CHAPTER 5: OPERATION DEATH BOWL

April 2, 2008

13:31 Hours

Tripoli, Libya

The inside woman, Nadia Florence, did her job really good. She signaled the Delta operator who was on top of a distant building, and alerted the Delta team, Hammer One, British SAS team, Hybrid Snake, and Libyan Special Forces team, Desert Slasher. Each team composed of thirty commandos, trained for operations of this sort. Operation Death Bowl. No sooner did Nadia signal the Delta operator, the Delta operator upload the coordinates of the embassy to a 160th Special Operations Aviation Regiment Pave Low helicopter. This was a daytime operation, which meant the commandos couldn't rely on Lady Darkness, but had to rely on speed, and precision. The sleek, black-matted helicopter almost glided through the air. Three more helicopters tailed it, forming a triangular stance in the sky. Four more MH-53s were on their way, with the payload of commandos who would do the storming. The plan was to place each team in each of the three floors, surrender of kill the terrorists, and proceed to secure the perimeter, and safe extraction of the hostages. Hopefully it won't go wrong.

The scout Pave Low, flown by pilot Marcus Lake and copilot James McCash, swooped between the desert hills, and into the city of Tripoli. Their call sign was Scout One. It took approximately four minutes, flying nearly at full speed, to reach the city. The embassy was to the south, so more flying was near. The McCash rechecked the coordinates to the U.S. embassy. The terrorists had an advantage. The three large roads that led to the embassy served as a sort of choke point, a trap zone. If the commandos were in danger, the terrorists could surround the interconnected roads, and, like an anaconda, hold the commandos in a strong grip. But that was almost near-impossible because of the amount of air support the commandos had. In addition to that, a few SAS snipers would be posted in the distant buildings with high-powered rifles, with telescopic sights to down any terrorists gone astray.

War correspondents were also on the ground, but away from the embassy, but still in camera range of the entire operation. But hopefully, the journalists won't be stupid enough to find themselves in a crossfire. The Pave Low flew low amongst the city's empty streets, and buildings, until McCash could see the embassy from his cockpit radar. "Target building, three hundred yards, due north." McCash said. "Roger that. Scout Two, Scout Three, contact the Tact Team. We are ready for the operation." Lake instructed. When the Pave Low neared its mark, the pilots could see literally the front gates of the seemingly lifeless embassy. All of a sudden, in Lake's peripheral vision, he could see a streak of white smoke, and then he heard a loud boom!

All the pilots saw was a massive fireball, and Lake remembered McCash yelling into his radio. "Scout One has been hit, I repeat, Scout One has been hit by a explosive projectile." The Pave Low was in an uncontrolled tailspin, with black smoke and fire bellowing from its tail, and finally found its home on the ground. The sound of gunfire was also heard, as McCash and Lake, without thinking, loaded their M1911 pistols, disengaged their helmets, exited the downed helicopter, and ran for safety. Miraculously, the pilots were unhurt, but shaken. Scout Two and Scout Three, flew above the rooftop of the embassy, and showered the rooftop with fifty-caliber machine gun rounds. The hostage-takers on top dropped dead with a massive amount of blood and gore. The dust seemed to engulf the Scout Two and Scout Three, as it continued to fire rounds into the rooftop, assuring all the enemies were dead. A few minutes later, four MH-53s flew into the battle scene, and tried to undo the already-doomed mission. The plan was to deploy the commandos on the rooftop, but that was impossible due to the chaos amongst there. Instead, the MH-53s stopped short of the target location, snaked down long thick ropes, and British SAS commandos, and Delta operators rappelled down the ropes, and moved towards the embassy. The Pave Lows distracted the terrorists, as the Delta operators moved towards the first floor of the embassy.

The SAS followed. The terrorists stuck out the muzzles of their AK-47s out of the windows of the first floor, and fired at the soldiers. It took a matter of fifteen seconds before the Delta operators and the commandos were killed in a hail of gunfire, and hot blood. Another MH-53 flew into the battle scene, but moved to close to the rooftop. A terrorist concealing himself on the rooftop, who was unscathed by the gunfire, fired his RPG (rocket-propelled grenade launcher) at the chopper's belly. A massive fireball killed the terrorist, but also caused the MH-53 to drop on the rooftop, and explode five seconds later. The Pave Lows, Scout Two and Scout Three, were the only survivors, in addition to the unhurt pilots who hid. After ten minutes, the dust settled, and there was nothing but hot blood running through the sand, and pure carnage.