In Ghost's opinion, people easily overestimated words anywhere you went. There was no such thing as an uncomfortable silence for him. He liked the peacefulness of a quiet environment. The only drawback to it were the memories, which would never fade and would always torment his dreams
For now, the only sound interrupting the silence was the movement of the chopper blades as they maintained the aircraft steady in the air. He was not bothered by the noise, though, as it was a rhythm he had grown used to long ago. Military life tends to have that kind on effect on soldiers. Loud noises never get to startle you again.
Ghost looked around the small cargo bay, watching how his teammates minded their own business. No one talked. No one annoyed anyone. Everybody was fine with that fact.
His gaze stopped at the only female soldier in the squad, the one who had stirred up so many suspicions in the last couple of weeks. When Ghost was introduced to the Task Force, he had not had anything against her, not really, he was only a bit wary. Beyond that, she seemed quite alright back then. He remembered clearly the first day with his new squad. At first, Ghost had occasionally asked himself if her position within the squad was rightfully earned or she had just been granted a place because of her pretty face. Even in that case, her appearance wasn't anything out of the ordinary. Fit, as all soldiers should be, a bit taller than average women, always wearing appropiate military clothing... The only thing that stood out, was her hair color, a deep dark red which looked black without direct light. Still, Ghost doubted her hair was the reason she had been assigned to the squad. Either way, if she was in the squad, it meant she was not a liability.
Months passed by and his theory proved to be true, at least until the day when tension began growing out of the nowhere between her and their commanding officer. It became obvious at almost all briefings. General Shepherd and Reap seemed on edge as soon as they saw each other. It was crystal clear they shared a deep hatred to each other, bigger than anyone could possibly imagine. From there on, things only deteriorated. Constant arguments, sometimes insubordination. If it had not been for Price's influence and contacts within high ranking officers, she would have been demoted several times or even discharged.
At that moment, Reap noticed her teammate's glare, trying to carve a path into her very soul. She held his gaze with conviction, not allowing any small hint of fear to show in her features. The woman was perfectly aware of his distrust, however she was unable to understand it. She had her secrets, just like all the people in the world including himself. Yet there he was, judging her every move, watching and waiting until she messed up. It was sad to think she was risking everything in this mission including, just maybe, proving him right.
The voice of the pilot suddenly interrupted their silent competition.
"Two minutes" he informed over the comm radio.
The whole squad knew what those words meant. They quickly grabbed their weapons and checked all their gear to be certain nothing important was missing. Their leader reviewed the main goal of the assignment once more before the helicopter arrived to the landing zone. The squad moved toward the open doors while briefly admiring the calm scenery of the woods next to the open field where they would land. When the helicopter descended to the ground, the team finally began the mission.
As they made their way through the forest, avoiding trees, bushes and pushing away tall grass, Price contacted high command through the radio to inform of the new mission's status
"141 is moving to standby positions"
The team approached the compound in no time, swiftly taking cover in the wall of the nearest building. Luckily, the Russians still remained unaware of their presence. Suddenly, over the comm radio, command asked the sniping team for a quick sitrep regarding the current enemy position.
"We count four targets." replied the spotter, surveying the area several times from a hill "Patrol on the roof, east to west barracks"
"Targets are locked in." informed the sniper next to him "Delta ready to engage. Over"
"Copy Delta, you're free to engage. Let's stir up the hornet's nest"
Delta didn't need any other indications. The battle began soon after the two guards were taken down by headshots. The aerial support quickly followed in after they recieved the green light from command. The 141 moved forward into the compound, covered by the relentless fire coming from the AC-130.
They neared another small building in which more Russian forces were preparing weapons to counter-attack. The team took cover in the closest structure while they waited for it to be destroyed.
"Spectre 6-4, fire on the west barracks" Price requested to their aerial support
High caliber bullets rained heavily above the construction and wrecked some parts of it. The windows were completely crashed into hundreds of tiny pieces. Only two enemies remained alive after the merciless annihilation. They started shooting back in an attempt to stop the soldiers from continuing forward. 141's leader tried to continue on, yet both enemies refused to give in to his intentions. He hurriedly moved back into safety while Soap loaded the grenade launcher attached to his primary weapon. The soldier aimed at the helpless Russians and fired without any hesitation.
Now that the two surviving enemies had been taken out, the Task Force advanced across the buildings, heading to the last structure. Spectre fired upon the entrance to give the team a way inside. The four soldiers walked in a line through the hallways, cleaning each room carefully of foes with grenades and well-placed gunshots.
Finally, the team arrived at their destination, another door being the last thing standing in their path. Not like it really mattered, anyway.
Ghost planted a small device on the door to force it to unlock. The detonation from the device spread some smoke inside the room, a perfect opportunity to quietly slip in a flash grenade. It went off quickly, disorienting the three Russians inside. Very few bullets were spared to bringing the enemies a quick death.
"All clear" announced Ghost, once done checking over the corpses.
The Task Force entered to examine the room more diligently, searching for useful information. Meanwhile, Price informed command of the progress made in the mission.
"141 has arrived to the target. There's no sign of Kingfish, I repeat, there's no sign of Kingfish"
"Copy, 141. Collect any intel you can. If he's not there, find out where he's going"
Reap browsed through several papers, files, and folders. She was looking for something specific, something she knew for a fact that was here and would finally be proof of her claims. Even if Kingfish had left long ago, the answers to the mystery would definitely be here. Her fingers touched one of the papers, recognizing an underlined name.
"PFC Joseph Allen"
Setting her weapon on the table, she moved aside all other papers in a rush, some falling to the floor. She examined it quickly, realizing it was a file on her deceased teammate. She would have discarded the paper if it had not been for the US Rangers seal at the bottom, which confirmed its legitimacy. Reap tried to make sense of it, reasoning that after all, it just could have been stolen intel. She flipped the document, finding a note in the backside written by hand.
"My part is done. Once the war starts, I won't hesitate to kill all of you"
It was clear that an inside source had provided Kingfish with this information: the entire file on their spy. Reap could only think of one person who could have performed such a deed without anyone noticing. If that was the case, then that would explain why their intel was always off.
Reap kept staring at the letters, without paying attention to their meaning. Her mind was a conflicted mess of thoughts. Soap and Price had been dismissing her suspicions of Shepherd for a long time, even when she had explained them about her eavesdropping on him. The paper was the final proof she needed to expose her current commanding officer but unless she obtained her teammate's support, it still would be useless.
Out of the corner of her eye, she watched how Soap inspected all the papers at the desks just as she had done before. His search came to a halt when approaching the wall directly in front of the entrance. His sight slowly traced the pictures, not believing what he was staring at and eyes widening when recognizing his fellow comrades from the SAS squad. Most of the faces had been crossed out while only three remained without mark. Price, Reap and himself.
"Price, you've got to see this." His leader casted a glance at his direction which stopped him dead in his tracks "He's targetting Bravo 6"
Reap approached as well when she heard the name, leaving Allen's file, only to see herself in the photo, crowched next to Griggs, her elbow in his shoulder for support. She still remembered when the photo was taken. She still preserved the photo among her personal belongings.
Good old times.
Ghost was also gazing at the photography, not really shaken because he did not recognize any of the soldiers apart from his squadmates. He seemed to be the only one who noticed the low constant beeping, coming from under the desk. It did not take long for him to relate the sound to a possible source.
"Bomb! Get down!" He warned in a hurry.
The soldiers reacted instantly to his words, running to the exit as quickly as they could, yet the bomb was faster than them. The blast crushed three of them against the walls, while Ghost had been lucky enough to go through the door and fall to the floor outside. It did not hurt any less, though.
Reap had been the first to be hit by the shockwave as she was closest to the bomb. She barely felt the piece of plastic from the desk cut through the skin in her arm before colliding against the wall with an overwhelming force. Debris fell everywhere, since the explosion had left a huge hole where the table had been located. Nothing remained now, all intel had been completely destroyed. The whole team was disoriented at first after the shockwave but they quickly recovered to assess the situation.
"Everybody alright?" asked Price, coughing a few times to force out the dust in his throat.
All soldiers checked in while moving rubble from atop themselves. Reap was the last, who only cursed loudly and painfully.
"It's fine" she finally answered "just a... scratch"
Soap found her in one of the corners. He offered his hand to help her when he noticed the blood falling from her arm and staining the floor
"That's not exactly a scratch" he remarked, eyes never leaving the large cut. The wound seemed nasty and pretty deep, considering from the amount of red liquid that flowed out of it.
"Looks worse than it feels. I'll get this wrapped up properly when we get back" she said, tearing one of her sleeves to use it as a bandage
"If we get back" interjected Ghost, looking through a nearby window. Russian troops were quickly concentrating around the exits of the building. Their only option was to make a run for it. If the AC-130 did a quick sweep at their exit, they might make it out alive. Price contacted Spectre.
As soon as they departed in a rush from the building, hell broke loose. The Task Force ran forward with no hesitation because only the afterlife awaited if they stopped for any reason. All the squad rushed to the small forest, dodging plants again, although now they were being chased down by enemy forces. The border of the forest finally came to an end, morally reassuring the soldiers as their aerial support was back in the show.
"141 approaching evac point, requesting support!"
"Solid copy, 141. We've got you covered" replied the operator from the aircraft.
The AC-130 did not delay its answer as they unleashed death upon the enemy. Nothing escaped its wrath unscathed.
"Hot damn!" exclaimed one of the operators in excitement
The 141 and Delta kept rushing through the field, completely exposed, nearing their evacuation chopper. Reap had a hard time keeping up with the rest of the team. Her improvised bandages had absorbed the blood for a while, but now it dripped slowly, as it drained away her energy. Adrenaline was the last power source she had. Hopefully it would endure until she dropped into the helicopter.
Behind her, Spectre kept decimating the Russian forces who tried to get close to the soldiers sprinting. Their escape was close. They would all be back home soon.
Yeah. Too easy.
Horror settled in when the Task Force heard a missile being launched. Comm lines went crazy as the rocket drifted through the air, targetting Spectre. The aircraft deployed flares in an attempt to stop the missle from hitting its target. The rocket disappeared among flames after it went off. Unluckily for them, the enemy did not give up so easily and aimed the Stinger once again to send another missle their way. It was quite a sight to see how the explosive destroyed the 141's aerial support and rendered them almost completely defenseless. Right now, their only hope was to reach the evacuation chopper, but the adverse circumstances only kept getting in their way.
Another Russian soldier, equipped with an RPG-7, prepared to rip the intruders to pieces. His rocket launched, it barely missed the fleeing soldiers. The earth shook. The 141 tried not to lose balance. The second rocket, however, was better aimed. It hit the ground next to Soap, causing him to fall in the midst of a brown cloud of dust. His vision became unclear, his brain was suddenly overloaded with new information which could not be processed as fast as it arrived. His body did not respond to his commands, leaving him powerless.
Reap had watched the scene develop right behind her. She stopped dead in her tracks and turned with haste. She would not leave her comrade to die, not even when her arm protested against it with the increase in pain she felt. The rest of the squad had also turned, all of them willing to risk safety to help their fellow teammate.
She saw another brown cloud form close to her position. She regained her balance as quickly as she could and continued rushing to Soap's side. The rest of the squad covered her while she went back. The woman confirmed as soon as she approached that he was still alive, judging by his unfocused, blinking eyes and the rise and fall of his chest. She took one of his arms and threw it over her shoulders. It was hard for her to ignore her own pain, though she would not dare to give up just yet. The new burden made her advance slower. Soap seemed to be unable to even walk. She gritted her teeth as if it would help ease the intense throbbing in her arm.
"Come on, mate. Work with me" she asked
The soldier aparently understood and reacted to her words by supporting his own weight with his legs. They managed to start walking at a faster pace while more dust rained around them. Reap glanced back for a moment to watch how the rest of the squad retreated with them. Except Price. She yelled for him to hurry, the chopper would not wait much longer. The captain started retreating without leaving his finger off the trigger of his rifle. Another rocket flew past him, too close to the chopper for his liking. He tried to shoot where the Russian soldier with the rocket launcher was. A lucky shot took him out but not before he fired one last missile. Price had had every intention of leaving with the rest of his squad. Then again, luck had decided to abandon them in the most critical of moments. The astray rocket landed in front of him, far enough not to kill him but close enough to be hit by the shockwave. It threw him backwards in an all too familiar dust cloud. Adrenaline still pumped through his system. He regained awareness swiftly and glanced back at the chopper. The 141 had not stopped for him. He did not want them to.
As the dust settled back in the ground, the squad heard Price shouting, ordering them to retreat. All of them knew they risked being killed if they stayed longer for him. Reap and Soap climbed aboard the chopper. She tried to hold the tears threatening to fall. It had been her fault. In the end, her enemy had managed to be smarter. He had overpowered her and now, he was going make lies history by writing them down with her blood.
Soap was able to focus his mind enough to notice what was happening. He attempted to run back to the field. He was still breathing, so he would not allow the squad to leave a comrade behind.
"We have to go back there, dammit" he thrashed in his seat. Someone was forcing him down.
"Not happening" It was Ghost.
The chopper took off, leaving behind dust and a fellow soldier. The loss weighted heavily in everyone's minds and hearts.
"We can't." Reap confirmed in a low voice he almost did not hear "It's too late"
Soap looked angrily at the woman. He was beyond pissed off.
"You knew it would happen, didn't you?" Soap asked.
The question was left unanswered.
A.N: Operation Kingfish, yup... with a few twists, at least. I really hope you enjoyed reading this. And I apologize if anything sounds confusing (which will probably be the case). English is not my mother tongue and it's sometimes hard to know if something sounds natural or forced.
This story has been beta-read by The Classic Fit (thank you for your help!), except for the ending. I just wanted to get this published as soon as possible, but I will get this last part corrected as well. That's where you might have found the confusing parts.
Feel free to review to give some love and/or point out mistakes. That's always helpful for improvement! I have done proof-reading myself but I always miss something :( Share the story with your friends if you liked it!
By the way, just if you were wondering: Yes, this story has a 'sequel'. It will be a long story called "When Everything's Lost" but I have no release date. Sorry guys.
Thank you so much for reading!