by Earl Staggs
The next morning at 7:15, Tall gathered Mountain, Ben, Ellie, and Kevin in the office for a last minute briefing. He held up the aerial picture of the safe house where the hostages were being held. The house sat in the middle of a clearing a hundred yards wide, surrounded by woods.
“The road we’ll take goes right by the property. There’s a low stone wall across the front, parallel to the road. We’ll park here where the woods meet the wall.” He pointed to the southeast corner of the property. “We’ll keep low and use the wall as cover to get over to the center of the property where there’s a driveway running from the road to the house.” He pointed to the spot. “That’s where we’ll wait.”
“The chopper will land here.” He pointed to the southwest corner of the lot. “They’ll have to walk from the house down to it. There’ll be four of them and I’m sure each one will be holding a hostage in front of himself as a shield. From where we’ll be, we’ll have a good angle when they’re halfway there. I’ll give the signal, and we’ll all fire at the same time.”
Mountain asked, “How will we know which one to take?”
“We’ll take them in order from left to right or front to back depending on how they line up. I’ll take the one on the left or in front. Mount, the next one is yours, then Ellie, then Ben.”
Tall looked at Kevin who stood wide-eyed with a tight grip on his rifle. “Kevin, you’re backup. If one of us misses our target, he’s yours. Got it?”
“Got it, sir.”
“Any more questions?” Tall asked.
When there were none, he said, “Okay, let’s go. There’s a Humvee waiting outside for us.” Tall tossed the keys to Kevin. “You can drive.”
They went outside and piled into the open top vehicle. Kevin steered down the driveway to the road and turned left. They drove past a fenced area on their right where a few goats and cows paid them little attention. Before they reached the woods, they passed a field that had been cultivated for gardening. In an area near where the woods began, a small group of men hacked at the soil with hoes and shovels.
“Looks like the farmers are up early,” Mountain said.
“What do you think they grow here?” Ben asked.
“Beats the hell out of me,” Mountain replied. “I haven’t been on a farm since I was five.”
Ellie gave the big man a teasing grin. “You mean you don’t hanker to grow your own food?”
“Hell no. That’s what supermarkets are for.”
Kevin slowed down when they reached the woods and drove until Tall told him to pull over onto the sandy shoulder. He stopped ten yards from where the woods ended. They saw the beginning of the short stone wall that ran along the front of the safe house property.
As they climbed out of the vehicle, Tall said, “All right, let’s keep low and quiet and get into position.”
Once they reached the ragged, uneven stone and mortar wall which ranged from three feet in height to as much as four feet, they hunkered down and moved slowly to the center of the property. Tall stopped next to the driveway opening and carefully raised his binoculars. He saw no one outside the house and the window shutters were closed.
He panned back to his right and saw the remains of what must have been a stone barn at one time sitting halfway between the woods and the house. Only a foot or two of the side walls remained and a long five-foot-high piece of the rear wall. Other than that and the house, the property was bare.
He keyed his headset mic and told the others, “All quiet up at the house. Nothing to do but wait for the chopper to get here.”
They heard the familiar whump, whump, whump a few minutes later, coming from the east. The helicopter passed over them and lowered itself to the southwest corner of the front yard of the house, just where Tall wanted it. Their targets would have to cross forty yards of open ground to get to it.
Tall watched for another five minutes before the door of the house opened and a man stepped out. He wore a black hood over his head and his hands appeared to be tied behind him. A man stood directly behind him with one hand gripping the hostage’s shirt collar, the other hand holding a gun to the head of the man he was using as a shield. Those two stepped to the side and another hooded hostage appeared in the doorway, also held at gunpoint. A third one followed, held captive in the same way as the first two.
Penelope Foster appeared next. She wasn’t wearing a hood and her hands weren’t tied. Beside her with one hand at the back of her neck and a gun at her temple stood Hasam Rashid.
Rashid started the march toward the helicopter, keeping a tight grip and his gun on Penelope. The others formed a single file line behind him with their hostages a half step in front of them. They moved on a diagonal path from the front door of the house toward the helicopter.
Tall raised his head just far enough to watch their progress. They’d have to move twenty yards before he and his team would have a reasonable shooting angle.
They’d only gone ten feet when Tall heard bursts of gunfire from the right.
He looked in that direction and saw five men with automatic rifles coming out of the woods and firing non-stop. Their bullets struck the short wall, sending stone and mortar confetti over Tall and the others. They all ducked behind the wall.
“Who the hell is that?” Ben called out.
“The farmers we saw next door,” Tall said. “Only they’re not farmers. Rashid had a backup crew handy in case we tried something. They must have made us when we went past them.”
“What the hell are we supposed to do?” Mountain asked. “We can’t raise up far enough to take our shots.”
“Keep your heads down,” Tall said,” and pray they run out of ammunition.”
The firing continued as the five men made their way to the remnant of the barn wall and took positions behind it, continuing to fire at will.
“Where the hell is he going?” Ben shouted.
Tall turned to see Kevin crouched and running beside the wall back toward the woods where they’d parked their Humvee.
“Looks like the little chicken shit is running for his life,” Mountain said.
Tall didn’t have time to worry about Kevin. He sneaked a look over the wall. Rashid had moved another ten feet toward the helicopter. Gravel and dust peppered his face from the incessant firing from behind the barn wall.
“Stay down,” he told the others.
After another minute or so, Tall checked again. Rashid had reached the halfway point between the house and the helicopter. If the firing didn’t end soon, they’d never have a chance to shoot. Tall decided their only chance was to move back toward the woods and try to get an angle on the shooters behind the barn wall. Even if they did, Rashid could reach the helicopter by then and they’d lose their opportunity to take them out. Still, it was the only chance they had.
He was ready to give that order when Ben shouted, “What the hell is that?”
Tall saw their Humvee burst out of the woods into the open, pushing pieces of small trees and brush ahead of it, heading straight toward the barn wall.
Kevin was standing up in the vehicle with his right foot on the accelerator and his left knee raised and wedged in the steering wheel. With the Humvee still moving, he raised his rifle and fired five quick shots.
The firing from behind the barn wall stopped. Kevin gave a thumbs up signal, to say the shooters were all down.
Tall shouted, “Let’s do it! On my one. Three! Two! One!”
Tall laid his rifle across the wall, aimed, and fired. Rashid’s head jerked to the side and he fell on his back. Tall heard three more shots a split second after his and saw two more of the Muslims go down. The fourth one stumbled backward and fell to one knee. Hit in the shoulder. Ben’s target. The man raised his gun and aimed at the hostage he’d used as a shield.
Ben fired again and the man’s head exploded like a red balloon. He went down and didn’t move.
The three male hostages stood still. Penelope Foster fell to her knees and buried her face in her hands
.
“Is she hit?” Ben asked.
Ellie raised her binoculars and looked. “No. Not hit. I’d say she’s just exhausted and relieved it’s over.”
Tall mumbled, “Maybe,” under his breath as Kevin pulled the Humvee to a stop at the low wall and hopped out.
“I thought we lost you,” Tall said.
“No, sir. I spotted an old road going into the woods when we drove by. I thought if I took it, I could get in behind them.”
“Well,” Tall said, “you were right and it worked.” He reached across the wall and put a hand on Kevin’s shoulder. “Quick thinking. And good shooting.”
Kevin gave him the wide teenager smile again. “Thank you, sir.”
Tall leaned closer to him. “Kevin, you just took out five men. How do you feel about that?”
Kevin shook his head. “I don’t see it that way, Mr. Chambers. I remember what you said. Kill one terrorist, save a hundred lives. The way I see it, I saved five hundred lives today.”
“Good for you. Now, why don’t you take the Humvee and pick up the hostages. Let’s get them back to the farm. We’ll let the Air Force clean up the mess here. Ben? Ellie? Want to give him a hand?”
Ben and Ellie hopped over the wall and climbed in with Kevin. Tall watched Ben and Kevin remove the hoods from the hostages’ heads and cut the ropes on their hands. Ellie helped Penelope to her feet and walked her to the Humvee.
Mountain stood by Tall’s side. “That boy of yours. Keith.”
“Kevin.”
“Whatever. He did all right.”
“Yes, he did. By the way, he wants to join the agency. What do you think?”
The big man frowned for a moment, then nodded. “He’ll do.”
Tall didn’t respond. He watched the Humvee roll toward them with the hostages and wondered why Penelope had not been hooded and bound.
Back at the Command Center, the freed hostages were allowed to shower and clean clothes were collected for them. Major Wainwright made arrangements to fly them to the Air Base that afternoon where they’d receive a medical exam and their debriefing would begin.
Tall and his crew found cans of beer in the refrigerator and enjoyed a cold toast to the completion of their assignment.
After that, he told them they had one more part of it to do.
CHAPTER FIVE