Chapter 21
CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE
The explosion rocked the area and Jump reached out, steadying himself with one hand on the wall beside him. He was lucky the wall hadn’t caved in. He needed to move.
There weren’t supposed to be any bombs. This was a simple in and out rescue mission. Maybe simple wasn’t the right way to describe it. There were ten teenagers they were here to rescue, but everything had gone to shit right after they arrived.
“Anyone have visuals?” Kevlar asked over coms.
“I see them moving. The kids are with them,” Foster said.
“I count ten kids,” Bang said.
“We need to follow,” Preacher said.
They’d been so close, and now it was all going to hell because a rival group attacked. T, Cy, Flash, and Smiley stayed back to take on the new group as the original kidnappers fled the area. He knew his buddies would catch up once they took care of the second group.
Jump trailed the group holding the teens. They were planning their assault on the fly. The main objective like usual was to retrieve the hostages and get back to safety.
He wasn’t sure this mission would have a positive outcome.
Too many variables stood in their way. The rival group wasn’t much better than the original group they were after.
Both of them had done their fair share of atrocities.
He wouldn’t shed any tears over these guys dying.
They killed many and didn’t deserve a break.
“I’m headed to the east,” Jump said as he took off, moving so he could intercept the group.
“I’m with you,” Blink said.
He saw Blink joining him after a moment.
They moved to the east, keeping up with the group then passing them after about twenty minutes.
They kept moving, making sure they were on the same line the group were on.
After more than two hours of moving silently in the dark, they circled around to get in front of the group who’d taken the students.
When he stopped to watch the group, the guy with the broken arm seemed to be having a problem. The kidnappers could be heard yelling at the kid, telling him he had to keep up. The kid wasn’t going to be able to keep up if he didn’t get medicine.
“We’re in position,” Blink said over coms.
“We’re behind the group and almost in position,” Kevlar said.
“They are stopping,” MacGyver said.
Jump pulled out his scope, looking for Kevlar and his team. He could see them about three hundred meters behind the group. They had to get these kids away from the kidnappers.
“We’re moving as soon as they settle down. We want the kids lying down,” Kevlar said.
This hadn’t been their original plan, but that plan had been shot to shit when the other group had attacked their targets. T, Cy, Flash, and Smiley were back with them. The other group wouldn’t be a problem now.
He kept his focus on the group, waiting until everyone seemed to drop off. The boy with the broken arm was down for the night first, then the other boys seemed to settle.
When Jump turned eighteen, he headed out for the Navy.
Training had been hell, but he’d survived.
All throughout training he knew he was in the middle of training and that it would eventually end.
He’d gone through BUDs with the same knowledge that the training would eventually end.
Everything they’d put him through had been worth it.
What these kids were going through was torture. They didn’t know if or when their torture would end. He was sure they’d tried to escape, but seeing their teacher executed in front of them had to have been traumatic.
He hoped when they went in to rescue them, the kids would stay down.
Sometimes the people they went in to rescue freaked out when they started firing.
Some of them froze, but more often than not, they dropped to the ground in fear.
The hostage takers were usually high on khat or whatever they could get their hands on.
The khat meant a few of the hostage takers might be awake when they move into the camp.
They waited about another thirty minutes then Kevlar gave the command to move out. Jump crept slowly forward, moving silently closer to the area where the kids and their captors were bedded down.
The hair on the back of his neck started to rise, and he paused. “Anything on my six?” he whispered into the coms.
“You’re clear,” T replied.
Something felt off. He moved forward, keeping his head on a swivel, trying to figure out what was off. This mission was all shades of screwed up, but they had to get these kids to safety.
They were about twenty meters from the group when one of the captors sat up and began shooting into the air. Jump fired, and the guy slumped over.
The noise had woken everyone up. Why the idiot started shooting into the air was anyone’s guess. Maybe he was dreaming, or possibly he was just high and an asshole. He was dead now, and the rest of the captors were slowly becoming aware that one of their guys had just died.
They were up with their rifles in hand. That was enough for his team to take them out. There were four captors still alive, but they didn’t last long.
Jump moved closer and saw that the kids were moving. He didn’t want any of them to run off, and he hoped the crazy things that happened would be enough to keep them in place.
He and his team had the benefit of night vision goggles, but the boys were in the dark, probably scared out of their wits.
Kevlar gave the okay for the helicopters to come in for the rescue. They were at the end of the mission, which could be the most dangerous time for a mission like this.
He was close enough to the kids to see they were wide-eyed and dazed. One of the boys started shrieking. Jump moved to him, getting close.
“I’m with the US Navy, here to rescue you. You are safe.”
The kid jerked back, then shut his trap.
The last thing they needed was some guy out in the bush thinking it was time to shoot them.
They had T, Cy, Flash, and Smiley watching out, but someone could be way out there, hiding behind vegetation.
It was best if they could keep these kids quiet and get out of here without any more incidents.
Foster moved to the kid with the broken arm. He splinted the arm while the rest of them gathered the weapons and ammunition. Before leaving Bang would attach some C4 and explode the lot. They didn’t like leaving weapons behind for others to use.
The helicopters would be there in about five minutes, and they were just waiting to explode the weapons when Cy gave an alert. They had a group of six hostiles moving in fast. This could easily go to hell, and their cover was minimal at best.