I rested my head against the headrest of my seat onboard the C-5
Galaxy and looked out the window. The blackness greeted me, but I knew
that below me, the endless stretches of sand would mark that we were
currently high over Afghanistan, flying high over the primitive radar of
the new Taliban government. The so-called "Theocracy" had come back only
months after the Northern Alliance had driven them out, and with the help
of the North Korean military, driven them from Khandahar, then from almost
all the country, except for the most northern tip of the country.
It really was all the same, the Northern Alliance denounced the US as the infidel when we had driven the Taliban from the country in the first place, then the Taliban made a miraculous comeback, driving the Northern Alliance out and setting up their oppressive government again. This time, they had adopted a more systematic method of terrorism against the west. Instead of direct action, such as flying a plane into the White House, the terrorists had started small unit actions, shooting up subways and residential areas, suicide bombing downtown New York and Los Angeles. Americans were now strongly encouraged to carry concealed weapons everywhere they went and the citizens of the US had to get used to living with terrorism.
I shook my head; Europe had been living with the problem of terrorism on a daily basis. In Northern Ireland the problem of terrorism had been ongoing for the past eighty years, and even today showed no sign of slowing down.
I looked up as Chavez came back from the cockpit. He patted me on the shoulder and said, "Better get ready, were inserting in a few minutes."
I nodded and got out of my seat, following him to the cargo area of the C-5. The US regularly Para dropped medical supplies into the Northern Alliance troops fighting in the north, it was just that this time, the plane would be dropping a more deadly load earlier. The Terrorist camp that we had tracked the weapon to was deep in Taliban territory, but in a region that seemed to be less patrolled and guarded. It was more than likely that we would be in and out without the Taliwhackers ever knowing until it was too late.
I threw on my LBV (Load Bearing Vest) and then slipped on my parachute over it. I connected the straps to the ALICE pack that would be worn between my legs until I landed in country. I then made sure that my G- 36K assault rifle was securely attached to my pack and I could reach the Mk- 23 SOCOM strapped to my thigh. Lastly I made sure I had oxygen and the night vision goggles around my neck would not come off in the jump.
The rear cargo door opened and the loadmaster dumped two pallets of brown canvas bags marked with the Red Cross symbol out of the back, then waved us forward. I would be first out. I stared out at the black night and waited for the loadmaster's hand to hit my back. It did, and I toppled out of the plane into the inky blackness.
It was your standard HAHO, High Altitude-High Opening, combat jump. We would free-fall for sixty seconds; yank the chutes and then parasail about ten miles, bringing us within a day's walk of the terrorist camp.
I checked the luminous dial on my altimeter as I plunged through the darkness, when it hit the right number; I yanked my ripcord and felt a gut- busting wrenching stop as my body made a dramatic change in speed in the course of a second.
I caught my breath and then put the night-vision goggles over my eyes, with a flip of a switch, the Afghanistan landscape was bathed in a world of green. I was still too high up to see much of what was on the ground, but did not see any headlights or searchlights from this height.
I free floated down for several minutes, guiding myself with my compass. As I grew closer, I felt a sinking feeling in my gut. Two figures that I thought to be rocks or cactuses or something, turned out to be two men on patrol. They were armed with AK-47s and what appeared to be hand grenades.
I slid my silenced SOCOM out of its thigh holster. I couldn't be sure of a kill shot while floating down in a parachute, but I couldn't wait until I had landed and risk making noise, or a sudden gust of wind pulling my body off target at the fatal moment.
I remained as silent as possible, lining up the luminous sight markers on the pistol through my night vision goggles. I waited as long as I dared, then fired then pistol.
I shot the first man twice, one round directly between his shoulder blades and the second buried into the back of his neck and exploded out the front. He went down gurgling. The second man whirled around bringing his AK to bear. I readjusted my aim and fired twice. Both rounds passed through the man's head, turning his skull into a mass of broken bones and assaulted tissues.
I landed flat on my feet, coming to a running stop, and then snapped the chute off my harness. I ran to the bodies of the two terrorists. I kicked the Kalisnakovs away from their bodies, then probing them with my boot to make sure that they were dead. They were.
I looked to the sky for my comrades. I saw another figure speeding down towards me on a black chute. He landed near me and I could see from the Styer Aug assault rifle on the man's pack that it was Duke.
He unhooked his chute and pulled off his harness. I pulled off mine as well, and then unhooked the ALICE pack from between my legs. I threw it down on the sand and reached into it until I could find my tri-fold entrenching shovel. I threw the goggles down on my pack and quickly started to dig a hole in the sand. I could hear several other members of my team landing around me as I dug, but I kept up my quick pace until I had a rectangular hole about three feet by four feet, into which we dumped our chutes and then rolled the bodies and weapons of the two soldiers I had killed into it and covered them.
Then I threw the ALICE pack on my back and started walking.
We walked for a fair bit of the night and then saw that at about 5:30am we were getting very close to the camp. A dull glow on the horizon showed the sun becoming ready to crest the horizon in an hour or so.
The camp was on the opposite side of a ridge from our position. We could see very little activity, just a few night guards walking aimlessly around.
We moved across the depression and up to the top of the ridge. I poked my head over the top and saw one of the night guards standing barley twenty feet away from me. I waved my squad back, then drew my K-Bar Fighting knife from its sheath.
Assiym Akhallibad was not afraid of the dark. At least, that's what he told himself. He never knew if it was just him that was afraid of the dark, or if it had something to do with the children's tales of strange beasts in the night that still scared him from this day. He never did tell anyone about it, simply because he would just be inviting ridicule from the fellow men training at the camp. He really didn't have anything to be afraid of as long as he was holding the small, but powerful Skorpion machine pistol. He was only hoping that he would be able to live up to the standards imposed by his instructors and fellow trainees, and not be humiliated.
While he was thinking to himself one shadow detached itself from all the other shadows in the desert and came running straight at him. He looked at it dumbfounded, and then began to fumble with the Skorpion. Not fast enough, before the shadow, that he now recognized as a running man dressed completely in black, brandishing a knife, slammed into him, knocking him to the ground.
Before he knew it, the man was on him, pinning the hand holding the Skorpion down, and feeling the tip of the man's knife probing for a weak spot in his body. The man found it, and with a burning pain, like that of a hot iron, the knife blade cut into the space between the man's jawbone and neck, just below his ear. Fireworks exploded in Assyim's brain as the knife tip buried itself in his nerve stem, then punched through the roof of his mouth. He could feel his mouth filling with blood and his breathing growing fainter, then his sight faded into blackness and he was only left with a feeling of falling that he mistakenly believed was his soul being embraced by Allah.
I continued to force the K-bar into the man's spine, until it had become buried up to the hilt. A small spurt of blood shot up and hit me in the face from a severed artery. I waited until all the struggle had gone out of the man, and then I pulled the blade out.
I waved my squad forward as I replaced the knife in my sheath. There were three tents sitting out in the desert and I could also see where they had draped camo netting over the entrance to an underground area of the base.
I slung my G-36 over my shoulder were I could grab it quickly and pulled out my silenced SOCOM. I waved out who should take what tent, and then we spread out to hit our assigned targets.
I came up to mine. A small breeze had come up and it ruffled the canvas of the tent as me and Duke slipped by. I slid back the canvas flap and used my NV goggles to peer within. Inside was cot after cot of sleeping terrorists. Must have been thirty. Duke and me held up our SOCOM's and nodded to each other. We were about to dive in and start shooting when I heard an alarmed voice yell out in some foreign language, then a lengthy burst from an AK.
I winced and holstered my SOCOM and grabbed my G-36K that was on my back. There was more shooting outside and the men in the tent had started to stir and wake. Duke and I hit them before they were fully awake.
I leaned in and raked the cots with an entire magazine from my assault rifle, then, as I leaned out and reloaded my rifle, Duke leaned in and finished what I had missed with my first volley. He fired two or three long bursts and then came back out.
I looked over; the other tents were being swept out as well. Then I saw the soldiers starting to come from the underground entrance. Three came out, all carrying AK-74s. I brought my rifle to my eye and with an eight round burst, cut them all down.
By this time, the tents had been cleared and everyone was ready to go. I waved them towards the hole in the floor of the desert. We came in through a hole in the netting and proceeded into the darkened hole. I slipped on my NV goggles and proceeded in.
The tunnel was simply dug out of the sand with a few supports keeping the structure from totally caving in. We swept the outer area in, and then found another hole leading down to an entirely new set of tunnels.
I forwent the ladder and merely jumped down, landing in a crouch with my G-36 up and ready. There was one dumbfounded Taliban soldier standing there, I send at three round burst of death at him, eviscerating his chest and sending him toppling to the ground.
I slowly moved along. There was only one room left in the corridor, which had to be where the weapon was being stored. I knew that this was where they would set a trap, but didn't know how to avoid walking into it. I didn't want to risk bringing the roof down on our heads with grenades, but I wasn't confident the room was large enough for CQC combat.
I finally waved Duke forward. We slung our assault rifles onto our backs and took out our SOCOM's. "Just like old times." I said.
He looked at me with his night vision goggles. "Yeah, just like." He said.
We entered the room simultaneously; I immediately saw one turbaned figure aiming an AK, and let three rounds into him. There was another one behind the blast-proof crate that the weapon was in. I fired a single round into his forehead. The man slumped over the crate. Then the room was clear.
I kicked the man's corpse off of the crate and then called Roger McAllen forward. The fellow Canadian set aside his M4 Carbine and opened the latches on the crate. He cracked the lid and opened it wide. Inside was a bright red LCD display connected to four one-pound blocks of C4 high explosive. The LCD read 0:45.
McAllen looked up at me with a dumbfounded look on his face. "Run!!" He screamed.
We all rushed out as quickly as possible, scrambled out of the bottom of the tunnels, and were coming to the surface when the device detonated. The force of the concussion threw me out of the hole, sending me cart wheeling out of the complex, throwing me ahead of the flames.
I hit the ground rolling, feeling flames on the back of my clothes. I rolled until I felt the flames being put out, then I laid still and lost consciousness.
It really was all the same, the Northern Alliance denounced the US as the infidel when we had driven the Taliban from the country in the first place, then the Taliban made a miraculous comeback, driving the Northern Alliance out and setting up their oppressive government again. This time, they had adopted a more systematic method of terrorism against the west. Instead of direct action, such as flying a plane into the White House, the terrorists had started small unit actions, shooting up subways and residential areas, suicide bombing downtown New York and Los Angeles. Americans were now strongly encouraged to carry concealed weapons everywhere they went and the citizens of the US had to get used to living with terrorism.
I shook my head; Europe had been living with the problem of terrorism on a daily basis. In Northern Ireland the problem of terrorism had been ongoing for the past eighty years, and even today showed no sign of slowing down.
I looked up as Chavez came back from the cockpit. He patted me on the shoulder and said, "Better get ready, were inserting in a few minutes."
I nodded and got out of my seat, following him to the cargo area of the C-5. The US regularly Para dropped medical supplies into the Northern Alliance troops fighting in the north, it was just that this time, the plane would be dropping a more deadly load earlier. The Terrorist camp that we had tracked the weapon to was deep in Taliban territory, but in a region that seemed to be less patrolled and guarded. It was more than likely that we would be in and out without the Taliwhackers ever knowing until it was too late.
I threw on my LBV (Load Bearing Vest) and then slipped on my parachute over it. I connected the straps to the ALICE pack that would be worn between my legs until I landed in country. I then made sure that my G- 36K assault rifle was securely attached to my pack and I could reach the Mk- 23 SOCOM strapped to my thigh. Lastly I made sure I had oxygen and the night vision goggles around my neck would not come off in the jump.
The rear cargo door opened and the loadmaster dumped two pallets of brown canvas bags marked with the Red Cross symbol out of the back, then waved us forward. I would be first out. I stared out at the black night and waited for the loadmaster's hand to hit my back. It did, and I toppled out of the plane into the inky blackness.
It was your standard HAHO, High Altitude-High Opening, combat jump. We would free-fall for sixty seconds; yank the chutes and then parasail about ten miles, bringing us within a day's walk of the terrorist camp.
I checked the luminous dial on my altimeter as I plunged through the darkness, when it hit the right number; I yanked my ripcord and felt a gut- busting wrenching stop as my body made a dramatic change in speed in the course of a second.
I caught my breath and then put the night-vision goggles over my eyes, with a flip of a switch, the Afghanistan landscape was bathed in a world of green. I was still too high up to see much of what was on the ground, but did not see any headlights or searchlights from this height.
I free floated down for several minutes, guiding myself with my compass. As I grew closer, I felt a sinking feeling in my gut. Two figures that I thought to be rocks or cactuses or something, turned out to be two men on patrol. They were armed with AK-47s and what appeared to be hand grenades.
I slid my silenced SOCOM out of its thigh holster. I couldn't be sure of a kill shot while floating down in a parachute, but I couldn't wait until I had landed and risk making noise, or a sudden gust of wind pulling my body off target at the fatal moment.
I remained as silent as possible, lining up the luminous sight markers on the pistol through my night vision goggles. I waited as long as I dared, then fired then pistol.
I shot the first man twice, one round directly between his shoulder blades and the second buried into the back of his neck and exploded out the front. He went down gurgling. The second man whirled around bringing his AK to bear. I readjusted my aim and fired twice. Both rounds passed through the man's head, turning his skull into a mass of broken bones and assaulted tissues.
I landed flat on my feet, coming to a running stop, and then snapped the chute off my harness. I ran to the bodies of the two terrorists. I kicked the Kalisnakovs away from their bodies, then probing them with my boot to make sure that they were dead. They were.
I looked to the sky for my comrades. I saw another figure speeding down towards me on a black chute. He landed near me and I could see from the Styer Aug assault rifle on the man's pack that it was Duke.
He unhooked his chute and pulled off his harness. I pulled off mine as well, and then unhooked the ALICE pack from between my legs. I threw it down on the sand and reached into it until I could find my tri-fold entrenching shovel. I threw the goggles down on my pack and quickly started to dig a hole in the sand. I could hear several other members of my team landing around me as I dug, but I kept up my quick pace until I had a rectangular hole about three feet by four feet, into which we dumped our chutes and then rolled the bodies and weapons of the two soldiers I had killed into it and covered them.
Then I threw the ALICE pack on my back and started walking.
We walked for a fair bit of the night and then saw that at about 5:30am we were getting very close to the camp. A dull glow on the horizon showed the sun becoming ready to crest the horizon in an hour or so.
The camp was on the opposite side of a ridge from our position. We could see very little activity, just a few night guards walking aimlessly around.
We moved across the depression and up to the top of the ridge. I poked my head over the top and saw one of the night guards standing barley twenty feet away from me. I waved my squad back, then drew my K-Bar Fighting knife from its sheath.
Assiym Akhallibad was not afraid of the dark. At least, that's what he told himself. He never knew if it was just him that was afraid of the dark, or if it had something to do with the children's tales of strange beasts in the night that still scared him from this day. He never did tell anyone about it, simply because he would just be inviting ridicule from the fellow men training at the camp. He really didn't have anything to be afraid of as long as he was holding the small, but powerful Skorpion machine pistol. He was only hoping that he would be able to live up to the standards imposed by his instructors and fellow trainees, and not be humiliated.
While he was thinking to himself one shadow detached itself from all the other shadows in the desert and came running straight at him. He looked at it dumbfounded, and then began to fumble with the Skorpion. Not fast enough, before the shadow, that he now recognized as a running man dressed completely in black, brandishing a knife, slammed into him, knocking him to the ground.
Before he knew it, the man was on him, pinning the hand holding the Skorpion down, and feeling the tip of the man's knife probing for a weak spot in his body. The man found it, and with a burning pain, like that of a hot iron, the knife blade cut into the space between the man's jawbone and neck, just below his ear. Fireworks exploded in Assyim's brain as the knife tip buried itself in his nerve stem, then punched through the roof of his mouth. He could feel his mouth filling with blood and his breathing growing fainter, then his sight faded into blackness and he was only left with a feeling of falling that he mistakenly believed was his soul being embraced by Allah.
I continued to force the K-bar into the man's spine, until it had become buried up to the hilt. A small spurt of blood shot up and hit me in the face from a severed artery. I waited until all the struggle had gone out of the man, and then I pulled the blade out.
I waved my squad forward as I replaced the knife in my sheath. There were three tents sitting out in the desert and I could also see where they had draped camo netting over the entrance to an underground area of the base.
I slung my G-36 over my shoulder were I could grab it quickly and pulled out my silenced SOCOM. I waved out who should take what tent, and then we spread out to hit our assigned targets.
I came up to mine. A small breeze had come up and it ruffled the canvas of the tent as me and Duke slipped by. I slid back the canvas flap and used my NV goggles to peer within. Inside was cot after cot of sleeping terrorists. Must have been thirty. Duke and me held up our SOCOM's and nodded to each other. We were about to dive in and start shooting when I heard an alarmed voice yell out in some foreign language, then a lengthy burst from an AK.
I winced and holstered my SOCOM and grabbed my G-36K that was on my back. There was more shooting outside and the men in the tent had started to stir and wake. Duke and I hit them before they were fully awake.
I leaned in and raked the cots with an entire magazine from my assault rifle, then, as I leaned out and reloaded my rifle, Duke leaned in and finished what I had missed with my first volley. He fired two or three long bursts and then came back out.
I looked over; the other tents were being swept out as well. Then I saw the soldiers starting to come from the underground entrance. Three came out, all carrying AK-74s. I brought my rifle to my eye and with an eight round burst, cut them all down.
By this time, the tents had been cleared and everyone was ready to go. I waved them towards the hole in the floor of the desert. We came in through a hole in the netting and proceeded into the darkened hole. I slipped on my NV goggles and proceeded in.
The tunnel was simply dug out of the sand with a few supports keeping the structure from totally caving in. We swept the outer area in, and then found another hole leading down to an entirely new set of tunnels.
I forwent the ladder and merely jumped down, landing in a crouch with my G-36 up and ready. There was one dumbfounded Taliban soldier standing there, I send at three round burst of death at him, eviscerating his chest and sending him toppling to the ground.
I slowly moved along. There was only one room left in the corridor, which had to be where the weapon was being stored. I knew that this was where they would set a trap, but didn't know how to avoid walking into it. I didn't want to risk bringing the roof down on our heads with grenades, but I wasn't confident the room was large enough for CQC combat.
I finally waved Duke forward. We slung our assault rifles onto our backs and took out our SOCOM's. "Just like old times." I said.
He looked at me with his night vision goggles. "Yeah, just like." He said.
We entered the room simultaneously; I immediately saw one turbaned figure aiming an AK, and let three rounds into him. There was another one behind the blast-proof crate that the weapon was in. I fired a single round into his forehead. The man slumped over the crate. Then the room was clear.
I kicked the man's corpse off of the crate and then called Roger McAllen forward. The fellow Canadian set aside his M4 Carbine and opened the latches on the crate. He cracked the lid and opened it wide. Inside was a bright red LCD display connected to four one-pound blocks of C4 high explosive. The LCD read 0:45.
McAllen looked up at me with a dumbfounded look on his face. "Run!!" He screamed.
We all rushed out as quickly as possible, scrambled out of the bottom of the tunnels, and were coming to the surface when the device detonated. The force of the concussion threw me out of the hole, sending me cart wheeling out of the complex, throwing me ahead of the flames.
I hit the ground rolling, feeling flames on the back of my clothes. I rolled until I felt the flames being put out, then I laid still and lost consciousness.