Ch 4
"I think it's time Tanya learned about her past." Mary said to the other person in the room. The person sat silently as Mary continued. "I would like to hear your opinion on this. She is your…"
"I agree, however I believe I should tell her." The other person interrupted.
As Private First Class David huddled with the group of other soldiers in the cold dawn, he watched his breath form in the crisp air and wondered again how the desert could be so cold. Suddenly the shout of "Squad Attention!" interrupted David's thoughts. He jumped to his feet and stood straight. The squad leader saluted the approaching man.
"On the command of fall out, I want everyone to gather around me. Fall out." The man, Colonel Saul, said. When everyone had circled around him, he continued, "Listen up troops, this is a very important mission today. According to our information, the leader of insurgents and two of his top chiefs are going to be at the 'marketplace' today. We have been tasked to capture them. Your squad leader should have told you the details and how we are going to do this so this shouldn't be a surprise to anyone. Any questions on this mission?" The troops responded "No sir!" Colonel Saul said "Alright, fall in." and the troops scrambled to ordered ranks. The squad leader saluted the Colonel again and he walked away.
-
An hour later, the sun had begun to rise and the troops were in position for the mission. David sat on the top of a two story building. At one time, it might have been a designer clothing store or maybe a school but the previous regime had crushed such things, considering them "unnecessary" and "outsider corruption". His mind wandered to his daughter at home, far away from this place, and he smiled as he thought about what she could be doing at that moment. Her mother was probably tucking her into her crib. His thoughts were interrupted again as the other person on the roof with him poked him.
"Hey what cha tinkin bout?" the soldier, Sergeant Ruth asked. "Nothing, Sergeant." He responded as he peeked over the edge of the roof to the building across the dirt road where the mission was to take place. "Come on, don't be like that." Ruth prodded, "is it about home?" David turned back to her. "How did you…" Ruth waved a hand, "I think about home a lot too. Man, if I were home right now, I would be probably be in bed with my fiancée…" She blushed as she realized what she said. She picked up a five round magazine and fiddled with it, David turned back to "Chereb", his Remington Model 700 Sendero SF II sniper rifle. The silence was disturbed by the radio on the ground. "Magus two-zero, this is Magus one-one, what is your status?" Ruth responded "Magus one-one, this is Magus two-zero, we are amber and ready." "Roger, stand by for further instructions, out." The radio went quiet again.
After a half hour, they heard another message over the radio. "All units, this is Magus one-one, we have visual confirmation of the target headed in our direction. Respond is sequence." Ruth called in her call sign when prompted.
"Ready?" She asked David. "No." David smirked, trying to ease some of the tension. "Well there soldier, you best get your head out of your fourth point of contact and get ready, hoobah?" Ruth imitated their squad leader. "Hoobah." David answered in mock defeat. David laid prone behind Chereb and Ruth picked up her binoculars.
"Sergeant Ruth, see anything?" David asked.
"Yup, here they come."
David peeked through his scope and saw the long procession of vehicles. "Third? No, maybe fourth vehicle." He thought to himself as they vehicles stopped in front of the building across the street. A group of 20 men got out of the vehicles and David couldn't make out which one was the leader. Half of the men went into the building leaving the rest outside as guards. They had been briefed that more guards were probably standing by in that area. David realized he had been holding his breath, "Anything?" he whispered to Ruth. "No. Hold on." Ruth responded as she listened to the radio on her headset.
As David scanned the men outside, Ruth said "Magus one-one says that they are ready, pick off the guy at the entrance. That'll be their sign."
"I see him. Tell him I'm ready too."
"Go." Ruth whispered.
Chereb roared as the man was thrown backwards by the impact of the round, dead before his body hit against the door. A wall of bullets from his other fellow soldiers quickly took down the remaining guards. David watched as a group of soldiers crept towards the building in a tight formation. David and Ruth scanned for an enemy counterattack. The group quickly searched for any survivors and got on one side of the door. With a signal, one of the soldiers placed a ram against it, broke it down and spun to the other side of the doorway. Another threw a grenade into the open doorway which went off with a loud bang and light. With amazing speed the rest of the soldiers entered the room. David could hear the gunfight inside but it only lasted a few minutes. David continued scanning the area until Ruth said "they've got them, they're coming out." David smiled as he watched the soldiers who went in all come out with four men with hoods on their heads. Suddenly, there was a loud explosion as more vehicles and gunfire seemed to come from all directions. Ruth picked out targets and David fired round after round at the ambush. Soon Ruth had stopped pointing out targets and had picked up her assault rifle to engage the enemy also. Although David had watched hundreds of movies where the hero's bullets never ran out, he never thought it possible. How long had they been fighting? An hour? Two hours? David dared not look at his watch as he scanned for where the next attackers were going to appear. Suddenly Ruth dove on top of David. David exhaled violently as the breath was knocked out of him. "Sergeant?" he asked before she yelled "Shut up and stay down!" Her scent mixed with sweat and gun smoke filled his senses and he struggled for air. He managed to peek through his sight again and saw a Rocket Propelled Grenade being raised in his direction. "RPG!" he shouted before Ruth pushed his head into the ground, chipping his front teeth and David swore he heard the cement crack. Then everything went black.
David woke up and saw stars in the dark sky. "Night? Is it night already?" He thought to himself. Then he heard the gunfire. "Are they still fighting?" He realized he was still lying on his front and tried to stand up, but his arms wouldn't respond. He lifted his face from a puddle of sticky liquid and looked around but couldn't see anything in the pitch black. "Hello? Anyone? Help me!" he called out.
"David? Are you alright, Private?" Sergeant Ruth called out.
"Sergeant? I think my arm is broken, but I'm okay. Where are you?"
"Here, I'm right here." Ruth said.
"I can't see you, shine your light."
David was scared as she didn't respond.
"Sergeant Ruth?" he asked and tried to lift himself up again.
Suddenly her voice was right next to his.
"Private, I need you to listen to me real carefully. The fighting is over, just stay still and I'll have someone get us. Don't move at all. Just be quiet and wait." She leaned against him.
"Sergeant? Won't the enemy see the flare?"
"Private, shut up. I'm going to put this bandage around your head." Ruth's voice seemed to be softer and he felt movement next to him.
David felt something covering his eyes and nose and he struggled but without his arms, he couldn't take it off.
"Stay there." He heard Ruth order him.
David listened with confusion as Sergeant Ruth picked up the radio and requested a medical evacuation at a location twenty feet from the building where they had their position.
When Sergeant Ruth finished the transmission, she leaned against him again "Hey Private, you did really well."
David nodded, although he realized she wouldn't be able to see it in the dark, the stars were fading. Although he could still hear gunfire, it started to fade too. As he slowly fell unconscious again, he heard Ruth whisper "Boaz. I'm sorry. I'm not going to make it home. I just wished I could see you one last… time."
Three days later, David was told that Sergeant Ruth had died in the 'marketplace' from massive hemorrhaging. His tears mixed with blood from his sightless eyes.
-
"Private David, it's me again, Doctor Zion." David felt a hand on his shoulder. "Tomorrow's the big day huh?"
David nodded slowly.
"Don't worry, it's just light surgery. Nothing to be scared of." The doctor said. David knew that he was lying. He didn't need to see, to realize why his arm had to be amputated the first day in the hospital, and despite the medication, he could still feel the embedded shrapnel in his body. "It'll be alright." The doctor patted him on the shoulder again.
-
Although he wasn't provided dinner, David wasn't hungry that night. He couldn't fall asleep as the image of his dead friends and waiting family appeared in his mind. He laid on his bed and listened to the snores of the soldiers sharing the room with him. Every once in a while, a soldier would start crying or shout out in fear as they recollected in nightmares the events which sent them to this hospital. David flipped over and cursed his hot pillow, throwing it to the ground.
"My my. That's no way to treat hospital equipment." A voice that seemed familiar to David chided.
David pretended to snore.
The person chuckled as she pulled up a chair next to David's bed. David frowned, he was certain visiting hours were over some time ago. Maybe he had fallen asleep and it was the dreaded morning already! David sat up slowly with help from the automated bed.
"Is it time?" David asked hesitantly.
"Time?" The voice asked with a hint of amusement.
"For my… operation." David whispered the last word.
"Operation?"
David suddenly felt very annoyed with the strange visitor.
"Look, is it time for me to get cut open or what?" David lashed out.
"Relax, it's only one-thirty." The voice said calmly.
"Oh. Are you part of the night staff?" David asked, embarrassed.
"Yes, I guess you could say that."
"Guess?" David asked confused.
"Never mind that. How are you feeling?"
"Good. A little nervous I guess. Ha ha."
"Want to talk about it?"
David sat quietly and the visitor did the same.
"You still there?" David asked
"Yes." The one word answer game again.
"Fine. I'll talk, you'll get out of here and let me get some rest, right?"
David started to tell the visitor about his surgery in the morning but it led to how he got injured and continued backwards until he was telling her about his family too. He thought he heard the scratching of pen on paper and pages being turned, but he didn't think anyone could be writing in the dark.
"My little baby girl, Tanya, she's the light of my life." David sighed. Although the visitor had listened quietly, he heard her gasp suddenly.
"You alright?" David asked.
"Ye… yes." The visitor said with a waver in her voice.
"So yeah, that's it. Talk done, will you go now?" David asked though he said it with little motivation.
David felt a soft hand on his head, but he didn't flinch from it. As the hand stroked his hair, he began to feel drowsy. The sounds of the visitor leaving were faint and the images he saw were sharper and pleasant. He dreamt of his wife welcoming him home, Sergeant Ruth giving him another stern lecture and his baby girl saying her first words.
"Sleep well, papa." He thought he heard her say.
Tanya was bolted to her seat in Mary's study as she listened to the story. Jesus too was mesmerized as he stood beside Tanya, holding her hand. Ms. Gabrielle had wept as she told the story.
"David was my younger brother and your father." She told Tanya.
Tanya looked at the letter in her hand again.
"So… this is from my Daddy?" She asked.
"Yes."
Tanya frowned and looked down, then up at Ms. Gabrielle. "Momma?"
She smiled sadly and shook her head. "Your mother, she had to go away. But if it's alright with you, I could…" she couldn't finish as she raised a tissue to her mouth..
Mary placed a hand on Tanya's shoulder. "What she means is that we are your family. I know it's hard to understand but honey, know that we all love you very much, okay?"
Tanya looked at the three other people in the room; Ms. Gabrielle, Mary and Jesus.
"Okay." She whispered.
Dedicated to all my brothers who died on Christmas day defending the freedoms of our Iraqi brethren.
