The Devil's Shadow: A Gun-for-Hire Thriller

by J E Higgins

  The camouflage head dressings gave the two snipers the look of creatures one would see in a low budget horror movie. The larger of the two began to speak, his French was heavily accented with an Eastern European flavor. “Our targets have maintained the usual routine.” Crane recognized the voice instantly as belonging to Alexie Vucic, a Bosnian Serb who had also cut his teeth in the Legion before deciding to ply his skills in the free market. Like the other scout snipers employed for the reconnaissance mission, Vucic had been part of the 2eRep 4th Company that specialized in sniping and demolitions. It was the element of the Legion that worked heavily behind enemy lines gathering intelligence and creating havoc against enemy forces. Being the most senior of the snipers, he was placed in charge of the recce mission.

  Crane moved closer to the big Serb and his partner as they broke out a tablet that featured drawings of the latest setup of the village defenses. Vucic had directed all the teams to forward their most recent sketches to him to compile so he could give the most updated intelligence to the commando team once they arrived. It was safer to have only one team move from their position to make contact than all of them.

  A canvass cover made in the same fashion as the sniper’s ghillie suit was draped over the men to cover the gleam of the tablet. As an additional precaution, McNaulty had dispatched some of his men out a short distance to secure the direction from which the snipers had come. He also dispatched a lookout to the top of the hill where Crane had previously been.

  With the area thoroughly covered, the three men set about reviewing their latest information. “They are good,” the Serb whispered. “They use traditional Soviet perimeter tactics to guard the land area.” He pointed out how the defenses covering the land side of the village was done more in an arbitrary zigzag pattern that held no specific order to it. The defensive positions pushed forward often had another defensive position between them posted fifty or so meters back. It was a defensive tactic used by various eastern armies. The tactic had likely been taught to some of the older pirates who had been guerrillas in communist rebel groups during the last decades of the cold war when many of them were trained by Soviet military advisors.

  The logic was to confuse a penetrating force by making it impossible to comfortably identify the enemy locations. Establishing positions with no particular order often made it easy for a penetrating force to walk into a trap, getting caught by triangular or crossfire that would quickly cut them down. You attack one position only to get caught in the fire from someone hidden deeper in the bushes several meters away. The whole setup was designed to become a complex death trap for an infiltration team such as theirs.

  Crane frowned as he reviewed the sketches. Nothing he was looking at was new or surprising from what he had seen in the last few weeks. It was just that no matter how many times he poured over the intelligence, he felt the same uneasiness. Defenses such as these, no matter how well planned, were never easy and always presented a high risk for error. He focused his attention on the positions on the sketches marked with an X. It was a means of identifying what was considered decoy positions, positions that weren’t actually manned, just set up to further confuse infiltrators and cut down on manpower needed for security. They changed daily to add to the difficulty.

  “We are sure of these,” the other sniper said in a husky voice as he tapped a thick index finger down on the positions situated to the north and then pointed to another one to the east. His accent was a distinct African French common to the countries that had been colonies of France and Belgium. Jacques Argent was a native son of the Dark Continent and had served time in the Congolese army before trying his hand in the Legion. He was a skilled and resourceful soldier who possessed a sharp intellect. “We saw them pull out when they conducted a guard change and kept eyes on it right up until we moved out to meet you.”

  Crane nodded. “The guard changes have remained relatively steady?”

  The Serbian shrugged from under his camo covers “As we stated in our reports, Rousseau operates like a veteran field commander. He sets up everything as if this were a military camp and he is expecting an attack. But his men are mostly fisherman and not soldiers. They hold the positions they’re told to but possess no field discipline. They naturally develop certain routines that we have been able to predict.”

  “They become lax after a half hour,” Argent interjected. “They have to be moved every three hours or they go to sleep or start wandering about. They hardly ever send out any patrols because of this and never at night. They also don’t dare use any traps because their own people might fall into them.”

  “And, they don’t do radio checks or have any checkups on their posts?” Crane asked to reinforce what he already understood.

  “Correct,” Vucic nodded. “They tried to enforce such a thing but it has never taken. The post is pretty much left alone until they change shifts. Even then, it’s informal with no serious oversight. As reported, the security plan is professional, the guards are not.”

  “The problem is,” Crane surmised, “the north offers too many natural barriers. If we get compromised, we’ll be in a virtual death trap. The east has possibilities but the south, as I see it, is still our best option. It has the best prospects for infiltration. We’ll stick with our plan and infiltrate from that direction. We move out in five. You got that, team 2?” He had spoken into his mike. A quick second later a quick squelch signaled compliance.

  Bringing up the sketches for the south, Argent quickly pointed out the locations expected to be the decoy positions for the night. Crane examined them carefully as he reviewed all the sketches detailing the evening’s intelligence. The south was more widespread and the defensive line reflected that. Still, Crane was able to identify a point near the base of the hill that looked to be their best option. The post being manned was next to another postmarked with an X sitting some distance behind it. The next laterally manned post was at least ninety meters away which left this one post isolated but covering a large swath of terrain. “How much time until shift change?”

  “Perhaps another two hours, give or take,” the Serb replied.

  “Then we go, here.” Crane pointed at the single post as he looked up at the shadows of the two snipers.

  The two snipers nodded as they covered the tablet and drew back the ghillie cover. They stepped away and started out in the lead. They would serve as guides for the team to the objective. McNaulty had been waiting off to the side. He edged in close to the commander. “The men are grouping up right now,” he announced quietly.

  Crane responded by giving him a thumbs up. Once the men had gathered, they fell into a tactical file as they proceeded to follow the snipers down the hill. Having been patrolling the area for the last month, the snipers had developed an intimate knowledge of the landscape. They were able to guide the team of ten men through the terrain with the ease of a native inhabitant.

  They came down the hillside and immediately slid into the thickets. The heavy tactical gear weighed on the men as they moved through the trees. The snipers had anticipated this complication and had taken care to keep to paths that didn’t take them through the thickest part of the woodlands. Thankfully, the woodlands of West Africa were not the dense jungles of French Suriname where most of the mercenaries had received their jungle training as Legionnaires or with other elite units of the French army.

  A half hour later they had circled around to the far south. Given that they planned to move from the south, they staged for the rendezvous closest to the southern point. The movement was relatively smooth. The path the snipers had chosen kept them far from any security perimeter. They had chosen the pathway quite well. It kept them skirting the base on the opposite side of the surrounding hills masking their entry while keeping them from sky-lining in the moonlight. Even though the vegetation was largely trees covering plants and bushes, it was especially difficult to move through at night. But with the help of their night vision equipment, they were able to traverse the labyrinth.
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  The snipers detoured the team from the trail to a narrow path that went down the side of the hill. Soon, they were at the trail leading to the pirate’s camp. A quick squelch on Crane’s communication set let the other sniper team know they were in the area preparing to advance. He received a quick squelch back acknowledging him.

  Through the lens of his night vision optics, the world appeared a ghostly fluorescent green. Every one of his men looked like ghostly images with their glowing eyes piercing menacingly through the slits of their dark balaclavas covering their heads. The balaclavas were further camouflaged with large flopping boonie caps that served to break up the outline created by the tight-fitting head cover.

  Forming a tight perimeter in the bushes, the commandos waited in silence as Vucic and Argent scouted ahead. They faced out listening for the slightest alien sound. Fifteen minutes later, the snipers returned. Using hand signals Vucic explained that they spotted the observation post a hundred or so meters away.

  Carefully, one after another, the commandos rose and moved out following at intervals behind the snipers. They remained in a tactical column to limit their silhouettes and make them less noticeable. The jungle foliage was thinning with several open patches that made it easier to be seen. It was a dangerous move given that it limited their options to react if they should get discovered. And, fanning out would enlarge their presence, increasing their chances of being detected.

  Sound travels better at night, but the wind coming off the ocean provided enough noise that it masked the sound of their muffled movements. They kept their advance slow, taking each step with a methodical process of heel first, then slowly easing down the rest of the foot. Staying on the same pathway also limited the threat of stepping on dry leaves or twigs that provided one of the best alarm systems.

  Argent raised his fist. The team instantly froze. In the distance, they could hear faint voices of men talking. The wind was too loud to make out the actual conversation, but individual words could at times be understood. The language appeared to be a rough French variant common in the countryside of such counties. By the way the men were speaking, it was obvious that they were idly passing the time.

  Argent moved ahead and Vucic followed him. The rest of the team waited. Minutes later the sound of the men talking ceased. Crane waved the rest of his men forward. They passed by the observation post where they could see the bodies of two men lying sprawled like rag dolls over a dugout hole in the ground. From the appearance in the eerie light, it looked as though they had been killed with stabs to the back of their heads. The mercenaries passed by the carnage with little acknowledgment. It was a sight they had all seen many times.

  The snipers were just up ahead keeping watch. Snaking past the observation post, the commandos caught up to their guides before pressing on. It was fast becoming a more nerve-racking journey as they neared their target. They passed by another defensive position hidden in the thickets that thankfully turned out to be staffed with scarecrows instead of guerrillas. It still didn’t help the nervous tension as they moved deeper into the enemy encampment.

  Soon, they could once again hear the faint voices of men talking. They were getting closer to the village. The men were too far away to make out what was being said but, by the easy way they spoke with occasional chuckles interjected, it was casual small talk.

  Continuing their movement to their target, the village soon came into view. Rickety old huts propped up on stilts glistened in the light of their night vision optics. The huts seemed to pop out of the trees and bushes that had grown up around them. The vegetation camouflaged the place well hampering any imagery surveillance that might have captured it. It also helped that several man-made canopies had been erected to assist in the disguise.

  Crane figured from what he was looking at and the scant reports the scout snipers had been able to put together, the village was at least two-thirds bigger than the shanty town on the beach. Villagers walked about between the huts as they talked and laughed. Several of the men carried weapons loosely dangling from their shoulders as they sauntered about in flip flops and tennis shoes. Their clothing was largely loose-fitting shirts and baggy shorts.

  Just like Vucic and Argent had explained, while the security plan and cover of the village had been designed with the skill of a military professional, the discipline and behavior was anything but. It would play greatly to their advantage. At this late hour, the village seemed deserted with only gunmen loitering in the streets. According to their intelligence, Rousseau imposed a strict curfew on the local inhabitants. At 2100, everyone was in their homes and the streets cleared of all except his men.

  A short distance from the outskirts of the village Crane conferred one last time with his snipers. Using his hands, Vucic pointed out the road that led to the huts that were being used for the pirates’ operations centers. Crane and his commandos had studied the sketches long and hard before arriving. They had even been able to set up something of a mock replica of the village at the home base for the commandos to practice on. From there, he had a good idea where he needed to go once actually on the ground.

  Patting the Serb on the shoulder, Crane signaled he was ready. Bringing up McNaulty, Crane broke the force up into two teams. With Argent, McNaulty led one and Crane, taking Vucic, the other. Crane wanted to avoid a gunfight early in the mission. Given that the road being used for reference was occupied with several armed individuals, he decided a detour was needed to get them closer to their objective. He opted for the two teams to take the smaller side roads that circled around the village. They were narrower, used less, and filled with vegetation, but he thought they were the quickest routes offering the least resistance.

  The teams broke as they moved to their infiltration points. With Vucic leading the way, Crane and his men made it to the far side of the village. Using the shadows to maneuver, they were able to keep their approach hidden. Beyond the perimeter, the pirates seemed even less concerned with security. The only obstacle they encountered coming into the village outskirts was a decaying wood fence that was easily breached.

  Soon, the commandos were moving steadily down a cramped passageway that existed between the huts. As they passed homes, they heard nothing but silence. The occupants had either gone to bed or had figured those moving about outside were just some of the pirates coming in from guard duty. Either way, they were not interested in what was going on.

  Once inside the village, Crane gave two quick squelches over his communication set. It was returned a few seconds later by a reciprocating double squelch from McNaulty signaling that his team was entering the village grounds. Crane then issued three quick squelches signaling the snipers to move to the next phase of the operation.

  The snipers’ visibility was too limited inside the village, therefore, it was best to have them break from their positions overlooking the bay to watch the planned exfiltration route. When the hot part of the plan kicked off, they would have a limited amount of time until the whole village was in an uproar with hundreds of armed pirates on the street. This meant they would be moving quickly and needed as much real-time visual intelligence as possible to ensure they didn’t walk into an ambush.

  Vucic led the way as they continued through the more remote parts of the village. Because the village was largely hidden in overgrown vegetation, the scout snipers had only been able to capture parts of what they were able to see from their vantage points or the few times they were able to get close. The rest was filled in with guess-work. This was made clear when the Serbian got misdirected more than once during the trek. Still, despite the confusion, he was able to quickly correct his direction and bring the team back on course.

  Avoiding the roving patrols, they arrived at the main road stopping just behind some huts and dirt hills, Crane peered around the corner. Unlike the back trails they had just used, the main roads were illuminated by a string of lights haphazardly strung across the structures along the road. Crane could see the largely deserted streets, thoug
h he could also make out the men talking loudly just a few huts away and right about where their targets were. The information they had on the pirates’ operation and internal setup had been gleaned from a few black-market types who had dealt with and spent time walking about the village. They had determined from such information that the nerve center for Rousseau’s operation was the six huts in the middle of the village along the main roadway. There were three on each side of the road directly across from one another.

  In his experience, electricity in such villages was a luxury enjoyed only by the bosses with the occasional recreation center offered for the troops to enjoy video games and movies. The addition of street lights was an anomaly. Crane figured they had been set up as another security measure that further complicated movement for any potential infiltrators such as himself and his men. But the lights were cheap Middle-Eastern bulbs generating poor illumination that only covered the main road. They failed to illuminate much of the ground directly in front of the huts. This gave ample concealment for the commandos to move.

  Touching off another two squelches on his communication set, he alerted McNaulty that his team was set. Nothing came back. Crane figured that the second team was having their own difficulty navigating the back roads. As he waited, he worried about the impending shift change for the guards on the perimeter. Having such a loose time frame around the shift change meant that at any moment the discovery of the two dead guards they had left would have the camp in an uproar.

  Suddenly, he heard the two squelches in his earpiece. Checking across the road through his night optics, Crane noticed an empty space between the two huts across the way. Peeking around the corner he caught a gleam emerging from around a hut on the other side of the street. Crane figured it was McNaulty looking back at him.