Chapter 6: Intel and Aftermath
Richard was sitting on the side of his cot leaning forward and looking down, deep in thought. He kept playing the event over and over in his head, the small boy raising the gun as he rose to his feet... The details became clearer the more he went over them, the pistol was a Heckler and Koch USP Compact, the boy's hair was one step up from a buzz cut in length, he was wearing only a pair of white cloth pants and he was skinny enough that you could see each of his ribs. He remembered seeing the two red holes appear in his exposed chest, the first hitting just below the sternum and the second just high right of the first, right to the heart. But remembering the boy drop was the most difficult part, he was not fully up when his life was cut short and he fell on his rear and then to his back, then staying as still as a statue.
Someone sat down next Richard, breaking his focus, it was Roy.
"How you holding up?" Roy asked.
"I don't know... It's just... Like... I don't know" Richard struggled to put his thoughts into words.
Roy nodded, "I'm right there with you man... That was harder than I thought..."
The two men sat in silence as they focused on their respective encounters, neither kept track of how much time passed before Victor walked in and sat on the cot next to them.
"How you holding up?" The Master Chief asked.
"I don't know" Richard repeated, Roy simply shook his head.
"That mission was noisier than it was supposed to be, and it's not every day we have to engage hand to hand... "Victor said, looking at Roy, "or with children..." He turned towards Richard. "But it's what we do, both were clean and legal so we move onto the next one."
Richard and Roy remained silent.
"Analysts have been going through everything we found last night, most of it's been little to no help but they did find something on that external harddrive you found..." Richard looked up and made eye contact with Victor. "It looks like Wilson's main base of operations is in Falluja, but he also has a hideout in the outskirts of the city that we haven't pinpointed yet..."
"Falluja?" Richard began, "that's deep in their territory."
Victor nodded. "Yes it is, command is looking at options for what to do with it but for now we've be reassigned..."
"We're not going after Wilson anymore?" Roy asked.
"No, no, that's not the case at all, but intel and command are still planning our next move, while they do that we have another mission" Victor informed. "We need you two in the briefing room in ten minutes."
"Yes sir" the two replied simultaneously.
Rachael and Karen were watching a movie, but barely paying attention to it. "Did you sleep any last night?" Karen asked.
"Once I actually fell asleep yeah" Rachael replied, "Now actually falling asleep in the first place, that's a different story."
"Oh I hear you" Karen said with a laugh. "That APC flipping like that-" she was cut off by Isiah.
"We need you ladies in the briefing room now" he informed.
"Is there a problem sir?" Rachael asked.
"No, but we just got a new mission dumped on us and it's time sensitive."
The women got up and followed their Sergeant.
"Looks like everybody's here" Victor said as a few men walked into the room. The lights were dimmed and the white nylon screen was lowered. "About eight months ago ISIS captured this man, Leonid Constantinovitch..." A picture of a middle aged man appeared on the screen. "He is a Russian nuclear physicist, which is probably why he hasn't been executed. Two months ago his trail went cold but new intel has come up..." A picture of a large yacht appeared on screen. "This yacht is sitting forty miles off the coast of Yemen, we believe he is being held there, your mission is to extract him..." A picture of another man appeared on screen. "The yacht belongs to this man, Sebastian Blood, up until a few hours ago the United States believed Blood was nothing more than a drug lord operating in Bolivia with no known connections to ISIS, obviously that has changed. We don't know if Blood is on board, but if he is, he is to be captured alive... You'll be broken up into teams, one team will be inserted via Blackhawk on the stern and will have to make your way forward, the other teams will be on boats providing overwatch and eliminating other enemy vessels, we also have a couple Apache's provided to us by the Army to serve as additional support, questions?"
One SEAL spoke up, "Do we have a layout of the yacht?"
"We do" Victor said, "Those who will be part of the boarding team will be provided a copy and briefed further on the way to the target, anything else?" Nobody spoke. "Alright, load up, I'll be coming to each of you with further instructions."
Including Rachael and Karen, there were four pilot/gunner pairs in the briefing room. "SEAL Team Eight is being deployed on a rescue mission..." Kori began as Isiah lowered the screen and dimmed the lights. "Our mission is to watch their back" a picture of a large yacht appeared on the screen, "This is the target, it is anchored forty miles off the coast of Yemen and is surrounded by a handful of smaller boats that are creating a perimeter around it, the SEALs will be taking out these targets, you do not have authorization to engage unless Team Eight requests it, questions?"
One man spoke up, "So... What happens if reinforcements come in? We just sit there and watch?"
"Once the perimeter boats are disabled the SEALs will create their own perimeter..." Isiah said, "they can handle themselves, if they need your help they'll ask for it."
"Anything else?" Kori asked, nobody had anything, "Then suit up, we're behind schedule already."
Richard was going to be part of the team boarding the yacht along with Roy, Victor and nine other SEALs. The rest of Team Eight that was coming along was divided among four small boats they'd be using to attack from the water. As he walked out onto the tarmac he saw three Blackhawk's waiting to take off, he, Roy and Victor, along with one other boarded the first one, the other eight SEALs kept walking towards the other two. Those who were going to be assaulting via boat boarded a nearby C-17 to get ahead of the group and give themselves extra time to setup.
"So let's take a look at the layout of this thing" Roy said, unfolding his copy of the yacht's floorplans. "This is a damn big boat.."
"Five decks..." Richard said, "we're rappelling down onto deck four apparently, but it looks like deck five is just the Bridge."
"My money is on Red Star being on deck two, that's where the bedrooms are" Victor said.
"Cute code name to give a Russian hostage..." The other man quipped as the chopper lifted off the ground.
"Deck one is the engine room, two is the bedrooms, three and four are entertainment and five is the Bridge, okay that's easy to remember..." Richard thought out loud. "Deck four is an open design with that big balcony we're going to be dropping onto, not going to be much cover, might want to pop a flashbang before we get on..."
Victor shook his head, "flashbang isn't an option, the deck is too big and too open for it to be effective."
Roy chimed in, "Deck four only has a bathroom and closet as closed off areas, they're right behind the bar... Deck three is setup almost the same way, just an indoor environment with more furniture."
Richard spoke again, "deck two is going to be a nightmare to clear, seven bedrooms in stupidly tight quarters..."
"Might have to be clearing with sidearms" the other man said, "going to be a bitch to maneuver that rifle around in there."
Roy looked up, "sidearms? More like a knife..."
"Okay here's how we're going to do this, we'll insert first and secure the initial drop zone, Blackhawk Two will come in and they'll move upstairs and clear deck five, by that time we'll be ready to move down and Blackhawk Three will drop in and everybody will be on board." Victor instructed.
"Whose bright idea was it to send us on this mission? Do they seriously not have anybody closer?" Rachael complained as she disconnected from the KC-10 Extender aircraft after topping off her fuel tanks for the third time this flight.
Karen was shaking her head, "Sixteen hundred mile flight in a helicopter with a range of less than three hundred miles, Army logic at its finest..."
"And that's just one way!" Rachael added.
Karen shook her head again, "oh well, at least we got that flying whale to keep us company the whole trip..." She said in reference to the KC-10 fueling plane.
"All aircraft be advised, you're coming up on SEAL Team Eight, as of now we're all on the same channel, I'm handing you off to Master Chief Victor Stone, who will be taking the lead this mission." Isiah called over the radio, three of the four Apache's acknowledged.
"Red Five copies..." Rachael replied, "Master Chief, radio check."
"Master Chief copies, thanks for coming out guys."
"Master Chief our orders are weapons cold unless you say otherwise, would you like to amend that?" Karen asked.
"Negative, we'll do the dirty work and you can just sit back and enjoy the fireworks, you're really here as an intimidation factor and in case something crazy happens" Victor informed.
"Intimidation factor?" One of the other Army pilots queried.
Victor paused for a moment, "well I can't really get into that, but trust me when I say your being here is a help, even if all you're doing is standing by." He got off the radio, "ISIS soldiers aren't afraid of dying, but I think Sebastian Blood has a different mindset." Richard, Roy and the other SEAL nodded in agreement.
Nearly six hours of flying and two more refuels later the time was at hand, darkness had fallen on the daylight and the target was in sight. Victor got on the radio, "alright kids nap's over, light 'em up!"