Stolen Liberty: Behind the Curtain

by Thomas A. Watson

  When Cody lifted his rifle, Randy nodded, glancing at his watch as PFC Aaron Peterson, aka Cobra, dropped down beside Cody. The young black soldier was holding a dressing over his left shoulder where he’d gotten hit by shrapnel. Checking Peterson’s wound, Randy looked in his face.

  “How you holding up, Cobra?” Randy asked. When Aaron nodded, mouthing ‘I’m good’, Randy stood up, lifting his wrist. Seeing it was 1140, he moved down the trail.

  When Charlie and Robbie joined the group, they set down the bodies and saw Wheaton holding up a small dish antenna. “A chopper better be on the way,” Robbie panted.

  “The last three they sent for us got shot up,” Charlie said, moving over to Cody. “You holding strong, Babyface?”

  “Yes, Sergeant,” Cody panted with a grimace, taking off his helmet.

  “You hang tough, troop, and the name’s Book in the field or Charlie in the world,” Charlie told him, and Cody grinned. Charlie looked at his dressing and shook his head, lifting his eyes back up to the eighteen-year-old face. This was Cody’s first outing, and shit, did he pick a doozy.

  Wheaton had begged Captain Winnfield to hold Cody back, but Babyface had high scores from Benning and the captain wanted him to go. Even when Charlie and the other sergeants spoke up, the captain didn’t listen. “Test scores mean shit downrange,” Charlie mumbled.

  “What, Book?” Cody panted.

  Patting Cody’s boot, “Nothing, Babyface. Keep an eye out, troop,” he said and moved back to Robbie who was looking behind them with binoculars. “You see anything?”

  “Hell no, and that is just fine by me,” Robbie popped off. “I haven’t seen a sexy woman in thirteen months and you know why? There aren’t any here. I want to see some hot American women in bikinis.”

  “You need to be thinking with the head on your shoulders, troop,” Charlie grinned, but knew it was a lost cause on Blaster.

  Moving his binoculars across the ravine, “Book, I’m telling you. We bring some hot American woman over here, these boys will quit fighting and screwing goats. They will see what true beauty is and start having fun.”

  “Keep an eye out, Blaster,” Charlie chuckled. “I’m going to see what Wheat has come up with.”

  “Shit, like I have somewhere to be and a date tonight? Women walk around with curtains over them here,” Robbie mumbled. “Make a man believe he’s chasing Casper the friendly ghost.”

  Kneeling down beside Wheaton, Charlie looked down at the map in Wheaton’s lap as he talked on the radio. “Copy your last, but we need evac now, not move another twenty miles to get extracted,” Wheaton snapped in the radio.

  Charlie closed his eyes as Wheaton listened. “Sir!” Wheaton snapped. “I have six KIA and five WIA that includes me! We ran fifteen miles to the area you said would be our extraction point. Then we had to take off again, going through a valley and over another mountain.”

  “I’m shooting the captain when I get back. He definitely qualifies for extinction,” Charlie mumbled, looking around. Setting his rifle down, he checked the dressing on Wheaton’s upper shoulder where a bullet had passed through, taking a chunk of meat out. Hitting Wheaton between the shoulder and neck, luckily it hadn’t ripped open a big bleeder.

  Seeing Wheat was okay, Charlie moved around to the other wounded to check them. “Sir, are you telling me there isn’t a chopper that can fly here? If you need gas money, we can pitch in for some,” Wheaton said in a quivering voice filled with rage.

  Closing his eyes as he listened, Wheaton gripped the headset so hard they could hear the plastic cracking. “Can you at least send some fast movers? One fucking plane to get these fuckers off our asses!” Wheaton growled.

  Listening to the radio, Wheaton’s face turned purple. “Well, sir, when I get back, you can court martial me but be warned, I’m going to stomp your ass. You stuck our asses out here without a plan and we all told you, cocksucker!” Wheaton shouted, throwing the headset down and turning the radio off.

  “I take it the captain hasn’t called up the chain and informed them he has a team stuck in a clusterfuck?” Charlie said, moving over to Wheaton.

  “Fuck no,” Wheaton snapped. “He wants us to travel another twenty miles, so the choppers can come in without people shooting at them.”

  Looking over his shoulder, “Blaster, we good?” Charlie asked.

  “Have I said anything?” Robbie replied with his binoculars up, scanning the trail behind them.

  “What’s the plan, Wheat?” Charlie asked as Randy came running back up the trail. “Oh, shit,” Charlie mumbled, seeing Randy’s face.

  “Good news and bad,” Randy said, squatting down.

  “Bad,” Wheaton barked, shoving the radio in his backpack.

  “We have a group of sixty tangos moving down the slope ahead of us, nine clicks ahead,” Randy told him, pointing at the map Wheaton was looking at.

  “What could you possibly have for good news?” Wheaton cried out, throwing his hands up.

  “Five clicks ahead down in the ravine is a small village. I saw several vehicles we can steal and just fucking drive back to base,” Randy grinned.

  “Where?” Charlie asked, looking at the map and Randy pointed. “Damn, talk about a race,” he said, looking at the terrain they would have to cover.

  “I suggest we come in first,” Randy said. “We hit the village as a group because we don’t know if those in the village are tangos.”

  Glancing back, “The last two villages we passed, everyone shot at us, so why should this one be different?” Robbie popped off, then turned back to glass behind them.

  “Listen up!” Wheaton called out. “We are moving five clicks to a village and stealing a fucking ride. There are bad guys ahead trying to cut us off, so this is a race. Let’s show them Rangers always win.”

  “Hooah,” Charlie said with a grin.

  “Pack up and haul ass. Shadow, you’re on point and no playing with the locals. If you see one, light them up fast,” Wheaton ordered, getting to his knees.

  “I only play when they piss me off,” Randy said, grunting as he picked up Griffin. Holding out a hand, he helped Cody up. “Stay frosty, Babyface, because it’s not over till we get back to the world.”

  “Yes, Sergeant,” Cody said, grimacing while holding his hip.

  “Did you hear Book? You are on this team, Babyface. I’m Shadow or Randy in the world,” Randy grinned at him.

  “Shadow, kiss him if you’re going to, then get your ass moving so you can show us this village,” Wheaton barked.

  Adjusting his throat microphone, Randy smiled at Cody and turned around, trotting off. “We going to hotwire a ride in this village?” Robbie asked, getting up.

  “Piss on that, someone has keys and we’ll just take them, and send them a check for the ride,” Charlie chuckled.

  They formed up and trotted after Randy and saw him running off the trail to the bottom of the ravine. Where the ravine met the valley ahead, they saw the small village. “Damn, that’s a steep slope!” Robbie gasped, then followed the others down.

  Everyone skidded and slid more than they ran down the steep slope, reaching small trees halfway down. Moving faster in the trees, they reached the small stream at the bottom of the ravine. Randy moved through the trees at a walk and keyed his radio. “Slow your pace, we aren’t alone,” he warned in a low voice, releasing his toggle switch. Scanning ahead, Randy just felt something out of place.

  “Shadow, we don’t have long before that big group beats us to the village,” Wheaton said over the radio.

  Stopping, Randy crouched down, seeing the village through breaks in the trees. “Wheat, I think the guys behind us dropped down into the valley and got ahead of us. I’m going to slip into the village at a walk. Keep your pace down in case we have to move back up the mountain,” Randy said softly, releasing his radio.

  “Copy, but you spot trouble, you call before acting,” Wheaton called back.

  Shifting Griffin’s weight on his sho
ulder, Randy pressed the radio toggle. “Oh, they are there, I just don’t know how many.”

  “Shadow, you need me to move up?” Charlie called over the radio.

  “Yeah, I’m dropping a bottle cap on the trail, Book. Thirty meters to the right is a boulder you can set up on. Have Blaster move in to cover our six. I think they are trying to catch us between a hammer and anvil,” Randy said in a low voice, digging in his pocket and dropping a bottle cap. It was a trick Wheaton had taught them. When they wanted to mark something, they dropped a bottle cap. They were light and didn’t arouse suspicion if someone else saw it.

  “Copy, moving,” Charlie called out, easing up through the team. “Blaster, did you hear Shadow?”

  “Yeah, and I think he’s right. I hear movement and it’s not goats,” Robbie replied.

  Easing forward and moving from tree to tree for sixty meters, Randy paused hearing something brush up against metal off to his left. Lowering his body until he was resting on his left knee behind a bush, Randy slid Griffin’s body down to the ground. Dropping to his belly, Randy eased his head around the bush, looking where he thought the noise had come from.

  He froze at seeing a head pop up from behind a fallen tree twenty meters away on the other side of the stream. With his heart rate speeding up, Randy pressed his radio toggle twice, letting the others know he’d seen the enemy but was too close to talk.

  “I’m set,” Charlie whispered over the earbud in Randy’s ear.

  The man’s head popped up again and looked to his left, then his right and Randy saw several men step out from behind trees, looking at the man behind the log. “Shadow, I have a hadji forty meters to my front behind a tree armed with an AK. He’s looking to his left like he’s talking to someone.” Charlie called over the radio.

  Easing his rifle up, Randy pressed his toggle twice and aimed at the one furthest away. Resting his crosshairs, he slowly squeezed the trigger and watched the man’s head jerk back as his gunshot broke the quiet. No sooner than his gunshot had sounded, another hadji broke as Randy dropped his aim to the man behind the log.

  The man stood up, aiming toward Charlie and Randy squeezed the trigger, watching the man grab his chest. Squeezing the trigger two more times quickly, Randy smiled to see the man jerk and fall back. Swinging his rifle over, he saw the one closest to him missing most of his head.

  “Three down and we need to haul ass,” Randy called over the radio as automatic gunfire erupted behind him up the ravine.

  “Contact! Big time!” Robbie yelled over the radio with thunderous gunfire in the background. “Are we making a last stand and dying, or we gettin’ out of Dodge?”

  “Blaster, fall back down to the village. We can stand there if we can’t get out!” Wheaton shouted.

  Moving onto his knees, Randy picked up Griffin, rolling the body onto his shoulder. Getting up with a grunt, he eased to the village as more gunfire sounded up the ravine. “Blaster, you need me to come back?” he called over the radio.

  “You do, and you’ll be alone. I’m running to you,” Robbie huffed out over the radio.

  Glancing back, Randy saw Charlie stand and pick up the body he was carrying and start toward the village. Turning toward the village, Randy took off at a fast walk, trying to scan everywhere as the tempo of the gunfire behind them increased in intensity.

  Reaching the village and moving between two huts, he saw goats and chickens running around with a teapot smoking over a fire, but no people. “Not good,” he mumbled, stopping beside a hut. Pressing his radio, “Bad guys are close, village is empty,” Randy said.

  “Fucking get in a hut, then!” Wheaton shouted.

  “Moving to your left,” Charlie said, coming up behind him and moving to the side of the other hut.

  “They are close,” Randy said in a low voice, then his eyes moved to an ancient white Nissan Pathfinder.

  Dropping to one knee, Charlie looked around and then raised his rifle up as the gunfire behind them got closer. “Can you hotwire? I’m not in the mood to look for keys,” Charlie asked.

  “Yeah,” Randy huffed.

  “Leave Griffin and I’ll cover you. Get the ride started, so we can get the hell out of this damn place,” Charlie said.

  Sliding the body down, Randy took a deep breath and bolted from the side of the hut. Gunfire erupted as he jumped over the fire with the teapot, heading for the Pathfinder.

  With bullets kicking up dirt around Randy as he ran, Charlie saw two men on the hillside to his right overlooking the village. Swinging his rifle up and squeezing the trigger twice, Charlie watched both drop. Hearing more gunfire on the left, he swung his rifle and saw a man with an RPK machine gun resting on a boulder chasing Randy with his aim. When his crosshairs centered on the man, Book squeezed the trigger and watched the man’s head snap back.

  The gunfire in front of him stopped, but the gunfire behind him became louder. When he saw Shadow reach the Pathfinder, he spun around, seeing the rest of the team moving towards them. Lifting his gaze up the ravine, Charlie’s heart froze to see hadjis, lots of them, moving between the trees and coming towards them.

  Lifting his rifle, Charlie started shooting and heard bullets impacting on the hut. “Got our ride started! Let’s get the fuck out of here!” Randy yelled over the radio.

  Bringing up the rear, Robbie weaved around trees, hearing bullets impacting around him and slapping the trees. Seeing a boulder up ahead, he skidded to a halt and spun around behind the boulder and rested his SAW on it before squeezing the trigger. He wasn’t aiming, he was just trying to get the tangos to slow down and hide for a second.

  “Shit!” Robbie yelled, seeing a hadji pop out from behind a tree twenty meters away and swung the barrel of his SAW over as he held the trigger down. Watching bullets stitch the body, Blaster moved the barrel and just sprayed up the ravine.

  Seeing men stop and dive behind trees, Robbie smiled, lifting up his SAW and taking off running. “You better be glad I’m out of explosives, goat lovers!”

  Skidding to a stop beside Charlie, Wheaton saw Randy running over. “Where are you going?” Wheaton shouted.

  “Getting Griffin,” Randy answered, skidding to a halt and picking the body up.

  Nodding as Randy took off carrying the body, Wheaton motioned for the others to follow. “Book, can you hold until we load up?” Wheaton asked, bringing his rifle up and spraying bullets behind them to try and slow them down again.

  “Don’t know for how long,” Charlie admitted, dropping an empty magazine. “I’m down to forty rounds.”

  “Buy us what you can,” Wheaton said, turning for the Pathfinder and saw Randy tossing Griffin in the back. Patting Charlie on the shoulder, he took off to the Pathfinder and saw the others stacking the dead in the back and on the roof tying them down quickly. Then he noticed Randy running back to Charlie. “Where are you going now?”

  “We need accurate covering fire, and Book can’t do that moving back fast and carrying a body!” Randy shouted, running past him.

  Jumping over the fire again he looked up the ravine, and time slowed for Randy while he was in midair. A man stepped out from behind a tree holding an RPG. Starting his descent, Randy saw the projectile fire off with an explosion, streaking through the air at him.

  When he landed, the rocket impacted to his front, propelling him back and pain shot from his left leg. Landing hard with his ears ringing, Randy shook his head and smelled burning clothes, and felt his back getting hot. Realizing he’d landed in the fire, he rolled away blinking his eyes.

  Looking down, Randy saw bone sticking out of his left ankle and his foot twisted ninety degrees to the right. Seeing it with his eyes, the pain became very intense when he sucked in a breath, seeing blood pulsing from his ankle.

  Feeling someone hit him in the chest with a sledgehammer, Randy grunted as the air was knocked out of his lungs. Crawling fast, he moved over behind the low stone wall beside the fire. Yanking his small hydration pack off, Randy dug out a dressing
and put it on his ankle, then looked down at his vest to see where a round had hit him dead center. “It is bulletproof,” he huffed, tying the dressing on while the gunfire continued.

  Looking at his ankle, he shook his head and then looked around, seeing a wooden chair beside him. Pulling his M9, Randy shot the back of the chair, splintering the wood. Snapping the two pieces off the back, he pulled out a roll of duct tape from his small pack. Glancing at his ankle, he saw the dressing was soaked.

  “This is FUBAR,” he said, grabbing another dressing and a tourniquet. Blinking tears out of his eyes and gritting his teeth, Randy grabbed his foot and moved it until it was pointing straight, then duct taped the dressing over his ankle. Next, he taped his ankle and foot to hold it straight. He took a breath and wrapped the tourniquet below his calf muscle and taped it down. Grabbing the sticks from the chair, he duct taped the sticks to make a splint, so he could use his foot.

  Looking around, Randy saw his M4 was still attached with the one point sling. “Well, I still have you,” he said, checking his rifle.

  When the explosion had hit, Charlie had been knocked flat and Robbie had skidded to a halt, turning around and spraying the ravine again. Shaking his head, Charlie looked back and didn’t see Randy. “Where’s Shadow?” he yelled over the ringing in his ears.

  “I was covering our six, I don’t know!” Robbie shouted back when his SAW ran dry. Letting it hang, he grabbed Charlie and pulled him around the corner of the hut.

  “I’m good, where is Shadow? He was running up behind me!” Charlie shouted, checking his weapon.

  Looking back, Blaster saw Randy working on his leg. “He’s behind that stone fence beside the fire,” Robbie said, dropping to one knee and letting the body on his shoulder hit the ground. Yanking out another box of ammo, he popped his feed tray open as Book raised his rifle, shooting in a steady rhythm.

  “Go check on him, I’m on my last mag,” Charlie said, ejecting the magazine.

  Slamming the feed cover closed, Robbie spun around and bolted over as bullets whizzed past him. Jumping up, he dove over the wall and saw Randy jerk, lifting his rifle but stopping. Hitting the ground hard, Robbie rolled over and crawled back. He looked at Randy’s duct taped leg, shaking his head. “I don’t think that’s one of the thousand and one uses for duct tape.”