Missy's First Mission

by P. G. Allison

  -----

  July 18, 2019

  Colonel Chory was growing more and more concerned. The surveillance reports from the CAW teams were all saying the same thing. The Taliban presence in the Korengal Valley was now much greater than before, possibly thirty to fifty percent greater. The photos revealed various known Taliban and al Qaeda leaders were now there, many having recently returned from takeovers of cities that had fallen. His Intel section was saying this was all in response to the buildup of Afghan forces in Kabul.

  In addition to the base, there were now dozens of small camps in the valley and at various strategic mountainside positions. Neutralizing the area around the Taliban base would definitely be a challenge. The Afghan assault forces were still being told their missions were the recapture of those fallen cities in Afghanistan. Meanwhile, additional Afghan forces were moving into Jalalabad and Asadabad, allegedly for defense, so those cities wouldn’t be next to fall.

  There now was a lot of worldwide concern and speculation, with rumors running wild. Was the U.S. pulling out? Or, would the U.S. and NATO be coming back in? How long would it be before Afghanistan was overthrown, with Pakistan falling soon after that? The Afghan political leadership was not providing any clear direction and, as confidence continued to erode, the Afghan military morale had reached a dangerously low level. Desertions were increasing, adding to the turmoil already present from thousands of civilians now homeless after fleeing the cities taken over by the Taliban.

  This attack they had planned was now desperately needed. Only by striking back, winning a big victory and destroying that base, was there much chance of reversing things and saving the two countries. General Blake and the Secretary of Defense had flown over to meet with the President of Afghanistan and his key advisors. And, fortunately, the Afghan leaders had all agreed and were now on board with this plan, the real CAW objective. There really hadn’t been any other option. Finally, the military forces in Kabul were being given their true mission.

  Campaign Angel’s Wing was a “go”. The date had been set. July 25th, a Thursday. At dawn. He only wished they’d hear soon from that Private McCrea. She’d been gone five days now. Assuming she was actually successful, whatever recon information she could provide would be very useful. Yes, there was a lot riding on the success of this campaign. Anything she could do that might help make a difference would be very welcome indeed.

  -----

  Missy found a way to get inside. Just after midnight, right after all the guards had changed, she approached one of the more remote exits high up on the mountainside, a cave leading in to the upper level. She figured there wouldn’t be any further sentry activity out there for a while. She’d used this particular exit before, six months ago, so she knew what the caves and tunnels would be like once she could get inside. And, there were now only two guards anywhere near it.

  She managed to make enough noise, using her telekinetic powers to shake tree branches nearby, that one of the guards went out to investigate. While the other guard stayed back, he was so focused on watching out for whatever might be happening where the first guard had gone that she easily slipped behind him unnoticed and quietly entered the cave. She had sensed there was no one inside, anywhere in proximity to this opening, and once inside she was able to continue moving down the corridor with no interference.

  As she had done the last time, she went exploring with all her senses on high alert for any movement and with hiding places always identified in case she needed to duck out of sight. She padded soundlessly, noting the sleeping areas and storage places and latrine, all essentially the same. There were more men there, however. A lot more. Time and again she had to hide and wait as various men stirred, then got up individually or sometimes in groups of two or three. Usually they were merely using the latrine but, incredibly, two of them actually went down the corridor and found a storage area where they began having sex. Ewww! She’d been able to sneak past them, no problem, but the sounds and scents were … well … ewww!

  It took her four hours to reach the main lower level, where the control rooms, mosque, hospital, class rooms, mess areas, large conference room and generators were located, all pretty much the same as before. The hospital had several men sleeping on cots, as did the class rooms and conference room. Even the mess area had people sleeping inside, which made it a bit of a risk getting past them, but she worked her way over to the kitchen where she’d hidden herself before. There were a lot more bags and boxes of provisions now. She was glad she’d learned how to move things with her telekinetic power as she needed to do that in order to make some room for herself and squeeze into a safe hiding spot.

  Once there, she was forced to remain in hiding for the next sixteen hours as men were up and about, constantly coming and going. This was indeed stressful, as she needed to remain ready. She was prepared, at any moment, to take whatever action might be needed. Her luck held, however, and she was not discovered. Finally, she sensed the corridor leading up to the other levels was okay and she went on the move again. She checked these areas, frequently ducking out of sight, as there were still men she had to hide from as they passed through. Most were going off duty but a few were obviously heading out, probably to take their turn as guards. She passed the four caves used for prisoners last time but these were now more sleeping areas for soldiers.

  Then, just when she thought she was finally reaching the end of her tour, she discovered a whole new section. As she approached what had merely been a storage area six months ago, she realized it now opened up into more corridors. These led her back deep into the mountain until eventually emerging near the surface once again. Each of the vent shafts that had been drilled down into these caves from high above was only a foot or so in diameter. There were no sleeping areas but instead these caves had been stocked with weapons and ammunition. And, explosives.

  She knew all this would have to lead to at least one good sized exit. Finally, there it was. The main corridor opened into a large cave with an opening to the outside. This had two guards inside, seated at a small table and playing some sort of a game. There were several other men, sleeping in caves located nearby, which were all connected to the main corridor with tunnels. And, she scented at least four men outside, but they were not that close to the cave opening.

  She had been gone long enough and needed to get back to her unit and send back her report to headquarters. Neither of the two men inside would be able to draw a weapon in time to stop her and she wasn’t concerned about being seen. While they certainly would be surprised at seeing a mountain lion, that would not be considered as anything supernatural. So, she ran past them and, once outside, quickly noted where the four guards were located. They turned, reacting to the cries of alarm from one of the men inside, but before anyone could take aim at her she bounded out of sight.

  She scrabbled up the side of the mountain, which contained plenty of rocks and scrub brush for cover, and no one even fired any shots at her. It was dark, of course, and she soon was well away from danger. She headed back to where Team Twenty-Two was located. Three hours later she was finally able to Change, retrieve her weapons and gear, get dressed in some clothes and check back in with them.

  Chapter Thirty-Two

  July 20, 2019

  Heimbold turned to look at the cave entrance and announced, “She’s baaaaack”. He dragged that last word out and used an inflection that suggested something spooky was happening. Then, he turned back around and watched as Missy came marching up the path. He had a big smile on his face.

  “Miss me?” She was now wearing an Army fatigue uniform with its traditional camouflage pattern rather than Afghan garments and had her hair drawn back in a tight ponytail. She had her pistol hanging from a pistol belt around her waist and, in addition to the backpack, she was carrying her two rifles.

  Captain Grimes came out and welcomed her back. She went inside the cave and placed her weapons and gear off to one side and then sat down with Grimes and Hernandez. Harold an
d Town were up at the OP, Williams and Murphy were sleeping in the back, and Carter had just returned with some water from the nearby stream.

  Hernandez was staring at her. He knew she’d somehow managed to survive out there for seven days and nights, all alone. Incredible. He and the other enlisted men had all been speculating on just how special she must be, able to do whatever it was she was doing. Grimes would only keep saying how she could take care of herself. Even so, for the past couple of days, the rest of them had actually started to wonder if she’d been killed or captured. Now that she’d returned, he was very curious to learn what, if anything, she really might have accomplished.

  Grimes asked, “Do you have anything you can have my guys send back right away? I’m letting headquarters know you’re back and a full report will follow later, right?” He then called Carter over. He would have Heimbold go with Carter up to the ridge and send out a quick message.

  “Well, the base has guards now at every entryway and there’s one new entry that’s been added. Wasn’t there six months ago. As for the surrounding area, I’ll mark up your map to show where each of the Taliban camps are, within a fifteen mile radius. You can send a photo of that back once I’m done. It’ll take me a couple of hours since there are more than thirty locations. Some have only got a dozen or so men but three of them are quite large. And, there’s that new base they’re building six miles further down.”

  Hernandez asked, “Any guess as to how many soldiers there are, total? Besides those at the base. What are we potentially dealing with?”

  “Twenty one hundred, give or take a hundred.”

  Carter said, “Holy shit!”

  Missy said, “I counted twenty-one twenty-six, actually, but that was a few days ago and they come and go, you know? I’ll mark the map with where they were and the time that I saw them there, but that’s all I can do.”

  “Plus over two hundred and fifty inside the base,” said Hernandez.

  “Actually, there are now three hundred twelve in there. Definitely overcrowded. But, no prisoners. Let them know that in this initial sitrep.”

  -----

  Colonel Chory waited anxiously for Missy’s full report. Word of her special recon, along with how many Taliban forces she’d seen in the valley, had gotten a lot of attention. He’d explained to his staff that when the full report came in, they needed to update all their planning based on this latest information. They now had only “four days and a wake-up” before the attack and there was a lot to do.

  Major Stillman came in to ask about this latest recon and how accurate was the source. He was the Group’s Intel Chief and had been putting together briefings based on all the CAW team reports for two months now. This latest info suggested there were even more forces than all the previous estimates he’d pulled together. How reliable was this?

  “One hundred percent reliable, Major. This isn’t just another CAW team report. You know that top secret report we got in January? The one that identified this base for us?”

  “Sure, what about it?”

  “Well, Team Twenty-Two now has that source out there, updating everything.”

  “But …” Stillman paused, since he really had never learned just how that earlier report had been put together. He knew there had been some highly classified source, which he’d figured was some sort of high tech wizardry. Especially since there’d been those detailed cutaways, computer generated, showing the inside of that base.

  Colonel Chory smiled at him. “Just be ready to update our Operations Order. We’re running out of time now. We need to position each of our CAW teams out there where they can clear the LZ for those assault helicopters and keep it secure. Once the Afghans are on the ground, they’ll need to know exactly what they’re dealing with as well. I know they’re maybe outnumbered ten-to-one but with the element of surprise and the added firepower from our gunships, this assault should be able to completely isolate that base. Then, with their reinforcements coming over from Asadabad, the Afghans should be able to own and hold the territory long enough for that base to be destroyed. We’re sending all our other CAW teams, the ones still back here in Kabul, out to secure the road from Asasabad to Kandagal.”

  Stillman said, “Yeah, in and out. Surgical strike. I just wish I had more confidence in those Afghans. If they can’t fight off the Taliban effectively, those CAW teams of ours might have some real difficulty getting back out. Even if the base gets destroyed, and the Afghans cart away a couple hundred prisoners, that still leaves our guys a big challenge. They have to somehow reach their designated extraction LZ’s, right? If the countryside is overrun with Taliban fighters, that might not be so easy.”

  -----

  July 22, 2019

  Grimes needed to review everything with the team. They were sitting outside of their cave, in an open clearing amongst the trees. Williams and Murphy had just returned from the ridge with the latest from headquarters and this had included their anxiously awaited new orders. All the surveillance missions were over and every CAW team out there was now getting new assignments. Finally, they’d all be taking some direct actions. He’d already had a general idea of what to expect, from what he’d been told by Colonel Chory earlier, and so he’d been expecting this.

  It had been two days since Missy’s comprehensive recon report had been sent back. He’d been really impressed with how detailed her report had been. Every Taliban location had been clearly marked on the map, each with notations concerning the number of men, the types of weapons she’d noted and what vehicles they’d had. Plus, of course, her update on the base with how many guards were located at each entryway along with the location of the new entryway.

  That info was especially valuable since he knew the plan depended on containing the Taliban inside their base and not giving them any “backdoor” escape. After finding every possible way out was closed and blocked, the Taliban would all have to surrender or die fighting. Team Twenty-Two was one of the teams tasked with fighting its way inside, clearing the base and bringing out the prisoners. Then, the Afghans could go in and blow it up, completely destroying it.

  First, however, his team had a sector to take care of in preparation for the Afghan military combat assault. This sector had three routes through it, each a possible approach which might be used by the Taliban soldiers once the assault helicopters started landing down on the valley below. These routes needed to be totally blocked off so no Taliban troops could get through. It was also necessary to clear this sector completely of any troops already inside, already beyond the blockade points and within shooting range of the arriving Afghan troops. For the planned assault to work, his team needed to clear and secure its sector. Likewise, other sectors on both sides of the valley were being taken care of by other CAW teams.

  To support this effort, a CAW team would be establishing a POW camp on each side of the valley. These two camps would take care of all the prisoners brought in by the CAW teams clearing these sectors. Finally, the remaining CAW teams were being positioned up at the base, covering all the entryways. Once things got started, anyone attempting to leave the base would be killed. Then, with the Afghans on the ground, isolating the surrounding area and holding off the two thousand or so enemy forces, those inside the base would have no hope of rescue.

  When Hernandez returned with the guys from the OP -- the others were already all gathered around him, waiting -- Grimes looked at each of them. “This is it. In three days, the assault helicopters will be landing here.” He pointed out the area on the valley floor, using the large map he’d saved for this portion of the mission. “And, here’s the area we’re responsible for clearing.”

  He pointed out their sector, along with the three routes that needed to be blocked. Because of the mountainous terrain, there really weren’t any alternate routes. He showed them where they needed to establish blockades and it was obvious how that would prevent the Taliban from getting close enough from anywhere else in the sector. They had enough explosives which they
could set off to effectively block each route. Then, with three team members at each blockade, they could easily shoot anyone attempting to get through.

  “We need to search all through our sector and eliminate anyone in there who might possibly be a threat. That’ll take us a couple of days. Then, we can set up at our three positions, prepare the explosives, and be ready for the big event.”

  Town asked, “How can we be sure we’ve taken care of everyone in our sector? There’s a lot of ground down there and we’ll need to avoid shooting anyone, right? That would raise an alarm prematurely.” He was the only one who could speak any Pashto, the language used by the locals.

  Hernandez grinned. He and the Captain had already discussed their plan. “You’ll have the best possible disguises and can just walk all around, out in the open, checking everyone out. We’ll take care of anyone you identify for us. McCrea here has offered to dress back up in her Afghan outfit and, with her along, we figure you and Heimbold will just look like three locals.” Of all the team members, Town and Heimbold had the beards and swarthy complexions to best pass for Afghans.

  Grimes nodded and looked at both Town and Heimbold. “You won’t have any weapons visible, of course. Like you said, we need to avoid shooting anyone. I think you’ll be safe enough … no one will be shooting at you, at least. Not unless they learn you’re not Afghan locals. But by then, it should be too late. We’ll be able to disarm anyone before that happens. There’ll be at least one of us close by at all times.”

  “According to McCrea’s recon, there really shouldn’t be very many soldiers in our sector right now.” Hernandez looked at Missy and she nodded in agreement. Since she looked like she still wanted to add something, he asked, “McCrea? What is it?”

  She had slept for ten hours after finishing her report. She then had discussed a number of possible scenarios with Captain Grimes. Today, she was feeling refreshed and back to normal. “I just wanted to point out that disarming people … that’s one of those special things that I can do. And, if they’re not close enough for me to grab them? I’ll have my knives.” She rolled back her left sleeve to reveal her two knives, readily accessible in sheathes strapped on her forearm.