I sat back against the rocks we were crouched behind, thinking. I looked at my men. “Something doesn't smell right here. They would be blowing any hope of an ambush exposing themselves like that.”
“Unless...” Then almost as one our eyes snapped wide and our weapons snapped up scanning the area when the first shots rang out. The men at the gap weren't the ambush, they were the bait to get us exactly where we were.
I stared in horror as the Kid fell to the ground. His bloody helmet spinning across the ground as his lifeless body fell in front of me, the scarf around his head soaking up blood as his dead eyes open and staring at me. Dante was spraying random cover fire as we all moved for better protection, Johnson and I snapping our rifles around trying to determine the locations of the enemy as bullets struck around us.
We tucked under an overhang as I was yelling out, “Valkyrie One we are under fire, we have a man down!”
She was instantly there with a calm voice, “Bugbat One, roger. Air support ETA ten minutes. I have the two bogey's taking position behind rocks at their locations, I have a possible bogey at your ten. They are using the rocks to shield themselves from detection.”
I did a quick glance at our ten o'clock. I saw the muzzle flash of a weapon. Good girl Katie. Now where are the others? At that thought, she was on again, “Bugbat one we have three bogies coming in at your twelve.” I saw them picking their way toward us firing Kalashnikovs. One was unslinging an RPG.
I motioned my fingers to my eyes then down at the three approaching through the rocks. They were a bigger concern than the snipers at this time with that damn grenade launcher. I counted down from three to one and the men popped up and gave supressing fire in controlled bursts. I stood and took a calming breath as I raised my rifle. The man had the launcher pointed our way. Bullets were ricocheting around me. I exhaled and gently squeezed the trigger.
The man went down, but his finger spasmed as my bullet went through his eye socket. I screamed “Down!” to Dante and Johnson as I dove onto them, knocking them down as the errant rocket propelled grenade raced toward us. I was stunned and deaf for a few moments as the grenade exploded above us as it struck the overhang.
Shrapnel and rock fragments showered down on us. Through the ringing, my hearing slowly returned as I shook off the disorientation. Johnson wasn't moving under me. I rolled off of my men and Dante instantly rolled then started spraying a hail of bullets at the other two men who had to move to cover. I checked Johnson. Though unconscious, he was breathing but his shoulder was pretty mangled, he was losing a lot of blood.
I yelled into my mic, “Where's that God damn air support!? Two men down!” As I pulled a med pack from Johnson's pack and applied a field dressing. When I did all I could, I motioned to Dante to keep up the suppressing fire as I took a knee and looked through my scope while Valkyrie One said in her calm tones, “Air support ETA, eight minutes. We have intermittent heat signatures heading your way at your twelve, bogey count indeterminate.”
I nodded to myself as I said, “Copy.” Then I murmured to myself, “There you are you bastard.” I picked out the rifle barrel and arm of the bait man at the gap who was taking pot shots at us from behind a rock. Then I said, “Let's see a little bit more of you shall we?” I fired a single round at the other side of the rock and the man scrambled to the side a bit, exposing his shoulder and part of his torso. “Thank you,” I said as I exhaled and squeezed, a moment later I saw his shoulder explode into a bloody mess and his weapon tumbled down the rock face.
It would take his buddy on the other side of the gap a few minutes to move into position. Now we only had the foot soldiers heading in and that sniper to deal with. Narrowing the cone of engagement. I cued the mic, “Two bogies down.”
“Reload!” Dante yelled as he sat behind a rock and threaded another belt of ammo into his weapon as I gave cover fire.
He slapped his weapon then nodded and I slid to the side, firing as he rolled out and started to open up on full auto. The last two from the first group didn't know what hit them as he tore them in half.
But then he went spinning to the ground. He scrambled for his dropped weapon as I turned and fired a couple shots toward the sniper. Dante propped himself against the rock breathing hard. I was tearing his fatigues from his chest. There was a broken ceramic plate from his body armor. I smiled at him and slapped his shoulder. Good man, he was wearing his armor, but his breathing was ragged, he probably lost a rib there. I ticked off, “Four bogies down.” I got confirmation from Guardian One.
There was a slow but steady bullet impact in the sand or ricochet off the rocks followed by a report moments later. Ok about three hundred yards. That's a start. There was about a seven second delay between each shot. That was the window as he chambered another round and he reacquired us.
I looked over at the Kid just laying out there. I know it isn't logical nor smart, but I just couldn't leave his body out in the open like that. He was like a little brother to me. I got Dante's attention and pointed at my eyes with two fingers and swung them toward Ortega's body five yards away. Then I indicated three hundred yards and pointed toward the sniper. He pulled his weapon up and winced but nodded once. I counted the seconds after a shot to the next one to confirm my timing then as another shot ricocheted past us I started running as Dante popped up and fired toward our ten.
I slid up to Ortega's body and grabbed his rucksack straps and started dragging him back to cover. A shot hit just to my right as I got behind the only rock shielding us from the sniper under our overhang. I was panting trying to catch my breath. I said out loud, “We need to take out that sniper!” Dante nodded agreement. I spoke into the mic, “Valkyrie One, status on incoming bogies?”
She was there instantly and in her calm voice stated, “Four hundred yards downrange sugar. We estimate six bogies.”
I spat out, “Shit!” Then calmed, “Air support?”
Her honey tones soothed the ragged edges of my mind, my body full of adrenaline. “ETA, five minutes.” I closed my eyes, the new group of slavers would be here in three. Then she added. “We have visual on a mass movement from a cave system a kilometer south, southeast of your location. They have vehicles mobilizing toward you Bugbat One. Looks like we have the location of Red Castle's home base. Ordering missile strike and air suppression package.”
She had a pleased tone in her voice and I smiled in spite of myself. Looks like it worked, dangling us out here as bait. We could finally put an end to these god damn bastards once and for all. I'm going to celebrate the hell out of this. A bullet whizzed past my head. I swallowed and amended my thought. If I survive this.
I was sick of this shit, that guy had to go. I told Dante, “Snipe hunt.” He smiled and pulled his scarf off his face and threw it off to the side into the open and a shot rang out. I belly-crawled west and around the side of the overhang, then scrambled up under its cover.
It took me a couple minutes to get into position. I lay on my belly and slid the barrel of my M4 between the gap in two rocks and watched and listened as Dante continued to draw fire without returning fire. The echos on the rocks confused the sound.
Then I saw the muzzle flash. Got ya you prick! I tapped my earpiece sending static and then I heard Dante returning fire again. The sniper only had eyes for him. I couldn't get a clear solution. But then I looked at the rock beside the muzzle of the sniper rifle. Ok Kenz, it's just like the Wild West show. You did this a thousand times as Annie Oakley.
I took three calming breaths then held one. Stilling my entire form. Then I exhaled slowly as I gently squeezed the trigger, compensating for the recoil I followed up with two more shots. There was a motion after the first shot. The guy must have about shit his pants. But then I saw fabric on the third shot and the weapon's barrel was off at an extreme angle, but it was slowly swinging back down.
I must have hit him with one of my three ricochet shots. I whispered, “But I can see you now asswipe.” I fired again and there was a plume of r
ed and all motion ceased. I said into the mic, “Splash five.” I got an almost pleased, “Roger that.” From Valkyrie One.
I got back down to Dante in a rush. Ejected my empty magazine and slapped another home but it jammed, I must have gotten sand or debris in the magazine well. I didn't have time for that, so I slung it over my shoulder and drew my sidearm, chambering a round. We stood and looked toward the sniper's nest with grins on our faces when all hell broke loose. The other squad had arrived. God damn it! Can't we get a single moment to breathe?
I went down hard as a bowling ball hit my chest while I was diving for cover. I pressed a hand against my chest and pulled it away, no blood, good, my armor did its job. Hooah! I looked over, but Dante was sitting with his back against the rock holding his belly and blood covered his hands. I scrambled over to him, ignoring the piercing pain in my chest. That was going to leave a huge bruise. I almost laughed maniacally at such an inane thought.
The reality of my situation was starting to sink in and fear began to creep in. Come on Kenzie, don't go locking up now. As we took full automatic fire, I helped Dante get a pressure bandage and field dressing on his wound. He was in and out of consciousness. How much blood had he already lost? He tried to focus on me but his face was screwed up in pain. I jammed a morphine injector into his leg and he chuckled before he lost consciousness again whispering, “Fuck 'em if they can't take a joke.”
I laid a hand on his shoulder, “Hooah.” Then I grabbed his M249 SAW. Damn that beast was heavy. I took two breaths then rolled out the belt of ammo dragging behind me and I opened up side stepping as I went to present a moving target. That gas operated beast had kick! I had to muscle the barrel down to control the recoil, but tore through the approaching enemy until the dreaded click as I dove behind some rocks that would give me poor cover.
I was yelling, “Valkyrie One! Bugbat four is down. Air cover?”
Katie sounded a little strained as she replied, “Seventy seconds Kenz. We're about to go dark as we lose satellite to horizon. I'll be with you again when my Predator arrives in one hundred and twenty seconds.”
I hesitated, I knew the shit I was in was deep when she broke protocol and accidentally used my name. I had never heard her afraid before. I just said in a resigned tone, devoid of any animation, “Roger that.”
I didn't have seventy seconds let alone one hundred and twenty unless I could buy some time. I looked back at the overhang where my men were... And the two functional M4s. Shit. I was twelve yards away. Out in the open that was as good as a mile away. I pulled my M9 Beretta again. I sighed in defeat and whispered to the pistol, “Looks like it's all up to you darlin'.”
These guys were poorly trained. They were spraying in full automatic the entire engagement. The rate of fire had dropped in half since they arrived, they were going though their ammo too fast. I had taken at least three down with my stupid John Wayne move. But then I shrugged, they did have dozens of men coming in support behind them so I guess ammo wasn't a factor in their minds. I looked around the right of the rock and cataloged and memorized the approaching men. Six, four with Kalashnikovs and two with sidearms, they must have used up their magazines for their rifles.
I ducked back as fire rained down around where I had been. Ok, the pistols weren't the threat the auto rifles were. The way the guys were holding them in front of them without aiming or a proper stance meant they were inexperienced. Actually hitting something with a pistol without aiming at more than ten or twelve feet is a hell of a lot harder than it may sound. And hitting a moving target is exponentially harder.
The riflemen wouldn't be any more accurate the way they were spraying their fire, but the sheer volume of rounds upped the probability of a hit. So I knew my targets. I took three deep breaths and drew on everything my father had taught me. I calmed myself and stilled my hands. Then I said into the mic, “Sorry Katie.” I stood, raised my weapon in both hands to stabilize it, and started rapidly walking to my left, keeping my sights in my vision.
I exhaled as I squeezed the trigger gently as I caught the targets in my sights. Step, step, squeeze. Step, step, squeeze. My ear was ringing and blood had spattered my face as my helmet was ripped off along with my earbud. I ignored it and the new pain in the side of my face as I kept firing. Two men down... three.
My left arm was ripped from my pistol and a white hot pain shot through me. I caught bone jutting up from my forearm in my peripheral vision. I re-raised my pistol and fired again. Four men down. One of the two was shouldering his weapon and pulling a knife, he must be out of ammo. The last two charged my position. I kept squeezing the trigger though I was out of ammo. I was so close... so close.
I glanced quickly at the M4 at Johnson's feet, eight feet away. There's no way I could reach it in time. Then I was spinning and falling as my right leg was torn out from under me and I went spinning down to the ground under the overhang, beside my men.
I saw the smile on the bastard's face and the look in his eyes that told me he was going to kill me. These were my last seconds on Earth. The eyes never lie. I thought, “I'm so sorry Katie... I love you,” as I closed my eyes as the barrel of his weapon swung up.
Chapter 16 – Valkyrie One
It is a hell of a thing watching helplessly as you watch the person you love die. As I sat in operations at the 833rd Transportation Battalion headquarters, watching McKenzie and her Bugbats being picked off one at a time, I watched more of the enemy approaching with time estimates less than the ETA of the damn gunships and strike teams.
Watching her time after time, defy the odds and almost level the playing field. It helped to push away the terror that was threatening to immobilize me. I had to help. I contacted the lead airship again. “Raptor Flight One, Valkyrie One. You have to double-time it Captain! They are getting shredded down there!”
I could hear his own concern in his response. “I've got the throttle wide open Valkyrie One.”
My supervisor, Kendrick, was standing from his chair looking at me. “Can you handle this DeLong, or do I need to take this?”
I shook my head violently. “No I got this.”
He squinted at me. “Well then calm the fuck down and do your job!” I almost snorted in derision, I could almost hear the word that almost followed that... “Soldier.” Almost everyone in Apophis Security Contractors was ex military except me and a couple other analysts. They all snapped at each other like they were barking orders all the time.
I took a deep breath and nodded. I was no good to my Kenzie girl if I couldn't keep mah head. She was online again shouting, “Valkyrie One! Bugbat Four is down. Air cover?”
I glanced at the screens and tried to keep a calm tone as I replied, “Seventy seconds Kenz. We're about to go dark as we lose satellite to horizon. I'll be with you again when my Predator arrives in one hundred and twenty seconds.”
Her emotionless, “Roger that,” told me she wasn't pleased. And neither was I. Some of the other bogies were about to arrive in vehicles from the Red Castle base at approximately that same time.
I watched the countdown on our thermal imaging from the Overguard Sixteen spy satellite. Ten seconds until we would go dark until the air support arrived on scene. Then I heard a voice from a million miles away over the speakers, “Sorry Katie.”
As I watched her stand and start firing her pistol at the group that had her pinned, she was moving slowly and methodically back toward the overhang. I couldn't pick up the heat signatures of her team under the rocks. I wasn't breathing and I wasn't sure my heart was beating either as I saw her helmet go spinning away from her. But she was still on her feet firing. More enemies were falling.
Then her left arm was ripped away from her gun. She was staggering and still firing. She was almost to cover. My lungs were on fire in need of air. Then Kenzie... the woman I loved more than life itself went spinning to the ground under the overhang where I lost sight of her. Then the screen went to static as “Sattelite out of range,” blinked on the screen.
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br /> I fell to my knees as tears streamed down my cheeks. My mouth was open in a silent scream, but I had no air left in my lungs to make a sound. I inhaled roughly and sobbed once, stopping myself as I stared at the static on the screen.
Kendrick was walking down to my station and calling to my second, “Porter, take ops.”
I wiped my eyes and hissed at him savagely, “I got this!” I calmed myself and said much calmer, “I got this.” I dared him to take my vengeance away from me. He just nodded once as I pulled up tactical screens from the airships and the incoming missiles at Red Castle's base.
I couldn't hear any emotion in my voice as I said, “Raptor Flight One, this is Valkyrie One, Sand Fox is down. Repeat, Sand Fox is down. Re-task to recovery.”
The grim voice that returned sounded full of anger, “Roger that Valkyrie One, re-tasking to recovery.”
I took a breath then said in that same detached voice, “Raptor Flight One, be advised, enemy vehicles on site at point zero, zero, thirty seconds.”
I could hear the tone of a predator showing his fangs at the opportunity to rain hellfire down on an enemy that had harmed one of his own as he said, “Roger that Valkyrie One, weapons hot.”
I snarled at the screen as I watched the flight through the forward and weapons cameras on the lead gunship. They were hugging the desert as they flew like a bat out of hell toward the rocks that jutted up out of the desert.
They swooped through the gap where the diversionary enemies had been positioned. Then just as the enemy caravan came into view, the fires of hell were unleashed as the chainguns and missiles from two gunships opened fire. Then I had my eyes back to another screen as my drone arrived on site, I sent the order to have the operator stay on station and give me overviews of the battle and the suspected Red Castle base.
I watched as cruise missiles pummeled the enemy and F15E strike eagles arrived with a couple bunker busters. A tear rolled down my cheek and I whispered, “We got 'em for you Kenz. You flushed them out finally, and we got 'em for you.”
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