Chapter 37: The Sandbox
Present Time:
November 8th 2010 1610 Hours
Highway One, Iraq
It was always good listening to the stories of vets that opened up. You got to hear the real stories of wars that men saw through their own eyes. Unfortunately, some can exaggerate them to a point where you doubt their credibility and I wasn't just referring to much older vets who's heads weren't always in the right place. A little unwritten fact about guys and girls that talk a lot. Those who talk the most, did the least. But I could tell by the look on Lehm's face at certain points of the story that he was telling the truth. Honestly I thought Wiley scored a lucky break with the missile fuel, or they would have been screwed.
"Not long after Desert Storm I went through Delta training and earned the right to officially be called a Delta Operator. Fast forward a few years and I ran into Echo again at the officers club in Ft. Bragg. After he told me Lehm got a promotion and had retired he asked about the neat cut above my ear. When I told him I shaved the sides because it wouldn't grow back his spilled his beer all over himself laughing! He then said his contract was about to be up and he said he was done. He planned on joining up with Lehm and his new bodyguard job, you can guess who his first client was. Not long after we both left we caught up with Lehm and that's when I first met Koko. Enchanted by her charisma, the rest is history."
As he finished up on the radio a somewhat uneasy feeling came over me. He didn't say the number of years but if I did the math correctly how in the world did an adolescent girl charm over three Delta Force operators to be her personal guard and stick with her for the longest time. Granted Floyd Hekmatyar's money was the easiest answer but I was very skeptical on that, and everyone here didn't place a lot of value on being paid. They always talked about how great it was to work for Koko and they kept each other safe like a true band of brothers, and one sister. They also would do anything to make sure that if one began to fall, they wouldn't let them fall so hard that they couldn't stand back up. My little tiff with Karen Low proved that. I loved these guys for that, including the fact that they always give me a chance to break their balls.
"Gotta say…that is a very long ass way of telling me why a portion of your hair can't grow back."
The entire net then bursted out laughing.
"God I knew something like that was coming." Lutz.
"Is that all you paid attention to Damien?" Koko.
"What did you guys expect? You need to stop giving me these opportunities, it's getting to be too easy!"
"I must agree with the gentleman. It seems like he does this rather frequently."
Under my balaclava my face straightened and I looked towards Lehm if he heard that but as usual he didn't care. The voice on the radio caught me by surprise. It was well spoken but it's accent was Arabic which led me to one conclusion.
"Koko why is Excalibur's translator on our net?" I somewhat demanded.
"Relax Damien. I don't have my earpiece in and it's not on an open channel. He's the only one riding with me Lutz, and Valmet. He just asked to hear the story too."
"I know that you got off on the wrong foot with Mr. Turner but my job is to only translate for him. I'm not Iraqi military or anything like that. Let me make a formal introduction, my name is Nazal."
"Eindam turid altahaduth mae 'ayi mina, ais'al mudiri." I said making my point stick.
(When and if you want to talk to any of us, ask my boss.)
Center of the Convoy, Koko's Vehicle
With the click on the radio, it was apparent to Nazal that the apparent attack dog of HCLI's crew was not looking for any type of conversation. But it didn't seem that he would be of any hinderance to him infiltrating Excalibur's ranks. He hoped though that whoever he was, was someone he hadn't met before. On paper Nazal was legitimate but with personal interactions of the US forces he wasn't considered 100% reliable to be trusted with certain types of intelligence.
Throughout his life, Nazal had been through three of Iraq's major wars. Once when he was only a child when his father came back from Iran with only one leg. The next when his oldest brother was burned to death in a T-72. After the sanctions that were placed on Iraq after the Gulf War and the invasion in 2003 he had had enough of being helpless in a brutal world and decided that there was only one thing that mattered, surviving. It didn't matter how he did it but he was going to be someone that came out with what they wanted, even if he had to rely on types that were more nefarious than he would like to admit. That's where he came across the idea of putting on the facade of the nice guy, find the least aggressive path so that the outcome would benefit in his favor.
"I'm amazed you have men that have fought here twenty years ago and most recently Miss Hekmatyar. I'm surprised he speaks Arabic so well."
He then turned around to the back seat to address the woman in white.
"With so much violence it is good to see that there are still some that want to do some good here. It warms my heart that your donating the materials and supplies to build a school here."
What came next though was what he didn't expect her to answer.
"Mr. Nazal, none of us are here because we WANT to be here. I speak Arabic as well as he does so you should know by how he answered you that he wants this trip to be as less stressful as possible and I agree with him. It would also be bad for my image, and HCLI's if I just sold weapons all the time. This little trip is about repairing my reputation. Not this country's infrastructure every time something gets blown up."
Allaenata. Hadhih aimra'at ghyr hada.
(Damn. That's one blunt woman.)
"Plus the only reason we need Turner and his lame asses is because there's too much to defend and my bodyguards can't drive and defend at the same time. You however are a liability."
Sensing her apparent frustration, he decided to try and ease her mood.
"I understand but at least try to temper your frustration. I actually won't be working for them much longer and I would like to leave their company on good terms. My only reason for being with them is because no one on their team speaks Arabic."
'Aw ladayh damagh lihadhih almas'alat.
(Or has a brain for that matter.)
It was no secret that most PMC's were looked at with distain by both the local's and Coalition Forces. Being held unaccountable to the Law's of War meant that they could get away with a lot of questionably legal things. Those that were employed in these companies came from all walks of life, the same as any military. But a majority of them came from either the bad ones or left their service on less than desirable terms. The examples of them came on the open channel, ruining the silence that HCLI was enjoying from them while they listened to Wiley's story.
"Goddamn. I wanna shoot at something." One said bored.
"Me too I got too much pent-up energy." One said too eager.
"Never mind that. Did you all see the massive jiggly bits on that one bird!?" One not afraid to die.
"Fuck yeah! I'd jump on those grenades in a heartbeat!" One that might get his wish.
"Oh God, I hope Damien didn't hear that."
Lutz was hoping for the best but he knew he was lying to himself because he knew that wasn't the case. He glanced in his rear view mirror at Valmet, having only a straight look with mild annoyance. But she had to be thinking the same thing he was. Damien mistaking one of Excalibur for an insurgent.
"Calm down Lutz. He won't lose his cool over a two bit lowlife." Koko said while turning her radio to the squads channel.
Truck #3
Recently I had bought a new pair of combat gloves and didn't get the chance to use them yet. Them and boots are what guys like me go through rather frequently. When you shoot gun's rather frequently or are out in the field you try to keep your hands somewhat free of dirt and gunpowder residue. You also really would like your hands protected if you accidentally touch a hot barrel or if you trip and get a nasty cut or a stick goes through your hand. This brand however had a thick layer of Kevlar placed along the knuckles, it was peculiar in design but I saw it's use. The ability to give my punches a boost in striking power whenever I get the chance to slam their jaws shut.
"They're strumming on my last nerve too Damien." Lehm said after hearing exactly the same thing I did on the radio.
I just grunted in frustration.
"We're doing fine so far. So if all we had go wrong so far is just listen to a bunch assholes, then this trip won't be too bad." He continued letting me know he was as sore as I was.
"Doesn't me I can't complain John."
At least I was able to control myself this time. I've been doing good so far these last few months of having a calmer head. Didn't mean it was easy though, crude humor is something of a polar issue with me. I don't mind it when it's appropriate but there's sometimes a difference between trying to lighten the mood and being offensive. The only thing I could do was just block it out and get back to being a lookout. I then checked my mirror, I actually saw an old faded white sedan coming up in the distance. I got on the radio immediately.
"Hey whoever is in the rear truck you got a car coming up. See him?"
"Yeah we see him Damien, coming up fast. It looks like he's gonna try and pass us." Tojo responded.
"Anything out of the ordinary?" Koko then came on the net asking for the 411.
"I don't see anything. Just one old man."
"This is just right for us. Take him down!" Said a British voice on the radio.
Before I could contemplate on what the hell he was talking about one of the gun mounted pickups swerved to the opposite side of the road and opened fire full auto. Shocked as I heard the fire from down the convoy Tojo then came on the net screaming.
"HOLY SHIT! CEASE FIRE! CEASE FIRE!"
"Too late now." Lehm said to no one in particular.
The car that was being shot at then swerved further off the road from the truck that was shooting at it. Its front was on fire and ran off the side of the road into a ditch. Furious for the appropriate reasons I got on the radio.
"ALL CALL SIGNS! STOP THE FUCKING CONVOY NOW!"
"Damien there's no-"
"Just do it Lehm, please." I said cutting him off. But quickly changing my tone to asking instead of demanding.
He looked at me with a bit of hesitation cause he couldn't see the emotions I was feeling on my face but he slowed the truck to a halt. Grabbing my ACR I then hopped out of the truck before it even stopped and sprinted down the highway. Ignoring the radio chatter of what I was doing. It was stupid of me to do this and somewhat hypocritical but it was the right thing to do.
However, when I reached the torn up car, Lehm was right, there wasn't anything I could do. The lack of a man's head made that abundantly clear. Only one thing made sense now, making sure that these frat boy's with trigger fingers got a lesson in the rules of engagement. Looking back up the convoy, I headed to the truck that had the RPK. I slung my rifle to my back so that I looked non-aggressive. I was really hopeful that nothing was gonna happen out here but I knew I was just pissing into the wind. On average our luck tends to suck so I figured I'd get this over with. But before I could continue with my on-the-fly plan of attack Koko came on the squad net.
"Damien. Are you heading to the truck that opened fire?" She asked but also putting on her professional tone, I could tell when she was livid.
"Good guess. Why?"
"Ask them to wait. I would like to be the one to talk to them and let them know that their services are no longer required."
"You don't think I can do a good job at that?"
"Who do you think would be worse?"
I let out a somewhat evil chuckle. This was such a no brainer I was embarrassed at myself that it didn't cross my mind.
"You're right. I'll tell them to sit tight." I paused for a moment. "Huh, that rhymed."
As I got to the truck that fired off the initial shots the gunner looked at me as if I was about to start something. But I just ignored his poor tough guy pose and knocked on the driver side window. But when I looked inside I wasn't surprised in the least, it was blondie the movie star.
"What's the matter sunshine? You pissed for us making sure the convoy's safe?"
I'd feel safer dancing in a minefield.
Deciding not to troll his dumb ass I just let him know what Koko said. And with luck she was heading my way now.
"Only want you to know that my boss wishes to speak with you."
As I said pointing in direction she and Sophia were walking from he got out his truck and lit a cigarette. While none of them were looking I took out a little something from one of my pouches. I hid it under my arms as I crossed them and walked past blondie to be on Koko's other flank. There was no way scum like this would listen to her and take her seriously. They might even get pissed and try something that they would regret.
"Was there any reason why you decided to open fire on an unarmed civilian?"
"Listen missy I don't know how you do business from behind your desk in trading guns but this is I-fuckin-raq. VBIED's and IED's are all over the place. Gunmen and snipers range from kids to old men. If we stop for everything that looks even remotely suspicious then we'd be out here all week. We've been here a lot longer than you so I think we know how to operate."
"Well if you know that much better than finding another form of employment won't be too hard. Because I'm firing your sorry asses."
The thug's reaction was priceless.
"Excuse me? You can't just cut us loose! Who's gonna drive your tru-"
"Are you so full of shit that it's clogged up your ears too?" She said cutting him off. "I want your men out of my trucks and out of my face now!"
"Why you fucking-!"
Before he said another word I took out my little surprise I had for him and he froze in place. The challenging part was taking the pin out quietly.
"I believe the lady said that you're somewhat constipated. Maybe if I can get you to swallow this, it will clear everything out."
The movie star then bit through the filter on his smoke. It seems like I didn't need the grenade since he looked like he was about to shit himself.
"Are you bloody crazy!?"
"My buddy Wiley's story seems to have had that effect on me. Now she asked once, I'm not gonna ask at all."
He then frantically fumbled with his radio. "Turner! It's McDowell! Tell the guys to get out of the lorries now!"
"What the hell are you talking about?" Excalibur's chief asked unsure of what just happened.
"Miss Hekmatyar has terminated our services. It appears you were too hasty in your action's Mr. Turner."
I was a little caught off guard as I heard him over the radio, that seemed kind of sketchy. But as their conversation continued I looked at Koko and all she did was raise her finger to tell me not to jump to conclusions. I then looked to Sophia and she nodded slightly.
"What!? Nazal!? When did this happen!?"
"I was talking to Miss Hekmatyar after the convoy stopped. I made a generous proposition and she has let me assume a temporary position of employment with HCLI. In other words, she fired you and I quit."
If he could see my face behind my balaclava the newly named McDowell would probably be even been more pissed off at the fact that I was grinning at him ear to ear. When their former translator was finished, Koko put the final nail in the coffin. Those cold, predatory, ice, blue, eyes piercing right through him.
"Tell Turner to get his ass in gear and if your men touch anything, it'll be the last thing you ever do."
1635 Hours
The good news was that we dumped the excess bags of shit known as Excalibur and our trip through the middle of nowhere became a lot more tolerable. The bad news was that we cut our security potential down to the bare minimum and if worst came to worst we would have to ditch the cargo and most of the trucks and haul ass to the nearest US patrol. An unprotected convoy was something any sane individual in this country would like to not be a part of but hopefully any possible insurgent out here didn't peg us as a threat. They seemed a bit more interested in attacking the American's but any Westerner would do. The stories of the last few years of people getting kidnapped and tortured were gruesome and these fuckers loved to flaunt their work. But I kept thinking of what Wiley told me earlier, I can't get involved in politics in this line of work. It makes everything more complicated and can give you even more enemies than you could handle.
But now was not the time to think about that, I had to be on extra alert since I was driving a truck by myself. That is if I didn't include my passengers that were my ACR and Remington .375 Ultra Mag. It had been a while since I had used a sniper rifle. In my toy box back on the ship was my other one, a Winchester Model 70 that used the standard NATO 7.62 round or .308 caliber. Both models were modified for a combat environment with different stocks and magazine sizes along with getting the bolts retooled so that they loaded and unloaded rounds more smoothly. Besides practice, the last time I used it was to provide overwatch on a heroin deal on the Armenian/Turk border. Fortunately that was one of the few times a deal went well and no shots were fired. Compared to the mountains there the open sand dunes of Iraq provided a lot of open ground and to the south it was quite flat making it very difficult to find places to hide. So I figured I'd finally get the chance to put my practice to purpose as well as let Lehm and Lutz know that there's another marksman vying for the title as the squads top shot. But even practice against some paper targets would have been great by now. I was starting to get bored, until my cell phone beeped with a text message, it was Koko.
"Wanna play a prank on Valmet? ;)"
I then smirked and returned the text. I had to do something on this trip besides possibly breaking the traffic law of texting and driving.
"Hell yeah. How?"
"Turn your radio frequency channel to 448. It'll just be me and you then wait for my signal."
After a punching in few buttons I texted back.
"Done."
I then heard through my earpiece of what was going on immediatley.
"You know Valmet it's been a while since I've seen you drive trucks like these."
"It's not as hard as it seems. When I was still with the Mechanized Jager's everyone was trained to operate heavy trucks for equipment hauling. While it was a skill we were forced to know regardless of rank it was SOP for if we ever…suffered mass casualties."
I didn't need to figure out she was thinking about her men. I did tell her that the pain and memories weren't gonna disappear instantly. But I could take solace in the fact that I helped her move past a point in her life when she was at her weakest. The difference between me and her was that she still had a tremendous amount of humanity within her, even when she left her unit. Mine was warped and twisted, especially in my training, and I let loose everything that was terrible inside me on that horrible night. My attempt to rebuild my humanity is thankfully becoming stronger, but there always be a mark that will forever remind me that a portion of me is a monster.
"Do you think you can teach me to drive like this?"
I could tell by Koko's tone that she wanted to get her out of that specific train of thought immediately.
"I mean it's not the first time you've taught me about something I've never experienced before. About how you can guide my arms, legs, shoulders, waist, and everywhere else." She said while gradually slowing the sentence becoming somewhat amorous.
"Koko! I'm driving! Not there!" She said surprised.
There was only one, or I should say two things, I could picture what "there" was but apart from Koko getting me to listen in on something pervy I was wondering where this was leading.
"You never complained about this before. Or does Damien have an even gentler touch?"
The net went silent for a moment.
"Don't look at me like that, I haven't been cuddling up to him like usual. But please tell me, how have you two been these last few months?"
"Alright. I really can't tell what should be normal since I haven't been in a relationship for as long as I can remember. Except for when we were butting heads…"
"Literally." Koko said interrupting her.
"Ugh…he hasn't really changed the way we speak to each other on a casual basis. He's sweet, but he still acts like a jackass so I need to figure out how I'm going to get him to try and stop being one."
I chuckled for a brief moment. She can't change one of the defining things that make me, me.
"Well I can help you with that."
That had to be my cue. If she wants me to change, I know of a rather cruel way that she should change a few things about herself.
"Tell her she's fat." I whispered on the private channel.
"Maybe if you stopped gorging yourself on his food you wouldn't have those love handles."
A bit elaborate, but this works.
"Koko!" She said embarrassed.
"Tell her she should respect my right to smoke." A little revenge for every time she knocked a cigar out of my mouth.
"You should also let him do what he wants when he's spending time with you. You're going to have to tolerate his cigars. If you couldn't handle Lehm's cigarettes, you won't last a minute with Damien."
"But Koko I'll smell like tar! This is more than I can take." She said begging.
"If she can't take my awesomeness she's not worthy."
"If you can't handle that overwhelming, incredible, icon of all that is man then I'll take him from you."
"Wait a minute…"
Koko was trying to stifle her laughter when she was talking but I think we both overplayed the exaggeration a bit much.
"I think we've been found out. What's her expression?"
"Angry, Damien."
"Tell her we didn't mean it seriously."
"We? You came up with this plan. You told me to say exactly what you told me to tell her."
Oh shit.
"Koko you wouldn't."
"You're right. I wouldn't tell her that her boobs belonged to only you."
"DAMIEN!" She said causing the radio to screech.
"Shit! Disconnect! Disconnect!"
1655 Hours
After the incident that shall remain nameless, Wiley apparently saw a safe spot to park the convoy at so that we could stretch our legs. How the hell he figured out that anywhere in this country, much less the roads, was safe was beyond me. But at least he got out and checked the area first for anything out of the ordinary. Being an explosives expert, he had a knack for seeing anything that was out of the ordinary such as freshly dug sad, a conveniently placed garbage bag, or even a car that shouldn't be parked where is. Since the days were getting shorter it was gonna be dark in a few hours, but at least we wouldn't be out here longer than we needed to. Koko explained that once we'd drop off the containers we'd stay at Ali Air Base and the US Air Force would give us a ride back to Kuwait in the morning. Only problem though was that we had no escort to drive us there anymore. But Koko had pulled miracles before so I wasn't really worried. But I was worried about OPSEC though, we were still in a hostile environment and since I wasn't as laid back as everyone else I volunteered myself to keep a look out from on top of one of the trucks. Everyone else was just chatting and getting out their dinner, hamburger's they bought from when we were in Basrah.
As much of a luxury as it seemed for having American fast food franchises out here I wasn't the one to break so easily. Having some dried fruit and granola was fine for me. As I glanced over to look at them, I shook my head in disapproval. The only one to look up was Sophia. But she just went right back to eating as if she didn't even see me. She was giving me the silent treatment again, but I knew that this was only temporary. Despite being in the middle of a hostile environment we all had to do something to make the time go by faster. Few people in the civilian world do this and understand it but ask any soldier and they'll tell you that as long as it gets you through the day and it's all in good fun, the best of friends will always give each other shit. It was now I finally realized, when I was a kid, all the times when I saw other soldiers congregating whether they were on duty or not would be just talking mad trash to each other but in the end no fights broke out.
"Valmet cock blocking you again?"
Lehm. His timing on point as usual.
"Shut up you old fart. What do you want?" I asked as he sat next to me.
"Just want to talk, I know you and I have been thinking the same thing."
Honestly I wasn't. Most of what I was thinking was about after we drop off the containers and where we were gonna get a ride. But I decided to humor him.
"How Wiley finding out this place is NOT gonna blow us up the moment we roll out?"
He let out his distinct chuckle. "Nah. Actually it was about Excalibur probably coming back to get even with us."
I paused getting my next piece of mixed dried fruit and took off my shades. I wanted to make sure that he saw the skepticism in my eyes.
"You can't be serious? You think they're that stupid to try and start their own little war out here? With us of all people?"
"From experience working with Koko, guys like that normally don't just leave cause you tell 'em to. You told me before that you did something similar."
He was referring to one of my jobs in Russia before I met Amalia. My employer got short changed on a deal and he decided to take what he wanted by force. However as they were about to execute their plan I ran at the last possible second. The reasons why I got my next job so easily and no one asked questions was that the guys I used to work for were all killed.
"That's because I wasn't stupid enough to try and raid a Russian Army ammo dump. Despite what you may think I'm not as crazy or unstable as…well I used to be."
He smirked. "Despite you waking up every day next to Valmet without having your throat cut, you're not the most dangerous one here."
"Let me guess, Koko?"
"Hah. Not even close, it's actually Wiley."
"Ok how so?" I said with interest piqued.
"Well you already know that both of them are on the FBI's blacklist. Only reason you don't make the cut is because, as you know, the Agency likes to keep things under wraps."
"You don't need to remind me." I grumbled.
"When Koko first came onto the scene as not only an arms dealer but also as one of two successors to a multibillion dollar shipping empire we had to deal with all kinds of threats. It's one of the major downsides to being rich and powerful. You tend to make enemies whether you want to or not and you got some jokers that just want to make an easy score with a kidnapping. Some though don't care about money as you have seen."
"Well how does this make Wiley dangerous?"
"You know skills grow through experience. With bomb threats being kind of frequent in the years we've been working for Koko, Wiley's managed to surpass anyone that's even tried. His method though is to give the bomb makers and assassins their present back and it makes a damn good cover in misleading the authorities. On occasion he was considered a suspect in quite a few cases on hitmen blowing themselves up but nothing ever stuck. Hell, one time I remember some guy wanted to just bring a whole hotel building down on top of us instead of waiting for a precision attack. But Wiley managed to rewire the thing to where only one floor would be destroyed instead of the whole place. We got to a safe distance away from the place and when we had confirmation that the bomber had went back to check on the device, a six story building became a five story one."
"There weren't any people in that place were there?"
His expression became serious for a moment. It was then that maybe I shouldn't have called out Wiley for being reckless.
"It was a shitty hotel and we managed to calmly get the staff and guests out without causing a scene. There's a reason why he's as good as he is. But frequently he thinks of explosives as a game. All those compliments of his achievements over the years since the Gulf War have kinda fueled his fire. He keeps wanting make cooler and better explosions and Koko encouraged him, she was actually a sullen little brat at the time, from there it just grew."
"Shit. Better not let Koko hear that." I said warning him.
"HEY YOU TWO UP THERE!"
"Too late."
Hearing Koko's shout I poked my head out from on top of the container.
"Were getting ready to go in five. Damien I want you on the rear guard when we roll out."
"Got it." But before I got off the truck I saw Nazal get off his phone. "Hey who the fuck's he calling?"
"Calm down Damien, I gave him permission to make that call. Plus I overheard him in Arabic the whole time."
"Are you sure it's a good idea to keep him along for this?" I asked as I climbed down off the truck.
She then approached me and tapped her fist on my plates. But then spoke to me in a language that Nazal couldn't understand.
"Je l'ai en laisse. S'il devient enrage, je le deposerai moi-meme."
(I have him on a leash. If he turns rabid, I'll put him down myself.)
I looked to him and back to her, him wondering what the HCLI heiress and her only masked bodyguard were talking about.
"C'est suffisant. Petite dame."
(Fair enough. Little lady.)
1720 Hours
The sun was still bright but it was starting to get lower in the sky. We were pretty much half an hour away from our destination. Maybe this trip wasn't going to be as stressful as I thought it was going to be.
"Koko this is Truck 1. We got a sharp turn up ahead with a ridge overlooking it. Kinda making me feel uneasy. I want us all to slow to a stop and I'll check it out."
Or not. That was normally the trend with hopes, they were fragile things that didn't last very long. And more often than not when they get shattered you fall back on your ass harder than you had anticipated. I kept quiet and just listened in on the net. Koko came up next, letting out a very frustrated groan.
"Aw damn it! Everyone listen up, I want full security around the entire convoy. Lehm, Lutz, Damien, get your rifles out. We're NOT getting caught in an ambush by a low level group of thugs like Excalibur."
"Copy that."
"Here we go again."
"Nazal, no further phone calls until I say so."
"Understood Miss Hekmatyar."
"Just another day on the job." I said without speaking through my radio as I grabbed my .375 Ultra Mag.
After getting out of the truck I hopped up on top of the trailer, as I kneeled down to load up my five rounds I got on the radio to ask for sectors of fire.
"I got the rear of the convoy for pretty much 180 degrees, Lehm? Lutz? What about you guys?"
"I got eyes on that ridge line." Lutz.
"I've got the open area to our 8." Lehm.
"I'm heading towards where they might have set up an IED now. Keep me covered." Wiley.
Knowing to trust him, and do my damnedest not to judge his sanity, I then set up my bipod, adjusted the scope and got comfortable. My bulky plates and ammo pouches weren't necessarily good for sniping but I had to make due. Since I was shooting by myself I had to make the corrections to my shots myself, not really a tactfully sound thing since sniper's always worked in pairs. But if you've gotten enough practice in you can do all the tasks yourself. Sniping is kind of like hunting in a way, depending on whether you stalk the target or let it come to you. Today so far it was the latter, as I saw in the distance our former partners dip in and out of the ascending and descending road.
"Koko, I got a lot of dust trails popping up behind us. You called it right, it's them again."
"Wait until they're close. Then you're free to engage Damien."
"Copy." I said as I flicked off the safety.
I really didn't believe that these assholes wanted to do this. But this was the hazard of mercenaries and being in a country that's teetering on lawlessness doesn't help. These soldier wannabes had no idea how badly their day was about to be ruined. As I started to calm my breathing to make my shot they started to get above the last ridge before they would have visual on us, that was my cue. My target was the driver of the first truck, but when I saw who was driving it I couldn't help but smile. Those stupid purple Oakley's were a big reflective target and I could see them through the windshield.
"This is the part where you gentlemen would say," Switching over to English. "Oh Bugger."
Hold breath, trigger squeeze, recoil, target eliminated.
The first gun mounted pick up then veered to its left violently and the rest followed through, unknowing that they were already being targeted. The rest of the crew opened up on them with their small arms as I heard automatic and high powered rifle fire behind me. My next target was the other gun truck, they were moving a little faster than before so I had to place my shot carefully by leading the target. I focused in on the gunner with the .50 Cal.
Once again, hold breath, trigger squeeze, recoil, target eliminated.
The gunner then fell off the back of the truck and was ran over by the SUV following it. It being lit up pretty badly from the rest of the crew, it then rolled over on its side. Knowing they were caught in the open, the attacking team from the rear screeched to a halt about sixty yards away from us off the road. All I could do was just make them stop shooting, but at least they had the smart idea to keep their heads down, it was getting hard to make a shot.
BOOM!
That level of difficulty had significantly increased as I heard a massive explosion to the front of the convoy.
"SHIT! Everyone ok!? What the hell was that!?"
"Don't worry Damien. Convoy's untouched. Wiley's just doing what he's best at." Koko said unfazed by the blast.
Assuming that he just took out the ambush team in the front, all we had to do was just mop up the rest of them. There was no one exiting the turned over SUV I then readjusted myself to focus on the stopped trucks and fired off my last three shots at anything that looked like a head. But as I was reloading one round at a time something wasn't adding up, not much sooner after the dust had settled from the blast the attacker's in the rear stopped shooting.
"Hey Koko, it looks like they've stopped shooting. Want me to just put some rounds in their tires and we leave them out here?"
There was a bit of lengthy pause on the comms.
"Not a good idea Damien, I figured out why they stopped." Tojo then came on the net instead, with unease in his voice.
"What's going on?" I asked and Koko answered for him.
"Oh damn it! Wiley! They've got a human bomb to our south! It looks like they kidnapped somebody and strapped C4 to him."
I immediately readjusted myself so that I was back to my original position. Sure enough as I looked through my scope was a plainly dressed man, scared out of his mind, with several blocks of C4 strapped to his chest. I also noticed a few cut's and bruises on his face and arms. It looked like he wasn't doing this willingly.
"Understood. I'm on my way back. Mao, Ugo, meet me at the front of the convoy. Damien I need you too."
"What? Why?"
"I'll explain when you get up here, just trust me. Move!"
Deciding not to argue any further and just react, I grabbed my ACR and hopped off the truck to the secure side of the convoy. I then made my way to the front, moving quickly in between the gaps of the trucks. As I got there I saw Mao and Ugo dart off with Nazal of all people to the mound where the IED had gone off. I kneeled down next to Wiley behind the truck engine.
"So? What's the plan?"
"Were not letting those bastards get away with killing an innocent man or getting us to make an easy solution."
I knew what he had in mind and I was not liking where it was going.
"The moment they see us try to take that bomb off of him they'll blow him to pieces, and us with it. And what the hell do you need me for anyway!?"
"As painful as this is to admit, my Arabic is only basic. I need you to get him to do what you say and I'll handle the rest."
I looked at him as if he thought I had "Suicidal" written all over my face. But then he shook my shoulder hard.
"Are you going to let them hurt Koko!?" He shouted.
Suddenly I knew what was at stake. This was something that came with the job, sometimes you have to step into harms way. And these guys decided to fuck with us, they decided to fuck with Koko.
"Not a chance. I got your back man."
With a quick nod, he moved out away from the convoy and I followed. We stayed out of sight from what was left of Excalibur and moved at a fast crouch along the road to where the man with the s-vest was slowly walking toward the convoy with his hands raised. I heard him muttering prayers in Arabic, wondering how in the hell this had happened to him. He wasn't the first victim in Iraq that was forced to do something like this, but I don't think anyone would believe that someone that was supposed to be fighting the insurgents would do the same thing they would. As we then crawled to get a little closer, Wiley motioned to me with a hand signal to go for the deep ditch off the side of the road. I almost never got nervous, but my heart was about to beat out of my chest. I was more than capable of handling C4 but I just put it together with either det-cord or a remote detonator on it the simple way and just pushed the button. That shit doesn't care what it blows up so being right next to it was not something I was looking forward too. As we got to the ditch, Wiley turned and whispered to me.
"When he gets right above us. Let him know to fake a trip and fall towards us."
I took a deep breath. There was no way to hide that I was scared out of my mind. But I had a job to do, I didn't have the option of failing.
"The moment he disappears from sight you're gonna have about five seconds for them to figure out that something went wrong. Another three for them to get the detonator and hit the switch."
William just looked at me with same cool persona he usually had. If he was as scared as I was, he did a fucking phenomenal job of hiding it. But he was the pro, I trusted him to keep us and the victim alive.
"Like I said, I'll handle it."
And so we waited, but he wouldn't take too long judging from his distance to us. I didn't want to think about it, but if the worst was gonna happen, I made one last call to make sure I had no regrets.
"Sophia. I'll be back soon. Please wait for me."
I then shut off my radio the moment I was done talking. As I did he was right over us, now it was all or nothing.
"Ya hadha."
(Hey you.)
He then looked towards the two of us. Shocked that we were this close to him.
"Yataeathar w yasqatu. Aitajih nahuana!" I said motioning with my hand.
(Trip and fall. Roll towards us!)
"Hal 'ant mjnwn? Sawf tanfajir hadhih alqunbala!"
(Are you crazy? This bomb will explode!)
"Hadha ln yahduth faqat thaqa bina!"
(That won't happen just trust us!)
He knew his options were limited, but he chose the chance of surviving and did his best to trip by accident and rolled towards us. In the process my heart literally stopped and I started to feel cold, Wiley however did what he was best at, not even flinching.
With wire cutters in hand he gently felt around the vest looking for, what I assumed, would be anything that would set it off. The man that had on the s-vest had his eyes shut tightly, teeth gritted, and was shaking. After God knows how many seconds, Wiley froze, and with a few quick snips removed a older model cell phone and tossed it to the side.
"Ok it's no longer able to be detonated by remote. Just tell him to hold still cause I need to disarm the trigger so this vest won't blow."
I let out a deep sigh of relief. The victim in the s-vest looked toward the masked me with hope in his eyes, I let him know he was right in his assumption.
"'Ant satakun bikhayr. Faqat daeah yantahi."
(You're going to be alright. Just let him finish.)
He then smiled and looked like he was about to cry.
"Shukraan lakum! Shukraan jazilana!"
(Thank you! Thank you so much!)
Suddenly the phone which was the supposed detonator started to ring, as I was looking at it I smiled underneath my mask. Excalibur had no more cards left to play.
"Ha. Leave a message. Get back to the convoy. I got this."
"Don't need to tell me twice you crazy coyote!" I said scuttling away from him as fast as I could.
As I got back to the convoy, there was only one person I needed to see. She was crouched behind the fifth truck with her Mk46. As I walked towards her she turned around to see me take off my helmet and balaclava while kneeling next to her.
"What are you-"
I didn't even her the chance to finish as I held her face and kissed her. As I then rested my forehead on hers I was still out of breath. I just wanted to be next to her.
"Are you feeling ok?" She asked with concern.
"Well, I'm gonna need a clean pair of briefs."
"Yeah you're ok." She said knowing what she expected out of me.
"Aww, where's the concern for me Damien?" Koko said as she wrapped her arms around my neck and pulled me toward her.
I just rolled with it. The day was stressful enough as it was.
"Sorry I went dark there for a few moments Koko. Did you guys get the rest of them?"
"Not yet. Head back to your position and make sure they stay where they are."
Sophia then smiled and nodded me in the direction of where I needed to go. When I went to grab my helmet though I saw two injured men three trucks up with Mao and Ugo guarding them and Nazal speaking to them. I recognized one of them though, it seems as though Excalibur's chief, Turner, had survived the blast. I didn't want to make a quick assumption right off the bat but I don't think he was hiding it anymore when he had to have made a deal with Koko. Knowing she wouldn't answer me directly I went back to my truck, got back on top to my sniper rife, kept an eye on the pick ups, and then got on the radio to talk to him. I didn't care if the channel was open or not.
"Nazal, taqra?"
(Nazal, you read?)
"Nem fiela?"
(Yes?)
"Ma hi laebatuk fi kl hdha?"
(What's your game in all of this?)
"Mahma kan aldhy taenih?"
(Whatever do you mean?)
I then let my Arabic slip. He must have thought I was another thug.
"I don't got time for this shit. I know what you really are. What makes you think we won't just shoot you or hand your ass over to the Americans?"
He chuckled. "Because I made a deal with Miss Hekmatyar and we both agreed on the terms."
"And?"
"There was a personal gain I had to make regarding Excalibur. She would have compensated for me but the person in Excalibur I needed for some financial benefit survived, so it worked out better than she had anticipated. In return we would give you a proper escort to where you need to go, free of charge."
"Hold up. Who's 'We'"?
"We'll have a few black SUV's coming from the East in about 15 minutes Damien. They're not hostiles so don't worry." Koko had said interjecting, probably letting me know not to worry about it.
She wouldn't need to though. This would be considered hypocritical of me. In the last ten years the views in between American's and Middle Easterners have not been favorable. Since Koko did not discriminate on who she did business with, it was just a matter of time before we came across an Arab or Muslim group. The reason why it would be hypocritical for me was because of a short stay in Palestine where I was the bodyguard for the teenage child of a high ranking Hamas member. Only thing though was that I found out he was Hamas after the job was done. In my somewhat panicked state I only asked that instead of money would be some influence to get some other people to look away or pretend I was never there.
"Ok then. Just let me know when they get close. In the mean time, what are we gonna do about these clowns?"
"I got an idea. Everyone hold your fire. No matter what you see."
It was Wiley that time. I knew I should let him have his moment because I had had enough so far for today with the possibility of getting blown to smithereens. Anything more stressful and my hair would have turned greyer than Lehms.
Speaking of that, after waiting for a few minutes, I took a band out of my pocket and put it in a ponytail. I then put my helmet back on and didn't bother with the balaclava, since I don't think Nazal would care who I was or not. After scanning my sector I noticed movement out of the corner of my eye when I wasn't looking through my scope. Whoever it was, was hobbling along looking injured getting closer to where the rest of Excalibur was. I then peered through my scope and saw that it was Turner, but what shocked me was what he was wearing. The suicide vest that was on that civilian. But what was weird though was that it looked like there were more blocks of C4 on it.
"What in the hell?"
He then got to where the last two pick ups were at. I just managed to make one gesture, probably to get them to take off the vest.
They never got the chance.
The blast that erupted was so large that both trucks flew in opposite directions of each other and debris was landing about fifteen feet from the convoy. I then got on one knee and looked back up it to where some of the crew were looking, but I was looking for one person, Wiley. From all the way where I was in the back I could see his big toothy grin, a bit to excited from his most recent achievement.
"That's the last of them guys. We'll wait until Nazal's people show up and once we get to Nasiriyah we'll be done for the day."
Sorry Koko but two of us have one last thing to discuss.
1815 Hours
Nasiriyah
After the formalities had been done with the city's engineers, that were under the armed guard of US Troops, we were in a secure enough location that we didn't need to worry about the trucks anymore and we could relax. The innocent civilian was handed off to the American's, with a generous sum from us to keep quiet, to take to his home. Nazal had what he needed and left us with two of his SUV's so we could get to Ali Air Base. The reconstruction of this portion of the city where the school was being rebuilt was being worked on night and day. The Iraqi's still wanted to keep the image that everything was ok around here but reality tended to disagree, as I had experienced it earlier today. As Koko and the others were going about their business I mentioned to Wiley that I needed to talk to him alone and out of sight of everyone. I needed it to be that in order to get my point across. This crew had done so much for me, so I had to do the same for them in return. We got behind a high stack of concrete pipes and I set my weapon down, along with taking off my balaclava and helmet, to let him know I was serious.
"What's going on Damien?" Wiley asked curiously.
"Just want to see if you're doing alright. Holding steady?" I asked with my hands on my hips.
"I'm doing fine, no need to worry."
"Ok good, good, good. Cause I need to make sure you have enough time to sleep this OFF!"
I then let out a fast and wild haymaker which knocked his glasses off along with his weapon out of his hands and him off of his feet. He then looked at me from the ground clutching the side of his face in anger. I laxed my form to the point where he at least would know that was my only punch. Even though I towered over almost everyone in the crew, he didn't care because we were the same caliber of soldier. He got up quick and grabbed the collar of my vest and pulled me towards him with his teeth gritting.
"You mind telling me what the fuck that was for!?"
I then grabbed his wrist. Just in case if he decided to throw a punch, I didn't want this to get any nastier.
"An explosives expert is just what it means. A professional and nothing more. A bomber is someone that blows shit up cause they got issues! I don't recall working with Timothy fucking McVeigh! I saw your expression after that blast."
As I explained that to him in my deep growling tone. His expression changed dramatically, almost as if he was ashamed. He then loosened his grip on my vest and I let go of his wrist.
"I'm sorry Damien. I really am. I always lose it every time in comes to pyro and I don't know why. But please don't see me as someone like that. Cause you know that's not the real me."
I was glad he knew that he knew where I was coming from. I then kneeled down and picked up his glasses and ACR for him.
"I know it's not man. And trust me those assholes deserved their ironic punishment. That doesn't give you the excuse to just copy what they did. Cause R once told me that there was a reason Koko chose all of us." I then held out his rifle and glasses. "We cool?"
He smirked and took them both.
And then came a jab to my nose.
"OW!" He hit me harder than I thought but I wasn't bleeding.
"Now were cool." He said in his smooth tone.
"Ok were even." I said as I grabbed my stuff and we walked back to where the rest of the crew was at.
They were getting in the SUV's when we got back. Koko then saw us both as we split off from each other to get into different ones. Her smile on her as usual, a bit more chipper now that her deal went through.
"What were you two talking about?" She asked.
"Just discussing on how we both can be better."
I knew the expression on her face on what she was about to do next. So when she hugged me I took my free arm and wrapped it around her.
"Thank you."
"For what?"
"Taking off that stupid mask."
She was right. I didn't put it back on when I was done talking to him. But if she was happy and didn't hear that brief exchange of fists that was fine with me. But someone was getting jealous as I heard an expression of disapproval from behind me.
"Am I interrupting cause we have to go Damien."
"Ok Valmet. But before we go Damien, you were right." Koko said before I could say anything.
"About what?" I asked.
"How dare they refer them to grenades, those ARE nuclear warheads." She said with a mischievous look.
It took me a few moments but I realized that Koko was pranking both of us the whole time. Sophia then got that look in her eye again.
Crap.