More shooters joined in.
One more mine and he was out of there.
The gunfire was picking up and it was now coming from two sides. Hunter signaled Stella that he was going into the tent with a flash-bang grenade and he rolled it into the tent. He looked away until he heard the loud clap and saw the reflection of the bright burst, designed to stun and blind anyone inside. Then they rushed inside.
Al-Zahrani was on the ground in his bed reaching for a gun, but Stella knocked it away with her bare foot, then kicked him in the face. He shrieked like a girl.
Hunter rolled him over, shouting at him in Arabic as he smacked his combat boot down onto his back, pinning him down. He handed her a plastic tie and pulled al-Zahrani’s arms together. She zip-tied his wrists as tightly as she could and restrained herself from breaking a thumb.
Bullets were ripping through the tent. They had to get out of there fast. Hunter took out a swath of duct tape and slapped it over al-Zahrani’s mouth and pulled him to his feet. He didn’t resist as they led him away. He thought it was strange not to offer resistance, but bin Laden had been the same way.
Ashland was waiting outside, lying on the ground. Hunter transferred al-Zahrani to his custody. Ashland pulled him down to the ground and gave him orders in Arabic.
Through the night vision equipment, Hunter could see dozens of tangos running toward their leader’s tent, holding AKs at their sides. Their muzzle bursts flashed white and green tracers crisscrossed the raiding party. The morons were firing into the dark, risking friendly fire hitting al-Zahrani. They hit the ground and began firing in opposite directions.
Hundreds of tangos were swarming toward their position and GENGHIS was split off from them.
“TIN MAN this is SABER TOOTH. Request suppressive fire, your two o’clock. GENGHIS, SABER TOOTH. Fire whatever’s ready and move to link up. Now!”
GENGHIS twisted the last wires together and crawled as fast as he could to the north, toward Stone’s last known position. As soon as he felt resistance from the wires attached to the firing devices he was carrying, he stopped and keyed his mike. “CHALK ONE, GENGHIS. Fire in the hole.”
Scores of tangos were about to overrun the Claymore line. GENGHIS dropped to his belly and pumped the firing device several times for good measure. The C-4 in the mines flashed, then sent fireballs into the air and a thousand steel balls hurtling toward the tangos. His ears were still ringing, but he could hear a crossfire of screams. He took his XM8 and pelted the tangos who’d overrun his line. Staying low, he searched for his teammates.
God, I love this job.
Through the machine gun’s night vision scope Iggy could see tangos pouring from the barracks on all sides of his chalk’s last known position, but he couldn’t see them now that they needed him to take out the tangos. He had to get them to signal their location. “SABER TOOTH this is TIN MAN. Rope your position.”
The tangos were coming as fast as Hunter could shoot. They’d be overrun if he paused to signal his position. “SABER TOOTH to TIN MAN. Busy here. Stand by.”
“I got it. Slowing down on my side,” Camille said as she removed the IR laser pointer from the soft case on Hunter’s belt. Pointing it into the air, she turned it on and moved it in circles, until the lasso formed a cone of invisible light.
“SABER TOOTH this is TIN MAN. Contact. Terminate rope.” Iggy aimed the machine gun and it roared. His NVGs refocused so fast that the glare of the muzzle burst hardly bothered him. He took out the tangos nearest his chalk, then moved his line away from them, sweeping toward the north. But the area was too wide and some were getting through.
GENGHIS heard the rapid chatter of the machine gun just as he spotted the cone of light and started to run toward it. The Claymores had knocked out dozens of tangos, but more were coming at them, shouting something about Allah as they ran and fired.
Crazy Mofos.
The rope stopped, but he could see the team. “CHALK ONE, GENGHIS. Approaching from your six o’clock. Hold fire.”
GENGHIS slid in beside the boss lady and began firing. He yelled at Stone. “SABER TOOTH, they’re pouring in from our six o’clock. You better call in the CAS.”
“TIN MAN, SABER TOOTH here. Request CAS, our six o’clock. Stand by for position rope.” Then Stone shouted. “Stella, rope, now!”
Iggy would’ve given anything for someone to work the machine gun. They were all stretched too thin. No commander should be gunning, playing forward air controller for close air support all the while commanding the battle. He had pushed ahead with no intel and with too few of resources because it was Camille and now the situation was going to hell fast. He keyed his mike as he continued to shoot, stopping only to speak.
“DRAGON ONE, TIN MAN. Cleared hot.” Iggy approved the helo to come in with guns blazing. He reached for his commander’s pointer, turned it on and moved it in a figure eight on the target area. “Snaking target now.”
“TIN MAN this is DRAGON ONE. CAS on station. Contact the mark. Steady. Coming in hot, fangs out.”
“DRAGON ONE, TIN MAN here. Caution CHALK ONE roping on deck.”
“Roger that.”
Camille heard the whop, whop of the Cobra and saw it rise from the pit, its guns spitting fire. Hundreds of small explosions flashed and it sounded as if an entire minefield were exploding at once.
High Explosive Rounds.
The machine gun fire started up again north of their position. She knew she should cover her head with her arms, but she couldn’t resist watching. Then she saw a large figure run toward the firestorm.
Al-Zahrani. He’d escaped from Ashland.
Camille leapt up and dashed after him, keying her mike. “DRAGON ONE, LIGHTNING SIX. Break, break, break.”
The Cobras continued firing, not recognizing her orders since she wasn’t officially attached to the mission. Al-Zahrani was almost in their line of fire, which was moving toward them.
“DRAGON ONE, TIN MAN here. Break, break, break.” Iggy’s voice was as rapid-fire as the rounds coming at them.
She tackled al-Zahrani just as the explosions stopped, only meters away.
In seconds, her teammates joined her. “I’m not sure we can punch through to the pick-up zone,” Camille said as she sat on al-Zahrani. Every time he started to wiggle, she pulled his head up by his hair and smacked it down into the sand.
Green and red tracers were flying everywhere in search of targets. Some of the tents were starting to burn from the Cobra attack, throwing off deadly light, leveling the playing field in the tangos’ favor.
“We’ll never make it,” Camille said, shaking her head. “The tangos keep coming and they’re going to see us any moment. It’s too bright. Who’s your pilot?”
“A Night Stalker named Beach Dog,” Hunter said.
“You made my day.” Camille keyed her radio. “BEACH DOG this is LIGHTNING SIX. Request extraction. Dude, come straight up the Pali and meet us at the top. Stand by for rope.”
“LIGHTNING SIX, Beach Dog. Coming up the Pali, warp nine. I’ve got an extra package with me.”
“What the hell was that?” Hunter said.
“A Hawaii thing. I’ll take you there if we make it out of here.” Camille rolled off al-Zahrani and jerked him to his feet. “Move out. Head to the edge.”