Back again. Sorry for the MASSIVE delays on this chapter. For the first 2 weeks of my summer I've been really busy. Once again, the characters of Tommy and Charlie belong to WheresDaBeef
Chapter 11:
The world was silent. Lee lay motionless on the floor staring up at the sky. It was sometime after midday as the sunlight had gained a slight yellow tinge through the treetops. He could hear the faint chirps of birds, though as the sniper peered at the branches, he saw no movement. A sudden calm had fallen across the man as he stared up at the sky. Slowly, the silhouette of a person appeared in his vision, casting a shadow over him as they looked down on him. Sophie? He thought, reaching out, a half smile on his face as the woman's eyes met his own. She reached out a hand to take his own. Is that you? The woman's head lowered closer, blocking out the glare of the sun and her features appeared in detail.
"Come on, Lee!" Charlie cried in desperation, trying to pull the man to his feet. "We need you!" In an instant, Lee snapped back into the real world and shot up as Charlie stumbled aside. Looking around, he saw Tommy aiming his rifle up the rock face, firing at the Russians trying to peer down at them. He could hear Charlie asking him something. Turning back to face her, he saw her eyes wide with desperation and worry. "Lee!" She asked. "Where is Dwight?"
Then he remembered all of it again.
He began to shake his head, blinking water out of his eyes as his throat began to burn. "Is he still up there?!" Charlie barked. "For fuck's sake, talk to me, Lee!" Lee kept shaking his head. "He's…." The sniper wheezed struggling to speak, "He's gone! Dwight's dead!" He pointed up the rock face, "…up there!"
Tommy switched his rifle into full auto, letting out a long burst of gunfire up the ledge. "Char! What's happening?!" He shouted across to his sister. "Dwight's gone!" she shouted back, "We have to leave now!" The Lieutenant froze for a moment, looking to the floor as he processed the bombshell. Swallowing hard, he nodded, "Alright! On me, let's go!" He started to run down the hillside towards the crevice that ran down to the clearing.
….
Scanning….
Bravo Team Located….
Tracking Cpl. Daniels, L.
"Bravo One, come in. This is Bravo-Six-One." A voice spoke through the comms. Corporal Lewis 'Schoolboy' Daniels was hunkered down in a bush with his suppressed MP5 at the ready when the message came through. He watched the squad leader emerge from the trees nearby to answer the call, replying to them quietly as the rest of the team got to their feet.
Schoolboy was the team's medic and technical officer, along with being the newest member to the team, hence his nickname due to the man's young age. The Sergeant next to him patted him on the soldier. "You good?" He asked in his trademark Scottish accent. Schoolboy nodded, "Yeah, I'm okay. One question, though Sergeant." He asked. "Why the fuck did command pick us for this mission? A bunch of regular 'squaddies would have been able to run a stealth op like this!" The Sergeant simply shrugged. "My best guess is they trust the Big Man." He said, gesturing to the Captain, who was still talking to command over the radio. "Cos if that's the case, it makes a lot of bloody sense." Schoolboy knew that the Sergeant had a lot of faith in the squad leader. So the legend goes, they were part of the team which had killed Imran Zakhaev during the outbreak of the Russian civil war. If that was true, that would explain why their unit was chosen for such a high risk operation.
The Captain lowered the radio away from his face and turned to the other members of the squad, "Apparently a unit American troops have gotten themselves into a firefight not far from here." He said, "That will put the Russians on alert and therefore compromises our mission down here, so our orders are to head back to our exfil point for extraction." One of the other squadmates, Lieutenant Riley, shook his head. "How far away are they, sir?" He asked.
"A couple of klicks north, up the side of that mountain, there." The officer replied, pointing up the slope of one of the towering mountains. Riley spoke up again, "If they're that close we may as well bunch up with them, sir. Reinforcements." The Captain shrugged, "I'll have to see what command says."
Signal Lost….
….
"Were you able to get any of Dwight's equipment?" Tommy asked as he hopped down into a tight crevice. "No." Lee answered, Grenade blasted me off the fuckin' cliff!"
"Wait, we can't just leave him up there!" Charlie shouted, skidding to a halt as the other two members of her team looked back to her. "Even if he's dead we don't leave our fallen behind!" Tommy shook his head, "We can't risk it, Char!" He replied, "There's almost a hundred guys after us, we have to leave him!" Looking down at the dirt, Charlie gritted her teeth, Fuck! She took off running again with the others into the ridgeline.
….
The gunfire had quietened down as Ptelvoisky and his squad arrived on the scene. What was left of Sergeant Romanov's squad sat around at the bases of trees and on rocks as they waited for reinforcements. Among them was Nevski, standing deathly still atop of a large rock.
"Nevski!" Ptelvoisky shouted to him, jogging over to greet the soldier. "Where's Romanov?" He asked. The young soldier silently shook his head. Romanov was dead. "What about the Americans?" Nevski muttered something quietly, though his friend couldn't hear it. "What?"
Nevski pointed down the slope. "Three of them got away. But we…I…killed one." He glanced down again to the bottom of the rock formation, where a mangled and burnt body lay.
Grimacing, Ptelvoisky, slowly climbed down towards the body, kneeling beside it. It was one of the American Navy SEALs, he had been killed by a grenade as indicated by his immense injuries. His uniform was shredded and seared revealing glimpses of muscle and bone in places. His face was ashen black from dirt, burns and blood, lacerated by dozens of tiny cuts and grazes. The blast must have been incredibly close as he looked as if he had died almost instantly. So this was one of the guys who killed so many of my friends? Ptelvoisky couldn't muster the fury he thought he would feel against the dead man. He had imagined himself emptying a magazine into their faces, though the dead body him front of him had shaken him more than any other he had seen that day for some reason.
He checked over the man's kit. Standard equipment for a Yank. Pistol, grenades, knife and what looked like an M16 with a sniper scope. Taking the weapon, Ptelvoisky stood, calling out to Major Konstantinov who quickly came over to see the body. He passed the rifle to the Major who held it triumphantly. "See, comrades! We are more than capable of killing them!" He turned to Nevski, who was still dwelling over taking his first life. "Soldier!" Where did the others escape to?" He asked. Pointing to the canyon, Nevski told him they were still retreating down the mountainside and were close to the base.
"If we move now," the Major shouted, rallying his men, "We can cut them off before they can escape!" He tossed the MK.12 back to Ptelvoisky. "Get ready to move out, Lieutenant."