The loose end

Thwack...Thwack...Thwack

„Shifting position, you`ll be without sniper support for thirty seconds."

Archer got up from his position in sync with Toad. Their ghillie suits made them almost invisible in the surrounding area. The two men got into a jog as to not start hyperventilating. they were snipers assigned to Operation "GILJOTIN". The main goal of the operation was to kill the terrorist Makarov for starting a war between the US and the Russian Federation.

Archer dived down into a small nook, perfect for a sniper like him. Toad ran a little further and did the same. The two of them did not need to communicate verbally all that much. Being in training together and accompaning eachother in various missions made them able to think like eachother and act in tandem with fluidity.

Archer looked down the scope of his M14 EBR. The others were inside the house and were transferring data from Makarofs computer. Another truck was coming up the road.

' They just dont know when to give up, eh?'

He lined his sights up with the drivers cabin, then led the target a bit, did some mental calculations, and fired.

Thwack...

The shot hit the top of the trucks roof, went through it and a split second later the front windshield was splattered with blood. The car started to veer off the road, going faster and faster. Then it hit a tree and the front seats were introduced to the windshield from the impact.

A few seconds later one of the doors was beaten open and two men tumbled out.

Thwack...Thwack...

Both of them were not going to cause any trouble anymore.

Ozone suddenly yelled into the comms "I'm hit! Need assist..."

Archer and Toad simultaineously did a cross on their chest in the remembrance of their comrade.

"Ozone is down." Archer hated reporting in friendly casualties. But somebody had to do it.

Thwack...Thwack...Thwack...Thwack...

Archer ejected the magazine from his gun and slotted it on his chest, pulled out a full one and jammed it into the gun.

I felt Toad nudging me with his foot. I looked at him and he pointed to the distance.

Archer looked to where Toad was pointing only to see dark dots on the horizon. He checked the compass attached to the top of his riflestock.

'North-West'

He put his finger to the microphone activation key "Enemy fast-attack choppers coming in from the northwest."

Looking down the sight again he could see a hostile sniper in a ghillie leaning out from behind a tree.

Thwack...

'Night-Night'

"Roger that. Enemy helos approaching from the northwest." answered Ghost. Fast and simple, Thats why Archer liked Ghost.

Turning his scope to the west he started scanning the fields surrounding the house. He saw a mob of enemies exiting the forest nearby and charging at the building.

'Oh no you dont'

He set his scope on a guy with a red hat.

Thwack...

The mans chest exploded. He set it on the next, a man with a balaclava.

Thwack...

Half the mercenarys face was pulverised by the 7.62×51mm NATO round.

The mob still had not scattered so Archer and Toad stopped aiming at specific targets and just emptied their magazines into them.

Thwack...Thwack...Thwack...Thwack...Thwack...Thwack...Thwack...Thwack...Thwack...Thwack...Thwack...Thwack...Thwack...Thwack...Thwack...Thwack...Thwack...Thwack...Thwack...Thwack...Thwack...Thwack...Thwack...Thwack...Thwack...Thwack...

The mob was so tightly packed that almost all the shots hit somebody. About twelve guys fell down and were trampled on the remains of the mob. The remaining men, about eight of them took cover behind the boathouse.

Archer just sighed and reported it to the ground team. "Hostiles approaching from the west!"

Reloading their weapons Archer and Toad returned to searching for more enemies

The next ten minutes are filled by waiting for the DSM to finish downloading and shooting at the assaulting mercs.

Thwack...Thwack...

Another two mercenaries fell when they attempted to assault the house. They were some of the few who survived Scarecrows constant barrage of rounds. The man had found the minigun from a room upstairs and had set it up on a window and had been mowing the enemies down with it.

Ghost yelled out " Roach, the transfer's complete! I'll cover the main approach while you get the DSM! Move!"

"This is Shepherd. We're almost at the LZ. What's your status, over?"

"We're on our way to the LZ! Roach, Scarecrow, let's go!"

Another half a minute passed and then half the backside of the building exploded. Out jumped Ghost, Roach and Scarecrow, who was still holding a spent RPG in his hands. The three ran to the side buildings and Roach started picking off some lone soldiers still moving about on the field.

It took Roach only a minute of shooting to clear out the stragglers still in the field.

'Impressive, should maybe take him aside with Toad and show him a couple of pointers.' Thought Archer to himself

Ghost did a couple of hand signals and started running towards the LZ.

Archer watched as the three charged across the now empty field. He could only shake his head, knowing how juicy targets they would be to enemy snipers. Luckily there did not seem to be any left because the team made it to a path that lead down to the LZ, without getting shot at.

Archer could see explosions going off around the team. It was a wonder that none of them got hit by shrapnell or something nasty like that.

"They're bracketing our position with mortars, keep moving but watch your back! Roach, I got you covered! Go! Go! Get to the LZ! Keep moving! We gotta get to the LZ! Roach, come on!"

The men charged through enemy ranks and made it to the clearing.

Archer saw the American choppers coming in and rose up. he slid his M14 on his back and pulled out his MP5K and started running through a preplanned rout towards the LZ. They Only got about 30 or so meters before they saw an enemy that was trying to sneak up to them, knife in hand and all. A quick burst from Toads P2000 put him down for good with an overdose of lead.

Suddenly Ghost came on the radio, sounding frantic, huffing and puffing, like he had run a bit too much.

"Thunder Two-One, I've popped red smoke in the treeline! Standby to engage on my mark!"

"Roger that. I have a visual on the red smoke. Standing by."

"Thunder Two-One, cleared hot!"

"Roger that, cleared hot. Guns guns guns."

Even from half a klick away Archer could hear the miniguns and rockets being fired and winced, almost feeling sorry for the enemy. Still they continued running at a moderate pace, keeping their guard and stamina up.

"Gold Eagle's on the ground. Watch for snipers on thermal, over."

"Roger that. All targets destroyed."

They ran and ran and ran.

"We got it, sir"

'Damnit, Ghosts mic must have malfunctioned again'

Every now and again Ghosts mic would turn itself on and off on its own. Very annoying if you were on a mission that demanded radio silence. But for some reason Ghost never got a new one, he said he likes the quirk, keeps him guessing.

Then Shepherd said something that none of them expected.

"Good. That's one less loose end."

"PHOW"

"NO"

"PHOW"

"Area sanitized. All targets destroyed."

"Solid copy. No movement detected. 2-6 going into holding pattern."

"Ghost! Come in, this is Price! We're under attack by Shepherd's men at the boneyard! Soap, hold the left flank! Do not trust Shepherd! I say again, do not trust Shepherd! Soap, get down!-"

Archer and Toad are both frozen in place, dibelief on their camoflauged faces. They stood there, unmoving, for what seemed like hours, but was probably only seconds. Toad was the first out of the trance.

"Comon Archie, lets go, i have an idea."

Toad pulled Archer along with him. First they started jogging, but then broke out in a full sprint. In no time they made it to the initial ambush site. And for some reason Toad started picking up a dead merc. Then it clicked in his mind, he knew what Toad was planning.

_5 Minutes later_

WRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR...

The whole rock formation that the sniper teams heat signatures were coming from was totally obliterated. The pilot checked his thermals and reported in.

"Sniper team down, all hostiles eliminated"

His tone was totally emotionless. He didnt like shooting at their allies, but he was afraid. Afraid that Shepherd would execute him just like he had his wingman who protested over the OP, saying that it was unneccesarry.

The bastard just took out his belowed .44 and shot him in the head. So when he did his final flyby he was not actually looking for the sniper team. He was too busy asking god for forgiveness and apologising to the souls of the men who he just killed on the orders of a maniac.

Archer watched along with Toad as the helos lifted off and escorted Shepherds cargobob.