Here's chapter 9. I hope you enjoy. I wanted to have a small breather in the story to space out the action. ENOY

Chapter 9:

"Okay, what now?" Dwight asked, wiping blood off of the side of his face. "The Quick Reaction Force should be here soon." Tommy said as he picked up his rifle from the floor. "So we keep retreating down the mountainside to an area where they can land, hooah?"
"Hooah!" Dwight replied, brushing dirt off of himself.

Lee double-timed it through the forest as he took point. He was slowly growing accustomed to the sharp pain running up his injured leg with each step. It was only a minor injury and could wait. He was more concerned about Dwight, who would undoubtedly be much less dependable thanks to his eye. "It'll take them some time to get down that ledge, won't it?" He asked. Charlie nodded, "Yeah. It's unlikely that they'll do what we did, -jumping off like that."

The pain suddenly grew again and Lee slowed down until he was beside Charlie. Tommy saw him and took the lead, allowing the two to push back to cover their rear as Dwight took centre of the group. The Lieutenant was starting to think of the backlash of the mission. An assassination attempt against Vladimir Makarov would certainly have its' consequences, which worried Tommy. He wondered what the Ultranationalists would do once they won the civil war. Would they attack the US? He thought, if they did, the fallout could end all life on earth.

Up ahead was another large rock formation, it wrapped around giving cover from three directions, only open from behind. Beyond was another ledge, though this one looked much easier to climb down. "Take cover behind the rocks up ahead." Tommy ordered. "We'll hold here as long as we can, and then retreat down the ledge."

Climbing up onto the rock, Tommy looked down the slope beyond the ledge. More trees and bushes, though there was a narrow ridge carved into the ground, several metres deep, which ran on down the mountainside, twisting and turning along the way, giving the SEALs more ideal cover. In the distance was a large clearing, where they had originally been dropped off the night before. The clearing had proven itself large enough to fit at least one helicopter, meaning they could signal down the reaction force to land there.

"Finally some good news?" Dwight asked, propping himself up against a rock. "Yeah." The Lieutenant answered, setting down his rifle. "Once we reach that clearing, we can set down a smoke flare for the QRF Team to home in on." He took the magazine out of his M4 and examined it, frowning. Checking his tactical vest, he counted his remaining magazines and equipment. "I want a full ammo count." He said, "Make sure we've all got enough."

Charlie complied, going through her remaining ammunition. "I've got three and half a magazines. No more grenades." Dwight checked his kit. "Two mags left. No claymores but a full clip in my pistol and a few smoke grenades." Lee checked his, "Two and a half mags, two fulls for a pistol and a couple of smoke grenades." The sniper reported, "We can use them to cover our retreat down the ledge." He suggested.

Reaching into his pack, Tommy took out a 28 round STANAG, passing it to Dwight, "Here, I've got more than you anyway." He said as the sniper took it and pocketed the magazine. "Thanks. So now we wait to ambush the Russians?"
"Exactly."

….

Major Konstantinov knelt down, looking through his binoculars at the top of the ledge. Several soldiers were already rappelling down the side of the ledge after a lengthy amount of tie setting up. Among them was Nevski, whom Ptelvoisky had convinced to join Sergeant Romanov in the squad taking point. Once they had reached the bottom, Romanov's men would push down the slope searching for the SEALs as the rest of the unit followed in close pursuit.

With no sight of the enemy, the major got to his feet and pocketed the binoculars. "We need to find them as quick as we can." He said to Ptelvoisky, who had slung his AK and was now hooking up to the rope to rappel down the ledge face. "We still have no idea why they were here and if they get away with any kind of information…" Ptelvoisky nodded, adjusting his goggles, "I know, sir. We'll find 'em alright." The Lieutenant said before sliding down the rock face out of sight.

….

General Garret stood in the operations centre watching camera footage from within one of the Black Hawks. "How long till you get there, Captain?" he asked into the comms. "ETA Fifteen minutes, sir." Morton replied, "We'll contact again once we arrive."

"Affirmative, Garret out." It was a risky op, sending choppers into enemy territory in broad daylight, but there was no other way of getting the SEALs out in one piece. Things can only get better. He told himself. The shit has already hit the fan. Morton and his team will extract the SEALs and get back here as quick as they can. Then we can deal with the aftermath.

Garret sighed, getting up out of his chair. He would have to inform higher ups of the mission sooner or later. Picking up the nearby phone, he dialled the number off by heart and began to speak. Now the Pentagon was involved.

….

"Are you sure you're okay?" Lee asked Dwight as the two set up their sniper rifles. "Dude, chill. I can still fight." He replied, half smiling. "It's not like I've been shot in the face and lost use of my left eye." Lee chuckled at the joke. Gotta love Dwight's sense of humour. The four SEALs had set up around the rock formation waiting to ambush the approaching Russians a second time. They probably wouldn't have expected them to stop running and dig their heels in, which was good. Adjusting the scope on his MK.12, he flicked on the mini red dot sight atop of it. Switching off the safety, he looked through the scope to the forest ahead of him. There was no movement. At least for now.

….

Sergeant Romanov lowered to a crouch as he covered the advance of his support team; a three man team carrying a DSHK heavy machinegun. With the weapon being almost six feet long, the three soldiers each carried a separate part; one carried the receiver tucked under one arm, another carried the barrel assembly and muzzle brake and the third carried the tripod and ammunition. Watching the three men advance, Romanov kept his sights trained on the forest ahead when Nevski caught up with him. "Sir, I've been sent from the Major to join your squad." He explained. The sergeant grinned, "By all means." He replied. "I need a new grenadier after my last one took a round." He passed the soldier a bag filled with frag grenades.

Nevski took the pack and slung it, clipping one of the grenades onto his belt for good measure. "How many people have we lost, Sergeant?" He asked. "A lot." Romanov answered as he got to his feet to move up. The DSHK team were taking cover to allow him and the others to move up.