Hey everyone.
Previously, Captain MacMillan and Lieutenant Price made it to the Polissya Hotel. Now they wait for their target to appear. A mission deep in hostile territory to eliminate an arms dealer before he can get his hands on nuclear material. It won't be easy. But if it was, they wouldn't have sent the SAS.
"Dialogue like this," will be Price talking.
"For three days we waited for Zakhaev to appear. We were concerned about his mercenaries discovering some of their men going missing and calling off the deal, but he wasn't going to let this deal pass up. When he showed up, that's when the real work began…"
"One Shot, One Kill"
December 14th, 1996 – 11:07:23
Pripyat, Ukraine
Lt. John Price
22nd SAS Regiment
"Leftenant Price, the meeting is underway," MacMillan said, "Enemy transport entering the target area."
"Rog'," Price said as he readied the Barrett M82A1 .50 caliber "sniper" rifle. He looked at the picture of Imran Zakhaev, their target, before looking through his scope.
Now there were many other sniper rifles in the SAS's arsenal, but Price did wonder why they thought using the Barrett M82 was a good idea. A standard L96 bolt action sniper rifle would do just fine. The Barrett wasn't the most accurate when it comes to being a precision rifle. Sure, it can do some serious damage to large targets like vehicles, aircraft, radars, etc. It was possible to make it accurate to hit someone at a long distance, but it wasn't the most practical. But their intel confirmed, as well as the two visually confirming, that the mercenaries were armed with Mi-24 helicopters. Zakhaev may make his escape in one, so the Barrett was there for insurance. Besides, it was unlikely for a target to survive a hit from the Barrett's .50 BMG cartridge. Before they left for the mission, the SAS armorers made some modifications to the rifle to make it as accurate as possible. Of course, the rifle still weighed about 30 pounds, so the duo disassembled the rifle and split it between them to spread the weight. Once they reached their observation point, they immediately began setting up the rifle and dialing in the scope for the target area.
Back to the moment, Price peered through the scope as he began to make his adjustments.
"Range?" Price asked.
MacMillan looked at the map they brought and back through the binoculars.
"900 meters," he said, "The wind's getting a bit choppy. You can compensate for it, or you can wait it out. But he might leave before it dies down. It's your call."
"Don't worry, sir. I remember everything you taught me," Price assured him.
'Keep in mind variable humidity and wind speed along the bullet's flight path. Take the Coriolis Effect into account for distance,' Price recalled.
Price dialed in and saw multiple UAZ vehicles entering the meeting area. Some of the parked cars were carrying small red flags similar to the old flag of the USSR. The occupants of the UAZs exited their vehicles, except for two who were having a conversation, possibly about the future this deal will bring.
Price could see the Imran Zakhaev coming out with a few men carrying a case.
"Ok, I think I see him," MacMillan said, "Wait for my mark."
Price knew it was him, but he wouldn't disobey an order from his captain, otherwise the mission was over before it started. Zakhaev's men placed the case on a table, and the man himself opened said case to reveal gold bullion bricks worth millions.
"Target acquired," MacMillan confirmed, "I have a positive ID on Imran Zakhaev."
"I have eyes on him," Price said as he looked through the scope. He spotted other mercs who were the presumptive dealers of the salvages nuclear fuel rods. He also spotted some mysterious figures in black robes with red cloud swirls.
"Who are those blokes in the robes?" Price asked.
"Who knows?" MacMillan said, "They may be other buyers. Just focus on Zakhaev."
"Rog'."
Price saw one of the dealers take one of the gold bars to inspect it.
"We kept an eye on the meeting and how it was going down. I didn't notice it back then, but now I know that the Akatsuki were in Pripyat back then with Zakhaev. What they had to gain out the deal, we'll never know, but at the time I didn't pay it any mind. It was a windy day which made taking the shot difficult, but not impossible. I was prepared to fire at him when all of a sudden…"
"What the?!" Price exclaimed as an Mi-24 Hind Helicopter suddenly appeared through his scope.
"Ach, where did he come from?" MacMillan complained, "Patience laddie, wait for a clear shot."
They didn't move an inch as the Hind began to scan the area for any hostiles that may try to ruin the deal. After a few seconds, the Hind flew off. Price re-aimed his scope on Zakhaev, who was waving his arms in the air and looked angry.
"Looks like the deal is going bad," Price noticed. He also noticed the flag wasn't moving, meaning the wind had died down. "I've got him lined up."
"It's now or never, take the shot," MacMillan ordered.
"After the helicopter left, the meeting started to go South. There wasn't going to be another chance. I lined the bastard up, breathed, and…"
BANG!
Price fired a single .50 BMG round. It was about to hit Zakhaev's chest, but by some luck, a gust of wind appeared out of nowhere and threw the bullet off and hit Zakhaev's left shoulder, severing his arm. This caused the others attending the meeting to go in a panic and scatter.
"Target down, I think you blew off his arm," MacMillan said, "Shock and blood loss will take care of the rest."
Price was about to protest and fire another shot, but then the Hind from earlier came back to investigate where the shot had come from.
"Shit they're onto us! Take out that helicopter, it'll buy us some time!"
Price lined up his sights with the Hind's pilot and fired a few more rounds into the cockpit. The bullet hit and sent the chopper spiraling down to the ground as the pilot had his brains splattered all over the cockpit.
"Great shot Leftenant," MacMillan complimented, "Now let's go! They'll be searching for us!"
"Right," Price agreed, "it's time to move!"
They got up and ran across the floor to the window.
"We'll have to take the shortcut! Follow my lead!" MacMillan said.
They had previously set up ropes to rappel down the hotel in case they needed to make a quick getaway, and they were right. They hooked up and rappelled down the building just as two more Hinds appeared and fired rockets at the top floor. They made it to the ground with fiery debris falling.
"Leftenant Price, follow me," MacMillan said before getting on the radio, "Delta 2-4, this is Alpha 6! We have been compromised; I repeat we have been compromised! Now heading to Extraction Point 4!"
"Alpha 6, Big Bird is en route. ETA 20 minutes. Don't be late. We're stretching our fuel as it is. Out."
"We only had 20 minutes to reach the extraction point, otherwise we'd have been stuck in that irradiated wasteland surrounded by some angry mercenaries. We fought our way through the city to make it to the extraction point."
The duo made their way to the streets where they encountered a mercenary patrol. They quickly dispatched them when they noticed enemy reinforcements moving in.
"Forget these guys, we're going to get left behind! Let's get to the extraction point!" MacMillan said.
"Where to?!" Price asked as they ran.
"We'll lose them in that apartment building! Come on!"
They ran to an apartment building across from the now flaming hotel. They made inside and waited in the shadows hoping that no one saw them. They saw more mercenaries go by along with a T-72 tank and two BMP-2 IFVs.
Once they made sure no one saw them they continued through the apartment building. When they made it go a grassy alleyway, they were startled when a dog came up to the fence barking at them, potentially giving away their position. Price pulled out his USP .45 and fired two rounds, putting down the rabid dog.
They continued through the apartment building taking care to avoid confrontation whenever possible. They made it to another apartment when they noticed an enemy patrol going past them.
"Quick, plant a claymore by the door up ahead," MacMillan ordered.
"Got it." Price planted an M18 Claymore mine by the door. They got back and saw two mercenaries enter the building but said mercs were shredded by the exploding anti-personnel mine. They exited the building and took out the remaining mercenaries in the playground.
"More behind us!" Price called out as more enemy troops came out of the apartment building across from the one they exited earlier. They take them out quickly to not waste any more time. But that was when things got worse; an Mi-24 Hind came out and opened fire on the duo.
"Incoming helicopter! Snipe the bastard!" MacMillan ordered. They aimed their SG-1 rifles at the Hind hoping to bring it down. Price fired a few shots at the cockpit and then a few more at the rotors. The rotors start to catch fire and the Hind begins to go down.
"Good night, ya bastard," MacMillan said as he turned around to walk away. Price noticed that the Hind was starting to move towards them.
"Uh, Captain?!" Price warned as he saw the Hind fire a missile and begin crashing towards them.
"Aw shite! Run!" MacMillan ordered as they ran for it. One of the stray missiles hit the side of the building and caused some of the stone to fall. MacMillan ended up twisting his leg, and to add insult to injury, another piece of stone fell on top of his injured leg. The Hind landed on the ground and began to move towards him with its rotor still spinning, threatening to chop him up. Thankfully, this never happened as the crashed helicopter came to a stop, as did the rotors.
"Captain, are you alright?" Price said as he went over to check on him.
"Bollocks!" MacMillan exclaimed in pain, "My leg's all messed up! I can't move!"
Price quickly removed the rock from MacMillan's leg and checked the damage.
"I can carry you, but we've gotta move now," he said with urgency as he began to hoist up the captain. Once he hoisted him over his shoulders, they moved out.
"If we run into trouble, you'll have to find a good spot to put me down, so I can cover you," MacMillan said, "How much time do we have left?"
Price glanced at his watch, as he was keeping track of the time they had left to get to the extraction point.
"About 16 minutes, sir."
"Ok, the extraction point is to the Southwest. We can still make it if we hurry."
They begin to make their way to the extraction point. They make it to a grassy alley way before Price had to put MacMillan down and fight off incoming mercenaries.
They eliminated them quickly, and after Price did a quick sweep, he picked up MacMillan and moved on. As they continued to move up, they hid in a shadowed corner of a stone wall that was thankfully covered with some bushes. An enemy patrol had come by searching the area for the duo. They waited until they passed by and left when they were sure no one saw them.
As they continued, they heard a helicopter coming in. MacMillan noticed a nearby apartment building.
"Head for that apartment. We'll try to lose them in there."
Price nodded and headed inside the apartment, just as two Mi-8 Hips came in and mercenaries fast-roped down to the ground. The two snipers made their way to the second floor of the apartment building.
"Wait," Price said as he heard voices and a few dogs. He put MacMillan down and said, "Hostiles nearby."
"Clear them out before we move on," MacMillan said. Price nodded and got out his suppressed P90. He saw a dog in a room directly in front of him and killed him. He peered into the hallway before ducking as a waiting mercenary opened fire on him. Price tossed a flashbang to disorient him before taking him out with his PDW. He tossed another flashbang in another room before storming in, taking out two more mercenaries. He reloaded his P90 and pulled out his USP .45. He found two more dogs and took them out with his pistol. He checked each room again before going back to MacMillan.
"We're clear for now," Price said as he lifted him up, "Christ, you're heavy, sir."
"Aw, shut up, Price," MacMillan respited at the insult, "We should get moving."
Price checked his watch; 12 minutes, 30 seconds left. They made their way out of the apartment building. They could hear loudspeakers telling the mercenaries to search for the two SAS snipers.
"We're almost there," said MacMillan, "The extraction point is on the other side of that building."
They entered the building which contained the Azure Swimming Pool, near the Pripyat Amusement Park, where the extraction point was located. Price went right into the women's changing room.
"The one good thing about this place being abandoned is that there's no one to slap me for going into the lady's room," Price said as they went through the abandoned women's area.
"I'll say one thing, you certainly have minerals if you can do it without being spotted," MacMillan said, "Now cut the chatter and let's move, ya peeping Tom."
They entered the main area where the pool was, where they saw four dogs in the deep end feasting on a mercenary's corpse. They left them alone and moved on. Price noticed two mercenaries outside where the amusement park was. Price put down MacMillan and took them out with his SG-1 rifle. Realizing he was out of ammo, he reloaded his magazine. He was down to three magazines for his SG-1, six for his P90, five for his USP .45, two flashbangs, four frag grenades, three blocks of C4 and seven M18 claymore mines. He picked up MacMillan and they entered the Pripyat Amusement Park, and with 10 minutes to spare. Price then noticed the two mercs were wielding G3 battle rifles, he quickly scavenged the bodies for ammo and split them between himself and the captain. They each now had 14 spare magazines for their SG-1 rifles.
"Alpha 6, this is Big Bird, standing by for your signal, over."
"Our helicopter is standing by at a safe distance," MacMillan said, "Put me down behind the Ferris Wheel where I can provide sniper support."
"Got it," Price said as they entered the parking lot of the Amusement Park. They made it to the Pripyat Ferris Wheel which had some signs warning of radiation. It wasn't the most ideal place to hold out, but the duo had no choice but to use it as a staging area until their evac arrived.
Price put MacMillan down in a grassy area behind the Ferris Wheel.
"Take the rest of my Claymores and C4, now's the time to use them, but don't get too far ahead."
"Roger that," Price said as he accepted the extra explosives; now he was up to 15 Claymores and six blocks of C4.
"The enemy is bound to enter this area. After you set up the explosives, find a good sniping position and go prone. I'll signal the helicopter in 90 seconds."
Price immediately got to work setting the explosive traps; hiding them under the cars, benches, burying the C4 in the dirt to conceal them. After that he retreated to a grassy area near MacMillan where he got a got area to snipe from. He set up the bipod on his SG-1 and went prone.
"All set, sir," Price said.
"All right lad, I've activated the beacon. Good luck."
"Alpha 6, we have a fix on your location. We're ten clicks away, hang tight. Big Bird out."
The extraction helicopter was ten kilometers away. They would have to hold out until it arrived.
"Tangos in sight, let them get closer," MacMillan said as he spotted a large group of mercenaries enter the area.
"Standby to engage."
They waited for them to enter the area.
"Open fire."
Price and MacMillan opened fire on two of the mercs causing the rest to hit the dirt. The two SAS snipers picked them off one by one as they scrambled to find cover. Another group entered the area, but they soon found themselves attacked by the dogs in the pool, who were then later assisted by other wild dogs in the area. Any mercenary that wasn't having his arm or leg bitten by a feral mongrel was sniped by the SAS. But soon the dogs began to shrink in number and more mercs arrived. Some managed to slip around a building to try and flank the two, but this was caught by Price who shifted his fire to cover their flanks. Some of the mercenaries that had gotten closer had been shredded by the M18 Claymores. They thinned out the mercenaries' numbers, but that's when things got worse.
"Enemy choppers inbound!" MacMillan called out. An Mi-8 Hip flew in and was about to unload its troops until it was hit by an RPG fired by a quick-thinking Price.
But that attracted the attention of three more Hips. Price got back to his original position. As soon as some of the enemy troops hit the ground, Price detonated the C4, taking out a good number of the enemy troops, with the rest being picked off by Price and MacMillan.
"More tangos coming in!" Price called out as even more mercenaries appeared. How many did Zakhaev hired?
"Big Bird, we are heavily outnumbered! Where are you?!" MacMillan exclaimed on the radio.
"Copy that, Alpha. We'll be there ASAP, hang tight," Big Bird responded.
"Son of a bitch!" Price cursed as he fired his SG-1 then switched to his P90 to take out any mercs that got too close. The rest of the claymores had already gone off, so now it was just the two snipers, and the rest of their ammunition, which was dwindling.
"Last mag!" Price called out as he inserted his last magazine for his SG-1.
"More tangos closing in!" MacMillan exclaimed. A large group of mercs entered the area. But just as all hope seemed lost, they heard rotor blades coming in. An MH-47 Chinook, callsign Big Bird, flew in firing its right side minigun mowing down the incoming mercenaries. As soon as Big Bird landed, it opened its rear door and four SAS troopers wielding MP5A3 submachine guns.
"Alpha Team, this is Big Bird, get your ass on board, over."
Price ran over to MacMillan's position and picked him. He carried him into the chopper and set him down on one of the benches. After that he pulled out his P90 and prepared to cover the rear as the SAS troopers boarded.
"We're all aboard," one of the troopers called, "Go, go!"
"Roger that," the pilot said. Price and a few of the other troopers unloaded their SMGs into the mercs that fired at the chopper until it flew off out of range of their weapons. They began to fly out of the irradiated city of Pripyat, Ukraine, passing by the flaming roof of the Polissya Hotel.
"Thanks for the save, Leftenant," MacMillan said to Price, "I owe you one."
"You can thank me later, sir," Price said, "Let's just hope we don't end up with cancer after we get back."
They flew off back into friendly territory, ready to be home by Christmas.
"We managed to hold out until the chopper picked us up. We headed back to the UK thinking we had completed our mission. But now I know we were wrong. Zakhaev survived, albeit without his left arm. And now he and the Akatsuki are in cahoots with each other. If there's one thing I did wrong while in that God forsaken city, it's not firing a second shot at his body to make sure he was dead."
And that'll do it for this chapter. Sorry it took a little while.
So, I know you may not like it, but I'm gonna take a little break from this story to catch up on Naruto, work on some of my other stories, and start looking for work.
However, what I will say is the next few chapters will focus on Naruto's time before he joined the SAS, so I've gotta research what the British military was doing during this time.
I hope you all understand and thank you for being patient with me.
Next time:
"So, what have you been up to these last ten years?"
"You really wanna know?"