Chapter 4 Hard-Pressed
V's expression was stony. Which was why Harry knew the man was on guard. He said nothing, but waited for Harry to initiate whatever was coming. Perhaps Malfoy knew what was on Harry's mind.
"The person I knew…" Harry started carefully. If he was wrong, he could not expose himself to a muggle. "An old schoolmate. He had a tattoo on his forearm. A skull eating a snake. If you're really not Malfoy…then you won't mind showing me your arm."
"I don't have time for this, Brit. Roza's out there. Town's overrun by Daesh. My brothers and sisters are out there risking their lives. And you wanna talk about old school buddies and tattoos? Fuck off."
V went to get up, but Harry grabbed him by the arm and went to yank his shirt's sleeve up. When V tried to pull back his arm, Harry gripped harder. At the last V let out a sound of pure aggravation, stopped struggling, and pulled up his own sleeve.
There it was. An arm with a tattoo beneath the finger marks Harry left. Except it wasn't the Dark Mark. His entire arm was tattooed. On the inside of his forearm, where the Mark should be, was a white serpent. Its fangs looked like bullets and they were dripping venom. A faded, torn American flag lay behind. The serpent was coiled around a trident, and along the bony side of the forearm were the words: "Forged By Adversity".
"You were a SEAL?" Doubts of this being Malfoy resurfaced.
"Yeah. Now I'm a contractor. Satisfied? We need to RV with the rest of Havoc Team."
Instead of answering, Harry still held unto V, staring fixedly at the white snake on his arm. He could not find a single trace of the Dark Mark. He didn't even know if it could be covered by muggle ink.
V seemed to interpret his stare as curiosity and, with vexation, said, "My first deployment to Afghanistan in 2005, racked up thirty confirmed kills my first month. Guys of the Northern Alliance I fought beside called me Speen Vakh - White Venom. Or just Vakh. My team brothers thought it was great and got to calling me V for short."
"White Venom?"
V's vexation was growing. "Jeezus fuck…I'll tell you over a beer after we put these jihadist scum in the ground! Right now we need to move! I could care less about your mission, but every gun out there counts, and I want to make sure I can get as many Kurdish brothers and sisters to return home tonight as possible."
Harry agreed and they both stood and walked out the building. An actual Royal Marine commander probably wouldn't have done what Harry had just done in the middle of a conflict. But an actual Royal Marine wouldn't be secure in the knowledge that his team guys had magical defenses up. However, he felt a pang of guilt not having considered the Kurds fighting for their lives against the terrorists - that finding Malfoy was more important to him. Perhaps it was an ego thing. His first case, Malfoy's kidnapping: a failure. He realized he needed to keep it in check.
They got to the rendezvous in the lobby inside the corner building they had cleared. Rozarin, Thomas, the American woman, Mariah and Fatima were there. Thomas nodded at his boss and walked over to stand by his team. Rozarin looked relieved when she saw V.
V said, "Roza? Good to see you'e okay. Anyone injured?"
At that, the YPJ commander's face grew dark. She nodded. "Two martyrs. The other three are with Aryan, but medical supplies are running low."
V swore. Rozarin turned to Harry and asked, "I don't intend to lose anymore warriors - certainly not for you. I hope you have a steel plan."
"V does, actually," he answered nodding sideways towards the man in question.
After V briefed the women, Rozarin approved of the strategy. The hard part would be luring a group of ISIS there. They filed out. Couple of buildings down, they came upon the crumbling one V had mentioned. "This is it," he said. "Ya'll already know what to do?"
They gave him affirmation.
"Okay, Roza…" V gave a taut nod her way. She turned to her girls and said, "Take positions."
Harry was nervous. War had a way of destroying any plans. It was rare that anything went accordingly. But Rozarin wouldn't have helped without some assurance that her fighters would not be sacrificed for British interests.
"Once I have overwatch," V said, "I'll let Aryan know to drop the lure. Ready?" He asked Harry.
"Roger that," he answered. Then nodded to Kareem who immediately took over and told the boys, "Move out."
Aryan, V, the YPJ and Havoc Team had joined frequency. When they were all in position, V notified Aryan to release information out there that Western aide was in their sector, engaged with ISIS. Reinforcements would be sent.
V was supposed to deploy his small drone to get them visual of where ISIS would attack from. Harry took position inside V's building to make sure no one snuck up on him. He hid behind the wall next to the corner fed doorway - which no longer had a door. Harry's team radio checked and Kareem notified they were set.
Slightly inclining his head towards the comm hooked to his vest, Harry opened the channel and said, "V, this is Havoc One. My team's in position. Tell me when you got eyes."
"Copy, One. Got eyes in the sky."
"Rozarin?"
"We're ready." The girls were supposed to stay out of sight until the right moment. Harry hoped they found a good hiding place.
Right then, V's voice said, "Five hostiles inbound from the westside. Another three…no four. southbound from the north-west, moving on our location. Wait…got another two…and two vehicles approaching fast." Soon they would turned the corner eastward and be on their street.
Kareem's voice cursed. "That's a whole platoon," he said. "How many of these guys are there?"
Through their open comms, Aryan pitched in, "Their numbers are thinning here. They think the Westerners are a greater prize, have redirected their focus. I can send support."
"Negative," said Harry. "Hold position for now." He knew Aryan was probably worried about the YPJ in their sector but he didn't want to risk YPG fighters in this if he could help it. And he was confident they could accomplish the mission.
From the doorway he could see some of the street going eastward from where the larger contingent would attack. Indeed, he saw the vehicles turn the corner down the block and drive towards them. He pulled his wand out from his waistband and whispered a spell that blew the engine in one and careened the other off track and into a building on his side of the street.
From the westside they had set charges on the road that would explode with proximity of the enemy. It was supposed to be remotely controlled C4 but magic sensors worked just as well.
While over the last decade, innovations were made to allow magic to work within range of muggle technologies, being that magic and energy weren't entirely different in nature, it had to be cast a certain way that didn't interfere with how nonmagical energy worked. Powerful spells were off the table. In other words, the range of defensive spells the Aurors had at their disposal was a small one, if they didn't want to fuck with the comms, the drone, and all the other gadgets.
A magical motion sensor in an explosive worked the same way muggle motion sensors worked, so little to no interference there. An overheated engine could blow. Was only a matter of altering natural reactions with a little magical push. Things like that allowed Harry and his team to use some magic to their advantage without sabotaging their muggle allies' equipment.
Still, very delicate electronics could act a little funny. Which is why Harry winced when he heard V say, "Damn drone is a little wonky! Wonder what's wrong with it?"
It could be in Harry's head, but he could swear he heard V inflect the last sentence with irony as if telling Harry to knock it off. Just to be on the safe side, Harry eased up on the spell casting and put the wand away.
"Here they come," said Gary through the comms.
"Light' em up," ordered Kareem.
They fired, just as the enemies coming from the west triggered the rigged C4. The air trembled with the boom wave. Some of the terrorists took cover behind buildings and their trucks. Many others decided to Hollywood it - only heaven and thousands of virgins to rape on the flip side after all. V took those out quickly. In less than ten seconds the enemy was down three of their numbers.
"Blondie's a beauty and a beast," cried Bill.
Harry would have rolled his eyes if he hadn't needed them to watch for enemy positions. "Keep the lines clear of chatter, Havoc Five." It wasn't an unusual order. Harry preferred no idle chatter during an op, keeping communications clean. They could joke and tease after.
But something in his voice must have betrayed him because it was V who answered, "Don't get your panties in a twist, Papa Havoc. What's a little flirting while we drop some jihad-johnnies?"
"Sounds like the perfect date to me," answered Bill.
They were interrupted by a loud BRRRRRRRRRRRR and the building across was sprayed by heavy fire. The Aurors inside were hard pressed behind cover. Bullets blasted into stone. It must have been a dshk mounted behind the truck that had crashed, but he couldn't get a good view from his angle.
"Damn it…" Harry spoke into his comm. "This isn't working,V! We're going to have to drop them all or we're dead, mate."
"You sure?"
"Not worth it for a bit of intel. Havoc Two, can you take out that dshk?"
"Copy, One. We're working on it."
V cut in, "Havoc Team. Two tangos approaching from the east, sticking to the walls. I can take them out, or do you want to lay a trap for'em?"
Kareem answered, "I think we can take them. Won't be on the second floor though - too exposed. Not an option as long as that machine gunner is out there trying to turn us into pink mist."
"Just get them inside, we'll do the rest," popped in Rozarin. "V, don't worry about us," she continued, "Raise hell out there."
"Aye Ma'am."
Just then, Aryan's voice came in urgently, "We've spotted another group headed your way. I'm on my way with reinforcements. This was a bad plan, V."
"Shit," Harry heard behind him. V was fast coming down the stone stairway of the abandoned home. The sniper looked at him with confused worry. "I need a better vantage point. I expected a strong contingent, but this single-mindedness just to kill a few of marines…Is there something I should know, Brit?"
V's worry spiked Harry's own. It was impossible for Tessa to know British wizards were in country. He had hoped to keep rumors of marines off the streets for a few days, but it was not unheard of for Westerners to offer help to the YPG, so that hadn't been too much of a worry. There were even international volunteers from across the world among their ranks.
Aurors were another matter. Perhaps they had used one too many spells and word got around quickly in the battle area that odd things were happening. Maybe Tessa had a way to monitor what was going on here from the safety of her camp? Did she find something amiss? This had indeed been a bad idea, and not worth the trouble - unless the intel was deep, which he doubted.
"Harry!"
That jolted him out of his brief stupor. V looked at him worriedly. That was the first time he used Harry's actual name and he could certainly hear Malfoy's voice in it - even if his former rival had only uttered it once. When he had thanked Harry after his trial.
Heart pounding, he asked, "How do you know my name?"
With a deadpan expression as if he were talking to an idiot, V said, "Your Second calls you that. We need to do something quick." The sound of the dshk suppressing his Aurors across the street followed those words, as if to emphasize them.
"There a way to get a good position from the roof?" Harry asked.
Suddenly an explosion shook the walls. It came from across the street. V and Harry crouched. He cried into his comm, "Kareem! Sit-rep! What the hell was that?!"
Comms were dead for a moment and Harry feared the worst. He kept desperately trying to reach Kareem or any of the other guys until he finally heard a few broken static words. Frequency was unsteady.
Finally Kareem came through, "Bastard clacked off an S-vest! We're okay. Girls are behind the building…we managed to divert the bomber." Harry knew he meant they defended against suicide bomber magically, otherwise his Aurors would have been in pieces by now. It explained why the comms didn't work for a minute. Kareem continued, "He killed his buddy. Mission's a failure. This is getting ugly fast, Harry. We need to fall back."
"I agree."
V suddenly ran back upstairs, leaving Harry alone and frowning at his absence, just as Rozarin cried, "There's no falling back! If Daesh takes over, thousands of people will have lost their homes or will be murdered - or worse: live under their oppression. We can't let them take our homes! Successful or not I played my part, Englishman. Now it's time for you to play yours. I'm asking you to help me drive this scum out of our city!"
Harry sighed. He'd have to rely heavily on magic to get them out of this. Tessa would surly catch wind. Muggles could always explain strange things away, but another witch or wizard could easily tell when magic's been involved.
"Copy, that, Rozarin. I'll keep my word.
Aryan notified them that he and his men had engaged with the group that had been on their way to them. They had stopped them nearly a block down the street. Harry told him, "Great, thanks. Hold them off for as long as possible."
Harry took his rifle, button-hooked out the door quickly, got a few shots on the targets he sighted briefly, then ducked back in before the shots that landed on the wall outside had landed on him. In those few seconds, he caught sight of the truck on his side of the street. The machine gun was mounted on its flatbed. The terrorists were mainly focused only the building across, but there was no way he could move, not without being sighted and shot. No back doors either.
Harry ran upstairs. It led to a small corridor with two doors, both opened. One led to the room that overlooked the street. There was no sign of V. The other room had a large window that overlooked another building with a balcony, close enough to jump.
Keeping his focus on his men, Harry peered out the window. He caught sight of a terrorist making his way behind the crumbled building where his Aurors were trapped. As soon as the hostile turned the corner he got shot by one of the YPJ fighters from somewhere behind the building. The women had come out and were currently engaged with he enemy.
The young girl he has spoken with earlier, Mariah, has somehow snuck her way into the alleyway of the next building, right across from the truck. Harry's heart sank. She was young and a warrior - a combination that bred recklessness in an attempt to prove themselves among their more experienced peers.
Harry had better sight of the enemies around her than the others across the street. He started firing at the hostiles near her, clearing her way. Suddenly, a loud, powerful shot from V's Barret M82 echoed above the cacophony. Blew part of the gunner's skull right open. He must've found a better vantage point, thought Harry, grinning.
Taking the opportunity, Mariah ran for the dshk. She was small, nimble, had strong shoulders and arms. She climbed swiftly unto the flatbed, kicked the body off, took control of the machine gun and started blasting away at the terrorists left. V took out the ones that tried to take cover from her fury. Easy work. They left a street littered with corpses.
Checking the street below, Harry didn't see any more movement.
"I think we're clear now," said Gary.
"That was awesome," said Thomas and Bill "totally agreed".
Shots could still be heard from down the street where Aryan and the YPG were engaging the enemy. Harry ran downstairs. He stayed on his side of the street, motioned for Bill and Thomas to get to him. "Havoc Four, Five, come with me. Two, Three, you and the girls take that side. We'll flank them."
"Sure thing, boss," said Kareem. "Where's V?"
"Doing parkour on the roofs. I don't know. He's a fucking ninja even with the fifty pounds of gear and a monster rifle on his back."
The boys and girls all laughed at that. Harry shook his head and smiled a little. Morale needed to be kept high after that brush with death.
"He's probably on his way to Aryan right now," said Rozarin. Mariah had gotten to them at that point and Rozarin gave her a half-hearted glare. "We're going to talk about that reckless move later." The girl didn't look the least bit regretful.
Harry smiled at her. "Mariah, right? Whatever trouble it got you, you saved our asses." She winked back.
Harry looked over at his men and said, "Alright, move out."
