by Jon F. Merz
Not good.
At last, we were ready. I connected the oxygen and breathed deeply, making sure the flow wasn’t constricted. I gave Talya the thumbs-up and she nodded, leading me with a waddle toward the aft exit of the plane. As soon as she opened the door, it was going to get crazy.
She looked back over her shoulder at me. I was jumping right on top of her, but the slipstream would create a natural distance between us provided we didn’t pull too early.
I patted her shoulder.
This was it.
Talya gripped the door handle and turned it. Instantly alarms sounded as the door came in and the cabin depressurized. The plane went crazy but then Talya was gone and I was already jumping right after her.
The rush of air punched me hard and I checked my altimeter. We were at thirty-seven thousand with a plan to pull at thirty-five. It took mere seconds and I pulled the ripcord, feeling the canopy open and the tug of straps biting into my groin like a rabid horny mutt.
Talya’s canopy had a strip of luminescent green on it that I could see with my heightened vision. I watched her track slowly to the right and steered myself onto her course heading.
I risked a quick look back at the plane and saw that it was already far below us. Just as Talya had said, as soon as the pilot got the warning about the depressurization, he would have put it into a steep dive to get it below thirteen thousand feet where the passengers could breathe again.
The sky around us twinkled with stars while to our right, I could see some of the city lights of Damascus. Talya changed her course slightly and I had to course-correct as well, tugging on the risers to keep me on the same heading.
I was hoping that my estimate of distance for drift was too conservative and that our actual path would put us even closer. The less walking we had to do, the better. And with Syria engulfed in a civil war, Talya and I would stick out badly in the surrounding countryside. If we could land and get to our laying-up point before dawn, we’d have a much better shot at pulling this off.
We’d descended to twenty-eight grand now and I was still breathing easy on the oxygen. It had been a long time since I’d jumped this high and I’d forgotten how peaceful it can be when everything works properly. With Talya taking the lead, all I had to do was sit back and relax and make sure my heading was the same as hers.
If only it would stay like that. Once we got on to the ground far below, I was going to have to make damned sure that no one knew we were there.
Until we were ready to make our presence known.
4
We landed just north of Highway 32, to the west of Palmyra. The winds had been favorable and Talya and I landed much closer than I think either of us expected. We stashed the chutes and gear and changed into BDUs and appropriate camouflage. I slid my desert boots on while Talya kept watch with the suppressed M4 and then I did the same for her. Neither one of us spoke, we didn’t have to. Talya and I had both been dropped into enemy territory so much throughout our respective careers that we did things out of instinct these days.
I slid the MOLLE vest that contained my body armor on and adjusted the straps. The vest would stop most rounds from penetrating and offered the added benefit of holding spare magazines. I adjusted the side holster on my right thigh and made sure my pistol was there if I dropped my hand to it. I wrapped a shemagh around my neck and head and was glad to have it. The night air was cold and a wind blew up around us. We had moved into the trees to make our preparations and the wind whistled through them now, catching us both in its chilly embrace.
I glanced at Talya and she nodded. She was good-to-go. She waved me over and then leaned in close to whisper. “Time to make contact.”
I drew out my phone, plugged in my earphone mic and placed the call. Niles picked up a moment later. “Department 45.”
“Echo One is feet dry. Repeat: feet dry.”
“Received Echo One.”
“Status updates?”
“ETA until Hotel Five RV is estimated 48 hours.”
Two days? I shook my head. I didn’t know if the hostages had that long. For all I knew, they might be dead already. “Understood. Suggest that timetable be moved up.”
“Doing everything we can.”
“How are the guests?”
Niles paused. “Zero information on that. But passing you coordinates to last known location.”
I checked my phone and saw the text. “Received. Next contact in twelve hours.”
“Copy that. Good hunting. Out.”
My phone went dead and I removed the earpiece. I relayed the information to Talya who also shook her head. “They might not have that much time.”
“I know,” I said. “Can you punch these coordinates into the GPS? I want to move out of here and get into our laying-up position before dawn.”
She nodded and entered the last known location of the STA-F team that had been taken hostage. I kept watch while she did and when I looked back, she had already shut down the GPS and gotten her map out. It took her less than a minute to work out where we had to go.
Talya came over and pointed out where we were. “We’re about five clicks west of Palmyra now. If we skirt Highway 32 we can follow it right into the outskirts of the city. The Sanctuary of Bel is here and according to the coordinates, the hostages are just south of there. I’m guessing a farm house or possibly a bombed out building.”
I nodded. “Let’s get ready to move out.”
Talya stowed the map and compass and got herself set. I checked my M4 to make sure I had a round in the chamber. The suppressor on the end of the barrel would dissipate some of the noise, but it did a better job reducing the muzzle flash. We weren’t there to make contact; we were there to get eyes on the hostages and hopefully be able to pass intelligence on to the STA-F team coming into rescue them. But if we did have a contact, then we needed to make sure we got it done fast.
I kept an eye out while Talya fitted herself with some night vision goggles. Since I saw better in the dark than she did, we decided I should take point. While Talya was an old pro, the NVGs still fucked with depth perception. It was better for me to take the lead while she acclimated to having the goggles on her head.
Finally, we were ready to move out. We skirted the highway on its left side by keeping low and using the drainage ditch that ran alongside. Every twenty meters or so, I would stop and have a look around. Sporadic gunfire came from the direction ahead of us. We were deep in a civil war stricken country. We didn’t have any allies here. And everyone was a potential threat. If we were discovered, the hostages might die. We couldn’t afford exposure of any type.
After traveling for an hour, we took a quick break while Talya confirmed our location with the GPS. We’d covered a few miles. Highway 32 joined Highway 90 which ran to the south. I heard more vehicles rumbling about now. Even though it was the dark of night, the various warring factions had patrols out. Our risk of discovery or contact had skyrocketed with each passing step we took toward Palmyra. I had no doubt that anyone around us was most likely part of ISIS.
Talya and I communicated with hand signals now. Speaking was far too risky. From what she told me, we were under two miles from the last known location of the hostages. We had to cross the highway and get to the other side where there ought to be deeper vegetation that we could use to hide in and hopefully make our way closer unmolested.
But first we had to get across the highway.
I risked a look over the lip of the drainage ditch and nearly shit myself: two trucks laden with machine guns blocked the entire area. ISIS had apparently set up a vehicle checkpoint at the junction of 32 and 90 to stop anyone from getting into Palmyra. And while it might have been in the wee hours of the morning, the checkpoint was active and manned by at least six guards who looked anything but sleepy.
Getting past them was going to be a royal pain in the ass.
5
The vehicle checkpoint or VCP as we call them, was situated on the high ground. It was a mi
racle Talya and I hadn’t been spotted as we crept into the area. From where the ISIS guards had set themselves up, they controlled a three hundred sixty degree view of the immediate area. Fortunately, they were focused on vehicles approaching and not two deadly assassins creeping through the low ground in a wadi.
I eased myself back down and mimed what I’d seen to Talya. She nodded that she understood. But that didn’t mean we all of a sudden knew how we were going to bypass the checkpoint. The normal course of action in situations like this is to box around the area you want to avoid. Say there was an encampment in front of you. You’d stop traveling on that course, turn ninety degree either left or right, travel on that bearing for a certain amount of time, then turn ninety degrees and travel on that heading for a certain distance, then again turn ninety degrees, travel in that direction for a certain distance, and only then turn ninety degrees back onto your original bearing. All being good, you’d “boxed” your way around the problem area and were now back on your initial heading.
Of course, such tactics worked best when you weren’t trying to get into a laying up position before dawn. And the fact was, we were. Our LUP had to be fixed and concealed by the time the sun broke over the eastern horizon or else we were going to compromise the op before we even got a chance to get eyes-on.
Talya drew her shemagh over her head and pulled the map and red lens flashlight under cover with her. I knew she was checking something and when she came out from under the cloak of her cover, she gestured to me.
We were going to do an abbreviated box around the VCP. The wadi we huddled in ran to the north for about a thousand feet before rising to level ground. When it did, we could dash across highway 7 that ran atop the high ground, and then immediately get ourselves into the wadi that ran on the other side of the road. If we timed it right, we’d be over and across before the guards manning the VCP were any wiser.
It wasn’t perfect and both of us knew it, but what other choice did we have?
Talya took point while I brought up our rear. We moved slowly and deliberately. Our biggest risk of compromise was any noise that we made so each step we took had to be careful and measured. Moving tactically really taxes you. Your muscles cry because each movement is slow and painstaking. You try to keep your breathing calm and under control, but the truth is your heart is still pumping fast from the adrenaline. Sure there are biofeedback techniques you can do to bring it down to a more reasonable level, but no one is ever one hundred percent comfortable doing what we were doing.
We were so close to the VCP now that I could hear the guards talking and laughing. Any sound we made would inevitably compromise us. Talya slowed our rate of travel even further. She was masterful at her foot placement and I did my best to step where she had just stepped. I figured there was less chance of me stepping onto sliding shale or gravel from the road above us.
I was in midstep when Talya’s hand suddenly shot up in a fist.
I froze.
Laughter floated down from above us. Close.
And then I heard the unmistakable sound of someone coming down the slope from above us.
My peripheral vision caught the movement before I could even see him. But judging from the direction, he was literally going to pass right between Talya and me. And I was no further than twenty feet from Talya.
I couldn’t move. Neither of us could. To do so would give our positions away. Instead, I readied myself to take the guy out if he suddenly sensed us. I redirected my gaze at the ground in front of me, trying to switch everything off mentally. If you’ve ever been out in the dark of enemy country, you know that the slightest bit of energy can tip off the bad guys. Sometimes you just sense something’s wrong and that’s all it would take for this to turn into a clusterfuck.
In my peripheral vision I saw him moving with purpose down the slope toward us. In a few seconds, he would be right between us and the only thing I could do if he spotted either Talya or me was to quickly kill him with my bare hands. I couldn’t risk even drawing my knife.
Every step brought the bad guy closer to us. My mind raced as I tried to figure out why he’d come down. It was obvious he hadn’t heard us otherwise he would brought his pals with him.
Then the wind shifted and I caught a sniff of something nearby that smelled like shit and piss.
Of course. They must have been using the bottom of the wadi as their bathroom. If we played our cards right, this guy was just going for a quick piss. Hopefully, he’d have his back to us long enough for both of us to move a little further along and be out of his line of travel on his return trip.
I braced myself for action as he walked in front of me only inches from the tip of my nose. Since Talya and I were both squatting as we moved, he probably just thought we were rocks. Still, if he had been here before, he might subconsciously know that there weren’t any rocks as big as we were in that area.
A few moments later, I heard the sound of a stream or urine being released into a pool of water.
Neither Talya nor I hesitated. We got our asses moving away from where we’d been. We moved as long as the stream of piss continued to hit the water and create noise for us to mask our movement behind. As soon as it stopped, we sank down and froze, flattened on the earth.
The bad guy made his return trip without incident and then we heard more laughter up above us.
We’d avoided our first contact.
But there were plenty more opportunities ahead.
6
As soon as we scampered over the high ground, we immediately descended into the wadi on the the other side. We took a moment to gather ourselves and check to make sure that everything we carried was still buttoned down tight so it didn’t make any noise as we moved on. We huddled quickly so Talya could point out our direction of travel and then we took off again, heading northeast.
The wadi gradually ascended and we knew that the relative cover it provided wouldn’t last forever. About half a mile further on, it started to level out. If we stuck with it, we risked suddenly finding ourselves without cover. And with dawn only a couple hours off, we needed to get under cover as soon as possible. Daylight exposure would blow everything.
I mimed to Talya that I’d go for a quick recon and she nodded. While she rested, I eased myself up over the lip of the wadi and scanned the immediate area.
A building sat a short distance away, its sign telling me that it was a restaurant of some sort, although it didn’t look like it was serving much of anything at that moment. Still, it provided cover and I moved to it, hoping to get a better view of the vicinity. As I approached, I could smell that rotting food in the dumpster and heard the rats before I could even see them. They didn’t even bother fleeing as I approached, which told me something about how casual they’d become in a war zone.
The street the restaurant was on had two small apartment blocks at the other end and then a wide open view for about a half mile in any direction. To the northeast, I could see several landmarks, but the view to the immediate east drew my attention. Palm trees and lush vegetation blossomed everywhere. I knew that Palmyra had been built on an oasis, but the lushness of the growth amazed me.
It also gave me an idea.
I slid back down to where Talya was waiting and told her what I’d seen.
“There’s open ground with no cover for perhaps five hundred feet.”
“And then?”
“The gardens. Plenty of cover and if we make it through, it should put us close to our target area south of the Sanctuary of Bel.”
“Five hundred feet is a lot of ground.”
“One at a time,” I said. “We leapfrog it.”
Talya thought about that and after a moment shook her head. “Too risky. If we get caught, we’ll be separated. Better to go together and chance it.”
“I can’t overwatch you.”
“There’s no point,” said Talya. “Better we stick together and risk being seen rather than risk being cut off.”
There wasn
’t much point to arguing so I agreed. We got ourselves ready and I led the way back to the restaurant. The hairy part was going to be getting past the apartment blocks. If no one spotted us there, then we’d been out in the open for a good amount of time. But it didn’t do any good to run. That would just look even more suspicious. Since it was still dark, we’d just saunter across the open ground like we owned the area.
Risky? Hell yes.
We cut a path directly east, taking us further away from the apartments even though we were still in sight of them. We walked together with our M4s clearly visible. Attitude, as they say, can sometimes be everything. My hope was that if anyone saw us, they would simply think that we belonged there since we weren’t acting all covert.
I hoped.
As soon as we were in the open, my heart started pounding in my chest. It’s eerie as hell walking along not knowing if someone has their crosshairs on your skull. I halfway expected at any moment to feel the impact of a round slamming into me before I even heard the shot. I know Talya felt the same way, too. Anyone who tells you they’re not scared when they’re out in the field is lying.
The main road stretched in front of us and my heart rate increased. The last thing we needed at that moment was to get caught in the headlights of a car or truck.
But fortune stayed with us and we crossed the road.
It took every ounce of restraint not to run for the cover of the trees ahead of us. We were so close to them. We had to stay cool, however.
The ground slid down at a shallow angle, and as we walked, I kept counting my steps. Each one took us more and more out of the line of fire. A breeze blew through the palms and washed over my skin.