot wounds, twenty-eight shrapnel holes, and a bayonet wound. He had shrapnel in his head, scalp, shoulder, buttocks, feet, and legs, his right lung was destroyed, and he had injuries to his mouth and back of his head from being clubbed with a rifle butt. A bullet shot from an AK-47 entered his back and exited just beneath his heart."

"He collapsed back at the hospital; they thought he was dead. The doctor was about to zip up the body bag when Tabor spat in his face. Scared the hell out of him. I have always taken his advice to heart. I have never given up."

"I would love to meet him." Penny said as she searched Sheldon's face, seeing a wide range of emotion.

"Unfortunately that's impossible: he passed away in 1998. The interesting thing was that we received a box in the mail right after he passed. It was the .45 my father had given him. His family thought it should be returned to my family."

"So who has it?"

"George. We thought it fitting since he was in the Army. The last I heard from George, he was carrying as his side-arm. Said he didn't care for the 9's."

"Talk about a legacy."

Releasing her he said, "Yes, but now we have to get back to work." Suddenly his phone chimed. Seeing who it was he read the message, "It seems Lawrence is going to be in town in a few weeks. His ship will be docking and taking on cargo. He seems excited to 'finally meet Penny face-to-face.'" Sheldon looked at her, "Should I be jealous?"

Coming up to him and standing on tip-toes she kissed him. Breaking apart with a 'pop' she replied, "Never!"

Sheldon looked at her, "I don't think I should have allowed you access to my Kemper database when it came to James & Missy's wedding. I always worry you and James are going to cook something up."

Stepping back and making a 'cross-my-heart' gesture, "Shel, I promise you that I would never do anything to hurt you, even as a joke. James was just going through it with me telling me all about the guys you went to school with; what they are doing now; you know, just boring stuff to you but interesting to me."

She could tell Sheldon didn't quite believe her, but she kissed him again and his mind went to other places. When they finally came up for air, Sheldon noticed the time, "Please hurry. I want to finish at least 3 more boxes before we go for pizza."

After Sheldon had left to go back to his room, she picked up his cell phone and read the IM from Lawrence: "Glad to be back in the sunshine. Those Northern voyages are brutal. I should be back in port in a few weeks. Can't wait to catch up with you and finally get to meet Penny face-to-face."

She scrolled down, reading his signature line,

"Lt. Lawrence Johnson, Polar Star."