“Unfortunately we don’t know anything about this building other than that there are two doors and going through either of them is a risk. So we’ll split up to minimize the chance of all of us being compromised. Schultz, Maldonado and Perra will go through the front door. Winslow, Butler and I will head around to the side door. Take out the guards as quietly as you can and as soon as you’re in position let me know and I’ll give the go signal. Alright, let’s finish this.” As I finished telling them the plan, we all dispersed and went to work.
There was only one guard protecting our entrance. I looked to Winslow and he nodded. A second later the man had a new hole in his forehead and the path was clear for me, Butler and Winslow. We moved to the door and waited for the others to be ready.
“In position.” I heard Schultz say over his mic.
“Go!” I said back.
Winslow and I busted open the door with guns level and ready and Butler covering our rear. It was a 20-foot hallway with no cover. No enemies either though. Gunshots erupted up ahead and I realized the others didn’t have the same luck as we did. We had to hurry and supply them with some support fire.
We all sprinted forward and came to a staircase that led up to the second floor. We climbed up it and arrived on a raised walkway that overlooked the bottom room. To our right was what appeared to be a single room that was only accessible from the walkways we were on. The room below was a filled with packing crates and the others were pinned down near the entrance. Winslow, Butler and I began taking out the terrorists on the raised walkways to help out the others and relieve some pressure. I made quick work of two of them with my M4. A third managed to get the drop on me though and attempted to stab me with his combat knife. He swung it at me with his right hand and I caught his wrist with my right hand and managed to stop his momentum. I used my left hand to break his arm at the elbow with a swift upward open palm hit, causing him to drop the knife. I then grabbed him by the neck and threw him over the railing. He plummeted to the concrete floor below and landed with a loud smack
While I had been fighting the man with the knife, Winslow and Butler had managed to eliminate the rest of the men on the walkways. I looked down and saw a man raise a gun to Schultz’s back and prepare to fire when Butler managed to pull off a miraculous shot and put the man down for the count. Schultz looked up at Butler and gave him a relieved nod. From our elevated position Winslow, Butler and I made quick work of the rest of the terrorists.
All that was left was the office and inside, Alhabid. Alhabid had to know we were coming. Winslow, Butler and I moved swiftly to the door and kicked it open with all our might. There stood Alhabid behind a flipped over desk with an AK-47 at ready. He opened fire immediately and Winslow and I were forced to take cover on the edges of the door.
“Come and get it you scum!” Alhabid yelled to us.
I looked to Winslow and waved my hand right above my head. He nodded and began to blind fire his side arm right above where Alhabid was and forced him to take cover behind his desk. I knew this was my opening. I sprinted in and hopped over the desk. When I landed I grabbed his weapon and ripped it away from him as hard as I could. I then took it by the barrel and slammed the butt of the weapon across his face. Alhabid was out cold.
Several minutes later the squad and a constrained and unconscious Alhabid stood outside of the warehouse as Perra finished putting the final touches on the closing ceremonies. Perra finished up and began jogging back to us. We all retreated to a safe distance and took cover.
“Fire in the hole.” Perra said as he pressed the detonator. The warehouse was leveled in seconds. When the dust settled, all that remained was a pile of ruble.
“Mission accomplished.” I said confidently. “Schultz, get on the horn and call in evac. Were going home.”
The others let out a sigh of relief. They began to loosen up for the first time in hours. Even allow themselves a smile or two.
Schultz turned to me and said “Sir, we need to hump it a mile to the west for extraction.” As soon as he finished I heard a loud gunshot ring out. Schultz’s eyes glazed over and he fell at my feet. I looked up and saw several jeeps and trucks begin to show up and men begin to pile out of them. The men at the barracks must have heard the explosion from the base. I cursed myself for not realizing it sooner, but there was no time to beat myself up, I had to react fast if any of them were going to make it out alive.
“Fall back! Retreat to the extraction point!” I yelled out.
Winslow threw Alhabid over his shoulder and we all began to fall back. The jungle provided us with some cover, but not enough. More than once we had to stop and return fire in order to slow them down. After 10 minutes of them pursuing us, we began to run low on ammo.
“Conserve your ammo! Only shoot at what you can see!” I ordered.
“I’m out! I need ammo!” I heard Maldonado call out over the raging gunfire.
Perra began to toss him a clip but then took a round in the shoulder and went down hard.
“Keep moving! I’m going back for Perra.” I yelled to my squad.
Bushes and tree trunks exploded all around me as the bullets gutted them apart. I was almost to Perra when a grenade went off to the right of me and sent me sprawling to the ground. Dirt and shrapnel rained all around me. My body wanted nothing more than to just keep laying there, face down in the dirt, but my mind willed my limbs to move. I got up and made it to Perra. I gave him my M9 and grabbed him by the back of his vest and pulled. He kept us covered with my sidearm while I hulled him along.
We reached the extraction point and there in the clearing sat a Black Hawk helicopter with engine running. I pulled Perra to it, and the others helped me get it in. Winslow had hopped on the mini-gun on the side of the helicopter and began cutting down anyone he saw. He didn’t remove his fingers from the trigger until we were safely in the air and on our way back to the carrier.
We had come so close to all of us making it out of there alive. I couldn’t keep my mind from wandering back to Schultz’s face right before he died. He wasn’t the first to die under my command. But knowing it could’ve been prevented made it sting all the same. We had completed the mission, but at a price. If only I had taken the time to eliminate the enemy in the barracks, Schultz may still be alive.
