We waited five days and nothing in the guard routine had changed so we went over our plan and came up with a couple contingency plans in case it all went to shit in the middle of it. Two of the guys would get as close to the building as they could without detection. We decided to attack in the dark so we could make our way back to the pickup spot without hopefully any detection. We planned to have two guys in the back take out the back guards a few minutes before the shift change and then when the new shift came out of the house, we'd take out the four in the front before they could alert anyone inside. At that point, it would be a race into the building to take out the target, grab what we could that would give any kind of help to our superiors and get the hell out of there.
We spent the next few hours double checking our weapons and bags. I made sure I had enough ammunition to cover all of us on the way out. I wrote a few minutes in my journal and put it back in the bottom of my bag. A few hours before we planned to go into action, a jeep came down the road and stopped in front of the building. Two men got out and leading a third man, who had a hood over his head and hands tied behind his back, went inside the house. The team in the back radioed in with the new activity in the house. Lights came on in a different corner of the house where there had been no activity before while we were watching. I assumed that's where the hostage was going to be held.
We called a halt to our plans until we could figure out who had arrived and who they were holding. One of the guys in the front with me had snapped a picture of the hostage and sent it on to command to see what they could uncover. Within thirty minutes, a reply came that the hostage was a missing US soldier. They were able enlarge the photo and pick out details on his clothes. He had been at the base camp we left through and then suddenly was just gone. We learned that he had disappeared a couple of days after we left. No one had seen what had happened to him and they were unable to find any leads and hadn't received any communication from him or from whoever was holding him. Our mission just got a bit more complicated. Now we had to take out the six guards, two newcomers and the target, all the while keeping the hostage alive and returning him with us. Well, hell. All I could think was it was going to be even longer to get back to Steph and that pissed me off. A dangerous mission that actually seemed to going in the right direction just got fucked up.
We waited another three days, just holed up and observing. The two new guys joined the guard rotation so now two were in the front, two in the back, and four in the building. That didn't sit well with me. If the four outside were taken out, we still had to deal with the four in the house, along with the original target. We talked over some plans and come up with basically the same plan as before, with the exception of going into the house. We decided to take out the four men on guard duty outside and then wait. We'd wait for the replacements to come outside and then take them out as well. That would leave the target and the hostage inside. Hopefully the hostage would recognize who we were and not try to attack us if he was able to do so. We assumed the target would have at least one weapon on him, if not more in his immediate vicinity.
When it was finally dark enough to execute our plan, we double checked our gear and ammunition again. I was able to find a few minute to write in the journal and told my babe that I loved her. I told her it almost go time and knew she would understand and if she didn't, the guys would explain it to her. Looking at the house and seeing nothing out of the ordinary, I gave the command to start the countdown. Once I gave that command, these men's lives were my responsibility to get out of there alive and back home to their families.
We had decided to take the two out in the back first and let the front exchange spots before taking out the two in the front and letting the two in the back get outside before taking them out as well. Hopefully, no one else would show up in the next few minutes. I hoped for a quick fifteen minute mission before hitting the trail to the pickup location.
Speaking into my mic, I started the countdown, all the while watching the front door.
3…2…1...