Wedged between a tree and the uphill slope, Mike tried to get some sleep. Al was up to speed on the situation in the valley and the location of the enemy observation posts. At the moment between sleep and wakefulness, he watched the sunlight shine through the tree branches.
His thoughts took him to that day in the valley. His life hadn’t been the same since. If he were honest with himself, he knew he was responsible for everything that had happened after. He had wrecked his marriage, relationship with his kids, and career. He hadn’t cared. The thought of his brother under a bloody poncho became the overwhelming focus of his life. He couldn’t let it go and couldn’t do anything about it until now.
He heard the Marines’ gunfire on the other side of the low ground. His Team wasn’t with him. It was him alone, as it was every time. He looked downslope at the Afghanis hiding behind the rocks. They didn’t know he was there. They were too busy watching for the Marines chasing them. The bamboo grove was already burning. Baabaa Hotak turned and looked up, their eyes locked, and Hotak laughed. Mike lifted his M-4, aimed, fired, and missed—the rest of the Afghanis turned and faced him. Hotak said something, and they all laughed. Angrily, Mike shifted the selector switch to auto and fired the whole magazine at the men. The brass flew high into the air, clinked on rocks as they landed, and spun in never-ending circles in the dirt. He’d missed again, not one hit. Baabaa Hotak said something to the others, and they strolled into the burning bamboo grove. Hotak was the last. He stopped a smile on his face, met Mike’s eyes, shook his head, and walked into the bamboo. The fire closed in around him. It had no effect as he passed out of sight.
He jerked himself to a seated position, trying to get his bearings. Tom and Al were also jammed between a tree and the slope. Julia was on guard. She looked down at him curiously. He saw her look of concern and turned away. Confused, he rubbed his face, opened his eyes, took a deep breath, and held it. He hadn’t had that dream in a long time.
He was close now. Everything they did from now on would have to be quiet and careful. He had good people with him, but it was the unexpected, the unplanned for, that would trip them up. So far, the unexpected had been the order of the day on this mission. All their equipment was gone, and two men were dead before the mission got started. They had no way to call in support or evacuation. Captain Amadulah had supplied them well enough. They had food, water, some ammo for their AKs and machine gun, and two handheld I-com radios. The RPGs they left behind they wouldn’t be of much use to them here. What they had was something, but was it enough?
A quick look at his watch told him he was on guard in a half hour. Trying to get more sleep for the remaining half hour wouldn’t happen, so he pulled an MRE out of one of their supply bags. He didn’t know where Amadulah had procured MREs, but he was glad he had. The idea of eating rice and overcooked goat packed in a dirty pot over a campfire didn’t appeal to him much.
An engine noise to the south stopped him. Julia had the binoculars to her eyes, looking to the south but upward.
He hustled up the hill. “What do you got?”
“Helicopter. I don’t know what kind.” She handed him the binoculars.
Looking down the gap in the hills to the south where the road entered the valley, he saw it. The helicopter followed the road north into the valley.
“Some civilian helicopter. Could be a cargo one.”
Tom and Al joined them.
“Hotak?” Al said.
No one answered as they traced its flight.
The helicopter began to circle over the tunnel entrance.
“It doesn’t look like it’s going to land,” Julia said.
“No, it doesn’t.” A movement drew Mike’s attention to the mountainside east of the tunnel. “And I thought the flags were kind of odd.”
Five hundred meters up the steep mountain face on a rock ledge, camouflaged doors began to open, moving to the left and right. They appeared made of rock, a part of the mountain face. It was too dark to see inside with the binos. Whatever was in there, it was apparent the interior space was big enough to bring the helicopter inside.
He handed the binoculars to Tom. “Take a good look.”
Tom blew out a long whistle. “That’s some secret squirrel, James Bond looking shit.”
Tom handed Al the binos. “Huh.” He brought the binos down, looked at the two other men, then looked again. “It would seem there is more here than we thought?”
“Exactly,” Mike said.
The helicopter landed on the ledge, and people exited the aircraft and walked inside.
“The side of the mountain looks climbable if that’s an option,” Al said. “I couldn’t tell if Hotak was one of them, but who else could it be?”
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He gave Julia the bino’s.
“I never saw anything like this in any of the satellite photos. It makes you wonder if they know when the satellite is overhead?”
“Overhead assets,” Mike said, “have their place, but they’ll never replace boots on the ground. Last time I checked, satellites can’t infiltrate hidden heliports or roadway tunnels either.”
A small vehicle rode out to the helicopter. Several men attached bars between the helo and the little yellow hauler. They stood back and watched the big aircraft get pulled into the mountain. The hangar doors shut after the last man entered.
Julia rolled onto her side to face the other three. “I wonder if we’re out of our depth here?”
“Ya think?” Tom said.
“We knew there was some funny stuff going on here,” Al said. “This isn’t some dirt farmer turned opium warlord action here.”
“If that were the case, I’d feel a little better about the things we saw.” Tom grabbed an MRE package. “I’m sure there’s a lot more going on inside that tunnel and mountain than a truck stop and heliport.”
Al pulled an MRE out of his sack. “If Hotak is a big wig in the opium trade, there’s some drug shit going on there, a drug factory or whatever.” He shrugged. “Whatever drug lords do in hidden bases.”
Tom chuckled. “You’ve never deployed to South America, have you?”
“Uh, fellas.” Julia frowned, not understanding their joking, relaxed attitudes. “As I said, we may be out of our depth here. Should we hang out here? Or see what we can see and make our way back?”
“Did you forget,” Mike said, “we’re committed. There is no way back. We only move forward.” He rested his eyes on each man, who nodded back in agreement.
Julia swallowed. “I guess I didn’t understand how hard this would be.” She looked at each man and saw the same look on each face. “Aren’t you guys afraid to die?”
“If you want to back out…”
She pulled her head up. “I’m not backing out.”
The determination on her face made Mike smile. “Good.”
“Good.”
“Don’t get the idea that we have a death wish.” Tom pointed his thumb at Mike. “Except maybe him.”
Mike didn’t say anything. He let Tom talk.
“None of us wants to die. But, speaking for me and Al, we’re not letting these fuckers get away with what they did to us.”
Al stared into Julia’s eyes, nodding. He agreed with Tom.
“We’re going in there,” Tom said, “and we're going to take care of business.”
Julia searched the faces of the men. “We could all die here.”
“We could, but I won’t.” Tom smiled at her. “It will be old age or alcohol poisoning for me.”
Al grinned. “I have many more bad decisions ahead of me. No.” He shook his head, smiling. “This place won’t kill me.”
“Julia, we all know the risk. We’ve all been doing this stuff for over twenty years. We never go into a fight thinking we’re going to die. We also know that we may have to save the others. It comes with the territory.”
“You guys are nuts.”
“Don’t worry,” Tom said. “We’ll make sure you get out of this in one piece.”
She laid back on the ground, looking up into the trees. “Thanks.”
Mike waved his hand to the valley below. “With what we saw in the valley and that helicopter, things got a little more complicated. It will require more planning and recon, that's all.”
“Don’t forget.” Tom tapped Al’s shoulder and grinned as they watched Julia stare at the tree branches above. “We’ll have the element of surprise on our side.”
She showed her teeth through a fake smile. “Oh, that makes me feel so much better.”
Al grinned back and turned to Mike. “So what’s the plan?”
Mike took a slow breath and looked down at the valley again. “Same as before. Tonight will be a recon to see if we can find a way in. Tom and Al will take the heliport instead of the north side of the tunnel.” He handed Tom the binoculars. “Take these. When you're closer, check for cameras or other detection equipment.”
Tom set the bino’s down next to his food.
“Julia and I will check out the tunnel. We’ll each have a radio, but we’ll stay radio silent. Use them only in emergencies. We’ll both leave about an hour before sunset to get in position. Avoid the observation posts. If you are going to get seen by the enemy, do them silently and hide the bodies.”
Julia took a loud breath, looking pained.
“We’ll meet back here while it’s still dark. The password will be,” Mike grinned, “Death wish.”
“Charming,” Julia said, rolling her eyes.
“No one said I had much of an imagination.”
Tom pointed at the machine gun propped up on its bipod legs at the front of the barrel. “What about that.”
“We’ll leave it and the spare ammo here, hidden. This is our fallback. If everything goes to hell, we meet here, gun down bad guys till the ammo runs dry, then E&E out get south of the valley.”
“Not much of a plan,” Al said.
“Nope, it sure isn’t.”
Julia turned over onto her stomach, her eyes tracking movement in the valley. “Uh oh.”
The three men inched up to the crest of the hill to look over.
Three pickup trucks raced north through the valley, kicking up a long trail of dust behind them.
“Looks like there are wounded men.” Through the binos, Mike saw more blood than any one man should have in his body. “Lots of blood and a few bodies, some wounded in the back of each truck. I’d guess there’s about… Hmm, two Afghani’s in the front seat, two or three in the back seat, and another three or four in the bed. Around twenty-five bad guys. Been in fight looks like.”
The trucks skidded to a halt at the north guard shack. Dust flew forward into the guard’s faces. The driver of the first truck shouted something to the guard who let them by. The guard at the tunnel entrance wouldn’t allow the vehicles into the tunnel.
The three trucks circled and parked in the open space. Men jumped out and helped the wounded. A couple of Afghanis roughly pulled two people out of the back seat of the first truck. The prisoners’ hands were tied behind their backs, brown burlap bags over their heads. Two other men helped to control the prisoners. One of the men holding a prisoner shouted at him as he tried to break free. One of the guards hit him in the chest with the butt of his AK. The man sank to the ground. The guards jerked him up and pushed him forward. The group hustled along into the tunnel.
“That’s interesting.” Mike focused the binoculars. “There’s a doorway inside the tunnel on the right-hand side. They all went in it.”
“Did you get a look at the prisoners?” Al said.
“No, about the same height as the others wearing the same baggy clothes they all wear. Whoever they were, it didn’t look like they were one of our drivers up here. I think we’re good.”
They slid down behind the top of the hill.
“Does this change anything?” Julia asked.
Mike looked at the others. Both men shrugged. “I don’t think so. It’s another strange thing that’s happened in that valley. I’m not sure anything those prisoners know could compromise us.”
“So we’re on tonight,” Julia said.
“Roger that.”