Pulling her head back, she looked over to the storage building. From where she sat, leaning against the south wall of the cantina, Kozak could hear gunfire and the explosion of grenades inside the storage building. As she was staring at that building, a head came thrusting out of the window
§of the cantina behind her. This caused Billy Bell, Kozak's radioman, to pull back a few feet and aim his rifle at the head protruding from the window. Sergeant Kaszynski ignored Bell, however, when he saw Kozak. "Hey, LT. The cantina's secured."
Without looking back, she ordered Kaszynski to stand fast with his squad in the cantina. While the machine gun next to her was firing, raking the administrative building with a long burst, Kozak reached out with her left hand and yelled, "Bell!"
From behind, Bell handed her the radio mike. "Sky King, this is Alpha two six. Over."
The warbling voice of the Apache attack helicopter company com mander came back over Kozak's radio. "Alpha two six, this is Sky King. What's going on down there? Do you have contact with Grunt six? Over."
"Sky King, this is two six. Grunt six is down. Break. We have secured the garage, the tool shed, the cantina and are clearing the storage building.
Break. Bad guys in machine shop, admin building, and hills to the north. Request you hit them and anyone in Bandito Base West. Over."
There was a pause before the Apache company commander replied.
"Understand we are cleared to attack machine shop, admin building, and Bandito Base West from the south. Over."
"This is two six. Affirmative. Start your attack when ready. Over."
"Two six. This is Sky King. Wilco, out."
Reaching back, Kozak returned the hand mike to Bell. She was about to get up and go over to the storage building when Sergeant Maupin came up behind her and told her that 2nd Squad had cleared the storage building.
After telling him to pass the word that the attack helicopters were coming in, Maupin saluted, responded with a "Yes, ma'am," and headed out to spread the word.
Maupin had no sooner disappeared into the darkness than a huge apparition, screaming in from the east, went streaking past Kozak's eyes like a runaway locomotive. The high-pitched whine of engines, along with a sudden blast of wind and sand that lashed at both Kozak and Bell, caused Bell to flatten out on the ground and scream, "Jesus Christ, what the fuck was that?"
Looking over to the storage building, behind which the blur had disappeared, Kozak brushed the dirt off her uniform as if this were an everyday occurrence, and grunted, "Oh, I'd say it was a UH-i helicopter."
Bell, still shaken, picked up his weapons. "Well, what in the hell was he doing?"
Kozak laughed. "Oh, I'd say about one hundred miles an hour at an altitude of one foot."
The same high-pitched whine of engines that shook Bell caused Guajardo's ears to perk up. Orienting on the approaching sound, Guajardo took a red-filtered flashlight from his pocket and flicked it on. Though he knew there was the remote possibility that doing so would draw fire, he also realized that if he didn't do so, Blasio would never find him. As an American friend had once told him, half jokingly, everything you do in combat, including doing nothing, draws fire.
"Over there, Lieutenant. To the left, a red flashlight."
Blasio hadn't even waited for his co-pilot to finish that simple statement before he had begun to reduce speed and carefully turned slightly to the left. Once he had the flashlight in sight, Blasio eased the helicopter over, ignoring the firing to his right and rear. He didn't even pay attention to the instruments to his front. Instead, with his eyes fixed on the red light, he felt his way forward until he was satisfied that he was where he needed to be. When he was ready, it took only a slight lowering of the collective and a twist of the throttle to bring the helicopter to rest on the ground.
Noting that only two men boarded the helicopter, Blasio felt a moment of panic. Had the colonel lost the man he was after?
Guajardo's greeting, however, told him that he had not been disappointed.
"You are, Lieutenant Blasio, right on time. My new friend here was getting quite bored watching the Americans."
Picking up on the colonel's good mood, and relieved that all was well, Blasio shot back, "Well, sir, is there somewhere I can take you that will be more to his liking?"
Guajardo turned to watch as the crew chief secured Delapos across from him. "Well, perhaps he might not enjoy it, but, yes, indeed, there is one more trip we need to make. But not tonight." Then, turning to Blasio: "Whenever you are ready, Lieutenant."
Easing back in the nylon seat, Guajardo allowed himself to relax.
There was nothing more to do. The crew chief and the soldiers he had brought along would watch Delapos. By the time Blasio had cleared the compound and reached an altitude of two hundred feet, Guajardo was sound asleep.
With nothing better to do, Kozak sat and watched the machine gun next to her continue to hammer away at the administrative building even though there was no longer any return fire coming from it. Bell, crawling up next to her, watched for a minute, then looked at his platoon leader.
"Now what do we do, LT?"
Watching the machine-gun crew at work, Kozak said nothing at first.
Then she sighed. "That," she said, "is a good question." With the 3rd Squad in control of the garage and hostages, 1st Squad secure in the cantina, and 2nd Squad mopping up the storage building, there really wasn't much to do. As she rested against the wall of the cantina, the only thing that came to Kozak's mind was the fact that she was thirsty. Reaching around, she unsnapped her canteen cover and pulled her two-quart canteen out. After taking a long swallow of water, she looked back at the machine gun.
Watching the machine-gun crew do their thing, and listening to the shouts of her NCOs going about their tasks, Kozak finally understood what Cerro had been driving at back at Fort Hood. Though she could have gone over to any of the squads and watched them, it would have served no purpose other than to occupy her time and give her the false impression that she was really doing something, when in fact she would only be hindering progress. No, Kozak knew that Cerro had been right. The NCOs knew what they were doing and they were doing it well.
Although things had not gone as planned or as she had expected, she felt good about what her platoon had done, and about her conduct. Even the little incident with the mercenary she had encountered when entering the compound, when she had forgotten to take the safety off before trying to fire her rifle, didn't bother her. She had reacted well and in an appropriate manner. Though she couldn't put her finger on what the difference was between this night's operations and her previous experiences, she felt good about herself.
Looking at her watch, then over to Bell, she offered him a drink from her canteen. "It's about time for us to go home, Bell. All we need to do now is wait for the fat lady to sing."
As if on cue, a volley of 2.75-inch high-explosive rockets, fired by the Apaches hovering off to the south somewhere, slammed into the machine shop and the administrative building. The glare of the rocket motors, and their detonation against the sides of the targeted buildings, lit up the predawn darkness, bringing the battle for Bandito Base East to a close.
Epilogue
Veni, vidi, vici. (I came, I saw, I conquered.)
The pace at which Molina led the American delegation through the corridors of the presidential palace was slow and deliberate. He hoped to allow them an opportunity to think about what he had just said, and also to view some of the murals that adorned the walls. Perhaps, Molina thought, the Americans will begin to appreciate that we are a proud people with a proud past.