Meant to Be (23 page)

The amount of incoming fire began
building steadily but was not unexpected or cause yet for alarm. If
need be, more shooters could be moved to the roof to bolster the
snipers and light machine gun already in place. At the moment it
was a target-rich environment made up of battle-hardened soldiers
who were mortal enemies of the United States. Rad’s only concern
was that it probably wasn’t going to take too long for the fanatics
to come up with a better strategy that might involve bigger guns
and rocket-propelled grenades.

Rad’s internal radio link crackled to
life in his ear. “Rad, it’s Bipp. You need to come take a look at
something.”

Rad poked his head around the door
frame and glanced down the street again through his night sight. At
the bottom of hill, about a block away, he saw an enemy combatant
taking up position to fire an RPG. “Hold on a second,
Bipp.”

Rad moved reflexively. With his laser,
he painted the man’s chest with a bright red dot and squeezed the
trigger. The target crumpled to the ground, and Rad ducked back
into the house.

“
What’s up
Bipp?”

“
We think we found
something here.”

Before responding, Rad edged his way
to a broken window and sighted two men dart between two of the
small outbuildings in the compound, about forty yards away. One of
them made it. The other one didn’t.

“
Can it wait?”

Before Bipp could answer, the
thunderous reports of a heavy-caliber machine gun boomed above the
din of regular rifle fire, and a large hole appeared in the wall a
few feet away from Rad. He hit the floor as chunks of dry mud
rained down on him. Crawling back to the door, swearing under his
breath, he pushed the switch on his radio for the command net.
“Nighthawk Four this is Rattler One, where is my air
support?”

“
Just sit tight. It’s on
the way.”

Sit tight? Seriously? Do
you think I’m just lounging around in a freaking rocking chair down
here?

It was the smugness of the tone more
so than the words that irritated Rad. He looked skyward as if he
could see those who were orchestrating the operation from a
far-away place of safety. He primed his mic and remained calm.
“I’ve got heavy-caliber machine gun firing on my position to the
north.”

“
I see it, Rattler One.
You have support inbound.”

Rad didn’t have time to ask for an
ETA. He heard the “whoosh” of aerial rockets passing overhead,
swiftly followed by a series of thunderous explosions.

As Rad headed for Bipp’s location, he
called for a situation report from his team and waited as one by
one each man checked in. Things were proceeding as planned, but
these engagements had a way of changing from calm to chaos in the
blink of an eye. Especially here.

The people in the village and their
ancestors had used the mountains to hide from invaders for
thousands of years, making them masters at guerrilla warfare. They
could hit the enemy and then disappear into the wild terrain, which
made conventional forces useless against them.

Now the radio began to heat up.
“Contact left.”

“
Contact rear.”

Rad found Bipp in the back of the
house on the first floor, stuffing computer discs and folders into
a bag with one of the other men in a room that looked like a modern
day office.

“
Got the motherload here,
dude.”

Rad nodded and gave him a thumb’s up.
“Get as much as you can.”

Now barely ten minutes into the op, it
was apparent from the sounds outside that the whole town had
awakened. The quarter moon shining in a clear sky provided
relatively clear pictures through night-vision, revealing hostiles
moving toward them in pretty much every direction. The numbers
weren’t alarming yet, but it was still early. What would probably
appear as utter chaos to some, was really just another night of
work for Rad and the other men. But there could never be certainty
in how events would unfold five minutes from now or what would
happen next.

Within moments of Rad’s team taking
out their target and securing their building, drive-by shooters
began firing small arms onto the roofs and parapets around the
sniper positions. Seconds later, an RPG streaked in and exploded
against the roof, casting a cloud of dust over them.

The radio crackled as the teams
reported the other two houses were secure. Their job here was done.
Now all they had to do was get out.

“
Let’s move.” The radio
crackled. “I don’t want to see what this place looks like in
daylight.”

Air support provided cover as they
made their way back to the designated landing zone for pick-up, but
the situation was still dicey even after everyone had been loaded
on the choppers. There was always a chance of getting shot out of
the sky by an RPG, or possibly even a surface-to-air missile, until
they were well on their way.

Rad inhaled deeply as he thought about
all the things that had gone right that night. The upcoming mission
into Pakistan wasn’t going to be nearly as complicated as that one
had been—except for one unknown—Lauren.

Chapter 21

Four days later

A
fter months of training and weeks of planning and
anticipation, the night was finally upon them. Rad sat on his bunk,
staring into space, trying to visualize the coming mission he both
dreaded and desired. Even though he had no appetite he forced down
an MRE, not knowing when he would be able to eat again.

Leaving just enough time to get to the
rally point at the fire pit, Rad went through his usual ritual
before a mission. First, he re-checked everything he carried in the
lower pockets of his cargo pants, making sure assault gloves,
leather mitts for fast-roping, and extra batteries were easily
accessible. After checking his ankle pocket, where he kept an extra
tourniquet, he moved to the pockets on his shoulder. On the left,
he kept a couple hundred dollars—American cash—in case he was
compromised and needed to buy a ride or bribe someone. On the
opposite side he carried his camera, and in the back of his belt, a
fixed blade knife.

Satisfied with that part of his
routine, Rad picked up his kit for inspection. Two radios were
mounted on either side of the front plate with three magazines for
his assault rifle and a frag hand-grenade mounted between them. He
also carried a breaching charge in the back, as well as several
chemical lights in the front of his vest. Visible only to those
wearing night vision goggles (NVGs), the lights were used to mark
rooms or buildings that had been cleared and were considered
secure.

Rad picked up his helmet and switched
on the light to make sure it worked and checked the NVGs. He then
picked up his rifle and tested the red laser, visible to the naked
eye, on a wall by his bunk, then flipped down the NVGs and did the
same with the infrared laser. Pulling the bolt back, he chambered a
round, and then double-checked to make sure it had seated. He
confirmed the safety was on and rested the weapon back against the
wall.

The final step was to pull the small
laminated booklet—his cheat sheet—out of a small pouch in the front
of his vest. Flipping past the first two pages, which contained an
aerial view of the compound and radio frequencies, he continued to
the page that displayed the names and photos of everyone expected
to be in the target house. He studied the images as well as the
height, weight, and known descriptions again, trying to commit each
to memory.

With his camouflage uniform on and
gear ready to go, Rad grabbed his boots and laced them. His mind
now began to focus on the significance of this mission and the work
that needed to be done. He pushed all thoughts of Lauren from his
mind as he carefully double-wrapped the laces and tucked them into
his boots.

Finally, Rad hoisted his sixty-pound
vest over his head, tightened the straps, and touched everything
again to make sure he could reach it. He then connected the
antennas to the radio and put his earbuds in position. In his right
ear would be the troop net, where teammates would communicate with
each other during the mission. His left ear would monitor the
command net, allowing him to communicate with other team leaders
and officials.

Rad checked his watch. He could hear
guys moving around, packing their bags and slamming the door as
they headed to the fire pit, but he had one more ritual to
complete. Dropping to one knee and bowing his head, he said a
prayer for the success of the mission and the safety of his men,
ending with “And protect Lauren with your merciful hand. Thy will
be done. Amen.”

“
You ready for this?” Wynn
patted him on the back when he got to the fire pit, his spirits
obviously high.

“
Can’t wait.” Rad gave him
the thumbs up.

McDunna soon arrived and without
fanfare, they loaded onto a bus for transportation to their waiting
Black Hawks. With the engines running and rotors spinning while the
pilots went through final checks, the choppers made conversation
impossible—but that did not stop communication. As he stood in line
waiting to load, Rad noticed a few hand gestures between teammates
loading on the other chopper. These men would be all business in a
few minutes, but now they were more like children on a playground,
talking smack using only hand—or finger—signals, and smiling as if
this was nothing more than an exciting fieldtrip.

Since he would be the first one down
the rope, Rad was the last to board and barely had enough room to
wedge his large body into the helicopter. Predictably, no one asked
whether or not he was comfortable. The door clicked shut, the bird
lifted, and they headed for the border.

Rad tried to scrunch around to make
more room, which only caused someone’s knees to gouge into his back
more intensely. He closed his eyes, trying to convince himself he
was comfortable, and tried to relax and snooze. It seemed like only
moments later the radio crackled to life with the first
transmission of the night. “Crossing the border.”

Damn. We’re really going to
do this.

After closing his eyes again, he let
his thoughts drift until he heard the radio come to live again with
the call, “Ten minutes.”

Those words were enough to shake him
from his groggy sleep. He wiped his eyes and wiggled his toes to
start working the circulation back.

“
Five minutes.”

All other thoughts disappeared and it
became just another night of work. Rad pulled on his helmet and
snapped the chinstrap. Pulling his NVGs down, he made sure
everything was in focus by turning his head side to side. Then he
pulled his gun in tighter to his chest, so it wouldn’t hang up on
the rope, and checked his safety one last time.

The cabin was now full of movement,
yet quiet, as everyone performed the same checks.

“
One minute.”

The crew chief slid the door open and
Rad slid the fast rope system into place, checking the pin and then
giving a tug to make sure it was secure. The crew chief repeated
the last steps to double-check him before Rad slid his legs out
over the edge of the helicopter.

It was pitch black down below. Rolling
blackouts were common, but it hit Rad as uncommonly good fortune
that one would hit this area at exactly this time.

Rad glanced over his shoulder. Ten of
the most highly trained and seasoned soldiers the world had ever
known sat calmly behind him, their well-worn boots ready to touch
the ground. They were on the verge of launching a raid in a foreign
land that was among the most desolate and inhospitable places on
earth, yet he knew every last one of them looked forward with great
anticipation to what lay ahead.

Hearing the engine noise change as the
helicopter hovered, Rad waited for the “go” as they hit their
predetermined fast-rope point. Finally, he saw the outline of the
target’s house. About the same size as other compounds, it lay
nestled on its own terrace and was surrounded by eight-foot walls
on three sides that jutted out and overlooked the valley. The side
nestled against the mountain had no wall, the mountain itself
providing the defensive barrier.

As he got the “go,” Rad threw the rope
and dropped out of the chopper. Hurrying to get out of the way of
the remaining men coming down the rope, he turned his head back and
forth as he ran, swinging his gun from nine to three at the ready.
All appeared clear.

We’re in the hornet’s
nest
, Rad thought to himself as he made his
way to his first target. As others headed to the main gate, he
approached a small detached building that was presumably a guest
prayer room. As he checked the room and found it clear, he heard,
“Breaching charge ready” in his ear and knew Bipp was getting ready
to blow the main gate. Rad threw an infrared chemlight by the door
as he left the building to notify anyone wearing NVGs the room was
secure.

Moving back to the gate, Rad noticed
the compound where Lauren lived to his left. It appeared dark and
sinister, and he wondered for a moment if Lauren was hiding within,
watching the assault unfold. He hoped not. Too much could go
wrong.