by J E Higgins
“I have visual,” Crane whispered into his microphone, deciding that they were safe enough to risk a little verbal communication.
“Just one hut up from you,” McNaulty replied in his Irish brogue.
“What’s your visual?” Crane asked.
“I got some movement just down the road. Can hear them? Can you see them? They’re about two huts down from you.” McNaulty replied. “They’re lazin’ about not really paying attention to anythin’.”
“Then we move now,” Crane commanded.
“When you’re ready,” McNaulty said.
Crane turned to his team. They were all tuned to the frequency and heard the dialogue. “On three.” He stated curtly, “1.2.3.”
The commandos slipped from their positions onto the main road. Crane saw the other half of his team emerge from the far side of the road. Being equipped with a cumbersome FR-2 long rifle and no body armor, Vucic fell in behind the rest watching the rear with his .45 automatic pistol. Staying pressed against the huts they kept to the shadows as much as possible, carefully avoiding the lights or creating any silhouettes.
They moved slowly and as quietly as possible. Between the optics and their naked eyes, they were able to circumnavigate any obstacles and watch for any threats that existed. With all the debris they encountered, more than a few times they nearly stumbled or kicked over a potential noisemaker, which would have cost them the element of surprise.
There were about half a dozen men loitering about the road. Three of them sat leaning on the porch of one of the target huts while another three danced about in the middle of the road playing what appeared to be a game of hacky-sack. All were completely oblivious to the world around them. The three on the porch even had their weapons stacked up against the hut, far from where they were.
Arriving at the edge of the hut, Crane noticed another two men seated at the far end of the hut. Like the others, they sat in a lackadaisical manner with their feet dangling over the side of the porch. Crane couldn’t tell if these men were security or just hanging around in the most inconvenient location. In either case, it didn’t matter, he had planned for such a situation.
Slowly turning his head, he caught the sight of his wingman through the lens of his optics, standing a few feet away. Raising his hand in the direction of the two men sitting the furthest away, he pointed his finger toward the wingman, signaling he should neutralize them. The wing commando nodded. Crane then pointed towards the trio sitting closest to them, and like before, he pointed towards himself signaling they were his to deal with. The third commando was given the target of the remaining three playing in the road.
Across the way, McNaulty had staged his team just short of their target building. He had spotted the pirates in the street and realized they were closer to Crane’s team. As they had practiced numerous times, he stayed back and held his position to prevent getting caught in a crossfire. He would move up on the huts once the men in the street had been neutralized.
Carefully, Crane and his men moved up. They spread out as each proceeded to engage his target. Creeping along the outskirts of the porch, Crane slowly raised his M-4 rifle and aimed it at the men lounging on the porch. He continued his approach until he was just a few feet from them. Moving rapidly and still within the shadows, he fired a series of three controlled bursts, one right after the other, into the skulls of the unsuspecting pirates. At that range, his shots hit the men with precision. The combination of subsonic ammunition and the suppressor dampened the sound of the shots, keeping the noise level from reverberating. The men had no time to react before the shots tore into the sides of their heads killing them instantly.
At the same time, the third commando who had moved along with his commander veered into the street in the direction of the other three men playing in the road, oblivious to what was happening. He emerged from the shadows and fired at the exact same moment as Crane. Like their cohorts lounging on the porch, they were taken completely off guard. Each shot was controlled and well-aimed as he moved on his targets. A double tap of two rounds each to the center of the heads sent one after the other dropping to the ground like birds in a shooting gallery.
As soon as Crane finished, the second commando who had been following him moved past him to dispatch the final two men. By now the remaining two had heard the shots and seen the shadowy figures emerge into the light and fire on their friends. Scared, they scrambled clumsily trying to grab their weapons and get to their feet. In their haste, they failed to notice the commando moving up on them. They had just managed to grab their AK-47s when a sharp buzzing sounds cut through the air. And, like the others, ended with hot metal tearing into the soft areas of their torsos, stopping them momentarily. It was long enough for more shots to be fired, this time striking accurately into the backs of their heads, killing both instantly.
There was no time to waste. The rest of the team was already moving up on their targets. As soon as Crane had finished killing the trio, the rest of his men leaped onto the porch and moved towards the doorway of the hut. The second commando had barely begun firing on the final two pirates when two more of the team burst through the blanket-draped doorway. A bright light flashed from inside the hut exposing a well-lit office and some computers being manned. A voice cried out just before the sound of gunfire erupted along with the sound of bullets tearing through computer screens and electronic equipment. It was accompanied by the shrieking cries of men making their last sounds before dying.
Crane didn’t waste time processing the situation. He was already moving to the next hut over. As he did, he could hear identical sounds from across the road as McNaulty and his team began their own assault. The plan was to leapfrog from one hut to the next, clearing each facility as quickly as possible to not give the pirates any time to react. That the huts were one-room structures made this plan easier.
The second commando was already on the porch of the second hut. The third commando had returned from the street and now joined his commander as they moved onto the porch of the next hut. As they moved, they quickly changed out magazines to ensure they had full clips before going into battle and dashed through the draped blanket.
They found themselves in a well-lit room littered with tables and rows of laptop computers and other sophisticated cyber equipment. It was all being manned by technicians. Hung across the ceiling were several large medical icing blankets. No doubt they were being used to mask the heat-print made by the electronic equipment so that they wouldn’t show up on any satellite images taken of the village.
The only security was three sweaty looking men sitting off to the side cradling weathered AK-47s. Seeing the commandos they attempted to get on their feet as they moved to raise their weapons. Crane and his men swiftly cut them down firing well-aimed rounds into the vital areas of their heads and torsos. In the same movement, they turned towards the tables and began delivering a rain of gunfire that tore into the machines and the technicians surrounding them. Within a few seconds, the room was awash with demolished computers and bullet-riddled bodies. Thick red splatters of blood and brain matter decorated the walls and floors leaving a grizzly display.
As the commandos began to leave, they could hear the sounds of their mates outside as they raced quickly towards the next hut. They were just leaving their structure when they heard gunfire going off with the harrowing sounds of dying men. They exited the hut and began moving up to join the rest of their team. Across the road, he could see some of McNaulty’s men moving on their final target. The whole mission was going far more smoothly than anticipated.
They moved swiftly to the final hut watching the passing structures for any signs of trouble. Following behind was Vucic, who had been keeping watch the entire time, their comrades were exiting from the place. They fell in behind Crane and his men as they spread out into a wider tactical formation.
Across the road, McNaulty’s team had also regrouped and formed into a similar pattern that started to intermingle with Crane’s team. N
ormally, the main concern would have been the noise waking up the village and forcing a hasty retreat. However, most of the other huts along the main road were largely makeshift storerooms for goods seized from smaller craft or holding pens for occasional hostages being held for ransom. This ensured that they would have no close-by neighbors waking inconveniently to all the noise.
Vucic and Argent had moved to the head of the formation retaking the lead as they led the commandos. Despite being out in the open, the plan called for staying on the main road. It was the fastest route for getting out of the village. Not to mention if they were to run into any trouble, they would have a better chance of fighting in the open than in the narrow twisting back roads.
Moving at a slower pace, they made their way towards the port. Crane alerted the sniper teams that they had completed phase one of the operation and were now moving to phase 2. A response came back in French that was heavily flavored with an Arabic accent. The sniper explained that the port area held about a dozen armed men who were grouped together at the South end. Crane acknowledged.
As soon as the Arab was done, another voice came over the communication set. It was from the other sniper team; this time the French dialect was drenched in an Eastern European accent. He reported the activity of the pirates guarding the cliffs on the north side. As expected, the pirates were at this point bored and settled around a fire they had built to warm themselves from the cold breeze coming off the ocean.
Because the north cliffs were closer and looked directly over the port, they were the primary concern. The guards on those cliffs had the means to fire down on the dock below. The Southern cliffs extended further out into the bay past the port area, making them less of a concern. Crane ordered both sniper teams to keep monitoring, explaining that his team would be on site shortly.
Less than ten minutes later, they were at the edge of the village making their way to the port. Crane announced his disposition as his men moved up. Both sniper teams reported no change in the pirates’ condition. Approaching the edge of the town, the commandos formed into a single file as they melded into the darkness beside the huts. They could see the men sitting on the docks a short distance away. As reported, they were grouped closely together at the far end, completely oblivious to the world or the village as they directed what little attention they had toward the darkened waters of the bay.
“We’re moving,” Crane whispered into his mike as he moved forward with McNaulty with three other men trailing behind. The rest of the team waited in their position. Crane and his team moved steadily, keeping to the patches of darkness as they closed the distance between them and the guards. The weathered planks of the docks creaked loudly as the commandos stepped onto them. Luckily, the noise of the wind and the chronic howls made by the waves crashing against the pillars drowned out their movements.
Nearing the guards, the commandos fanned out in a loose semi-circle as they raised their weapons. The guards, engaged in small talk, were entirely unaware of the assailants descending upon them. Less than a dozen meters away the commandos opened fire with rapid bursts from their weapons. The bullets tore into the upper bodies of the unsuspecting guards, who yelled and cried out as they were hit by the deadly projectiles.
It was all over within seconds as bodies fell into the water or flopped lifelessly onto the ground. Crane called into his mike and the rest of the commandos came rapidly towards them. There was no time to waste as the commandos dropped their packs and quickly retrieving thick bars of plastic explosives.
They heard an eastern accent whisper that no one on the north cliffs had moved or seemed to notice what had just happened. Crane received a similar report from the other sniper team keeping watch on the southern cliffs. He dispatched a team to cover the north flank of the port. Once security was established, he dispatched another three-man team to move up the southern cliffs to neutralize the guards. Vucic and Argent went to the edge of the port where they again acted as rear security watching for any trouble coming from the village.
Once the thick white bricks of explosive were laid out, the commandos set to work applying the detonators. It was done quickly because all the men had ample practice using the explosive material and it was second nature. With the bombs now set, they all commenced moving along the port placing the explosives in each of the boats docked along the harbor. The boats were mostly wooden fishing trawlers equipped with faster than normal motors to use them for piracy. There were also high-speed motorboats that had recently been acquired to aid in their operations and two larger steel cargo vessels that were undoubtedly needed to launch operations further out in the ocean. The crafts were empty which made this operation work go smoothly.
A call came over the comms set from the team dispatched to the southern cliffs reporting that they had successfully eliminated all the hostile forces in the area and were clear for the next phase. Crane ordered them to remain in position. The southern cliffs had been designated as the exfiltration point once the mission was completed and it needed to be kept secure.
They were halfway done when they heard a shot ring out. It originated from the north. The eastern accent was again heard over the comms. “They’ve spotted you!” The voice cried out. “We got one and that drove the rest to take cover.”
Gunfire soon erupted from the cliffs as the pirates began firing blindly in all directions with a flurry of wild bursts. The noise was sure to wake the village. Time now was limited.
“Keep them pinned,” Crane ordered to the sniper team. “Everyone keep working and get the grenade launcher up to the rear point for cover. We’re going to have company soon.”
One of the commandos broke from the group, sprinting over to where Argent and Vucic had positioned themselves. He carried with him an LG 440 grenade launcher, a weapon that resembled a larger version of a Thompson machine gun. It was a compact weapon with an unusually wide muzzle and large cylinder magazine that fired a 40 mm explosive round. The man dropped next to Vucic disappearing entirely into a pool of darkness.
The commandos hurried to finish placing the explosives. From the village, they could hear men shouting and rustling about. The sound of gunfire had brought the village to life and, in the distance, they could see groups of men starting to make their way toward the docks.
Viewing the scene through his optics Crane could see that the mob moving in his direction was little more than rabble with only a few shouting men attempting any form of leadership. He knew that would change eventually.
“When they come in range, light’m up,” Crane commanded to the man with the grenade launcher. “Kill as many as you can. Aim for the largest grouping.”
“As soon as they come into view, I’ll have them,” the French grenadier replied coldly. Kusaki Ito was a skilled and knowledgeable soldier. Such battles were not a new experience for him.
“We’re almost finished,” said another voice. “All we’ve got left are the cargo ships.”
“Well, you know the score,” Crane responded. “So, I don’t have to tell you what needs to be done.”
Suddenly the village exploded with the sound of a loud jolting blast preceded by a bright flash. It was immediately followed by a chorus of screams and blood-curdling cries from those who had fallen victim to the deadly blast. Another explosion followed, eliciting the same effect, and then another.
Even in the darkness, Kusaki was able to direct his shots into the general location of the enemy. The grenades were certainly taking their toll. As the smoke began to clear, the commandos could see the ground littered with dead and injured pirates. After firing the initial three rounds, Kusaki held his fire. The pirates had stopped their advance and retreated back to the cover of the village.
Vucic and Argent had picked up the fight as they selected shots, picking off anyone who looked to be assuming control. So long as the pirates remained a disorganized mob, they would be manageable. The sniper team to the north continued taking shots at the guards on the north cliffs, keeping the group’s att
ention focused away from the battle below. Normally they would have fired their shot then changed positions before firing again to keep the enemy from identifying their location. But, between the darkness and the flash suppressors covering the muzzle, the snipers were able to remain hidden. The noise of the ongoing gun battle below also aided in masking their location by covering their noise.
Things started to change near the village. Where the pirates had been a chaotic group before, they were now fanning out from the rear of the huts, taking up positions behind dirt mounds and other features offering cover. At the same time, gunfire was starting to come from various huts. It was apparent that someone competent had taken over leadership of the group and was now directing them. Whoever it was had been quick to pick up on the sniper fire that had eliminated his predecessors and took the precaution of staying out of their line of sight. Crane guessed that Jean Marquis Rousseau had finally arrived. Bullets whizzed through the air as the pirates gained better grounding and started to return fire.
Kusaki fired another shot at where the gunfire had been coming from decimating one of the closer huts. The hut exploded with a flash sending wood debris in all directions. He had chosen his target well and it sent everyone close by running in hysteria.
“We’re finished!” shouted a voice over the comms. “The detonators are set, we’ve got five minutes.” It was the commando handling the setup of the explosives.
Crane called out over his mike. “Everyone, fall back to the exfiltration point now!”
Over the comms, they heard a voice report. “This is retrieval team 1. We’ve heard the traffic. We’re moving towards the exfiltration point now. We’re five minutes out.”
“Roger,” Crane replied. “We’re moving towards your location.”
The commandos began running as they moved from the port and started towards the southern cliffs. Vucic and Argent emerged from the darkness and took off in a dead sprint racing past Crane and joining up with the rest of the team moving in the same direction. Kusaki remained at his post, firing off the last two rounds of his grenade launcher at well-chosen targets that sent the pirates into a further state of chaos.