A Fallen Hero

by Sharon Kimbra Walsh

  “Negative on that at this time, Joe,” Louis Eastman responded. “Who’s with you?”

  “Corporal Anderson,” Joe answered. “We need to get those co-ordinates as a starter, Louis. My plan is that I’m going to try to draw their fire so someone in there with you can get a bead on them. I want two teams of four outside the building in case they’re planning an ambush. Get them to take up positions both sides of the building facing northwest. Keep them out of sight unless I say otherwise. Gun crews?”

  He received two acknowledgments from the marines operating the guns in the MRAPs.

  “Keep those guns manned. Eyes on for the exact location those shots came from,” he ordered. “Do not fire, I repeat, do not fire until I give the order. I don’t want them getting a location on the vehicles. Is that clear?”

  He received confirmations from both gun crews then spoke to Louis Eastman again. “You there, Sergeant Eastman?”

  “Roger that, Joe. What’s your plan?”

  “Same plan as before,” Joe repeated. “Once they start firing, eyes on, pal.”

  “Roger that, Joe. Watch your ass,” Sergeant Eastman returned.

  “I aim to do just that, Sergeant,” Joe replied.

  Once the transmission had ended, he turned to Katie, who was still staring at him, eyes wide, breathing fast and panicky.

  “Hey,” he soothed gently, placing a hand on her arm. “Relax. You’ll be fine.”

  Katie whispered, “Be careful.”

  Joe nodded his mind already on the task at hand. He moved slowly in a crouch toward the edge of the wall, raised his weapon and sidled out from its protection. He had only moved a foot or so when the sound of gunfire shattered the silence. Bullets struck a few inches from his boots and two more bullets hit the wall. Joe dove backward, landing with a thud on his back, his weapon clasped to his chest. The back of his helmet hit the ground and he grunted with the impact.

  Katie dropped to her knees and crawled toward him. Placing a hand on his body armor, she shook him roughly. “Are you all right, Joe?” she asked.

  Joe sat up and nodded. “Yeah,” he answered, trying to inhale a breath through his winded lungs. Thumbing his PRR he barked, “Anyone get the co-ordinates? That was my ass out in the wind.”

  Sergeant Eastman responded immediately, “Got them. Now get back here.”

  “Copy that. Everyone in place?”

  Sergeant Eastman acknowledged in the affirmative and Joe turned to Katie. “Okay, honey,” he said quietly. “This is what’s going to happen. See that broken wall about two-meters from us?”

  He pointed a finger off to the right toward a low, broken wall about one-meter in height. It was barely long enough to hide an average-sized person.

  Following the direction in which he was pointing, Katie nodded.

  “We’re going to make a run for it and use it for cover before heading toward the building. As soon as we leave concealment, they’re going to open fire. The terries are normally crap shots but we can’t rely on that. You’ll go first and I’ll follow. Do you understand me?” Joe stared at her.

  Katie turned to look at the low wall only a short distance from where they were crouched. Taking a deep breath, she turned back to Joe.

  “Okay,” she said, “I’m ready.”

  “Good girl,” Joe answered. “Okay, let’s go. Move to my right. Keep your cool. Don’t panic. You’ll be fine.” He gave her a small smile of reassurance then gestured for her to move to crouch by his right side.

  Katie moved to the edge of the wall beside him and waited for his signal. Joe thumbed his PRR again. “We’re about to move,” he stated.

  He turned to Katie. “Okay, sweetheart, on three, run like hell. Do not wait for me.” He placed a gentle hand on her shoulder. “One. Two. Three!”

  Immediately on three, Katie was up onto her feet and leaping into a sprint, keeping her body low so as to present as small a target as possible.

  Joe watched her run, his heart in his mouth. Short as the distance was to the next wall, he thought that she looked so vulnerable and exposed. Gunfire erupted in her direction as soon as she moved and Joe opened fire in retaliation.

  He checked that Katie was safe then with a final volley of shots, began to run to join his wife. He made it easily, slithering to a halt beside her, immediately noticing with some anxiety that she was rubbing her stomach.

  “What’s wrong?” he asked. “Is everything okay?”

  Katie nodded. “I landed on my weapon,” she replied. “It’s okay. We’re okay.”

  Nodding, Joe glanced at the distance remaining to the building. He saw four marines lined up at the far corner of the wall as he had ordered, facing northwest, one behind the other, in the direction that the gunfire had come from.

  “Ready?” he asked Katie.

  Katie nodded, rose to a crouch, grasped her weapon across her chest and waited for Joe’s order.

  “Go!” he yelled, and Katie ran again, reaching the end of the building om a few strides and pressing herself up against the wall. There was no further gunfire as Joe joined her.

  “Let’s get inside,” he ordered and urged her in front of him, past the MRAP with its marine on the gun, rounding the corner and jogging to the entrance to the building.

  Once inside, Katie saw marines manning the windows facing out toward where the insurgents were located. Two of the squad had binoculars aimed in that direction and there was a tense, deathly hush from them all until Sergeant Eastman approached them both.

  Nodding at Katie he said quietly, “Hey, Joe. Glad you both made it. What’s your call?”

  “Call in an air strike,” Joe announced. “We’re not gonna be able to move out of here until we wipe them out. The road and surrounding area are under enemy control so we can’t send out the men to do a recon and make contact. Call in the co-ordinates, Louis. Let’s wipe those bastards off the face of the earth.”

  Louis Eastman nodded, “Roger that,” he replied and spoke into his PRR, uttering a string of numbers that would inevitably result in an air strike on the distant enemy hotspot.

  Joe moved to stand at one of the windows and raised binoculars to his eyes, focusing them on the distant horizon. He panned them from left to right and finally said, “I can’t see any movement. I bet the dickwads have crawled away into their holes. Time to strike, Louis?” He turned to Sergeant Eastman, and waited for a response.

  “Ten minutes,” Louis answered.

  Turning back, Joe raised his binoculars again, trying to discern any movement that would signify that the enemy were still in position and unaware of the fate that was on its way to them. His body remained motionless except for the slow movement of his eyes from left to right as he gazed intently ahead.

  Katie joined the squad lining the windows, her body still jittering from the incident outside the building. The room remained silent and the atmosphere gradually filled with tension and anticipation. She strained to hear the sound of the approaching aircraft and she felt the first stirrings of excitement and fear of the unknown trail cold fingers up and down her spine. She was breathing slightly faster than normal and she kept her gaze on the almost limitless terrain out of the windows.

  What are the insurgents doing? Are they aware that they are about to die? Do they honestly think that the people they shoot at are going to go quietly on their way without retaliatory action?

  As she thought these thoughts, she heard a muffled sound in the distance, like the muted rumbling of thunder. The noise grew as two aircraft approached their location, the thunderous scream of their engines proclaiming that they were flying low level for their mission. Once they were overhead, the noise was deafening. The flimsy building shook, dust and particles of debris showering down onto the squad, Katie clamping hands to her ears as the aircraft passed over them.

  The marines began to cheer, their noise rising to compete with the ear-splitting shrieks of the two sleek, charcoal-gray British GR4 Tornado aircraft that screamed into view, outlined a
gainst the vast, pale blue canopy of the sky, the harsh sunlight striking in scintillating shards off the cockpits and the ASRAAM missiles slung beneath their torpedo-shaped bodies.

  “Oh, you fucking beauties,” a marine crowed with almost child-like delight and the men gave each other high fives and chortled like children.

  Katie felt as though she were watching a dream unfold before her eyes. She found herself holding her breath as the aircraft flew straight and true for their target, neither Tornado deviating from their low flight path.

  Then, the distant horizon exploded. The muted crump of high explosive ordnance roared back to them across the flat desert, the building foundations shuddered slightly and again, small showers of dust drifted down from the rickety beams as the shock wave hit them.

  A dense wall of leaping flame, clouds of sand, soil and dust shot up into the air, coiling and swirling in on itself to form a miniature mushroom cloud before spreading out dense black-gray tendrils of debris across the skyline, which plunged back down to be eaten hungrily by the quickly diminishing flames.

  Cheers erupted from the squad and even Katie felt a thrill of excitement as she watched the Tornados soar upward to a higher flight level, one banking to the left the other to the right, the one on the right rolling over to complete a graceful victory role, both aircraft then disappearing into the blue sky, their mission accomplished.

  Katie turned to glance at Joe and heard him speak into his radio.

  “Eagle One to Strike One. Thanks for the help, you guys.”

  There was the crackle of static then a British voice came back through the electrical ether. “No problem, friend. Any time. Over and out.”

  Joe moved to stand by Katie’s side, his gaze roaming over the now murky horizon. The flames had vanished, beaten low by the heavier debris filtering slowly back to ground level but dark clouds still hung in the air, unmoving.

  “Do you think we got them all?” she asked in a low voice.

  Joe glanced at her. “Nope, probably not all of them,” he answered. “But if we didn’t, the shockwave will have given them a hell of a headache.” He noticed that she looked pale and uneasy. Concern eased its way into his mind.

  “Are you okay?” he asked.

  Katie returned his gaze. “I’m fine,” she murmured, “but it’s been a crazy few hours.”

  Joe sighed. “Yeah, you got that right,” he agreed. His voice remaining low, he continued, “Listen, I’m going to have to sit up front of the MRAP for the rest of the route. There could be more hostiles around. Will you be okay?”

  Katie nodded. “Do your job, Joe, and stop worrying about me. Just keep us safe, okay?”

  Giving her a last lingering glance, he winked. “Roger that.”

  He turned regretfully away from her and yelled, “Okay, kiddies, listen up.” He waited for the squad to turn and face him before continuing. “The air show is over, and we need to move out. The situation has changed. We need to focus on our surroundings. I want Sergeant Eastman to ride shotgun with binoculars in the trail MRAP, Sergeant Edwards in the truck. I will take the head MRAP. Keep the binoculars to your eyes as if they were part of your face. I want the guns manned at all times. I don’t care how you do it, what shift system you use, just make it happen. I want the vehicle sensor systems activated and on at all times in both MRAPs. I want five, two-man teams, each team with a HSTAMIDS on standby in the lead vehicle, no clusterfucks. There’s to be a team on each flank of both MRAPs and one team in front of the lead. One hour outside then rotate. We’re gonna be tracked, guys and girls, for the rest of our route and one small slip up could have us dead. My guess is that we’re gonna have to watch out for IEDs, both primary and secondary. The first one we come across we call in the EOD guys. You all know the drill, what to look out for. These SOBs hide and wait for some poor sons of bitches to appear then ambush or remote detonate the IEDs. They may be crap shots but they have the balls to take us out and to give us a fucking hard time. We have a long way to go and it’s going to be damned hot, uncomfortable and slow.”

  Joe glanced around at his men, all of whom were listening intently. “I don’t have to tell you how dangerous this is going to be. Stay focused, stay frosty and stay alert. Any questions?”

  The squad remained silent, shaking their heads unanimously.

  “Outstanding,” Joe said. “Let’s get out of here.”

  The squad and Katie moved away with a purpose, collecting their equipment, putting on helmets and picking up their weapons, forming up at the doorway of the building.

  Joe moved to the door ahead of the squad. Before exiting the building, he glanced back over his shoulder, eyes searching for Katie. He found her standing motionless, watching him, green eyes wide and a fearful expression on her face. Their eyes met then he turned and stepped outside, raising his M4 and aiming it ahead of him. Speaking into his radio, he raised four fingers, and beckoned to the first four men standing in the doorway.

  He surveyed the surrounding area while they ran from the building and formed a security perimeter a few meters distant, weapons raised, each man focused on his own individual line of sight.

  Waiting until the security team was in place, Joe beckoned to the remaining squad members still inside the building, who jogged out toward their respective vehicles.

  Katie was nervous as she made her way to the lead MRAP. She studied her surroundings, expecting to see the hazy figures of hostiles sneaking toward them, exposed as they were to an ambush or sniper out to make a killing.

  On reaching the MRAP, she waited in line behind Dan, who looked over his shoulder at her and winked reassuringly. She found herself shifting from one foot to the other, nervously glancing over her shoulder out to the surrounding land, feeling as if somebody was staring intently at her. The hair rose on the nape of her neck and she swallowed, her mouth suddenly devoid of all moisture.

  It’ll get to be my turn and I won’t make it, she thought. Someone will put a bullet in my back just as I put my foot on the first step.

  She knew stress had created the morbid thoughts popping erratically into her mind but she also knew that fate enjoyed stepping in, destroying hope and complacency in all manner of ways and was never discriminating.

  Finally, it was her turn to climb aboard. Once Katie found herself in the dim interior, she took the same seat as before, sat down and allowed her body to go limp with relief. After she had regained her equilibrium, she kicked her personal pack beneath her seat and rested her medical one between her legs. As she fastened the buckle of the seat harness across her lap, Dan nudged her.

  “What happened to you out there?” he asked. “Are you okay?”

  “I’m fine,” she answered pretending to fiddle with her weapon. “I got myself into trouble with the Staff Sergeant and he saved my life.”

  She turned to watch as a marine rose from his seat, stood up on a small platform in the center of the vehicle, unlocked a hatch in the roof and slid it open, thrusting his head up and through into the turret of the remote controlled weapon station.

  With everyone on board and the back doors closed and locked, the engine roared into life. Katie heard Joe speak from the cab.

  “Nice and easy does it. Gun crews, three hundred and sixty degree surveillance.”

  On hearing his words, Katie shifted nervously in her seat, suddenly aware that this mission had become all too real and much more like a living nightmare.

  Chapter Twenty-One

  The convoy moved slowly away from the building and out onto the rough, two-lane road. When all three elements were in position—one behind the other—Joe called a halt.

  “First three security teams dismount and take up your positions. All convoy elements maintain a speed of ten kilometers per hour, twenty-five meters safe distance between each vehicle,” he said over the PRRs.

  Inside the back of the MRAP, Katie felt stifled. The temperature inside was intolerable and before she passed out from the heat, she knew that she needed to shed some o
f her clothing, particularly as she had made up her mind that she was going to be in one of the first teams to dismount.

  Quickly pinning her weapon between her knees, she undid the chinstrap of her helmet and took it off. Unfastening the Velcro fastenings of her body armor and slipping it over her head, she shrugged off her combat shirt, relishing the immediate coolness as she did so. She was about to stow the item of clothing when she heard a low wolf whistle and looked up to see who had made the noise. Her eyes fell on the marine who she knew by the nickname of Mattie, and frowned as he smiled at her.

  The man winked and said aloud, “Hey, Staff Sergeant. We have a strip tease going on back here. A…very nice one it is too. Hey, Andy. Nice form, lady.”

  All eyes immediately fell on Katie, who felt her face burn ferociously at the flirtatious and almost ribald comment. One marine simply stared at her as though he couldn’t take his eyes from her.

  Katie glared at him. “Why don’t you take a photo, Marine?” she asked, her voice falling into the silence. “It might last longer.”

  Joe suddenly choked violently, then coughed and spluttered before he attempted to clear his throat and snapped, “What the fuck is going on back there?”

  Nobody answered his question and he continued angrily, “That’s enough of the bull shitting. Get your asses outside.”

  Face continuing to flush with embarrassment at the attention she was receiving, Katie put on her body armor and helmet, heaved her medical pack on and grabbing her weapon stood up.

  Dan joined her. “My team?” he asked.

  Katie noticed that he also seemed a little put out at the remark made at her expense and he turned and glared at Mattie and at the marine who had been staring at her.

  Katie nodded in answer to Dan’s question and turned as the rear doors swung open, squinting as harsh sunlight flooded into the vehicle interior. She swallowed with a sudden onset of nerves and speaking into her PRR, said, “Dismounting,” and jumped down. She waited for Dan to join her and watched as he unfolded the HSTAMIDS before letting him lead the way round to the right flank of the MRAP.