He pulled down the night-vision visor on his form-fitting helmet to check for the beacons on the other men, all visible to him so he could tell friends from foes. The second visor wouldn’t show him anything until the drone Anderson carried in his backpack was deployed.
A tinny voice came over his headphones. “Five minutes to landing zone. Radio silence begins now.”
The thumping went away as the pilot switched to whisper mode on the helicopter.
Everybody started checking their equipment now. They all flipped down the flaps on the sides of their boots to make them wide and flat for running on the sand. This also made them virtually undetectable by the size and shape of the footprints. When they were all done checking equipment, they looked around at one another.
Anderson fisted his chest and growled. “Yeah.”
When the helicopter hit the ground, they darted out the side like bullets. They hit the ground and were sprinting at thirty-eight miles an hour before they were thirty yards away. They could maintain this speed for about half the approximately five miles they had to go and only slowed to about thirty for the rest.
Their all-black body armor and equipment was all secured in a way that nothing rattled. The jet-black neoprene and plastic was coated with nanoparticles of a heat-absorbing material that would maintain the outside air temperature so that they couldn’t be detected by heat sensing or night-vision devices. The inside was covered with tiny metal discs and had tubes with Freon spider-webbed throughout the suit and helmet to keep them cool. The boots fit like boxing boots and were made of a foam material that deadened the sound of their footfalls. They weren’t very durable, but they were very effective for stealth.
They were like shadows slipping across the desert on the moonless night. They could have run within ten yards of someone, and it would have sounded like a sheet flapping in the wind.
They wouldn’t need to talk for the entire mission. Especially not radio contact. They wouldn’t be taking the chance that the enemy would pick up the transmissions. That level of communication wasn’t necessary. Each of them knew exactly what his part was in the assault.
When they got within one hundred yards of the walled compound, they stopped and hunkered down as Laudner pulled the camo shelter from his backpack. He pulled the clip to release it and let the tent pop out slowly so it would make no noise. Once it was in place, he ducked inside and pulled out the control pad for the drone. Anderson pulled the drone out of his backpack and prepared it for flight, folding out propellers, turning the switch to the on position on each of the four engines, and checking the optics.
O’Reilly and Raines kept an eye on the compound as Anderson held the drone up at arm’s length above his head. With their night-vision visors down, they could see a few hot spots moving around the base of the wall and the top halves of ones moving along the parapet. If they saw that any of the guards noticed them, it would be a mission abort. The dart guns didn’t have that kind of range. Even with their enhancements, they wouldn’t be able to get close enough before the alarm went up, and the whole place would wake up and fall on them with enough weapons to turn them into casualties or prisoners.
Laudner worked furiously inside the tent, setting the coordinates for the drone. Within seconds it whirred upward into the sky. It was whisper quiet when it was right on top of them. At one hundred feet, you couldn’t hear it at all. O’Reilly and Laudner slid their second visors down and watched from the drone view as it was moved out over the top of the compound. They could now see at ground level with their night-vision visors and from one hundred feet above with a light press of a switch on their helmet. Their beacons identified each one of the team from either view. They would know where everyone on the team was at any point during the assault.
O’Reilly pressed his Locate Team function, and his visor displayed the distance each team member was from him.
The drone moved out over the compound, and they started seeing heat signatures all over. Even inside the buildings, they could see dull glows that gave them a close approximation of where people were. Some huddled around tables. Others moved in patterns. These would be guards, most likely alert for any infiltrations.
From the drone view, they spotted a ten-by-ten square grate in the courtyard that had to be where the hostages were held. It was likely a hole that would make it impossible for them to escape on their own and hard for them to be extracted in a rescue attempt.
Laudner backed out of the camo tent, pulled a net out of his pack, and laid it across the top of the tent. He attached a battery pack to leads coming off of the net and slid it under the edge of the tent. Then he used a remote tucked into his belt pack to turn it on. The tent looked like a rock. And the net was a Taser. Anyone who touched it would light up like a Christmas tree. The hundred-thousand-volt jolt would knock them unconscious for hours, if not kill them.
He then turned and nodded to O’Reilly, who started making hand signals to confirm what everyone already knew. He and Laudner would go right and, after taking out the guards there, hunker down inside until Raines and Anderson did the same.
They all started their sprint at the same time. Anderson reached his guard on the ground first and struck him with his armored glove. It gave a bone-crunching sound. Another guard who was within hearing distance spun, pulling his weapon up only to find his watch mate on the ground, convulsing in his death throes. He spun back behind him and then back to the corpse again.
Anderson had jumped up to catch the edge of the wall with a maniacal look on his face as he savored the confusion of his next victim. When he sensed the guy’s next move was to look up, he dropped on top of him. Thighs landing on the man’s shoulders, he twisted and snapped the guard’s neck. Anderson couldn’t help a little chuckle as he continued his roll back up to his feet.
Raines had followed his kill with a sprint and jump to the top of the twenty-foot wall, where a guard was moving to look out over the ledge to see what the noise was about. When he got to the edge, Raines was there to stab him in the eye. No sound escaped his lips as he fell, dead immediately. Raines rolled over the edge of the wall and reached back over to wave Anderson up. He heard a few footfalls as Anderson got a running start to make the height. As Anderson rolled over the top of the wall, Raines grabbed the corpse and propped him up in a chair in the corner.
Anderson moved up to the edge of the parapet to see if anyone was below. When he didn’t spot anyone with his night-vision visor, he waved to Raines and rolled over the edge of the ledge to drop to the ground. When Raines dropped down behind him, they both backed up to the corner into the shadows. When they had scanned the immediate area and were satisfied it was all clear, they flipped down the drone view visors to see where their partners were.
_______
Raines and Anderson were taking out the ground guards at the same time O’Reilly and Laudner were leaping to the top of the twenty-foot compound wall. After rolling over the top of the wall, they quickly ducked into the corners of the parapet. Their jet-black armor caused them to melt into the shadows. O’Reilly checked his visor and saw that two guards were headed their way. They could have taken the guards out where they were, but the parapet walk was narrow. So they likely would have fallen into the courtyard and alerted others. They needed to wait for them to get closer.
The guards continued coming straight at them. The Spartan team armor was effective at hiding them only as long as there was shadow or a dark background, so they had to keep very still. O’Reilly moved his dart gun up slowly and turned enough to give Laudner a slight nod. One of the guards moved to look over the wall, and that was their cue. O’Reilly brought his gun up and fired two quick times, thwip thwip. As he was firing, Laudner flashed by on his left and grabbed both of them before they even started to fall. He held them wrapped in both arms and looked over the wall to make sure no one was there before rolling the dead bodies over. There was a thud and a crack as they
crumpled on the ground. Even though they were already dead, Laudner cringed at the sound.
As soon as Laudner turned back to O’Reilly, a woman on the ground spotted him. O’Reilly turned his head toward her at the same time she turned to run. Laudner heard the rustle of her burka and turned that way too. They both jumped to the ground at the same time, Laudner reaching her first. She had turned to look back but was looking up to where they had been. When Laudner caught her, he put the crook of his arm around her windpipe so she couldn’t draw breath to scream. Laudner used his free hand to show O’Reilly he didn’t know what to do next. The sergeant was grabbing for his belt when the woman passed out.
O’Reilly pulled off strips of the tape they used for injuries and taped her mouth. They used zip ties to secure her hands and feet and stashed her under a table with jugs stacked around her.
_______
Raines and Anderson witnessed the exchange with the woman with their drone view visor. They also saw two glowing figures about to round the corner where O’Reilly and Laudner had just pushed the jugs back in place. They had their own issues to deal with, though. While they were paying attention to the scene across the courtyard, a guard had unknowingly avoided detection because he was approaching underneath the ledge.
Raines flicked his blade straight at the man’s throat at the same time Anderson fired two quick shots with his dart gun. Both were deadly enough to end the Taliban soldier but not quick enough to stop him from firing his AK at them. His burst would have been true but for the blade and darts hitting him and causing a jerking motion. Instead of the bullets hitting Anderson in the chest, one passed through his shoulder just above the collarbone. He grunted and put his hand up to cover the wound. Raines grabbed his arm and dragged him to an alcove where they could be under the cover of shadows. He pulled out some of the black tape they used for field dressing, ripped off a piece, and laid it across Anderson’s shoulder. It stuck to the suit even through the wetness of the blood that had already stopped flowing from the wound.
Another Taliban soldier was approaching where the now-dead one was bleeding on the ground. He pulled his weapon up and started scanning at ground level. When he didn’t see anything, he started to back away. Raines didn’t have his blade anymore. It was still in the other soldier’s throat. He started to pull out his dart gun, but Anderson was already flying toward him with a scissors kick that knocked him backward to hit one of the posts holding up the parapet ledge. There was a loud snapping sound that told them that either the post or the man’s back had broken. Raines took aim and fired his dart gun to end him before he was able to cry out.
They jumped up to the ledge to gain high-ground advantage again, immediately crouching and scanning the area. There was now shouting because of the gunfire, and that was soon followed by a loud clanging to raise the alarm. They started to move along the wall on the ledge, scanning the ground from above with their night-vision visors. Drone view was great to place your enemies and friends, but it was hard to move when using it. You could trip over anything that didn’t have a heat signature.
Three short bursts of gunfire erupted across the courtyard where they knew O’Reilly and Laudner were moving, as per the plan. They would stay on the west side of the compound, and he and Anderson would continue along the wall on the east. Once they reached the back wall, they would cross to the middle of the north wall and then move to the hole where the hostages were being kept. Situational changes to the plan could be made there.
_______
O’Reilly was pressed up against the wall in the slimmest of shadows. He kept perfectly still. Laudner was down on one knee at the corner of a building waiting for the group of four Taliban that was moving in their direction. He would attack and draw them to him, and O’Reilly would take them by surprise in a flanking maneuver.
The first Taliban came into view, moving up to a corner and scanning while the next guy leapfrogged to the next corner. He held his breath for two seconds and then stepped out for a couple of seconds, acting as if he had not known they were coming. The soldier pulled up his AK and fired. Laudner was quick enough to step back behind the corner before it erupted from the bullets, but it was damn close. If he hadn’t had a visor, the shrapnel from the mortar would have damaged his face. Shit! This guy was a good shot. He wouldn’t be able to pull that fake out again.
He pushed the button to change to drone view and could see O’Reilly’s beacon right across the pathway against the wall. The Taliban who had shot at him stayed in the place where he had gotten his good shot off while the other three moved across to the building where he was and started to skirt along the wall. He signaled to O’Reilly that his guard was still in place and that O’Reilly would have to handle three. O’Reilly just nodded as he darted out shooting the first Taliban before the man realized there was another combatant in play. Two darts hit him in the face, and his head whipped backward from the impact. The Taliban who was watching Laudner’s corner turned his weapon toward O’Reilly and started to fire as Laudner stepped back out and fired his dart gun four quick times in his direction. The burst from the good-shot guy’s gun went high this time and sprayed the wall above O’Reilly. He fell over dead from Laudner’s darts. They both dove and rolled to come up firing at the same man, who looked as if he was ready to give up, pushing both hands out to the side, too late for surrendering.
The last of the group took a split second to think about which of the two black-shadow soldiers he would shoot at first. That was time he didn’t have. O’Reilly flicked his knife at the man, who shot a burst of gunfire into the sky. Laudner was already moving in his direction and clotheslined him to the ground. There was a low moan as Laudner stood over him and finished with a punch to his throat.
They both moved to the shadows of the wall again and crouched into the shadows for concealment.
_______
The team met at the middle of the back wall of the compound as planned. It was Laudner’s turn to keep watch as the rest flipped their visors to drone view. They could see two groups of four zigzagging between buildings and the outer wall to try to find the intruders. There were also two snipers stationed on the ledges on each side of the courtyard. The west sniper was scanning north toward them, and the other was scanning south. Their speed put them way ahead of where the enemy sensed they could have been. There were also four soldiers stationed around the pit where the hostages were kept. They were huddled in one corner of their prison.
Using mostly hand signals and drawings etched into the dirt with his finger, O’Reilly sent Anderson and Raines to take out the snipers and, hopefully, pull the roaming groups away from the hostage pit. He and Laudner would use a flanking maneuver again to take out those four. They couldn’t spot any more threatening groups with the drone—just groups of figures that looked like women and children huddled in a building.
Raines and Anderson went in opposite directions around the outer wall to take out the snipers. O’Reilly and Laudner would watch the drone view for their success before moving forward with the hostage rescue.
_______
Raines slid from shadow to shadow, flipping his drone-view visor on from each vantage point to see where the group on his side was. He wanted to avoid them for now. He moved to a point beneath the ledge about twenty feet from where the sniper was stationed. He flipped down the drone view again and waited for the sniper to turn away from his position. When he did, Raines did a flat-footed jump up to the ledge, which was about sixteen feet up, and ducked behind an electric box that fed power to the lights around the courtyard.
The Taliban sniper scanned back his way but didn’t notice him crouched and pressed against the wall. When he turned back to scan the other direction, Raines stood up and fired two quick shots at the back of his neck. The darts fragmented into his chest and brain, and the man slumped and rolled off the ledge to the ground. At the same time he heard the thud of the man hitting the ground, he a
lso heard the kack, kack, kack of an AK-47. He felt a heavy thump on his leg, and burning pain told him he had been hit. Mortar was exploding all around him from the bullets that were missing him. He didn’t think about trying to return fire; he just rolled himself over the wall and dropped to the ground twenty feet below. There was another crack and more pain as the fall finished the bullet’s job of breaking his leg. He groaned in pain as he pulled out a morphine slam stick. He had to work fast. The morphine started to work enough for him to crawl and roll his way into the brush and shadows away from the wall. They would not have expected he could make it as far as he did. At least that was his hope.
_______
Anderson slithered in and out of the alcoves that would get him to where his sniper was stationed. He made it there without incident, and after checking his drone view, he knew he was good to go. He leaned forward a little until he saw the sniper’s gun and beard poking out over the edge. He thought, Perfect, as he smiled to himself and jumped up to grab the man’s beard and yank him headfirst over the edge. The soldier landed on his back, and the air was blasted out of his lungs. With the impact, his weapon fired a burst straight at Anderson’s chest, but he was able to twist in time to make the shots glance off his armor.
Origin Z Page 8