Chapter 8 #3
Abe didn’t think he was going to like it, but he didn’t have time to worry about it.
“Get in position.” Abe nodded towards the scope he’d set up that had been left unattended for far too long already.
Oliver hesitated, frowning heavily, before turning towards the scope.
Aberlour couldn’t stand the emotional distance that now existed between them, and he yielded first.
“I’ve got your six,” he told Oliver, gently clasping his forearm.
Oliver sighed and nodded.
“And I’ve got your scope,” he responded with a slight smile that eased Aberlour’s worries about the two of them.
On the morning after their fourth night of monitoring the rat’s nest, Headquarters called for an update. The team was tense as JD finished his report of their observations and then took notes on new information from their commander.
Aberlour was sitting against the wall, rubbing sleep out of his eyes, preparing to take the next shift. Oli was sitting next to the children, an abandoned deck of cards on the floor next to him. After terminating the transmission, JD filled them in on what he’d learned.
“Ranger deployment tonight. We’re on lookout liaison duty.
There’s intel coming in about a special delivery to be made to the rat’s nest. As soon as we radio in confirmation that the delivery is here, Rangers are coming in.
They’ll be posted not far from the village—waiting for their orders to move in. ”
It was unusual for them to get this much data. Generally, they only got about half of the intel on a mission—to minimise the risk of a leak.
“What’s being delivered?” Ghost asked, eyes remaining fixed on the rat’s nest.
“They don’t know,” JD said, shrugging. “They intercepted communications, but—the conversations were all very vague.”
“How are we supposed to know if it’s been delivered if we don’t know what they’re delivering?” Marcus’ annoyance with the brass came through loud and clear. It wasn’t the first time that their commanders had issued orders that made no sense. Complaining helped to let off steam, if nothing else.
“Beats me,” JD said, shrugging. “Guess we’ll see tonight.”
The team began organizing their gear now that they had a deadline to work with.
Aberlour studiously avoided Oliver’s gaze he as finished his preparations to begin his shift.
The children were sleeping. The team had rigged a makeshift bed with some of their bags and donated one of their extra blankets. The two little girls were huddled together as they slept after having stuffed themselves on MREs.
“I’ve got something,” Marcus said, voice low but sharp. “Vehicle approaching—heading your way, Abe.”
Abe took a deep calming breath and slowly adjusted his scope to scan the street.
In the nearly pitch-black village, it was easy for him to spot the car rolling down the deserted main street towards the rat’s nest. The headlights were turned off, but moonlight was reflecting off the chrome of the front bumper.
“Sure looks like a special delivery,” Marcus commented.
“A car?” Oliver asked, he’d crawled his way to Abe’s side, careful to stay below the windowsills. “You seen many cars here so far?”
“Two, maybe,” JD replied. Although he was supposed to be sleeping, he was too keyed up to get any shuteye.
“It’s stopping,” Aberlour announced, as the vehicle came to a halt next to the rat’s nest. Two men exited.
One from the passenger side, the other from the backseat on the driver’s side.
The second one came around the back, joined the first, and positioned themselves in a way that would have blocked Abe’s view of what happened next if he’d been at street level.
The two men pulled a blindfolded man with his arms tied behind his back out of the back seat.
He staggered weakly when they dragged him out.
“That’s gotta be the special delivery. Male—mid-to-late 20s, hobbled and blindfolded,” Aberlour reported.
JD called headquarters to report the delivery while Aberlour continued to monitor activities across the street. The two men dragged the blindfolded guy towards the door of the rat’s nest and knocked. Someone came to the door to let them in, then all three men went inside.
“Copy,” JD said. “Rangers are 15 minutes out. Orders are to lay low, keep watch, wait for the Rangers to open fire, and move out.”
“Copy that,” Aberlour said. “Marcus, keep an eye on the house—Ghost, keep watch on the north front. I’m packing up to make a quick exit. Everybody else, pack up, and be ready to roll out.”
Aberlour heard someone say, “Thank God!” and a few others muttered, “Aye!” in stark relief at hearing their sojourn here was almost over so they could head home for real food and to get some rest.
As Aberlour began packing up his gear, Oliver tapped his foot three times. Reluctantly, he turned to look at him, one eyebrow hitched in question.
“We can’t just leave them—” Oli said, glancing at the two kids.
“That’s exactly what we have to do,” Aberlour stated reasonably. He’d been prepared for this conversation.
“What if they run out and get shot?”
“Oliver—if headquarters finds out we’ve been babysitting two kids while on this op, we’re gonna get our asses handed to us. Besides—what’s the plan? We bring them along? To do what? They’re not US citizens. We can’t just—steal kids,” he replied tersely, continuing to break down his sniper rifle.
“We can’t have them compromise the mission either,” Oliver insisted.
Abe bit back his immediate response that they obviously already had.
“We move out as soon as the Rangers begin firing on the enemy. We’ll bring them with us. You carry one, I’ll carry the other. When we reach the edge of the village, we leave them there. Pack them a bag with whatever food supplies we have left to spare. That’s all that we can do for them.”
“But—” Oliver objected.
Aberlour shut him down.
“That’s an order, Staff Sergeant,” Aberlour said tersely as he finished placing the rifle barrel in its case and snapped it shut.
Oliver swallowed his anger down, jaw clenched, as he nodded curtly and turned away to finish his own packing.
Marcus gave Aberlour a low whistle.
“Shut up,” Abe bit back without any heat.
The children didn’t show any resistance to what they were told to do. Aberlour didn’t know what they’d understood from Oliver’s explanation, but the eldest was clutching her sister close and nodding in approval.
“Take them downstairs. We need to get out of here before chaos comes raining down. I don’t want us caught in the crossfire,” Aberlour told Oliver as he stood next to Marcus, watching the rat’s nest for further developments.
“Something is happening,” Ghost said, eyebrows creased in concentration.
“Front door of the house just opened, they seem to be moving out,” Marcus agreed. “There’s a pickup truck pulling up.”
“A pickup?” Aberlour asked skeptically.
“Is that—”
“A heavy machine gun,” Ghost finished for Marcus, eyebrows knitted in concentration.
“The hell?” Aberlour asked, easing up to one of the old broken windows, to try to get a better look. Ghost had called that one correctly. The Toyota Helix, called a “technical,” that had parked in front of the rat’s nest had a Russian gun, called a Dushka, mounted in the back.
“They’re moving the delivery?” Marcus supposed.
“Either way, the Rangers need this intel,” Aberlour replied.
JD grabbed his transmitter to contact headquarters. He’d packed up everything except for their basic transmitter. They wouldn’t be able to receive any information, but they’d be able to warn them about the technical parked in front of the rat’s nest.
“What’s the ETA on the Rangers?” Aberlour asked, glancing at his watch to start a countdown to their arrival.
“Four minutes,” Oliver replied. He was packed and ready to move, keeping the two girls close to the wall and out of sight of the windows.
“Good. Take them downstairs. JD, go with him. Marcus and Carlos as well. Ghost and I’ll stay to monitor the situation. If the guys in the technical go after the Rangers, we’ll take out their gunner and be right behind you. Either way, as soon as the cavalry starts shooting, you need to move out.”
Marcus backed away from the window carefully and finished grabbing his gear along with the others.
“What about the girls?” Marcus asked Abe.
“Oliver has his orders. If he runs into trouble, back him up but whatever you do, don’t let those girls put a single foot inside that helicopter.”
Marcus acknowledged his instructions with a quick nod and took up his position again.
Aberlour had packed his scope and sniper rifle, and without it, his view wasn’t great. But the rat’s nest wasn’t so far away that it mattered. Aberlour could shoot a man from this distance using his standard issue rifle. It would be a cake walk.
“Do you think they know the Rangers are coming? Or is having the technical parked out front just a precaution?” Ghost asked quietly.
“No clue—” Abe said, shrugging. “But let’s get into position and get ready for the Rangers.”
Ghost gave him a quick salute in response.
Four minutes was a relatively short period of time, but as they watched men exit the rat’s nest like sand trickling down an hourglass, it seemed like an eternity.
Aberlour began to worry the Rangers would be missing the party completely when the special delivery guy emerged from the front entrance.
Still hobbled and blindfolded, he was surrounded by several men and loaded into the back of the truck, along with several large canvas bags.
One of the men took his position behind the Dushka.