“Roger that,” came the reply.
“Arielle, you got those pictures up?” Stonewall asked.
“Right here. Okay, we’ve got a main room here right off of the landing and then a long hallway down the middle with what appears to be several cell doors on each side. We’re going to need either some bolt cutters or some breaching charges to open these cells.”
“We’ve got both,” Chief Conti replied. “Okay, grenades go first, then we charge in. After the room is cleared, we’ll stay behind the cell walls on each side of the hallway. Then, we’ll clear the hallway. Do we know if there’s another way for anyone to get out, or for some more guys coming down to help out?”
“No, we don’t,” Stonewall replied.
“Well then, we’ll have to hurry this up. Everybody ready? Okay, let’s go.”
Ten seconds later, outside of the SEALs left to cover the office entrance, the entire team was stacked up just prior to the basement landing. Three grenades went in first, scattered around the room. Once the last one detonated, the first four of the stack went in. The grenades had completely cleared the room with obvious devastation. The furnishings, sparse as they were, had been completely destroyed by the multiple grenades. Five bodies now lay on the floor, the first three completely shredded by the repeated assaults from the grenade shrapnel.
“Grenade!!!” Arielle cried out as two grenades came rolling down the hallway. The first one came to a stop in between two of the dead ISIS troops. Before it could detonate, one of the SEALs rolled one of the bodies on top of the grenade. The resulting explosion completely tore the legs off of the already butchered corpse. The second grenade, rolling a lot slower, detonated just as the hallway ended. Everyone had hit the floor when the first grenade went off so the two SEALs closest to the hallway received the brunt of the blast, seriously injuring both of them. Stonewall rushed to one of the SEALs while Conti tended to the other one. In response, Arielle and another SEAL each grabbed a grenade of their own and rolled them back down the length of the hallway. Once they detonated, they each charged down the lane. At the end of the hallway, they found a similar room with a corresponding stairway leading up to the ground floor.
“Chaos,” Arielle yelled out, “we’ve got another stairway at this end and two more dead goons.”
“Roger that. Secure that stairway,” Chaos replied as Arielle let off a short burst as an ISIS soldier stuck his head around the edge of the wall at the stairway landing.
“We’ll check the cells,” Conti added, as Falcon and the rest of the SEAL team raced down the hallway. “Okay, looks live we’ve got four Israeli pilots,” the chief hollered out as his men continued opening one cell after another.
“Where’s the Secretary?” Chaos hollered out.
“I’m right here,” Secretary Axelsson yelled out from one of the last cells at the end of the hallway.
“Chaos, Viking Three-Six. We’ve got a problem,” Chief ‘Monty’ Montoya radioed. “We’re still holding the Clock Tower but our flank’s been turned,” the chief petty officer continued above the gunfire that Stonewall clearly heard over the radio. “We’ve got ISIS goons hitting us on three sides now in probably a company-sized force. We’re seriously outnumbered and have several wounded. It didn’t take them long to go around us and they’re now coming down the road from our landing strip. We’re going to have to withdraw — holding the Clock Tower doesn’t serve any purpose at this point.”
“Roger that. I’m sending Viking Two with a truck to get everyone out of there.”
“We’ll need it. We’ve lost Viking Five’s LAV, the Chief and Comanche as well. The JTACs are just tearing these guys up with the air support. So much so that these bastards have realized that the closer they can get to us, the better chance they have. That’s how we lost Chief and Comanche. They’d been calling in ‘Hog and Apache runs since they took up position with devastating effect. So, the bastards got to within knife fighting range and those two got cutoff from the rest of the team. They fought like hell and they each probably took out eight or nine of the bastards before they both fell. Have the guys come in from the east on Faysal Street. That’s the only open route.”
“Understood. They’re leaving now.”
“Chief, I need you to take your LAV and one of the trucks and go get Viking Three and Five. They need to get out of there. You’ll need to approach them from the east.”
“On the way.”
“Viking Actual, Chaos. Our blocking force has been flanked — we’ve got bandits headed our way. I’ve sent Conti with a LAV and a truck to bring them back here.”
“Roger that. I’ll get someone outside the compound to check things out. We’ve cleared the mosque. How’re you coming with the hostages?” Viking replied.
“We’re bringing them up now. Grab Eli and his two Sayaret teams and meet me in the corner office as soon as you can. I’m calling Hunter next.”
“Roger that,” Viking replied.
“Hunter, Chaos. What’s your position?”
“Chaos, it’s Huntress actually. We’re just a few miles northeast of Raqqa. We can be there in a couple minutes once the word is given.”
“Huntress, the word is given! Need ya here ASAP! We’ve got bandits on the way!”
“Roger that, Chaos. On the way — two minutes out.”
“Viking, Huntress is two minutes out. Coming in from the north.”
“Chaos, we’ll be ready.”
“Arielle, we have everyone?”
“Everyone but Secretary Johnson and Colonel Marshall.”
“Cougar, Chaos. How’s it going on the other side of the river? We’ve recovered all but two of the hostages and will be getting them next.”
“We’ve been doing everything we can to keep these guys pinned down but not sure how effective we’ve been,” Cougar replied.
“We got the hostages so that counts for something,” Chaos replied.
“How soon before we can pack up and leave?”
“It shouldn’t be much longer. The first Chinook is just landing now. Once we have everyone loaded up, we’ll pick up the last two hostages on the way out.”
“Roger that, I’ll wait to hear from you.”
“Mr. Secretary, are you okay?” Chaos asked Axelsson.
“I’m fine. Where’s Secretary Johnson and Colonel Marshall?”
“We’ll be getting them once we get everyone else out of here.”
“You can’t leave them behind. Do you know what those bastards did to them?”
“Yes, I do.”
“Do you know where they are?” Axelsson asked.
“We have a pretty good idea. Once everyone’s loaded up, we’re going to get both of them. This is the last chopper. We need to get you out of here, sir. Viking,” Chaos said, turning to Commander Edberg, “let’s get teams four and six out of here with the rest of the hostages and all of the casualties. I’ll release Odin-Two and Odin-Four. We’re not going to need them.”
“Eli, Caleb, let’s get your teams out of here as well,” Arielle said to her two Unit team leaders as well. “We’ve got our guys so go ahead and head out with them.”
“You sure you don’t want us to stick around?” Eli asked.
“No, go ahead and get out of here. You’ve been a big help,” Stonewall replied.
“Arielle? What about you?” Eli asked.
“I’m with Stonewall. Someone’s got to make sure we get his ugly mug back home,” she added, grinning the whole time at Stonewall. “See ya when we get back.”
“Very well, but be careful. This could get pretty ugly before you get out of here.”