Butch and Sundance Ride Again – 14
A/N: For the four US Marines killed by an ISIS inspired terrorist in Chattanooga, TN on 16 July 2015[GySgt Thomas J. Sullivan, SSgt David Wyatt, Sgt Carson Holmquist, and LCpl Squire K. 'Skip' Wells] Semper Fi, Marines. For the US Navy Logistics Specialist 2nd Class, LS 2 Randall Smith, who died from his wounds and left behind a wife and three daughters, I'm repeating a prayer I found on the internet over the weekend. "Today we are here to say: 'Shipmate... the watch stands relieved. Relieved by those you have trained, guided, and lead. Shipmate, you stand relieved… we have the watch...'" And to that I add for all five – "Fair Winds and Following Seas".
? Local_ ? Zulu
ISIS held village
Near Mount Sinjar, Kurdistan
Harm fought swearing under his breath. Right now he couldn't worry about the small arms fire lancing up towards him. He had to remember to guide the AIM-9L air to air missile a little bit more the next time he fired.
"Wonder Woman to Hammer! Take the bandits on the hill! I've got this!"
Harm and Mac exchanged troubled looks. They wanted to help out Captain Endwood first, but time was running out.
Elena Bourchard gave the Admiral the nudge he needed. "Go on, Hammer! Go rescue Red!"
Harm peeled off and headed for the hill while Wonder Woman roared low over the graveyard.
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Mattie noticed the mother who had been at the parade earlier was now among the group of onlookers that were watching the half dozen ISIS soldiers working on two large wooden crucifixes.
As the men continued their work, the young red headed Cobra pilot spotted the little girl that had smiled at her earlier. Unnoticed by the other men and women, including her mother, she was smiling again at Mattie and even gave her a tentative wave.
Stan saw what was happening. "Looks like you have a friend, Red," he whispered to the red haired Lieutenant.
"Yeah," Mattie Rabb said in a distracted voice. She wasn't sure what to make of this.
About that time the mother noticed what her little girl was doing and sharply reprimanded her.
The little girl nodded solemnly at her mother's tongue lashing. But as soon as it was over and the mother was distracted by something in the crowd, she looked over at Mattie and smiled at her again as if saying 'don't worry everything will be fine…'.
Suddenly the roar of a jet engine caused the group of onlookers to flee from the hill in terror.
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Harm aimed his Super Hornet at the group of soldiers working on two wooden crucifixes, and opened fire.
A line of 20mm cannon shells ripped into the half dozen ISIS workers, causing them to fall dead all around the broken remains of the two wooden crosses.
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Aban sited the T-55 that stood between him, Captain Endwood, and Lieutenant Pescal.
God forgive me for what I am about to do… "Gunner! Armor piercing! Tank!" he barked.
The little 73mm gun fired at the same time that vehicle gunner also launched the Sagger ATGM that was attached to their turret.
The stubby little missile didn't have far to travel and hit the rear of the Soviet built tank with a hollow klonk and shattered without detonating.
The 73mm AP round didn't have that problem. Call it a fault in the armor, extremely good luck, or something else, but whatever happened, the shell penetrated.
The resulting detonation shuddered through the entire armored behemoth. The T-55 coughed thick black smoke that threw open every hatch on the vehicle.
"Praise Allah! It worked! We did it!" the Gunner yelled.
"No time for celebrating, Gunner!" Aban admonished. "COAX on the technical! Watch my tracers!"
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Dragonfly 4 flashed over the desecrated Christian cemetery. 1st Lieutenant Ronnie 'Mr. Christian' Christian saw two ISIS soldiers heading for cover, dragging their two hostages with them.
"Cap'n Bligh! I'm going to make it too hot for'em to hold onto Ent and Howie!" he told his WSO, 2nd Lieutenant Robert Bligh.
"Aye, Mr. Christian!" he replied. "Let's show these thugs what happens when they mess with US Marines!"
The AH-1Z Cobra gunship did a half loop and headed toward a group of running ISIS soldiers, it's M197 20mm Gatling gun sounding like a punching machine as it fired. The soldiers to a man died in the hail of cannon shells. Two tried unsuccessfully to return fire.
Abdel and Hamir, the two ISIS guards, seeing what happening, grabbed the Super Cobra crewmen and tying them together shoved them toward the metal cage sitting in the graveyard.
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As Khalil concentrated his machinegun fire on the GAZ technical's stunned gun crew, Gunny Fullerton's BTR pulled up beside an equally shocked Red and Hotshot.
A young Corpsman and Sergeant Logan leaped out and ran over to the two Cobra crewmen.
"Are you two okay?" the Corpsman asked. Too surprised to speak, they both simply nodded. He and Vicky grabbed both and hustled them over the idling 8x8 armored car.
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While Aban exchanged fire with his GAZ gun truck, the TRAP team CO could see that the ISIS leader wasn't about to give up his prize prisoners. "Gray Ghost actual to Lightning One! Commence harassment fire! We need this thug to turn our guys loose!"
The Marine sniper quickly replied. "Lightning One to Gray Ghost actual, I copy, commencing with harassment fire."
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'Aqid/Colonel Hazami could not believe that it was all falling apart. His men, that is what was left of his men, were either badly wounded or dying. At least three tanks were knocked out and his own jeep was now in flames, thanks to a strafing run by that devil machine like the ones they had shot down on the battlefield.
It was as if his own person Djinns, in the form of American Cobra gunships, were haunting him.
Jabir Hazami shook his fist at Super Cobras as they flew by. Why had Allah abandoned him at his hour of greatest triumph? Had he not done enough? Was he testing him?
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Dragonfly Three's pilot 2nd Lieutenant Bill 'Ozzie' Osborn saw the two ISIS guards shoving a trussed Ent and Howie closer toward a metal cage.
"Oh no you don't!" snapped Ozzie. A line of 20mm shells ripped into ground in front of the four soldiers. Dragonfly Three flew menacingly close to the two momentarily stunned ISIS men holding onto the Marine helo pilots.
"Just try it, dirtbags!" Ozzie's WSO, 'Scarecrow' Keller challenged.
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Elena brought her Super Hornet out of a punishing turn, putting the fuel tanker next to the church right into her crosshairs.
"You gonna try this, Wonder Woman?" 'Ready' Nelson asked.
Other than 20 mike mike, this is all we have!" Elena replied, "Let's hope it works! Fox One!"
The AIM-9L missile leapt from its mount and roared towards its target. However, Wonder Woman's aim was slightly off as the missile shot over the tanker.
"Dammit!" she swore as she watched what happened.
The missile, however, did not plow into the ground. Instead it smacked into an approaching BTR-60PB personnel carrier, its engine deck covered with ISIS soldiers holding on. The missile detonated with a loud bang, tearing the carrier apart and flinging dead ISIS soldiers in every direction.
Seeing the destruction, Freddie Nelson was effusive. "Wow, Wonder Woman! You may have missed the tanker, but you scored a direct hit on some ISIS reinforcements!
Elena, though, was not pleased with this small victory. Because of her miss, two Marine helo pilots were still in danger of being killed. "Hang on tight, Ready! I'm coming back around!"
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As the Cobras and Super Hornets buzzed and harassed the ISIS troops around the church and graveyard, the two Ospreys and one Super Stallion of VMM 787 aka "Ghost Riders in the Sky' worked to keep 'Aqid/Colonel Hazami's troops from being reinforced.
Every time a group of soldiers tried to make a run for the eastern side of town, either on foot or in some sort of vehicle, the three heavy helos put down a curtain of fire.
"Spray those Jihadis! Don't let anything slip through!" Big John said to the other two pilots "Make every shot count! The Colonel and his men are counting on us!"
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Everyone around the church ducked when the BTR-60 exploded. That included Major/Ra'id Hammadi and his dismounted squad which had just begun firing on the ISIS soldiers that had gathered in a protective shield around the ISIS leader.
Aban's BMP continued banging away at the plucky GAZ technical which was now beginning to smoke. As the BMP commander recovered from the BTR blast, he spotted a T-72 approaching his carrier. It wasn't Khalil's.
He turned to the squad NCO. "Take over, Ghazi, get those Marine pilots out of there!" he said and then ran back toward his endangered BMP.
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Harm could see that Elena was looping around for another pass. Based on their current track record, pinpoint accuracy was not the strong suite of these missiles. So how could they overcome that? Suddenly the DJAG had a brainstorm.
"Trade places with me, Wonder Woman! I've got an idea!"
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Sergeant Perreault shook his head as he and the rest of the Growler crew tried to recover from the ear splitting BTR explosion. "What the hell are they hitting those Jihadis with?!" The Sergeant groused.
"AARAMs," the Colonel replied as he watched the two Super Hornets wheeling around for another pass. "It's all they have on board."
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Khalil As'sam saw the BMP turning and engaging the approaching T-72. He knew that Aban had eschewed his personal safety and climbed back on board the carrier to help his crew fight off the ISIS behemoth.
He also knew the outcome of the clash would be fairly academic. Aban and his crew were doomed.
Still he had to try and stop that ISIS tank from killing his friend.
"Gunner!" Khalil yelled, "Sabot! Tank!"
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It was a dead heat. As the ISIS T-72 tank shell tore into the BMP, Khalil's round ripped into the lower hull of the ISIS tank, shattering its left track and immobilizing it next to the desecrated graveyard.
It was a pyrrhic victory, though, as flames began consuming the shattered BMP.
Then Khalil saw Aban leading his crew through the smoke and flames out of the knocked out carrier.
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Harm aimed his Super Hornet right for the GAZ tanker truck. In response, every ISIS soldier still alive began firing at the two diving jet planes.
"Drop flares, Mac!" the DJAG ordered.
"Dropping flares!" Mac replied hitting the button that released the pyrotechnics display Suddenly bullet holes began to appear in the wings of the jet. "Harm! We've been hit!"
But her warning went unheeded. The aviator/lawyer was in the zone. "Lining it up, Mac! Here we go! Fox Two!"
The missile roared away from its railing, skimming over the top of the immobilized tank and smacking into the Soviet built truck's huge fuel tank.
Time seemed to stop as a throaty explosion engulfed the truck and the T-72. The tank then erupted like a volcano, obliterating the steel cage. The resulting sympathetic detonations tore an approaching T-55 tank apart and ripped a massive crevasse in the ground between remains of the cage and the two trussed up helo crewmen who had dodged their guards and taken cover.
"Yeehaaa!" Harm whooped as he did a victory roll over the burning remains of the ISIS armor.
"OhmyyyGoddd!" Mac yelled in reply as she braced herself against the unexpected maneuver.
"You did it, Hammer!" yelled an ecstatic Elena. "Great shot!"
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"Holee! Did you see that?!" yelled Sergeant Perreault as the two Hornets shot back into the stratosphere. "That F-18 just AARAM'ed three ISIS vehicles!"
James Hawkins looked up at the two fighters, a faint smile gracing his features. "There's only one pilot I know that does stunts like that…."
Dazed ISIS guard Abdel, trying to recover from the concussion from the explosion, groggily started to get up and was swiftly cut down by sniper fire. Hamir quickly realized that he was all that stood between his prisoners, the Americans, and their allies.
He raised his rifle and charged toward the Growler 4x4. "Allah Ak-" His cry was cut short by the stuttering assault rifles of Ra'is/Sergeant Ghazi's squad.
Hamir slumped over one of the broken tombstones in the graveyard and was silent. Sergeant Perreault, Corporal Amir Ghedi, and Corpsman Webber ran over and grabbed the two trussed up Cobra crewmen and hustled them toward safety.
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Jabir Hazami was beside himself with anger. The Americans and their lackeys had succeeded in rescuing their helo crews, including the flame haired one! But they wouldn't get away that easy. He would not be denied killing them all. Even if he had to do it by himself!
He raised his pistol and yelled to his surviving soldiers. "Kill the Americans! Kill them a- Jabir suddenly felt as if a lightning bolt had lanced him. He grabbed his chest as blood welled out of the hole. "Ack-" He growled as he tried to utter a battle cry, blood and spittle leaking from the corner of his mouth. The ISIS leader groaned as his eyes crossed and he staggered forward. "I swear…by Allah…I…will…not…be…denied!" He raised his pistol and began firing blindly.
Sergeant Perreault and Corporal Ghedi pushed Ent and Howie to the ground, shielding them from wildly firing madman. Colonel Hawkins ducked as bullets whacked and pinged off the Growler, but as he did he un-holstered his sidearm and flipped the safety off
"Arrrrrrr!" Hazami growled as he continued lurching toward the prone Americans. Ghedi now had his pistol out and was about to fire when Hazami's head shattered.
Hazami never felt the second bullet that ended his life.
The few ISIS soldiers that had been right behind their seemingly impervious leader recoiled at the sight of his sudden and violent death. Like puppets with their strings cut, they seemed to freeze, but only for a moment. Surrounded by enemies on all sides and in the air, they scattered like ashes before a strong wind.
Colonel Hawkins watched in stunned surprise as the lifeless body of Jabir Hazami pitched over into the dirt. The Marine CO clicked his radio mike. "Great shooting, Lightning Two!"
"It wasn't me, Gray Ghost," Corporal Hekmati replied in a stunned voice. He apparently was just as surprised as his CO was about what happened.
Confused, James Hawkins clicked his radio again, "Lightning Three?"
"Negative, Gray Ghost," Sergeant Mahmoud responded sounding equally shocked by what had happened.
Mystified, the TRAP team Colonel looked around the immediate area. "Who the hell fired those shots?!"
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"Come Ziva, we must get out of here before they discover our position."
Mossad agent Ziva David lowered her sniper rifle and looked over at her young cohort, Yuri. "We are not in any danger, Yuri," she patiently explained. "The Daesh will be too occupied trying to avoid the Americans to look for us."
She did not want her partner to know that she felt any sympathy toward the Americans because of her time spent with Washington, DC Major Case Response Team. No, better for him and less complicated to think that she was cool professional just doing her job.
"We have completed our mission, Ziva," he persisted. "Director Elbaz only wanted us to kill Hazami, not take on the whole ISIS army."
While that may have been true, Ziva knew that Israel Mossad Director Orli Elbaz had given her this assignment because Ziva had been hunting for Hazami ever since he killed her friend, Arman during a covert operation in al Nasiriyah that went sour. But Jabir Hazami also presented a real danger to Israel itself as intelligence had shown that Hazami had been trying for months to form ISIS cells in the Golan Heights so he could attack kibutzes. So Orli Elbaz decided to unleash Ziva on Hazami and kill two birds with one stone. A very efficient stone with strong liking for all things American.
Ziva gave the younger agent an understanding smile as she set her rifle down. "You worry too much, Yuri. But you are right in that our job here is done." The lithe Mossad operator put back on her black burkha and then picked her rifle back up. "Come, let us get out of here before your worry draws the attention of the Daesh."
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Lobo Flight Two followed by the F-35s of VMFA-555 and the two tardy EA-18s approached the burning ISIS held village.
"Lobo One Two, this is Pack Leader, standby for change in Rules of Engagement from Force Judge Advocate Roberts."
Now what? Albert Crain grumbled to himself. It was bad enough they were micromanaging every airstrike, but now this?
An official sounding voice came over the Major's radio. "Lobo One Two, this is Commander Roberts, do you read me?"
"Loud and clear, Commander." Major Crain couldn't help the irritation that crept into his reply.
"Lobo One Two, Revised ROE is as follows – you are given permission to attack any and all enemy forces in the eastern part of the village. Friendly forces are in the western side of the town. The rest of it is yours. Happy Hunting."
This was the best news he had heard all day. "Roger Wilco, Commander, revised ROE received and understood." He switched his radio to the flight net. "Lobo One Two to Lobo Flight Two. Revised ROE. Blast any Jihadis that we see on the eastern side of town. Lobo One One, follow me in! Tally Ho!"
"On your Six, Lobo One Two!"
A line of Super Hornets followed by F-35s dove on the village.
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Khalil As'sam helped Aban to the ground. Miraculously his other crewmembers were unharmed. The same was not true the BMP commander.
"My brother, you were a fool to go back and fight that tank," his friend admonished him.
Aban smiled as blood leaked out of the corner of his mouth and out of his nose. "And if I hadn't, my brother, those American helicopter crewmen would be dead."
Corpsman HM2 Justin Webber ran up and knelt down next to Aban and began looking at his various wounds.
"You always were a foolish man," Khalil said. The way he held his friend belied the harsh words. The Corpsman ignored this exchange and continued working.
Aban gave him a bloody smile. "You wound me, Khalil, but I know you are joking. Before I leave…I have one request…"
"Leave? Where are you going?" Khalil said, he meant it as a joke but it didn't feel like one.
Aban gave him a momentary serious look. "You know where I am headed my friend. I am…at peace with it. Soon I will be…with Jesus…that is all this foolish man needs. But as I said…a request."
Khalil As'sam's features softened. "You are no more a fool than I am, my friend. What do you wish?"
Aban reached into his bloody shirt and pulled out an unblemished bible. "Take this and read it. I feel that you…will soon understand why I chose this path…and someday you will too."
Khalil pushed it back into his hands. "No, my friend, you keep it. You are going to read it to me, and we'll have a great many arguments over tea-"
Aban shook his head and pushed the bible back toward him. "No, Khalil, my brother, I'm afraid…I won't be able to, though I would like that…very much…just read it…you will see…."
Aban Abd al hadi Hammadi sighed and closed his eyes, a peaceful smile gracing his face. Khalil lowered his head onto the man's body and wept.
By now Colonel Hawkins, Captain Endberry, Lieutenant Pescal, Mattie, Lieutenant Presser, and Sergeant Perreault had joined the three. The Corpsman looked up at the Colonel and shook his head.
Their moment of silence was interrupted by the thunderous whupping of rotors as two Ospreys and a Sea Stallion Pave Low settled down near them.
-TBC…